Brecksville resident Stan Searles creates Cleveland Dharma Walk
STAN SEARLES/SPECIAL TO SUN NEWSBrecksville resident Stan Searles, at right, met Phra Paisal Visalo while visiting Phra Paisal's forest monastery in Thailand during a Project Dragonfly global exploration trip last summer. Searles is organizing a Cleveland Dharma Walk to coincide with Phra Paisal's walk in Thailand. The week-long walk begins here at 9 p.m. Nov. 30. Searles hopes to walk for two hours each night until Dec. 7.Searles, curator of birds and aquatics for the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, spent two weeks last summer in Thailand with his wife, Victoria Searles, curator of education at the zoo, as part of Project Dragonfly, an educational program offered through Miami University of Ohio.
The trip concentrated on Buddhism and conservation and as such, those on the educational trip spent a week at a Buddhist monastery.
In that time, Searles learned that the abbot of the Wat Pah Sukato forest monastery, Phra Paisal Visalo, conducts an annual dharma walk for conservation of the Lampathao watershed to connect the citizens in the watershed to their environment. The monastery and walk are in the Chaiyaphum province, north of Bangkok.
His walk is meant as a way to bring awareness to the deforestation of the watershed and the impact that neighboring villages have on each other. Phra Paisal and his followers walk from 9 a.m. Dec. 1 to Dec. 8 covering approximately 7.5 miles each day.
Similarly, Searles has conducted five walks along the eastern branch of the Rocky River to raise awareness about that watershed. Those walks also raise funds for the Rocky River Important Bird Area and the Western Cuyahoga Audubon Society.
While on the trip, Searles began thinking about the similarity between his walk and the walk in Thailand.
“I thought, ‘Gee that’s kind of the same’,” Searles said. “It’s all community based here and there.”
With that in mind, he came up with the Cleveland Dharma Walk as a way to support his new Thai friends and at the same time bring awareness to conservation needs in his own backyard.
Beginning at 9 p.m. Nov. 30 and until 11 p.m. Dec. 7, Searles, along with anyone who wishes to participate, willwalk for two hours a day. The significance of the time is to precisely coincide with those walking in Thailand.
“Our steps are being taken at the same time,” Searles said. “I wanted to walk with my friends in Thailand.”
Dharma walks are walks for a cause or purpose. And for his walk, all that was needed to be successful is Searles walking himself. “On a basic level, I am doing this for me,” he said.
But Searles is not walking alone. As of Nov. 28, walkers from eight states have confirmed that they are joining Searles in the walk.
Unlike his May walks for the Important Bird Area, this walk has a more general message of bringing light to environmental issues.
Through the beauty of the Internet, unlike the May walk, Searles is not asking for donations, but rather that those who participate log onto the Cleveland Dharma Walk Facebook page and post photos or video of their walk for those in Thailand to see.
The walks could take place outside or inside, at a home or at the mall. What is important, Searles says, is that everyone is connected at that moment.
Searles also cautioned that the walk is based on Eastern Standard Time and those walking from outside of this time zone should adjust their walks accordingly.
Via email and Facebook, Searles has also kept in touch with his Thai friends and says that they are excited about the linked walks. He added that they are also excited to see walkers here submit photos or video of walkers in the snow — and with participants from Bozeman, Mont. and Ketchikan, Alaska that is a possibility.
As for future walks, Searles says his Thai friends have talked about walking in Thailand in May during his sixth annual walk for the Audubon Society and the Important Bird Area.
"Let's Go After the Buddhists" by Roy Zimmerman
How Things Exist: Teachings on Emptiness
"Sometimes you might think, 'What's the use of teachings on emptiness? How does this philosophy help me when I have problems in everyday life?' However, if you can think [about emptiness], it's the most powerful meditation to shatter the hallucinations. It's like an atomic bomb. Problems happen in your daily life because you believe the hallucinations to be real. The most powerful, immediate way to stop problems is to remember emptiness. You should especially remember emptiness when you are in situations where there's a danger of giving rise to strong anger or uncontrolled desire and creating heavy negative karma and causing great harm to others."In this small book Lama Zopa Rinpoche covers an incredible amount of ground. He starts by emphasizing the importance of compassion and universal responsibility and how to make life meaningful, then gives a brief explanation of the nature of the enlightened mind and how we can attain it, and finally offers an amazing and extensive explanation of emptiness, the ultimate nature of reality, analyzing the way various phenomena exist and teaching how to meditate on emptiness. Within these teachings, Rinpoche also touches on several of the other main points of the path to enlightenment, such as bodhicitta, the three scopes and impermanence. But, in the end, this wonderfully practical book is a manifestation of Rinpoche's peerless wisdom realizing emptiness and a testament to the personal experience of this rare and precious teacher."Sometimes you might think, 'What's the use of teachings on emptiness? How does this philosophy help me when I have problems in everyday life?' However, if you can think [about emptiness], it's the most powerful meditation to shatter the hallucinations. It's like an atomic bomb. Problems happen in your daily life because you believe the hallucinations to be real. The most powerful, immediate way to stop problems is to remember emptiness. You should especially remember emptiness when you are in situations where there's a danger of! giving rise to strong anger or uncontrolled desire and creating heavy negative karma and causing great harm to others."
In this small book Lama Zopa Rinpoche covers an incredible amount of ground. He starts by emphasizing the importance of compassion and universal responsibility and how to make life meaningful, then gives a brief explanation of the nature of the enlightened mind and how we can attain it, and finally offers an amazing and extensive explanation of emptiness, the ultimate nature of reality, analyzing the way various phenomena exist and teaching how to meditate on emptiness. Within these teachings, Rinpoche also touches on several of the other main points of the path to enlightenment, such as bodhicitta, the three scopes and impermanence. But, in the end, this wonderfully practical book is a manifestation of Rinpoche's peerless wisdom realizing emptiness and a testament to the personal experience of this rare and precious teacher.
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