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Lampimasti tervetuloa keskustelemaan ja osallistumaan!

Angel's Heaven - Orpokoti

http://www.halfsatori.com/2008/06/57-kilos-of-food.html


-o)O(o-


As of late, I've been spending a good deal of my time working with the Angel's Heaven orphanage in the neighborhood, near the Kathmandu Durbar Square. Run by Amrit and his wife Aishwarya, this orphanage of 20 beautiful children is badly in want of support.

A friend spotted me the other day at a wholesale grocery store near the Universal Peace Foundation office — I spent away the last 2500 NRS I had to get the children food for the upcoming days. 30 kilos of rice, 10 kilos of flat rice, 5 kilos of mung dal, sugar and oil respectively, and a kilo of tea and mixed beans each, and at the crux of time — Amrit has a trekking office, but the season is now at rock bottom, owing both to weather and the current political situation in Nepal.

Some friends, inspired by the example, have chosen to hop onboard and do the same. The children need an average of 12 kilos of rice and 1 kilo of dal per day, in addition with some vegetables. Much is in plans for providing steady future sustenance for this small but beautiful and very meaningful project.

We've been painting at the orphanage also. This old guest house, now rented for the orphanage, is in need of renovation to provide for an inspiring environment for the little angels. Manue and Bikash have been lending their artist's hand to fill the walls with flowers, vines, fruits and other beauties of nature. The top floor roof needs repairs to get past the ongoing monsoon season, and a new 2000 liter water tank also needs to be purchased.

Much is to be done, then! I got a draft of the website today — thanks Manue! — and it should go online momentarily with more specifics on the running expenses and development prospects for the orphanage.

Anyone touched by the prospect is cordially welcome to contribute — in however small and grand way — to the cause. To give an example, 12 kilos of rice costs 850 NRS (8.50e) — here even little goes a long way! I will be posting more details in the days to come. In the meantime, feel free to get in touch with me if the above sparks an interest.

Radikaali tajunnanvälähdys, suunnaton viisauden virta, ajaton meta-kokemuksen jatkumo...

Satori

Ego, the ever-vigilant and constantly self-asserting pseudo-self, forms the heart of our troubled existence. Today being the 28th anniversary of my present incarnation in a long series of egotic absorptions, I can think of no subject more suitable to touch on than that of the ego.

We've all been subjected to sermons detailing how we aren't this body. Some may be familiar with the Vedantic theory of five koshas, or layers, that form the conditioned entity. Others may be more familiar with the Buddhist theory of five skandhas, or aggregates, that similarly make up the conditioned being.

That's all fine as a theory. Yet where the ego has self-enthroned itself, the mental faculties function in an inherently self-serving manner. There is little real solace to be found in the theoretical mastery of the ego-theory --- even the subtlest contemplations are transmutated into ego-fuel with wondrous ease.

We are best familiar with the flavor of ego that sustains us in the identity of a master of sensual and mental enjoyments, the gross ego-stereotype that is first highlighted as the non-self in many spiritual traditions. However, while there is an ego at the heart of the enjoyer, there is also an ego of the escaper.

While the ego of the escaper, the noble spiritualist, is of a finer grade than that of the materialist, it is not beyond being able to generate formidable levels of existential delusion. Assuming one is firm in conscious cultivation, the spiritually progressive ego will eventually resolve itself with the rise of penetrating wisdom. In the interim, it is fundamentally venomous, just as its dark counterpart is.

There are countless angles from which to explore the spiritual ego problem. While I cannot lay claim to having mastered the problem, I have over a decade of ego-driven spirituality under my belt, and with it a fair sense of its foul taste --- even if the depth of it all has began dawning on me only quite recently.

At the heart of reality, there is no permanent self to be found. The co-arising and interdependent flow of mind-matter generates a sense of an individual self that lies at the root of the drama, a dreamy focal point of action, a shabby ego-entity that perpetually seeks to reinforce its own sense of reality, protecting the viscosity of the conglomerate entity from the tear of the constantly rising and falling phenomena it consists of.

