11/11/11 (11:11 am) Meditation

MedMobLA, Wisdom Quarterly, Occupy LA, Occupy Freedom, Against the Stream

Sundry groups sat in unity with a worldwide matrix of meditators on the northside steps in the heart of Los Angeles, Camp City Hall. Meanwhile, around the world and across occupation sites, peace demonstrators began to follow the words:

Think with your heart, love with your mind.

"Jay Baba," a disciple of Himalayan master Yogiraj Siddhanath, lead a moonlight sit the night before on the southside steps following general assembly. The technique we employed to hold the peace involved becoming the Moon, facing the Earth, and flooding our planet and everyone on it with love.

After all, this is not an anti-Wall Street protest. It is a pro-99% movement. Give fairness a chance, Corporate demagogues. Give generosity a try. Since there is not enough for even one bank's greed -- which becomes too big to bail -- there might just be enough for everyone's need. Thriving never has to mean depriving others. Win-win is our goal, with institutions, with each others, with the world.

• VIDEO: livestreamed at occupyfreedom@ustream.com courtesy of Yoga Activist Arthur Klein (the Guru Within) and the Occupy Los Angeles Media Tent.
  
• Organize meditation flash mobs, yoga, and interfaith community services at the new dedicated Interfaith Tent (southside), Meditation Temple tent (a Magdha creation), and daily Yoga Loft yoga instruction (5:00 pm, southside steps).

-peaceprize.com-warisacrime.org-

9/11 Day Meditation SIT-A-THON

Wisdom Quarterly



Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society, Los Angeles

Sign up now and be a part of Against the Stream's Second Annual Sit-a-Thon. Join them for a lovely day of mindful practice dedicated to helping others. Commemorating a fateful day, this fundraiser for ATS's scholarship program is targeted specifically for the October retreat at Joshua Tree. Sitters are encouraged to raise funds by having friends and family sponsor them. They can support practitioners via an online donation, or sitters can bring cash, checks, or credit cards to the sit. All are welcome to come sit just for the sake of good practice -- allowing this to be a day of remembrance. Read about ATS's intention for the weekend.

• Trillion Dollar Conspiracy
• 911Truth.org

9/11 FEMA search filmed underground (cbsnews.com)



The Decades' Biggest Scam

Glenn Greenwald (Salon.com)

The Los Angeles Times examines the staggering sums of money expended on patently absurd domestic "homeland security" projects: $75 billion per year for things such as a Zodiac boat with side-scan sonar to respond to a potential attack on a lake in tiny Keith County, Nebraska, and hundreds of "9-ton BearCat armored vehicles, complete with turret" to guard against things like an attack on DreamWorks in Los Angeles. All of that -- which is independent of the exponentially greater sums spent on foreign wars, occupations, bombings, and the vast array of weaponry and private contractors to support it all -- is in response to this mammoth, existential, the-single-greatest-challenge-of-our-generation threat:

• "The number of people worldwide who are killed by Muslim-type terrorists, Al Qaeda wannabes, is maybe a few hundred outside of war zones. It's basically the same number of people who die drowning in the bathtub each year," said John Mueller, an Ohio State University professor who has written extensively about the balance between threat and expenditures in fighting terrorism. More

Zen tourism takes shape in Vietnam

English.vietnamnet.vn, edited by Wisdom Quarterly

With a 2,500-year Buddhist history and over 10 million Buddhists at present and a hundred pagodas (ornate reliquaries), Vietnam can become an attractive destination for Zen tourism.

Zen is a school of Mahāyāna ("Larger Vehicle") Buddhism that is most famous in Japan. Zen emphasizes experiential wisdom in the attainment of enlightenment. As such, at least in legend (legend contradicted by the Western scholar and former Zen Buddhist monk Prof. Robert Buswell, UCLA) Zen de-emphasizes theoretical knowledge in favor of direct self-realization.


Sitting Zen in Vietnam in front of image of Bodhidharma (phathoc.net)

Realization (satori, minor awakening or "epiphany") comes through meditation and Dharma practice. The teachings of Zen include various sources of Mahāyāna thought, including the "Perfection of Wisdom" (Prajñāpāramitā) literature, particularly the Heart Sutra, and the teachings of the Yogācāra and Tathāgatagarbha schools.

The emergence of Zen as a distinct school of Buddhism was first documented in China in the 7th century ACE. From China, Zen spread south to Vietnam very early, around 580. It developed strongly under the Ly -- Tran and Trinh -- Nguyen (pronounced "Win") dynasties.

As a result, Vietnamese culture and lifestyle has been influenced by Zen philosophy, particularly its most famous advocate, Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh.


A senior Vietnamese Buddhist monk, previously detained in an alleged plot to finance disorder against the communist regime, is in custody again (Rev. Danny Fisher).

Zen tourism has been developed in Vietnam with tours to pagodas (ornate reliquaries) and pagoda festivals, which enable tourists to visit Buddhist architectural works, observe and participate in the activities of Buddhist priests, monks, and nuns, as well as enjoy and admire characteristics of Zen arts like flower arranging, the tea ceremony, bonsai tree cultivation, and vegetarian food.

There are about 120 pagodas available for Zen tourism in Vietnam, including popular names such as Dau in northern Bac Ninh Province; Ba Da and Tran Quoc in Hanoi; Truc Lam Tay Thien in northern Vinh Phuc Province; Tu Dam, Thien Mu, and Tu Hieu in central Thua Thien-Hue Province; and Tu An, Giac Lam, and Giac Vien in Ho Chi Minh City. Source

SoCal Buddhist Center opens for courses

Vaddhana.dhamma.org, April 15, 2011

The newly constructed SCVC is open and accepting applications for free 10-day Buddhist insight meditation (vipassana) retreats taught in the tradition of S.N. Goenka.

The Southern California Vipassana Center Trust is delighted to announce the opening of Dhamma Vaddhana, the newly completed Buddhist meditation center in Twentynine Palms near Joshua Tree, California.

The center will open with an inaugural FREE ten-day course to be held from May 4-15, 2011. Online registration is now open for this first course, as well as for all other courses offered at the new center throughout the year.

To apply to sit or serve a course at SCVC, please visit the course schedule page at schedules.

About the SoCal Vipassana Center

To learn more about the development of Dhamma Vaddhana, please visit vaddhana.dhamma.org. There is a lot of work to be done to meet the May 4th starting date for the course.

Old students who have the time and energy in the next couple of weeks to help complete the final projects and get the center ready for its first course are welcome to come out to Dhamma Vaddhana and pitch in.

Along with all the work that needs to be done, there will be three group sittings a day. Accommodations and meals will be provided for all old student volunteers.

LOCATION

Southern California Vipassana Center: Dhamma Vaddhana

68561 Twentynine Palms Highway,

Twentynine Palms, CA 92277

Phone: (760) 362-4615

NOTE: If you are currently on the waitlist for a course at the California Vipassana Center (Dhamma Mahavana) in North Fork and would like to apply for a course at the Southern California Center, please email CVC North Fork at registration to cancel your waitlisted application. After doing so you may then submit a new application to attend a course at the Southern California Vipassana Center.

Directions from the west (Los Angeles area) I-10 eastbound to 62 northbound (29 Palms Highway). Continue through Morongo Valley, Yucca Valley, and Joshua Tree. Continue past Copper Mountain Community College (on left). Go another two miles and look for a tall radio tower on the left side of the road. This tower is directly across the highway from the center. On your right you will see a sign indicating the center property. Turn right onto Mantonya Road (dirt road), and right again into the entrance driveway.