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An Australian Buddhist Pilgrimage

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To wear or not to wear the kesa every day…….

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

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Thank you Adelaide Sangha

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.

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A lion’s roar

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 

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Handing out compliments

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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Meeting up with Lukas

Last year my friend and I unknowingly handed out little Buddhas to the same young man who was living on the streets of Melbourne at that time.

Separately we both had meaningful conversations with him and later when he found me on social media those conversations continued.

Recently I met up with Lukas, now off the streets, and selling copies of Big Issue to make a living.

It was great to talk with him further about what helped this transition from homelessness to more financially secure living.

He took time out from selling his magazines to have a hot chocolate with me.

In Lukas’ words:

” When you came across me it turned out to be near the end of my final year on the streets.

A month after receiving Buddhas from you and Julie, I got off the streets. 

I came across someone from a housing group who organised for me to get into crisis accommodation. And around that time I decided to try being a Big Issue vendor. 

I was given 3 months crisis accommodation and a social worker who guided me to find more long term housing in a boarding house.

When I first went onto the streets I had given up on life. So if it wasn’t for the people I met on the streets and the kindness that was shown to me I don’t know that I would have survived. 

There was hard stuff too of course. I had my stuff stolen so many times. It’s hard to trust many people when you are in that situation. 

But I am so glad I found the Big Issue because what they do for homeless and people with disabilities is fantastic.

I don’t think enough people know the extent of the great work they do.

It’s been going in Australia for 20 years.

They now have a program called the Big Issue Classroom. School kids come in groups most days and they hear about the marginalisation of people and what that means for some people’s life choices. So I am involved sometimes telling my life story. It was really hard at first and uncomfortable to talk about what I went through as a child. I tell them about my time on the street. 

The also have a Big Idea program for university students that are keen to come up with their own social enterprises. 

As I stand selling my the magazine I see lots of people with miserable faces walking past. People with obviously more money and things I have and they are so unhappy even though they have more. So I value a smile and kindness, a roof over my head and some food.

Pretty simple needs really.

I don’t want to try and get more things in my life. If I can make others smile and can wake up with a smile on my face then I am pretty content. 

Where I stand to sell the Big Issue magazine my daily aim is to meet everyone with a smile no matter what mood they seem to be in. It’s a come a bit of a social experiment.”

Lukas was still carrying in his pocket the Budai I had given him previously.

Before leaving I offered him to choose his third Buddha for this phase of his journey.

He was delighted to do so. He chose a Budai with its hands in the air with fruit in bowls- a symbol of abundance.

 

Buddha donated by  Jo Adelaide

 

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In the hands of the Order- Padmasiddhi

words from Padmasiddhi

“This gold coloured Kesa is worn by me to signify that I practice within our Buddhist Order as an Anagarika. It is special to me because it is a regular reminder of my commitment to go deeper with my efforts to cultivate Stillness, Simplicity & Contentment.

These are states of being that I want to attain for myself, so I can be “in the world, but not of it”.

They are also states of being that I would wish for others as I sincerely believe that if we can all be happy, living with a little less then our world may become more sustainable.”

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Ageless compassion

 

I turned up to the ‘Grandmothers against Refugee Children in Detention’ protest alone. But I carried with me the support of friends and family members who had helped organise 3 back packs with books and warm clothes for refugee children. It was hoped these children might be offered asylum in America as part of an agreement with the Australian Government.    Pleas to bring them to Australia from the detention centre on Nauru had fallen on deaf political ears.

It was a complete surprise when walking with a large crowd of protestors from Federation Square to Queen Victoria Gardens I was greeted enthusiastically by a small woman at my right elbow. It was my Aunt Marjorie. My Dad’s oldest sister. Here she was at 83 all decked out in purple, chanting and singing with gusto, walking with the aid of a stick after her recent hip operation.

It was lovely to share this event with my dear Aunt. She had been member of this group far longer than I and had taken a group bus trip all the way to Canberra earlier in the year to deliver a petition to Parliament House calling for the immediate release of refugee children from detention centres. Aunt Marj has a vibrant active relationship with compassionate action activities encouraged by her church.

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With sleigh bells ringing…

I had not expected to hand out a Buddha during my trip into a technology shop in a busy shopping centre. My aim was to get in quickly when the doors opened and home again avoiding the pre- Christmas purchasing madness as much as possible.

But what a delightful trip it turned out to be.

The young women who was attending to my requests asked me about my kesa and what it meant.

There followed a wonderful discussion as we explored our spiritual beliefs. She was a Christian with an interest in occultism and mysticism. She had already also been curious about various aspects of Buddhism.

She loved the cartoonist Leunig and singer Leonard Cohen and had a dream to one day open a retreat centre where people could come and enjoy silence and beauty by the ocean.We had a lot in common.

I learned about her connection with Kuan Yin, the bodhisattva of compassion.

It was a delightful moment of synchronicity, as Kuan Yin sadhana had been my main practice for 17 years.

Although I had not taken my main bag of Buddhas I now always carry a few in my bag, so I dived in wondering if I had a Kuan Yin with me. I did and she accepted it gratefully.

So here in a noisy shopping centre with sleigh bells ringing over the sound system and money changing hands for Christmas gifts at every counter, we were fortunate to enjoy the gift of an open aware meeting with meaningful communication.

 

Kuan Yin donated by Shani, Melbourne

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The crack…that’s where the light gets in.

She had great glitter- infused black stockings on and a funky hat. The young woman turned towards me when I offered her the opportunity to choose a Buddha from my little bag.

Her wide smile reassured me that she didn’t mind the interruption.

I was delighted when she chose a very small earth Buddha with an indefinable face.

When I received this Buddha by parcel all the way from the UK, it had been damaged in transit. Some of it had crumbled and the face had worn off. It was if it had been ground away whilst underneath the pressure of much heavier postal items.

Whilst doing my best to glue the broken tip back on, I called to mind the wonderful  Japanese art form of Kintsugi, the process of joining the cracks in broken pottery with gold- arguably making it more beautiful than before. I had hoped then that whist on my pilgrimage someone might see the beauty of imperfection in this tiny Buddha. And now nearly 10 months later it was going to its new home.

She held it in the palm of her hand with great care and an element of tenderness was immediately present.

We talked about its qualities. She had been drawn to a feeling  timelessness she sensed in as soon as she saw it.   “Well travelled.” she said as her eyes took it in.

We talked about travel and discovered we shared a long held wish to visit the Buddhist temples of Japan.

Although only a couple centimetres tall the earthiness and groundedness of this Buddha appealed to its new caretaker.

She laughed as she declared that she could well do with some calm groundedness in her life at the moment.

Her friend was due to arrive soon and they were off to enjoy the African themed festivities happening that day at Federation Square.

I was very happy that the next journey had begun for the little Buddha with no face.

 

Buddha donated by Khemasuri UK

 

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Buddhas in my pocket

An Australian Buddhist Pilgrimage