August has been an exciting month at UBC HQ in Kansas City, that has been filled with Dharma activity, and zeal. Beginning on August 2nd, several HQ monastics traveled to Tu Bi temple at the invitation of the resident Abbess to participate in a 500 prostration liturgy in celebration of Avalokitesvara.
 | August also saw the re-initiation of Buddhist Martial Arts practice at UBC HQ, under the auspices of the Korean Buddhist Martial Arts Association (founded in Seoul, South Korea in 1968 at Jogyesa temple by Most Ven. Dr. Kyung Bo Seo and Master Lee Han Chul), which is now being headed by our guiding teacher as the third grandmaster (as an official activity of the UBC). Bupmudo (Pháp Võ Đạo) Buddhist martial arts classes are ongoing on Tuesdays an Thursdays at HQ now. |
On August 20th a delegation of monks and laity from Pháp Ấn Abbey, including Most Venerable Sunyananda traveled to Prairyerth Zen Center in Topeka Kansas, from Kansas City Missouri to greet Zen Master Ji Haeng (of Las Vegas) a longtime friend of the Abbey as he delivered a public talk to kick off a three day retreat.
Finally, August 22nd witnessed two very important events, namely the convening of a Grand Ordination Platform (which included a panel of eight fully ordained monastics) to confer the precepts of a fully ordained Zen monk on Rev. Thích Tâm Bi. Following the Grand Ordination, a teacher certification assembly was convened wherein Most Venerable Sunyananda granted initial teaching authority to Rev. Thích Nữ Tâm Dương. After twenty years of formal practice she has been officially received into our lineages line of teachers, as an authorized Dharma Holder.
Further, this event saw Most Venerable Sunyananda conferred upon the transmission of the ancestral crowns upon and robes (truyền y mão) upon a bhikshuni, in support of our Church's missional focus parameter concerning the advancement of gender equality within the mahasangha. This event marcated what is likely the first instance in the history of our tradition that a female monastic has received complete sanction as a linage holding ancestor, with all of the regalia inherent to her male counterparts.
Further, this event saw Most Venerable Sunyananda conferred upon the transmission of the ancestral crowns upon and robes (truyền y mão) upon a bhikshuni, in support of our Church's missional focus parameter concerning the advancement of gender equality within the mahasangha. This event marcated what is likely the first instance in the history of our tradition that a female monastic has received complete sanction as a linage holding ancestor, with all of the regalia inherent to her male counterparts.
Poem on the occasion of UBC Teacher’s Certification
for Rev. Thích Nữ Tâm Dương
for Rev. Thích Nữ Tâm Dương
From India eastward:
Tibet and Mongolia, China and Vietnam,
Padmasambhava and Bodhidharma
planted seeds of awakening.
Transcending all limits let borders ‘lone,
that the discursive mind could construe,
vested in formless fields of gold and maroon,
the Bodhi Mind did take root.
Carried on the winds of Heavenly Grace,
a new generation of has ‘come matured,
‘neath the nurturing rays of a Lotus Sun,
and in the fertile soil of a Compassionate Heart.
On this so-called and seemingly Western shore,
beheld in Absolute Bliss,
a true “Heart Land” meets now its cultivars,
under whose feet, and in each step
the undivided Dharma
could not but perfectly impress.
~Sunyananda Dharma (8/22/2015)
Tibet and Mongolia, China and Vietnam,
Padmasambhava and Bodhidharma
planted seeds of awakening.
Transcending all limits let borders ‘lone,
that the discursive mind could construe,
vested in formless fields of gold and maroon,
the Bodhi Mind did take root.
Carried on the winds of Heavenly Grace,
a new generation of has ‘come matured,
‘neath the nurturing rays of a Lotus Sun,
and in the fertile soil of a Compassionate Heart.
On this so-called and seemingly Western shore,
beheld in Absolute Bliss,
a true “Heart Land” meets now its cultivars,
under whose feet, and in each step
the undivided Dharma
could not but perfectly impress.
~Sunyananda Dharma (8/22/2015)
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