Text Box: Message from the Head priest Text Box: New Challenges Text Box: Besides gaining financial stability, which still remains the foremost concern, the board of trustees is working on several projects, where your help and participation is very much appreciated and needed. If you think you can help with an idea or by giving a hand, please talk to the project leader, e-mail or drop a note. Resident monks Text Box: and the committee of trustees are very much interested in addressing your concerns. If you have a burning question or a bright idea please bring it in. GLBV needs to move forward in order to be successful in its mission, which will happen only with the support of the congregation, the most valuable & the important part of GLBV. continue next page Text Box: Text Box: www.glbvihara.org (248) 232-7383 Text Box: Volume 1, Issue 1 Text Box: Inner Peace Text Box: Children singing Devotional songs at the 2004 Vesak Celebrations in the front yard of the new temple.

Great Lakes Buddhist Vihara News Letter

Thank you…

On behalf of GLBV, the trustees would like to extend their most sincere gratitude towards each member of the congregation for the ways they have contributed to its success and for there incredible devotion. Blessed by a small community of Buddhists residing in Michigan, it is remarkable that we were able to touch so many lives during the last 7 years. Furthermore, today it is at a most suitable new location (as of Nov 2003) with serene surroundings and immense potential for growth and improvement. As we move on, with the purpose of bringing inner peace and spreading the teachings of The Buddha, GLBV strongly urges its congregation to get actively involved. Even though at the moment our financial status is somewhat unstable, we hope that the commitment and tireless efforts of the congregation will make the GLBV a success in spreading the message of Buddhism in North America.

I am very happy to write a few words for the newsletter of Great Lakes Buddhist Vihara.  As the abbot of the temple, I would like to define the difference between a Buddhist and a good citizen of any other religion or a citizen without religion. The Buddha himself did not want to organize any religion, which is why he refused to appoint a deputy or successor after him.  He taught the Dhamma, or “The Truth”, which means reality of everything.  A person who understands the reality of everything is always endowed with right view and right concepts, mainly with the other factors of the noble path.  If someone is good, that means he or she is with good moral conduct and with good mental development which results in understanding everything wisely and with equanimity.  This is the way of the true follower of Buddha’s teachings.  A Buddhist is not a person who is a member of a religious organization called Buddhism.  Anyone who organizes his or her way of life according to the Dhamma, he or she is the true Buddhist. The label of a certain religion has nothing to do with it.  A person who has a label of Buddhist from birth is not a Buddhist if he does not have any sense of what Dhamma is or what The Buddha wanted him to be.  If someone who does not have the label of Buddhist can conduct a good moral life; full of simplicity, honesty, kindness, expectations, while keeping a sincere generosity and dedication to serve others, having a balanced mind and understanding the reality of everything - this is a person who follows the Dhamma and is a true follower of Buddha’s way.