… see sticky post above this!

Dhamma Dana
Low Pressure Films/ Theodore Martland

Dhamma Dana is an extraordinary look into a culture that is hidden under a governmental shroud. Rarely are we giving a glimpse into such a serene lifestyle.

Theravada Buddhism, which is on of the two main branches of Buddhism, is considered the “Doctrine of the Elders” drawing it’s teachings straight from the Tipitaka which is believed to be one of the oldest teachings of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama. Burma, or as it’s know now Myanmar, is traditionally a Theravada practicing country. Nearly 90% of the country practices Theravada Buddhism, including (believe it or not) the tyrannical ruling junta of the country.

Theodore is able to bring us not only a glimpse into this world, but give us such insight I felt like some of the misconceptions I had were made clear. For one, I couldn’t comprehend how the monks of the country could continue on under such tyranny. But through their practice, they create and embody a level of compassion toward the leaders of Burma that I could only dream of having.

Dhamma Dana also breaks down the importance of the practice of dana in Burmese monasticism. It is believed that the act of dana, gift giving to monastics, helps purify the mind and karma of the dana giver. Each day, throughout Burma, lines of monks can be seen making their dana rounds, receiving mainly small amounts of food to sustain them but also receiving other gifts which help them continue their studies and the ability to pass on what they learn to the lay people of the country.

From the pagoda’s to the open landscapes, Theodore truly mesmerizes the viewer with amazing scenery. Dr Molini, a Buddhist nun, provides a good amount of the commentary and explains what Buddhism truly means to people in Burma, in her own words “Holy mind is most important.”

With only 26 days to film this documentary, Theodore has accomplished quite a bit with this 30 minute film. I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to not only watch the film but to have truly taken away so much more.

Dhamma Dana has been accepted, and will be featured, at the Queens International Film Festival in New York. For those that can, I recommend going to view this important film.

Ed. Note: Found this while stumbling around the net. The author is unknown, I enjoyed it though and thought you might.

1. You Will Receive A Body
You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.

2. You Will Learn Lessons
You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called Life. Each day in this school, you will have the opportunity to learn lessons – you may like the lesson or think them irrelevant and stupid.

3. There Are No Mistakes, Only Lessons
There is a process of trial and error; experimentation. The ‘failed’ experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately ‘works’.

4. A Lesson Is Repeated Until It Is Learned
A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.

5. Learning Lessons Does Not End.
There is no part of Life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

6. ‘There’ Is No Better Than ‘here’.
When your ‘there’ has become a ‘here’, you will simply obtain another ‘there’ that will again look better than ‘here’.

7. Others Are Merely Mirrors Of You.
You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.

8. What You Make Of Your Life Is Up To You.
You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

9. Your Answers Lie Inside You.
The answers to Life’s questions lie inside you. All you need do is look, listen and trust.

10. You Will Forget All This.

11. You Can Remember It Whenever You Want

Want to find more comfort in your belief system? Get rid of the karma in it.

All religions have karma but they call it different things. Maybe it’s the realm your spirit moves on to, perhaps it’s the life you’ll live after being reincarnated, maybe it’s the things that will happen to you next week based on what you do this week.

The moment you stop to think about how your decision will impact your karma you have stopped living. When you worry about how your actions affect your karma you are trying to decide if you want the reward or the punshiment. That isn’t karma, that’s desire. Stop worrying about your karma and just live your life.

This isn’t to say you should abandon responsibility. You wouldn’t fire a gun into a crowd and not worry about the results.  You wouldn’t get drunk and try to drive around town. Common sense is your friend.

The rain doesn’t worry about where it will land. It just falls.
The wind doesn’t worry about what is moves. It just blows.
You shouldn’t worry about your karma. Just live.

Had an interesting idea a couple of days ago and hope you think it’s something you want to partake in. The thought/ idea is this…

The Buddho-blogosphere is pretty large and I thought it would be a great way to draw traffic to each other’s blogs by trading articles. How and what do I mean?

