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Mt Adams Zen Buddhist Temple

 

August 2014 Newsletter
Dear Dharma Family,
  The full heat of August is here and we're very active in watering our gardens and fields.  It seems that when the days are very warm we are acutely aware of the need for water and when days are just mildly warm we tend to minimize our response.  Perhaps we are becoming more "water aware".  Water, the life blood of our earth, is starting to intrude into our awareness.  As our climate changes, we seem to be having increasing issues about water - too much or often too little.  Many people around the world do not have easily access to potable water (water safe enough to be consumed by humans or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm)
   Please join us for an earth advocacy evening in Hood River (Oregon) at the waterfront at 6pm on Monday, August 4.  We will offer mufti-faith prayers for the Columbia River and all of our natural resources.  See the flyer below.

   Also note the Plum Mountain Buddhist Community's newsletter below (at the end of the Mt Adams Newsletter)

  May we all live in peace.                   Thay Kozen
 Venerable Kobai Scott Whitney, received his full ordination as a monk

During a ceremony on July 8, 2014, at the Desert Zen Center in Lucerne Valley California, Thay Kobai, Thich Minh T'am, recieved full ordination as a monk.  Thay Kobai (far left standing) served his 2 year novitiate during which time he assisted at Mt Adams Zen Buddhist temple and also passed a public examination of his knowledge.  He conducted services, gave Dharma talks, and acted as the monk in charge on numerous occasions.   All of us wish Thay Kobai the very best in his role as a fully ordained monk in the Vietnamese Zen tradition.

Thay Kobai is surrounded by his son, grandchildren and brother at his ordination ceremony.
A new Mandala takes shape
mandella
Left to right, Debbie Nelson, Toby Wiggin, and Father David Forbes use colored rice to make the Madala.  We will be adding the color to the mandala until it is completed - we estimate in 3 weeks, then we will mix the rice together, cook it, and offer it to the hungry ghost spirits.
We are a small Thien (Zen) Buddhist Temple practicing  "laughing farmer zen" - living our practice, sitting zazen, being here - right now!

Calendar

AUGUST  

4 - Water Prayer - Hood River Water front 6PM (see flyer below)  

24 - Kozen presents at
Wy'est UU 10AM
(Hollywood Sr. Center
1820 NE 40th, Portland)

SEPTEMBER
 
OCTOBER
7-26 Visit China & Zen Temples

Thich Thien An

Read more about this wonderful Zen teacher on our website www.mtadamszen.org 

"In Zen Buddhism an action is considered good when it brings happiness and well-being to oneself and others, evil when it brings suffering and harm to oneself and others".

"So let the mind flow like water. Face life with a calm and quiet mind and everything in life will be calm and quiet".

"In Zen, actions speak louder than words. Doing is more important than knowing, and knowledge which cannot be translated into action is of little worth".

"The beauty of Zen is found in simplicity and tranquility, in a sense of the all-embracing harmony of things".

"If we are always demanding something out of life, then we will never be content. But if we accept life as it is, then we will know contentment".

"Since everything is interrelated, since all things depend one upon another, nothing is absolute, nothing is separate, but all are part of the one indivisible whole".

"So let the mind flow like water. Face life with a calm and quiet mind and everything in life will be calm and quiet".

"To practice Zen Buddhism is to train oneself to eliminate hatred, anger and selfishness and to develop loving-kindness towards all".

Is your group part of the Northwest Dharma Association? 
if not, it is time to join!  If you are a solitary practitioner or without a sanga you can still donate dana (money).  The are a clearing house for Buddhist Activity in the Northwest and need our support. 
 
read more about the NWDA at http://www.northwestdharma.org/ 

Photos from The Desert Zen Center retreat.  The Center is also known as Chua Thien An.

The abbot, Thich An Giao, hosted monks from
Rev. Dr. Th�ch Thi�n-�n's lineage for a 1 week retreat.

Ven. Hoa Thuong Thich An Giao, seated in the center in a red robe, is the most senior living disciple of Rev. Dr. Th�ch Thi�n-�n.   
You can read more about
Chua Thien An at
http://www.desertzencenter.org/  

Sign at Buddha's birthplace
This sign was posted along the walkway to Buddha's birthplace shrine in Nepal.
 Venerable Visitors
Thich Phuoc Hanh, Thich Minh Tinh and Thich Nu Hue Huong tour the cloister retreat area.  Thich Phuoc Hanh is visiting the US and will soon retrurn to Vietnam.  
Labyrinth Crew - laying out the circle
First Labryinth stones
The first stones have been placed for the paths of the Labyrinth.  It will be used by people of many faiths to help them quiet their minds.  Our temple will use it as part of our regular walking meditation practice.


Marking the circle pathways required 8 persons, a rope, and ground marking paint.  Members from the United Methodist Church in White Salmon, Rev. Kirk Thomas and neighbor, Jack Fee, volunteered for the layout ceremony.


