Our Motto: “Bringing Fun, Friendship, Spirituality and the Joy of Service back into Healthcare.”
“Relentless Joyful Service!”
Download our Brochure in MS Word format:
http://www.Ayurveda-Berkeley.com/San_Francisco_Ayurvedic_Practitioner_Oakland_Berkeley_Brochure.doc
Rev. Losang Jinpa, D.Ayur, Ph.D. Ayurveda Buddhist Ayurvedic Practitioner
Master Herbalist, Ayurvedic Practitioner, Doctor of Philosophy in Buddhist Ayurveda, Pastoral Counselor, Center Co-Founder
Please Call him (No public e-mail available for Losang)
(1) 415-742-8393 or (1) 510-292-6696 - 7 Days a Week - 10 AM to 8 PM.
Trained as novice Buddhist Monk (“Gone Forth” from the Lay Life), Losang completed a Six-Year 1800-Hour Apprenticeship with Ayurvedic Doctor Vasant Lad, B.A.M.S., M.A.Sc., observing over 1900 patient Consultations and served on the faculty of Dr. Vasant Lad's Ayurvedic Institute.
He now serves on the faculty of the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute in Berkeley and operates in the selfless spirit of Karma Clinic.
Losang has served more than 6300 patients in his 14 year Ayurvedic Healing career.
Rev. Losang was formally trained in meditation and mantra as a novice Buddhist Monk for more than 3 and a half years in the Nalanda Monastery Tradition of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and in the Chinese Buddhist system of Chan - Pure Land (Jen Chen).
Losang is inspired (by Patch Adams) to dedicate his life to “relentless joyful service” (Seva) on the path of a Bhikshu, Ayurvedic Practitioner in the Buddhist Ayurveda Traditional Chinese Medicine Healing systems.
Watch Ayurveda video classes (25 hours of free video) recorded by novice monk Losang: http://www.archive.org/details/ayurveda_institute
Losang is available 7 days a week for Ayurvedic Herbal - Chinese Herbal Medicine Consultations which may be conducted jointly in Berkeley at either our Telegraph Avenue area Berkeley clinic
(see http://maps.google.com/maps/place?q=Chilton+Way+and+Parker,+94704
and http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=m&q1=Chilton%20Way%20and%20Parker%2C%2094704
http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&where1=Parker%20%26%20Chilton%2C%20Berkeley%2C%20CA%2094704)
or our University Avenue Berkeley clinic with either Rev. Jenny Dinh, Ph.D, Chinese-Ayurvedic Practitioner or Licensed Acupuncturist Ms. Sheng-Wei Lan, L.Ac. or Dr. Adrian Batoli, M.D. (all volunteer practitioners in the spirit of Karma Clinic – http://www.karmaclinic.org)
Call now to book an appointment at (1) 415-742-8393.
Health consultations with traditional Indo-Tibetan-Chinese pulse and tongue diagnosis with volunteers Losang or Jenny are available via Medicine Buddha Healing Center's Karma Clinic gift-economy medicine offerings (of course this means “no one is ever turned away due to lack of funds”).
Customized organic herbal tea powder formula (http://www.BanyanBotanicals.com and http://www.Mayway.com) is $35 to $50 for a 6 to 8 week supply. Follow-up consultations are typically every 2 weeks to 2 months.
Detailed advice is given specific to the diagnosis, on making useful diet-nutritional changes (see Ayurvedic diets), daily routine, lifestyle, and stress-management-meditation techniques.
Here is our Facebook, Youtube and Twitter Profiles for Ayurveda-Traditional-Chinese-Medicine: http://www.facebook.com/ayurvedic.healing, http://www.youtube.com/ayurvedicmedicine, http://twitter.com/medicine_buddha
Rev. Jenny Dinh, D.Ayur, Ph.D Ayur, M.H., C.M.T., P.K.S., Chinese Master Herbalist, Ayurvedic Massage Therapist
Jenny Dinh, Ayurvedic Chinese Master Herbalist Ayurvedic Massage Therapist Partner, D.Ayur, Ph.D Ayur, M.H., C.M.T., P.K.S.
