Spasemunki's New Writeups

A Thai Wedding in America (thing)

2004-07-17T00:43:51Z

In late June of 2004, I had the unique opportunity to participate (as the groom) in a Thai wedding ceremony at Wat Buddhapradeep of San Francisco, a Thai Buddhist temple located in San Bruno, California. What follows is primarily a description components of my own wedding, but where possible I'll try to point out differences between what you might see in Thailand and what you'll see in the States, as well as the symbolic significance of some of the elements of the wedding ceremony.

Some Background

Weddings occupy something of an odd place in Buddhist cultures. A religion that holds celibate monks and nuns as its ideal is bound to have a somewhat ambiguous relationship with family life, and the history and variety of Buddhist marriage services reflects this. Thailand inherits its marital practices from local folk sources and Theravada Buddhist tradition, resulting in a mixture of elements in the modern Thai wedding.

As far as we can tell (mostly from scriptural…

Maitreya (person)

2003-06-17T17:55:41Z

Traditional Buddhist teaching has a fair amount to say on the subject of Maitreya (called Maitteya in Pali).

First and foremost is the belief that Maitreya is already alive- simply not on this earth. Traditional Buddhst beliefs hold that before being born in the world, a Buddha passes one last life as a deva, among the gods of the Tushita heaven. Traditional sources describe Maitreya as dwelling in Tushita heaven even now, awaiting his rebirth in the world of form.

When Maitreya will be reborn is a matter of cosmology. To be called a 'Buddha', a being must rediscover from scratch that path that all previous Buddhas have taught- the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. In order for this path to be rediscovered, it must first be lost; Buddhist tradition holds that Maitreya will be born only after the Dharma has declined to a point where it is forgotten by human beings, and no trace of the previous Buddha and his teachings can be found. This period of…

The Eight Precepts (idea)

2003-04-02T03:51:32Z

Pali: attha-sila ('eightfold morality')

The Eight Precepts are eight guidelines of Buddhist morality, primarily observed by lay Buddhists on special occasions. The Eight Precepts, as established by the Muluposatha Sutta (AN III.70), are as follows:

Abstention from killing living creatures
Abstention from taking what is not given (theft)
Abstention from sexual misconduct
Abstention from wrong speech
Abstention from intoxicants
Abstention from eating outside the 'proper time'
Abstention from viewing entertainments and wearing adornments, perfumes, and cosmetics
Abstention from sleeping on a high or large bed

The first five components of the Eight Precepts are the same as the Five Precepts, the basis of the universal Buddhist moral code, and as such are primarily a negative statement of the first three components of The Eightfold Path. The remaining three…

Pope Lick goat man (thing)

2003-02-09T06:53:59Z

The Pope Lick goat man is an urban legend of sorts centered around a railroad trestle in eastern Jefferson County, Kentucky, just outside of Louisville. Legend holds that the goat man, a predictably half-man, half-goat monster, haunts the area around the trestle. Sightings of the monster originated in the late 1940's or early 1950's, and most who claim to have seen the goat man describe it as having the fur-covered body of a man, but the head of a goat. While Bigfoot is currently the best known "wild man", goat men have been reported in various parts of the country (primarily the southeast- Virginia and North Carolina, for instance) for decades. Certainly there are similarities between the Pope Lick goat man and other, better known beasts, such as the Jersey Devil of the New Jersey Pine Barrens.

Opinions differ about the goat man's origins and intentions. Some versions of the legend hold that the goat man is an ill-tempered beast that seeks only to…

Abbey of Gethsemani (place)

2003-02-07T19:06:08Z

The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani

Located south of Bardstown, Kentucky, the Abbey of Gethsemani is the oldest Trappist monastery in America, and likely the most famous as well. Gethsemani's fame stems primarily from its most famous resident: monk, author, and spiritual icon Thomas Merton (occasionally known by his monastic name, Father Louis). Since Merton's death, Gethsemani has grown from a home for contemplative Cistercian monks into a center of inter-religious dialogue, and a place of pilgrimage for people of all faiths and none.

History

The Trappist order, named for the monastery of la Trappe in France, began in the 17th Century as a reform of the Cistercian Order, a monastic order that had developed from the Rule of Saint Benedict. The Trappists sought to recapture the early austerity of the monastic life of the Desert Fathers, as well as the strict discipline of the early Cistercians.

One of the early centers of the Trappist reform…

A Gentle Creature (thing)

2003-01-30T03:00:18Z

A short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Published in November 1876 in Doystoyevsky's Diary of a Writer, A Gentle Creature (Russian: Krotkaya) occupied an entire issue of the writer's monthly periodical. As with many of Dostoyevsky's plots, A Gentle Creature was inspired by a lurid real-life event reported in the Russian media. In early October of the same year, a poor St. Petersburg seamstress had leapt to her death, clutching an icon of the Virgin Mary. At the time Dostoyevsky, who was already intrigued and disturbed by what was widely perceived as an epidemic of suicide among Russian youth, had contrasted the obvious desperation of this woman with the casual and cynical bravura of the suicide note (composed in aristocratic French) of a fashionable young aristocratic girl several months earlier.

At first, Dostoyevsky had considered including the story of what he referred to as "the humble suicide" as an episode in one of his novels. Swamped with work…