Aloka Vihara is ending at its Placerville, California location (where the picture above was taken during a visit by the Clear Mountain Monastics) and, with such an ending, it was necessary to begin some other phase or place of monastic life. This gives me the opportunity to venture into the wider world of monastic and Dharma communities, as many are encouraged to do when reaching five years after full ordination. I reached five this year with an additional three years of preliminary training as an anangarika and novice. My aspiration is to deepen my understanding of Buddhism in the world and cultivate wholesome qualities in how I meet the world.
The couple weeks of lively transition on trains and meeting the Clear Mountain Monastery community in Seattle and homecoming with the Common Ground Meditation community in Minnesota, were a time of transition between the activities of closing Aloka Vihara in Placerville and the planned for time of retreat which is starting now.
Primarily, the two week space between ending and beginning was a celebration of two amazing Dhamma communities and some happy connections with family and friends.
It even included 108 recitations of “Itipso” in praise of the qualities of the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha.
“How you hold it matters” was the theme on December 31st, in Seattle at Clear Mountain Monastery. We focused on holding things – gently, calmly, kindly.
Since I am new to Dhamma sharing, after the exploration, I sent the YouTube link asking for feedback to Paul Linden and Lisa Fisher, who bring knowledge from martial arts into the Dhamma of meeting things as they are. Paul kindly (and powerfully 🙂 ) suggested the addition of – strongly, stably, powerfully. (For feet on the ground ways of integrating these into your practice see Lisa’s classes and workshops and Paul’s online dojo and books. I have benefited greatly from their work.)
From Seattle, I again chose the train as a means of transport. I took my first ever overnight train trip coming up to Seattle from Aloka Vihara. The trip from Seattle to Minnesota was two nights. I know I will be traveling a lot this next year or two and I am conscious of the impact air flight has on CO2 emissions. Out of respect for that green forest shown above and the rest of the Earth, I am choosing lower impact means of transportation wherever I can. I am using two tools online to calculate the impact of travel on the environment: the ICAO Carbon Emmisions Calculator and the Public transport carbon footprint calculator. I then weigh the benefits of each trip and mode of transport against the carbon footprint before deciding if and how to travel.
Once in Minnesota, I got to stay with Nora, a member of the Common Ground community, and participate in several programs and meal offerings.
Since we weren’t in picture taking mode, I don’t have pictures from that trip.
The Dhamma highlights for me were continuations of the exploration of how we hold everything that arises. On Friday night the Mindfulness Recovery group considered what it is to be conditioned and to approach this conditioning with a soft belly and stable posture. On Saturday, at a half-day retreat I got to co-facilitate with Mark Nunberg, we further addressed the qualities for showing up and their relevance to our meditation object. Then, on Sunday at a Question & Reflection on monastic life, themes of how we show up and hold and respond to the circumstances before us brought out the need to strengthen whatever factors are needed to stablize and steady the heart so it can be open in an effective way.
One example I gave was: if I was aversive of the people around me in the monastery with feelings of annoyance or fear, I would steady the body and open the heart to practice Metta. However, if I was attached and bubbly and a bit clumsy, I would steady the body and bring more attention to mindful movements and awareness.
In these two weeks in-between ending and beginning, my practice focus, and thus the focus of Dhamma sharing has been on playing with strength and power in body and voice so that the unwavering kindness I have been cultivating is more effective, enduring, bright and directed.
And now, I have the great opportunity to spend three weeks at Common Ground’s Retreat Center in a tiny house followed by retreat time at Canmore Theravada Buddist Monastery and Dhamma Dena. At Dhamma Dena I will have the opportunity to attend two retreats, a short one with Sayalay Dipankara and a longer one with Beth Upton.
Between now and sometime in May, I will continue to explore the balance and integration of what is gentle and what is strong so that meditation is based in a field of loving power.
We’ll see what emerges at the ending of retreat and the beginning of world exploration. I’ll start the travels in Belgium at Tilorian Monastery.
Until later,
With kind care
and developing strength,
Ayya Niyyānika