Chinese Medicine-Ayurvedic Practitioner - Thai Massage, Chinese Tui Na and Ayurvedic Massage Practitioner
(1) 415-742-8393 - 7 Days a Week - 10 AM to 8 PM - For Ayurvedic Massage or for Chinese Herbal Consultations in San Francisco and Berkeley.
A bright pitta-vata-constitution type individual Jenny has studied with Dr. Vasant Lad of the Ayurvedic Institute for 2 years and for 4 years with novice Buddhist Monk - Master Herbalist Losang Jinpa, D.Ayur, Ph.D of the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute for more than 1800 hours and has seen more than 2000 patients. Jenny has studied Chinese Medicine for more than 3500 hours, and in New Mexico she completed her advanced Gurukula internship with Dr. Vasant Lad having studied over 1000 hours of Ayurveda at the Ayurvedic Institute. A level 6 graduate of the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute (Ph.D), Jenny has a Clinical Ayurvedic Herbalist (CAH) Certificate (750 hours - 50 Trimester Units over 3 years), and a Pancha Karma Specialist Certificate (700 hours).
Along with Losang, Jenny, a volunteer practitioner, assists with the Distance Learning Program (http://www.ayurvedic-college.com) of the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute and serves on its faculty.
Jenny has a Master Herbalist Certificate (1800 hours), a Doctorate Degree in Ayurvedic Science (3200 hours) and has completed the coursework for her Master of Science in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
In October of 2010, Jenny expects to receive her Acupuncturist (L.Ac.) from the State of California. Her specialty is working with back pain, shoulder problems, and neck pain.
As a student of Buddhist Ayurveda and the Chinese Healing Arts Jenny offers sliding scale herbal and dietary consultations in the style of Karma Clinic to those in need, and free of charge to those who are indigent
Losang and Jenny's Ayurveda mentor Dr. Vasant Lad says that “Herbs are only 5% of the cure”.
Thus, Losang has long vowed to perfect the skills of being an Buddhist Bhikshu Ayurvedic healer who can cure and prevent “dis-eases” by pointing-out and removing the mental-emotional causes of the afflictions (klesha) of living beings: 1. vata greed, 2. pitta hatred, and 3. kapha confusion. (Called the Three Poisons)
All suffering (in body, feelings-emotions, mind, actions, and consciousness) is caused by the “monkey mind” and its con-fused attachment to sensations, feelings-thoughts of windy desire (vata space-air), of fiery anger (pitta fire-water), and of muddled (kapha water-earth) confusion (confusion is the denying of cause and effect - Karma).
Serving since 1996 as an “Herb doctor”, now in his 44th year, Losang practices a mix of Indian-Tibetan Ayurveda and Chinese healing arts along with Dharma in the Nagarjuna - Atisha Tibetan Lamrim path, Vipassana meditation, and Zen (Chan) meditation.
After all, Ayurveda says that, “Herbs are only 5% of the cure. 95% of the cure is wise understanding and self-discipline” in the Five Pillars of Good Health:
1. Proper sleep (not too much or too little),
2. Proper diet-nutrition (locally-grown, fresh, seasonal, primarily plant-based (vegetarian when appropriate) whole natural toxin-free, pesticide-free, non-Genetically modified organism GMO foods according to the constitution of vata-pitta-kapha). Thus, there is a vata diet, a pitta diet. a kapha diet and mixed diets of vata-pitta diet and pitta-kapha diet.
3. Daily Exercise (Yoga, Tai Chi, Aikido, Qi Gong, walking, hiking, swimming, devotional bowing-prostrations or any regular Exercise that makes you sweat (to release toxins via the skin) for at least 30 minutes daily.
