Japanese Buddhists to mark 100 years in Utah

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Salt Lake City, Utah (USA) -- Japanese Buddhism arrived in the heartland of Mormonism more than 100 years ago with migrant workers who took jobs with Utah mines, farms and railroads.

And they brought their faith and desire for spiritual community with them.

By 1912, these Buddhists created their first congregation in Ogden, known as the "Intermountain Buddhist Church." A few years later, it moved to Salt Lake City.

Through the years, several additional Japanese Buddhist churches sprang up across the state, with membership ebbing and flowing with the times. World War II, for example, brought Japanese Americans to the Topaz internment camp in west-central Utah. Many brought their family shrines with them and stayed after the war.

In recent years, longtime members have been joined by American converts.

Now these Buddhists are celebrating their centennial on Sept. 15 with a daylong event, "Walking the Path of Enlightenment."

"Today, Jodo Shinshu Buddhism in Utah is not limited to Japanese Buddhists," writes event organizer Karie Minaga-Miya in a release. "There is a welcomed diversity of ethnicity, cultural background and community to provide a robust and optimistic future."

The day will feature an opening service conducted by the Rev. Kodo Umezu, bishop of Buddhist Churches of America. Workshops will include presentations on Taiko Buddhism and Jodo Shinshu as well as discussion of reasons to embrace Buddhist teachings.

The event will be held at the Salt Palace Convention Center in downtown Salt Lake City from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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Seeking new Buddhist monk to fill the place of another still mourned

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GRAND BAY, ALABAMA (USA) -- When Visanou Khamphouy opened his Asian market on U.S. 90 in south Mobile County a few years ago, he invited the Rev. Chaiwat Moleechate, head monk at the Grand Bay Buddhist temple, to offer blessings.

<< Buddhist monks from throughout the Southeast gathered to mourn after the May 11 murder of the Rev. Chaiwat Moleechate, head monk of Wat Buddharaksa Temple, the Buddhist temple in Grand Bay. Four months later, the community is seeking a head monk to take over leadership at the Buddhist temple. The people "feel lost," says Visanou Khamphouy, head of the congregation, who's in charge of seeking a new spiritual master for the temple. Roy Hoffman/Press-Register

At his store this week, Khamphouy, 63, remembered with enduring admiration — and continuing sadness — how his spiritual master, whose death last spring has been blamed on a fellow monk, had said prayers, sprinkled holy water, and brought gold foil for good fortune.

"He was very smart, a great teacher," said Khamphouy, at the store counter near pieces of the foil pinned to the wall above a small Buddhist shrine.

"When you went to the monk you got answers for your problems," he said.

As president of the Buddhist temple, Khamphouy is in charge of finding a new head monk.

Given Moleechate’s enormous role in the community — and the violent circumstances of his death — that task is a daunting. It is pressing, too.

Without their monk, Khamphouy said, "the people feel lost."

Moleechate, 45, was bludgeoned to death inside the temple on May 11, according to news reports. Vern Phdsamay, 32, a monk who lived at the temple, was arrested and charged with murder in the slaying.

During a bail hearing on May 20, Mobile Assistant District Attorney Jo Beth Murphree said Phdsamay had struck Moleechate several times in the head with a large wooden pestle. An argument about food, Murphree said, had apparently set off the incident.

At the time, Phdsamay’s attorney, Neil Hanley, said the accusations against the defendant were out of character.

At his store, Khamphouy described Moleechate as a deeply philosophical man with a big heart.

"He helped many people," Khamphouy said of the late monk.

Moleechate assisted the 300 families of his community, helping them translate from Thai and Laotion to English, with family concerns, with questions about immigration.

In the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Ivan, Moleechate opened the temple as a shelter. And after the Gulf oil spill, Moleechate helped bring the community together, he said.

He took care of his assistant monks, too.

Once, when Phdsamay had suffered an ear ailment and had to go to Birmingham for treatment, Moleechate accompanied him, Khamphouy recalled.

A native of Thailand, Moleechate studied Buddhism in India and became head monk at the Grand Bay worship center, Wat Buddharaksa Temple, 16 years ago.

