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Mt Adams Zen Buddhist Temple

 

May 2013 Newsletter
Dear Dharma friends, as May begins my thoughts turn to the sadness of the explosions at the Boston Marathon and in Texas.  We have maintained a lit candle as well as offerings of merit, Mantra chanting, and Metta Practices for all touched by these tragedies.  May they all be well, may they all be happy, may they all know love, may they all know peace.

The bombers in Boston are as much a part of Buddha as you or I.  They have been living in desire, anger, and ignorance to have done such things.  Please be mindful to avoid being unkind to any individual - even if we do not agree with what they have done.

In the great practice of Emptiness, we can remember that there is not two - there is only one. We cannot say right or wrong, good or bad, of black or white and remain in the state of non-judgement.  When opposites arise the Buddha mind is lost.  May we all live in kindness towards all beings.

In Metta,  Ven. Kozen
You are Invited to Join Temple Friends and Family
for the Ordination of Abby Gail Layton

As you may know, Abby has been a Dharma teacher for many years.
Her most recent certification was in the Tibetan Tradition. 
Now she has joined the Vietnamese Thien (Zen) tradition
and has decided to give her life to the study of Buddha's teaching.
Abby will live at Trout Lake Abby and will be a Dharma teacher here.

When:  May 11th, Saturday at 2pm
Where: Lien Hoa Temple, 1221  Willson St. Olympia. WA.

Since the ceremony is taking place in the afternoon, we will only be serving refreshments after the ceremony.  If you wish you may bring a cash offering for the temple, or for the monks assisting in the ceremony.  If you decide to do so - please place all offerings in envelopes.  There will be 5 monks assisting in the ceremony.
One-day meditation intensives on May 25th, June 1st & July 20th.

Join us for a 7:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. meditation intensive on either or both of these two dates. We will practice several forms of meditation, develop metta, loving-kindness practices for ourselves and others. A vegetarian lunch will be served. Please contact Abby for reservations at 509.637.4511 or e-mail her abgale@embarqmail.com.  We're asking for a $30.00 donation, but we would rather have you here than your money, so don't let finances stop you from coming.
Buddha's Birthday Celebration

We celebrated Buddha's Birthday very early this year so we could attend the many other temple's celebrations going on in Washington and Oregon.  It is a special day honoring the birth of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha and his efforts to find peace and then share his teachings with the world.
Debbie Budd BD  Keith Budd BD  Buddha BD
Debbie bathing the baby Buddha       Keith bathing the baby Buddha      Sanga celebrating the birthday
 Buddha BD Shrine   Kozen Budd BD
                Birthday Shrine                                                         Ven. Kozen opening ceremonies
Eco-Dharma Retreat

We celebrated our 1st Eco-Dharma retreat concurrent with Earth Day.  We had 3 days of lovely fellowship, meditation, Dharma talks, and good vegetarian food.  Please see excerpts from Rev. John Boonstra's presentation below.  Our weekend was dedicated to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva (Jizo Bosatsu - "Earth Treasury")
     Thay Kobai         eco sanga
               Ven. Thay Kobai's Dharma talk                                           Ven. Miles and sanga meditating

Our presenters: Rev. John Boonstra - Keynote Speaker, Lew Ellingham - Poet and Birder, Rev. Koro Kaisan Miles - Stargazing and Buddhism, Ven. Thay Kobai Whitney - Earth teachings of Buddhism, Dave Martin MSOM,LAc - QiGong,  Abby Layton - Buddha walk, Ven. Thay Kozen Sampson - Organic Farming
We are a small Thien (Zen) Buddhist Temple practicing  "laughing farmer zen" - living our practice, sitting zazen, being here - right now!

Calendar

 

MAY
6 Thay Kozen to CRCC Prison 
14-21 Thay Kozen traveling
18 Wesak Celebration 9a
25  One-Day meditation Intensive
     (7:30 am - 3:30 pm)

 

JUNE

29 One-day meditation  

 

JULY  

8 Kozen to CRCC 

13. Obon, Ullambana 

20 Asala, One-day retreat 

 
Words of Wisdom 
by Gandi-ji

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed." 


"Truth never damages a cause that is just."


"It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err."    

 

"Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.

The New Pope - what a wonderful example of Metta Practice.

From a talk his Holiness gave:
To the gardeners and janitors of the Vatican, "If we have a closed heart, we have a heart of stone." To priests, an exhortation to "pray over the realities of the everyday lives" of their parishioners, and "their troubles, their joys, their burdens and their hopes." To the young people at the prison, "Help one another. This is what Jesus teaches us. This is what I do and I do it with my heart."

 

An act his Holiness performed: 

On Thursday, he washed the feet of young juvenile offenders at a detention center in Rome. Among them were two women; one of them was a Muslim. Let Catholics around the world take note. I can only marvel at this generous and loving gesture.

