Becoming a Buddhist - Lotus Pond Temple, Lantau Is. Hong Kong 30th March, 2019

After a few false starts I finally took the plunge and officially became a lay Buddhist this weekend. I flew to Hong Kong on Friday afternoon, stayed overnight at the Lotus Pond temple on Lantau Island, and at 5:00 a.m. Saturday morning the community of monks and nuns took me through a ceremony to become part of the Plum Village Buddhist family. It practises in the Zen tradition of the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. I had been fiddling at the edges for years, looked at different traditions, went on a pilgrimage to northern India, and done some study, reading and meditation, so I thought it was about time to take this step and be part of something positive. It will also give me support as I continue in the practice. I will need it!

Every religion has a ceremony of some sort. The usual thing here is to Take Refuge in the Three Jewels (the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha) and to undertake one's best to recite and live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings (generally known as the Five Precepts).

It was terrific. The brothers and sisters were lovely to me. We enjoyed eating meditation, sitting meditation, singing, and walking meditation together. The ceremony, in which they were all present, went for almost an hour, and at several points I had to "touch the Earth" which means literally touching my forehead to the ground. Later I received a certificate setting out the details of the event and the lineage of my teacher. The Dharma name given to me is "Radiant Sincerity of the Heart".

There were one or two minor challenges in getting there. The plane from Taiwan arrived an hour late and the taxi driver couldn't exactly find the temple, so it took a quick phone call to figure it out. 

Another pleasant surprise was that the Lotus Pond Temple is just a short walk away from the  huge world famous Buddha statue (Tian Tan) on Lantau Island. So walking around the hills and seeing that area was a definite bonus. Although I was unable to take any photos during the ceremony (since nobody was available to do that), I did get some afterwards which I hope you will enjoy. It was an amazing experience!

Buddhism in Myanmar - A Personal Perspective

Let me preface this by saying that I only spent five months in the country, working as a trainer with the British Council. So my observations are necessarily limited by that amount of time.
Nevertheless, I got the distinct impression that Buddhism is taken very seriously there.
What in particular do I mean?
- young boys and girls spend time in robes as part of their upbringing
- monks provide general education to those less fortunate
- bhikkhus and bhikkhunis, including young ones, walk the streets on alms processions
- people give generously from what little they have to the monks
- prayers are sent out over loudspeakers from certain temples at different times of the day
- major festivals are celebrated with great energy by the whole community
- people generally act modestly in public
- monks are invited to attend important social events and are treated respectfully at them
- there are always new young men and women wishing to take vows
- houses have shrines with Buddhist images, candles, incense, flowers, etc.
- monks are consulted, probably revered, for certain decisions

Of course, there are some unique elements within Burmese Buddhism, such as the worship of nats, which are unique and, to outsiders, strange, but they are fortunate to have both male and female monks, and a long history of worship extending back thousands of years. Most recently there have been some monks becoming more vocal in everyday affairs, perhaps even political ones. Given the military's iron grip on power and their extensive lack of concern for the less fortunate, this is humanly understandable. Myanmar has far to go to resemble a country Westerners would relate to, and the November elections may not change that situation in the short term.

As a fellow seeker of the Path, I certainly felt comfortable with that part of society. Please see my photo page for many images taken during my time there.

Happy Vesak 2014 (2558)

Dear friends of the Buddha,
I wish you well on this special day when Buddhists around the world celebrate three major events in the Buddha’s life: his birth, awakening, and parinibbāna.
Every blessing, Greg.

Photos taken at Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Buddhist Monastery Singapore. 

