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9:45 AM: Zen Shin Sangha:

Give yourself a moment of contemplation and self-reflection by quiet sitting, guided meditation, and sutra recitations. We sit to calm our mind and body in order to focus on the present moment revealing our profound connection to all beings.   All levels, including beginners/families welcome.

10:30 AM: Cleveland Buddhist Temple: Rev. Anita Tokuzen Kazarian

• Shin Buddhist Sangha Gathering and Service
  
• October Memorial Service to express gratitude to ancestors who passed away in the month of October.  As a CBT Sangha member, if you wish to have a name included, please provide Rev. Anita with the name before 9:45 AM.

Following the Service:

Following coffee we will share our October birthday cake and will discuss a short reading from When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön, Chapter 2. Handouts of text provided.

Dhammapada
Dhammapada, a collection of verses of Shakyamuni Buddha

Jātaka Stories are unique in Buddhism. They are a standalone set of stories with the goal to help us understand not only the universal truths of Buddhism, but also the value of the dharma. On first reading, they sound more like fairy tales - wonderful to read with rich language and imagery. It wasn’t until I began selecting stories for The Children’s Corner (please see one in this issue) that I considered them in a new light. Many Jātaka stories are of the past lives of the Buddha. Also, they serve as a way to understand what it is to be on the path to buddhahood, a path available to ordinary people in the time before mappō. “They speak to the fundamental ideas about the relationship between buddhahood and the dharma.” ¹

Some tales are said to date to 400 BCE with stories and stanzas appearing in the Ajanta cave frescos dating from the 2^nd century BCE to about 489 CE. While we in the west see a man in the moon, Asian cultures see the Jātaka story’s Hare. In this Jātaka story the hare had nothing to offer an old man who begged for food but himself.

Jātaka tales need to be understood in the context of the concepts: rebirth, karma, merit and what it is to be a Bodhisattva. “In the context Gautama Buddha having attained the ultimate perfection during his earthly existence, it would follow from these concepts that he must have performed surpassingly good deeds in countless past lives. This is the basis of the Jātaka tales of his previous births. He features in them as the Bodhisattva… The term Bodhisattva, literally means “Being of Wisdom,” was first used in the sense of a previous incarnation of the Buddha.” ² While the term Bodhisattva evolved, it continues to express the ideal of the “sole concern to help others and to alleviate their sufferings. He would forego even his own salvation for the welfare of the world.” ²

These ancient Jātaka tales traveled over time, distances across oceans and cultures and were absorbed into our own fabric of values in the 21^st century west. In the words of the The Dalai Lama, “For those of us who are the Buddha’s followers these stories contain practical lesson that the path to enlightenment is long and arduous, requiring immense determination, courage and effort. However, they also show us that much of the Buddhist path, indeed of nearly all spiritual paths, consists of putting fundamental human values into practice. You don’t even have to be religious to do this. I am sure we all have countless opportunities to be generous, to be patient, to take a moral stand, but what distinguishes the Bodhisattva is that by seizing those opportunities wherever he can, he continuously makes his life more meaningful.” ²

Namo Amida Butsu

Namo Amida Butsu

Namo Amida Butsu

Rev. Anita

¹ Naomi Appleton, “Self-Sacrifice for a Tiny Teaching,” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Volume 46 (2003): 56

² A.N.D. Haksar, trans., Jatakamala: Stories From The Buddha’s Previous Births (Uttar Pradesh: Harper Collins, 2014), Foreword.

When the Buddha lived in the kingdom of Kosala, he headed large communities of monks and nuns. Within such big groups, quarrels were inevitable at times. One squabble in particular never seemed to resolve itself. At last the Buddha felt he must address it. He brought the communities together and spoke to them; “Strife between people is ugly and never ever helpful. In bygone times, animals cooperating with each other defeated their enemies. But as soon as they fought among themselves,” the Buddha continued, “they perished. Listen to this story from long ago.”

Once upon a time, many years ago, the future Buddha was born as a handsome quail. He lived in a beautiful forest, the king of a thousand quails. The forest was a paradise. The songs of colorful birds wove through the treetops, water gushed from abundant springs, flowers adorned each plant, and ripe fruit could be plucked at every turn.

But one day, a hunter entered the forest in search of quail. He brought a whistle that exactly mimicked the distress call of quail – the cry of quail in trouble. Carefully hiding in the bushes, the hunter blew the whistle until a group of quail came eagerly running toward the sound. As the quails looked for their companion, the hunter leapt from the bush, flung his net over the birds, and tightened the side cords. He then stuffed the whole lot into his basket and brought them home to be sold and eaten.

