Month: March 2011

By Thubten Rinchen Palzang:

A NEW WORLD

It has become clear that the entire world is out of balance, and the only way to restore it is to return to balance.  Ruben Saufkie Sr, a Hopi singer and activist, is trying his best to do just that.  Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo, an American Buddhist teacher, is trying her best to do just that.  On Sunday,  February 27^th, 2011 – Dakini Day – these two paths intersected at the Amitabha Stupa in Sedona, Arizona.  It was a most auspicious day for the whole world.

How do we return balance to a world that is increasingly out of balance?  Ruben says that it is vital for his people to return to the old ways so that they can return to balance and heal the social ills that threaten the very existence of the Hopi.  The same is true in Tibet where the Tibetan elders, the lamas and tulkus, see a return to the traditional Tibetan way of life as the only way to save their people.  But it is a hard sell.  Living according to the laws of Maasaw or following the Dharma is not easy.  It is hard work.  It means dealing with one’s own poisons, which is never attractive or fun.  The so-called modern world is much more flashy and appealing, particularly to the young people.  They fall prey to its allures and forget the old ways.  The result is suffering and the end of their way of life.

In the Hopi religion, it is said that the people came to this world, the Fourth World, when the people of the Third World had strayed from the teachings of Maasaw, the caretaker of the land.  Some Hopi  say that the people who had remained in balance in the Third World were led to the Fourth World, the present world, through a sipapu, or navel, located in the Grand Canyon, a rock that is still present in the Canyon.  Other Hopi say that when the people arrived in the Fourth World all they saw was water stretching in every direction, and the people had to make a long sea voyage before finding the mountainous shores of the new world.

Maasaw had been appointed the head of the Third World by the other deities, but he had become a little self-important himself and lost his humility.  The other deities decided to give him another chance in the Fourth World.  When the people arrived on the shores of the Fourth World, Maasaw told them to separate into clans and make a series of migrations guided by the stars.  Eventually they would meet the other clans again and settle in the center of the world.  Maasaw gave the clans sacred tablets to guide them on their journey.

Not all of the clans who began the migrations completed them.  Only those who “kept the door on top of their heads” open, those who understood the purpose and meaning of the migrations – purification, completed them and settled in their present homeland, the Hopi Mesas of Northern Arizona.

Many Hopi even today live the old way of balance, but many have been lured by the temporary pleasures of the world around them and have lost their balance.  The high incidence of alcoholism and drug abuse on the reservation and social problems including sexual abuse and domestic violence threaten the very fabric of Hopi society.  The situation on the Hopi reservation reflects that of other indigenous societies, including Tibet, where the people struggle to maintain their way of life in the face of “modernity”.  As cultural values fall, the people become lost and forget how to live in balance.   The Hopi believe that the people failed to live in balance in three previous worlds, and each time they had to start over again in a new world.  Is there to be a Fifth World, or can we finally learn to live in balance in this world?

Caretaking the earth and living in balance are two hallmarks of both the Tibetan and Hopi cultures.  Joining together the two cultures is something that has been foretold by prophecy and is said to be key to the survival of life on earth.  It is the sincere wish of Jetsunma and her sangha, along with Ruben and the other Hopis who are working to achieve this goal, that this auspicious meeting will be the beginning of a fruitful long-term relationship that will ultimately benefit all sentient beings.  Jetsunma has had a strong interest in the Hopi for years and has visited the Hopi Mesas several times.  She vowed to Ruben and the Hopi people that she will do anything to help them restore their balance, including building a stupa on Hopi land to help the process.

This may be a good time to remind ourselves of the Caretaker Vow written by Jetsunma nearly 25 years ago:

We the Caretakers of the Earth, dedicate ourselves to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings.

We vow to work for the liberation of planet earth from the clutches of suffering, poverty, famine and death. We vow to return in whatever form necessary, under whatever necessary conditions, so that all earth creatures can be liberated from the ravages of cyclic existence.

We vow to work for world peace. We vow to work for the raising of all nations of earth into a state of union and ultimately into the blessed state of supreme wisdom, the wisdom that is beyond all description.

We vow to work toward a great Universal Quickening of mind and heart, leading all beings to a state of clarity, a state in which Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion, is enthroned within all hearts and within the planetary heart.

We vow to offer as food and drink to all sentient beings the clear, sweet Dharma so that they may feast and be satisfied at last. We offer our bodies, our speech, and our minds to be filled like bowls with Dharma that in our joy we will spill over into the waiting hearts of all our brethren. May their suffering cease forever.

To all the blessed Tathagatas, to all the root Lamas, to all the Sangha, to all the caretakers, grant us the strength to continue, the clarity to overcome self-cherishing, the determination to return forever until we are the last, and finally, the grace to find our way home.

May the Dharma take root in the West, on the Earth, and in hearts of all sentient beings. So be it.

May we all join in the fulfillment of these aspirations!  EH MA HO!