Bhikkhu Cintita

Category: Uncategorized

  • Big Theravada Conference

    March 5-8 I attended the 2nd conference of the Association of Theravada Buddhist Universities here at SIBA in Sagaing Hills. This was very much like many of the academic conferences I used to attend in the United States is format and feeling, bringing together a huge international set of scholars for general sessions and simultaneous panel sessions an a variety of topics.

    There were hundreds of participants, perhaps 60% of which were scholar-monks and nuns, and 40% lay people. Many participants, both lay and monastic were professors or advanced graduate students. Countries represented, in approximate descending order of number of participants, were Manmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, India, Napal, Laos, USA, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malasia, Australia, Uganda and Mexico. From the USA were Burmese monks and our group from Sitagu-affiliated centers, and the famous Bhante G. (Gunaratana, author of Mindfulness in Plain English; I've been a big fan for a long time). There were also a couple of Mahayana monks. Everyone was interested to meet a monk from Uganda, the only one. People are also very interested in Buddhism in the other frontiers of Buddhism, the USA and Mexico.

    Topics for lecture included scriptural teachings (pariyatti), practice (patipatti), Engaged Buddhism, monsticism, current development of Theravada, and current Pali literatures. All talks were in English, except for the sessions on Pali literature, which were in Pali. One of my tasks over the next year is to master Pali, but I see I am just starting. One of the things I've discovered is that the Burmese have their own pronunciation of Pali (e.g., sadhu becomes thadu, with English-like "th," paccaya becomes pissiya, etc.). But I learned during the conference that while the Burmese call their version of Pali "Pali," they call the standard pronunciation, found for instance in Thailand and Sri Lanka "Sanskrit"! I'm not sure what they call Sanskrit.

    An Indian scholar gave a talk on the role of Vipassana (Insight) meditation in Theravada. He declared it the heart of Theravada Buddhism, and stated that the Buddha's primary contribution in the area of insight or wisdom is the recognition that mere intellectual understanding of the nature of reality does not suffice, that one must go beyond conceptualisation and meet reality at the level of direct experience. This sounds exactly like Zen to me.

    Bhante G. gave practical talk about Buddhism in the USA. He came to the USA in 1968 (from Sri Lanka) and has founded the Bhavana Society, so spoke directly from experience. Some asked him how he sees the future of Buddhism in the USA. He said he thought the future looked "very bright," pointing out how many Buddhist groups are sprouting almost everywhere. But, he warned, that there is a lack of teachers and as a result a lot of misinterpretation of Buddhism. He said this is a very dangerous thing, comparing it to grabbing a snake by the wrong end. I had an opportunity to have a long talk with him yesterday morning. He was very encouraging of my intentions here.

    The conference also incorporated a lot of pomp and circumstance (the prime minister of Myanmar was here for the opening ceremony, for instance) and entertainment. The "cultural program" included chanting from Myanmar, chanting and dancing from Nepal, and music and dancing from Thailand. A group of about 20 young performers from a Buddhist university took a bus from north Thailand to come here. Their music was an interesting blend of traditional Thai and modern elements, for instance with very strange looking electric "guitars" and various percusion instruments, bamboo flutes, etc. The dancing, all be women, seemed completely traditional, very slow and graceful, moving in unison. The Thai's were a huge hit. Many normally constrained monks, many with cameras, seemed to take a lot of interest in the female dancers. (sigh.)

    My ordination is set for tomorrow morning. After that, our group will make a final trip, to Rangoon and the Mailay peninsula, bringing me back here to SIBA about March 20.

  • English Lessons

    The upcoming conference of the International Association of Theravada Buddhist Universities is almost underway here in Sagaing Hills. Many of the about three hundred visitors are beginning to arrive. Bhante Gunaratana of the Bhavana Society and author of Mindfulness in Plain English arrived yesterday. Originally only about 100 delegates were expected, preparations have gotten very busy. My ordination date has changed til after the conference, to the morning of March 10 here or the evening of March 9 in real (Texas) time.
     