The hunter had been so successful that he came again the next day and the next. He was able to capture so many birds that he could hardly lift his heavy load. But it wasn’t long before the king quail, the future Buddha, took notice that his flock was greatly diminished. He decided some precautions must be taken immediately before any more lives were lost. He gathered his flock together and warned, “This hunter is making the lives of our families very short and very frightening! Every day we hear the terrible cries of our brothers and sisters as they are carried in the hunter’s bag! I have a plan, which will make it impossible for him to catch even one more bird.” The king pressed on; “When that hunter throws the net, each of us must quickly find a hole to poke our head through. Then, altogether, on the count of three, we must fly away with the entire net to a thorn bush. While the net is caught on the thorns,” the king quail proclaimed, “we can escape underneath before the hunter finds us! If we work all together like this, if we cooperate, I know we can escape with our lives.” The birds repeated the king’s plan back to him, making sure they had it right. Then the quails agreed to try it as soon as the hunter next tricked them.

The following day, they got their chance. Huddled together in a group, they were fooled once more by the hunter’s whistle. The dark shadow of the net loomed overhead and then encircled them. But they quickly remembered the king quail’s idea. Trying to remain brave, each quail put its head through a hole in the net and counted one, two, and three! Up they flew, altogether lifting the net with them. It seemed a miracle!

During the weeks that followed, the quails played the same trick on the hunter again and again. They tittered gleefully while watching him untangle the net. But as the days passed and the hunter caught no food he grew afraid for his family. He would not have enough food or money for the coming winter. When he returned home, his worried wife asked, “What has happened? It’s been weeks since you’ve caught any meat! We will surely starve if this continues!”

“Ah, dear wife,” said the hunter reassuringly, “at first I couldn’t believe my own eyes, but those quails have learned to cooperate with each other! They foiled my best plans. The moment my net lands on them, they fly off as one bird! I have to search for my net that they have hidden in the woods. When I find it, it lies tangled in 100 knots upon a bush.” The wife looked at him anxiously. “But have no fear my dearest,” chuckled the hunter, “they can’t continue to work together like this for much longer. Mark my words, they will start bickering among themselves soon and we shall bag the whole flock! We shall have full stomachs again in no time, I promise you.”

And so it soon came to pass, just as the hunter had predicted. The quails began to bicker. It seemed to start innocently enough. One of the quails, aiming to land on the feeding grounds, landed instead upon another bird’s head.

“Hey!” shouted the startled quail, “do you need flying lessons?”

“It was just an accident, I promise!” stammered the clumsy bird.

“Sure!” rebuked the first quail, “don’t you have two eyes?”

Another bird chimed in, “Well, I saw him land on you and I don’t think it was any accident.”

And yet another quails standing nearby remarked, “I watched it too, and you’re a worm-head if you think that happened on purpose!”

“Oh yeah?” retorted the bird.

“Yeah!” shouted the other. “And I bet you’re such a feather brain you believe that you alone lift the hunter’s net when we escape.”

“Well,” boasted the quail, “as a matter of fact I do think I am stronger than the rest of you! In fact, I probably do lift more than my share!”

And so it went on and on without going anywhere – as all arguments are wont to do. The group quarreled so loudly that the future Buddha, the king quail, couldn’t help but hear them from a distance in the forest. He flew to them and said, “Remember I have cautioned you! There’s no peace or safety with anyone who quarrels. Stop now or I fear you will all die when the hunter comes next!”

But as soon as the king quail left, an angry quail whispered yet a last insult to the quail he’d argued with, giving him a sharp peck to boot. And just as before, a number of quails took sides with one or another of the birds.

When the king quail heard them arguing again so soon, he knew he could do nothing more to stop it. So off he flew to a peaceful feeding ground with the birds that chose not to bicker.

Shortly, the hunter returned to the forest to try his luck again. As always, he lured the birds together by imitating the song of a quail and distress. He flung his net over them. One by one they poked their heads through the net holes. But before counting to three, a still sore quail said, “They say when you lift the net, the feathers of your head get mussed and so you just give up! You’ve never done your share! I’m not moving until you go first. Go ahead, lift away!”

The other quail rejoined, “Someone told me that when you lift the net you just tag along. Now’s your turn. You go first!” And so while they each demanded the other to lift, the hunter himself lifted the net, and he stuffed the whole lot into his basket and carried them off.

The quails which stayed with the future Buddha heard the sad cries of the captured birds. They knew it was too late to save them. Then and there they made a vow always to cooperate. They worked hard at their promise and fooled the hunter for the rest of their days and lived happily ever after.

“Thus,” said the Buddha, ending his lesson, “No good can ever come from quarreling – only harm and sometimes even death.” The Buddha, his monks and nuns, then sat in silence and thought deeply and long upon these things.

Excerpt in gratitude from: A Wise Teaching A Day 2020, (Moraga: BDK America, 2019).

Photo by Thomas Grams on Unsplash

Supervising Minister:  Rev. Ron Miyamura

Resident Tokudo Minister: Rev. Anita Tokuzen Kazarian

rev.anita.cbt@outlook.com

Buddha Post is published by the Cleveland Buddhist Temple, 21600 Shaker Blvd, Shaker Heights, OH 44122 

The Cleveland Buddhist Temple is an affiliate of the Buddhist Churches of America, founded in 1899: 

https://www.buddhistchurchesofamerica.org/

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