By the Light of the Moon
Last night the moon was full, so I joined with millions of people around the world in renewing my commitment to non-harming and by staying up late to practice.
First I sat with the Maplewood Metta group — Wishing: In gladness and in safety, may all beings be at ease.
Then I came home and sat, and had some tea, and sat again, and then listened to a wonderful dharma talk by Pascal Auclair called Two Ways to Free the Mind, in which he quite delightfully riffs on the teaching that there are two causes for the arising of wisdom: (1) hearing the voice of another and (2) paying wise attention — which means looking carefully at whatever it is that one is paying attention to… and seeing whether it leads to confusion and complications (suffering), or to ease and peace (non-suffering).
I went to bed some time after midnight feeling very glad to have listened to the wise voice of Pascal…and to have paid attention.
(image: Camas Para Suenos by Camen Lomas Garza)
Patience
Here’s another poem Phillip Moffitt used at the day-long retreat I “attended” by live web-cast:
Patience by Tony Hoagland
“Success is the worst possible thing that could happen
to a man like you,” she said,
“because the shiny shoes of affluence would mean
you’d never have to face your failure as a human being.”
There was a rude remark I could have made to her right there
and I watched it go by like a bright blue sailboat on a long gray river of silence,
watching it until it disappeared around the bend
while I smiled and listened to her talk,
thinking it was good to let myself be stabbed by her little spears,
because I wanted to see what I was made of
besides fear and the desire to be liked
by every person on the goddamn face of the earth–
To tell the truth, I felt a certain satisfaction in taking it,
letting her believe that I was just a little bird
opening my mouth and swallowing
the medicine she wanted to administer
— a mixture of good advice combined with slow-acting poison.
Is it strange to say that there was something beautiful
in the sight of her running wild, cut loose in an epileptic fit of telling the truth?
And anyway, she was right about me,
that I am prone to certain misconceptions,
that I should never get so big or fat that I
can’t look down and see my own naked dirty feet,
which is why I kept smiling and smiling as she talked–
It was a beautiful day. I felt like crying.
I knew that if I could succeed at being demolished,
I could succeed at anything.
Look Around
On Saturday, I “attended” (by live webcast) Phillip Moffitt‘s day-long retreat on the Three Levels of Knowing. I thought it would be something that I’d just log onto and then pop in and out of, but it had snowed the night before…and was continuing to snow all day long….and there was really “nowhere to go and nothing to do,” so I turned my upstairs study into a little meditation hall. From 11:30 am to 6:30 pm, I sat and walked and sat and listened to Phillip, and it was wonderful….and really very much like being on retreat!
Here is one of the poems Phillip used in his talks:
Look Around, by Mark Nepo
If you try to comprehend air
before breathing it,
you will die.
If you try to understand love,
before being held,
you will never feel compassion.
If you insist on bringing God to others
before opening your very small window of life,
you will never have honest friends.
If you try to teach before you learn
or leave before you stay,
you will lose your ability to try.
No matter what anyone promises–
to never feel compassion,
to never have honest friends,
to lose your ability to try–
these are desperate ways to die.
A dog loves the world through its nose.
A fish through its gills.
A bat through its deep sense of blindness.
An eagle through its glide.
And a human life
through its spirit.
Sometimes It’s Good to Wait
Leahe and I had just yesterday decided that we weren’t going to wait any longer for our Meditation Visas to come through, that since Tempel said the monastery would find a way to make it possible for us to stay there with only a Tourist Visa….and since one of our Canadian travelers had recently learned that their Embassy was now taking a week longer than expected to get a Tourist Visa approved…we wouldn’t wait until the 18th, as the Embassy had suggested, but we’d go ahead and cancel our application for Mediation Visas and make new applications for a Tourist Visa right away.
But before we ran off to the Fed-Ex office, we agreed that we’d wait until the following morning (this morning), and call the Embassy one more time just to make sure that the Meditation Visas hadn’t somehow already, miraculously been approved.
And guess what? They HAD!!!
Apparently the Myanmar Ministry of Religious Affairs had just approved both our visa applications, and the Embassy was at that moment in the process of sending us back our passports — with our Meditation Visas in place! They should be in our hands early next week!
So we will, at last, have official approval to stay at the monastery.
Whew.
