5/15/2022
My Friend & POTUS, JRB,
So, upsetting to read about another racially motivated shooting committed by a White supremacist! He is reported to have threatened to shoot his high school classmates at his graduation. Please help me understand why someone like that has a gun.
Please express my sympathies to the families at the National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service today. We are fortunate that only 1 in 10,000 officers died in the line of duty each year & over half of the 105 deaths were due to CV. Among the 19 who died by gunfire is a Sacramento officer, Adam Gibson. His wife, Rachel, may be there with her 1-year-old daughter. Fortunately, Tunnel of Towers paid off her mortgage, so she has some financial stability.
Did you know Buddha’s birthday was celebrated in Burma yesterday? According to South China Morning Post, “10,264 monks listened to prayers, chanted and filed past officials to collect rice and cash donations.” Since “a monastic code prohibits the clergy in Myanmar from voting or taking part in political demonstrations” they claimed they weren’t taking sides in the conflicts. Other monks expressed their opposition on FB, writing, “They are ogres, but they pretend to be human beings. They have bloody hands … It is time for our Buddhist monks to oppose this food donation event.” Speaking of such things, will you have another Vesak ceremony at the WH in 2022? If so, I hope you & Jill are able to attend.
I am looking forward to learning more about Buddhism from one of my soon-to-be neighbors who I lunched with yesterday. He was ordained by Ticht Nacht Han in France in the 1970s & exudes compassion. We are both curious about the City of Dharma Realm, a 14.5 acre campus near our construction site. It has a temple & the Instilling Goodness Elementary School & the Developing Virtue Secondary School. Much of the website is in Chinese so I’m not sure what else goes on there, but it looks like a tranquil place. Perhaps you can join me there someday.
BYBS,
