Buddhist council and chaplancy training

The Buddhist Council under the Presidency of Brian White is doing a fantastic job.
The new premises in Crows Nest are great, with a good library and room for meetings and training.

They have organized a Chaplaincy training program .
Regrettably it runs for five weeks, on Thursdays (all day). Much more that I can allocate nowadays.


Interestingly the program is organized with the New South Wales College of Clinical Pastoral Education. They seem to normally train Christian Chaplains but they are now the first to train Buddhist as well. A fantastic interfaith collaboration.

Interfaith contributions of meditation

Most of my students come from non-Buddhist background. Why are the Buddhist scripture classes then so popular? I think it is because of meditation's popularity, or at least the increased knowledge of the benefits of meditation.

I said yesterday "I don't think any of you is being forced to come to this class, is there?" and 2 o three students said "I am". Interestingly non had a Buddhist background, so their families are sending them to my class because they think that what I teach (and not necessarily about Buddha) will benefit their kids. They are probably of Christian background, and the School has several Christian, both Catholic and protestant clergy.

The spread of meditation is actually happening in all religions. Recently I was talking with a Jewish friend who started doing meditation. I was so happy when she told me she was planning her first retreat. I know that with two children it is not an easy commitment. She had first asked me to recommend a place, but regrettably because she lives in the US I was not able to help her. So when she told me she had found a place I was curious to know more. Elat Chayyim has meditation retreats guided by two Rabbis. One (Rabbi Alan Lew) seems to be a Zen teacher as well. I don't know much about Judaism, but I think this is an interesting combination. My friend is putting a lot of trust in these teachers so I hope they are good teachers.

monkey magic and other perspectives on Buddhism

I recently started reading an article about Buddhism, and as often happens (more now that I have a baby boy), I did not get to finish it. One of the things that first striked me about it is that it discussed Buddhism as a combination of ideas between a polytheistic religion and a non-theistic one (including a monotheistic one for some people).

Although the principles are clearly non-theistic, Buddhism has adapted to the local cultures where it grew. I think that since the principles make it clear that you should not try to 'convert' people as it happens in other religions, its ideas just melt and impregnate what is already there.

This is what happens in many Buddhist traditions, sometimes made popular through movies and TV shows that are very .... uhm ... special. 'Monkey magic' is the most interesting I have seen. It is a 70's Japanese show with a childish sense of humor and random quotations from Buddhist literature.

Today I was browsing at books in Sapho's our local bookstore/cafe and found "Utimate Journey" by Richard Bernstein (Borzoi Books, 2001). "Retracing the Path of an Ancient Buddhist Monk who crossed Asia in Search of Enlightenment".

I could not believe it when it said mentioned "Monkey, a Journey to the West" by Wu Cheng-en, apparently the fiction written around the real story of a real monk (Hsuan Tsang) who traveled from China to India . The novel actually has a monkey with supernatural powers who travels with the monk. Obviously the story in which the show is based.

The show (and probably the book) mixes Buddhism with ideas from other religions. In fact, the shows' Buddha, reminds me of a cartoon's version of Jesus Christ.

I have also seen the polytheistic approach in Korean and Chinese art, where Boddhisatvas, daemons, Devas and other deities appear repeatedly.
Some of they may be based on the different levels of beings that appear on Buddhist scriptures, but other are based on traditions from each locality where Buddhism developed.