What a pleasure it was to spend time with my Order sister Viryaja.
Week after week she sits in circles sharing the Dharma. I see the community blossoming with the friendship she offers those who wander into the Toowoomba Buddhist Centre.
A big thank you to both Viryaja and her husband Peter who fed me lovely food and made sure I had a bed every night. A trip to the Japanese gardens was a highlight.
Tomorrow I leave Toowoomba and catch a bus to Brisbane. Thank you to the Toowoomba sangha – I was warmly scooped up and looked after so well.
The courage and commitment of people in quite isolated situations practicing the Dharma and developing a spiritual community is always impressive. Inspired by the Buddhist teachings they pitch in and help where needed.
A weekend retreat, at a lovely country rented venue complete with mist in gumtrees, on the topic of ‘The True Indivual ‘ left us open hearted and connected.
Sadhu to Viryaja, Roger , the management committee and friends, who together have already achieved the purchase of a building to hold classes in.
Dear friends,
As I move towards my dharma teaching pilgrimage finishing date of 1 st June I am putting out a call to raise the final amount of $1,100 to cover my daily living and travel costs.
I have really enjoyed leading events and meeting the sangha in Adelaide and Toowoomba and will now move on to Brisbane and Sydney before my last stops at Kempsey and Naganaga.
I will continue to hand on Buddhas after the June date and write about it on the blog.
If you would like to donate please click on the link below
love Maitripala
As an addition to my previous post about wearing my kesa…..let me introduce you to a wonderful woman from India , Vajradharini , who hand stitches all our kesas.
Thank you Carunalaka for your Facebook post which reminded us of Vajradharini’s gift to the Order.
On March 17 th last year at Melbourne Buddhist Centre we had the launch of the Buddhas in my Pocket pilgrimage.
At the same time Dantacitta placed my kesa around my neck and I set myself the challenge to wear it every day for the duration of the pilgrimage. But the pilgrimage end date began to extend out as I responded to further requests to support others in sharing the Dharma. However I kept the commitment to wear it daily right up until 27 th February this year. Nearly 12 months.
I thought it was going to be much more challenging than it was.
The first two days had me feeling a bit self conscious but that fell away quite quickly and then it was a mostly positive experience.
I have engaged in lots of discussions started by people curious enough to ask me what my kesa was………on trains, trams, supermarket, in a doctor’s surgery, Centrelink, picture theatres, going through Customs, family functions and so on.
When I checked with a few people about what they had imagined it was, the majority thought I was ‘something religious …perhaps a minister of some sort’ .
Lining up for the toilets on an international flight to a Birmingham I was asked by a businessman about Buddhism in Japan as he had just been there for work. One of the guys in his meeting had to excuse himself to attend a Buddhist ceremony at a temple and it had intrigued him.
I largely welcomed opportunities to talk about a Buddhism. There was resistance a couple of times because I was on my way somewhere and running short of time.
But it wasn’t lack of time or embarrassment that led me to decide just recently to not wear it every day.
For the Buddhas in my Pocket pilgrimage I was in Adelaide a few weeks ago and there were a number of days with temperatures soaring to over 40 degrees.
The kesa is not made out of a natural fibre and in extreme heat the sweat pools around the material on the neck and it’s uncomfortable.
For the first time in nearly a year I was really resistant to putting it on.
But I noticed something in me that wanted to push through and ‘achieve a full year’.
There was a flavour of pride and attachment to rites and rituals about it.
This attitude was missing the original spirit of the challenge.
So when I got ready to fly to Toowoomba for the next stop on the pilgrimage last week I chose not to wear it. I imagined the humidity and heat was going to be extreme in Queensland, as it sometimes still is this time of year.
Well this concern did not eventuate, as it’s been very pleasant weather and definitely not as hot as my Adelaide visit.
And I did begin to miss not wearing my kesa a few days after arriving in Toowoomba.
So I have decided to take the middle way.
I won’t go back to only wearing my kesa in the shrineroom or at Buddhist centres nor will I commit to wearing every day.
I will just wear it when there is a natural urge to wear it- wherever that happens to be- outside in public, at home etc and just see how that unfolds.
Note : a kesa is an article of clothing that goes around the neck to denote an Ordained Member of Triratna Order- usually worn when conducting rituals, classes, retreats or meeting with other Order Members
Viryaja explains this item that has meaning for her……..
“This quartz stone was given to me as a gift after I was ordained in 2011 at Golden Bay, New Zealand.
It was the first time I had met Akasamati, who was on the team.