In an interview at the temple with the Press-Register in May 2010, Moleechate said that he had grown up in a poor family near the border with Laos and began his religious studies at age 12.

He became a monk at age 21.

He spoke of the Buddha as a model of perfection, a way of life and thought.

"We try to lead the Buddhist people to meditate," he said. "To cool down, to slow down. The clear mind. The pure mind."

Khamphouy described the monk accused of killing Moleechate as quite the opposite — having a troubled mind.

Moleechate had been aware of it, he said, even arranging for Phdsamay to see a psychologist.

Khamphouy has already located two monks who he thinks might work well in the south Mobile County community — one in California, another in Florida.

They must be of a high station in terms of experience and knowledge.

"We listen to what he says when he preaches," he said.

"We see if the people like him or do not like him."

Once a monk is nominated as leader, a vote by the board is held.

Whoever is chosen will take up residence at the temple on Boe Road in Grand Bay, opened in 2010 after a fire gutted an earlier structure in Irvington.

A golden Buddha stands before the temple. Inside, figures of the Buddha fill an altar.

Khamphouy said that half of Moleechate’s ashes are at the temple; the other half were sent to Thailand.

On a recent day at the complex, one of Moleechate’s assistant monks, the Rev. Sisavath, walked across the grounds from the monk’s house to the temple.

Barefoot, in saffron robes, he stepped inside.

Sisavath has been with Wat Buddaraksa Temple for five years, and still speaks little English.

When asked about his lost monk, he nodded on hearing the name Chaiwat Moleechate.

He touched his chest.

"Sad," he said. "Sad."

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Buddhist teacher shares insight on compassion

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Battle Creek, Michigan (USA) -- Sometimes love comes easily, springing from the bonds of family and friendship. Loving kindness toward all sentient beings, however, requires a little more work.

As a Buddhist teacher, Bardor Tulku Rinpoche knows about turning good intentions toward the world at large. He will be in Battle Creek to talk about compassion as the heart of spiritual practice on Sept. 21. The event is free and open to everyone.

Bardor is a “tulku” - a title given to a reincarnated lama - and a “rinpoche,” a title of respect and achievement.

When Bardor Rinpoche was a young boy, his family had to flee occupied Tibet and he was the only one to survive. His trek ended with the 16th Karmapa, who instantly recognized him as the third incarnation of a Tibetan sage.

Rinpoche studied in a monastery in the Indian state of Sikkim. In the 1970s, he was sent to the United States to teach Buddhism, where he established the Kunzang Palchen Ling center in Red Hook, N.Y.

Matt Willis of Battle Creek first crossed paths with Bardor Rinpoche back in 1990. Willis was studying the tenets of Buddhism from books, but he said the lama’s authenticity spoke to him beyond what any text could offer.

“Oh, this is my teacher,” Willis remembered feeling.

Now, Willis is part of the Palchen Study Group, six to 10 people who meet in Battle Creek to study Tibetan Buddhism and meditation. Bardor Rinpoche is their spiritual director, and his visit to Battle Creek is part of a weekend of workshops.

Bardor Rinpoche took time on Thursday to speak to the Enquirer about genuine motivations, spirituality and happiness. He was assisted by a translator, Peter O’Hearn, also known as Lama Yeshe Gyamtso.

Is there an example of a time in your life when you wanted to react negatively, but you were able to be compassionate and found that had the better result?

“Unless you are some kind of buddha, or bodhisattva, you’re not going to be free of anger. But what we can all try to do is not be reactive and not automatically respond with anger to anger, or hatred to hatred, or a verbal abuse to verbal abuse - but to consider the other person’s needs as well as our own, and respond motivated by concern not only for ourselves, but for them. So that we act appropriately, but out of kindness, not out of hatred.”

So, it’s about the action?

“It’s actually equally about the motivation and the action.”

Did religion help Rinpoche get through losing his family, losing his home?

“Dharma — or spirituality, religion — was of great help at that time. It helped me not only face the difficulties that I underwent, but also face them in a healthy and responsible way.”

What do you think “happiness” is?

