April Fools

This past Friday was April Fools Day and Buddhism and Buddhist teachers are no strangers to this day. This was one of the better jokes played this year.Have a good weekend all.

Three Monks (1980)

Three Monks (1980)
The film is based on the ancient Chinese proverb "One monk will shoulder two buckets of water, two monks will share the load, but add a third and no one will want to fetch water."

The film does not contain any dialogues, allowing it to be watched by any culture, and a different music instrument was used to signify each monk.
The film also tell the story from the aspect of the buddhist bhikkhu.

A young monk lives a simple life in a temple on top of a hill. He has one daily task of hauling two buckets of water up the hill. He tries to share the job with another monk, but the carry pole is only long enough for one bucket. The arrival of a third monk prompts everyone to expect that someone else will take on the chore. Consequently, no one fetches water though everybody is thirsty. At night, a rat comes to scrounge and then knocks the candleholder, leading to a devastating fire in the temple. The three monks finally unite together and make a concerted effort to put out the fire. Since then they understand the old saying "unity is strength" and begin to live a harmonious life. The temple never lacks water again.

YouTube Part 1

YouTube Part 2

Ango - Rev. Taigu Turlur

Ango - Rev. Taigu Turlur
Rev. Taigu talks about Ango, a special 100 day Practice Period.
This is the text quoted in the following talk. It was given at the beginning of Ango, the summer practice. I strongly recommended the reading of the book itself. Amazing translations and real inspiring collection that give a perfect glimpse of Dogen's genius.

Formal Talk on the First Day of the Practice Period, recorded by Ejo, 1245, Echizen.

(...) On the first day of the summer period he ascended the teaching seat, held up a whisk, drew a circle in the air, and said,"our practice period~peacefully dwelling~goes beyond this".
He drew another circle and said,"Peacefully dwelling is to study this thoroughly. So it is taught that the Buddha who is the King of the Empty Eon received this life vein, becoming a buddha,becoming an ancestor. The fist and the staff embody this point. They transmit Dharma and transmit the robe.
"During each summer practice period, make each moment the top of your head. Don't regard this as a beginning. Don't regard this as going beyond. Even if you see it as a beginning, kick it away. Even if you se it as going beyond, stomp on it. Then you are not bound by beginning or going beyond. How is it?"
Dogen took up the whisk, drew a circle and said: "Dwell peacefully in this nest".

Youtube

Why I Became a Buddhist - Pema Chödrön

Why I Became a Buddhist - Pema Chödrön
Pema Chödrön reveals the time-tested Buddhist antidote to suffering—and shows how to apply it in your own life. The simple and elegant meditation practice known as tonglen, she teaches, is the perfect medicine for "ordinary people like ourselves." Through tonglen, we can use life's difficulties as a way to befriend ourselves, accept the past we have rejected, and widen our circle of compassion. Excerpted from the DVD Good Medicine.

Youtube

Happiness - Dalai Lama

Happiness - Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama gives his most important teaching on happiness. Hi there.

Youtube

How do I find a good meditation teacher?

How do I find a good meditation teacher? - Shinzen Young
Shinzen speaks to the question "How do I find a good meditation teacher." Shinzen talks about the activity of teaching as subtle teaching, descriptive teaching, and explicit teaching. Filmed at Mt. Carmel Spiritual Centre in Niagara Falls.

Youtube

Enlightened Society - Chögyam Trungpa

Enlightened Society - Chögyam Trungpa
In an open forum, The Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, (1939-1987) discusses a society guided by the principles of wisdom and compassion. He was a pioneer in bringing the Tibetan Buddhist teachings to North America, Europe and in 1976 introduced Shambhala.

Youtube

Matthieu Ricard: Habits of happiness

Matthieu Ricard: Habits of happiness
What is happiness, and how can we all get some? Buddhist monk, photographer and author Matthieu Ricard has devoted his life to these questions, and his answer is influenced by his faith as well as by his scientific turn of mind: We can train our minds in habits of happiness. Interwoven with his talk are stunning photographs of the Himalayas and of his spiritual community.

Youtube

What is Nirvana?

What is Nirvana?
Discourse by Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh

In Buddhism, we speak of nirvana which is the cessation of all suffering. Nirvana, first of all, it means the cessation, the extinction of all suffering. But our suffering come from our wrong perceptions. Avidia, misunderstanding. And that is why the practice of meditation, the practice of looking deeply has the purpose of removing wrong perceptions from us. If you are able to remove wrong perceptions, you will be able to be free from the afflictions and the sufferings that always arise from wrong perceptions. You have wrong perception on yourself and on the other, and the other has wrong perception on themselves and on you and that is the cause of fear, of violence, of hatred. That is why trying to remove wrong perceptions is the only way to peace. And that is why nirvana is, first of all, the removal of wrong perceptions. And when you remove wrong perceptions, you remove the suffering... Continued

Youtube

Zen Fighting

Zen Fighting
Pretty funny vid I found today. This is obviously a joke so don't read too much into it.

Vavrek and Sean Kennedy challenge each other to a 'Zen Duel' in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia. one shall remain.

Youtube

The Buddha comes to Sussex (1979)

The Buddha comes to Sussex (1979)
A report made about Ajahn Chah's visit in England at the end of the 70s when Ajahn Sumedho and the other monks have just moved into Chithurst to set up a forest monastery there.

A small village in west Sussex is faced with the strange prospect of saffron-robed Buddhist monks in its midst. they have just set up their first western sanctuary for training along strict traditional lines.part of their tradition is to rely for their food on the local villagers: but how would Sussex villagers react when a column of monks file past with their alms bowls. this everyman report attempts to explain what they do and why and the reaction of the village to their new neighbours.

Youtube Part1

Youtube Part2

Lecture on Alan Watts & Zen. Dualism - Donna Quesada

Lecture on Alan Watts & Zen. Dualism - Donna Quesada
Professor Donna Quesada from Santa Monica College - lecture on Alan Watts & Zen Buddhism. Part 1 of 5. March 10th 2008 @ L.A. Library.

Youtube

Donna's Blog

Capitalism, Socialism, and Income Inequality - The Dalai Lama

Capitalism, Socialism, and Income Inequality - The Dalai Lama
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, gives his perspective on capitalism, Marxism, and the widening global gap between rich and poor.

Youtube