No. 1278 (tinhtan dịch)

Lễ tôn trí Xá Lợi của Cố Hòa Thượng Tiến Sĩ K Sri Dhammananda.

Buddhist Channel, ngày 2 tháng 12, 2006.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -
Xá Lợi của Cố Trưởng lão Hòa thượng Tiến Sĩ K Sri Dhammananda đáng kính ở Mã Lai và Singapore, được tôn trí vào một bảo tháp xây đặc biệt trong nghi lễ để đánh dấu 3 tháng tưởng niệm về Ngài. Cố Trưởng lão Hòa thượng đã viên tịch vào ngày 31 tháng 08, 2006.
Khoảng 200 Chư Tăng Ni thuộc các truyền thống khác nhau, cũng như gần 2,000 tín đồ đã hiện diện tại Tu viện Buddhist Maha Vihara để tham dự buổi lễ này. Sự kiện đã đi vào lịch sử trong nhiều phương cách như Cố Trưởng Lão là Vị Tăng thường trú đầu tiên của Tu viện đã viên tịch. Ngài cũng là vị Tăng đầu tiên có xá lợi được tôn trí trong tổng thể Tu viện.
Lễ tưởng niệm bắt đầu vào lúc 9 giờ sáng giữa một buổi sáng mát dịu và bầu trời mây phủ bình lặng. Bốn loa phát ra những lời ca tụng ngắn gọn về Cố Trưởng lão và cũng vắn tắt ý nghĩa xá lợi quý báu trong Phật giáo.
Ông Sarath Surendre, Chủ tịch Hội Sasana Abhiwurdhi Wardhana (SAWS) và hội viên của Tu viện Buddhist Maha Vihara nơi mà Cố Hòa thượng đã trụ trì 54 năm nói rằng Cố Trưởng lão Hòa thượng K Sri Dhammananda là một trong những vị danh tăng đáng kính nhất trên thế giới. Ông nói rằng sự phục vụ vô bờ bến của Cố Hòa thượng, là đúng nghĩa tưởng niệm thường xuyên tại ngôi bảo tháp đã được thành lập để nhắc nhở cho các thế hệ sau về đời sống của một bậc vĩ nhân.
Trưởng lão Hòa thượng Dhammaratana, nhậm chức Sư Trưởng Tu viện Buddhist Maha Vihara gởi lời cảm ơn Chư Tăng Ni đã quy tụ tại tu viện để tham dự buổi lễ này.
Thông điệp cuối cùng của buổi sáng này được phát biểu bởi Đại Đức Piyananda, vị Cố vấn Tôn giáo Quốc tế cho Tổng Thống Sri Lanka. Đại Đức đã đọc một bài thuyết giảng ngắn về ý nghĩa của xá lợi thiêng liêng trong Phật giáo. Ngài nói rằng trong khi quan trọng về thờ cúng và tôn kính xá lợi Thánh Tăng, quả thật thiết yếu hơn để hiểu lý do tại sao phải làm như vậy.
Trích dẫn một câu nói: “Điều bạn suy tôn là điều bạn sẽ trở thành” Đại Đức Piyananda đã nói xá lợi của Cố Hòa thượng Tiến sĩ K Sri Dhammananda sẽ nhắc nhở mọi người rằng một thời có một vị Tăng sống ân cần và từ bi, đáng kính, trí tuệ và tu học thật sự, phẩm giá mà tất cả chúng ta nên noi gương.
Một khi tro được để vào bình đựng di cốt, theo sau một nghi lễ cầu siêu ngắn. Bình đựng di cốt được tôn trí trong một bảo tháp nhỏ xây đặc biệt. Trưởng lão Hòa thượng Dhammaratana hướng dẫn một đám rước ngắn từ phòng lễ đến bảo tháp nhỏ. Ngài dẫn đầu một nhóm Chư Tăng đi quanh bảo tháp ba lần trước khi bình đựng di cốt được tôn trí vào trong.
Nghi lễ kết thúc trong nỗi buồn trang nghiêm của tu viện.
(tinhtan dịch)

(tinhtan dịch)

Relics of the late Venerable Dr K Sri Dhammananda interned in mini pagoda

The Buddhist Channel, December 2, 2006

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- The relics of Malaysia and Singapore's revered Chief Monk, the late Venerable Dr K Sri Dhammananda was interned in a specially built pagoda in a ceremony to mark his 3 months memorial today. The venerable passed away on August 31, 2006.