Here’s how it would work– you comment at the end of this, saying you wish to participate. Once there are a number of people willing, and it is an even count, I will take all the names and put them into a hat, or two hats as we will be pairing up/ trading here.

As an example, say I pick my name out of one hat and Danny Fisher’s name out of another hat, that is a pair. From there, each author/ writer will think of a topic for the other to write about. Than once the articles are done, they will be traded and posted as guest articles on one another’s blog. Make sense?

Seem interesting enough for you? Want to be part of this? Comment below and let’s get this rolling. The only unfortunate thing is, and I don’t mean to be so exclusive, you must have a blog in order to participate. Any takers?

I have been reading lots of blogs lately. In some way I think they are more interesting than what I post some days. I have read the “No Impact Man” blog for sometime. Well, I read his book recently. He mentioned this online book on minimalism. I have been in the past few months working towards that.

I downloaded the book three times to different thumb drives and also uploaded it to Google documents. Is it really working or am I just fooling myself?

About 2 years ago I had a major flood at my house due to a faulty water heater. It was a forced cleansing as it were. We lost alot of stuff that we had meant to get rid of, but was never able to get around to it. But when tons of water goes flooding from one side of the room to the other you have to make it a priority. In theory I am going to read the book and leave a copy saved in my google documents, but think so many copies is overkill at best.

Guess I need to use my wife’s Garmin to try and find the elusive middle road at least for me.

Sorry for the lack of updates, have some things in the works though. Have been hitting a major wall lately. Not really stuck in a funk, just feel like there’s not enough time to do anything.

Been working a ton so my family can go on vacation next month. We just got our passports in the mail and soon it’s off to the Bahamas. We’ll be headed to Atlantis on Paradise Island for two days than to Exuma for the last seven days of the trip. I have been working alot of overtime lately to make sure the kids have alot of fun. Right now I am on day nine without a day off. Not complaining, I did it to myself, but feeling it I tell you. My practice is lacking because of it too, I really need to kick it back into gear, I can tell I haven’t been practicing as often.

Anyway, just wanted to type up something real quick to fill you all in, got some book reviews and movie reviews slated and still working on a follow up article on the Eightfold Path, this time on Right Intention.

This is just making the rounds on major news sites, the news is not “new” but to the mainstream it is. Those of us aware of the Tibetan issues have known for days through groups such as Students For A Free Tibet and International Campaign for Tibet. I have been meaning to post for days, thanks Todd for the reminder! Story on executions here and here

Stumbled on this story, figured I’d share…

A Zen student came to Bankei and complained: “Master, I have an ungovernable temper. How can I cure it?”

“You have something very strange,” replied Bankei. “Let me see what you have.”

“Just now I cannot show it to you,” replied the other.

“When can you show it to me?” asked Bankei.

“It arises unexpectedly,” replied the student.

“Then,” concluded Bankei, “it must not be your own true nature. If it were, you could show it to me at any time. When you were born you did not have it, and your parents did not give it to you. Think that over.”

…at least that’s what His Holiness is saying.

The Dalai Lama was recently in the Czech capital at a conference on Human Rights issues in Asia. He was asked what he thought of political correctness.

With a look not often found on His Holiness’ face, puzzled, he asked “what do you mean?” This threw the audience into laughter, but His Holiness still looked puzzled and repeated fervently “what do you mean?”

After having the words explained to him, His Holiness than gave a wise and profound answer, “I don’t know… I openly express – if someone’s short, I express it as short. If someone’s very tall, I say very tall… Of course, if you create embarrassment, you can’t be saying this. But otherwise, black is black, white is white, yellow is yellow. And that’s it.”

What are your thoughts on political correctness? Is it something we should all engage in? Should we use it a smidge when we feel our words might be hurtful? Or, should we just tell it like it is, as we see it?

Personally I think there is a time and place for it. But disguising the truth just to not offend someone, when the truth is necessary, can be hurtful in itself. I’d rather tell it like is than candy coat something just so someone doesn’t feel embarrassed. If it’s the truth, noone should be embarrassed right?