Yatra in India - Day 5: Kushinagar

Wednesday 25th January, 2012: (Tour Day 5)
I didn't sleep much on the train, so I felt quite weak after arriving at the hotel in Kushinagar. As there was some free time in the morning, I slept a couple of hours and then went to see a doctor at a local hospital. It is a charitable Thai Buddhist centre run on donations and offering free treatment to all. The doctor gave me four different tablets to take, including antibiotics, and charged only 45 rupees (less than US$1). I managed to walk around the Matha-Kuar Shrine (housing a 10th century bluestone Buddha statue from Gaya) and the Mahaparinirvan temple (where the Buddha passed into nirvana) - thinking I was almost ready to join him! – and then walked back to sleep for the rest of the afternoon. The temple, built in 1956, houses a great 1500-year-old statue of the Buddha resting in the lion’s pose. At dinner I had a small meal and gave in my papers for the Nepal visa. I was really hoping to feel better the next day.

Yatra in India - Day 2: Bodhgaya

Sunday 22nd January, 2012: (Tour Day 2)
I had a rough first night on the train, with little sleep due to the almost constant rocking and some heavy breaking of the train. At least the breakfast was nice. Since we arrived 1 1/2 hours late at Gaya station, the tour leader took us straight to the hotel by bus where we checked into a nice room with bath, I washed my clothes, showered and had lunch.
We then took the short trip to Bodhgaya. The places visited were:

* the giant Japanese Buddha statue and temple

* the Bhutanese monastery

* the Tibetan temple

* Niranjana River (now mostly a dry river bed, which I crossed onto) in which the Buddha bathed

* the Sujata Stupa (apparently the spot of Sujata’s home – the girl who fed the Bodhisattva rice pudding before his Awakening) and

* the Kusha Grass Temple (where an old buffalo herder offered Siddhartha a bundle of grass to use as a cushion before his enlightenment)

By far the biggest highlight was the Mahâ Bodhi Temple (the place where Siddhartha reached enlightenment) which includes an Ashokan pillar, the Mucalinda Lake (recalling where it is said a giant cobra sheltered the Buddha from the first rains some six weeks after becoming enlightened), and the Bodhi tree or “ficus religiosa” (a descendent of the original brought back from Sri Lanka). The temple was built around the 4th century CE. It was very busy, with many monks chanting, hundreds of people showing devotion by circling the grounds three times clockwise, and lots of hawkers outside. For me, being able to sit under the Bodhi tree and meditate undisturbed for almost 30 minutes was truly superb - among the best moments of the entire journey, in fact. Of course, the Buddha, after achieving enlightenment, spent one week standing nearby simply gazing at the tree out of gratitude, so I couldn’t match that.
In the evening we had dinner back at the hotel and an overnight stay. I did my best to dry my washing (sat them on the bed under a ceiling fan) and to have a decent night's sleep.

Visit to Kushinagar

Wednesday 25th January, 2012: 


After some free time at the hotel in Kushinagar I managed to walk around the Matha-Kuar Shrine (housing a 10th century bluestone Buddha statue from Gaya) and the Mahaparinirvan temple (where the Buddha passed into nirvana) - thinking I was almost ready to join him! – and then walked back to sleep for the rest of the afternoon. The temple, built in 1956, houses a great 1500-year-old statue of the Buddha resting in the lion’s pose.

Visit to Bodhgaya

Sunday 22nd January, 2012: 
We took a short trip to Bodhgaya.

By far the biggest highlight was the Mahâ Bodhi Temple (the place where Siddhartha reached enlightenment) which includes an Ashokan pillar, the Mucalinda Lake (recalling where it is said a giant cobra sheltered the Buddha from the first rains some six weeks after becoming enlightened), and the Bodhi tree or “ficus religiosa” (a descendent of the original brought back from Sri Lanka). The temple was built around the 4th century CE. It was very busy, with many monks chanting, hundreds of people showing devotion by circling the grounds three times clockwise, and lots of hawkers outside. For me, being able to sit under the Bodhi tree and meditate undisturbed for almost 30 minutes was truly superb - among the best moments of the entire journey, in fact. Of course, the Buddha, after achieving enlightenment, spent one week standing nearby simply gazing at the tree out of gratitude, so I couldn’t match that.