Local Buddhist, meditation groups look forward to Zen master’s visit

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Lectures, workshops and retreat planned for four-day visit

Buffalo, New York (USA) -- Buffalo’s Buddhist community is anticipating a rare visit from the abbot of a Buddhist monastery later this month, which will involve six events, all open to the public, including instruction on the basics of meditation.

<< Ryushin Sensei

Konrad Ryushin Marchaj, known as Ryushin Sensei, the abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery in the Catskills, which is part of the Mountains and Rivers Order of Zen Buddhism, will present three lectures, two workshops and a retreat during his four-day stay in the area.

“This is a rare and unique opportunity to have a Zen master, who is a master teacher, present and be in their presence, let alone hear talks by him,” said Marguerite Battaglia, who has meditated for years and is active with the Peaceful Heart Mindfulness Community.

Although Western New York has many groups practicing Buddhist meditation traditions, “what’s frequently not easily accessible to most of us in Buffalo is the opportunity to personally engage such an experienced Buddhist teacher,” said Ray Eigen Ball, coordinator of the Buffalo Zen Dharma Community, which is affiliated with the Mountains and Rivers Order of Zen Buddhism.

Ball has visited the Zen Mountain Monastery and met Ryushin Sensei, who was born in Poland in 1953 and escaped with his family when he was 13. Ryushin Sensei got his undergraduate degree from Yale, served in the U.S. Navy and attended medical school in Albany, later working as a pediatrician and psychiatrist until he entered the monastery.

“He’s very down to earth,” said Ball, “but you do come away with a real sense of authenticity, a person who is genuine. It can be a stark contrast to what we encounter day to day.”

Various strains of Buddhism developed after the death of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, in 483 BCE in what is now India. The Zen community developed from Buddhist roots in China and Japan.

Ball said his visit is being greatly anticipated by members of the Buffalo Zen Dharma Community, as well as other people who follow Buddhist practices in mindfulness or meditation groups. Those groups “are peer groups; they’re not led by teachers,” he added.

Battaglia said every event is open to the public, including a morning workshop April 20, during which Ryushin Sensei will instruct people on meditation.

“That would be such a good opportunity for the general public to get this, and then be able to participate in the meditation that he will lead,” she says. “Usually this is something you have to find, and go to training for, and here it is coming right to us.”

The general theme of Ryushin Sensei’s lectures and workshops will be the elimination of suffering, the basic tenet of Buddhist study and practice. All will be held in the ministry center of the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York, 1064 Brighton Road, Town of Tonawanda. Donations of $12 for each lecture, $20 for each workshop and $10 for the retreat have been requested.

• The topic for the lecture from 7 to 9 p.m. April 18 is “Unconditional Happiness vs. Pursuit of Pleasure,” and will address the key question, “What is truly the basis for unconditional happiness?” Ball recommends this lecture for anyone just starting out. “This lecture’s topic is at the heart of the matter, what is it that causes us to be unsatisfied with our lives,” he says. “This is the basics. The first lecture will set the tone and lay the groundwork for the weekend, although they all stand on their own.”

• Two events will be held April 19. From 2 to 5 p.m., a workshop titled “Ethical life and the kitchen sink: How to actually practice the Buddhist precepts” will be held. “This is aimed at the Buddhist precepts, the moral and ethical teachings,” says Ball. The lecture from 7 to 9 p.m. that day is “Spiritual Bypassing: Shielding Ourselves from Our Feelings,” focusing on how people avoid the opportunity to become aware of the roots of their own suffering.

• Two events will also be offered April 20: a workshop from 9 to 11:30 a.m. titled “Introduction to Zazen,” instruction in the practice of Zen Buddhist meditation. This workshop, while accessible to people who have never meditated before, will also be valuable for experienced practitioners, Ball says. That evening from 7 to 9 p.m., Ryushin Sensei will speak on “Religion and Morality: Blinding or Illuminating?” in which he will consider the role of spirituality and religion in uniting and dividing people.

• From 9 a.m. to noon April 21, Ryushin Sensei will lead a retreat service similar to those held at the monastery. “It will be just like being at the monastery,” says Ball. “It’s the same program, where we have a liturgical service of chanting, a couple of rounds of sitting and walking meditation, but then Ryushin Sensei will deviate a bit. Normally he would just give a talk, but this year he has decided to give a short talk and then open it up with a question-and-answer period.” An informal communal lunch will follow.

During his visit, Ball says, Ryushin Sensei also will meet with a group of inmates at the Wende Correctional Facility who have been practicing Buddhism.

For details, please visit: http://mro.org/smr/buffalo/visit-by-ryushin-sensei/

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Buddhist groups gather weekly in Martin, Indian River counties

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Martin, Florida (USA) -- A small, golden sculpture of the Buddha faced a quiet, meditating crowd early this month in Stuart.

