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Mt Adams Zen Buddhist Temple

 

November 2013 Newsletter

Dear Dharma Family,

Well, Fall is fully here for us and we're enjoying the great seasonal change.  We're going from warm days and cool nights to stormy days and cold nights.  Burrr...yesterday I awoke to 28 F (-2.2C) laughing - frosty air and a beautiful crisp sky full of stars. .  We have nestled in our crops - hoping to keep them from the frost for a while.  We have just sown wildflower seeds along our drive with the hopes of a beautiful spring garden.  In doing so I was reminded of the wisdom of gardeners and nature lovers.

"Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed.  Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders".                                         Henry David Thoreau

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant".                                                Robert Louis Stevenson

"Flowers and fruit are only the beginning.  In the seed lies the life and the future".

Marion Zimmer Bradley

"Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago".                          Warren Buffet

"The birds have vanished into the sky, and now the last cloud drains away.                                                      We sit together, the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains".                                                              Li Po, translated by Stephen Mitchell

"The twelve sense bases are burning and blazing,"
said the Buddha In the Aditta (Adittapariyana) Sutta from the Pali Canon
( also called the fire sermon).

 

 "Everything is burning.

What is burning?

The eyes are burning.


Everything seen by the eyes is burning.

The ears are burning.
What is burning?

Everything heard by the ears is burning.

The nose is burning.
Smells are ablaze.
The tongue is burning.

Tastes are ablaze.

The body is burning.

The mind is burning..."

Every time we see good or bad, like or dislike, we add a stick to a burning fire that is our ego. Every time we want something, lust after a person or thing, dance with our anger or ignorance we add another stick to the fire.  Every time we judge or criticize we add another stick to the fire.  The Buddha tells us to become "disenchanted with stuff, judgements, thoughts, ideas....." 

We are a small Thien (Zen) Buddhist Temple practicing  "laughing farmer zen" - living our practice, sitting zazen, being here - right now!

Calendar


NOVEMBER

 8 Renew Tibet Aid pledge

16 One day meditation Intensive 

20 Matsuoka Students Reunion Anniversary

28 Thanksgiving

DECEMBER  

3-5 Temple closed

 

7 Midnight meditation (11:00 pm -1:00 am)    

8 SundayService 9am  Bodhi Day - celebration of Buddha's Enlightenment - (Japan).  Temple gift exchange   

25 Yule

31 Midnight meditation  (11:00pm - 1:00 am) 

JANUARY

1 New Years day
Words of Wisdom 
by Gandi-ji

 

"Love is the strongest force the world possesses and yet it is the humblest imaginable."  

 

"There is more to life than simply increasing its speed."  

 

"My Life is My Message"  

 

"I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings."   

 

"The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace." 


"There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever. "


"What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another."


"It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result."  

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/ 

 

Abby has moved to Portland
We hope her life and health will be better supported there.  May she be happy, may she be well, may she know love, may she know peace.
She will need some help to get extra medical services.  Will you join with the temple in sending her $20.00 a month for 1 year?  You can contact her at ichayimabby@gmail.com

Our Fall Retreat was a wonderful success
We had members from 3 Sangas join us in the retreat for a total of 35 individuals.  All meals were done with mindful eating and we had periods of back to back meditation periods and work periods.  Our cooks prepared delicious vegetarian meals and the weather was crisp and clear. 
The Most Venerable T.T. Th�ch �n Gi�o Roshi - Abbot of Ch�a Thi�n �n Desert Zen Center.  A disciple of The Most Venerable H.T. Th�ch Thi�n �n, Roshi led
many engaging moment throughout the weekend.

  The temple was full of attendees for 3 services per day.

Mindful work included moving stone around our new meditation huts.
Small Updates

Pope Francis continues to display metta wherever he goes.  A truly wonderful example for all faiths.  His leadership on poverty, humility, and loving kindness has brightened the world for Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

Tracking Bodhidharma
by Andy Ferguson and Zen At War by Brian Victoria are both exciting new books that tell us a lot about Zen history and practices.  While I don't agree with everything in Zen at War it is worth reading.

Our temple will sponsor a Spring Retreat and a Fall Retreat every year.  We hope to join with one or two other sangas to increase attendance and provide more Dharma teachers.  We will have the schedule out for these events by mid January.

We have 6 meditation huts completed and 1/3 of the landscaping in The Cloister, our meditation retreat area.  We hope to complete the additional 2 huts and landscaping by next Summer.
 

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

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