    The conference is almost entirely in English, except for a smaller Pali language session. Some of the senior monks at Sitagu are busy preparing and rehearsing their talks, which for many is quite challenging. Many have much difficulty with pronunciation, even though the vocabulary is there, so I have been helping some of them to prepare. Although English is widely taught here, and Burma is a former British colony, few Burmese have contact with native speakers of English or with foreigners in general. I noticed in our travels to smaller villages that most Burmese have never even seen a foreigner outside of TV or movies. This made the native American component of our party very exotic indeed. It was interesting to be stared at so much, expecially by kids who would crowd around our car when we stopped and press their noses right up against the windows, then get very excited if we so much as waved, or if one of our party took their picture.
     
    I intend to offer a course focussing on the pronunciation of English as Sitagu. Sitagu Academy is supposed to be English-language speaking, but I understand that I will have to try to learn more Burmese than I intended to be able to communicate with people here. I was helping one of the monks whose rehearsal presentation I had attended without understanding more than a few words. While we were re-rehearsing I asked him who was currently teaching English at Sitagu. He answered that he was! People, kids and monks, are very eager to learn English or anything else, and work very diligently. So teaching English here should be a rewarding experience.
     
    One of our party, Scott Conn, has returned to Austin already. If he has not done so already, he intends to post some pictures to this blog so that you can see what it looks like around here.
     
     

  • Peculiarities of the Burmese

    Our itinerent group has taken two more trips since the last posting without enough time between for me to get a post off. The first was to Taunggyi and Lake Inwa in Shan State. Shan State seems to be the most prosperous in Burma and Taunggyi is very clean. In Burma a vacation trip is a pilgimage and vice versa, since anything worth seeing includes a pagoda as the dominating feature. Near Taunggyi we visited a very deep cave… containing over 8,000 Buddhas. The second trip was to Monywa, the home town of U Maho, the leader of our expedition. We stayed at his old monstery, at which he has recently founded a new grade school. Near Monywa there is what is reported to be the world's largest Buddha: 400 feet high, with stairs and windows all the way up. From Monywa we made an excursion to near the border of India, Kassapa National Park. It is deep in the jungle, and we rode elephants for the last couple of miles. It is reported to be the site of MahaKassapa's (MahaKashyapa's) demise. Kassapa is known for leading the First Council after the Buddha's death, and is also considered to be the second ancestor of the Zen lineage, right after the Buddha.
     
    Let me record a number of impressions I have of the Burmese:
     
    Most Burmese and slender and attractive in appearance. They exhibit a lot of racial variety; you can see Chinese-looking faces, Indian-looking, characteristic Burmese with rounder eyes than the Chinese, and sometimes European characteristics. The women are so attractive, it makes you wonder why there are so many monks (or what I am doing).
     
    Almost all Burmese, men and women, wear longyi, long skirts that wrap around and constantly have to be retied. In wealthier areas a certain proportion of Western-style clothing is found.
     
    Most women and many children wear thanakha on their faces. This is made from a tree bark, protects the skin and is supposed to be cooling. Its color is an off-white. Some women wear it stylishly symmetrically on each cheek, others just cover their whole faces (and bodies, I am told), giving them a ghost-like appearance.
     
    A lot of Burmese, mostly men, young and old, chew betel nuts, which are a mild stimulent. This turns the teeth red, lending a vampire-like appearance to the consumer.
     
    Burmese are very playful and smile a lot. This is even true of people hawking small items at tourist sights. They take their profession as a kind of game and generally feel no resentment when turned away; for instance, they will be glad to give you directions thereafter.
     
    I suppose Westerners are disorganized in their own ways, but it is more noticable in a foreign culture. Schedules change constantly. Some may recall that our group was originally going to embark on our trip from Austin on February 14, then this changed twice. This seems to be quite normal here. For instance, I have been scheduled to ordain on March 5 for some time now, right between two other events. Now I notice that the two events have been merged without notification (I don't know what that means for international travelers to the second event who have already made travel arrangement). Another thing I observe constantly is that no one seems to paint a wall or ceiling without dribbling paint on the floor. Sometimes beautiful wood or marble floors are impaired by this. I am not sure what they are thinking; they do have newspapers here.
     
    People tolerate and feed cats and dogs, which are abundant, but rarely claim ownership of are particularly fond of these animals. One reason, it occurs to me, might be that monks provide an outlet for their affection, and may be even more good natured and loyal.
     
