so … here’s part 2 of this month’s buddhist carnival. you can find part 1 here.
buddha’s birthday
talking about carnival, here are some pictures of buddha’s birthday festival in perth put on by the buddha light international association (i know it from my husband’s family, who are japanese pure land buddhists, as hana-matsuri). here’s a picture.
a buddhist monastery in india
and while we’re traveling, let’s go with maneesh to india. he has a really nice description of namdroling monastery in kushalnagar. on the outside it looked quite ordinary, he says, but inside, one room had so much of positive energy that after standing there for ten minutes he felt completely refreshed.
inner smile
… and somehow i can just imagine leaving there with a big smile! gia combs-ramirez (what a neat name!) talks about the inner smile
this is a smile that is created by very slightly raising the corners of your lips while adopting the inner stance of a smile.try it … first smile big, lifting the corners of your mouth way up. feel the corresponding shift inside of you with this smile. now just slightly smile and put more emphasis on the shift inside of you.
one of the biggest proponents of the inner smile is thich nhat hanh. go to gia’s blog and you’ll see a picture of him – smiling.
letting go of blame
great to see a submission by matthew spears, who always contributes well thought-out (and well … in-heart?) articles, like this one, the flame of blame. he comments, “by assigning responsibility to anyone or anything for a given result, you are assigning blame. it is the need to look for a cause for an experience that is the major factor in blame. so if you want to let go of the blaming process, you must let go of a need to assign responsibility.”
i and we
finally, an interesting little reflection piece about the word “i”: “try to use the word “we” instead of “i” for one day. while saying it feel all the ancestors behind you, and all people in the future.”
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thank you, friends, for a really good buddhist carnival, thanks for the honour of hosting these great posts. let’s all come together again next month, on june 15. please, if you have an article you’d like to see featured here, use this submission form.