Starving for meaning in New York

Ashley Wells, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; Bhikkhu Bodhi (Buddhist Global Relief)

New York City: Reaching Youth Starved for Meaning (buddhistglobalrelief)

.

Bhante

The Reciprocity Foundation was established in 2006 to address the plight of homeless youth in New York City.

 

[Two years ago] in 2012, when they found that the homeless students were arriving hungry and unable to focus, the RF team started a vegetarian meal program  called “Starved for Meaning.” 

 

We won't stand for sexism, racism (FEMEN)

Meals, prepared collectively and served “family-style,” with a moment of gratitude before the meal, fulfilled the students’ hunger for community, dialogue, and meaning.

 

Last year, with the help of Buddhist Global Relief funds, the number of meals doubled and there was an increase in the number of youth coming to the center for food.

 

Bombarded with propaganda from the NY Times

In a questionnaire about the program, 100 percent of the youth said that their life improved as a result of the meals, they felt a greater sense of belonging, and they felt more optimistic about their life.

[This is June 2014 and] over the next year, BGR funding will help the Reciprocity Foundation increase the capacity of the vegetarian meal program for homeless youth in NYC and expand the food program to reach young people living on the streets. This and the next in the Bronx are annually renewable projects:

Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Global Relief Charity (BuddhistGlobalRelief.wordpress.com)

New York City: Community Garden Plots in the Bronx (Fiscal BGR Projects)

 

Occupy Wall Street (Carolyn Cole/latimes.com)

The Urban Community Food Project (UCFP) was started in 2011 as an initiative of the Urban Rebuilding Initiative. Its mission is to build a sustainable food system throughout New York in order to fight poverty and resultant food insecurity.

 

UCFP’s farms are located in the 16th Congressional District of the US, an area that has the lowest median income and the highest rates of unemployment and [police state mass] incarceration in the nation. UCFP works with at-risk youth, young adults, and formerly incarcerated men in local neighborhoods to convert urban spaces into food production sites. The food grown on these sites is donated to neighborhood food pantries and homeless shelters. The BGR grant will help UCFP fulfill its goals for 2014-15, which include:

1. Developing four inner-city farms that will produce 5,000 pounds of produce for local food pantries and soup kitchens;
2. introducing a new fitness program called “good food and fitness go hand in hand”; and
3. offering regular workshops on sustainability, urban farming, green technology, and civic action.
   

Without a Doubt – It’s Time to Get to Work on Climate Change

Ven. Santussika Bhikkhuni (BGR, March 31, 2014) 

Ayya

The American Association for the Advancement of Science has issued a report to dispel the fog of disinformation about the reality of climate change to impress on us the urgency of taking action. What we need to know is what we can do about it. 

 

One day when I was talking about the importance of taking immediate action on climate change, a good friend of mine said, “I just wish the scientists would get together and tell us whether they think climate change is happening.”

 

Well, my friend, there is a paper I want you to see. More

 

Our Quest for Meaning

Bhikkhu Bodhi (accesstoinsight.org); Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

The stupas of Pagan, Burma, the ancient "City of Pagodas" (Platongkohphoto/flickr)

.

You hungry for meaning? Eat Chinese food!

However much the modern world may pride itself on its triumphs over the foolishness of the past, the progress we credit ourselves with has been bought at a steep price.

The price is so steep that it throws into question the worth of our achievements. This price has been the shared conviction we've lost that our lives are endowed with any ultimate meaning.

Even though in earlier ages humans lived in a space populated largely by figments of the collective imagination, they could still claim a precious asset we sorely lack: a firm belief that their everyday lives had enduring significance stemming from a transcendent goal.
 

"NYPD is a layoff away from joining us!"

Present-day attitudes -- molded by scientific reductionism and technocratic audacity -- have combined forces to sweep away from our minds even the faint suspicion that our lives may possess any deeper meaning than material prosperity and techie innovations.

For many people today the consequence of this militancy is a pervasive sense of meaninglessness. Cut loose from our living spiritual traditions, we drift on a sea of confusion where all values seem arbitrary and relative. We float aimlessly along the waves without any supreme purpose to serve as the polestar for our ideals or inspiration for our thoughts and actions.
 

