02. Bài giảng mp3

Dear Family and Friends I am sending to you as an attachment the Winter newsletter of Buddhist Contemplative Care Tasmania (BCCT). I am doing this by way letting you know of one of the projects that form my life here in Tasmania. BCCT had its beginnings in my little studio apartment in West Hobart late in 2011. After much nurturing, it is growing into something of a movement with a number of very committed members here and the hope of building an organisation potentially called Buddhist Contemplative Care Australia with chapters in Adelaide and Victoria. It involves a lot of work on the part of a few people. In a sense it is like a small business in which all of us are on the look out, at least in an unconscious way, for opportunities to give expression to our purpose which is to support the growth of Buddhist Contemplative Care (sometimes called Pastoral Care) in Tasmania and throughout the rest of Australia. I hope you can rejoice with me in this work done here, Best

This is a letter from the young Vietnamese man I met when another member of Buddhist Contemplative Care Tasmania I were going out to Pontville in 2013. We have written to each other for over two years now. I have encouraged him in his practice and to remain calm and strong. He has and look how well he is doing. He has practised strong determination, what the Buddha called Adhiṭṭhāna which is one of the Paramis. Already he is practising to be a Buddha.

1/ How does reincarnation work in Buddhism? 2/ When we pray who do we pray to? And the words we say when praying what do they mean? 3/ Have you ever been in love? 4/ In the future when treating patients how can I use Buddhism to help me? 5/ If good and bad are all relative to a person, let’s say, to a terrorist bomber, what they are doing is a good thing, but to others it is not. So that would mean right and wrong is relative too. So how do we know that something is an ‘absolute’ right thing who says that this is right and that is wrong. 6/ As a practising Buddhist lay person how can I reconcile my desire to be successful/ambitious/career-driven with the Buddhist concept of right livelihood. Sometimes it feels like the pursuit of being successful career-wise is very wordly, driven by materialism. Can I be a decent Buddhist AND a successful career person. Is this possible?

Thousands of Tasmanians who travelled from all corners of the State rallied in Hobart for climate action in the lead up to this week’s Climate Summit in Paris. This should be a wake up call for the Hodgman government which has ripped up Tasmania’s ClimateSmart strategy and continues to subsidise the emissions-intensive native forest logging industry. The science tells us that protecting the vast stores of carbon in Tasmania’s forests must be part of our response to climate disruption. Tasmania is uniquely placed to be a world leader in responding to global warming, but the state government seems happy to keep its head in the sand and ignore the enormous opportunities that exist to create jobs and prosperity in low carbon industries. Every responsible government has a climate plan. Even war-torn South Sudan has acknowledged its civil responsibility and prepared a comprehensive climate plan.

Saturday, April 20th, 2013, was a momentous day in the history of Buddhism in Tasmania. At 2.30 pm the first ordination in the Chinese Ch’an* tradition took place in the Gutteridge Gardens in Wynyard on the north west coast of Tasmania.

Almost five years ago on June 1st 2010, I arrived with my two dogs in Tasmania to start a Ph D in Buddhist philosophy at the University of Tasmania and to continue my training in Clinical Pastoral Education, a form of professional preparation for chaplains and Pastoral/Contemplative Care Workers. On our way south to Hobart my attention was drawn to my right, looking towards the north west of this island state. I felt that I had an appointment with somewhere in that direction and that it would be important for my life.