She was doing the shrines and helping make our Ordination retreat very special.
She is a beautiful woman and did everything so beautifully.
Akasamati invited those of us who had just been Ordained to choose from wrapped gifts she had arranged on a tray.
When I unwrapped the one I selected it was this white, round stone.
I love the smoothness and feel of it in my hands.
Circles are really quite important to me so I love the shape and the spiral of paua shell through it. Paua shells are unique to New Zealand.
This stone is always in sight in my room either on the shelf above the Buddha or on my desk.
It is very special to me.”
It was delightful to meet many of the Adelaide sangha on my pilgrimage visit a few weeks ago.
I had lovely catchups with people in beautiful places. I loved the lush gardens and the visits to the ocean which is so close by.
There’s nothing like walking along the ocean edge or better still bobbing up and down in the salty water, talking Dharma with people wanting to grow and be the best they can be.
The giant Kuan Yin looking out to the southern ocean reminded me of my connection with her at my Ordination nearly 18 years ago.
I led day retreats on Metta and Compassion and enjoyed meeting up with Dharmamodini , Saddhavijaya and Ratnadaka …appreciating all they are doing to share the Dharma in the lovely city of Adelaide.
Meditating on the cool, lush grass of Dharmamodini’s retreat-like back yard is another fond memory. Thanks for looking after me with such warm care.
I met him in a beautiful garden in Adelaide. He was flustered and distracted.
Sometimes you don’t need to be told a whole life story to sense into a large part of it.
I sensed a strength built on a struggle and a battle being won.
It was a quiet, wise quality borne from lessons learned in hardship.
I used to see it in my brother as he described the beauty and love he found bound up in the constant effort needed not to slip into oblivion.
It’s a fragile, softening space in which to connect with someone.
So I sat with this man on the soft green grass and as he already knew something of the Buddha’s teachings I invited him to choose a Buddha from my little bag.
He told me later his eyes weren’t initially drawn to look at the Buddhas as he was transfixed by the sound of silent laughter as soon as I laid them out.
And then the sound of a bell drew him to the tiny vajra bell almost hidden amongst the Buddhas.
I encouraged him to pick up it up.
As he held the tiny vajra bell in his palm we talked about the connection with Buddha Vajrasattva and the association with purification. The handle of the bell is usually made up from part of a vajra- the diamond thunderbolt.
He said he felt he was going through a transformative time and the energy required for that was like the heat and pressure needed to form a diamond.
He told me one of his strengths was knowing that the journey was the destination.
Quietly, thoughtfully he found helpful meaning in this tiny vajra bell.
We sat in silence together until he told me the bell sound had now been drowned out by a lion’s roar.
The lion’s roar brought him completely into the present moment he said.
‘I’m fully here now,’ he said with a broad grin.
So we sat on, ‘fully here’ together.
Vajra bell donated by Megha NSW Australia
I noticed her sitting cross legged, with the daily paper unfolded in front of her, on one of the raised seats under a shady tree in Rundle Mall, Adelaide, South Australia.
I moved to sit quietly beside her. She turned and smiled and we started conversation.
Within a few minutes I took out my bag of little Buddhas and told her I was giving away gifts given to me by people all around the world.
She turned her body towards the array of little Buddhas as I stood them to attention.
‘Cool!’ she exclaimed.
‘Would you like to choose one? ‘
‘Sure,’ she replied.
She looked at 2 or 3 quite closely and was keen to know who had donated them and which country each person was from.
She carefully chose a solid earth touching Buddha.
She liked the fact it was so surprisingly weighty for such a little thing. We talked about the significance that could be held in small items and even in small actions.
“You’ve made my day. ” she grinned, as the little Buddha looked more and more at home in the palm of her hand.
As we chatted it was revealed that even though she lived 8 kms away from the Mall she made the trip in three times a week so she could deliver random acts of compliments to people passing by.
This was a woman who had discovered the power of the gift of kindness.
Occasionally she experienced a hostile reaction she said, but largely people stopped and engaged happily with her when she told them she liked what they were wearing- maybe a bright shirt or pretty skirt.
Her smile broadened as she shared,
” The newspaper is just a prop, love. I am never really reading it. Just biding my time until I get the urge to jump in with a compliment to someone passing by. I always go home uplifted after my days sitting here. I’m not one for communicating on Facebook. I prefer to connect with real people even if I don’t know anything about them.”
I share little buddhas, she shares compliments and together we shared a lovely communication with each other under a tree in Rundle Mall.
Buddha donated by Akasajoti, UK
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