BGR Walk in San Francisco

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi

Group at Gold Mountain Monastery

Last Saturday (Oct. 24) I led the BGR Walk to Feed the Hungry in San Francisco. The walk started out from the Gold Mountain Monastery in Chinatown and proceeded up a very steep hill, with a pause for photos in front of the Grace Cathedral.

The Steep Ascent Uphill

We made our first stop at the Buddhist Churches of America on Octavia Street. Here we were treated to refreshments and were brought up to the stupa on the roof to pay homage to the relics of Shakyamuni Buddha and the chief disciples Sariputta and Moggallana. We also learned about the long history of BCA, the Buddhist organization with the longest continuous history in the US.

Buddhist Church of America

The walk then continued on until we reached the Vietnamese Buddhist Association, where again we were given refreshments and had a chance to hear about the history of the temple. Finally we ended at the Mindfulness Care Center, where we did a short meditation of mudita, rejoicing in the goodness of our actions that day, and shared the merits with the devas, nagas, spirits, and other beings.

Final Sharing of Merits

Excellent photos of the walk were taken by our Bay Area California photographer Kevin Cheung here: