Buddhist Prayer Guide at Cabramatta Vegetarian Restaurant

The vegetarian restaurants and supermarkets in Cabramatta, and many of the herbalists, all feature a little stand that gives out free Buddhist media - books, pictures, CDs, DVDs etc. The things are almost always in Vietnamese, but sometimes there is material in English, so they are always worth checking out.
This material is there for free distribution, so help yourself, if you are interested.
This is a laminated A4 poster which offers a program of chanting for the lay Buddhist.



Where?
Happy Vegan
Shop 11, Belvedere Arcade
66-68 John St
Cabramatta NSW

Mr. Buddha!

Sister Truth is one of the thousands of Buddhist nuns throughout Vietnam who do unpaid and unsung charity work, caring for the orphaned, the disabled and the destitute.

Here is an excerpt from my book Destination Saigon, telling a little bit of the story behind this picture:

Sister’s main problem is orphans. Hers is a small temple and a small community, with very limited space and resources. But, being in a poor area, orphans and unwanted children are plentiful, and every month she finds a baby dumped on her doorstep, or a desperate mother appears at her quarters begging her to take her children. Almost the entire community of nuns in Binh Chanh is made up of orphan girls who have decided to embrace the religious life (and there is no compulsion to take the robe). The littlest nun is only five, and is adored by Sisters and disciples alike. She is very fat and very forward, with two top knots poking from her forehead, the rest of her head shaved.

In spite of herself – for she likes to cultivate something of a hard-hearted exterior – Sister Truth dotes on the child, and spoils her terribly. She had been left by her mother at the temple some years ago, and no-one had ever been back to claim her or see her since.

“When she first asked me who her mother was, I told her it was me,” said Sister Truth. “Lately she has been going to infant school, and after mixing with the other children there she came home one day and asked me who her father was. I told her it was the Buddha. I told her I loved the Buddha so much that he gave me a special child, and that was her.” She called the little novice over and, stroking her topknots she absently asked her, “Who is your mother, child?”

“The Abbess!” cried the little girl, throwing her arms around the Sister.

“And your father?”

“Mr. Buddha!” she cried, pointing towards the prayer hall.

7 Most Influential Buddhist Nuns

1 Sister Chan Khong - Born in 1938, she is a lifelong friend and devotee of Thich Nhat Hanh. Sister Chan Khong wrote a fascinating spiritual biography called Learning True Love. She lives in Plum Village, Thich Nhat Hanh's famous retreat in France.



2 Sister Annabel Laity - A quiet and scholarly presence, Sister Annabel was born in England and was ordained a nun at Thich Nhat Hanh's Plum Village. She is an accomplished translator and Buddhist scholar.




3 Pema Chodron - Prolific author and Buddhist superstar, Pema Chodron is an American woman ordained in the Tibetan tradition. Resident teacher at Gampo Abbey, a Tibetan Buddhist institute in Nova Scotia intended to train Westerners in the Tibetan monastic tradition.




4 Dhammananda Bhikkhuni - Probably the woman facing the most serious hurdles on this list, Dhammananda is a Thai academic who agitates for the recognition of full monastic vows for women in the Theravadin Buddhist tradition. She runs a centre for women monastics (Wat Songdhammakalyani) in Thailand, though their ordinations are not recognised legally, socially or by the male Buddhist hierarchy.



5 Tenzin Palmo - Became famous after the publication of Cave in the Snow, which detailed her long solitary retreat in the Himalayas. Tenzin Palmo has been charged by the Dalai Lama with establishing full monastic ordination for women in the Tibetan tradition. She was born in London, and is ordained in the Drukpa lineage of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism.




6 Robina Courtin - An Australian, Courtin was the subject of a popular documentary which brought her to great prominence in the Buddhist world. Laid-back and forthright, Courtin is a popular teacher whose special work is with prisoners. She has been a Buddhist nun for 30 years, but was raised a Catholic in Queensland.




7 Thubten Chodron - Another reasonably prolific author, her popular teachings embrace themes of ecology and social justice. Born in 1950, she is Abbess of Sravasti Abbey in Washington.




8 Dharma Master Cheng Yen - A slight and quiet Buddhist nun who only speaks Taiwanese dialect and is frequently in ill health, Cheng Yen is one of the most powerful and influential Buddhist leaders in the sinosphere, and is the spiritual head of the Tzu Chi welfare organisation that has a presence in diasporic Chinese communities across the world.

This list is incomplete and arbitrary - the world is full of incredible ordained women running institutions and working to spread their religion.
I am aware that there are gaps, and would be interested in suggestions for extending the list. The women on this list are all here because they are prominent in the anglosphere. I know there must be women in other traditions who are well known to, for example, Chinese or Korean speakers, that I have not included. Please tell us about them in the comments!
I also want you to know that the list is of ordained, celibate religious, which is why it doesn't include many of the prominent Zen and Insight Meditation teachers.

Walter Mason Takes Us on a Spiritual Journey Through Vietnam - Adyar Bookshop Sept. 29

A Spiritual Journey Through Vietnam
Adyar Booksop
99 Bathurst St (Upstairs)
Sydney
6.30pm Free Entry
Thursday 29th September

Join Walter Mason, author of Destination Saigon, on an incredible illustrated journey through the rich spiritual life of Vietnam.
Walter will be talking about the diverse mystical traditions of the Vietnamese people, from the stark discipline of Zen Buddhist monasteries to the wild colour and controlled chaos of Cao Dai, the indigenous religion of southern Vietnam.
This is a rare opportunity to see unknown and hidden parts of this beautiful country and discover aspects of Vietnam's culture and history that you'll never discover in a travel guide.

Private shrine inside a senior Buddhist monk's room, Vietnam.

Outdoor shrine to Maitreya, the Buddha of the future, Central Vietnam.

Statue of the Earth Mother, a folk religious figure, Ho Chi Minh City.

Shrine to Kwan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, Hoai Nhon.

A Di Da Phat

This is a pic of the Amitabha Tower that my friend designed and built at his temple in Quy Nhon City after he had a prophetic dream.
Amitabha Buddha is the central focus of worship in Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhism. The worship of Amitabha is a characteristic of the Pure Land School of Buddhism, though in reality it is very rare for any particular school to be practiced exclusively in Vietnam. Most teach a combination of various schools, which is the prevalent mode throughout East Asia, including in Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China.

Vegetarian Fundraiser, Vinh Nghiem Vietnamese Buddhist Temple, Cabramatta, Sydney

A major form of fundraising for the multitudinous Vietnamese Buddhist temples in the suburbs of Sydney is the big vegetarian banquet.




These are immensely popular community events, with singers, raffles and legions of bored looking husbands standing out the front of the temple, smoking.
The noise is almost deafening, and you have to shout at everyone you meet, including normally quiet monks and nuns.




These crowded, noisy events are usually not for me. I prefer the temple when it is quiet and when there are fewer people around.
But for those who have less time to visit the temple at irregular hours, these special days provide a welcome opportunity to cultivate some good karma, have some lovely traditional food and kick back with friends while listening to some old tunes.

Amitabha Buddha

The name you will hear most consistently if you spend any time in Vietnamese Buddhist temples is that of Amitabha Buddha - or A Di Da Phat in Vietnamese. In his fascinating book Buddhism in America, Richard Hughes Seager calls Amitabha "among the greatest of the cosmic buddhas of the Mahayana tradition."
The vast bulk of Vietnamese Buddhists practise a basic form of Pure Land Buddhism, and for the most part the monks advocate recitation of Amitabha's name as the most effective form of religious practice for lay-people. This is what all of those wrist malas and long prayer beads are for.
Within the temple, Amitabha's name is also a kind of shorthand replacement for everything. When you say hello, you say A Di Da Phat, when you say goodbye, when you want to attract someone's attention and when you express surprise. Once I was at temple when one of the large vases that are found in the main prayer hall tumbled over and smashed, and a number of monks looked up and exclaimed, as one, A Di Da Phat!
The true form of Buddha recitation is, of course, Nam Mo A Di Da Phat. This is enunciated clearly during communal temple worship, but at other times it is shortened to Mo Phat, and this is in fact the standard greeting amongst Buddhists, both monastics and laity.
Despite his name being constantly on everyone's lips, statues of Amitabha Buddha are not normally very prominent at temples. It is rare to have him as the main object of devotion in the prayer hall, and he is rarely seen on other shrines. Normally there is a printed image of him on the wall in the monks' offices, or a small statue on a shelf somewhere. People seem to set much greater store on statues of Kwan Yin and Sakyamuni Buddha.
One place where an image of Amitabha does become important is at people's death beds, which is why monks always have a small-ish statue of him to hand to take to hospitals and houses of the faithful, should the need arise. It is thought that if the dying person lays eyes upon an image of Amitabha, they will be reborn in his paradise. In Tibetan Buddhism there are much more elaborate forms of Amitabha worship involving initiations and various other practices. But in Vietnamese Buddhism the devotion to Amitabha is restricted to the recitation of his name while using the rosary and, in a very few temples, the chanting of the Amitabha Sutra.
The image with this post is from the large Buddhist nunnery that stands atop the mountain overlooking Phan Thiet. It is part of a massive reproduction of the Pure Land Trinity that stands on a sunny terrace carved into the side of the mountain.