4. Daily meditation (Vipassana Samadhi, Zen (Chan) or Dhyana - time-proven ”stress management” and prevention technique) - the only bad meditation is the day you don't “sit” to meditate; (Meditation is good preventive medicine) and
5. Brahmacharya (purity-heartedness - virtue, which for lay persons suggests self-control of sexuality - don't over-indulge and make yourself ill, implies protect your ojas immunity, and protect yours and other's relationship commitments and vows), and it also traditionally means celibacy for monks-nuns-priests-yogis.
Ayurvedic Articles and Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Articles
Our current healthcare system is in shambles, the reform really doesn't address the root cause. Even with the at-best option for single payer, the healthcare system would not address the problem of disconnectedness that people so commonly feel from their practitioners. It would not address the fact that the whole system revolves around money- and really in the end, it doesn't matter if people are funding the system or the government – it's still a broken system.
The concept of Medicine Buddha Healing Center's “Karma Clinic” is simple: we wish to give the gift of health (see Pay it Forward and Gift Economy. It is based on the Bodhisattva Vows spoken of in the Mahayana tradition of Buddhism. All of our healing arts practitioners vow to do their best to strive to follow these Bodhisattva vows even though it may appear difficult in our Post modern world. (See Twenty Verses on the Bodhisattva Vow by Chandragomin).
We are volunteer practitioners with a broad scope of training (Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine, Western Medicine, a Buddhist renunciate practitioner, and lay practitioners) in various areas of conventional and alternative health services. We want to see what happens when we just give it away! We are not funded by grants or extraneous funding sources. Our belief is that if this is something that the community needs, the community will sustain us. It's re-embracing the 'village doctor (or healer)'.
Our Vision is for Medicine Buddha Healing Center's Karma Clinic to be a health and healing center modeled in the Buddhist spirit of giving, dissolving lines between eastern and western medicine, rich and poor, sick and healthy, to empower individuals to create optimal health and wellness by providing integrative healthcare services and education via sustainable partnerships with patients, practitioners, community, and environment.
An all volunteer Seva effort of non-profit 501c3 Medicine Buddha Healing Center volunteers Losang Jinpa and Jenny Dinh. We operate in the format of Karma Clinic (http://karmaclinic.wordpress.com, http://www.youtube.com/karmaclinic and http://twitter.com/karmaclinic and http://www.facebook.com/KarmaClinic)
Gift Economy is an experiment for being in the world that is not based on transactions, but instead on trust and friendship. Most times, in such a society, value is decided by somebody other than ourselves. We have become a society in which everything is dependent on how many monetary resources we have. Instead, at Medicine Buddha Healing Center's Karma Clinic, we give with no strings attached with an implicit trust in the universe (“Don't worry, Trust Life”) – that we will be supported by those that we serve and those that have received something of value. Gift-economies are re-emerging as a new way of being and interacting in the world. At its core, gift economy is a shift from consumption to contribution, transaction to trust, scarcity to abundance and isolation to community.
Since we are a grassroots non-profit (501c3 Buddhist Religious Organization) that believes in the goodness and generosity of all living beings - we don't apply for grants or funding. We are fully sustained by the gifts of gratitude from the community which we serve.
All of Medicine Buddha Healing Center's Karma Clinic practitioners are volunteers and receive no salary or personal benefits other than the joy of giving. See our volunteer Practitioner Bio's above.
Yes. Our “Karma Clinic” is one and the same as the non-profit Medicine Buddha Healing Center (http://www.Ayurveda-Francisco.com) and it's Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute (http://www.Ayurveda-California.com - http://ayurveda-tcm.com/ayurvedic-chinese-medicine-distance-learning) and is one of many gift economy projects.
Although we are not directly related, we have been inspired by the selfless generosity of Master Hsuan Hua and his Sangha of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche's Sangha ((http://imiSangha.org) of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, Dr. Patch Adams and his Gesundheit! Institute (http://www.patchadams.org), Albert Schweitzer, the Charity Focus's Karma Clinic and of course, our dear first Ayurveda teacher, Upasaka Dr. Vasant Lad of the Ayurvedic Institute (http://www.Ayurveda.com)
1. Be Volunteer Run (wp>Seva]]):
In other words, “Relentless Joyful Service” (for all eternity!)
