The Honey Moon Offering Ceremony (LA)

Wisdom Quarterly

The Buddha being served by a monkey and elepphant in the forest (ebay.com). He received offerings of honey and service from an elated monkey and a forlorn elephant in Parileyya forest. These events are now celebrated annually in Los Angeles.

• 2011 Honey Full Moon Observance
  
• California Bodhi Vihara
• 1461 Lemon Ave., Long Beach, CA 90813
• (562) 218-8160

KOSAMBI, India - The Buddha once retreated into Parileyya (Parileyyaka) Forest in a peaceful attempt to reunite two monastic factions who were locked in a heated debate about disciplinary rules. (The minor question being disputed was, Should water pots be left unemptied?)

The intransigent disciples could not be reasoned with. So the Buddha went into solitary retreat as subtle encouragement for them to work out their differences.

While in the wilderness alone, a monkey offered him a honeycomb. It was so elated that the Buddha accepted it that it jumped around wildly and, falling on a tree stump, accidentally died.

It was, according to tradition, immediately reborn in the World of the Thirty-Three as a fruit of its sharing.

It may seem a disproportionate result for such a small act of generosity. But the power of karma is conditioned by more than intention and the size of the gift or deed. Its weight has a great deal to do with the virtue of the recipient. Karmic resultants and fruit will depend on the state of mind of the giver; being happy looking forward to a deed, while performing it, and afterward when reflecting on what was done also magnifies its power.

During the same retreat the Buddha was also offered fruit and attended to by an elephant who, tired of communal life, had abandoned its herd. The monastics soon settled their differences and together with Ananda went into the forest to ask the Buddha to return.

The Buddha receives an offering of honey from a monkey at Parileyyaka (wikimedia).

When the Buddha agreed, the elephant, Parileyyaka, is said to have died of a broken heart. It was also reborn in the happy space (celestial) World of the Thirty-Three. (It is interesting to not that Siddhartha's white horse, Kanthaka, similarly died of heartbreak when Siddhartha left him to renounce the world and enter a quest for enlightenment).

• At Parileyyaka Sutra (SN 22.81)
  

Honey Moon Offering Celebrations

Buddhists from India and Bangladesh (ancient Vanga, a province with Buddhist traditions going back to the time of the Buddha, which until 1947 was part of India) celebrate a special full-moon observance called Madhu Purnima in honor of these extraordinary events.

Celebrations occur in the Indian state of West Bengal state, particularly Calcutta, and in Bangladesh, formerly the Indian state of East Bengal -- in Chittagong for Barua Bangladeshi Buddhists and in the Hill Tracts for Chakma Bangladeshi Buddhists.

Bangladesh has Buddhists?
Bangladeshi Buddhists trace their original homeland to the region surrounding the Buddha's enlightenment, Bodh Gaya, India. A Honey Offering Full Moon Observance is held every year in the month of Bhadro (August/September on the Asian lunar calendar).

It is celebrated as a joyous day of unity and charity to temples emphasizing the giving of honey and fruit.

9/11/11 Commemoration
Bangladeshi-American Buddhists in Los Angeles will observed the full-moon day on Sunday, 9/11. Monks, nuns, lay Buddhists, and guests will gather for celebrations, ancient Buddhist chanting, and the offering of sweets. Honey is symbolic of love, altruistic loving-kindness, amity, compassion, and affection.

It also reminds us of our interdependence with the animal world.

In the last year Ven. Karunananda, Ph.D. has successfully established the first Indian Buddhist temple in Los Angeles. A permanent location in urban Long Beach is now home to the California Bodhi Vihara at 1023 E. 21st Street.

The new abbot, who for many years resided in Pasadena's Los Angeles Buddhist Vihara (a Sri Lankan Theravada tradition monastery), has made a home for expats and American seekers in coastal Los Angeles.

The temple/monastic residence (vihara) now holds events that uniquely express Bengali Buddhist traditions -- such as the honey moon offering in an area with various Cambodian Buddhist temples and an American Zen Center (Yokoji).

Help maintain this Indian-Buddhist treasure in Los Angeles by volunteering or donating to its maintenance and the spread of the Dharma:

• California Bodhi Vihara a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization
• bodhimission@yahoo.com
• (562) 290-2876 or (562) 218-8160

Sex or Meditation? Top 10 Promiscuous Cities

Wisdom Quarterly (SEX AND RELATIONSHIPS COMMITTEE)

In just one hour of trying not to think about sex, Binky discovered how kinky he really is ("Life in Hell" by Matt Groening).

It probably does not happen to anyone else. But when we meditate, our minds tend to drift toward sex. Why the mind likes to relive (past) or imagine (future) pleasant sensation, we cannot fathom.

The eye is not trapped by forms... and the body is not trapped by tactile sensations. If it were enlightened beings would not be free, or freedom would be as easy as sitting alone in the dark.

The mind is like a monkey trapped five times over. Imagine a silly monkey (or rabbit) who has wandered far from its familiar realm. It sees honey and grasps it.

The honey is not only sweet, it's gluey. It can't let go. It grabs the honey with the other hand to get its first hand loose. That hand gets caught, too. It uses a foot, then another foot, and finally its mouth -- and is caught five times over, stuck, in a ridiculous quandary.

The mind obsessed with sex is like that. Its senses fall into bondage. But the honey is sweet! Yes, and the glue is gluey. If we do not rise above, we stay trapped right where we are.