The path marking stones are in place, a walkway to the Labyrinth has been laid out and now we'll add landscaping and sprinklers to complete the  walking meditation circle.  It can be used by anyone during the daytime and you are welcome to come and walk it without appointment or attending services.

BLUE ZONES - longevity 

Dan Buettner, author of  The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest explained the following in a recent interview.

100 year olds did not try to live long - it just happened to them.

About 84 percent of all health care dollars are spent because of bad food choices, inactivity and un-managed stress

There are Blue Zones in certain areas around world. 

In the US one group of Blue Zone individuals are Seventh-day Adventists. Adventists live 10 years longer than the average person The behaviors that put them in the Blue Zone include:

            1.  eating a mostly plant-based diet (with little meat)  

            2.  having "a social network that reinforces the right health behaviors.

            3.  Their religious beliefs are also a big help, providing a role model to reduce stress.  

Find out more at: http://www.bluezones.com/  

or  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/31/seventh-day-adventists-life-expectancy_n_5638098.html 

Abby Layton's daughter, Marah, has produced a film, Sunshine Superman, which will be premiering at the Toronto Film Festival in September.   
TIFF.net | Sunshine Superman 
http://www.tiff.net/festivals/thefestival/programmes/tiff-docs/sunshine-superman 
From the Star, read half way down....... 
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2014/07/29/tiff_goes_to_extremes_with_docs_midnight_madness_picks.html 
From the Los Angeles Times, also about half way down...... 
 
May the Infinite Light of Wisdom and Compassion so shine within us that the errors and vanities of self may be dispelled; so shall we understand the changing nature of existence and awaken into spiritual peace.


PO Box 487, Trout Lake WA 98650     www.MtAdamsZen.org

509.395.2030  (e-mail -put in the @ sign) kozen1 at embarqmail.com

 

Events in August

5 August: Tuesday, Community Meditation, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. We do some simple movement and seated meditation, followed by a short talk by Thay Kobai on Ethical Action and a Q&A discussion. People of any or no faith are welcome. See details above.

 

10 August: Saturday Full Moon

12 August: Tuesday, Community Meditation

, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. We do some simple movement and seated meditation, followed by a short talk by Thay Kobai and a Q&A discussion. People of any or no faith are welcome.  

 

 18 August: Monday, Coffee Talk, Thay Kobai on at 9:10 a.m. on AM1450 KBKW in Aberdeen.

19 August: Tuesday, Community Meditation

, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. We do some simple movement and seated meditation, followed by a short talk by Thay Kobai and a Q&A discussion. People of any or no faith are welcome.  

 

 23 August: Saturday Brunch Intensive,

9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at 516 W. Cushing in Aberdeen. A pot-luck half day retreat with a sit-walk-sit schedule. Thay Kobai will talk about skillful or wholesome action. Dress comfortably and bring a breakfast dish.  

 
 23 August: Saturday Jeff's (Fa Hsing's) Birthday. 25 August: Monday:

New Moon.  

 

 26 August: Community Meditation

, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. We do some simple movement and seated meditation, followed by a short talk by Thay Kobai and a Q&A discussion. People of any or no faith are welcome.  

 

28 August to 9 September: Thay Kobai in California

for La Salle Brothers reunion and family visits.  

 

Some Dharma:

I watched a BBC documentary about the life of the Prophet Mohammad the other day and a British historian mentioned that Mohammad had been an orphan and that this fact had determined the course of much of his lifetime. "He was everyone's child," she said to explain how the extended family and the local village had looked after him. He was mentored by one of his uncles and eventually married a wealthy older woman who loved him dearly as well as trusting him to manage her trading businesses. He learned to be a good administrator and negotiator and was noted as a peacemaker among the warring tribes of Arabia-

which runs counter to Western stereotypes about militant Islam.  

 

 Buddhists have ideas like this too. We sometimes point out that any one of us could have been your mother or father in a previous lifetime. We are all kin. We are both parent and child to all living beings.

I am everyone's child in the sense that I learn from, and am guided by, all other sentient beings. Our practice of meditation, mindfulness and ethics is what prepares us to parent other beings and what opens us to the care and guidance that other beings might show to us. This is the Bodhisattva ideal: no one wakes up till we all wake up together. Each one is everyone's child.

Thay Kobai  

 

Our newsletter is now incorporated into Trout Lake Abbey's monthly newsletter. There are photos as well as dharma content on that newsletter. To subscribe, email: business@tlabbey.com.

We are happy to be a member of the Northwest Dharma Association and encourage you to consider joining.

 

We also participate in the Faith Action Network: www.fanwa.org.

We are also affiliated with Open Gate Zen Center in Olympia. For information on their programs go to

www.boundlessmindzen.org

If you do not want to receive this newsletter, please email info@plummountain.org