We're all volunteers! We do this because we wish to share freely our gifts with our community by doing small acts of kindness: we are not attempting to change the healthcare system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_system#United_States). We're doing our small part, the best way we know how – serving one person at a time. Small is beautiful.
2. Don't Ask for Anything:
In other words, “Trust Life” — Venerable Buddhist Master Bhikshu Shen Kai says, “It's easy to end all suffering, just accept everything with ease and let go completely.”
We don't apply for grants, nor do we seek anything for giving our gifts - we just give, no strings attached.
To quote our Buddhist teacher, the Venerable Buddhist Monk Master Hsuan Hua's Credo, which we uphold:
“Freezing to death, we do not scheme”
“Starving to death, we do not beg.”
“Dying of poverty, we ask for nothing.”
“According with conditions, we do not change;
Not changing, we accord with conditions.”
“We adhere firmly to our Three Great Principles”: (1. Renunciation-Letting-Go, 2. Wisdom, 3. Compassion-Bodhchitta - see http://www.thubtenchodron.org/PrayersAndPractices/the_three_principal_aspects_of_the_path.html).
“We renounce our lives to do the Buddha's work.” (See http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/prince/bl036.html)
“We take the responsibility to mold our own destinies.”
“We rectify our lives as the Sangha's work.”
“Encountering specific matters, we understand the principles;
Understanding the principles, we apply them in specific matters.”
“We carry on the single pulse of the Buddha's mind-transmission.”
Medicine Buddha Healing Center practitioners follow the Six Guidelines: no fighting, no greed, no seeking, no pursuit of personal advantage, and no lying.
Yes! Giving (Dana Paramita) is an integral part of the healing journey. Giving and generosity have been linked to overall increase in health and happiness. We recognize that; so, although we don't expect anything directly, we encourage you to allow the energy of gratitude to move through you. This may manifest in you doing a kind act for an unsuspecting person on the street, listening to a friend talk about their problems, or helping the homeless, or supporting a monk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alms#Buddhism). In whatever way you gift-forward (Pay it Forward), you will empower yourself to heal. “It is only ourselves we serve and ourselves we heal” (Dr. Venkataswamy, Infinite Vision http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=74). Share or read generosity stories by other members of the Karma Clinic Community.
There's a subtle yet important difference between something handed out to you for free and something offered in the spirit of a gift. A gift celebrates inter-connection and inter-beingness (“Interbeing” is a word coined by Thich Nhat Hanh to represent the Buddhist principles of impermanence and the non-self characteristic which reveal the inter-connected-ness of all things.). It's a simple gesture of both gratitude and appreciation. Medicine Buddha Healing Center's Karma Clinic is not about giving away 'free' healthcare (if you need that, then visit the Berkeley Free Clinic (http://www.berkeleyfreeclinic.org or the Order of Malta Oakland Free Clinic - 2121 Harrison St # 110 Oakland, CA 94612-3788 - (510) 587-3000 http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=order+of+malta+oakland+clinic or http://www.orderofmaltausawestern.org/medical-and-humanitarian-activities/-medical-and-humanitarian-activities/99-the-western-associations-order-of-malta-free-clinics.html or the San Francisco Haight Ashbury Free Clinic http://www.hafci.org). Instead of ”free clinic”, our Karma Clinic is about sharing an experience of generosity that has the potential to shift both the giver and the recipient. The gifts offered here are SO valuable, any price tag would be too little – and at the same time, any price would be too much. So, offering it as gift feels right to us we are grateful to be of service, and to live in the spirit of gift.
Sure, we suspect that you hold your practitioner close to your heart and are grateful to them for the space they hold for your healing to arise. So, we accept your gifts of gratitude with gratitude. Gratitude is our natural state! You gifting to Medicine Buddha Healing Center's Karma Clinic is a reminder for us to re-connect with that space within ourselves, and for you to be given the space to express your gratitude in a loving way.