“From a mundane, worldly point of view, we usually define happiness as things going well. Like, having a long life, free of illness, free of mishap, being sufficiently affluent, having everything we need and getting along with the people around us. And of course, these things are very conducive to happiness. But, from a spiritual point of view, we define happiness as being more concerned with others than we are with ourselves. That the more concerned you are with the well-being of others, somehow, the more happy you will be. And the more you are concerned only with yourself, the more suffering you will have. So, when someone is actively involved in helping others, they’re usually pretty happy.”

How is teaching Buddhism in the West different than it would be if you were still in the East?

“There is a great difference in that people born in those Asian countries which have a long history of Buddhism, are from early life are in a fairly Buddhist environment. So, it’s sort of part of their fundamental upbringing. And often part of their education, all the way through higher education. So therefore, it’s familiar to them, it’s not foreign, and they take to it quite naturally. In this country, people interested in Buddhism are coming from a place where it’s not that well known, it’s not that mainstream. So therefore, they need to step into it very, very gradually. They need to start by learning the most basic things, and then practicing very straightforward, simple form of meditation. And it has to be taken very, very step-by-step.”

What was your training like? Did you find it a struggle at all?

“It certainly required effort. Both the learning of the ritual details and practices, and also the great amount of memorization that is required in the Tibetan religious educational system. That takes work. I mean, you have to put the work in. But, I didn’t find any of it impossible or beyond my reach.”

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Buddhist temple thrives in the heart of Montrose

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Houston, TX (USA) -- You'd be forgiven if, driving past Dawn Mountain, you thought it was a creatively named architecture firm. Though it's housed in a neat brick building on busy Richmond Avenue near South Shepherd, it's a Tibetan Buddhist temple and community center.

<< Dawn Mountain founders Harvey Aronson and Anne Klein say a sense of joy and hope are central to Buddhism.

Founded in 1996, Dawn Mountain is the creation of Anne Klein, a professor of religious studies at Rice University, and her husband, Harvey Aronson, a therapist, and it is the outcome of an unlikely life journey for a girl from Albany, N.Y., and a boy from Brooklyn.

If you are sitting and sipping tea with the pair, surrounded by brightly colored paintings and statues and wall hangings, it's impossible not to think: These are two of the most serene people you'll ever meet.

For Klein, the story began in college on a semester abroad in France, when she had a sudden, inexplicable desire to travel to India. "I knew nothing about Buddhism or graduate school," she says, but decided a Ph.D. program in Buddhism at the University of Wisconsin was her best ticket to India.

There she met Aronson, who was also in the doctoral program. And she discovered the intricacies of Buddhism. "I was astounded at how sophisticated it was," she says.

The pair traveled to India, "and I just fell in love with the whole thing - the great open-hearted and mystery-oriented nature of it," Klein says.

One of Aronson's earliest influences was Richard Alpert, later known as Baba Ram Dass. "Going all the way back, Richard Alpert said we are all mired in repetitive behavior that obstructs our spiritual nature," he says. Becoming aware of those patterns, through practice and guidance, begins the process of becoming free of them and allows love, peace, joy and kindness to emerge. "There really is a kind of deeper possibility for human nature," he says.

Americans are plagued with self-hatred, but one of the teachings of Buddhism is that a person should have "a good dollop of compassion for myself and others," Aronson says.

Central to their teachings is the concept of mindfulness, or being absolutely in touch with the present moment. If you are mindful, you can recognize negative thoughts as just what they are: thoughts.

The process isn't easy, and it requires a commitment to a lifetime of learning. (Both Klein and Aronson still have teachers they rely on. So does the Dalai Lama.) Klein likens it to digging for gold in the ground. The gold is there, even if you can't see it, even if you have to get dirty and do a lot of digging to find it. Everyone has a perfect space within.

Houston is a tough place to be a Buddhist. "It's a very success-oriented city, where more money means more satisfaction," Aronson says. Except that, in the end, it doesn't.

He acknowledges that some of this introspection can sound a bit like therapy. "Buddhism is very, very early cognitive therapy," he says, but with a vision that is vast and deep, and with a spiritual dimension therapy can't touch.