It was the first meeting for the newly formed Treasure Coast Dharma Practice Group, which is one of several small Buddhist groups that gather each week across Martin and Indian River counties.

Curiosity, health problems and a search for enlightenment are a few of the reasons that have led locals to join and form the groups, including the recently opened Mangalam Dharma Center for the study and practice of Tibetan Buddhism in Sebastian, and the Vero Beach Zen Buddhism practitioners.

Although about 0.5 percent of Floridians practiced Buddhism in 2008, according to a Pew Forum on Religion and Public survey, practitioners on the Treasure Coast see Buddhism slowly growing locally.

“People continue to become attracted to the psychological aspect of Buddhism,” said Jim Patteson, who leads the Zen group of about 30 in Vero Beach and is a retired professor of Eastern philosophy, among other topics, at Indian River State College. Most of Patteson’s college students, he said, have become practitioners of Buddhism upon finishing the class.

“Something else I’ve noticed that attracts people is that they can go on with their religion, yet still benefit from Buddhism,” added Patteson. “Buddhism answers most of the important things about life.”

The fundamental insight of the Buddha is: life consists of suffering, which is caused by attachment to the self, which is in turn attached to the things of this world. Liberating oneself from such attachment is done by following the Eightfold Path, including mindfulness and concentration.

Patteson learned these philosophies in 1968 as a 19-year-old Marine in Vietnam. He’d gone into town one night in search of drugs, coming across a poor family that invited him to learn to meditate.

Patteson studied Buddhism during and after leaving the military. When he landed in Vero Beach about 25 years ago, he found no Buddhism group in town. Now, there are about three Buddhism groups in Indian River County.

Patteson is helping Martin County resident Fred Walker start a Stuart Buddhism group, which is expected to meet monthly at rented space in Unity of Stuart. Patteson and Walker believe the group is the only in Stuart, with the nearest Buddhist temple in Palm Beach County.

Walker, 68, said it was a heart attack in his 40s that put him on the path to Buddhism.

“I’m reaping the benefits of Buddhism. I’m more at peace than ever,” said Walker, who went on a Buddhist spiritual retreat this month and hopes others in the area will find an interest in Buddhism.

Walker’s first group meeting attracted 25 people.

“I came to the group to learn to be calmer and not hold on to anger,” said Port St. Lucie resident Tara Raymo, 37, who attended the meeting. Raymo was raised Catholic but now is agnostic, and had been searching for a Buddhism group near her when she found a posting about the Stuart meet-up.

“I think people are coming here to learn to live a happier life,” she said.

Like Raymo, some practitioners of Buddhism are spiritual but not religious. Ram Jyoti, who leads the Tibetan center in Sebastian, said many regulars in her group of about 20, however, are members of nearby places of worship.

“They find that what they learn from Buddhist study and practice enhances their faith and ability to deal with difficulties in their lives,” Jyoti wrote in an email. “There also is a strong focus on compassion — cultivating the intention to benefit all beings and doing what is possible to help others.

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Buddhist groups seek help from vigilantes to disrobe ring members

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MALACCA, Malaysia --  Several Buddhist groups in Kuala Lumpur and Penang have sought the help of the “monk police” here to help eradicate bogus monks in their areas.

<< Don’t be conned: Sangha Sanctity Protection Centre chairman Seek Kai Lun (centre), Seek Lee Terk (right) and Seck Kwan Si (left) showing posters that will be displayed in Malacca to warn the public against bogus monks.

The Sangha Sanctity Protection Centre, which set up the “monk police”, is now preparing to send over a team of five volunteers to carry out surveillance in both these states.

“We have been receiving calls from other Buddhist organisations in the country to aid them in thwarting the activities of such monks.

“A plan of action is being prepared to disrobe these bogus monks preying on innocent devotees,” centre vice-chairman Ronald Gan Yong Hoe told The Star yesterday.

Gan said the team had been trained to identify and disrobe these bogus monks who would then be deported back to their native countries.

“We are ready to provide our expertise,” he said, adding that the team would also be reinforced with another unit should the need arise or if there was a setback.

The centre had set up its own 10-man vigilante group on the belief that an organised syndicate was behind the culprits who walked around in saffron robes in the city here and took advantage of the public's generosity.

These “monks” would hand out amulets which they claimed have spiritual powers to bestow prosperity and health on those making donations.

A preliminary investigation conducted by the centre found that the bogus monks travelled to Malaysia from China and operated for a month before heading back to their homeland.

One bogus monk nabbed by the centre confessed that his group could earn up to RM9,000 from a month's stay here.

Gan said the centre was also anticipating more calls from Buddhist groups in other states.

“We are in the midst of recruiting more members to join our vigilante group in an all-out war to stop these monks,” he said.

The centre also distributed pamphlets to create awareness among the public to be wary of these monks.

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