Giving and receiving are an integral way to create relationship and community. Gift-economies inherently birth communities because of the easy flow of giving and receiving. ”Community” comes from the Latin munus (The word “community” is derived from the Old French communité which is derived from the Latin communitas = cum, “with/together” + munus, “gift”; a broad term for fellowship or organized society), which means the gift, and cum, which means together, among each other. So community literally means to give among each other. Feel free to join our online and offline community to stay connected.
Yes and no. It's pretty easy to look online for general price tags on healing sessions. Depending on the skill and training of your practitioner, a session would cost anywhere from $60 to $500 per hour. But really, this is irrelevant. We want you to reflect on what feels right and light to you. The gift should be whatever flows from your heart in the spirit of gratitude. You can send a monetary gift via http://www.Paypal.com.
Call us at 415-742-8393 or 510-292-6696.
Your first appointment will be with Rev. Losang Jinpa (Ayurveda-Chinese Medicine practitioner and ordained Buddhist Minister - Pastoral Counselor), for a 1 hour in depth consultation for integrated Indo-Tibetan Ayurveda - Chinese Medicine (usually with Jenny Dinh and/or pain management specialist Dr. Adrian Bartoli, M.D. also participating), wherein you will discuss and co-create your plan for healing. This includes exploring your vision of what you want to happen, all the different offerings available to you (Indian - Tibetan Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine and/or Acupuncture, and Western Medicine), what tests might be necessary, as well as herbs and supplements. At the end of that visit, you can schedule appointments to meet with all the practitioners that you choose to be part of your healing process. This is your choice and your journey – our role is to help you in the best way we know how. All healing is self-healing – and sometimes, it takes a skilled practitioner to help you awaken to that which is within you.
If you have a health problem and want an alternative solution, or if you are healthy and want to know your body/mind type and how to maintain your health, a consultation will provide the knowledge you seek.
Volunteers practitioners Losang, Jenny Dinh and/or Dr. Adrian Bartoli, M.D. will read your pulse and assess your life patterns from an Ayurvedic-Chinese Medicine long-term perspective and recommend a diet, daily routine and individualized herbal formula to help achieve your optimum health and energy level.
Ayurvedic and Chinese healing is traditionally used to help increase energy and mobility, improve digestion and elimination, remove depression, decrease pain, and restore the balance of the internal systems, the mind, emotions, and consciousness. After the initial consultation, checkups are generally every 30 days until balance is restored.
Ask about the time-honored Ayurvedic-Chinese approach to arthritis, sciatica, neck and shoulder pain, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, cancer, depression, anger, insomnia, allergies, colds, flu, cough, asthma, constipation, diarrhea, high blood pressure and cholesterol, ulcers, skin disorders, impotence, weight loss, diabetes, AIDS, gynecological disorders, menopause, breast cancer.
What can you expect during your first consultation with Losang and Jenny at the Medicine Buddha Healing Center’s Karma Clinic or during their “house-call” to your home or office?
The initial consult is approximately 60-90 minutes (usually 1 hour though) and involves a thorough interview of your medical history, family history, present conditions or concerns, current medications or herbs, and detailed questioning system-by-system. The purpose of this detailed and extensive interview process is to become acquainted with you and develop a rapport – it may involve a “house-call” if you would like.
Ayurvedic-Chinese pulse and tongue diagnosis are the two primary methods used to confirm findings from the interview process. Then your constitution and present 5-element doshic (vata, pitta, or kapha) imbalance will be determined for an Ayurvedic diagnosis. These findings will be discussed in as much detail as time allows in order to empower your self-healing.
Additional therapies that might also be offered by Losang or may referred out to a Licensed Acupuncturist (Jenny Dinh) or other provider, depending on their relevance include:
Acupuncture, Chinese or Indian acupressure and foot-hand-ear reflexology points, aromatherapy essential oils or other Ayurvedic herbal oil massage, Indian pancha karma cleansing/rejuvenation massage, Chinese tui na or other massage, moxibustion (herbal incense therapy), cupping, gwa sha (gentle back scraping), qigong (energy work), Indian Vedic Jyotish or Chinese astrology, Ayurvedic vastu feng shui, counseling, sound therapy (mantra) or Ayurvedic chromotherapy (color).
