As said by S. N. Goenka, the re-discoverer of this ancient vipassana method of meditation, “The technique of vipassana is a simple, practical way to achieve real peace of mind and to lead a happy, useful life; vipassana means ‘to see things as they really are’, through self-observation.”  A part of seeing things or better, feeling things as they really are (some things are so small they can’t be seen) includes becoming sensitive to the ever-changing, constantly dying and birthing of  kalapas, those tiny microscopic particles that make up the basic units of matter and come into and out of existence many thousands of times per second.  Feeling them leads to discovering and hopefully eliminating, or at least lessening, one’s own sangkaras, those nagging desires for things to satisfy one’s senses or to get rid of the things one doesn’t like or want.  Sangkaras are what really cause all of our problems in this life: we don’t get all the things we want, we don’t want all the things we get, and we think life is all about satisfying those desires.

Goenka, who is Burmese but now lives in India, has established vipassana meditation centers all over the world, with many in the United States and several in California.  I attended the one offered at North Fork at Yosemite, a beautiful pristine place where between meditation sessions one is further treated to deer and squirrels playing among the fragrant pines and beautiful dark red-barked manzanitas.

Morning meditation begins at four o’clock in the meditation hall with a hundred other meditators, continues until breakfast time at six-thirty, begins again at eight, lunch at eleven (the last meal of the day, except for a tea and fruit break in the evening), meditation again at one and continuing with a few breaks until the evening meditation sessions and Goenka’s televised discourse and short meditation, which ends each day; lights out at nine-thirty.  In all, one meditates for about 10 hours each day.

Sounds tough, doesn’t it?  Well, it really isn’t.  You get used to it quite quickly, and after the second or third day you’re right in the swing, enjoying the good food and comfortable accommodations, and no longer concerned over the fact that for 10 days you can’t talk to anyone except for brief question and answer periods with the teacher . . . and I do mean brief.  In even less time you are used to the fact that there are no televisions, radios, cell phones, reading or writing materials, cameras, or anything else that might take your attention off meditating and discovering your true self.  I loved every minute of it.  Well, maybe not every minute, but the whole experience was absolutely invigorating and unforgettable.  Believe it or not, I can’t wait to do it again.

Meditation sessions are either in the Meditation hall or in your own room or dorm.  Men and women are always separated, except during meditations in the hall, where the men are on one side and the women on the other.  Never any contact with anyone, not even eye-contact.  Meditation cushions are provided, or you can choose a chair, if you like.  The food is wholesome, tasty, plentiful and all vegetarian.        

For years I had been reading and hearing about vipassana meditation.  I’ve recommended it to my students, read William Hart’s “The Art of Living: Vipassana Meditation: As Taught By S. N. Goenka,” which is available in paperback: click here
if you want to order a copy.  The Vipassana method embodies the essence of the teaching of the Buddha. It is an extraordinary simple path to self-awareness that can be successfully applied by anyone. It is non-religious, non-sectarian, logical and beneficial to everyone.

Vipassana is unlike any other form of meditation.  The Goenka method is unique, as is Goenka, himself . . . a charismatic, entertaining and enlightened guru, who looks more like a banker than a Buddhism teacher.  His meditation centers are his gifts to all of us.  And I do mean gifts; the 10-day experience, meditation, discourses, room and board, it’s all free.  You can make a donation at the end if you want, but there’s no hard sell, no intimidation.  Donations help defray costs and enable the course to be offered to all, regardless of their financial situation.

Being a Buddhist and committed to encouraging life not ending it, I view all life as precious, including creepy crawlers.  So I immediately had compassion for her.  But I found myself in a predicament, too: how to help the spider out of the tub and her situation and proceed with my shower with only me getting wet and not this tiny reflection of consciousness.

While I don’t mind sharing my home with spiders, after all they need a home too, I do like to shower alone, even though I’ve heard one can save water by showering with a friend.  So, my first challenge of the morning was how to get the spider out of the tub so I could get in. Although I have a fondness for them, I don’t necessarily enjoy picking them up with my fingers; I’m fearful I might squeeze them too tight during the rescue. 

When I noticed the dental floss on a nearby shelf, I pulled out a few feet of it and dangled it next to this little lady in distress, tempting her to grab hold, thus enabling me to swing her from the bottom of the tub to the top of the tub’s side next to the wall.  It took a few minutes, but she finally grabbed hold and I swung her to safety.  Then I gave her audible instructions to get moving out of danger.

