#20 MARYLAND!

 I enjoyed today's zoom with Bhante Rahula at the Lion of Wisdom Meditation Center in Gaithersburg, MD.   The talk was about Vesak Day;  a celebration of the Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death, which according to some traditions, all occurred on the full moon in May. 

Bhante led us through the life of the historical Buddha, recounting how his father built palaces for him to prevent the soothsayer's prophecy of him becoming a wandering sage, but of course that didn't work.  Bhante emphasized the Buddha's efforts to end attachment and not simply rest in peaceful absorption. Investigation is required!

As to death, Bhante noted that the Buddha's 'mind died' to greed, hatred and delusion, before his body did.  Bhante came across to me as a serious but very kind person.  

I read his book, One Night's Shelter, which is free online.  Bhante was in the Vietnam war (thankfully a desk job), after which he wandered around the drug scene in the Middle East and eventually became a monk in Sri Lanka.  He helped build the Bhavana Society with Gunaratna in West Virginia. 

I recommend the book, which is a diary about turning toward the spirit.   Perhaps life always gives us reasons to do so, but we may have to read between the lines.