Tuyết Sơn Thiền Tự

Mt Adams Zen Buddhist Temple

 

December 2015 Newsletter
We are a small Thien (Chan) Buddhist Temple practicing  "laughing farmer zen" - living our practice, sitting meditation, being here - right now! 

Dear Dharma Family,

Because suffering is impermanent, that is why we can transform it.
Because happiness is impermanent, that is why we have to nourish it. Thich Nhat Hanh
 
On terrorism - "Man is not the enemy",  Our enemy is hatred, anger, ignorance and fear." Thich Nhat Hanh
May peace truly live in our hearts and may we all experience peace.  May this holiday season open our hearts to each other and to Love, Thay Kozen 
Total Temple Fund Donations reach $7750
Thank you to these recent donors:
Hav Howard Quang & Yen Susan Quang, Quang Lac, Tam Thao, Tam Ngoc, Dong Thanh, Hanh Ngoc, Linh Vi, Dieu Canh, Dieu Hue, Yen Luong, Quang Khai, Ngoc Hoa, Ngoc Quang, Hubert Becaud Tangpo & KimAnh Thi Nguyen

A group of caring temple members have started a fund to help with the new temple, see the chart below.


All Soul's Day Celebration
On Sunday Nov 1st we had a food offering and memorial service for all who have died.  This date is based upon the tradition of "All Soul's Day and All Saints Day" as celebrated by the western Christian world.  We prepared special foods, fruits, chocolate, beer and spoke all of the names of those of whom the temple has personal knowledge.  We also remembered some great leaders:  Ven.Thich Thien An, Rev. Soyu Matsuoka, Thich, Thích Quảng Đức, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Carl Jung, Martin Luther King Jr, Rev. Ruth Fuller Sasaki, and Rev Jiyu Kennett

GPS - Gentleness, Peacefulness, Stillness
A wonderful Catholic nun visited recently and shared about her belief and practice.  She was quite lovely.  In addition to her practice and teaching of meditation, she left me with a whole new concept about GPS; Gentleness, Peacefulness, Stillness.  What a wonderful re-using of a common term this is.  When we are open, the whole world becomes our teacher.  Those sneaky, awake, lovely catholic nuns who have become Bodhisattvas and teach meditation and support the awakening process in others are most wonderful! 
This story was in our newsletter 1 year ago - it remains very real.  May we all go everywhere with GPS - Thay Kozen
   Precepts Retreat November 2015 
A Di Đà Phật 
               
 
             Temple Services and chanting                        Monks Sa Di Minh Tinh, Thích Quảng Hạnh,
                                                                                     Thich Minh Tinh, and
Thích Huệ Thuận     
                                                                                     nuns
Thich Hue Huong, Thích Nữ Đàm Khánh

                                                                                     and Thích Nữ Tánh Hải

During our precepts retreat we take a time to review the eight lay precepts and gain greater understanding of what each one means to us.  We also take the opportunity to rededicate our commitment to follow the precepts.       

 Sa Di Minh Thien ("Thay Z")'s monthly column  
 
December 2015
Recently. I had the good fortune of participating in a Precepts Retreat coordinated with the Buu Hung Monastery and held at the Mount Adams Zen Buddhist Temple. As I prepared to participate it was useful to reflect on the value and objectives of a Precepts Retreat. The Buddha taught that for his teachings to be sustained it would require a four-fold assembly composed of monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen. He said that these groups have much to offer to one another and a complete spiritual community includes them all. For many people in the west, exposure to the devoted practice of monks and nuns is limited. This retreat was built around Eight Precepts in which monks, nuns and laypersons all participated.

Following the Eight Precepts offered us all an opportunity to establish conditions supportive of turning inward and training the mind. Although some may think of precepts as limiting and confining, in fact abiding by the Eight Precepts frequently results in a noticeable sense of relief and release. When the Eight Precepts become second nature, they support a sane and healthy lifestyle-and how the habitual choices and behaviors that arise when we are not living within the framework of the Eight Precepts contribute to suffering and delusion.

The Eight Precepts build upon the basic Five Precepts to: 1) refrain from destroying living creatures; 2) refrain from taking that which is not given; 3) refrain from sexual misconduct; 4) refrain from lying; and 5) refrain from intoxicating drinks and drugs.
For these Eight Precepts, the additional three added precepts were: 6) no using of cosmetics or perfumes; 7) no lying or sitting on a high bed and refraining from entertainment like singing and dancing; and 8) no eating after midday.

These Eight Precepts simplified our daily living so that all of our efforts and attention could more easily be directed to the training of the mind.
In doing so, it helped us redirect the trajectory of our intentions in many situations. It reminds us to consider what the Buddha taught us about suffering as a result of our actions and words when used outside of mindfulness and that the cessation of suffering is attainable. I am finding that using this type of reflection to shape decisions, rather than endlessly weighing what is right, justifiable or rational, is proving to be more conducive to actions that are beneficial to myself and others and doesn't result in as much remorse or regret.

