21600 Shaker Blvd, Shaker Heights, OH 44122

Sunday, October 16 Service

• 9:45 AM: Sitting mediation, all levels, including beginners: Meditation Leader, Greg Stepanic
• 10:30 AM: Shin Buddhist Sangha Gathering and Service: Rev. Anita Tokuzen Kazarian, October Memorial Service

Following the Service: Informal Gathering

Dhammapada

Dhammapada, a collection of verses of Shakyamuni Buddha

Do not chase the red dot, for it is an illusion.

Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (laser), or as most of us know it, the little red dot of light cats think they can catch. The history of laser light theory is said to go back to Albert Einstein. In the late 1950s Bell Laboratories turned theory into a reality. We had to wait until the 1980s for businesses to risk investments in mass production of laser pointers for the consumer market.

If you’ve ever gone to a star watching gathering at night you know how hard it is to pinpoint the exact spot in the sky someone is pointing to. But when they point a laser light to the planet, star or galaxy, you see it. And who hasn’t sat through power point presentations, trying to stay awake, while the presenter points the laser to the part of the slide being explained. And then, of course, there is the little red dot of light on the floor or wall for feline companions to chase after…

The feline in the saffron robe admonishes us not to chase the red dot “for it is an illusion.” When I first saw this I had to laugh out loud at the wisdom of this guidance. After all, it didn’t seem a fair game to play with a cat. I knew it was an illusion, but kitty didn’t. And you’re right, fairness is an ambiguous concept at times, but that’s for another Buddha Post.

It set me thinking about illusions I’ve chased in my life. The one I remember as a child, was that I couldn’t decide if I wanted to be the lady in the department store who wrapped beautiful gift boxes for customers or an astronaut (as in Flash Gordon). It didn’t take long for the gift wrapping one to fall by the wayside, but it wasn’t until I came face to face with the multiplication table that the reality hit that flying in space would be a nearly impossible goal for me.

I’ve chased that red dot most of my life in different ways. At times not catching it was devastating. Devastating enough to make me search for a way out, a way to explain why I couldn’t catch it, or why I couldn’t hang on to it. In its way, the red dot led me to the door of the Cleveland Buddhist Temple and Shin Buddhism.

It’s a Federal crime to shine a laser light at an aircraft (if the pilot is incapacitated enough, the plane may just may fall out of the sky) with heavy prison time and fines. But what about the harm it brings to us? What about the chasing after or hanging on to an illusion that only brings us misery, dissatisfaction or what we call dukkha? That too is a crime, a crime against ourselves. It is a crime that deprives us of living this life fully and at peace. It is a crime that imprisons us in a cell of our own making. It is a crime that collects a fine not of money, but of the minutes, hours and the days of our life.

The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Noble Path taught by Shakyamuni Buddha was for monks and nuns who lived in monastic settings, apart from the daily adventures of life, family and work. It was not intended for lay people like you and me. And if we think about all the monks and nuns throughout history trying to achieve these teachings, how many have succeeded? We don’t know the answer to that, but we can hazard a guess.

In a line from today’s Nightstand Buddhist, Shantideva says “Children can’t help crying when their sand castles come crumbling down.” Call them sandcastles or illusion, they eventually crumble down and when they do, we cry. We cry because we invested so much of ourselves chasing after that red dot of illusion.

We do have a path, a path Shinran Shonin understood from the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha and the masters who followed. It is the path that embraces all, just as we are. A path that is maybe not easy, but surely easier than a monastic path. A path that gives us an “aha!” moment of relaxing into our life. Of gaining freedom from not chasing after red dots. But this only happens when we realize we don’t want to play that game anymore, the game of chasing after illusions. It comes when we’ve had enough. It comes when we are open to another way of looking at life and seeing the red dot for what it is.

Namo Amida Butsu

In gassho

Rev. Anita

rev.anit.cbt@outlook.com

Excerpts of Buddhist voices across teachings, across continents, across time.

The Way of the Bodhisattva

by

Shantideva

Chapter 6 – Patience, continued

Stanzas 89 – 99 of 134 

90. Veneration, praise and fame

Serve not to increase merit or my span of life,

Bestowing neither health and strength

And nothing for the body’s ease.

91. If I am wise in what is good for me,

I’ll ask what benefit these bring.

For it is entertainment I desire,

I might as well resort to alcohol and cards!*

92. I lose my life, my wealth I squandered,

All for reputation’s sake.

What use are words, and whom will they delight

When I get my grade?

93. Children can’t help crying when

Their sand castles come crumbling down.

My mind is so like them

With praise and reputation start to fail.

94. Short-lived sound, devoid of intellect,

Can never in itself intend to praise me.

I say that it’s the joy that others taken me,

It’s this that is the cause of my delight.

95. But what is it to me others take the light

in someone else, or even in myself?

Their pleasures theirs and theirs alone.

No part of it is felt by me.

96. If I am happy at the joy of those who take delight,

Then everyone should be a source of joy to me.

When people take their delight in others

Why am I not happy at their pleasures?

97. The satisfaction that is mine

From thinking, “I am being praise,”

Is unacceptable to common sense

And nothing but the antics of the silly child.

98. Praise and compliments distract me,

Sapping my repulsion with samsara.

I start to envy others their good qualities

And thus all excellence is ruined.

99. Those who stay close by me, then,

To damage my good name and cut me down to size –

Are surely there protecting me

From falling into realms of grief.

*In other words, for Shantideva, a monk, the enjoyment of honors and reputation is as inappropriate as gambling and drink.

Photo by Manas Manikoth on Unsplash

Shin Buddhist Service – Sunday October 16, 2022

Sunday, October 16 Service

• 9:45 AM: Sitting mediation, all levels, including beginners: Meditation Leader, Greg Stepanic
• 10:30 AM: Shin Buddhist Sangha Gathering and Service: Rev. Anita Tokuzen Kazarian, October Memorial Service

Following the Service: Informal Gathering

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/