For one reason or another, it wasn't your lot to become a successful world-enjoyer. Leave the lime-lights, the arena of gross materialism. Become a spiritual hero, a transcendent conqueror, an ego-entity conceiving of itself as a creature of light and goodness. Pride yourself in your integrity, in your benevolence, in your quest, in your nobility of purpose. You are real, your spirituality is real, and the world you inhabit is real. Build that prison of light, bind yourself with goodness.

Aho, he becomes the compassionate helper of fellow seekers. Aho, he becomes the tireless servant of the teacher. Aho, he becomes a knower of the rites and the scripture. Aho, he becomes a symbol of spirituality. Aho, he becomes a world-teacher, he becomes a savior, and he becomes an avatar. Aho, he becomes an emphasized one that is contrasted with others, and so the cage of light grows firmer.

The whole concept of striving for an attainment is a facade. There is no light, nor is there darkness. There is no substance in bondage, nor in liberation. Dualities born of the mind will vanish with the mind. With the disappearance of the eye, light and darkness evaporate. With the disappearance of the ego-conception, labels of spirit and matter fade.

There is only plain reality, and plain reality doesn't seek to assert itself, nor does it invite you to project over it a hundred dreams, to feel of it in a thousand ways, or to conceptualize it into millions of carefully crafted divisions. The interdependent and self-contained flow of aggregates just flows. It seeks no second to assert its flowing.

But alas, the ego is busy in its attempts to manipulate the flow in a manner serving its hallucinations. What comes of its own accord is perfect and natural --- but not for the ego, for the ego feeds on contrasts. Attachments and aversions, pleasures and pains, the momentum of arising dualities and the subsequent involved emotion-conceptualization exchange contribute to the sense of reality the ego seeks to establish and guard.

Desirelessness and disinvolvement from anything not presenting itself of its own accord is the venom of venoms for the ego, provided one is skillful enough to not let the ego seize these qualities as medals of spiritual valor on the chest of its proud uniform, turning them into a show of spirituality and again embarking on a delusory trip of delving on contrasts.

Wisdom in its very core is nothing but the absence of delusions. There is no active wisdom as such in the ultimate, no wisdom-concept-processor to keep itself busy generating a profound interplay of wiseness. Wisdom is nothing but plain perception of nature, non-involved experience of the suchness of existence.

In eliminating the spiritual ego, fatalism and nihilism are two very real enemies raising their ugly heads. Fatalism and nihilism are conquered by profound mindfulness growing from repeated trials, trials meeting both success and failure. Fortunately, there is ultimately no-one of any impact to register our progress --- the path is ours alone to walk, and we have all the time in the world to do it.

Facing the facts can be a disorienting experience, but it is also a fountain of supreme peace. The absurdity of the resilient ego-projection we are enmeshed in is in fact a matter of great humor. I often find myself laughing at myself, the many attempted personae, and the extensions of the process in the form of countless emanations and excrements, this very writing before your eyes one among many such curiosities.

Tutkin mä tumman maailman teitä
ihmiskunnan syövereitä
haaskanneet on kansat rauhan
viisaan elon ohjenauhan.

Sydämestä synnyn löysin
viisauden sielt' kiskoin köysin
viisaall' aukee yhteys suuri
kosmoksen veljeyden juuri.

Yhteydessä elementit
yksiss' tuumin mielen ventit
sulanut sydämen huurre
hälvennyt samsaran puurre.

Viisaudesta rauhan synty
rauhasta taas onnen synty
täss' on tieto elämästä
salaisuuden tietäjästä.

Suomeksi en ala tahan hataan tarinaa vaantamaan tapahtumien kulusta, uteliaat seuratkoot maailman menoa ulkomaankielisesta blogistani, josta viimeisimmat tekstit tassa:

http://www.vrajajournal.com/blog/Base_Shivapuri_-_Scriptures_secured
http://www.vrajajournal.com/blog/Journal_Goes_Retro

Kommentteihin tulee hiukka hiljaisesti vastattua, talla hetkella olen kaytannossa muissa maailmoissa seka fyysisesti etta henkisesti vaikka internetin maailmassa satunnaisesti kaynkin kaantymassa. Mutta joka viesti luetaan ja ajatellaan huollella, kiitos kirjoittamasta!

