Buddha's Birthday Comes in May

True Dharma Intl Buddhist Study Group
A UU Buddhist Fellowship chapter in Clearwater, Florida
Tuesdays 7-9:30 PM Patio Room

Happy Buddha’s Birthday 2253!!!


True Dharma Tuesday evening Buddhist study and meditation meetings continue in May. Your attendance is always welcome. Bring a comfortable meditation cushion or settle yourself in a UUC all-purpose plastic lawn chair. We do sitting and walking meditation not unlike you may have learned in traditional Zen centers or Theravada groups. We definitely have a Dalai Lama compassion & wisdom orientation and you may feel challenged to use your brains more here than at other Buddhist meetings. Accept nothing on faith, tradition, authority or appearances. We deal with the basics of birth, old age, sickness and death and the evanescent joys in between in daily life. Is there another? We do not depend on any one particular text or sutra. We are not lineage-bound. We are working Buddhists seeking “true dharma.” Frank Tedesco who founded the group has years of practice in the Korean all-inclusive dharma world of both deep study and strenuous meditation and bowing practice. We are inclined to Tibetan non-sectarian critique as well. And sitting by the dying bedside. Bring vegetarian munchies and a beverage to enjoy.

We have been reading and scrutinizing the Bodhicaryavatara or the Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life by Shantideva. It is a powerful handbook, loaded with wisdom and admonitions on how to train yourself to live selflessly for others by deeply cultivating virtue of patience and attentiveness to the self-deluding tricks of the mind. Many Tibetan teachers have commented on the text. We are reading Sanskrit and Tibetan translations into English. The Shambhala Padmakara Translation Committee rendering is quite readable. The Saturday morning Tarpon Springs UU Meditation Group is reading through Shantideva also.

We will be celebrating Buddha’s Birthday on Saturday May 23 beginning about 5 PM.

Unitarian Universalists of Clearwater

2470 Nursery Road

Clearwater, FL 33764

(727) 531-7704

Chanting of Buddhist texts in different languages by different local Buddhist groups will be part of the ceremony. The focus of the day is bathing a gilded statue of the newborn Shakyamuni. The very young and the very old and everyone else will have a chance to wash the baby Buddha with pure water, symbolic of purifying our own selves- our “beginner’s mind” with renewed determination to live honestly in the service of others for the rest of the year. You are invited to bring fresh flowers and fruit as offerings to the Buddha- your own liberated heart/minds. Many of you have experienced bathing the baby Buddha at the Maitreya Project Heart Shrine Relic Tour that visited UU Clearwater the weekend before our illustrious national election last November.

For more information or RSVP -
Call Frank at (727) 512-4805; truedharma108@gmail.com