{"id":819,"date":"2013-11-22T11:43:18","date_gmt":"2013-11-22T16:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theonlyloveproject.org\/?p=819"},"modified":"2018-10-08T20:58:28","modified_gmt":"2018-10-09T00:58:28","slug":"our-opportunity-exists-in-our-community-wonji-dharma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonlyloveproject.org\/?p=819","title":{"rendered":"“Our opportunity exists in our community.” – Wonji Dharma"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1380067154\"<\/a>In late October, 2013, the Only Love Project’s Bill Murphy (BM) spent an hour on the phone with author, poet, Master Dharma Teacher Ven. Dr. Wonji Dharma (WD), founder of the Five Mountain Zen Order<\/a> and President of Buddha Dharma University<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What follows is the transcript from that inspiring interview. Enjoy!<\/p>\n

BM: Briefly tell us your background. What would you like others to know about you?<\/p>\n

WD: Well, first off, it\u2019s really not important who and what I am and where I come from. However, that stated, I would like to give some credit to my first teacher, Swami Siraj<\/a>, who was a disciple of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh<\/a>. He opened the door to the Dharma for me.<\/p>\n

\"556109\"<\/a>I also have to give credit to, and mention my lifelong dedication to Zen Master Seung Sahn<\/a>, who I found a few years later; he opened my eyes and opened my heart to the truth of this world.<\/p>\n

And lastly, I have to give credit to the Honorable and Venerable Suhita Dharma<\/a> for his lifelong dedication and selflessness in his aspiration to help others on this path. Beyond that, I\u2019m merely trying to emulate what it is that these people who have taken significant portions of their lives to help me see the truth, I dedicate my life to following as best as I can in their footsteps. So that is all I really want to say about myself.<\/p>\n

BM: Fair enough. Second question is, Would you consider yourself a spiritual person?<\/p>\n

WD: That is an interesting question. Years ago, before I decided to become celibate, I used to hang out on a site called DharmaMatch.com. And I remember there were so many individuals, and the ones that I cared about were women, there were so many individuals when asked what their religious preference was, they chose this option that the website allowed them, which was \u201cSpiritual but not religious.\u201d And I\u2019m not quite sure what that means. There is a New Age trend about what it means to be spiritual, without any religious connotation whatsoever. And I\u2019m not sure about the meaning of “Spiritual but not religious.” I\u2019m not putting it down, I merely have no idea what it means. So am I spiritual? Within the context of post modernity in our 21st<\/sup> century society, I would have to say No, if those are the rules that garner what it means to be spiritual, I\u2019m not spiritual. Nor am I religious. I only follow one path, and that path is, “How may I help you?”<\/p>\n

We can get caught in the metaphor of idea, and I\u2019m not trying to dodge any responsibility, nor am I putting down anybody who says they\u2019re a spiritual teacher, however you asked me this question and I\u2019m trying to define it, and those words don\u2019t really represent my direction in life. So I would have to say I am neither spiritual, nor non-spiritual. Neither religious nor non-religious. I am some hybrid in between that has yet to be defined.<\/p>\n

BM: Most religious traditions speak of the power and value of love. For example, the Dhammapada tells us, \u201cOnly love dispels hate.\u201d The Bible tells us, \u201cA new commandment I give you, that you love one another.\u201d What, if anything, do those words mean to you?<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a>WD: This is an interesting construct that we as human beings attach to. So, right before we began this interview, I was listening to a favorite poet of mine, Neil Young, and also to a women who actually recorded a song which he wrote that was very popular in the 1970s, which is the era in which I grew up. So it was very impressionable for me. Her name is Linda Rondstadt. Linda Rondstadt was kind of a country folk musician who came out of the \u201870s, and she was the sometime boyfriend of Jerry Brown, who was [the] Governor of the state of California, and who coincidentally is currently serving his third term as Governor. But obviously many, many years later.<\/p>\n

Anyway the song has always stuck out for me since I was young. The lyrics to the song that Neil Young wrote are:<\/p>\n

Love is a rose, but you better not pick it.
\nIt only grows when it\u2019s on the vine.
\nHandful of thorns, and you know you missed it.
\nLose your love when you say the word, “mine.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n