 ”Get going, little one,” I commanded.  “Get out of here and get on with your life,” I added.  And off she went.  As I turned on the water I saw her running up the wall toward the ceiling vent, no doubt her safe haven, at least until I finished my shower and she could get her tub back.

While taking my shower I couldn’t help but think about the predicaments we all get into occasionally during our adventure through life.  We sometimes get stuck in a place, both physically and mentally, that we don’t want to be in.  We want to get out and move on with our lives, but sometimes it’s so difficult we don’t exactly know how.  We need help.  We need a sympathetic friend to give us a little dental floss we can grab onto until we obtain the necessary courage to get going again and to move on.

One of the part’s of Buddhism’s Eightfold Path is “right effort.”  Defined more precisely, right effort means working diligently to develop the skill to avoid dukkha (frustration and suffering), caused by our selfish desire, anger and ignorance. In short, that means “don’t get mad or discouraged . . . try, try again.”

Every life is precious, and that certainly includes your own.  Don’t think about what you lack in ability or what you don’t have in material possessions.  Chances are you already have what you need.  And you’re more capable than you think.  The spider incident reminded me of a crazy poem I latched onto when I was a kid.  It was performed by Ish Kabibble, a nearly-forgotten radio comic during the early 40s, and I’ve never forgotten it.

          Little spider on the wall,

          You ain’t got no hair at all.

          You ain’t got no comb to comb your hair.

          What do you care, you ain’t got no hair.

The moral?  Be thankful for the things you don’t need as well as the things you have.  Things like good friends you can count on in times of need . . . and the things we take for granted, like a warm shower, a little dental floss and the selfless desire to share what we do have  . . .  with creatures big and small.

A lot of people and organization these days are having a tough time making ends meet; churches, temples, mosques and gurdwaras, are no exceptions.  I don’t know of any religion that doesn’t encourage the practice of giving.  It’s one of Buddhism’s Five Precepts.  Usually these are stated in the negative: no killing, no lying, no drugs or alcohol, no improper sex and no stealing,  But stated in the positive they are: encouraging life, speaking the truth, consuming nourishing food and drink, treating everyone with respect, and giving generously.  But who is really the giver and who is the getter?

In Buddhism, it is the giver who gets, as well as the receiver.  In the Theravada Buddhist countries of Thailand, Myanmar (Burma) and Sri Lanka, where monks go out begging for food each morning, the monks don’t thank those who fill their bowls.  Instead, it is the giver of the food who thanks the monk for the privilege and opportunity to practice the precept of giving.  Of course the monk is the recipient of the food, but the giver of the food experiences the joy of giving it, as well as a feeling of connectedness, even oneness with the getter.

What and how one gives merits consideration.  Giving something you don’t want or need is not really an act of charity; it is more an act of ego gratification, a deceptive act  allowing one to pat oneself on the back when a kick in the butt would be more appropriate - as well as maybe more beneficial.  If you truly want to feel good about yourself, try giving something you love or need, something that when you no longer have it you feel like you’ve lost something like a favorite ring or earring.  That puts thing in proper perspective.  You don’t have to give ’til it hurts, only ’til it smarts a little.  You’ll see how smarting is really smart; and it’s followed by the high of feeling good about yourself.

Don’t be concerned with what happens to your gift after you’ve given it.  The dollar you give the guy at the stop sign may help him buy a bottle of something other than milk, but it also could be spent on an apple or a hot dog.  Don’t judge him.  Don’t even judge yourself.  Instead, analyze.  He needs, you can help.  He gets and so do you.  It’s a win-win situation. 

What we give isn’t really ours anyway.  It’s just on loan to us; we can’t take it with us when we leave this place.  I doubt we’d even want to.  How many things do you still have that were so important or precious to you when you were in kindergarten or when you were a teenager?  For that matter, how about that thing you bought last month that you just couldn’t live without?  Is it still as essential as you thought it was or are you now wondering why you ever bought it in the first place?  Give it away.  You don’t need it or want it anymore.  But give yourself something, too.  Not a back pat, but a butt kick to wake you up to reality.  Although there’s not much generosity in the gesture, it’s still in the category of giving.  And that’s not all bad.

And not only is our conviction to our separateness a delusion, it is a harmful conclusion and leads us into acting upon this false belief. It leads us into taking the poisons that make us sick. Buddhism calls this sickness dukkha, which means suffering and that includes pain, frustration, anxiety and just plain unsatisfactoriness.  How does thinking of ourselves as separate have the consequences of poisoning ourselves and making ourselves sick?