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Aiemmassa blogissa mainittu kaannostyo ( AnandaL&action=showcomments&beid=13719191 ) jatkuu manuaalisesti eli kasin kirjoittaen. Jos riittaa innokkaita sita naputtamaan tyon edetessa, voin laittaa spostissa kuvat joista kaannosta voi transkriboida. Taman tiimoilta yhteydenotot sahkopostitse osoitteeseen ananda.loponen suunnassa gmail.com.

Shantir Eva Shantih!

-Ananda-

Suomeksi summa summarum: Vietan noin kuukauden verran hiljaista meditaatioretriittia Kathmandua ymparoivien vuoristometsien rauhassa luonnon helmassa. Viestit tulee perille joko henk. koht. tai etevan kirjekyyhkyn valityksella. Shanti!

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The blog has been silent ever since my departure for the grand pilgrimage... I am withdrawing for a month's silent retreat to the solitude of the hills surrounding Kathmandu after posting this synopsis of the journey so far. I assume I'll be writing more as I get back to the grid.

While I have some 300+ photos of the pilgrimage up to date, I don't have my laptop here to process them into proper publication shape. You can find some unedited photos at my Facebook albums.

==Sarnath to Kushinagar==

The first stretch of the pilgrimage was from Sarnath to Kushinagar, from the place where the Buddha gave his first sermon to the place of his departure, or parinirvana as we call it — the final nirvana. Some eight days of walking 30-40 kilometers daily brought us across many a small village with kind and hospitable people.

In Kushinagar, we were based at a small temple near the Stupa marking the place of the Buddha's cremation. The abbot and only monk of the place was Venerable Narasingha, and Indian monk in the ripe old age of 93 years but going on strong. "I am not dying soon. I am doing my tapasya now. I will live 150 years." His repeated advice, "Dhyan koro, Ananda, dhyan koro" -- "Meditate, Ananda, meditate" -- still echoes in my ears.

Our stop at Kushinagar was brief and didn't leave me with as much time as I'd have wanted for exploring the area. Something to get back to in the future... Five people and five minds inevitably means having to compromise one's wishes and ideals.

==Kushinagar to Lumbini==

Lumbini, the place of the Buddha's birth, is a short walk (some 20 km) off the border on the side of Nepal. A very serene and beautiful area with two monastery zones, Theravada and Mahayana, it hosts the ruins of old monasteries around the stone marking the exact place of birth. The vast fenced and undeveloped area around the monastery zones was a soothing sight. Finally someone understands the importance of trees and empty space!

==Towards Kathmandu==

Since we got 60 days visas at the border, a brief visit to Kathmandu was in place. The first few nights were spent at a Thai monastery, Sakya Simha Vihar, in the old town of Patan (a city grouped together with Kathmandu), and one at Kopan, the big daddy of the Vajrayana monasteries in Nepal. There are several caves of ancient masters and other sites of interest yet unexplored.

A casual trip to the surrounding mountains at Kopan is now turning into a 30-day silent retreat up at the hills. We've spent three nights at mid-way up the mountain, at the Nagaji nuns' monastery and around. Tomorrow morning we are heading up further on, to the solitude of the peaks.

People wishing to contact me after this message is posted — and as I start the walk back to the mountain — will have to come in with a notebook and a pen. You would find me in the cave next door, under the stump of that old pine tree, or in the belly of one of those jolly tigers that are rumored to be roaming around...

==Closing the Circuit==

Once the retreat is over, whenever and whatever that means, we return by bus to Kushinagar and start the longest stretch so far, covering some 900 kilometers on foot via Vaisali, Nalanda and Rajagiri to Bodh Gaya. From Bodh Gaya, I'll continue to Sarnath with another 400 kilometers to complete my pilgrimage (Dhammasaro and Cristiyana have already covered it) and pick up the excess stuff we left behind at the Chinese monastery there.

In other news, I will most likely end up staying in India until December — lack of finances cuts short many potential branches from my ongoing pilgrimage. I'm waiting for the heavens to open and rain in enough monies to get me a return ticket to the West by December, the deadline for getting out as my visa and passport expire.