    The hardest thing for me to understand is that people seem to be completely insensitive to noise. Americans get mad when a neighbor plays the stereo too loud or too late. To the Burmese this seems to be a kind of offering; they even set loudspeakers outside for the benefit of their neighbors, full blast, and this can be any time, even at 3:30 in the morning. People just don't seem to care. Buddhist temples often plan Pali chants full blast, sometimes throughout the night. Weird.
     
    People seem to have a completely different sense of personal space than we. Their houses tend to open directly to the outside. They don't care if people peek in on them. On tours of hospitals we have been surprised at the places we were allowed to visit. Men have a lot of freedom to wear as little as possible, and often bathe outside. Monks too. Women always maintain a high degree of modesty, even if bathing outside.
     
    I'm getting to understand traffic patterns, or lack thereof, a bit better. Initially I interpreted the inceasant honking and meaning "get out of my way!" and wondered why no one who was targeted in this way appeared in the least angry. I now see that there is part of an interactive process. I honk means, "I'm right behind you." The response is typically to look ahead, determine if it is safe for the honker to pass, then to turn on the left blinker to signal the go ahead. After passing there are usually a couple of seemingly friendly hand gestures involved. Right of way seems to depend entirely on relative size of vehicle, even when a car is entering the street from a driveway as a bicycle is passing. There seem to be no traffic laws, no traffic police and no auto insurance.
     
    Myanmar has some light industry, and manufactures a couple of different cars, from, I understand, 65% domestic parts. One of these is a kind of Jeep. Another is a little blue truck, hardly bigger than a skate board, that apparently comes in a kit for home assembly. Most of the economy is agricultural, and seems not to have changed through the centuries. Farmers work with little more than hoes and sometimes oxcarts. Even highway construction is very primitive, with large numbers of people hauling rock and sand by hand, and heating asphalt in barrels with wood.
     
    There is for the most part little protection of the environment. Most cities have no garbage collection; people simple burn trash wherever they want, producing some awful smells. Exceptions are Taunggyi, in which I was surprised to find garbage trucks. The air seemed very clean there. People dicard rubbish rather indescrimately. Kassapa National Park is another exception, in which the forests are well preserved. Apparently the park was endowed with a huge grant from the Japanese.
     
    Electricity is very unreliable here. We have power at SITA about 70% of the time, with daily outages. If you get a very abrupt email from me, it is probably because the power has just gone out and the computer is running for a short time on battery.
     
    Public health is an issue. I've seen little evidence of emergency care. Most health clinics are run by monasteries at very little cost. We have been very careful about the food and water we consume; it is easy for Westerners to get sick here. It is lucky that we are traveling with Burmese monks who have lived in the USA for a time, since they are concerned that they have lost their immunities. Sitagu Buddhist Academy, where I am now, is very careful about food and water. I read that the life expectency here is about 53 years.
     
    Burma is a country where, working through Buddhist organizations, a little help from abroad can go a long way. We visited a new school in Monywa, two stories tall, with classrooms and housing for teachers, that was built through a donation from one person in Baltimore for $20,000. Health care and education are to two biggest concerns of Buddhist organizations, though I would like to see orphages and nunneries also better supported. At the same time, Burma in turn has a lot to give the West; though not materially, it is certainly spiritually much stronger.
     
    Kojin
     
     

  • Buddhism in Burma

    'Sattvas,

    I'm back at Sagaing Hills for a couple of days, which will be my home base  I feel at home here because in a lot of ways it reminds me of Marin County in California, where I grew up, only not so upscale. Sagaing Hills is very hill, often with very steep hills, and heavily wooded and is full of narrow winding roads. But even though there is a lot of Buddhism in Marin County by American standards, here there is one temple, pagoda or monastery after another.

    I am impressed that Buddhism is seamlessly part of the culture here. I think that experiencing this is one of the primary reasons Ashin Ariyadhamma encouraged me to come to Burma. This really is a culture of generosity even tempers. I've never seen a public display of anger, I've never seen a bicycle with a lock on it, and this in spite of possibly the highest level of poverty in Asia. There is quite a bit of begging, but it is never pushy. People are not self-assertive or trying to distinguish themselves. People understand the teachings around moha and dosa and seem rather consistently to exhibit amosa (generosity) and adosa (compassion). Quite remarkable people.

