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A pearl of wisdom from Shantideva

April 5, 2011

As some of you may know, I am a practicing Buddhist. My earth-loving, hippie parents introduced us to Eastern religion and philosophy as children (after all, I was named “Lela Rain” and my sister is “Mimi Samadhi”) and it has dramatically impacted my life. I have dabbled in several faiths throughout my years, running the spectrum from teaching Sunday school at a progressive Episcopal congregation to studying in a Baha’i community; but, I always come back to my chosen faith and become more fascinated and smitten with it each passing year. I’ve raised my children as Tibetan Buddhists for the last seven years- an interesting experiment in suburban South Carolina. I swear there’s a book in there somewhere…

We’re very fortunate to live just a few hours from Emory University in Atlanta, one of the country’s top private universities and home to the Emory-Tibet Partnership. For the past several years, the girls and I have detached from our typical responsibilities during the last few days of March and headed for Atlanta to enjoy Tibet Week. It’s a fantastic event, with days filled with meditation, film screenings, debates and panels, traditional Tibet art and music and children’s workshops. My girls have made friends with several monks who live in India and yet make the journey to Atlanta each year and those relationships are priceless to me. A few highlights from our travels last week:

A traditional sand mandala. Millions of grains of brilliantly colored sand are placed by monks in symbolic patterns. It takes close to 200 hours to complete a mandala this size (approximately 4’ square), but the mandala is dismantled very soon after completion, in a reminder of the impermanent nature of our lives.

The monks pray over the sands, sweep them all together, then take them to a body of water. The sands are released into the water in hopes that the rushing creek/ river/ ocean will carry their energy and prayers far and wide. This picture was taken at the bridge over a creek behind Emory just before the release.

Atlanta is also home to the Dreprung Loseling Monastery, the American seat of the most prolific Buddhist monastery of the East. Though I have been several times over the years, the center has just received a gorgeous new hand-carved altar. The colorful features you see in the center are traditional Tibetan butter sculptures created by the monks during Tibet Week. Yes, that’s colored butter!

My friend Elainna graciously entertained my children at a local coffee shop so I could attend Sunday services. Geshe Lobsang was giving a talk on the benefits of meditation and how it conditions the mind over time. He quoted the famous eighth-century Buddhist scholar Shantideva in a verse I hadn’t heard before but wanted to share with you:

sa steng ‘di dag kos g.yog tu/ / de snyed ko bas ga la lang/ / lham mthil tsam gyi ko bas ni/ / sa steng thams cad g.yogs dang ‘dra/ /
Where would I find enough leather
To cover the entire surface of the earth?
But with leather soles beneath my feet,
It’s as if the whole world has been covered.

Engaging in Bodhisattva Conduct, V, 13

When trying to protect ourselves from thorns (the suffering inherent in this world), we can’t possibly cover the entire earth with leather. But by simply wrapping our own feet in leather sandals (by conditioning our mind and controlling our own actions), we achieve the same end. Simple but powerful, no? If you enjoyed that pearl of wisdom, you can find more from Shantideva here.

A pearl of wisdom from Shantideva

April 5, 2011

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