Near the end of the session there will be discussion and printed handouts on dietary - lifestyle considerations plus explanation and tasting of the herbs in the customized herbal formula (powdered or raw whole herb tea, tincture, wine or ghee) appropriate for your present imbalance. We use mostly organic herbs from India, China and the USA. This dialogue will empower you as an active partner in your healing, but it is your choice whether to follow our suggestions or not. We will also discuss our specialty – Pancha Karma Ayurvedic cleansing–rejuvenation massage and steam therapy performed by our certified massage therapists Natalie Gougeon, CAHS.
Yes! Some of our practitioners help long-distance clients via telephone. For this, you will need to contact us to discuss the options.
As a Buddhist Dharma Center and Institute, we prefer to offer all of our Indo-Tibetan Ayurveda and Chinese Medicine classes and healing services on a donation basis, that is gift economy (called dana paramita in Indian Sanskrit), rather than ask for a fixed sum or a suggested donation or a sliding scale or to offer it as a free clinic.
This means that our ministry (Medicine Buddha Healing Center and its Karma Clinic and its school (Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute) relies on gift economy donations for all expenses. So that dana paramita (the perfection of the practice of giving – Dana Paramita) may take root here in the West, we ask your reflection on this fundamental Buddhist-Yogic practice.
From the time of the Buddha (550 B.C.), the practice of Dharma (teaching and healing) has traditionally happened within a field of generosity. We believe that Dharma practice unfolds best for everyone concerned when the teaching-healing and the support for the teaching- healing are given freely. We follow the generous Bodhisattva spirit of the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, Venerable Ajahn Sumedho, Venerable Lama Zopa, Dr. Patch Adams, and Dr. Vasant Lad (http://www.Ayurveda.com), and Aumatma Binal Shah of Charity Focus's Karma Clinic (http://www.karmaclinic.org) who have inspired our both our format of giving and our teachings - healing practices.
We agree with and emulate Patch Adams' Bodhisattva spirit of Dana Paramita when he said:
“Greed is one of society’s worst malignancies, and it appears to have metastasized to every corner of the earth. The sense that greed is incurable may well account for its escalation. Certainly one of greed’s most devastating symptoms is cynicism. Unless greed and its symptoms are excised, society will perish.
(see Trishna and Three Poisons and Greed-Craving for details)
Patch Adams's continues:
We believe that a society must care for its population enough to take care of its needs. Treatment of disease and provision for health care are fundamental to a society’s sound survival. These needs should be fulfilled as a gift to its population, not as a commodity to be bought and sold. In a profit-oriented system devoted to grabbing the most income the traffic will bear, the goal will be disease care. In a service-oriented system devoted to keeping the population at its healthiest, the goal will be disease prevention. The Gesundheit Institute will never charge money for its medical services. If it is to survive, its staff, patients, and friends will cooperate and donate everything needed for it to flourish as a community hospital.
We hope to eliminate the factor of debt entirely from the healing interaction.
Although this leaves us vulnerable to the wishes of the greater community, paradoxically, we believe that vulnerability is our greatest strength. We believe it is imperative to need the community we serve because the community also needs us. This is basic to interdependence, which we feel is necessary for a healthy society. We must, as individuals and as a free society, stop our worship of things and wealth and put our sense of richness in things everybody can have in abundance without excluding anyone. These riches include faith, fun, and the breathtaking bounty of nature and friendship. This kind of medicine cannot be bought or sold. By not charging patients… we are freer to be silly and to build friendships. We also believe that not charging money is very good malpractice insurance. We hope that our patients will take the generosity with them when they leave and spread it in their own communities. This is the heart of our social revolution: to take the most expensive service in America and give it away for free.” (see Gift Economy)
We WHOLE-HEARTEDLY agree with Dr. Patch.
