Schedule for Prayer Flag Day - June 30

Location: the Amitabha Stupa, Sedona, AZ

8:30am Amitabha Buddha practice
9:00am A presentation about prayer flags by Ani Dawa
9:30am Hang the prayer flags on the Stupa Land

Activities will close with dedication prayers.

Hopefully we will get all the flags hung before the temperature climbs about 90-degrees.

All are welcome to the practice, presentation and hanging of flags. No prior instruction is needed.

Tabling

One of the nice things about living in a a small community like Sedona is that you get to do things that bring you in contact with others, most of them unknown before an encounter like the one this past weekend when tabling in front of the local whole foods grocery store.

For those who don't know (I didn't; I came here from Washington, DC via Denver and we didn't do this there), "tabling" is just what you think it would be: sitting at a table in some high foot-traffic area, with your items of interest on display, with the express purpose of making connections.

We were tabling this past weekend to give people an opportunity to make a personal connection with the Stupa and Jetsunma through offering prayer flags. Individuals sponsored a flag for $5 and wrote their own personal aspiration in the margins of the flag. In "spiritual" Sedona this was a hit! Approximately 1 in 20 passersby stopped at our table and about 25 people sponsored a flag while several others purchased a roll of flags. The prayers that they wrote were interesting: many for relationships to be strong; several for healing for loved ones; almost everyone with kids and grand kids put down the names of the next generations praying for their happiness and health.

This activity on the one hand seems very simple: put down $5 and write a nice prayer. At a more profound, or maybe less materialistic level, its more complicated than that. Jetsunma has given us some direction on how to turn the ordinary into extraordinary kindness. For example, on the flag that I sponsored I was motivated to write a simple prayer for young adults. I had run into a young adult with whom I used to work who was fired because he was still half in the adolescent world of "rebellion" and half in the adult world of "responsibility" (this is too simple of a dichotomy, but it works for this purpose). The prayer ended up being for this person specifically and all young adults for their happiness and a successful transition to adulthood and its responsibilities.

This is the method that Jetsunma teaches: take the concern and expand it somehow to include sentient beings. This generates merit which will result in Buddhahood. It seems so simple, yet we generally don't spend the day generating this type of merit. I have to say honestly that throughout the day I forget it and then remember it, then forget it again, then remember... etc.

The tabling this past weekend gave many people the opportunity to generate merit and to connect to the purity of the dharma. Once again, as with our 24-hour prayer vigil and the various projects we have undertaken (visit www.tara.org for more information), Jetsunma is providing the means as well as the opportunity for our liberation. How remarkable!

By this effort may all sentient beings be free of suffering.

"Magic Prayers"

last saturday I met up with Cynde, a pet therapist who I met at the stupa a year ago with her dog Marley who was fighting cancer. She had told me about a young boy named JJ who was down at Phoenix Children's Hospital on the same chemo drugs that Marley was on. Marley died june 21st 2006, and JJ went on to get a bone marrow transplant, break his leg, and spent most of this last year in the hospital battling the cancer. Back then I promised Cynde that I would hold all of them in my prayers, both at the dailey tsogs at the temple, and at the Amitaba stupa. now that JJ is on the mend, he and his mom wanted to come and see this place of "magic prayers" in person. So we met last saturday at the entrance and made our way to the stupa. Even though JJ still has trouble with his leg, and alot of pain, he didn't want a ride, he wanted to walk himself up [ he's a handsome energetic 9yr old] He was full of questions about Buddhism, the stupa, mantras, prayer flags, etc. When we made it to the Amitaba stupa he circumambulated, making many prayers for all the others, human and animal, that he could think of, then shyly went and put his own money from his pocket into the donation box. [ I hadn't said anything about that, only in a general way of how people are moved to make all kinds of offerings as we stood in front of the altar } I had brought prayer flags for him to hang in his room and at his home outside, so I gave those to him as we made our way back down the path. He and his mom, Mary Lou, said thankyou many times, and I told JJ now all he has to do is see the stupa in his mind and he's there, the place of "magic prayers"

Is it sychroncity?

Last week, Jetsunma released a demo cut of a sung prayer. The prayer is to Buddha Amitabha and is appropriate in particular for beings -- as Jetsunma defines it: anything that moves -- at the time of their transition to death (see previous post). In a teaching on this prayer Jetsunma said, "No one has to become a Buddhist... (this prayer) is a free blessing", and she asked that it be distributed as widely as possible especially to places where beings die, so they can hear and get the blessing of this prayer as they die. She mentioned hospice.