When in the Bronx, go back to Nature!

Nature does not tolerate a vacuum, and humankind does not tolerate a loss of meaning. So to escape the plunge into the abyss of meaninglessness, we grasp after distractions.
 
We pursue pleasure and power, wealth and status, surround ourselves with contraptions, invest our hopes in emotional relationships that only conceal our own inner poverty.
 
At the same time as we become absorbed in distractions to cope with our psychological void, we stifle a deeper and more insistent need -- the longing for a peace and freedom that does not depend on externals.
 
The Buddha's solution

Calm and insight bring inner-light (flickr.com)

One of the great blessings of the Buddha's teaching is the remedy it can offer for the problem of meaninglessness so widespread in human life today.
 
The Dharma can serve as a source of meaning because it provides us with the two requisites of a meaningful life -- an ultimate goal in life and a clearcut and flexible set of instructions to advance toward that goal from wherever we are now [even if it's in Jay Z and Alicia Keys' overcrowded, concrete megalopolis of New York City]. More

Oldest sutras in the Pali Canon (audio)

Bhikkhu Bodhi (bodhimonastery.org), Ven. Guoching Shi, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

The Buddha with sporty headphones (blog.chrisremspecher.de)

   .

The Sutta-Nipata (Saddhatissa)

The Sutta Nipāta contains some of the oldest sutras in the Pali Canon. It is a rich source of texts offering guidance to lay Buddhists and also abounds in discourses that extol the contemplative ideals of early Buddhism. 

 

Though as a formal "collection" it exists only in the Theravada tradition, some of the individual sutras are found in other traditions. One entire chapter, the Aṭṭhakavagga, is also found in the Chinese Tripiṭaka (canon, lit. "Threefold Basket").

In a series of lectures given at Bodhi Monastery in New Jersey beginning in October 2004, Bhikkhu Bodhi explains sutras from the first three chapters.

 

Monastic with headphones (beliefnet.com)

The first three studied -- the Ratana Sutta, Mahā Maṅgala Sutta, and Mettā Sutta -- are among the most popular texts in ancient Theravada Buddhism, the "Teaching of the Elders."

 

They provide the backbone of understanding, practice, and attitude in the Theravada Buddhist world and are often taught to lay people, who grow up imbibing the values and ideals of early Buddhism. 

 

They also serve as “Protective Discourses” (paritta suttas), recited to provide blessings and protection in times of difficulty and danger. The first discourse on the Jewel or Gem (Ratana) also gives a good introduction to the Sutta Nipāta in general and its place and history in the larger Discourse Collection comprised of many sections. LISTEN (with read along PDF handouts)

 

The Buddha’s Teaching As It Is

Bhikkhu Bodhi, former BPS editor, is the foremost American Theravada scholar-monk

The Buddha with a Sangha of noble disciples (Thai-on/flickr.com)

1.	The Buddha
2.	The Four Noble Truths
3.	The True Nature of Existence
4.	Dependent Origination
5.	Rebirth and Karma
6.	Nirvana
7.	The Noble Eightfold Path
8.	Meditation
9.	Social Teachings of the Buddha
10.	The Community (Sangha)

In the fall of 1979, while living at the Washington Buddhist Vihara, in D.C., Bhikkhu Bodhi recorded a series of ten lectures in English on the most fundamental teachings of early Buddhism. Ven. Gunaratana, at the time the president of the Buddhist Vihara Society, in B.C., suggested the venerable American scholar-monk record the lectures so that the monastery could distribute them as a set of cassettes. LISTEN (with PDF handouts)

 

• An 8.2-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Chile causes six deaths and prompts a tsunami warning.
• The International Court of Justice rules that Japan's whale hunt in the Southern Ocean is not for scientific purposes and must be halted.

Buddhist multi-millionaire: poor then rich again

Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Hellmuth Hecker, Anathapindika: The Great Benefactor, Part II, "As A Wealthy Patron" (Lives of the Great Disciples Series)

The noble disciples with the Buddha at their head (Thai-on/flickr.com)

 

PROLOGUE

"Thus have I heard. One time the Blessed One was staying in the city of Savatthi at Jeta's Grove, in Anathapindika's Monastery..."

