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Fifteenth Day of the Fourth Tibetan Lunar Month

(Quoted from A Yearbook of Buddhist Wisdom by Norma Levine)

On the Full moon day of the Fourth Tibetan Lunar month, three great events in the life of the Buddha are observed.

The birth of Prince Siddhartha, who later became the Buddha, was wondrous. His mother, Queen Mahamaya, had a dream prior to the birth – a dream of a magnificent white elephant that descended from the heavens. Celestial music sounding praises filed the sky. The elephant held a brilliant pink lotus flower in its trunk, placed it within the queen’s body, and then entered inside her effortlessly. She awoke filled with sensations of pure bliss and joy. Ten months later, on the way to her parents’ home, she stopped to rest in the garden of Lumbini, and there, holding the branch of an ashok tree for support the queen gave birth to a radiant boy.

“When the Bodhisattva came forth from his mother’s womb, two jets of water appeared to pour from the sky, one cool and one warm for bathing the Bodhisattva and his mother. As soon as the Bodhisattva was born, he stood firmly with his feet on the ground, then he took seven steps to the north, and with a white sunshade held over him, he surveyed each quarter. He uttered the words,  “I am supreme in this world. This is the last birth.”

The enlightenment of Prince Siddhartha came “after years of practicing unimaginable austeries so that “all my limbs became like the knotted joints of withered creepers,” and “the skin of my belly and back met,” the monk Gautama — as Prince Siddhartha was then called — was near extinction but no closer to enlightenment. A young village girl, Sujata, with caring prepared a bowl of fresh milk with rice and graciously offered it to the emaciated ascetic. His senses immediately became alert.

Sitting under the massive branches of a bodhi tree, in what is now Bodh Gaya, Gautama began the world-shattering seven-day meditative insight that resulted in complete enlightenment. Here are the first words he spoke as the Buddha:

Seeking but not finding the house-builder,
I traveled through the round of countless births;
O painful is birth ever and again.
House-builder, you have now been seen;
You shall not build the house again.
Your rafters have been broken down;
Your ridge pole is demolished, too.
My mind has now attained the unformed nirvana
And reached the end of every kind of craving.

(quote from Bhikku Nanamoli, translator of The Life of the Buddha.)

There was a terrifying thunderstorm in the second watch of the night. When the third watch of the night had passed, the Buddha looked up and saw the morning star dazzling bright as a diamond in the dawn sky. To seal his enlightenment, he touched his hand to the ground and said, “The earth is my witness.”

The Buddha’s death is called Parinirvana – passing into nirvana – because there is no death for the enlightened. The container dissolves and the great expanse of space merges with itself. Parinirvana is the third observance of this special day.

“Knowing the body is like foam, realizing its mirage-like nature, cutting off the flower-tipped sensual realm, one goes unseen by the King of Death.”

On the full moon day nearly fifty years after his enlightenment, the Buddha and his disciples walked to the little mud-walled town of Kushinigar near the modern-day Nepalese boarder. He placed himself on his side, facing north, with one foot overlapping the other, mindful and fully aware. Twin sal trees shed blossoms out of season to cover him, sandalwood powder fell from the sky, and celestial music resounded. His beloved attendant Ananda wept. “I declare this to you,” the Buddha said. “It is in the natural of all formations to dissolve. Attain perfection through diligence.”

Ashvaghosha writes that the last words of the Buddha’s were these:

” Everything comes to an end, though it may last for an eon … I have done what I could do both for myself and for others … I have disciplined in heaven and on earth, all those whom I could discipline … Hereafter … my dharma … shall abide for generations … among living beings. Therefore, recognize the true nature of the living world and do not be anxious; for separation cannot possibly be avoided … When the light of wisdom has dispelled the darkness of ignorance, when all existence has been seen as without substance, peace ensues [at life’s end]. which seems to cure a long sickness at last … the time for my entry into nirvana has arrived. These are my last words.”

Here is a simple Meditation on the Buddha Shakyamuni, that Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche taught us years ago. You can do this meditation on Saka Dawa, or anytime you need the blessing of the Buddha to manifest in your life.

