Are These Hobbit Holes?

Are these curious structures Hobbit-holes, otherwise called Smials?

They were holes dug into the hill side, usually having a minimum of one round window and front door and sometimes back door. On the other hand, the poor lived in basic burrows with perhaps only a single window. Are these then the burrows of poor Hobbits?

Well no, they are in fact meditation caves tucked into the hills just above Dochula pass in Bhutan. These tiny, open-faced caverns are built from stone and painted in colourful detail with Buddhist symbolism. The druk, or dragon—Bhutan’s long-time national symbol and spirit animal—stretches over the cave entrance, bringing good luck and good tidings (unlike the dragons in Middle Earth!).

For comparison, here is a Hobbit house...............

Karma

Somewhat belatedly, I'm picking up on an email from one of our Sangha members who sent me the following link to this article from Lion's Roar, What Is Karma and How Does It Work?

It is a nice follow on from our previous post Tuesday Talks - a New Feature, which referred to the Dharma talk What About Karma by David Loy.

The Lion's Roar piece is an open discussion between Bhikkhu Bodhi, who is an American Buddhist monk and scholar living in Sri Lanka, Jan Chozen Bays, a Zen master in the lineage of Maezumi Roshi and Jeffrey Hopkins, Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia.

The Buddha taught that because of karma, beings are bound to the ever-turning wheel of rebirth. Only when a person stops believing in the existence of a permanent and real self can he or she become free from karma.

NEW MOON - Blessings

Blessed is the arising of a Buddha;
blessed is the revealing of the Dhamma;
blessed is the concord of the Sangha;
delightful is harmonious communion.

Dhammapada v. 194

We all delight when we receive blessings. Let's also delight in our ability to generate blessings. Whatever our circumstance in life, we have the power to bring virtue into the world. To some it appears naive to dwell on developing virtue; they think it is up to others to stop causing darkness. But we are not responsible for what others do or don't do. We are responsible for our own actions. Sometimes we are surrounded by light, at other times it seems the light has disappeared. But we don't have to be defined by external conditions. We always have the possibility of being a bit more kind, a bit more patient, a bit more honest.

Tuesday Talks - a New Feature

This is the first of our new series of monthly talks that we are having at the West Wight Sangha. As our meetings are shorter than those at the Newport Soto Zen group the talks are perforce also shorter.

I'm featuring the first talk here on our Home page but in future they will be posted directly to our main Audio page along with the regular talks from the zen groups meetings.


This talk is What About Karma by David Loy and is just under 30 minutes long.



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Some "Buddhist" Poems for National Poetry Day

Today is National Poetry Day when Britain is encouraged to “break the tyranny of prose for 24 hours by sharing poetry in every conceivable way.”

Here are a selection of Buddhist poems and poems with a "Buddhist" theme to them for the day...

Wind and Rain

Wind and rain,
Mara again
But no, I don't feel no pain
Wind and rain,
Trying to drive me insane
But I know it's all in the brain

Demons, demons!
At it again
Trying to mind-hack me once more
Her body so fine,
But there's no gold mine
Behind the exterior

Sensations are temporal,
Their value material
And I've glimpsed beyond this lower realm
If you ain't got wisdom,
You better get spiritual
I'll see you in the next life,
Yes, I'll see you in the next life

Ashley Burns

Ode I. 11

Leucon, no one’s allowed to know his fate,
Not you, not me: don’t ask, don’t hunt for answers
In tea leaves or palms. Be patient with whatever comes.
This could be our last winter, it could be many
More, pounding the Tuscan Sea on these rocks:
Do what you must, be wise, cut your vines
And forget about hope. Time goes running, even
As we talk. Take the present, the future’s no one’s affair.

Horace (Roman, 65-8 BCE)

Night Prologue

Warm at centre, on a long winter’s night.
Through the bone-cage, through the breathflow,
buds of silence are opening out:
awareness shimmers; suffusions glow;
the heart is listening, translucent, bright;
a filigree pulse unbinds my head.

This joy – what is this lovely drawing near,
gathering up horizons, moulding attention?
A spring, welling up through still zero;
a turning tide that unbends intention
into a resonance that enshrines us here:
bare room; a small lamp; presence, burning.

Shine: let my colours find the axis.
And my soft-edged shadow feel your turning.

Ajahn Sucitto

And now, why poetry matters..............................

FULL MOON - Pavarana Day

Disciples of the Buddha
are fully awake both day and night,
taking delight
in cultivating the heart.

Dhammapada v. 210

The Buddha encouraged the cultivation of our heart's potential to awaken. We are already aware of the need to look after our physical health, and the benefits of maintaining mental well-being; if we heed the Buddha's advice we will also invest in those qualities which lead to wisdom and compassion. Wisdom sees the advantages and disadvantages in any given situation. Without wisdom we risk seeing only that which pleases us. Sometimes it is more wise to endure discomfort and disappointment for the sake of being able to see deeply, beyond the world of preferences. Compassion, the heart's warmth and impulse to care, is the natural expression of wisdom.


In India, where Buddhism began, there is a three-month-long rainy season. According to the Vinaya (Mahavagga, Fourth Khandhaka, section I), in the time of the Buddha, once during this rainy season, a group of normally wandering monks sought shelter by co-habitating in a residence. In order to minimise potential inter-personal strife while co-habitating, the monks agreed to remain silent for the entire three months and agreed upon a non-verbal means for sharing alms.

After this rains retreat, when the Buddha learned of the monks' silence, he described such a measure as "foolish." Instead, the Buddha instituted the Pavarana Ceremony as a means for dealing with potential conflict and breaches of disciplinary rules (Patimokkha) during the vassa season.

Pavarana usually falls during the eleventh lunar month - October - and it marks the end of the three month 'rains retreat' which began on the full moon of Asalha. Literally 'pavarana' means 'inviting admonition'.

The three month period (vassa) is often used by lay and monastic folk alike to make a variety of determinations; to take up a particular devotional or meditation practice, to challenge or renounce some old habit - like eating sugar or smoking or drinking coffee (or worse). In Asia this may even be taken to the extent of lay folk taking temporary ordination for all or part of this time. The full moon of Pavarana marks the end of this period and is a time of celebration. For those who have maintained a strict practice it means they can relax a bit; hopefully having learnt something about the particular thing they had been investigating and not falling back into old habits.

For monastics it ends a period of containment within the boundaries of the monastery. The Buddha appreciated how this containment can sometimes cause difficulty between people and he outlined a ceremony to be performed by the monks and the nuns on the Pavarana day. There are several aspects to this ceremony but the underlying spirit is one of asking for admonishment. This is not that one wants a good telling off but invitation is formally given to one's ordained brothers and sisters to offer any reflections on one's past behaviour. This invitation need not be taken up then and there but an opening is created.

The words of part of the ceremony are as follows: "Venerable One's, I invite admonition from the Sangha. According to what has been seen, heard or suspected (of my actions), may the venerable one's instruct me out of compassion. Seeing it (my fault), I shall make amends. I ask this of you for the second time; and again I ask for the third time."