Dharma Drum for Young People Summer Retreat

I was sent an email about a summer retreat opportunity from Venerable Chan Yu of Dharma Drum for Young People. Here is his attached message:

"Dear Friends,

 

I am writing to announce an opportunity for college students and young professionals to attend the Chan Summer Retreats for Young People. The retreats are sponsored by Dharma Drum for Young People (DDYP), an affiliate ofUS-based *Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association*  (DDMBA).  DDYP offers the retreats as an opportunity to introduce undergraduate and graduate students, and young professionals to the benefits of meditation and the practices of mindfulness living.  Membership or affiliation with DDYP is not required.

 

The Summer Meditation Retreat for Self-Discovery (for beginners and non-beginners) will be held August 12-15 and the Chan Meditation Summer Retreat (for past participants) will be held August 15-18.  The retreats will take place at the Dharma Drum Retreat Center in Pine Bush, New York, located in the Hudson Valley near the Shawangunk Mountains. Meals accommodations, meditation, mindfulness and Dharma instruction are all included. Interested individuals are welcome to participate. The retreat fee is $40 for college and graduate students, and $120 for young professionals.

 

More information and the retreat application can be found at: www.ddyp.org and for the retreat center, visit www.dharmadrumretreat.org. "

Humanistic Buddhist Monastic Life Program

I received news of this program from the UCLA Center of Buddhist Studies. Sounds like a great way to start off your summer!

Humanistic Buddhist Monastic Life Program

Program Location

The Humanistic Buddhist Monastic Life Program (HBMLP) will take place at the Fo Guang Shan Monastery outside the city of Kaohsiung (Gaoxiong) in southern Taiwan. All participants will be provided lodging on the monastic grounds. All courses and activities will be conducted in English.

Program Objectives

The objective of this program is to promote the understanding of Chinese Buddhism by exposing the participants to the daily practice of Humanistic Buddhism within a traditional Buddhist monastery. The Buddhist Monastic Life Program provides international graduate and undergraduate students interested in the study of religion, Buddhism and/or Chinese culture first-hand experience in the lifestyle, training, and rituals of contemporary Chinese Buddhist monastics. This year, approximately 40 applicants will be selected to participate in the program. The primary goals of the program include:

• Offering participants a chance to view and experience Buddhism as it is practiced in modern-day Taiwan.
• Providing courses on Buddhism and Chinese culture, taught by Buddhist monastics from Fo Guang Shan
• Introducing participants to the concepts and practices of Humanistic Buddhism
• Teaching Buddhist monastic disciplines and traditions
• Exposing participants to Chinese culture and language
• Cultivating spirituality through meditation

All of these goals are to be achieved within the context of the monastic experience.

For more information, visit their website.

Master Sheng Yen dies at age 80

Tuesday, Feb. 3, Venerable Dharma Master Sheng Yen died of renal disease at National Taiwan University Hospital at the age of 80.

Read full article.

Photo from The Buddhist Channel

According to The Buddhist Channel, he wrote this poem before he passed away:

無事忙中老，
空裡有哭笑，
本來沒有我，
生死皆可拋。

Busy with nothing, growing old.
Within emptiness, weeping, laughing.
Intrinsically, there is no "I."
Life and death, thus cast aside.

Chinese delegation investigate monk murder case

"A Chinese delegation arrived in Taiwan late on Sunday to help deal with an incident in which two visiting monks from China’s Linggu Temple died at a Hsinchu hotel last week. The delegation was headed by Li Huaining (李淮寧), a Nanjing City Government department chief in charge of ethnic and religious affairs.

Li said after his arrival at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport that his group expected to get first-hand information about the incident.

He was referring to a suspected homicide-suicide case last Wednesday in which Dharma Master Jing Ran (淨然), abbot of Linggu Temple, was believed to have been killed by Dharma Master Chun Ru (純如), supervisor at the same temple, who later committed suicide."

Read full article.

Taiwanese Foreign Minister's comment draws criticism

Taiwan's opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), disapproves and criticizes Foreign Minister Francisco Ou for saying that the Dalai Lama has political motivations.

During a speech on Taiwan's foreign policies at Yishou University in Kaosiung County, a student asked Ou about the Dala Lama visiting Taiwan.

Although the Foreign Ministry is not involved with arranging the Dalai Lama's visit, Ou's personally believes that the Dalai Lama acts as a political leader as well as a religious leader, therefore having political motiviations in his oversea visits.

This comment has attracted great dispproval from the DPP.

"DPP lawmaker Lai Ching-teh said that Ou's remark shows that President Ma Ying-jeou's government is looking at the Dalai Lama 'with political eyeglasses.'

'It's a pity that the Ma government refuses to allow the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan for fear of angering China,' the Liberty Times quoted him as saying.

Tsai Huang-lang, another DPP lawmaker, said that Ou is not fit to be foreign minister.
'His remark will make the international community see Taiwan as an appendix of a totalitarian state (China). This is a misfortune for Taiwan,' he said. "

Read the full article.

Related blog entries:
Taiwan does not plan to meet with the Dalai Lama

Taiwan does not plan to meet with the Dalai Lama

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou has decided not to see the Dalai Lama during his visit next year to Taiwan.

" 'The Dalai Lama has visited Taiwan twice, and we generally welcome all religious leaders to visit, but at the current moment, the timing isn't appropriate for that,' he told foreign media in Taipei.

He declined to say when the visit might be welcomed, but political observers said Ma was apparently reluctant to displease China by hosting the Dalai Lama as cross-strait relations have improved.

In what would be his first visit in seven years and an apparent reversal of a policy of avoiding the island for fear of angering China, last week the Dalai Lama told Elta TV in the northern Indian hill station of Dharamsala that he hoped to visit Taiwan in 2009."