No. 0481 ( Bản tin này TT GÐ đã loan trong room DP ngày 22/08/05)

Buddhist retreat home opens doors for women Fremont site, nation's first, resurrects female clergy tradition

By Jonathan Jones, STAFF WRITER
Article Last Updated: 08/22/2005 02:49:02 AM

FREMONT — In a nondescript two-story house in a residential neighborhood between the Niles Historic District and Old Canyon, two women with shaved heads wearing rust and saffron robes sit on mats and meditate.
To a visitor, the trains rumbling by, dogs barking and loud bass thumping from a neighbor's stereo may not make for the most tranquil location for the new monastic retreat home for women training to be ordained bhikkhunis.

But, as 37-year-old Heather Burke, who goes by her Buddhist name, Bhikkhuni Sister Tathaaloka, has learned: the lifestyle of a Buddhist bhikkhuni involves finding peace and tranquillity everywhere, not only in quiet and secluded locations.

Tathaaloka spent much of last week turning this rented home on Essanay Place into the first retreat home in the country specifically designed for women seeking ordination into the Buddhist monastic lifestyle.

"We wanted a place for women who want a monastic lifestyle; this is a place where women can do that," said Tathaaloka, one of only two American-born women fully ordained. "There's been a big problem for women because there hasn't been a place to do that. This is the ninth year since I was ordained, so hopefully I've learned enough to share some wisdom with other (women)."

Last weekend, the Buddhist retreat home held its opening blessing and open house for the neighborhood. The new home is named "Dhammadharini," which means "to uphold the Dharma in the feminine form," in the ancient classical Pali language of Southeast Asian Buddhism.

Although monastic life and ordination for Buddhist women dates back more than 2,500 years, most of the full monastic ordination for Buddhist women died out about 1,000 years ago, she said.

But the past decade has seen an emergence of a modern revival in Southeast Asia of the ancient tradition of full ordination for women.

Although the Bay Area has seen the establishment of numerous Buddhist monasteries and temples, none have been led by female clergy members.

So, five years ago, Tathaaloka began working with local Buddhists, including
members of the Wat Buddhanusorn on Niles Boulevard to create a home for a women's monastery.
The lifestyle and livelihood of the

women in Fremont will resemble that of most classic Buddhist bhikkhunis: The women charge nothing for their meditation instruction or services.

A typical day begins at 5 a.m. with personal meditation and chanting in a sparsely furnished living room consisting of a Buddhist shrine, flowers, candles, incense, a few mats and pillows.
After a light breakfast, the women take a silent morning walk through Niles and Old Canyon with alms bowls, which are used to collect offerings of food from neighbors, before returning to the retreat home for more meditation, discussions and study.

Born in Washington, D.C., Tathaaloka traveled frequently in the United States as the daughter of a physicist. Although her parents studied various forms of Zen Buddhism, she did not begin meditating until 1989 when she was a 19-year-old student at Portland State University studying alternative medicine.

After a close friend died unexpectedly, Tathaaloka went on a Buddhist retreat in Missouri. Her journey also took her to Europe and Asia before she returned to Northern California to practice as a fully ordained bhikkhuni.

"It's our vision sometime in the future to find a place in the countryside that's a little more secluded," Tathaaloka said. "This (home) may be more of an interim spot, but we may continue to use it even if we do move. Meantime, I've trained myself to meditate to the train's rumblings."

Jonathan Jones covers religious, ethnic, and cultural issues for The Argus. He can be reached at (510) 353-7005 or jjones@angnewspapers.com.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_2962286