A Short Meditation on Shakyamuni Buddha

(By Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche; edited by Lama Kathy Wesley. From an oral teaching at Columbus KTC in 1978.)

Imagine that the Buddha Shakyamuni is seated on a lotus and flat moon disk seat in the sky in front of you. He is facing you, and is a little above you in space. He is made of golden light – his entire body is insubstantial, and he is made of golden light.

Place your hands together at your heart, and pray to the Buddha, asking him to remove your obstacles and obscurations, and grant you wisdom and compassion. You may use your own words.

Then, imagine that golden light streams out from the Buddha’s form and touches you, cleansing you of all obstacles and obscurations: illnesses, mental afflictions, problems, difficulties, habits, etc. Next, imagine that the golden light gives you everything you need: healing, inner stability, wisdom, compassion, and so forth.

Finally, think that the Buddha dissolves into light, and merges with you, blessing your stream of being. Rest for a moment in the confidence that your mind and the Buddha’s mind have merged inseparably, and that you have received the Buddha’s blessing.

Dedicate the merit of your practice to yourself and all sentient beings.

This practice is good to do when you are not feeling well, or when you feel depressed or uncertain. It’s also good to do daily before you do your regular meditation or prayer practices.

Dear Dharma Friends:

It’s been a busy few weeks for us at Columbus KTC. We’re getting ready to host Lama Dudjom Dorjee in April, and we’ve just learned that Lama Karma Drodhul will be bringing us blessings from Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche in June. We’ll be back serving supper to homeless families at the YWCA Family Shelter in May – and gathering strength for our annual Comfest appearance at the end of June. Meanwhile, our weekly pujas and instructions continue at Congregation Tifereth Israel. So much to be grateful for!

On the “Rebuild KTC” project, we’ve had some developments to share. Here we go!

– Building Surveys. The two building surveys gave the KTC sangha a chance to provide design specifications for our new future KTC home. We know how many rooms we want and need, and how large they should be. And the location survey gave us an idea where we might re-locate if we are unable to rebuild on our current property.

Links to both surveys are here:
Room and Use Survey: please click here.
Location Survey: please click here.

– Reviewing our options. As you know, we have identified three basic option for a future KTC home:

Option 1 – Rebuild on our current lot
Option 2 – Rebuild on a different lot
Option 3 – Buy an existing building and remodel

We’re researching all three options at once, so there’s a lot going on. Here’s what’s happening:

– Option 1: Rebuilding on our current lot. With the help of a pro-bono (no cost) attorney, we are preparing to meet with the East Franklinton Review Board to see if rebuilding on our South Grubb Street lot is possible under city zoning rules. Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche urged us to build a larger building, and the sangha survey showed agreement with his suggestion. We’re working with another pro-bono professional, an architect, to develop conceptual drawings for a building that would reflect the size of building suggested by the sangha. Our meeting with the EFRB will tell us whether a larger building on the Grubb Street lot is possible.

Since Option 1 hasn’t been thoroughly researched yet, we won’t need to move on to Option 2 just now.

– Option 3: Buy an existing building and remodel
We’ve met with a commercial realtor in Columbus who has given us a list of properties to view. Over the next few weeks, board members and sangha with building expertise will visit and evaluate the properties.

But there’s even more news – some of it financial!

– GoFundMe. Our online donations have slowed a bit, but we received an unexpected happy donation of $3,555 from KTD to help us reach $65,000 – which will help us pay the demolition bill for the old building. KTD lamas Khenpo Ugyen Tenzin, Lama Tsultrim Gyaltsen and Lama Lodro Lhamo gave us a combined total of $2,600!

– Namse Bangdzo Bookstore at KTD is giving us 25 new texts for Chenrezig/Amitabha, Medicine Buddha, and Green Tara at no cost. Thank you, Namse Bangdzo!

– We’ve purchased new meditation cushions for the temporary KTC shrine room located in the Lower Social Hall at Congregation Tifereth Israel. They will arrive in a few weeks.

