This month (Dec 2003) we talk to Sasha Bartunek, a psychotherapist.

Sasha has been attending classes in Florida since 1996, when Parbawatiya Center (our first center) opened in Tampa Bay. Sasha now teaches classes every Tuesday evening, 8:00-9:15pm, at Parbawatiya Center in Safety Harbor. She is also enrolled on the Teacher Training Program.

When were you first attracted to Buddhism?

Seeking spirituality, I read a couple of Buddhist books. One day I was praying to God in my old prayer space and I told God that I wanted to come back to help others instead of going to heaven after I died. About a week later, my friend invited me to go to an introductory talk at a church in Clearwater. It happened to be Kadam Morten who was teaching that night about Kadampa Buddhism. It seemed my prayer was answered because I learned Buddhism was a way to help others even after I died.

What made you come to this Buddhist Center?

Those at the introductory talk were encouraged that if they wanted a spiritual teacher to be sent to this area to teach this tradition, to write a request to Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, the Spiritual Director of this tradition. I, and others, wrote and sometime later I was notified a teacher was being sent, who happened to be Kadam Nick Gillespie.

Were you apprehensive about coming?

I was excited about coming to study :)

What did you expect?

I expected some much-needed structure to be placed into my spirituality, and to learn more about meditation.

What do you like best about coming here?

The increased peace of mind I feel after a class. I have spaces in my old patterns of thinking that allow for it not to be all about me. There is mental freedom available to us all.

How would you explain the benefits of meditation to someone new?

Meditation has helped me grow as a person in all areas of my life. It is the bedrock foundation of all my future spiritual endeavors and developments.

How has what you have learned here made a difference in your everyday work and home life?

I have been taught ways to transform all problems into the spiritual path. Buddha gave 84,000 teachings for 84,000 samsaric problems. Though I don't know that many, I'll share one example of something I learned. Now I enjoy cleaning a lot more because when cleaning I can mentally think spiritual things. I think I am cleaning away my jealousies, or my anger, as I do the dishes or wash the fridge. My house looks so good now, because I don't like the mental pain and suffering that the delusions cause, and I want to clean them away :)

What do you feel that Buddhism can offer to the world today?

Buddhism can offer everyone a way to get over themselves and their false boundaries. Through overcoming the self-cherishing mind and its manifest delusions, eventually there will be a universal unity of ever-increasing love, compassion, and peace.

What is your favorite Kadampa Buddhist quotation?

I like three:

On a perceived good day, it's "May I accept defeat and offer the victory" or "Always rely upon a happy mind alone".

On a perceived bad day, it's "Suffering has good qualities".

Sometimes these are switched around.

What is you favorite book by Geshe Kelsang?

Meaningful to Behold

With which historical Kadampa Buddhist practitioner do you most identify, and why?

I mostly identify with Lam Chung because I felt very, very stupid for a while studying Dharma. I cried often, feeling like a misplaced misfit that would just never get the greater spiritual meaning of this stuff, nor fit in. Through channeling my deluded insecurities into the minds of wishing and admiring faith, I was able to eventually let Dharma, or Buddha's teachings, protect my mind. After some time, my raging self-cherishing mind subsided, and I felt more at home both in myself and at the Center. Eileen Stead helped my mind of faith grow, as I saw her embody Dharma in her interactions with the Sangha.

What aspect of the Bodhisattva's way of life most inspires you?

The ability to make a difference.

What's the first thing you're going to do when you become a Buddha?

The first thing I will do when I become a Buddha is thank and prostrate to all of those who I didn't realize were Buddhas already, which may be everyone. I don't know who is an enlightened being disguised as an ordinary being. I only know I am not.