Many of the Buddha's sutras begin with these words, so the name of that great lay devotee and multimillionaire, Anathapindika, is well known. His name was Sudatta, a stream enterer, whose honorific nickname means: "One who gives alms (pinda) to the unprotected (a-natha)."

 

Who was he? How did he meet the Buddha? What was his relationship to the Dharma? The answers to these questions may be found in the many references to him in the traditional discourses.

SUTRA

Buying land with gold to gift to the Buddha

Even the wealth of the Buddhist multimillionaire Anathapindika (the merchant, trader, banker, or "best," see setthi*) was not inexhaustible.

One day treasures worth 18 million gold pieces were swept away by a flash flood and washed into the sea. Moreover, Anathapindika had loaned nearly the same amount of money to business friends, who had failed to repay him. He was reluctant, however, to ask for the money.

Because his fortune amounted to about five times 18 million, and he had already spent three-fifths of it for the famous forest monastery he donated to the Buddha and Buddha's wandering ascetics, his money had now nearly run out. Anathapindika had become poor.

Nevertheless, he continued to provide food for the mendicants nuns and monks as well as the needy and defenseless, although it was only a modest serving of thin rice gruel.

At that time a spirit lived in his seven-storied mansion, above the gate-tower. Whenever the Buddha or a noble (enlightened) disciple entered the house, the spirit, following the laws of its realm, was obliged to step down from its place in order to honor the Great Ones. However, this was very inconvenient for the spirit. Annoyed, he tried to think of a way to keep noble ones out away from the house.

He appeared to a servant and suggested the residence stop offering alms. But the servant paid no attention to these urgings. Then the spirit tried to turn the son of the house against the monastics, but this also failed.

Finally, the spirit appeared in the supernatural aura to the householder himself and tried to persuade Anathapindika to stop the giving of alms given that he was now impoverished. However, Anathapindika, who was a stream enterer, explained that he recognized only three treasures: the Buddha, the Enlightened Teacher, the Dharma, the Teaching that leads to Enlightenment, and the Sangha, the Community of Noble Disciples [that runs the gamut from lay disciples who are stream enterers or those destined for stream entry to ordained arhats].
 

Sculpture of his donation (British Library)

Anathapindika was looking after these treasures and told the spirit to leave his house as there was no place in it for adversaries of the noble ones with the Buddha as their head.

Thereupon, the spirit, following the laws of his realm, had to abandon that place. He betook himself to the deity who was the divine protector of the city of Savatthi and requested an assignment to a new shelter. But it was instead referred to a higher court, that of the Four Great Sky Kings (corresponding to the Four Cardinal Directions).

However, these four also did not feel qualified to make judge where the noble ones were concerned and sent the homeless spirit [up one plane of existence] to Sakka, King of the Devas.

In the meantime, the spirit had become aware of its grave misconduct and asked Sakka to seek forgiveness on his behalf. The king of the devas required that as a penance the spirit help Anathapindika regain his fortune.
 
First of all, the spirit had to retrieve the sunken gold that had washed into the sea; moreover, he had to procure unclaimed buried treasure, and finally he had to persuade Anathapindika's ungrateful debtors to repay their debts.

With a great deal of effort, the spirit fulfilled these tasks. In doing so, he appeared to the debtors in dreams to demand repayment. Soon after Anathapindika regained 54 million and was again able to be as generous as before.
 

The Buddha -- noble, awakened, and free -- helped all who came in contact with him, whether human, deva, or spirit. Such was his loving-kindness and wisdom (Hanuman/flickr.com).

 
The spirit appeared before the Enlightened One and asked his pardon for his malevolent misbehavior, motivated by its annoyance. He was forgiven, and after the Buddha explained the Dharma to him, he became a disciple.

The Enlightened One taught him, moreover, that a person who strives for perfection in giving could not be kept from it by anything in the world, neither by bad nor good fairies, not devas, not yakkhas, nor threat of death (Jataka 140; Jataka 340).