(image: Young Woman Before an Aquarium, by Henri Matisse)
We’re Getting Closer
Last night Tempel hosted a conference call for our little band of Pilgrims to Burma and prior to the call, he sent a couple of maps — including this one — showing the part of Yangon that we’ll be staying in.
Our hotel is the Rainbow Hotel (marked with an X). Tempel said it’s a block off the main road (so it will be quieter than some of the other, more well-know hotels), yet near enough to the famous Shwedagon Pagoda that we will be able to walk.
He said that we’ll all go to the Pagoda together at first, but that later we’ll be able to go back in smaller groups of two or three — even on our own, if we feel like it — to see the sunrise over the gold dome, or be there at sunset, or do some walking mediation, or maybe get caught up in one of the many ceremonies or devotional rituals being performed there pretty much all the time.
He talked about the how friendly and generous the people are. How delighted they will be to see Westerners paying respect to this holy site. How they will want to practice speaking English with us (but they won’t beg or try to sell us anything). And how safe it will be, even for women out walking alone late at night.
So now I’m feeling much more peaceful about this upcoming adventure.
Plus….Tempel has learned that the monastery will make it possible for us to stay on and practice — even if we only have a Tourist visa!
Soup Guru’s Secret
It’s Soup Season here in St. Louis, so I thought I’d offer this secret teaching from the kitchen of Flowering Lotus Retreat Center. (Dolores brings in a chef from New Orleans to cook for her yogis!)
We had Lentil Soup on the first night of the retreat (the one I went to back in November), which is pretty much standard fare for first-night dinner at retreat centers. But right away I knew…this was no ordinary lentil soup! So I asked the chef (Katie) what her secret was. She took me aside and whispered just two words: Roast Garlic.
Yes!
So as soon as the weather turned wintery, I started searching around in my favorite cookbooks, and found this excellent recipe for Roast Garlic Lentil Soup (from The Daily Soup Cookbook by Leslie Kaul, Bob Spiegel, Carla Ruben and Peter Siegel):
1 whole head garlic
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 large Spanish onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons dried rosemary
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound French lentils, rinsed and picked over to remove debris
8 cups vegetable stock (or mineral water)
1 (28-oz) can whole tomatoes, drained and diced
3 Tablespoons tomato paste
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Wrap the whole head of garlic in foil and roast in the oven for 15 minutes, until tender. When cool enough to handle, remove the cloves from the skin and puree in a food processor or blender; set aside until ready to use.
3. Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, and carrots and sweat for 4 minutes, until tender.
4. Add the rosemary, bay leaves, salt and pepper and stir to coat the vegetables.
5. Add the lentils, stock, tomatoes, and tomato paste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, partially cover, and simmer for 1 hour, until lentils are tender.
6. Stir in the pureed roasted garlic, vinegar, and fresh garlic. Simmer for 2 minutes to heat through.
7. To serve, remove the bay leaves, ladle the soup into bowls, and top with chopped parsley.
Makes 12 cups.
Enjoy!
Dancing with Happiness
The Dancing with Life discussion group met last night. We’re on the final chapter: “The Courage to be Happy.” Kind of a strange idea, isn’t it…that it might take courage to let ourselves be happy?
Phillip writes: “You may already be telling yourself that you certainly are not afraid of your happiness. You might be right, but I suggest that you pay more attention to how you handle your moments of happiness before reaching such a conclusion. In my observation ambivalence, defensiveness, and even aversion towards happiness is quite pervasive. Even among people who talk about wanting to be happy, there is a tendency to distance themselves and take their actual felt experience of happiness for granted.
“There are many reasons for this unease. First of all, you might feel guilty that your life is going well when there is so much disease, poverty, inequality, and oppression in the world. You might also be superstitious, fearing that if you open to happiness you will jinx it, or that it will attract envy, or that someone will try to take it from you…
“You may be afraid to open to joy and well-being because receiving joy requires being vulnerable and fully present; therefore, losing the happiness or even the thought of losing it can seem devastating to you…
“Your times of happiness and joy are just as valuable, just as authentic, and posses just as much potential for insight as your difficult moments. As with dukkha (suffering), you are called upon to have courage in order to be fully present in those moments of well-being. You are to feel them fully in your body, to know the quality of the mind when well-being manifests, and to learn the nature of this worldly existence as revealed by your sukha (happiness)….