About 200 monks and nuns of various traditions, as well as close to 2,000 devotees were present at the Buddhist Maha Vihara to witness the occasion. The event was historical in many ways as the late venerable was the first resident monk of the temple who had passed away. He was also the first monk to have his relics interned within the temple's compound.

The ceremony began at 9 a.m. amidst a cool, pleasant morning and calm overcast skies. Four speakers gave short eulogies about the venerable and also touched briefly on the Buddhist meaning of relics worship.

Mr Sarath Surendre, President of the Sasana Abhiwurdhi Wardhana Society (SAWS) and custodian of the Buddhist Maha Vihara where the late venerable had been the Chief monk for 54 years, said that Dr K Sri Dhammananda was one of the most respected monk in the world. He said that given the venerable's immense service, it was only right that a permanent memorial in the form of a pagoda was established to remind generations to come the life of such a great person.

The next speaker, Mr Ang Choo Hong, who is the President of the Buddhist Missionary Society of Malaysia, touched on the meaning of relics worship in Buddhism. He recalled a story how Ven K Sri Dhammananda told him that if all the Buddhist relics were to be put in one place, it would make up a mountain. He said that relics of Buddhist masters should serve as a memory of those who had given great service to mankind, rather than merely be objects of worship.

Ven. Dhammaratana, the incumbent Chief monk of the Buddhist maha Vihara then gave thanks to the many monks and nuns who had converged on the temple to witness the occasion. He particularly singled out the presence of Datin Seri Paduka Zaleha Ali, an elderly Muslim lady who knew the late venerable very well. Ven. Dhammaratana called her "a true sister for all Malaysians".

The final speech of the morning was delivered by Ven. Piyananda, who is the International Religious Advisor to the President of Sri Lanka. The venerable gave a short discourse on the meaning of relics worhip in Buddhism. He said that while it was important to worship and to honour Buddhist relics, it was more essential to understand the reason behind it.

Quoting a saying that "what you worship you become", Ven. Piyananda said the late Dr K Sri Dhammananda's relics will serve to remind everyone that there once lived a man who was kind and compassionate, worthy of respect, wise and truly learned, values which we all should emulate.

"He was without doubt a man of great skill and ability, not only in Dharma knowledge - he could clearly explain things as it is, even difficult subjects - but also a master in handling people. He knew peoples' character very well," said the venerable.

After the speeches, representatives from key Buddhist societies and associations were invited to place the ashes and relics (wrapped in yellow bundles) into an urn. Ven. Mahinda, being the eldest Malaysian disciple of the late venerable, led the way. The last person given the honour to make the final placement was Mr. R A Janis, who served as the late venerable's assistant (kapiya) when he first came to the temple from Sri Lanka 54 years ago.

Once the ashes were placed into the urn, a short blessing ceremony followed. The urn was then brought to be interned into the specially built mini pagoda. Ven. Dhammaratana led the short procession from the ceremonial dias to the pagoda. He guided a small retinue of monks to circle the pagoda three times before the urn was placed inside it.
The ceremony concluded with the official revealing of the pagoda's plague.

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=56,3485,0,0,1,0

No.1281 (Minh Chau dich)

Tough-love remedy for an unruly teen: Two years. With monks. In Cambodia.

By Christine Clarridge, Seattle Times, Dec 5, 2006

Seattle, WA (USA) -- Chou Sa-Ngoun was desperate. Her teenage son was skipping school for weeks at a time, using drugs, getting arrested, staying out all night, hanging out with the wrong kids.

Nothing she did seemed to make any difference. Grounding didn't work. Neither did yelling, crying, taking away privileges, counseling, switching schools, probation or stints in juvenile hall.