So why talk about this in the Stupa blog? Because, this weekend we will have a table in front of the local whole food store in Sedona, New Frontiers, where we will offer people the opportunity to sponsor prayers on prayer flags and even write their own prayers on flags. The prayer flags will be hung next weekend at the Stupa, on June 30, with the desire that the benefit of hanging these flags will enhance Jetsunma's life force. We pray daily for a long life for our teachers, the ones that make this amazing spiritual path available.

Turns out that tomorrow will be a busy day at New Frontiers. There is a barbecue in the afternoon and a band mid-morning. We won't be the only ones with a table. A local Hospice organization will also be "tabling" in the morning. Of all the days for us to be there together, it's tomorrow that we converge at the same time in the same place. We will be able to talk with them about the blessing that this prayer could provide, if nothing else the comforting tone and rhythms will be soothing to those making a very freightening transition, and hopefully the Hospice volunteers will take a free CD back to their organization.

This is probably not sychonicity, who knows. Only those with wisdom eyes could tell us. For now, we will just try to do what Jetsunma has asked.

If you can, stop by our table in front of New Frontiers Saturday or Sunday. We will be there on Saturday 10am - 2pm and Sunday 1pm - 4pm. Sponors a flag and send the blessing of your prayer on the breeze to benefit sentient beings. And if you haven't yet heard it, please download this prayer from the link in the story preceeding this one.

By this effort may all sentient beings be free of suffering.

Amazing Blessing

I urge you all to visit myspace.com/jetsunmamusic and download the first song, Prayer To Be Reborn in Dewachen, which was just released today. This is an ancient Buddhist prayer set to a haunting melody that is a lullaby of compassion. It is designed to be heard before and during the time of death in order to bestow blessings. Of course it can be listened to anytime - I am listening to it right now - but it is especially potent for places such as animal shelters where euthanasia is regularly performed, or hospices.
(Free downloads and CDs are also available here).

Jetsunma is a reincarnate lama, or tulku, in the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition. Her sole purpose in life is to benefit beings. The poignancy and determination of her voice to me is like the call of the universal mother, holding back the darkness of samsara.

And please listen to the other music on the site as well. Mantra is sacred sound - whether you hear it chanted by monks from Tibet or in the sweet voices of children or in a song by a great teacher such as Jetsunma - it is indestructible and carries a great blessing.

KPC Sedona Prayer Vigil is nearing capacity!

Visitors to the Amitabha Stupa often find out about another of our activities that takes place around the clock at the KPC Prayer Center: the 24-hour Prayer Vigil for Peace.

The title for this article is an odd characterization of how we maintain this vigil, still it gives an idea about the priority of this vigil among the sangha at KPC Sedona, and the good news is that we are just six “open shifts” of having the prayer vigil covered permanently!

How has it worked so far, you might ask, given that KPC talks about “ceaseless” prayers around the clock (see a sister website, www.prayerwithoutceasing.org)? Even for the sangha who are committed to this prayer vigil, human nature takes over and each week we have been in part in a “wait and see” mode. A week would start off with about 24 of 84 shifts covered and through telephone calls and emails by the end of the week the open shifts were filled. The sangha participating in the prayer vigil would wait to hear what was needed and respond.

A few weeks ago we decided to go about things differently.

The question to the sangha was this: if the vigil was always covered by the end of the week, why not just go ahead and cover it upfront? In the past few weeks, thirty-one sangha members have signed up to take all but six shifts every week; and, it’s very likely that the six “open” shifts – all on weekend days -- will get covered soon as well. Until then, the prayer vigil caretakers will get the open shifts filled as we have always done.

“Nearing capacity” an important milestone for our sangha. It is a witness to a proactive commitment by the sangha to continue prayer without ceasing for the benefit of sentient beings. It says that we have begun to move work and other personal concerns, as much as possible, out of the way of this commitment to prayer.

What happens when we “reach capacity”? One good option is to have more than one person on a prayer shift. Jetsunma never said it needed to be just one person there!

There will always be room to participate in this generator of merit and cause for the liberation from suffering for all sentient beings.

Footnote: The KPC Prayer Vigil for Peace started 22 years ago at the KPC Maryland temple and has been on-going for the nine years that KPC has had a presence in Sedona. The Vigil is held at the KPC Prayer Center located at 3270 White Bear Road in West Sedona. It's a 24-hour prayer vigil so our doors are always open for those seeking a place of refuge for meditation and prayer.