What is an appropriate amount of dana paramita? We do not charge a fixed amount (but we do have some suggested guidelines - see Gift Economy and Pay it Forward) in order to allow each person to answer that question from her/his own heart and circumstances. Our practitioners view dana paramita in this way: “Dana paramita is a gift to ourselves because it is an opportunity to give freely. Giving and receiving are really part of the same whole.”
Cash, Check, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express for your Ayurvedic or Chinese Medicine Acupuncture Healing Consultation. Several practical considerations may be of use and interest to actualize the practice of generosity at the Medicine Buddha Healing Center's Karma Clinic and the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute. Many of our main faculty teachers and practitioners are giving freely of their time, energy, commitment to the Dharma.
Generosity and Giving
Leads to Happiness
through Realizing
Self-less-ness - NO Self,
No-one, ALL ONE:
The Giver, the Gift, the Giving and the Receiver are ONE!
A verse from the Diamond Sutra helps one to understand the Yogic - Buddhist Ayurveda concept of ”sattvic” giving (pure selfless anonymous generosity), as compared with ”rajasic” (generosity with name and fame and wanting to be noticed as “somebody” [some-BODY]), and ”tamasic” giving (generosity with both name-fame AND a selfish manipulation or business deal-trade)
Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra, Buddhist Text Translation Society, 2002: Chapter 4, p. 57: www.bttsonline.org/product.aspx?pid=153 “Wonderful Conduct without Dwelling”
In the Diamond Cutter Scripture, (also called the Diamond Wisdom Perfection Sutra or simply the Diamond Sutra), Shakyamuni Buddha is dialoging with Subhuti, his disciple who is foremost in Wisdom about the nature of the giver, the giving, the gift and the receiver:
“Moreover, Subhuti, as to dharmas, a Bodhisattva should not dwell anywhere when he gives. He should not dwell in forms when he gives, nor should he dwell in sounds, smells, tastes, tangible objects, or dharmas (thoughts) when he gives. Subhuti, a Bodhisattva should give thus: he should not dwell in marks. And why? If a Bodhisattva does not dwell in marks when he gives, his blessings and virtues are immeasurable.”
“Subhuti, is space in the east, south, west, north, or in the intermediate directions, or above, or below, measurable?”
“No, World Honored One.”
“Subhuti, the blessings and virtue of a Bodhisattva who does not dwell in marks when he gives are just as immeasurable. Subhuti, a Bodhisattva should only dwell in what is taught thus.”
Commentary by the Venerable Buddhist Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (p. 58):
“To have no dwelling is to have no attachment. No attachment is liberation. Therefore, not dwelling, one is liberated, independent, and not blocked or obstructed by anything. Moreover, a Bodhisattva should not dwell anywhere when he practices giving. In other words he should not be attached when he gives. If he is able to free himself from attachment, he has understood that the substance of the Three Wheels, composed of:
1. one who gives,
2. one who receives, and
3. that which is given, are all empty.
If your act of giving carries with it the thought, “I practice giving and have done many meritorious and virtuous deeds,” or if you are aware of the receiver, or of the goods given, then you have not left the ‘mark’ of giving. You should give and be as if you had not given. If you attach to the marks of the six sense objects, forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangible objects, and mental dharmas (thoughts) when giving, your merit and virtue are limited. If you fall victim to the thought, “I contributed a million dollars to a certain temple,” then all you have is a million dollars’ worth of merit. When the money runs out, so do your merit and virtue.
If you are not attached to the mark of giving, you accrue limitless merit and virtue, even by giving as little as a single cent. If you fail to practice the proper method of giving, then although you may give gifts throughout as many great eons as there are particles of dust, you will still have accomplished nothing. It still has been just like boiling sand to make rice; no matter how long you cook it, it never becomes rice.