After Anathapindika regain his wealthy and status, a Brahmin became jealous of his good fortune and decided to steal from him what, in his opinion, had made him so wealthy. He wanted to abduct the manifestation of Sirī (Sri), the Goddess of Fortune, because he thought that then fortune would leave Anathapindika and come to him.

He could then force her to do his bidding. This strange perception was based on the idea that so called favors of fate, while a [karmic] reward for earlier meritorious deeds, are nevertheless dispensed by devas/deities), who force them to dwell in the beneficiary's house.

So the Brahmin went to Anathapindika's house and looked around to see where the Spirit of Fortune -- the one Americans today refer to, often quite literally, as Lady Luck -- might be found. Like many ancient Indians of his day, he had clairvoyant powers (dibba cakkhu, the "divine eye"), and he saw "Fortune" living in a white cock which was kept in a golden cage in the palace.

He asked the master of the house to give him the cock to awaken his students in the morning. Without hesitation, generous Anathapindika granted the Brahmin his wish. However, just at that moment, "Fortune" wandered into a jewel.

Therefore, the Brahmin also requested the jewel as a present and received it. Then the spirit hid in a staff, a self-defense weapon. After the Brahmin had successfully begged this, the manifestation of Siri settled down on the head of the lady Puññalakkhana-devi, the first wife of Anathapindika, who was truly the good spirit of the house and therefore had the protection of the devas.
 

Anathapindika visits the Buddha (MBDD)

When the Brahmin saw this, he recoiled in fright: "His wife I cannot request from him!" He confessed his greedy unskillful intentions, returned the gifts and, deeply ashamed, he left the house.

Anathapindika went to the Enlightened One and recounted this strange encounter which he had not understood. The Buddha explained the connection to him -- how the world is changed through skillful works and how, for those with right insight through the purification of virtue, everything is attainable, even nirvana (Jataka 284). More

• *Ivo Fiser, "The Problem of the Setthi in Buddhist Jatakas," in Trade in Early India, edited by Ranabir Chakravarti (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001)
• America's two newest multi-millionaires: Will they make merit or regret it? (March 2014)

New society from the ashes of the old (sutra)

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Narada Thera (trans.), Buddhist Publ. Society, Dighajanu Sutta: "Conditions for Social and Spiritual Wealth" (AN 8.54)

Towering Buddha monument in Theravada Thailand (happySUN flickr.com)

 

"See the candle burning low. [It's] the new world rising from the shambles of the old."
- "The Rover," Led Zeppelin

Translator's note: In this discourse, the Buddha instructs rich householders on how to preserve and increase their wealth and how to avoid harm to their prosperity. Wealth alone, however, does not complete a person nor make for a harmonious society. Great wealth all too often multiplies our desires and sends us spinning in pursuit of senselessly amassing more and more wealth and power. Our unrestrained craving leaves us deeply dissatisfied, stifling inner growth, and more often than not dealing with regrets. Craving creates conflict and societal disharmony -- inspiring the resentment of the underprivileged who become aware that they are exploited by the effects of others growing rich at their expense. The Buddha, therefore, follows up his advice on great material wealth with four essential conditions for spiritual wealth: confidence (in the teacher's enlightenment), virtue, liberality, and wisdom. These four instill in a person a sense of values. We then not only pursue our material concerns but also become aware of our duty (obligation, dharma) toward society. One implication of a liberality informed by wisdom and generosity is that it reduces tensions and conflicts in society. So observing the Buddha's enlightened advice on the necessary and sufficient conditions for material and spiritual welfare makes for an ideal citizen in an ideal society.

Sutra

Phan Tao Temple, Thailand (arztsamui/flickr)

Thus have I heard. Once the Exalted One was dwelling among the Koliyans in a market town named Kakkarapatta.

• [The Koliyans were the rivals of the Buddha's family, the Sakyans. But Queen Maha Maya, the Buddha's mother, belonged to the Koliyan clan, whereas his father, King Suddhodana, belonged to the Sakyan clan.]