“Ask yourself, are you genuinely staying mindful during your times of sukha in this manner? Do most of your moments of sukha even register in your awareness, or are you taking them as a given and looking ahead for the next fulfillment? Do you have a habit of acknowledging sukha, appreciating the feeling of well-being, and cultivating gratitude for it?
“Sometimes students resist my instructions to be mindful of their sukha moments because they mistakenly believe that if they bring mindfulness to their joy it will disappear!…Your happiness will not be diminished by becoming fully present with it; it will be enhanced….”
Now It Gets Physical
OK. So this morning I went to the County Health Clinic to get a Tetanus/Diphtheria/Pertussis shot and the Typhoid vaccine (in 4-capsule form, which needs to be kept in the refrigerator, and which I need to take every-other day, on an empty stomach, with a glass of water at room temperature…beginning today so the dosage will be finished 2 weeks before I start taking the anti-malaria pills…which need to be started 2 days before I depart, then every day while I’m gone, and then continuing on for another 7 days after I return.) I would have also needed to get the Hepatitis A vaccine, except that (thankfully) I’ve already gotten that 2-dose series in 2005 (and which, again thankfully, is good forever.) I would also have had to get the Hepatitis B vaccine, except that I don’t plan to go anywhere near contaminated needles, razors, medical/dental/tattooing or body piercing devises, or to have unprotected sex while I’m gone. (Or while I’m here, for that matter!) Oh yes, and while I was at it, they recommended that I get a flu shot.
Then later in the week I’ll go to my regular doctor for some serious antibiotic meds (Cipro, most likely) and then off to Target to get the suggested BASIC first aid kit, which includes: Motrin, Benedryl, Imodium, Pepto-Bismol, insect repellent with 30% DEET, sunscreen, antibacterial wipes, calamine lotion, anti-fungal cream, hydrocortisone cream, cough drops, lip balm, moleskin….and bandaids.
(Better safe than sorry.)
Paperback Travel
In preparation for this upcoming trip to Burma, my teacher Lila Wheeler (herself a writer, who spent time as a nun in Burma) gave me a reading list of some of her favorite “reference” books. I won’t have time to read them all before I go, but I’m already deeply engrossed in one of them: The Glass Palace, by Amitav Ghosh, which has been hailed as “Doctor Zhivago for the Far East.” If the others are as good as this one, I’ll definitely read them all!
Here’s her list:
Non-fiction
Buddhism and Society: A Great Tradition and its Burmese Vicissitudes, by Melford Spiro
From the Land of Green Ghosts, by Pascal Khoo Thew
Finding George Orwell, by Emma Larkin
The Trouser People, by Andrew Marshall
Letters from Burma, by Aung San Suu Kyi
Burmese Family, by Mi Mi Khaing
Native Tourist, by Ma Thanegi
Novels
The Glass Palace, by Amitav Ghosh
Burmese Days, by George Orwell
The Jewel Trader of Pegu, by Jeffrey Hantover
Graphic Novel
Burma Chronicle, by Guy Delisle
Spirit Rock TV
Spirit Rock is now offering Live Video Streaming of some of their more popular one-day events! There is a cost, and registration is required, but it’s MUCH cheaper than flying out to California! Also, a link to the recorded video will be available for 90 days to webcast registrants, so even if you’re not available on the day of the event, you can still “attend.”
I’ll be posting information about each of these webcasts on the Dharma Town Coming Attractions page, but for a quick overview, here’s the list:
Three Levels of Knowing with Phillip Moffitt on Saturday, December 14. Click here for more info.
Brainstorm: Discovering the Hidden Power & Purpose of the Adolescent Mind with Dan Siegel on Saturday, January 25.
Real Happiness at Work with Sharon Salzberg on Saturday, February 1.
Awakening the Buddha Within: The Six Kinds of Mindfulness with Lama Surya Das on Sunday, February 16.
Equanimity: In the Dharma and In Your Brain with Rick Hanson on Sunday, March 30.
Insight Meditation Daylong with Jack Kornfield on Sunday, April 6.
Machig Labdron and the Nature of Mind with Lama Tsultrim Alion on Saturday, April 12.
Care Providers Daylong: A Day of Renewal, Recognition and Rejuvenation with Phillip Moffitt on Saturday, April 26.
(image from: A Whole World by Couprie and Louchard)