It is because the poisons are basically selfish desire, anger and ignorance. When we want things for just ourselves, when we get angry over things that displease us, and when we even unintentionally hurt others and ourselves, it is because we are ignorant of the fact that what we do to the least of us we do to ourselves. Test yourself: Do you want to end poverty, war, suffering? Do you feel good or bad when you are angry? Do you think you already know it all or enough and don’t need or want to learn more?

Feeling compassion for those in need of whatever it is, is an innate feeling of our oneness. Mentally we put ourselves in the shoes of others so we can better feel their feelings. Compassion is called karuna in Buddhism, but it includes an action or a physical reflection of the feeling. It isn’t enough to just feel sorry for someone or some thing; you have to do something about what you feel. That’s called “engaged” Buddhism. Like in marriage, one is engaged before one gets married and becomes one.

To better understand this concept of oneness, try imagining you are far out in space looking at the planet Earth. You see the Earth as one object, even though you know it has lots of parts . . . land, water, trees, rocks, fish, animals and people. Or look at your hand; it has five fingers, but all of them are part of the hand. And the hand is a part of the arm, the arm a part of the body and the body a part of you. And you are a conglomeration of not just your body and its parts, but also your personality, your characteristics, your likes and dislikes, your relationships, etc., etc. Look deeply enough and you will see those relationships as a part of your oneness. Depending on how many relationships you have or feel, your realization of your oneness is affected. 

Try loving everyone, all the animals, the beauty of the mountain scenery and the ocean waves as they break upon the shore. The more you love, the more you realize that you are not separate from what you love. “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and you will be reflecting your oneness. You will be an engaged Buddhist along with all the other things you are. The word Buddhist means someone who has awakened. Waking up to the reality of who you are is like waking up from a night’s sleep feeling refreshed and ready to face the day positively, knowing you’re going to experience what people are always telling you to do: “Have a nice day.”

But . . . look around.  You can see bravery, compassion, love, and lots of caring, enlightened and hard-working individuals, organizations and societies striving to make things better . . . and being happy when seeing others happy, people they don’t even know.  While we need to be aware of all the bad stuff going on in our world so we can try to deal with it skillfully, we need also to know about the good stuff so we can enjoy life.  Therefore, let’s focus on that for a moment.

Some 2500 years ago the Buddha, witnessing the condition of his then known world, knew that suffering was rampant and that although it was difficult to eliminate, it wasn’t impossible. 

Faced with many of the same challenges still with us today, the Buddha taught the cause of the suffering and the way out of it.  To help people to cope with life’s natural realities, he developed a teaching that today is just as valid as it was then; he taught the Brahmavihāras of Love, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy and Equanimity.  These states of consciousness also are known as the Four Immeasurables and the Four Sublime Mental Conditions.

The type of love the Buddha was referring to is called Metta in the ancient language of Pali.  It means loving-kindness, not just the feeling of it, but a reflection of it, an action.  And not just toward other people, but also toward oneself.  Expressed in an affirmation or prayer:  May all beings always be content and satisfied with life, and may they possess within them the ability to cause themselves and others to be content and satisfied with life.  His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Dr. Howard Cutler called this the attaining of “The Art of Happiness.”

The kind of compassion of which the Buddha spoke also includes a reflection of it, an action.  In Pali the word is Karuna and here’s the affirmation or prayer:  May all beings always be free from dukkha (unsatisfactoriness, suffering) and its causes - among them desire, attachment, greed, anger, hate and ignorance, and may they always be able to act upon their feelings of sympathy, empathy and compassion.

Sympathetic joy in Pali is Somanassa. It means being happy over the happiness or joy that others experience.  A good example is how you feel when you see the reaction of a person receiving the thoughtful gift you gave . . . sometimes you’re even happier than you are when you receive a gift.  Here’s the affirmation for that mental state: May all beings always experience glad-mindedness, bliss and happiness, and may they enjoy sympathetic joy, the joy one receives from witnessing the happiness of others.

Equanimity means accepting things as they are, without judgment.  Instead of judging things as being good or bad, right or wrong, pleasant or unpleasant, etc., one can analyze in order to arrive at a better understanding of the person or situation.  In Pali it’s called Upekkha and includes the practice of tolerance, understanding and patience.  Affirm it with this:  May all beings always be free from the poisons of judgment, attachment and anger, and may they always understand that things are as they are, but not indifferent and unwilling to make them better.

