Casual Conversation with Bhikkhu Bodhi

On Saturday Oct 15 Ven. Myong-Ahn had a casual meeting with one of the pioneers of Buddhism in the West, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi. Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi is an American ordained in 1973 in the Theravadin Tradition of Buddhism. In 2000 he gave a keynote address before the United Nations at the first official United Nation's celebration of Vesak. President of Buddhist Publication Society, Bhikkhu Bodhi has translated many of the Sutras of the Theravda Tradition into English. The brief conversation between Bhikkhu Bodhi and Ven. Myong-Ahn revolved around the world hunger relief efforts of the Buddhist Global Relief of which Bhikkhu Bodhi is the founder. Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi's relentless efforts to make Buddhism available to the Westerners deserve recognition and hope to inspire the many generations of American Buddhist still to come.

Headwaters of Social Issues

Many people work in different ways towards resolving issues surrounding civil rights, racism, LGBTQ+ issues, violence, pollution, etc.. How does the Zen Center address these issues? It happens that there are many, many lakes which are polluted. Many are poisoned, making them either unsuitable or impossible for life to continue to exist in them. Many inhabitants of the lakes are sick and struggling because the waters are polluted or poisoned. The task of providing a healthy environment for the life of these lakes seems nearly impossible. We cannot seem to remedy the situation quickly enough. These polluted waters further flow into the one great ocean and it, too, becomes polluted. The way we, at the Zen Center, approach the hardships and suffering of the lakes—and ultimately the one great ocean—is by making sure the sources of water are pure. We address pollution by addressing the source. The source waters of the problems facing the LGBTQ+ community, social justice, women’s rights, raci...

Founder's Day 2023 (Abbot's Address)

I have, from time to time, on the rarest of occasions, been accused of being...verbose. I know! I was as shocked then as you are now. So, we are in imminent danger of the lunch getting cold. Yet, I don’t have the words (imagine that!) to express how fortunate we are to be in the mere presence of a Dosa. This is the stuff we each have to stick our head through the mystical curtain of mystery to glimpse. So, we won’t go there now. I thought to myself… if I absolutely had to, choose a single quality of IlCho Dosanim that I would want to highlight. What would that be? And of course, we go through the usual list: wisdom, compassion, knowledge, patience, etc. Yet, as much as all of these are true, today they won’t do. And so, I went on, sifting through and I think I found it. So here it is, the single most impressive quality of Il-Cho Dosanim, for me….expressed in a single word… succinct. Succinct. Never have I met someone who can distill the esoteric and the complexities of our human condit...

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