    People exhibit quite a lot of reverence for monks. Unfortunately less for nuns (who for historical circumstances are not fully ordained). At the same time monks mix freely with the general population. Often you see one riding on the back of someone's bicycle or hanging off of a truck. Most males in the country have been monks at some time, at least for short periods, and have received the same reverence during those periods, even from their own parents. I think this reinforces the idea that the reverence is for the robes, or for the Dharma, not for the individual that inhabits the robes. The monks make themselves totally dependent on the offerings of the lay people, yet give more than inspiration in return. I am impressed how many monks are involved in public services, like establishing schools, hospitals and orphanages. Ashing Punnobassa, who I've seen a few times now, and whom some people in Austin will remember, is involved in providing schooling for 100 novice monks (ages ~5 to 19). The arrangement is an economy of gifts which I think must inspire the pervasive generosity of the culture.

    Temples seem often to accrue a lot of physical wealth, and this can be found in the Catholic-like extravagance of many of the pagodas. Gold leaf spires are very common. Many of the older more obscure monasteries at the same time can be quite run-down. Monks for the most part live very modestly, even older monks and abbots.

    I've accrued most of my requisites toward ordination simply through spontaneous giving. To ordain as a bhikkhu one traditionally needs eight thing: the three robes plus a belt, an alms bowl, a needle, a razor and water filter. (At a hotel I realized I could take home two of the eight requisites: a sewing kit and a disposable razor. But I couldn't find a shower cap or shampoo on the list. We visited an old teacher of Ashin Ariyadhamma's, Ashin Suriya, who is a 100 year-old meditation master. As we are preparing to leave, he said to the three monks in our party (this was interpreted for my be Aung Ko, the Burmese American in our group), "I wish I could give you all robes. But there is someone I can give robes to." He had a young monk fetch something from the other room and he came back and handed me a set of robes. The very next day we visited another monastery, whose 80-year-old abbot gave me another complete set of robes, plus a bowl.

    I see very small traces of commercialism creeping in to the culture and it makes me shiver. This shows up in billboards with oriental men and women trying to look sexy or distinguished and owning stuff. This is in start contrast with the apparent attitudes of most people.

    Kojin

  • Travels

    Our group (3 monks, 3 lay and me), ison a pilgimage to Buddhist pagodas and monsteries, but we've also had the opportunity to visit some parks and look around some cities and towns. The Sitagu organization, a network of monasteries and public service establishments, all founded by Ashin Nyanissara, has taken us under its wing, so wer feel well cared for. On a couple of occassions our group has been invited to a meal by lay supporters of Sitagu, once on board a boat that took us up and down the Irrawaddy River. We have stelpt in Manday, in the middle of the country; in Sagaing Hills, which will become my home base, just across the Irrawaddy from Mandalay; Maymyo, east of Mandalay, on the road toward China;  and Taungoo, in South Burma, where we just arrived today. We've stayed mostly in monasteries.
     
    Mandalay is a very busy, largely impovershed city that was once the capitol of King Mindon, but captured by the British in 1885. An interesting sight is the world largest book: the entire Pali Canon on marble slabs, each slab housed under a tine pagoda. It goes on and on. Maymyo was developed by the British as a resort, since at 3000 feet it is much cooler than most of Burma. There are many solid British colonial buildings and the city is visibly much more posperous than Manaday. Ashin Punnobassa, whom some readers might remember as the monk who took the Nagarjuna class at AZC, works in Maymyo at a training monastery for 100 novice monks. We offered them all breakfast one morning. Taungoo is near Ashin Ariyadhamma's home. We met his preceptor on arrival, and will meet his teacher, a 100 year old meditation master, tomorrow.
     