So what do you think?  Doesn’t that sound like some positive approaches for twenty-ten . . . or for any and every year?  Affirming and practicing these four sublime and wise approaches to living, these mental states whose benefits and rewards are indeed immeasurable, can truly improve one’s quality of life.  Something to think about isn’t it . . . or to act upon?

Coincidentally, one’s name is Emily and the other is Emiliano.  I actually saw Emiliano, or rather a picture of him before he got out of his vehicle, when his father shared with me the ultra-sound photo taken when he was still in his mother womb.  The shot reminded me of the film I just saw, Genesis, which so stunningly captures a growing fetus and its acrobatic life before “coming out.”  Emily’s first baby picture just arrived on my computer via email.  Ah, such miracles abound today!

Meeting these two babies and the episodes mentioned got me thinking about the “beginning” of life and the Buddhist teaching on existence, impermanence and rebirth; how everybody and everything sort of begins from nothing more or anything less than an idea, then evolves and becomes the knowable reflection of that idea.

It’s impossible for the human brain to comprehend either the beginning or the non-beginning of anything . . . including that of ourselves.  A Zen koan poses the question, “Where were you before the birth of your mother and father?”  Just tackling thinking about it can give one dukkha or frustration.

So, although I might be familiar with Emiliano’s and Emily’s vehicles, I cannot know exactly how they were made nor who made them.  I could study their ethnicity, their ancestry and their DNAs and still not know their origin.  Actually, the Big Bang wants us to believe we all originated as stardust, but that still leaves the question, “Where did the stuff that got banged come from?”

Be all that as it may, I’m happy I can still get excited upon meeting new life, whether it be a tree’s leaves and blossoms of spring or the autumn  blossoming of two new (?) beautiful babes, who have captured my eyes and heart and who have left me still in wonder of the miracle of it all.

My special summer trip was to the Bay Area of California; it took me to the picturesque village of Sausalito and introduced me to rock sculptor Bill Dan, then to the Fremont’s Sikh gurdwara, and then to the Land of the Medicine Buddha in Santa Cruz, where I met author Alexandra Kennedy, who led the way to the center’s beautiful forest meditation area.  All told, not only memorable, but magical, mystical and marvelous.

Sausalito’s Rock Sculptor and Balance Artist

Bill Dan is from Indonesia, one of my favorite countries and cultures, and he has balanced rocks all over the world.  He is presently doing it along the waterfront in Sausalito, well known Buddhist author and lecturer Alan Watt’s American hometown just north of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.  Wherever it is that Bill Dan does his sculpting and balancing act, he uses the rocks he finds there and the patience he found years ago along his own spiritual path, to balance rocks of all sizes in a manner that can only be described as uncanny.  You can learn more about this fascinating man and his talent on YouTube and on several websites bearing his name or the subject “rock sculpture.”  In the meantime, here are a couple of photos demonstrating his talent.

Fremont’s Sikh Gurdwara

There are over 200 gurdwaras (temples, shrines or holy places) in India and hundreds more throughout the world.  The one I visited is Gurdwara Sahib of Fremont; it is a center for Sikh worship in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Sikhs are considered by those who know them or know of them to be among the world’s most trustworthy among religious devotees.  They also are among the most generous and compassionate.  If ever you are hungry, whether or not you are a Sikh, just show up at a gurdwara and a meal will be yours at any time, 24/7.  In many ways Sikh ethics and morals are about the same as those of Buddhists.  The religion’s acceptance of samsara and karma (reincarnation or the continuity of existence and the law of cause and effect) is quite similar, too. Next time you are in the vicinity, drop by and take a look; you’ll be impressed.  In the meantime, here’s a photo of Fremont’s gurdwara.

Santa Cruz’s Buddhist Temple

My cousin and her husband, Sally and Robb Sals live in Santa Cruz, when they’re not in Hawaii or in their condo on Isla de Mujeres off the coast of Cancun in Mexico.  During their summer stay in North California, they invited my Burmese friends and me to visit their fantastic abode in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where they introduced us to the Land of the Medicine Buddha in the nearby forest. 

Dedicated to the truths taught by the Buddha and promoted and further taught by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the center, with its beautiful and ornate Temple of the Medicine Buddha, nurtures “healing and the development of a good heart, which includes the cultivation of compassion and loving kindness.” With more than a hundred acres of redwood forest, including peaceful wooded areas for meditation, the center also features an authentic Tibetan prayer wheel and beautiful Tibetan art and holy objects.   If you would like more information about the center, please visit www.landofmedicinebuddha.org. 