She called the Army, but was told her son, Michael Sa-Ngoun, was too young to enlist. She begged for temporary placement in a foster home, but law-enforcement and social-service agencies said there wasn't much more they could do for him, or to him. He wasn't really that bad, they said.

"They said he's just being a teenager," she said. "They said they couldn't do anything until he did something more serious. But by the time he did something more serious it could be too late."

Finally, at the end of a family trip to Cambodia in 2004, Chou told Michael that they were leaving him behind. She, her husband and Michael's two younger siblings returned to their Tukwila home while Michael remained in a remote village to be raised and taught by monks in a Buddhist temple.

After two years of living as a monk in Cambodia, Michael, now 17, returned home Nov. 12 with a high-school diploma, job skills and a commitment, he said, to leading a "good life."

"I just felt different one day," he said shortly after his return. "I learned that you have to give up wanting things and accept what you are given. I learned about the afterlife and was taught that if you keep doing good, you'll have a good afterlife."

Chou doesn't know whether the change in her son will be lasting, particularly since he's back in the city where he once ran with the wrong crowd and was seduced by temptation. But she's hopeful the past two years living a life few Western teens will ever know will have a permanent and profound effect on her oldest child.
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"I had tried every single thing I could think of," she said. " I thought this was the only way to save my firstborn."

Grounding didn't work

Michael began getting into trouble at school when he was 12. Then he started skipping school weeks at a time with the encouragement of some older neighborhood kids.

"I would drop him off at the front door [of the school] and he would leave out the back," Chou said.

He lied to his parents all the time, his mother said, made straight F's, ignored his chores and his curfew, and sometimes didn't come home at all.

Chou tried grounding him, taking away computer access and video games, and even locking him out of the house. But he always found ways around the restrictions.

One time, the school called her at her job at a medical clinic and said Michael was absent. She came home to find he'd broken into the house with a friend and was on the computer looking at porn and drinking beer.

In 2002, Michael got caught stealing merchandise from JC Penney. The next year he was charged with residential burglary and convicted of second-degree vehicle prowl and stealing a car.

One day, the police asked her to pick him up, but she refused. They kept him for one night but brought him around the next day. When she wouldn't let him in, he broke screens trying to find a way into the house. Another time, he came home badly beaten.

Looking back on those times, Michael says the only things he cared about were money and girls. Beyond that, the tall, thin young man has a difficult time explaining that part of his life.

"I guess I just didn't care," he said. "I was following the crowd, doing what was easy and fun."

Leaving him behind

When Michael was 14, Chou began planning a trip to Cambodia, her mother's homeland. Her husband — Michael's stepfather — suggested they leave Michael behind for a week or two.

"I thought that the hardship would be good for him," said Sanny Sa-Ngoun, a carpenter who was raised in Cambodia.

Neither parent had living relatives in Cambodia, but a friend from Bellevue suggested they leave Michael in the care of Buddhist monks in the town of Krolong, a tiny village in the Kampong Cham region with no electricity, no plumbing and no phones.

In November 2004, the family flew in to Phnom Penh and spent the first few days visiting great temples and cities. They eventually made their way to Krolong.

With a little more than a week of vacation left, Chou told Michael they were returning to the U.S. without him.

He raged at first and planned to flee, but didn't have money, a plane ticket or a place to go. Before his family left Cambodia, he went on a hunger strike and pleaded for another chance.

Chou told Michael that the only way he was coming home was if he lived for a time in the temple and changed his ways.

Michael realized he had no choice. He donned the orange robes of the Buddhist monks, allowed his head to be shaved and mouthed the vows.

He says now that he was resentful. He felt like he'd been abandoned in a strange country, where he didn't speak the language and hated the food. He missed the trappings of his former life: television, computers and his friends.

In the first weeks and months, Chou listened for a change in his attitude and voice whenever he called home. When she didn't hear it, she told him, "Just a little while longer."

A new world

Buddhist monks are similar to priests and pastors in some Western religions. Taking vows of celibacy, simplicity and service, monks conduct religious ceremonies and rituals and give blessings. They have often traditionally been the most educated people, passing their knowledge from one generation of monks to the next. They often filled the role of educators in many smaller villages.

