If we are accepted as a disciple of another Sangha member from them we may get more names for that master to use to call us. Please note that students of a master are not in the same category as disciple. It is possible for a master to have many students but few will have even one or more disciples. The disciples are earlier fully ordained as Sangha and the lineage holder in that master’s line, the students are not.
Floating Clouds, Folded Palms ~ A Bhikshuni life in Iowa
I have also the development of my temple to consider as I have decided to have a small temple and not seek to grow bigger and expand to more sites. I hope to inspire resident Sangha here and elsewhere to do the same. You must protect yourself first while you are on the Path. Solid foundations can decay if you keep ignoring them they fall in disrepair. The problems in Sanghas in the West are confounded with desires for larger, expensive, and prettier. Ambition is a symptom of greed and dissatisfaction; it should not be a part of a Sangha’s strategy to propagate Buddha dharma. I don’t want my Sangha to be bothered with such distractions.
Regarding my invite for Sangha members to contribute their wisdom to Sangha Conduct-Advice to Americans in Robes.
Only Sangha fully ordained in robes presently in good standing are asked to contribute.
Living anywhere you have to deal with Americans in robes, or if you are an American in robes; any ethnic group, any tradition. Declare your tradition and give me a brief autobiography
Living in solitude on your own or living in community.
Any level of English, it will be edited for typos and grammar as best I can do.
ANY STYLE, poetry, plain speak, write like you telling another Sangha member some needed advice. Share stories if you wish, keep the dharma names in them or make an obvious fake name, something like Ven. ChattyKathy or Ven. Snipesalot… you know be creative or not. ANY way you write is perfectly ok.
The deadline is Monday June 24, 2013.
And no limits to length on your contribution, but at least a page not a sentence. No Koan, no gungan; Haiku if you must but need to include a lesson or verbiage to add to it or increase our understanding in the Vinaya or Buddha dharma or life in general.
All your work if you have citations include them if not I will find what I can if citing sutras or other ppls words declare in the sentence (paraphrased/written by/from NAME if have year or page great if not just a name).
Write for the Sangha not the public.
It will be on Amazon through my account for sale. Selling a book there does not make you rich, I’m not rich, occasionally I get a partial tank of gas out of it every few months or so. Mostly it’s for benefit of future generations. You can sell it too, I’ll give you advice a bit later on that.
Lack of common language limits successful understanding. I have seen, heard and read about the constant struggle of laity to achieve success in their own practices because they did not have a common language with a dharma master or wat, vihara, temple or center in which they sought to study and practice Buddha dharma. I have first hand knowledge of ordained Sangha that do not know their adopted culture or it’s language and are stuck as a servant, living years at a lower level of practice than what they can achieve had they been aware of detailed teachings.
These Westerners and some Asians have little or limited access to their own dharma master’s meetings and teachings due to poor translators or no translators. Since they do not have any notable level of training they often seek outside of Buddhism to survive in work or in other religious practices or faiths beyond Buddhism, even if they have been a novice of 30 years or fully ordained for 5 years. If they do not have competency at least one of these areas: listening, speaking, writing the temple language or even if they are not pursuing a line of Buddhist study and just seem to be taking up space then it keeps them at the ‘newbie’ level. They are the same as a tourist would be in their own understanding and ability or lack of ability to teach Buddha dharma with any degree of skill.
I had expected some fanfare at least a post comment or two on Facebook oh well people are busy. but I finally picked the temple name.
Calm Clarity Temple
It came from knowing what attributes I carry and promote as the abbess. My main attributes are Calm and Clarity. I am not saying I am the best but it’s the attributes I want to carry forth as a signature of this temple and it’s mission to meet the communities needs here and carry on my translation efforts to have a complete Mahayana English Tripitaka of the Taisho Edition of the Chinese Mahayana Tripitaka.
The reason this edition is so important is that it is inclusive of the Pali Cannon and has an Esoteric Division (yes, people Esoteric came from China through India as well as accumulations of the effects of adaptations to local religious beliefs and cultures. It has all the schools in Buddhism in both Theravada and Mahayana including I suspect some of the older ones, that are not all translated out into English, what we have today is scholars works and they are not accessible, largely out of print or not available to the public. It has commentaries, verses, records, and lineages of our Sangha, this may not be interesting reading but it is really good for us to know what bits from history we can glean from these being translated.
I honor my interest in Daoism with the recognition of a specific school, the Complete Reality School, it’s burned it’s place in my noggin. I like it very much, I also have a title memorized “The Master Who Embraces Simplicity” from my early days of study of Chinese culture included the Three Religions of Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism. I liked monastic life for it was easy fit for my lifestyle the way I lived it and the way I thought about my life. To honor me, and my past lives I chose Calm and Clarity for the temple attributes. When you choose a temple name it’s to have a purpose to benefit the country, the states, the county and the town in which you live; that’s responsibility towards society creating positive conditions for prosperity, reduce conflicts and improve the quality of life for everyone.
The mission carries on the Bhikshuni one. To create awareness of Vinaya Sangha residing in the USA. To provide Buddhist services and offer instruction in Buddhism to the public, and conduct creative, charitable, and education programs for interested persons.
The primary specialty is the translation of the Mahayana Tripitaka Taisho Edition in Chinese to English. Serving as translator, education of translators, networking with translators around the world, being a part of the development of an international database the would provide free online access to all English translated Tripitaka materials.
Related articles
Buddhafolk's Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.