"But in Catholic life, rituals are usually accompanied by words. Sometimes the words are difficult to understand or are prayed in flat and boring tones as though the celebrant doesn't believe them. But when word and ritual come together in the best way, it can strike fire in human hearts".

 

These are acts of an enlightened being practicing Metta (Loving Kindness). 

Are You or your Sanga 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).  They are a clearing house for Buddhist Activity in the Northwest and need our support. Read more about the NWDA at http://www.northwestdharma.org/  
 

 

Do you know?   by Lew Ellingham, Poet & birder 

Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen bl�hn, Im dunkeln Laub die Gold-Orangen gl�hn ...

At first the large pigeon flock caught me, then the sky itself, small but many clouds wafting, and the silhouette, the palm trees centering Dolores Street, high against this ever more rose tinted sky, the sun must be near setting in the west.  Invisible. To me. From my caf� table,coffee freshly made, I'd slept the afternoon, I don't know why.

Kennst du das Haus? Auf S�ulen ruht sein Dach. Es gl�nzt der Saal, es schimmert das Gemach,Und Marmorbilder stehn und sehn mich an:Was hat man dir, du armes Kind, getan?

All light left the trees, then the highest building, Saint Matthew's Lutheran Church at the far corner, the cross atop it the last -

Was hat man dir, du armes Kind, getan?


That, that is what presses the erasing colors here, the darkness of the palms, the memory of the pigeon flock, a crow following, a humming traffic vaguely there, pedestrians, a beggar woman at the laundry next to the caf� -

What have they done? wretched child, what have they done to you?

-stare, fix the last tinting cloud,the fading rose, the darkness of night shall eventually prevail, not the darkness of this image, this half memory.

Kennst du den Berg und seinen Wolkensteg?

Refuse it. Finish the coffee, which tastes a richness found too in the evening sky.

Das Maultier sucht im Nebel seinen Weg ...

Refuse it. You have the depth of years knowing so much more than once

 

Lew presented at our Eco-Dharma weekend - sharing his love of birding and poetry.You can read more about Lew at http://lewellingham.wordpress.com/ 


 Excerpts from Rev. John Boonstra's Eco-Dharma retreat talk.

for the full talk you can contact Rev. Boonstra at johnboonstra@msn.com  

 

What did you do once you knew?

"It's 3:23 in the morning and I'm awake...because my great great grandchildren won't let me sleep.   My great great grandchildren ask me in dreams,

 

What did you do while the planet was plundered?

What did you do when the earth was unraveling? 

surely you did something ...when the seasons started failing?

As the mammals, reptiles, and birds were all dying...surely you did something?

 

Did you fill the streets with protest when democracy was stolen?

What did you do once you knew?

I've got the voice of the Milky Way in my dreams

I have teams off scientists feeding me data daily and pleading,

I want just this consciousness reached ...

 

It's 3:23 in the morning and I can't sleep

Because my great great grandchildren ask me in dreams

What did you do while the earth was unraveling?

I want just this consciousness reached by people in range of secret frequencies

 

I have worked for all my life in the ecumenical & interfaith movement. 

I have been with and learned from people of creation spirit and

radical community organizers from throughout every region of the planet.

And now I am struggling hard to put all their teachings into my life.    

And there are some unsettling lessons that keep reoccurring.               

For starters:  we are remarkably disconnected.

That is all ironic, isn't it? 

Because this is a time when we pride ourselves

in high speed internet, GPS devices, I-phones/I-pads and apps and

Facebook and Twitter that connect us with anybody, anytime, anyplace.

Yet, with all these connections, we are profoundly disconnected.

 

And what is worse is that we are connected with things that don't matter:

We can quickly recognize the golden arches of McDonalds, the symbols for NIKE,

            the six-stars of Subaru and the green goddess of Starbucks --- but many of

            us can't identify more than 4 types of flowers or 4 types of trees...

Most of us cannot name the children living on our block.....

 

We are a disconnected bunch of folks.

We don't see the connection between burning fossil fuels and droughts.

We don't see the connection between rising levels of obesity and diabetes

            with corporate agribusiness and toxic food profiteering.

We don't see the connection between melting ice caps and acidification of

            oceans with our unchecked carbon footprints.

 

It is last summer for me.  I am trying to settle my nerves about all the disconnect

My neighborhood is divided!  My country is fragmented!  My community wounded! 

            My relationship with the environment is distant!

It is only my spiritual journeying that reminds me that who I am is supposed to be

intimately tied to the great dramas of the world and of creation.

                     Visitors                   Altar
                                    Visitors to our temple                               Our main temple Altar
Cascade Mountain School

Cascade Mountain School is a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) focused educational program for middle and high school students.  It is grounded in community and ecological standards. 
Trout Lake abbey hosted one group here last summer and the experience was wonderful
for the kids attending and our staff. 
Contact the school at
cascademountainschool.org or  541.645.0688

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

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