The temple will take in any young man, regardless of race, background or financial ability, who is willing to study Buddhism as a monk. There is no financial cost or expected payback, but the families of many do make financial contributions to the village or the temple. Because the Sa-Ngouns did not want their son to take food from the mouths of others, they sent $100 for village use.

The Krolong temple and school, which was at the physical and spiritual center of the village, represented an entirely new world for the teen from Seattle.

In silence, Michael rose at 5:45 each morning. He drew buckets of water and laid out two rugs, two place settings and two towels for his teacher and the elder monk, whom he called "Grandpa."

He then set a place for himself, called the two and they ate their meal of rice and meat or fish together. He rested for 10 minutes and went to work outside on whatever needed doing around the temple and school grounds.

He and the other young monks learned to mix mortar, lay stone and build fences. They had friendly competitions to be the best. He began to understand and speak the Cambodian language, and then to study the Buddhist prayers and teachings.

"I learned to try to be free from wanting things, and I learned a lot about older people, how to talk to them and thank them," he said.

He washed at the water pump, and then he and the other monks would take containers and go from door to door among the villagers asking for food in exchange for blessings.

They could not refuse food or ask for more. "We took what was given to us," Michael said. That food was placed in a community dish and made up the monks' final meal of the day, which was eaten together at noon.

One night he had a dream that the 12 evil spirits that were part of his Buddhist teachings tried to keep him from living a good life. He was scared, he said, and when he woke up he found that he didn't see the temple, the village or the country as a prison anymore. He understood why his parents did what they had done.

"I got to thinking about it and figured out I was wrong. I was actually pretty bad," he said.

When he spoke to his mother the next time — about nine months into his stay — he told her he wanted to stay in Cambodia a while longer.

She arranged for him to receive study packets from a high-school correspondence course. He took tests online at an Internet cafe in a larger town where he was taken by a villager on motorcycle.

A few months ago, he received his high-school diploma. He told his mother he was ready to return.

Back home again

He arrived at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport last month still wearing his flowing orange robes. He still honored the monks' vows that, among other things, forbade him from touching women and kept him from hugging his mother.

He stayed up the whole first night watching TV, then slept, then watched some more TV. It looked to him like things had changed. "All the construction," he said.

The American food he'd missed so much tasted plain. And he's been overwhelmed by all the noise and activity.

He's been invited to say chants and prayers and give blessings at the Buddhist temples in Olympia, White Center and in people's homes.

"People bow down to him and ask for his blessing," his mother said. "That's how they show their respect."

In a traditional cleansing ceremony that the whole family participated in at the White Center temple on Saturday, Michael was freed from his strict vows, took off his robes and emerged wearing street clothes. The ceremony marked a rite of passage, his journey from Buddhist teachings back to his Western world.

He doesn't plan to renounce what he's learned. But he is now able to hug his mother and find a job.

His first goal is to petition the court to seal his juvenile records because that part of his life is over, he said, "and it's embarrassing." He hopes to land a job in a restaurant, and a portion of what he earns will be sent to the Cambodian temple — not because it is expected of him, but because he sees the needs, he said.

"They have very little," he said.

Michael and his family realize that the true test of his experience is yet to come, when he fully re-enters the world of teenagers and temptations.

But he said he's certain that he does not want to return to his old ways.

When he goes back to Cambodia, he wants it to be for a visit and not a sentence.

"I do feel wiser and more at peace," he said. "I thought that what my mother did was harsh, but I learned a lot about life and consequences. I saw poverty and learned how lucky I was."

"It was hard," Chou agrees. "But I saw where he was going and I said, 'I can't let this happen. I can't give up. If this is the only way to save my son and give him a future, then this is what I have to do.'

"I'm very proud of him now, and I'm very hopeful."

No. 1280 ( Hạt Cát dịch)


800,000 Dalits remember Ambedkar
December 07, 2006 Thursday

MUMBAI: Hundreds of thousands of low-caste Indians lined up on Wednesday to bow before a memorial to a champion of their rights who died 50 years ago, as security officials kept a vigil to prevent any violence.