The pair are open about their belief in reincarnation, which Buddhism shares with Hinduism. But they are perhaps a bit more reticent about discussing what they may know about their own past lives. It's a personal question, after all. These are not flighty movie stars who think they were once Nefertiti.

Also central to their practice is meditation. (Guided meditation is offered 11 a.m. to noon Sundays, and "Teaching Tuesdays" are 7 to 9 p.m. the first and third Tuesdays of the month. There's a welcome event at 10 a.m. Oct. 7.)

Meditation may seem like a difficult skill to develop, but the key is to start to try, even if you're very bad at it at first and your thoughts fly all over the place. "You don't sit down at a piano and play Mozart right off," Klein says.

The name of the temple, Dawn Mountain, was chosen with great care. First, they decided they wanted an American name. "Dawn" is a key word in Buddhism, and "mountain" seemed to balance it out nicely. It was also the name of the daughter of their friend Dr. Gail Gross, who had died the first year the couple was in Houston. "We wanted a sense of balance, groundedness, spaciousness," Klein says. "And light," says Aronson, finishing her sentence in the great tradition of married couples everywhere.

But most of all, they want to convey the overriding sense of joy and hope that are central to Buddhism. "The Buddhist nature has an intrinsic quality of joy," Klein says. "The pain you have is not all you are."

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Sanchi Buddhist varsity gets Cabinet approval

The ordinance on Sanchi university includes six major provisions, including teaching of Dharma/ Dhamma in the context of varied knowledge traditions and contemporary context without negating the views and practices prevailing in other countries.

The ordinance provides for maximum interaction among Asian countries with forceful historic similarities in religion, philosophy and folk culture. There are also provisions for understanding mutual viewpoints on Asian cultures and civilizations and promoting world peace and harmony by understanding each other?s roles.

The ordinance also provides for ensuring participation of scholars and willing persons of Asia and the world for fulfilling the university?s objectives, contribution to reforms in Indian and Asian countries? educational systems, making efforts for evolving a new viewpoint on alternative educational system, imparting teaching and training in various Asian arts, sculpture and skills.

Buddhist University will have five major departments on Buddhist philosophy, Sanatan Dharm and Indian Science Studies, international Buddhism studies, comparison of religions and department of linguistics, literature and arts.

Notably, the State government is scheduled to convene International Dharma-Dhamma Sammelan to at Bhopal on September 22 and 23. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and scholars and philosophers from about 22 countries, including Britain, Netherlands, Vietnam, China, Israel, Indonesia, Japan, etc will participate in the religious congregation.

This function is being organised jointly by Madhya Pradesh Culture department, Centre for the Study of Religion and Society (CSRS), New Delhi and Mahabodhi Society, Sri Lanka.

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"Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan" opens in New York

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NEW YORK, NY (USA) -- A groundbreaking exhibition that unites masterpieces of Chinese sculpture from the famed sixth century cave temples at Xiangtangshan with the first ever digitized reconstructions of their original setting opened on September 11, 2012, at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University (ISAW).

<< Standing Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Guanyin), Xiangtangshan: Southern Group of Caves, Attributed to Cave 2, 565-577 ce. Limestone freestanding sculpture with lacquerlike coating, 74 x 20 1/16 x 14 9/16 in. (188 x 51 x 37 cm). University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Purchased from C.T. Loo, 1916 (C113).

Based on the most recent scholarship and utilizing advanced imaging technology, the installation provides new insights into the history and original appearance of one of China's most remarkable Buddhist devotional sites. The majestic temples at Xiangtangshan - carved into mountains in northern China and lavishly decorated with sculpted images of Buddha and other celestial beings - were damaged during the early twentieth century, when many of the carvings were removed.

Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan brings together twelve of the finest of these temple sculptures, on loan from American and British museums, and features a full scale, digital, 3D reconstruction of the interior of one of the site's most impressive caves.

The exhibition is the result of a ten year research project on the Xiangtangshan temples and their carvings by an international team of scholars based at the University of Chicago's Center for the Art of East Asia. Echoes of the Past remains on view through January 6, 2013. ISAW Exhibitions Director and Chief Curator Jennifer Chi states: "While the sculptures from Xiangtangshan can - as indeed they have for many years - stand alone as powerfully impressive works of art, this exhibition is a rare and tremendously exciting opportunity to experience the carvings in their original context and to better understand the sacred meanings they were meant to convey."