Here are some photos to whet your appetite and entice you to plan a visit to the center.  The first photo is of author Alexandra Kennedy meditating among the redwoods, where the Kelly green clover carpets the ground.

There at the Land of the Medicine Buddha, we met author, poet and psychotherapist Alexandra Kennedy, a fascinating Buddhist, who devotes many hours daily to the maintenance and welfare of the center.  Her most recent book, Offerings at the Edge, contains some truly wonderful and creative impressions in poetry, the likes of which are rare indeed, as well as insightful, beautiful and full of love and wisdom.  An example, this opening except from her Afternoon Walk on Prescott Road:

          The wind greets me first,

          With whispers in the listening forest.

          Then the voices of the stream,

          The creaking of growing trees,

          The raucous call of the jay -

          Sounds that dance tender shoots

          From the silent ground.

You can find out more about author Kennedy at her website, www.alexandrakennedy.com, or check out Offerings at the Edge, by visiting www.BuddhismTeacher.com and clicking on Market Place.

My thanks to my dear Burmese friends, Jason Hu, who took the photos in this blog, to his expecting wife Sandar (little Emily is due early next month), and to Jason’s parents, Lili and UK, for all the courtesies extended during this memorable trip; to my dear cousin, Sally, and her husband Robb, for the introduction to the enchanting forest area of Santa Cruz and the remarkable author, Alexandra Kennedy; to the members of Fremont’s Sikh center, who gave us a tour of their beautiful gurdwara, explained to us the basic principles of the Sikh religion, and treated us to a most delicious lunch; and to new friend Bill Dan, to whom we are so grateful for sharing with us and the by passers his unique and awesome ability to do what is, or at least seems to be, impossible.  Thanks to all of you for making my summer of ‘09 unforgettable.

It is not life and wealth and power that enslave men, but the cleaving to life and wealth and power. -Buddha

My friend, Jean Parcher, sent that quotation to me reminding me of a discussion we once had as to whether or not one can do a truly ‘unselfish’ act.  She saw that the idea of bravery also might be a reflection of an over-emphasized desire to give rather than receive.  

The famous minister and orator of the 1889s, Edwin Hubbel Chapin, said: At the bottom of a good deal of the bravery that appears in the world there lurks a miserable cowardice. Men will face powder and steel because they cannot face public opinion.

Another example of man’s selflessness vs. selfishness is in the famous long dialogue by Mark Twain, “What is a Man?” written in the early 90s.  In it, the extraordinary American humorist-philosopher expresses the belief that man acts only out of self-interest.   

And my friend Jean offers still another quotation on the subject; this one by author Alice Walker and from the middle of this century:  I find it difficult to feel responsible for the suffering of others. That’s why I find war so hard to bear. It’s the same with animals: I feel the less harm I do, the lighter my heart. I love a light heart. And when I know I’m causing suffering, I feel the heaviness of it. It’s a physical pain. So it’s self-interest that I don’t want to cause harm.

So, are we selfless, selfish, a bit of both, or none of the above?

Let’s take another look at what the Buddha said.  The same thought but saying it differently: what makes us suffer is our fear of death along with our delusion that we are separate from each other, from our friends and our enemies, and therefore need wealth and power in order to be safe and secure.  In still other words, it is our attachment to self . . . our self interest . . . that motivates us and prevents us from being free.  And that’s another one of the Buddha’s ultimate truths: letting go of that attachment can help us avoid suffering.

Indeed, humans are selfish.  But if one thinks of our oneness . . . that we are all one . . . then being selfish is the same as being selfless.  These are just words (symbols) of ideas . . . please don’t get a phobia about a symbol; the word “selfish” merely means “self interest”.

Remember astronaut Edgar Mitchell’s realization of oneness when he saw the planet Earth in space when returning from the moon.  He realized that Earth is one and that everything in it and on it is a part of it . . . a part of oneness.  If we’re all one then whatever we do benefits all of us . . . or harms all of us.  We all know how one rotten apple can spoil a whole barrel full of them. 

Sure, the person receiving the act of kindness or compassion benefits, but so does the giver.  In fact, the primary motivation for the act was so that the giver can feel good about him or her self, or not feel bad about him or her self.  Both are beneficiaries. 

So, just how selfish are we?  Good question.

The way the precept on truthfulness usually is stated in the Five Precepts is that one will train to refrain from lying.  The pledge also can be expressed this way:  “I vow to abstain from speaking falsehood and I vow to encourage truthfulness.”  So Buddhism’s precepts not only call for refraining, but for indulging; not just to stop doing something unskillful or which causes dukkha (suffering, frustration, unhappiness), but to start doing something skillful which causes sukha (peace of mind, happiness).

