Rainbows 2006

 

The shrine room (click on image to larger image)

Ajahn Kusalo visited the weekend, to take part, leading guided meditations in puja for some of the young people and you can see his website here.

We also used these cards which you can print out they are in pdf format
blank blessing cards - words in verses - individual lines (in pali and english).

This weekend is used to create the rainbows magazine - which is online here

From the introduction

To amaravati the cosmic download center, where broadband to the truth is free 24/7. No adds, no spyware, total freeware. How about that AOL – Amaravati on line! In any place, at any time, in no place and no time - instant

All you have to do is bring your hardware (bodies) and your mind (software) here (point to finger up) the rest is all automatic forget mircosoft and XP, Open (to the) source We can get the body and mind talking, perhaps some reprogramming and hardware changes but we can sync it up to that divine channel.We all have the most amazing computer, with very powerful links to the truth, yet we hide, we turn our computers off, we shut them down, or turn them on and then forget to listen. It comes pre-wired for divinity, all you have to do is point and click (again to heart). Thats what we doing, we come for a bit of service, a tune up and hopefully we wont have any hard disc failures!

You’ve heard of instant messaging well right here and right now you can have instant wisdom. Its so simple, with the broadband connection we have here. So just like any computer, your favourite XBOX or PSP we need to clean the screen, look after the batteries and be careful where we put it. So I’m going to run thru the guide lines from the retreat centre, which helps the broad band work very well …. BT (Bhavana Truth) would love us.

 

The reason we are having a look at the highest blessing, is because for me it follows on from kamma and sila, last years theme. If you follow the precepts and look after you actions the thing that follows is blessings. At the time of the Buddha there was much discussion about what are the highest blessings and we will look into the later. The important thing to notice about the sutta – the thread - is that for the Buddha the blessings were always related to the path to the realization of the truth of the way things are – nibbanna, not only the blessings of seeing a rainbow.

One of things about blessings, is that in order for them to come your way, you have to be up for receiving them.S o sometimes we don’t know where blessings will come from, how they will come but what is important is the listening quality of the heart, the open and receptive nature. Sometime its just a matter of perception some time.

One of the other things is about looking at theme or topic, is the shadow element. The hidden, the opposite, mara, the obstructer. So when we looked at kamma and sila along with that came the opposing force of not wanting to follow rules, being unhelpful and stuff like that. The opposite of blessings is a curse – the very thing that you want, actually blocks you. So I just want to acknowledge that energy, not to give it any attention. In away this is what rituals are all about, they allow a acknowledgement of the forces and a offering to allow safe passage.

So the First line of sutta is associating with the wise – for example people who choose to live under the 5 precepts are choosing/taking responsibility for their lives. They are acting with wisdom, and hence have a degree of being wise. So we are among friends, just notice that we have not done anything yet but arrive and already we are creating, sitting in a field of blessings.

The other part is ….

Honour those worthy of honour.
So wise people that choose to take responsibility for their actions, people that are willing to learn, are easy to live with, that is what we have come here to practise and honour.

Precepts

So we are very lucky to able to use the retreat center and have the time and space to come together like this.
One of the opportunities of a weekend like this, is to come together and share our lives. This a great chance to practice tolerance, patience and understanding.

As part of the social aspect of the mangala sutta and developing the qualities for the spiritual path, there are a few blessings that can really help when we live to together these are :-

Acting in ways that leave no blame.
Heedfulness, respectfulness, contentment, gratitude,
Patience and willingness to accept ones faults.