Echoes of the Past is a superb example of the enormous potential of digital technology in the public presentation of ancient sites and objects. Carved into the limestone mountains of Hebei province in northern China, the Buddhist cave temples of Xiangtangshan (which translates as "Mountain of Echoing Halls") were the crowning cultural achievement of the Northern Qi dynasty (550-577 C.E.), whose rulers established Buddhism as the official religion of their realm.

The interiors of these vast, multistoried structures, intended as replications of paradise itself, were lavishly decorated with hundreds of carved and painted images of Buddhist deities, disciples, and crouching monsters.

Notwithstanding the enormous scale of the project, the carvings are among the most artistically refined surviving examples of Chinese medieval sculpture. Collectively, they are considered fundamental to our understanding of the history of Chinese Buddhist style and iconography. Unfortunately, during the early twentieth century, the outstanding quality and remote location of the temple carvings made them an attractive target for removal.

Heads and hands of figures, as well as freestanding sculptures, were removed.

Exhibition Overview Echoes of the Past reunites twelve of the sculptures that are representative of the imagery, iconography, style, and scale of the sculptural program at Xiangtangshan. Of supreme importance were the images of Buddha, in his many and varied manifestations. A magnificent head of Buddha, measuring nearly three feet high, likely belonged to a colossal seated figure of Prabhutaratna, Buddha of the Past, that is still in situ in the caves.

Gently smiling, with downcast eyes, the head exudes an aura of serenity and calm. A smaller, exquisitely carved freestanding figure of a seated Buddha was apparently removed intact, and even retains its large and elaborately worked halo of floral and vegetal motifs.

The exhibition also reunites the left and right hands of a colossal Maitreya, Buddha of the Future; although only fragments, the hands are highly expressive, with the creases in the flesh and such details as the fingernails all finely observed. Also on view are several superb examples of the bodhisattvas and pratyekabuddhas (enlightened spiritual beings worshipped as deities) that abounded in the sculptural program of the caves.

A life size head of the Bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta, with its symmetrical but sensitively carved features, exemplifies the wonderful balance of abstraction and naturalism that characterizes the finest Xiangtangshan sculptures. The figure of a standing pratyekabuddha, his mouth slightly open, as if reciting a prayer, has been hailed as one of the most majestic Chinese sculptures of any period. In contrast to the serenely elegant Buddhist deities are the grotesque and grimacing monsters found in the caves, probably representing evil spirits vanquished by Buddhist wisdom.

The exhibition's example is a fearsome creature, with a leonine head, curving horns, and wings rising from a corpulent humanoid body. The exhibition also includes rubbings of the sacred inscriptions that were a distinctive feature of the complex at Xiangtangshan. In addition, visitors to the exhibition have the unprecedented opportunity to virtually walk through one of the caves, experiencing it as it might have appeared in the sixth century, thanks to an enveloping media installation that layers 3D laser scans of dispersed sculptures onto digitized scans of the existing temple walls and ceiling.

More Information: http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=57679#.UFCZcK7fu3Y[/url]

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Shaolin Temple’s identity quandary

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Berlin, Germany -- If the word "Shaolin Temple" comes up and you picture monks ringing bell and chanting scriptures in a reclusive temple removed from the secular world, your image needs an update. Shaolin temples, home of Shaolin Kungfu, are spreading Shaolin culture abroad by relating to modern society.

The 2012 European Shaolin Culture Festival, held in Germany and Austria on September 7, was organized by Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng, Henan Province and the World Shaolin Association.

The first of this kind in Europe, Shaolin Kungfu institutions and practitioners across the globe participated. Lectures about Shaolin tradition, Kungfu performances, Shaolin Zen philosophy and medicinal sciences were introduced.

The festival is a test of Shaolin popularity abroad. But some worry that Shaolin tradition is becoming overly commercialized.  

Revamping an image

Shi Yongxin, the Shaolin Temple abbot, told Xinhua News Agency that Shaolin is an easy way for Westerners to learn about Chinese traditional culture.

