bodhi tree swaying

Didn’t get a chance to read much in the papers today — but I feel some sympathy for Mark Sanford, adulterous governor of South California. It must be a painful and humiliating thing to be caught in an adulterous relationship when you’ve built your career in part on condemning other people’s sexual ethics. But he shows no signs of resigning his office, although he insisted that Bill Clinton resign his office for a similar sexual transgression. Maureen Dowd provides a breakdown of Sanford’s hypocrisy.

Tonight I have a chapter meeting (a meeting with fellow members of the Western Buddhist Order) using an online service called Tokbox that provides free videoconferencing. Our chapter members are in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Montana, and Washington. We’ll be continuing our study of the Bodhicharyavatara.

This is four members of my chapter: Varasuri, myself, Varada, and Priyamitra. Sunada was away.

I’ve been …

I’m at a meeting of local members of the Western Buddhist Order, discussing a recent talk by Sangharakshita.

It was the 30th anniversary of Vajramati’s ordination!

I just came across this fascinating NYT article about a burgeoning monastic community that was established in the Bronx in 1987 by the Franciscan friars. They take vows of poverty, obedience, and chastity, spend up to five hours a day in prayer, and spend time visiting and helping the sick, poor, and elderly.

One interesting thing is the relative youth of the friars. The oldest and longest-serving resident at St. Crispin’s is the Rev. Rich Roemer, who is relative young 39, while the youngest friar is Brother Juanmaria Arroyo Acevedo, at a mere 24.

In some ways the community reminds me of FWBO (Friends of the Western Buddhist Order) residential communities, which also represent an attempt to create a realm of simplicity and spiritual practice in the heart …