One key discovery that I had during this retreat was the difference between what I know and purport to practice and what goes on in my sometimes "undisciplined" mind. I recognize more clearly now that when I am emotionally triggered, my limbic brain (emotional brain) very often gets the first bite at the trigger. My practice and my commitment to the teachings of the Buddha and these Precepts helps to short circuit that process. In mindfulness I can recognize more quickly what is the actual trigger and what is triggering me at the moment. Everyone's emotional brain tell lies and by recognizing our triggers we find a valuable key to living more mindfully and to actually experience moments when cessation of suffering is very recognizable.

We sometimes have strong views about what is necessary for our happiness. When we open ourselves to living by the Eight Precepts, it means we are willing to let go of what we thought we needed and discover for ourselves what it is that helps the heart to feel bright, peaceful, and happy. Living in this way, and being with others who are doing the same, "gives occasion for incomparable goodness to arise in the world." What better gift could we give to ourselves or to the world? I have much gratitude for this opportunity to practice.
 
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
time-lapse-mountain.jpg
Come and join us on Sunday 7 December  for Midnight Meditation
11:30pm - 12:30 am
We will meditate on the last day of Buddha's
pre-enlightenment day and meditate on the start of Buddha's
first day of enlightenment 
fireworks-summer.jpg  
Come and join us on    
WEDNESDAY 31 December 
for Midnight Meditation
 11:30pm - 12:30 am
We will meditate on the last day of the year
and
meditate on the start of the first day of the New Year 

Winter temple meditation hours 
Monday - Friday 6:30 am
Full Service Saturday 9am 
   
DECEMBER
6 Buu Hung Monastery Dharma talk and meditation at 3pm - in Vancouver WA
7 Bodhi Day - celebrating Buddha's Birth, Death, and Enlightenment
meditation starts at 11:30 pm and ends at 12:30 am
8-10 Qigong Retreat NCNM 
15-17 Mama Bear retreat 
30 IMBOLC - Druids
31 meditation starts at 11:30 pm and ends at 12:30 am 
  
JANUARY
3 Buu Hung Monastery CANCELLED JAN, FEB, AND MARCH - restart in April
9-10 Two day Metta retreat Sat 9 Jan at 9 am - Sunday 10 Jan at 11am
17-23 Week long Meditation Hut retreat - Kozen

FEBRUARY
5-7 Shamanic Retreat - Private
19-20 Qigong retreat NCNM
Salmona - White Salmon River Goddess
Artist Laurel Marie Hagner has transformed her creative focus and is excited to announce what is new at Glassometry Studios.  Celebrating 5 years in business, Laurel recently installed "Gerry's Angel", a memorial sculpture to her father, on 12th st. across from the Farm Stand, as part of  "Art of Community".  This sculpture is a guardian and is meant to serve as a source of compassion and prayers for anyone in need.   Creating sacred works has become Laurel's focus.  She is most interested in sharing the process, stories of their creation, and the healing involved in their invocation. 
Laurel is finishing her first three sculptural altars in glass.  With two years and hundreds of hours invested, these larger cast glass works are intricately detailed, full of color, and illustrate the deep, familiar, yet sometimes forgotten story of life.  One is dedicated to Fall, the devastating yet purifying wildfires, and the transformation that happens through embracing death as part of rebirth.  Another is a manifestation of Spring, the gentle nurturing time of new growth, infinite compassion in her active form, and the harnessing of the masculine and feminine necessary to bring new life to the world.  The third is an evocation of the Goddess of the White Salmon River, commissioned by the Mt Adams Zen Buddhist Temple and the White Mountain Druid Sanctuary in Trout Lake, WA.  This work of art illustrates the teaming power of the White Salmon River and the ecosystem that thrives off its waters.  These sacred works have been Laurel's teachers on her path to personal and professional change.  She is eager to share the concepts, the magic, the processes, and the myths these works contain.
Laurel Marie Hagner,  Artist/Owner of Glassometry Studios, 3015 Lower Mill Dr. Hood River, OR 97031 phone 541-354-3015   http://www.glassometry.com
Sign up for her email newsletter here:  http://glassometry.com/email-sign-up/
 Green Tara glass sculpture
Want wholesale pricing and discounts on everything from produce to chocolate to household goods?

Come find out about the Mt Adams Buying Club which is forming now.

Sun. Nov 6th 4-5pm Trout Lake Abbey, Fireside Room

Questions? Call or email Joanna  503-863-7763   mtadamsbc@gmail.com

Are you part of the Northwest Dharma Association? 
if not, it is tim e to join!  If you are a solitary practitioner or a sanga you can 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/
   
Tibet Aid Needs Your Help

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

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