– More meetings ahead: KTC Board members have and will continue to meet with financial advisers at banks and credit unions in the coming weeks to see if a loan is possible. They’ll also meet with experts to learn how to develop a capital fundraising campaign and identify and interview potential building contractors.

That’s the update for today; meanwhile, please keep up your prayers for Columbus KTC. Although Khenpo Rinpoche has told us that “rebuilding the center” is our best prayer, it may be good to recite the Tashi Prayer every day and dedicate it to the center’s re-establishment. We pray to be of benefit to all beings in Columbus and beyond. Karmapa Chenno!

Wishing you all the best,

Your KTC Board
Kim Miracle
Tanya Schroeder
Steve Phallen
Justin Fitch
Eric Weinberg

The board greatly appreciates everyone’s input and feedback.
Thank you!

Donate to the Columbus KTC Rebuilding Fund

It’s been about seven weeks since the KTC fire – 49 days exactly on March 20. Those familiar with Tibetan Buddhism know that the 49th Day after a passing is a special day; the deceased is thought to have traversed the “Bardo,” or intermediate state, during those weeks and is poised and ready for a rebirth.

So we in the KTC Community are looking for a rebirth these next few weeks. We hope you can help out.

This week we received the final bill for demolishing the arson-damaged KTC temple: $75,884.99. This was considerably more than the original estimate of $45,000; because our building was constructed in 1924, it contained lead pipes and asbestos, and special care needed to be taken to bag and carry away the contaminated debris.

And because the fire-damaged building was in danger of collapse, the city issued an emergency demolition order – which meant that even the foundation had to be removed and filled in with dirt.

So the small demolition job got big pretty quickly.

We’ve seen the final bill, and the additional $30,000 was all due to “hazardous materials” demolition and handling. We appreciate the city’s care for the environment, and are happy the asbestos was safely removed.

The KTC temple was insured, and we will receive a $10,000 demolition allowance; that means the bill actually will be $65,884.99.

We sought help from the state’s Crime Victim’s Assistance program, but discovered that the fund helps individuals who are crime victims (a most worthy endeavor) but not organizations.

So it’s up to KTC to pay the demolition costs.

We are due to receive $443,000 from the insurance company for the loss of our building, but we were hoping to save every penny of that – plus raise hundreds of thousands more – to help us rebuild our temple.

We are looking at all avenues, including rebuilding on our current site, building elsewhere, or buying an existing building and remodeling, Whatever option we choose, money will be required. So we are more motivated than ever to raise the initial $108,000 on this GoFundMe site.

Thanks to all who have given to us, here and elsewhere; we appreciate you more than we can say. You’ve been with us since the beginning of our crisis, and understand how important your support has been to us.

A bit of quick math tells us that if every person who’s given on the site would give another $1, $5, $10, $25 – it would boost our total by another $4,000 to $12,000. And this would help relieve our “demolition blues” and give us a clean slate for raising the money we need to rebuild.

The names of all those who have given to the GoFundMe site are on our KTC shrine; we pray for you every week.

We appreciate all you’ve given, and hope you’ll help us make our way to the $108,000 goal. Forward this message to your friends; tell them that Kagyu dharma in Columbus should survive and thrive, and give them a chance to participate.

The virtue of sponsoring a dharma center is vast, as your gift will connect every person who sees the new KTC to the dharma in a special way.

Wishing you all the best in dharma! OM MANI PEME HUNG 🙂

Sunday, February 28

On Sunday, February 28th, the Columbus KTC board convened a sangha or community meeting to update everyone on work the CKTC board and community have been doing since the fire on January 31st. The general agenda was as follows:

• Updates on Activities
• Results from the Building Survey
• Next Steps
• Open Discussion

If you were unable to attend, we invite you to view the Power Point Presentation shown at the meeting here.

Thank you to all who made it out to the meeting and all who filled out the building requirement survey. We look forward to staying in regular contact and dialogue with the CKTC community as we take steps towards finding a new home for Columbus KTC.

Please contact Eric Weinberg memberatlarge@columbusktc.org with any additional comments or questions.

May all beings benefit.