Back on the road, I should be checking in randomly, but I wouldn't be expecting replies to e-mails for some eight more weeks from now. Internet just doesn't seem to be a part of the

Peace and joy to all! May all beings share the merits of this pilgrimage!

Nyt on taitettu noin 400 kilometria jalan Sarnathista Kusinagaran kautta Lumbiniin, ja sielta eteenpain vuoristoteita bussilla Kathmanduun. Olisin kavellyt senkin taipaleen, mutta matkakumppanien kunto ja aikataulut eivat antaneet myoten.

Kulunut yo vietettiin Kopanin vuoristoluostarissa Kathmandun laitamilla, iltapaivalla kavelen ystavani Dhammasaron kanssa halki Kathmandun kohti tamanhetkiseen paamajaamme, Sakyasimha Vihara -luostariin vanhan kaupungin sydamessa. Kathmandu on kaunis, rauhallinen ja muinainen kaupunki.

Tarkoitus oli vaeltaa myos pyhalle Kailash-vuorelle, mutta raja on talla hetkella suljettu Olympialaisten johdosta... Soihtu kuulema kulkee kolmasti vuoren ympari matkalla kohti Pekingia. Naemma palaan sitten Nepaliin omalla ajallani hieman myohemmin paikkaamaan puuttuvat palaset.

Viela viikon verran Nepalissa, sen jalkeen paluu Kusinagaraan, josta jatketaan matkaa taas jalan kohti Bodh Gayaa -- oletettavasti toiset noin 400 kilometria edessa, kautta kylien ja raittien joita Buddha oppilaineen taivalsivat kaksi ja puoli vuosituhatta sitten. Bodh Gayasta jatkan yksin Sarnathiin ja taydennan oman kiertueeni.

Netissa en tulle paivystamaan lahitulevaisuudessa kun satunnaisesti, oletettavasti vasta Bodh Gayaan Sarnathista palattuani olen taas hetken aikaa maailman kartalla. Burman ja Thaimaan suunnitelmat ovat nailla nakymin jaissa, budjetti ei anna myoten. Mutta on taalla Intiassakin ohjelmaa ihan riittamiin, ja kenties parempi nain!

Paul Carus: Buddhan sanoma ("Buddha, The Gospel")
Chicago, The Open Court Publishing Company, 1894
Suomennos: Ananda Loponen, 2008


"Buddhan sanoma" -teoksen 99 kappaletta tullaan julkaisemaan jaksokertomuksena tällä palstalla. Tulen kääntämään alustavasti muutaman kappaleen viikossa, aikatauluni tien päällä ovat tällä hetkellä hieman arvaamattomat. Tarkkasilmäiset kirjoitus- tai kielioppivirheitä huomaavat lukijat ovat tervetulleita niistä raportoimaan, kaikki apu teoksen työstämisessä otetaan kiitoksella vastaan.


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``Kääntäjältä´´

Paul Caruksen 1894 julkaistun ”Buddha, The Gospel” teoksen suomenkielinen käännös tuo tekstin kieliasua sekä joidenkin sanojen ja nimien transliterointia lähemmäs nykypäivän konventioita. Olen myös koonnut käännöksen liitteksi sanaston, joka kattaa valtaosan teoksessa ilmenevistä sanskritin- ja palinkielisistä sanoista sekä tärkeimmistä henkilöistä.

Teoksesta tekee merkittävän siinä yhdistyvä alustavalle teokselle ominainen selkeys ja helppolukuisuus sekä sen pitäytyminen niin alkuperäistekstien sisällössä kuin monin paikoin muodossakin, tarjoten lukijalle autenttisen näkymän vuosituhansien päähän aina buddhalaisuuden synnyinjuurille asti. ”Buddhan sanoma” tulee epäilemättä olemaan tervetullut lisä suomenkieliseen buddhalaisen kirjallisuuden kirjoon.

Toistaiseksi riittäköön englanniksi -- käännän suomeksi mikäli tarvetta ilmenee.

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Many readers of my journal have been wondering about the evolutions in my slant on things and my spiritual direction in general. Time has come to address matters in definite terms.

http://www.vrajajournal.com/blog/Dharma_Reloaded