2016- THE YEAR IN REVIEW

2016
The Year In Review

The Blizzard of 2016.  We got over two feet of snow.

PA FARM SHOW

Tanzania

Tanzania

Clearwater, Florida

Peabody Library, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

 Spending time at the homeless shelter

Deb and Lisa's Big Ass Wedding

I spent three days at the New Skete Monestray.

An afternoon with the Hari Krishnas

A road trip to Oregon

The Democratic National Convention

Summer in the city.

Democratic Convention in Philly

My garden

At the Red Rocks Theatre in Colorado.

My Grandfather

Arlington Cemetery: Arlington, VA

Oktoberfest: Munich, Germany

 Big Sky, Montana

Joan Baez Concert in Philly

 I spent the last day of the year at the Bombay Hook Refuge.

To read more stories, check out:   bkmemoirs.blogspot.com

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Kunzang Odsal Palyul Changchub Choling

Kunzang Odsal Palyul Changchub Choling

Center for Buddhist Study and Practice in the Nyingma Tradition

Poolesville, MD

June 8, 2016

I enter the Prayer Room which is open 24 hours a day.  There are written instructions to remove my shoes and turn off my phone.  The room is large and filled with hundreds of candle holders and small Buddha statues.  A nun sits up front and prayers, sometimes in silence but other times, she mumbles. She is Caucasian, my age.  Her head is shaved. She wears a maroon cloth that constantly falls down her right arm.  She adjusts and readjusts as she prays. She prays from a prayer book that she uploaded on her IPAD tablet.

There are mats on the floor.  There are a few flimsy cushions and three card table chairs.  I sit unabashed on one of the chairs.  I grab a prayer book and make myself as comfortable as I can on a hard, metal chair. I leaf through the book and jot down prayers that speak to me.

• Ø  May all be auspicious.
• Ø  May we be born in good families, with clear intellect, free of pride and with great compassion.
• Ø  By this virtue may I swiftly accomplish the state of AVALKITESHVARA.

Once the nun realizes that I am not praying, she prays out loud, in English, for me to hear.  As she prays, she prepares a concoction of incense.  Each substance she adds has significance to her prayer. She prays for the female Buddhists and I wonder if her focus today in on Hillary Clinton.  Hillary won the nomination last night and I noticed her campaign yard signs when I drove in to the grounds.

The nun leaves the room and I am now alone in this prayer room.  I look around to see if anyone is coming and it appears that I am alone now.  So I take out my phone and snap a few photos. I finish just as I hear the door knob turn and see the nun again. She resumes her prayer stance and I bury myself back in to my prayer book, relieved that I didn’t get caught taking photos.  I leave shortly thereafter and wander the grounds.

Opening Prayer of Blessings:

To the Root Guru, I pray;

• Ø  Grant blessings to accomplish the inexhaustible rainbow body
• Ø  Grant blessings to accomplish the dissolution of the aggregate without remains
• Ø  Grant blessings to conducive circumstances and obstacles
• Ø  Grant blessings to be free from attachment to food and clothing
• Ø  Grant blessings that my experience (visions) may be lucid without obscurations
• Ø  Grant blessings to see my true face, the mind’s actual nature
• Ø  Grant blessings to be free from the stain of discursive thoughts
• Ø  Grant blessings to realize the stainless originally pure Nature
• Ø  Grant blessings to be free from the duality of self and others.
• Ø  Grant blessings to cleanse the darkness of ignorance.
• Ø  Grant blessings that experience and realization may arise in my mind.
• Ø  Grant blessings to accomplish the two purposes of benefiting self and others.
• Ø  Grant blessings that the power of my speech may increase.

Bodhisattua Vow

I dedicate myself to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings.   Offer my body, speech and mind in order to accomplish the purpose of all sentient beings. I will return in whatever form necessary, under extraordinary circumstances, to end suffering.  Let me be born in times unpredictable, in places unknown, until all sentient beings are liberated from the cycle of death and rebirth.

Taking no thought for my comfort or safety, precious Lama, make of me a pure and perfect instrument by which the end of suffering and death in all forms might be realized. Let me achieve perfect enlightenment for the sake of all beings. And then by my hand and heart alone, may all beings achieve full enlightenment and perfect liberation.

                                 

                                                            Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Shining Lake of Crystal Tears

        A Confessional Prayer

Ayra Tara, Noble One

We bow down to your Lotus Feet

And beg you to remain enthroned

One the Lotus Throne within our hearts

Oh Mother Tara, Holy One, Perfect One

We are lost

Now more than ever darkness comes

And we are overcome with our weakness ad poor view

Yet You remain for us.

Hare Krishna- DE

Krishna Village
Bear, DE
June 2016
60/60 Project

I was a little afraid to go here.  As a kid, the Hari Krishna people scared me a little bit.  They were so different from the people I knew. I used to see them in Center City (Philly).  They would dance in a near trance and block foot traffic along Broad Street. That was in the late 60's.  I haven't seen them since I was 12 or 13.  But now, fifty years later, I have a chance to visit with them at a Krishna Village near my home.

I go to the village but with a bit of intrepidation. Will they still intimidate me?  Will they still be so different from people Inow know as as adult?  Will they now seem so out there as they once did?

I drive to the site, slow down and drive past it. It looks okay to me so I turn around and go in. to my surprise most of the people were Indian, not Caucasian.

Sitting on the lawn under a tree are a group of musicians playing sitars and chanting Hare Krishna. The lyrics are pretty simple to master: “Krishna, Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. All of the songs centered around this mantra.

After a few minutes I stroll around the rest of the grounds. There is a carnival like atmosphere. kids are playing organize games. Adults are preparing favorite treats and food from India. Merchants are selling saris and other Indian garb. There’re a couple stalls run just by Indians in hopes of encouraging other Indians to support their businesses.

 A small temple is tucked away, inside the house that sits on the property. I wander in and find 20 people kneeing to the ground and chanting “Krishna, Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. I sit for a few minutes on one of the few chairs available and then decide to leave. As I am making my way to the car two Caucasian women shout “Hare Krishna”. I look around to see who they’re calling to and realize it’s to me so I shout back “Hare Krishna”. I don’t know if this is the right response or not that’s all I can think of to say.

I engage in conversation with these two women and now I’m lured back into the festivities. “Come try some of the food,” Jovita insists.  She tells me her story as we walk. “My Krishna name is Jovita.  But I was raised as Louise.” She found Krishna in her 40s after her husband left. Now she’s retired and spends all of her time working on her enlightenment. “Are you searching for answers”, she asks me “because Krishna has all the answers to life’s questions. You just have to be willing to work on”, she tells me with a confidence that is genuine and naïve. “Even if you were raised as a Catholic and believe in Jesus you can still follow Krishna. You know Jesus is a disciple of Krishna so it’s really not a conflict of your religion. I was raised a Catholic. Were you?”, she inquires.

We come to the food stands and I am given a quick overview of all of the food. I’m not hungry and tried to convey that thought but that doesn’t matter to my two friends. I am trying some of the food whether I like it or not.   As we walk and eat, I am introduced to everyone who crosses our path. My story is told through Jovita and I nod my head in agreement to verify her statements. “Maybe she’ll begin to follow Krishna now that she’s visited us”, she tells everyone with great enthusiasm and great hope.

I am given magazines and flyers about Krishna and a thick book that lays out all of his teachings and all of the answers to life’s difficult problems. I leave and wonder who’s right. Are there really answers to life’s problems if I just follow this path. Or have Jovita and the others convince themselves that maybe their life will be easier if they could have an answer to difficult questions.