Where are we? CBS News reports that there are ten top cities for furtive honey searches. Mindfully meditating never hurt a monkey. All of its distress came from letting its mind wander far from the present moment. Even the Nazis couldn't keep the monkeys safe.

• VAMPIRE MONKEY: This Chinese sucking species lives solely off other animals’ blood, one of the only primates to do so. It creates complex nests similar to the weaver bird's. It uses handmade tools like humans and is possibly the "missing link" in the evolution of modern humans (Yoon84).

Top 10 Promiscuous Cities in America (CBS News)

Hitler gave NAZIs sex dolls for protection

A new book reveals that the French resistance and Allied bombers weren’t the only threats that Hitler’s Nazi soldiers faced in Paris during World War II. Turns out syphilis -- spread from dalliances with French prostitutes -- presented a more clandestine danger. To combat Nazi soldiers’ temptations from the Parisian joie de vivre, Hitler gave the okay to manufacture blow up sex dolls [invented by Nazis?] as a more hygienic alternative, reports The Herald Sun. More

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Harmonious vs. Quarrelsome Communities

Wisdom Quarterly

Real Buddhist monastic life in the original forest tradition, modern Sri Lanka

PARILEYYAKA FOREST, India - The Buddha stood in the woods. Ven. Anuruddha welcomed his teacher and led him to the wilderness abode he shared with two other Buddhist monks, Nandiya and Kimbila.

They welcomed the Buddha and were overjoyed on account of his visit. They saw to it that he was able to rinse his feet and drink and sit in a prepared seat. They prostrated, happy at the rare opportunity to show their teachers all the customary marks of respect.

The Buddha asked about their progress along the path-of-practice and in terms of securing the allowable requisites (almsfood, robes, shelter, medicine, etc.). They answered that they lived a quiet, peaceful, and harmonious life. As such, their needs were met and they were able to use the suitable conditions to make progress in their meditation practice, encouraging one another along the Dharma path.

The Buddha asked how their relationship as fellow practitioners was going. And Anuruddha replied, "We meditate separately and come together to discuss the Dharma on a regular basis. We live in harmony mixing like milk and water. My companions are a great blessing. Before I do or say anything, I ask myself how they would react. Instead of following my own impulse, I defer to them. If I question that my actions might offend, I refrain. We may be three, but we are of one mind."

The Buddha indicated his approval and turned to the other two recluses. Kimbila added, "What Anuruddha says is true: We live in harmony with great consideration for one another."

Nandiya added, "We share not only the offerings we collect but also encouragement and meditation experience."



The Buddha expressed delight and offered them praise, noting how they lived in contrast to the quarreling monks of Kosambi:

• Nine years after he began teaching, the Buddha was residing in Kosambi when a quarrel arose between two groups of monastics. Some were experts in the disciplinary code (Vinaya), others in doctrinal matters (Dharma). He tried to settle their quarrel. But when his efforts failed, he left them without a word, taking only his bowl and robes, and retired to the Paileyyaka Forest without an attendant. There, an elephant ministered to his needs, clearing a portion of the forest to reveal a stone cave and each day bringing him fruits as an offering. A monkey observing this brought an offering of his own, a honeycomb. And when the people of Kosambi found out that the Buddha had gone into the forest alone because of the quarrels, they stopped offering alms to them. As soon as news reached Ananda, who was spending the rainy season in Savatthi, he decided to visit the Buddha and told him that people everywhere were eager to hear the Dharma, particularly in Savatthi. The monks in Kosambi settled their quarrels and came to seek the Buddha's forgiveness, resulting in a sutra with the message that:

"One should associate with the wise, not the foolish.
It is better to live alone if good friends cannot be found.
For there is no companionship with the foolish."

He praised Anuruddha, Nandiya, and Kimbila by saying, "Excellent! Harmony is the way. A spiritual community is only a real Sangha when there is harmony and mutual encouragement. It is because of authentically awakening [penetrative insight leading through the stages of enlightenment culminating in arhatship] that you live in harmony.

The Buddha stayed with these monastics for weeks observing how they went out on almsround after morning meditation. Whoever returned first prepared seats for the others, fetched water, and set out an additional clay bowl [bowls were made of clay at that time]. Before eating, he placed some of his food in the empty bowl to share. When they finished eating, they gathered their leftovers and donated them to creatures on land or in the stream. They shared duties not keeping track of who did more or who less and they made sure to meet regularly and otherwise lived together in silence.

Before the Buddha departed, he spoke in praise of harmony and declared six principles to achieve it:

1. sharing a living space whether in a city or forest
2. sharing duties essential to life
3. observing the precepts
4. uttering only words that contribute to harmony, leaving unsaid words that might split the community or ruin its harmony
5. meeting together to share their insight and understanding of the Dharma
6. respecting others' viewpoints without coercing others to follow their views.

A community living in accord with these principles lives in happiness and harmony. The monks were delighted at this teaching. The Buddha went from Parileyyaka Forest to Rakkhita Forest, took a seat under a lush Sal tree, and decided to spend the following rainy season alone in the woods.

• Part of this story is recounted by Thich Nhat Hanh in Old Path White Clouds: A Handful of Simsapa Leaves
• Searching for Kapilavastu in the Pali Canon
• Kalyana Mitta ("Noble Friend") Groups, Seattle
• At Parileyyaka Discourse (accesstoinsight.org)
• The Buddha at Parileyyaka Forest