    People here a very friendly and smile a lot. Almost everyone is a devout Buddhist. We really see that when traveling with monks; people spontaneously start doing prostrations when they pass. Life here is very bare-bones. A typical house is basically a wicker box, with a thatched roof, a garage-sized opening for a door and large shuttered windows, no glass just holes. Many of the roads are good, but there is nothing like a bicycle lane or even a sidewak. Bikes, scooters, pedestrians, cattle, pigs, cars, semi carrying goods from China, horse carts, ox carts and dogs all share the same space. To drive a car you just plow through this and honk a lot. Bikes and scooters typically carry multiple passangers, and sometimes large loads of various wares, including lumber.
     
    At meals, in a monastery, restaurant or house, each person almost always receives a plate of white rice and sometimes a bowl of soup. Then various things like fish, chicken, pork, cooked and raw vegetables and spicy condiments cover the table and people mix what they need in which the rice. The food is quite good, though Scott, an American in our group, got very sick today, apparently from something he had eaten. Monks almost always eat separately from lay people because they must eat their last meal before noon. Today we visited a family for lunch. After the monks had eaten, seated at a low table on the floor, the family simply picked up the whole table, with lots of uneaten food, and moved it to where the lay people were sitting and replaced it with a table full of tea and desserts.
     
    We will return to Sagaing Hills in two days, after which I should be writing more regularly.
     
    Kojin

  • I’m Here!

    I arrived in Burma the day before yesterday. We flew from Yongon (Rangoon) to Mandalay the first day and attended part of an enormous Buddhist conference at a temple in Mandalay. We've been visiting quite a few temples, and even and hospital and a hospice. Things are very interesting here, the people are incredibly friendly and people are sure Buddhist. It is amazing how many monks there are, how big the temples are and how many temples there are. We came to the Sitagu International Buddhist Academy yesterday. The facilities are very good, as is the food. There is one other American monk here, I was glad to see. Someone here will post some pictures on this blog in a couple of weeks.
     
     

  • Contact Information while Kojin is in Burma

    ‘Sattvas,

    I will leave for Burma in one week. There is still some time to ask to
    have tea with me before I go.

    I will foreseeably be in Burma for a year or more, primarily at the Sitagu
    International Buddhist Academy in Sagaing Hills near Mandalay,
    a small monastic college. Unfortunately there is no international
    postal service to/from Burma! However, I will be using the email
    account, below and will be posting to the blog below:

    Email: bhante.dogen@gmail.com
    Blog: bhantedogen.blogspot.com

    Many people have asked if they can make contributions. In fact I’m
    quite overwhelmed by people’s expressions of generosity. My livelihood
    after March 6 will depend entirely on people asking that question.

    My personal needs will be small while I am in Burma, barring an
    emergency. I will be fed by the good laypeople of Burma and will have
    free medical care (not up to Western standards). An AZC sangha member
    will purchase my new robes and alms bowl, and feed the monks at the
    Academy on the day I reordain to boot. I will never own much. I will
    have some future needs when I return to Austin and am living at Sitagu
    Vihara (Burmese temple).

    I may have an impersonal need, for a project, however. I will probably
    be teaching English as a Second Language while at the International
    Academy in Burma and I understand that they do not have adequate
    textbooks. I would also like to review the English-language part of
    their library, which I understand does not have many Western volumes,
    because the cost is prohibitive. I would like to be able to have books
    purchased and shipped to Burma depending on needs. The abbot at Sitagu
    Vihara knows how to get books over there. I think Burmese monks’
    education in English would be a very worthwhile thing for people over
    here to support, as many of them would like to teach the Dhamma in the
    West.

    Gwyn (Gwyndows) Waterfield will act as my steward (kappiya in Pali),
    that is she will coordinate donations for me. Please contact her if
    you would like to make a donation. You may either donate directly
    (checks may be written to John Dinsmore), or pledge contingently
    (e.g., “If Kojin needs anything I’ll donate up to $200”). You may also
    earmark your donation (e.g., “If Kojin needs to buy books, I’ll donate
    up to $100″). For contingent donations please indicate a time frame.
    (The Vinaya specifies that if someone makes an offer without a time
    frame like, “If you need something, just let me know,” then by default
    the offer is good for four months. Bhikkhus are not supposed to
    initiate a request.)

    Please, a donation to me or my projects should not be in lieu of a
    donating to the Austin Zen Center. Austin Zen Center needs your full
    support in this time of transition.

