This is an email from Dhamma Talk, a newsletter by The Fifth Posture.
May 17, 2021
Welcome to Dhamma Talk!
Dhamma Talk is a newsletter from The Fifth Posture, which is dedicated to writing as a posture of mindfulness practice. The publication is also an invitation to explore the whole of the Dhamma beyond mindfulness.
My birth name is Christine Bates, editor and senior writer at The Fifth Posture. At this beginning, in fact, I’m the only writer at The Fifth Posture, but I plan for that to change in the not-too-distant future. I’m also minister and co-founder of Deep South Dharma and a contemplative mental health therapist in Mississippi and Tennessee.
My Dhamma name is Acharya Passatininna. I was ordained into the Embracing Simplicity Contemplative Order by Venerable Pannavati and Venerable Pannadipa after many years of the contemplative path led me into a two-year Dharmacharya program with them. As part of my ordination, my teachers gave me the name Passatininna from the Pali language of the Buddha’s time, translated as “One Who Sees Clearly.”
It’s important to know that when a teacher gives you a Dhamma name, it’s not a rubber stamp saying “You’ve arrived.” My name mirrors a potential that my teachers see in my authentic nature. It’s something to grow into, to live up to, and mostly to uncover by living in accordance with the Noble Eightfold Path.
If you’d like to know more about the Venerables and the Dharmacharya path, visit them at Heartwood Refuge.
If you’d like to explore my initial Medium writings on Buddhism, look around at The Fifth Posture. We’re just getting started!