At least 800,000 low-caste Hindus, known as Dalits or untouchables, arrived in Mumbai to pay homage to Bhim Rao Ambedkar in the central Dadar neighborhood where he was cremated on Dec. 6, 1956.

Although the turnout was not surprising -- people congregate in similarly large numbers every year -- authourities tightened security around the city because of last week's violent demonstrations by low-caste groups across Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital.

The demonstrations were against the desecration of a statue of Ambedkar in northern India.

Ambedkar, himself a dalit and a prominent Indian freedom fighter, was the chief architect of the Indian Constitution, which outlawed discrimination based on caste.

Schools and colleges were shut on Tuesday and police with sniffer dogs patrolled streets in central Mumbai to maintain law and order.

''This security is a precautionary measure. We called in extra forces basically because of recent incidents and violence,'' said Mumbai police chief A.N. Roy.

''We are being cautious since there are so many people coming to the city. We want to ensure a smooth flow.''

Throughout the day, crowds of people placed flowers and garlands on Ambedkar's shrine in Mumbai's Dadar neighbourhood. Buddhist monks in orange robes also recited prayers in front of a small statue of Ambedkar, who had renounced Hinduism for Buddhism since he believed it treated people equally.

''People only remember Dalits on Ambedkar's birth or death anniversary. We are poor and will remain poor,'' said Shakun Pala, a labourer.

Pala said education, which could open the door to a better life, was available for only a few Dalits. ''I want my children to study, but it makes more sense to put them to work. It's better to feed the family than keep them in school,'' Pala said.

During last week's state-wide demonstrations against damage to a statue of Ambedkar, at least two people died when police fired into a crowd of protesters. Some 40 people were injured in separate clashes.—AP


http://www.dawn.com/2006/12/07/int16.htm

No. 1279 ( Upekha dịch)

Buddhist holiday adapts Zen to modern America

Thursday, December 7, 2006

By EVELYN SHIH
STAFF WRITER


New Jersey- There may not be anyone making a list and checking it twice or children spinning dreidels for chocolate on Bodhi Day, but the traditional Buddhist holiday will bring some festivities to Zen centers in New Jersey this weekend.


Celebrated in the Japanese Zen tradition, Bodhi Day is also called Rohatsu, or Dec. 8 in Japanese. The day commemorates the enlightenment of the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, who attained the ultimate understanding of truth as he meditated under a bodhi tree.

Joan Hogetsu Hoeberichts, currently the Zen priest of the Heart Circle Sangha in Ridgewood, explained that the Buddha realized in the dawn of Rohatsu that he and all sentient beings were "one with all that is, not separate and alone as we imagine."

In monastic Zen practice, Hoeberichts added, Rohatsu is usually marked by a 10-day retreat known as a sesshin, during which the monks meditate 10 to 12 hours a day. On the final night, Dec. 7, monks sometimes stay up through the night, symbolically imitating Buddha's commitment to meditate until he attained enlightenment.

In its current incarnation in New Jersey, Bodhi Day has become less of an intense ordeal and more of a day for gathering in religious community.

"We're now using a more worldly model, for people with careers and a family," said the Rev. Paul Genki Kahn of the High Mountain Crystal Lake Zen Community of Wyckoff. "We are adapting Zen to our time, here in America."

Many priests at both Zen centers are working professionals, as are the members. High Mountain will be celebrating Bodhi Day tonight from 7 to 9 so as not to conflict with work schedules. The Heart Circle Sangha will be staying away from business days by holding a retreat Sunday.

Both services are open to participants with no meditation experience or knowledge of Buddhist teachings -- and, Genki adds, people of different religious faiths.

"Our purpose is not to make a religious factory, but to give people the technology to live a good life," he said.

In addition to teaching in the Soto Zen tradition, High Mountain hosts a group of Christian Buddhists who use the discipline of meditation to facilitate Christian teachings. Over the years, many non-Buddhists have vowed to follow the Buddhist precepts in a ceremony called the jukai.

"The core of our community is Zen as a way of experiencing and living," Genki added.

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyNTgmZm
diZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcwMzIzMTQmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3