Bonsai in Buddhist Temples in Vietnam

Monks are, naturally, somewhat restricted in the pastimes they can pursue.
Though they may play sports on temple grounds, hidden from the eyes of lay-people, and they may get enthusiastic about watching soccer on TV, generally they are forbidden from really indulging in sport as a hobby. That said, I once knew a monk in Saigon who was a keen body-builder. He eventually gave it away after a few years - he had come to the realisation that body-building was not quite in the spirit of his monastic vows.
Literature is, of course, an admirable pursuit for monks, and those who are talented enough spend their time writing or translating.
If they are wealthy, monks can turn their hand to collecting - Buddhist art, old manuscripts and antique vases are popular. I even know a monk who breeds pekingese dogs in his leisure time, though for some reason this makes me uneasy.
Monks can work on becoming artists and calligraphers, and sometimes flower arrangers - all are admirable skills in a monastery. Some turn their hand to the occult, and work on becoming expert at the I Ching, Chinese astrology and palm reading - this is all, of course, technically forbidden, but plenty of monks do it.
But there are three hobbies that monks in Vietnam excel at, and all are, in my book, exquisite and approrpiate. They are: tea connoisseurship, the growing of orchids and the cultivation of bonsai.



Bonsai are ubiquitous in the temple courtyards of Vietnam, and monks deal and trade in them.



They can be quite expensive, and sometimes a monk is appointed as temple gardener in order to attend to the bonsai.
If a monk or abbott is really keen on them common areas can become somewhat over-crowded with these potted plants.



Some are also allowed to grow to enormous size - I'm not quite sure if, in this case, they are still considered bonsai (perhaps an expert can enlighten us?), but they are still cared for and cultivated in the same manner.



Popular mythology would have it that the roots (no pun intended) of bonsai lie in the patient care and eccentric eye of the Buddhist monks of antiquity. Certainly it is a stately, gentle pursuit, and one worthy of monastic attention.

Sakyamuni Buddha

Sakyamuni (Thich Ca Mau Ni Phat vn.) is the historical Buddha, and the central figure of worship that unites all of the schools and sects of Buddhism.



All agree on his life and teaching, though there are some minor disagreements on points of his teaching (did he advocate vegetarianism or not?) and his biography (when exactly did he live and die?).




Sakyamuni is normally the central image in the main prayer halls in Vietnamese temples - on very rare occasions the central image might be of Amitabha, and even more rarely Vairocana.



But almost all Buddhist temples in Vietnam feature a statue of Sakyamuni as their main object of worship.

Dia Tang Vuong Bo Tat

Dia Tang is the Vietnamese name for Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva (Di Zhang Ch., Jizo Jp.).
He is the protector of the dead, and is the deity that is revered during memorial services for deceased relatives.
As such, he is a very important part of Vietnamese Buddhist ritual life.
His special celebration is during the festival of Vu Lan, where his legend has become enmeshed with that of Mahamoggallāna, who is said to have seen his mother in the realms of hell and to have petitioned the Buddha to take pity on the dead.