Then Dighajanu [a banker, “long-kneed”], a Koliyan, approached the Exalted One, saluted him, sat respectfully to one side, and asked:

"Venerable sir, we are laypeople enjoying worldly pleasures. We lead a life focused on spouse and children. We use sandalwood of Kasi [a fragrant cosmetic from Varanasi]. We deck ourselves with garlands, perfumes, and creams. We use gold and silver [money and trade]. To us and those like us, O venerable sir, let the Exalted One teach the Dharma, teach those things that lead to wealth and happiness in this life and to wealth and happiness in the next life."

Conditions of Worldly Progress

Ancient alabaster Buddha in Sukhothai, Thailand (Ted Richardson/flickr.com)

 

"Vyagghapajja [Dighajanu's family name, literally, "Tiger's Path" so called because his ancestors were born on a forest path infested with tigers], four conditions conduce to a householder's wealth and happiness in this very life. What are the four?

"The accomplishment (attainment) of: (1) persistent effort (diligence), (2) watchfulness (vigilance), (3) noble friendship, and (4) right/balanced livelihood (defined below).

"What is the accomplishment of persistent effort?

"Herein [within this Dharma and Discipline], Vyagghapajja, by whatever activity a householder earns a living -- whether by farming, trading, rearing cattle [for milk], archery, royal service, or by any other kind of craft -- at that one becomes skillful and is not lazy. One is endowed with the power of discernment (wisdom) as to the proper ways and means. One is able to carry out and delegate (duties). This is called the accomplishment of persistent effort.

"What is the accomplishment of watchfulness?

"Herein, Vyagghapajja, whatever wealth a householder is in possession of, obtained by dint of effort, collected by strength of arm, by sweat of brow, justly acquired by right means -- such one cultivates well by guarding and watching so that rulers do not seize it, thieves not steal it, fire not burn it, water not carry it away, nor ill-disposed heirs preemptively remove it. This is the accomplishment of watchfulness.

Golden Buddha under the enlightenment tree in a magnificent hall (t3cnica/flickr.com)

 

"What is noble friendship?

"Herein, Vyagghapajja, in whatever village or market town a householder dwells, one associates, converses, engages in discussions with householders or householders' children, whether young and highly cultured or old and highly cultured, full of confidence [verifiable-faith based on knowledge rather than any kind of blind-faith], full of virtue, full of generosity, full of wisdom.

"One acts in accordance with the confidence of the confident, with the virtue of the virtuous, with the generosity of the generous, with the wisdom of the wise. This is called noble friendship.

"What is right/balanced livelihood?

"Herein, Vyagghapajja, a householder knowing the measure of both income and expenses leads a balanced life, neither extravagant nor miserly, knowing that thus one's income will stand in excess of expenses and not expenses in excess of income.

"If your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep will be your downfall."

- American saying on personal finances

 

"Just as a goldsmith [tuladharo, literally, a “carrier of the scales”] or a goldsmith's apprentice knows, on holding up a balance, that by so much it has tilted down or by so much it has tilted up, even so a householder, knowing one's income and expenses, leads a balanced life. One is neither extravagant nor miserly, knowing that in this way income will stand in excess of expenses and not expenses in excess of income.

"If, Vyagghapajja, a householder with little income were to lead an extravagant life, there would be those who say -- 'This person enjoys property like one who eats wood-apple.' [The Commentary explains that one who wants to eat wood-apple shakes the tree, with the result that many fruits fall but only a few are eaten, with a much greater number going to waste]. If, Vyagghapajja, a householder with a large income were to lead a miserly life, there would be those who say, 'This person will die like a starveling.'

Losing Money

"The wealth thus amassed, Vyagghapajja, has four sources of destruction:

"(1) Debauchery, (2) drunkenness, (3) gambling, (4) or friendship, companionship, and intimacy with wrongdoers.

• [The Buddha defines "false friendship" in the Sigalovada Sutra (DN 31: A Brief Code of Buddhist Ethics) -- four foes in the guise of friends, who take things, make fake promises, flatter, and encourage ruin, all of which the Buddha details.]