It’s the same with the other four precepts: vowing to train to refrain from killing, stealing, improper sex and intoxicants, and vowing to train to encourage life, practice giving, respect for others and avoiding ingesting what is harmful.

In the case of practicing truthfulness and avoiding lying, a practicing Buddhist should also avoid gossiping and talking “behind another person’s back”.  A good Buddhist story to accentuate how one might learn to help cure a gossip and how a gossip might learn to refrain from such practice is this one:

At a Buddhist church in a small town in Northern California, Lucy, the church’s gossip, was always sticking her nose into other people’s business; she had appointed herself the church’s monitor of morals.  Congregation members didn’t approve of her gossiping, but usually didn’t say anything and avoided confrontation.  But when she accused Charlie, a new church member, of being an alcoholic, things changed.  Lucy said she saw Charlie’s old pickup truck parked in front of the local bar one afternoon and that everyone knows what that means he was doing.  When Charlie got wind of her accusation, he didn’t say a word.  He didn’t explain, defend himself, or deny the charge.  Instead, later that evening, he quietly parked his pickup in front of Lucy’s house . . . walked home . . . and left it there all night.

While the story ends there, and I don’t encourage retribution, I do think it’s easy to imagine that that action probably put a cramp in Lucy’s gossiping habit.  Hopefully, she learned that gossiping is equal to lying in the hurt and harm it can cause.  It’s not enough just to refrain from lying and gossiping; it’s important to say nice things to people when it’s the truth.  Why keep it to yourself; share your nice thoughts with others, so they can enjoy them, too. But keep your not-so-nice ones to yourself.  That way everyone’s better off.

Born a prince named Siddhartha Gotama more than 2,500 years ago and raised in Kapilavatu near Nepal in North India, he lived a life of royalty, married and had a son.  Siddhartha was kept ignorant by his father of the vicissitudes of life outside the palace gates.  When he finally stepped outside his protective environment, he became aware of pain and suffering, old age and death.

At the age of 29, he left the palace in search of truth and peace.  He found them while meditating under what is now known as the Bodhi Tree.  There he comprehended the dharma (life’s fundamental truths), purified himself during the Full Moon Day, known as Vesak, and obtained perfect enlightenment at the age of 35.

With his enlightenment he became known as the Buddha, because the word Buddha means the enlightened one.  Anyone in search of enlightenment while practicing loving kindness and compassion can be called a Buddhist. 

For 45 years he taught these truths, which are as relevant today as they were then.  He had a deep wisdom and boundless compassion for all sentient beings.  The Buddha is neither a god nor a prophet of God, nor are his teachings the only way to gain enlightenment.

In a sense, Buddhism is not a religion, a philosophy, nor a doctrine.  However in a way it is all three.  But in the West it is more often called a psychology. 

Buddhism’s Four Noble Truths make up the cornerstone of the dharma.  They are (1) For the unenlightened, life is unsatisfactory, (2) caused by attachment or desire, anger and ignorance, (3) but there’s a way to get rid of this unsatisfactoriness, and (4) the way is the Eightfold Path .

The Path described by the Buddha is sometimes symbolized by the eight-spoke Buddhist wheel of realistic, skillful, and wise understanding or view, thought, speech, action, aspiration, effort, mindfulness and concentration.  It is a way of life, a blueprint for building a better YOU, or the medication one needs to become and stay well, free from suffering and frustration.

Actually, Vesak celebrates the four historic points in the life of the Buddha: his birth, enlightenment, death, and his passing into nirvana (sometimes called “oneness”).

Vesak is the name of the lunar month in the Indian calendar, usually falling either in April or May (sometimes even as late as June in a leap year).  This year it will be celebrated mainly on Saturday, May 2.  However, it tends to be celebrated on different days, depending on whether the tradition is Theravada or Mahayana, or one of the many schools of Mahayana such as Vajrayana, Zen and Pure Land.  If you are interested in attending one of the celebrations it is important to check with the temple or organization well in advance to learn the correct date.

The diversity of Asian ethnicity in Southern California and elsewhere in America, provides Buddhists and interested non-Buddhists a chance to observe a variety of culturally oriented celebrations featuring chanting and performing arts of Thailand, Sri Lanka, China, Korea, Japan, Cambodia, Vietnam, and other Asian countries.