    Here is Gwyn’s contact information:

    Gwyn Waterfield
    2900 W. Anderson Ln. C-200
    Austin, TX 78757
    (512) 576-3597 (cell)
    (512) 444-1954 (office)
    gwyndows@yahoo.com

    In the Dharma,
    Kojin

  • Pilgrimage

    This is the announcement of the pilgrimage at the beginning of my stay
    in Burma, from Sitagu Vihara (Burmese temple in Austin). The other six
    participants will return to the USA on March 20, while I stay on at
    the Sitagu International Buddhist Academy near Mandalay.

    Feb 3, 2009 to ?, Burma (Myanmar Trip), Austin Pilgrimage Group
    1. Sayadaw Ashin Mahosadha Pandita (Aggamaha Pandita) (Vejayanta
    Vihara, Maryland)
    2. Sayadaw Ashin Ariyadhamma (Sitagu Buddhist Vihara, Austin, TX)
    3. Sayadaw Ashin Nayakalankara (Sitagu Dhamma Vihara, St. Paul, MN)
    4. John Kojin Dinsmore (Austin, Zen Center)
    5. Miss Wendy Bixby (Volunteer Coordinator, Hospice, Austin, TX)
    6. Oscar Aung Koe (Secretary of Sitagu Dhamma Vihara, St. Paul, MN)
    7. Scott R Conn (Austin, TX)

    To participate following programmes:

    1. Shwe Kyin Nikaya General Assembly (Samgha Council) which is going
    to be held in Mandalay Hill on Feb 6 to 8, 2009.
    2. Opening Ceremony of Primary School, Library, Computer Room and Pure
    Drinking Water System at Kyaung Gone Village, Toungoo which is going
    to be held on Feb 14, 2009.
    3. Venerable Sayadaw Ashin Mahosadha Pandita (Aggamaha Pandita)’s 67th
    Birthday Ceremony which is going to be held in Sagaing Hills on Feb
    16, 2009.
    4. Great Opening Ceremony of Mahasaddhammajotika Sima (Ordination)
    Hall and 1st Convocation Ceremony which is going to be held in Sitagu
    International Buddhist Academy, Sagaing Hills on March 5, 2009.
    Following by – Ordination Ceremony of John Kojin Dinsmore
    5. International Buddhist Universities Summit, attended by over 100
    delegates from 21 Buddhist Universities and colleges of 18 countries
    which is going to be held in Sitagu International Buddhist Academy,
    Sagaing Hills on March 7 to 9, 2009.
    6. Venerable Sayadaw Ashin Nyanissara (Sitagu Sayadaw) (Aggamaha
    Pandita, D. Litt., Ph.D)’s 72th Birthday Ceremony, which is going to
    be held in Sitagu International Buddhist Academy, Sagaing Hills on
    March 10, 2009.
    7. Pilgrimage Tour to very ancient and historical sites of Myanmar
    such as Bagan, Mt. Poppa, Mandalay, Maymyo, Sagaing, Mingun, Monywa,
    Alongdaw Kassapa, Inlay, Toungoo, Yangon, Kyaik Htee Yoo (Golden Rock Pagoda), Chaung Tha, etc:

    May the Dhamma prevail in its pristine purity.
    Sitagu Buddhist Vihara
    Theravada Dhamma Society of America

  • Leaving Austin Zen Center

    AZC Sangha Members,

    People have been asking if I am leaving AZC. The answer is yes … and no.

    I’ve recently made some fairly radical decisions about my practice career, that I very quickly communicated to a number of people. As these things happen, a wider group of people have then heard about my decisions and begun to interpret them in not completely accurate ways. I think it is time for me to announce my plans publicly bring people up to date and to clear up any potential confusion about my motivations.