"Just as in the case of a great tank with four inlets and outlets, if a person should close the inlets and open the outlets, and there should be inadequate rainfall, decrease of water is to be expected in that tank rather than an increase. Even so, there are four sources for the destruction of amassed wealth -- debauchery, drunkenness, gambling, and friendship, companionship, and intimacy with wrongdoers.

Making Money

"There are four sources for the increase of amassed wealth: (1) avoiding debauchery, (2) avoiding drunkenness, (3) non-indulgence in gambling, (4) friendship, companionship, and intimacy with the good-doers.

"Just as in the case of a great tank with four inlets and four outlets, if a person were to open the inlets and close the outlets, and there should also be adequate rainfall, an increase in water is certainly to be expected rather than a decrease. Even so, these four conditions are the sources of increase of amassed wealth.

"These four conditions, Vyagghapajja, are conducive to a householder's wealth and happiness in this very life.

Conditions of Spiritual Progress

Monumental statue with the Moon as the Buddha's aura (happySUN/flickr.com)

 

"Four conditions, Vyagghapajja, conduce to a householder's wealth and happiness in the next life. What are the four?

"The accomplishment: of confidence, virtue, charity, and wisdom.

"What is the accomplishment of confidence?

"Herein a householder is possessed of confidence, believing in the enlightenment of the Wayfarer (Tathagata): Thus, indeed, is that Blessed One: pure, fully enlightened, endowed with liberating knowledge and conduct, well-gone, knower of worlds, incomparable teacher of persons to be tamed, teacher of devas and humans, all-knowing [able to apply his mind to know anything], and blessed. This is called the accomplishment of confidence.

 

"What is the accomplishment of virtue?

"Herein a householder abstains from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, and from intoxicants that cause infatuation and heedlessness [lead one to heedlessly ignore the preceding four precepts]. This is called the accomplishment of virtue.

 

"What is the accomplishment of generosity?

"Herein a householder dwells at home with a heart free from the stain of greed (avarice), devoted to generosity, open-handed, delighting in charity, attending to the needy, delighting in the distribution of alms. This is called the accomplishment of generosity.

"What is the accomplishment of wisdom?

"Herein a householder is wise: One is endowed with wisdom that understands the arising and cessation (of the Five Aggregates of existence); one is possessed of the noble penetrating insight that leads to the destruction of suffering. [This suggests that one is a noble disciple, that is, a progressively enlightened householder such as a stream enterer or once returner.] This is called the accomplishment of wisdom.

"These four conditions, Vyagghapajja, conduce to a householder's wealth and happiness in the next life."

Energetic and heedful in every task,

Wisely administering wealth,

One lives a balanced life,

Protecting the wealth one has amassed.

Endowed with confidence and virtue too,

Generous and free of avarice;

One ever works to clear the path

That leads to wealth in future lives.

Thus to the layperson full of trust,

In one rightly called enlightened,

These eight conditions have been told

Which now and after lead to bliss.

Buddhist Global Relief, L.A. (Bhikkhu Bodhi)

Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Bhikkhu Bodhi (BuddhistGlobalRelief.org)

Monastics in Theravada Burma tour by foot promoting generosity or dāna (mirror.co.uk)

  

Buddha in walking pose

Join Bhikkhu Bodhi, Wisdom Quarterly, Dharma Punx, Dharma Vijaya, Insight LA, and others for a day of compassionate action to promote food aid, sustainable farming, and education for girls and women in Asia, Africa, North America, and Haiti. Where? Santa Monica, California. When? Sunday, Nov. 17, 2013. How? Check in time begins at 8:30 am and continues until the walk starts at 9:30 am. We will begin and end at Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society (West), 1001a Colorado Blvd., Santa Monica 90401-2809. The distance we will cover is three miles looping through the beautiful beachside city and tourist mecca of Santa Monica (Los Angeles). Register online or donate. To give life a percentage of the proceeds will benefit the Westside Foodbank.

• Info: Tom Moritz (310) 963-0199 (tom.moritz@gmail.com)

(BGRelief) Ven. Bodhi presents the mission of Buddhist Global Relief

at Clodagh Design, New York City in November 2009.