Shakyamuni Buddha used the analogy of “empty space in the ten directions” to represent the extent of merit and virtue involved in the act of giving which is detached from the mark of giving. He said, “Subhuti, a Bodhisattva should only dwell in what is taught thus.” A Bodhisattva who has already resolved to realize Bodhi (enlightenment) should think of what he has thus been taught and adhere to it in cultivation.” (Source: Hua, p. 58)
“The giving of dharma (wisdom teachings) is the most supreme kind of giving, and as such far surpasses the giving of wealth” (“wealth” includes money, food, medicines, clothing, shelter, or one's energy and time). (Source: Hua, p. 58)
“The Vajra Sutra says a Bodhisattva (saintly or sagely being) should leave all marks in order to realize Anuttarasamyaksambodhi (ultimate enlightenment and perfect liberation). You ponder that in your heart, “Ah, a Bodhisattva must leave all marks (gunas) must mean he must not be attached to the mark of self (atman is anitya [impermanent] and dukkha [creating of suffering where there is attachment]), the mark of dharmas (chitta [thought]- buddhi [intellect] - smriti [memories] are anitya [temporary, ephemeral, fleeting]), or to the mark of emptiness (akasha - shunyata).” Once your heart understands, you actually undertake its practice. You give without the mark of self, others, or the mark of a life span in between. Your giving is devoid of attachment to the giver, the recipient, or the gift given. You perform meritorious deeds without involving yourself in the mark of performing meritorious deeds.” (Source: Hua, p. 92)
To understand why Medicine Buddha Healing Center supports the above Buddhist Monastic organizations and their life-long path of cultivation of wisdom free of attachments to realize ultimate healing and health, please read the words from Ven. Losang's primary Buddhist teacher Venerable Tripitaka and Chan Master Hsuan Hua of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. Master Hua asserts in his commentary on the Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra, Buddhist Text Translation Society, 2002: Chapter 7, “Nothing Attained, Nothing Spoken”, p. 70:
“When attachment is relinquished the Buddha Dharma appears. If attachments are not relinquished the more one grasps the less one has. Before everything has been put down, nothing can be picked up.” To end suffering, it is necessary to put down habitual attachments to power, name-fame, wealth, sex, food, and sleep – put down attachments with the left hand and with the right hand pick up “real mark prajna” (ultimate wisdom). But to say one can pick up prajna is just a figure of speech. That is not to say there is actually something which can be grasped with the hands. If one could grasp all of empty space in one fist, then one could grasp hold of real mark prajna (the ultimate wisdom). If unable to grasp all of empty space with one swipe of the hand, one should make no futile attempt to clutch at real mark prajna. Real mark prajna exhausts empty space and pervades the entire universe. All things are basically within real mark prajna. How could a firmer grip than that be had? It is simply because of attachments that the basic substance of the Dharma-body has not been attained, and one’s “original face” not recognized. Those who can truly put everything down and investigate the meaning of this, can attain genuine, originally existent real mark prajna (perfection of wisdom - the “No-Self” teaching - “don't be selfish”). To say it is attained is just a figure of speech. There is absolutely nothing to attain because nothing was ever lost.”
Rev. Losang Jinpa strives to follow the Tibetan, Chinese and Korean traditions of the Bodhisattva vows of a Buddhist Ayurveda practitioner, and thus commits in all future lives until Buddhahood to endeavor to:
1.) leave behind lay person's clothes and signs and behaviors (means to conserve one's vital energy (Qi, Prana, Ojas) and to stay “relaxed kapha, focused pitta and aware vata” without energy-dissipating outflows of the six sense organs - eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind) and to uphold the Buddhist Precept's purity-morality.
2.) wear the saffron robes of an ordained person and shave one’s head and beard (as a sign of renunciation – letting go of worldly attachments of “name-fame-food-sleep-sex-power-money-drugs” and of attachments to sights, sounds, smells, tastes, objects of touch, and thoughts-emotions.
3.) follow the Buddha’s teachings: The Dharma:
Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Path, Three Jewels,
Precepts-Vows-Morality, Paramitas, Prajna Paramita,
Bodhichitta, Bodhisattva Vows (Brahma Net Sutra and the Twenty Verses on the Bodhisattva Vow by Chandragomin)
Dependent Origination (inter-being), No Self,
Buddhist Monasticism, Buddhist Householder.
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