"We hope more foreigners learn about Chinese culture and religion through the festival," said Shi.

According to Shi, over 1,000 people attended the conferences. Among them, over 400 were apprentices of Shaolin Kungfu, from 20 countries.

Shaolin Kungfu is one of the most recognizable aspects of Shaolin tradition, popularized through movies, attracting thousands of apprentices to the 1,500-year-old culture.

Six-year-old monk Shi Xiaosong, the youngest warrior monk in the temple, performed traditional Shaolin Kungfu at the festival.

Li Xudong, his father, told the Global Times that two years ago, Shi fell ill. Doctors suggested the child practice Wushu to gain back his health.

Though Shi doesn't have a typical education or childhood, Li said that Shi is content and takes courses at the temple, in lieu of normal study at school.

Shaolin Temple emphasizes educating its monks and disciples. Half the monks at the temple are born in the 1980s. Though Buddhist disciples were once isolated from the outside world, modern monks study in Buddhist institutions and universities while teaching Buddhism, religion and philosophy.

"Times have changed. Monks must learn communication and technology skills, study foreign languages and study abroad," Shi Yongxin told Xinhua.

Overseas notoriety

There are around 10 Shaolin temples in China. Shaolin Temple, in Songshan Mountain, Henan Province, is the oldest and most influential.

The first overseas culture center was established in 1995 in New York. Shaolin culture centers are now found in German, France, Russia and Australia, providing information about Buddhist culture and Wushu.

There are Shaolin Kungfu teaching institutions and organizations in over 50 countries and regions, boasting over 3 million foreign apprentices. Shaolin Kungfu courses are offered at universities overseas.

In the 1970s, the temple accepted visits from Buddhist, Wushu and cultural institutions from Japan, South Korea, Europe and the US. Meanwhile, monks from the temple gradually left China, participating in religious forums and related activities abroad. Since 1987, Kungfu performing groups were sent overseas, in over 80 countries and regions. In 2004, California set aside March 21 as the commemorative "China Songshan Shaolin Temple Day."

Shaolin Temple has a magazine, film company and office for Wushu promotion. Shaolin tradition is promoted through performances, films, TV series and Buddhist activities.

Shaolin temples accept foreign apprentices who study Kungfu, accepting hundreds each year.

Shi told Beijing News that before 2000, Shaolin culture popularity relied on Kungfu. Following it, Zen culture spread. 

Commercial aspects 

With Shaolin culture spreading abroad, some worry an inaccurate portrait is being painted in the West. In recent years, the temple has been scrutinized  for its bold commercial moves.

In 1989, the establishment of Warrior Monks Group, a tour performance group, was criticized as a pure commercial movie. In 1996, Shaolin Temple became the first temple in China to utilize the Internet. Shi Yongxin set up Henan Shaolinsi Television Co. In 1997, then Shaolin Temple Industrial Development Company in 1998.

In 2006, a Shaolin food company was established. The temple opened a medicinal company in 2007, taking advantage of ancient Shaolin medicinal sciences. And in 2008, the first online shop to sell products related to Shaolin Temple opened on taobao.com, a step towards the  e-business and commerce industry.

At a forum at Peking University last year, Shi Yongxin said that Shaolin Temple opened over 40 companies abroad and had nearly 130 martial arts clubs. The temple profits abroad mainly through three channels: tuition from apprentices, performances and film production.

Many find this contradictory to traditional images of temples as reclusive shrines with monks living off donations. Some criticize Shi's attempts to popularize Buddhist culture, calling it exploitative.

Shi said that criticism is understandable. But monks need food and electricity, and the temple has expenditures.

"Times have changed. We need to adapt and earn a living, otherwise, we could be eliminated," Shi told Beijing News, "We commercialize some parts to support our livelihood and spread Shaolin culture."

"Shaolin is known world wide. It will be tarnished by others if we don't spread it ourselves. We need to take initiative before the commercial tide takes us over," Shi said. He added that they will never cater to the mass market.

Ren Liang, a modern Buddhist expert, told the Global Times that the commercial activities aim to spread Shaolin and Buddhism culture, and this follows a natural course.

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