Humboldt State University visits CTTB

Hello Everyone!

These are some pics from last weekend. Danny teaching Tai Ji to HSU, and demonstrating on me. The monk is Dharma Master Heng Shun 恆順法師. He is the one who answered most questions during the weekend.

Last weekend Humboldt State University came to CTTB for their annual weekend retreat. I had the privilege to take care of them during their stay. At 3:30 AM I went throughout the courtyard hitting the wooden boards to wake them all up for morning ceremony. Most of them actually got up.
I greatly enjoy when these students come because they bring with them a lot of good questions and energy to the discussions and panels we hold. Through their questions and the answers from various Dharma Masters (monks and nuns) I am able to hone my skills at introducing and explaining Buddhism to people from various backgrounds and traditions.
The topic of the Panel on Saturday evening was Buddhism and World Peace. There were eight speakers total who were invited to speak on this very broad topic. The essential principle that they all spoke on was the idea that if we really want to help the world, we have to start by helping ourselves. Helping ourselves just means practicing pacifying our own hearts and minds, before trying to pacify others. We can help externally equivalent to the amount of greed, anger, and ignorance that we have transformed internally. Through this constant grinding away of our own inherent issues, we are better equipped to help others with theirs.

That is the principle and here is its application. There are actually a lot of things people can do to help the world.

1. Educate yourself- What you don't know can kill you. Ignorance is suffering.

2. Pray- The power of Prayer is proven (regardless of religion). Send out goodness to those in
suffering.

3. Follow moral principles- By not engaging in the same things that hurt the world (ie. killing, stealing, lying, raping and cheating, abusing substances etc.) you become a healing force in the world. Try it out and see for yourself.

4. Meditate- take time out of your day to stop everything. Quiet your mind and relax your body. Develop concentration that you can apply to skills in daily life. 5 minutes is not too short to start. Soon it can easily be an hour.

--As far as education goes- Research what goes into your body. What are you feeding yourself and your family? Is it harmful? What are you dependent on? Why? Can you reduce your waste? Learn how to be a smart consumer, and not another Wal-Mart junkie.

--The key is to understand what effect you are having on the world and how you can make it better.

This was what I heard from the panel, and what I have come to understand through living here at CTTB. Take what you think is useful, and please don't hesitate to correct me or criticize me.

Take care and take responsibility for your life and its effect on the world. I'll try to do the same.

-kenny