These are words, if you don’t know what they mean, ask somebody … how you want to use them is up to you. Respectfulness does not have to be crawling on the floor round a monk/nun, it an be very practical like making sure when you clean the plates that they are clean, that is respectful to the other people here, making sure we don’t get ill from germs.

we finished off with some lying down meditation

Saturday morning

We had puja, a guided meditation, practised chanting the mangala sutta in english and then had a break a had a introduction to the mangala Sutta:-

Man – (woeful state)
Ga – going
La - cut
[What constitutes good fortune]

The Comys (SnA ad bc = KhA 118) relate that it was a popular custom for people during the Buddha's time to gather together at city gates and debating halls to listen to talks and tales of various religious teachers and story-tellers (one such tale being the Ramayana epic). Then the discussion on what constitutes good fortune or a lucky omen arose resulting in different opinions.
In due course, even the devas in the heavens joined in the great debate and were likewise none the wiser. This great controversy went on for twelve years without a definite conclusion. Except for the noble disciples of the Buddha, those involved in the controversy became divided into three factions.

THREE FACTIONS
First faction:
Those who held that the best omen is seen in visible form, e.g. someone rising early, sees a talking bird, or a bilva sapling, or a pregnant woman,, or children deck out in finery, or full offering dishes, or a fresh red mullet, or a thoroughbred, or a chariot with thoroughbreds, or a bull, or a cow, or a brown ox, or else, he sees some other such visible form.

Second faction:
Comprised of those who argued that the eye sees both what is good and what is bad, but hearing a good sound is the best omen, e.g. having risen early, one hears names like Vaddha, Vaddhamana, Punna, Phussa, Sumana, Siri, Sirivaddha, or that "it is a good star, a good time, a good day today".

Third faction:
Contradicts the previous two arguing that the sensed - through smell, taste and touch - is the best omen, e.g. having risen early, one smells a flower scent like that of a lotus, or chews a fine toothstick, or touches earth, or touches green crops, or fresh cowdung, or a tortoise, or a basket of sesamum, or a flower or a fruit, or does plastering with fine clay, or clothes himself in fine cloth, or wears a fine turban, or else he smells, tastes or touches some such thing (KhA 118 f).
At the end of the twelve years, the devas of the Thirty-three assembled, and their leader Sakka, inquired if anyone had questioned the Buddha. When he discovered that no one had done so, he remarked that they "forget the fire and kindle the glow-worm" for a light! Then he instructed a ministering deva (deva-putta) to see the Buddha and question Him regarding what constitutes the highest good omen
(AhA 122-124).

In ancient brahmanical circles, mangala represented all the sights, sounds, circumstances, ornament, amulet, festival, ceremony or omen which they deemed auspicious or holy. The Buddha gives a new value, using old familiar Indian norms, to the term mangala stressing on righteous living. In a characteristic coherent progression, He leads the audience from the familiar values to loftiest spiritual ideals.

( this information is from this website)

Also used in schools in Theravadain asain countries to instruct on what is a “proper life” that life is not based on supersitions – for example a black cat, rabbits foot, walking under ladder, its based on cause and effect – (kamma as we discussed at last years theme) = self relieance – learning to help to discriminate.

The mangala sutta can be divided up into sila (morality), Samadhi(concentration), panna (wisdom).

So on saturday evening we looked at Samadhi playing some concentration games.

For panna (wisdom) - we took an ordinary pen and looked at to see what we could see. What is it? we had some interesting observation including a pen can sign your death warrant ot sign a peace treaty. We also acted out emotions in small groups, each person taking an emotion and acting to the group. And then we did this as a whole group. The idea being that wisdom comes from having perspective/understanding about emotions.

 

We closed the weekend with the following:-

 

So putting all the blessing together starting from not associating with fools and looking after the family, learning skills and finding skilful means to live by. The highest and last blessing is the understanding the realization of dhamma and the result of this is you remain unshaken, unsettled by what happens in the world or your own mind!

So we’ve been exploring the highest blessings and I’m wondering whether there is something you would like to develop work on during the coming weeks…
So please get into small groups of four or five –choose a group leader and each person in the group is to say one thing they liked and one thing they disliked about the weekend (write them down and stick them on the wall) and then think of a blessing you would like to develop.

The magazine can be download from here

 

 

Creative space - for making the magazine - click on image to see larger image.

 

 

---

---