    Alongside various shortcomings, I’ve gained a reputation at AZC for steadfastness. I am a founding member of AZC, I practiced in the Clear Spring Zendo, the precursor to the Austin Zen Center, I’ve been here longer than Seirin, I was one of that first group of four who took the Precepts after Seirin arrived, and the second person to leave here for practice and training at Tassajara, the Soto Zen monastery in California, abandoning a lucrative and stimulating career for this practice. I was ordained as a priest by Seirin on April 19, 2003 in our zendo. I’ve lived in a Zen community, primarily here, but also at Tassajara, since the Fall of 2001. I’ve served this center as janitor, remodeler, board member, Web master, ino (in charge of zendo practice), tenzo (cook), teacher, lecturer, shoso (head student) and practice leader. I’ve represented this center at many interfaith gatherings, panel discussions and classroom settings, and even on TV. I am as familiar with the sometimes obscure works of Dogen, founder of our tradition in Japan, as anyone here. I am sure I have clocked more hours in our zendo, ever present physically, if not always mentally, than anyone else. I’ve ridden the ups and downs of this center’s history. My heart has been in this center, in this practice and in this tradition, and it continues to be to this day. I hope I have inspired others in this direction. Word that my status at AZC may soon change has caught some people by surprise.

    As many of you know I’ve been interested for many years in Buddhist monastic practice, and in the question of what it means to be a monk in the world, rather than cloistered in a monastery. This was, after all, the original model of the Buddhist life, one that allows engagement in the world while at the same time maintaining the monastic container. It is also a model that suits my particular aspirations, and is furthermore, I feel, critically underrepresented in fabric of American Buddhism. As much as I love our tradition, it no longer provides, neither here nor in Japan, the peer support for, nor full understanding of, this aspect of practice. For that reason, after much research, I have decided to seek a second ordination, in fact in the Theravada tradition. This should not be interpreted as a rejection of the teachings or practice of Soto Zen, nor of dissatisfaction with the mission of this center, but is rather specific to seeking the peer support for the discipline necessary in the practice lifestyle I have chosen. My teacher, Seirin, is fully supportive of this decision.

    So, what are my plans?

    My immediate future involves Sitagu Vihara, the Burmese temple in Austin, and its abbot, Ven. Ashin Ariyadhamma. At the end of February I will travel with a group from Sitagu Vihara to Burma, then Ven. Ariyadhamma will give me full bhikkhu ordination at a new international Buddhist academy at Sagaing Hills, on March 6. I will remain in Burma foreseeably for about three months, for training and observing Buddhist life in its traditional setting, then live back in Austin at Sitagu Vihara for at least several months, all the while sporting a more colorful outfit than heretofore. (In all of this I have the sense of stepping off the top of the hundred foot pole, as one of our koans describes. For instance, as a bhikkhu I will agree, essentially, not to be a part of the exchange economy. This allows engaging in the world in beneficial ways, but only as an offering, and at the same time makes me totally dependent on the unsolicited offerings of others.)

    After I return to Austin, since I will not be living close to the Zen Center, I will no longer steadfastly warm a seat in the zendo; however I intend to remain on the Zen Center board, and to continue to be active in teaching here, both in the classroom and one-on-one. Moreover, I hope to be more active than ever in the prison project, to do a lot of writing and to be engaged in inter-Buddhist dialog. I will continue to be ordained as a Soto Zen priest (a kind of Thera-Zenny hybrid), but will wait at least a year before working out with Seirin whether it makes sense to complete my training toward Dharma transmission. I hope to continue my studies in the writings of Dogen Zenji.

    I realize that the extent to which I will be less involved at AZC leaves a gap, and at a critical transitional time in the history of our center. I hope that my pulling back in this way will inspire others to come forward as owners of this center, to recall the value of having a strong practice center like AZC in Austin and difference it can make in their own lives, to make zazen a routine part of every weekday morning or evening, to learn to ring bells and hit the han and to volunteer for some of the many tasks that keep this center running. That is my hope. (It is the eve of a new practice period; what better time to renew or extend one’s commitment to this wonderful practice and to this center.) I also hope that the perspectives I bring back from my explorations, not only on individual practice but on sangha, will benefit the center in the long run.

    I know that my practice decisions will be perplexing to many, and make sense for others. I know of one other sangha member who is exploring following a similar path. If anyone would like to learn more about the background of my decisions, please come talk with me any time.

    Above all I want to reassure the sangha that I steadfastly continue to endorse the mission of this center. I think relatively few realize the enormous value of a practice center like ours. I, for one, will continue to support this center in every way I can within the new parameters I am setting for myself.

    In the Dharma,
    浩仁放川 (Kojin Hosen)