Portland Buddhism for Beginners Meetup

Hi our Dharma friends,

Due to popular request, we're starting a new class on Pure Land Buddhism teachings (explanations on the next paragraph); however, this class is advanced so to join us, you need to have completed our basic course and be a contributing sustaining member of our sangha. If you're new and very eager to join us, you can register to join us by emailing me at bitadharma22@gmail.com and offering a donation of $10 to Bita Enayati on PayPal, Venmo, or Zelle. Thank you for your understanding.

There are many different routes to climb a high mountain, from the beginner’s level to the advanced-level. Climbers can choose whichever routes based on their ability. Likewise, there are many ways for us to achieve a high stage of spiritual awakening as the Buddha’s. We want to experience true happiness while we’re here on Earth. So we want to know which path is good for us.

Let’s listen to the advice of great masters.
Seven hundred years after the historical Buddha passed away, the great Buddhist scholar Nagarjuna taught there is an easy path and a difficult path; he clarified it’s extremely difficult to achieve true happiness through the difficult path. He became the first advocate of the easy path after he had experienced the highest possible enlightenment for a human being to achieve.

Nagarjuna is one of the most outstanding Buddhist scholars throughout the whole history of Buddhism. There is no one who doesn’t acknowledge his scholarly achievement. Two hundred years after Nagarjuna’s death, Vasbandhu, who was also a great scholar and writer of Buddhism, followed his footsteps. More masters followed one after another until it reached Shinran in Japan.

To put it simply, the easy path is the Vow-ship of great compassion, which we're going to expound upon. This is going to be the main topic of this Thursday meeting from now on. We hope you enjoy it.

To our regular members: feel free to submit any questions you have on the Vow-ship of great compassion to Bita or Yuichi.

Hi, our Dharma friends!
This meeting is an online event. You will see the link once you RSVP. The passcode of the Zoom meeting room is written at the end of this event description.
This event is a friendly get-together of like-minded people starting with light-hearted ice-breaking for 20 minutes followed by a Dharma talk, which is more like a lecture for 20 minutes. During the last 20 minutes, we have a Q&A session. (The length of time varies according to time and circumstances)
Your camera though needs to be on upon entering my zoom room and please be on time. Otherwise, try for another time when your camera is functioning. I appreciate your understanding.
The following is the review of our recent meeting. Main topic: Ours is a long-term mission.

1. We all have our purpose in life, which energizes us to move on.
2. Our ultimate goal is different from our short-term goals or mid-term goals in life, such as marriage, landing a job, forming a family, or retirement.
3. If we think about our mortality and impermanence of life, minor issues become less important, and we feel an urgency to accomplish our real purpose.
4. It is helpful to have friends and family members who can support us as we travel through this Saha world of suffering toward our destination.
5. Practicing compassion and kindness to such good people is important.
6. We all have shared imperfections, and sometimes we hurt each other because we are human and are fallible. Self-reflection can help us move through such troubled times. Remember, we’re all in this together, we are all struggling, and we are all suffering.
7. Buddha said the purpose of this journey is to find genuine happiness that overcomes life’s sufferings.
8. The eight universal sufferings taught by the Buddha are: birth ( life), aging, sickness, death, separation from the beloved, encountering the despised, and being of the flesh (our body). This last suffering contains all the other sufferings.
9. When we practice Six Paramitas (our daily practices), our good efforts will be rewarded. Good people will be drawn to us and be a source of support. It might take some time but no effort is wasted. Some seeds take time to bear fruit.
10. When we know our purpose – self transcendence – we can overcome our limitations, the obstacles in our way, and the pain we suffer on our journey.
11. Self transcendence is to forget the desire for instant gratification and remember those people who will benefit from our effort, and to be grateful for the people who have been supporting us.
12. If you don’t have such people please make an effort to find at least one such person. And of course, coming to this meet-up you will be a part of the community.

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We're able to continue bringing these Dharma sessions for you thanks to the generosity of those of you who support us. Let me take a moment to express our gratitude now.
Our classes are free for the first 10 sessions or so. After 10 sessions, if you see value in joining, please offer a contribution to remain as part of our group.
Dana gratitude donations for our classes are gratefully accepted on Venmo @Bita-Enayati If you don't have Venmo, please email me at bitadharma22@gmail.com
so you can offer your contribution through PayPal or Zelle
Suggested donation for the event is $5 - $20.
Thank you for your support and encouragement in helping us continue to bring quality teachings to you, day in, day out. It's not the amount that matters but your desire to be part of a cause greater than ourselves.
Stay well and let's go forward towards the light of unconditional goodness together! Please message me at bitadharma22@gmail.com with your self-introduction if you'd like to get to know each other more and also to confirm your RSVP.
If you're interested in learning Buddhism but have a schedule conflict, please write to me for a one on one session. And we have about 10-18 people join us so hope you don't get discouraged by seeing the few RSVPs here on this page. See you soon too!!!
Last but not least, once you RSVP, you will see the link to the Zoom meeting room. When you click the link and your Zoom application starts, then you'll be required to type the passcode. The passcode is 426646.
Bita and Yuichi Asakura