Tuy?t S?n Thi?n T?

Mt Adams Zen Buddhist Temple

 

April 2015 Newsletter
Dear Dharma Family,  Happy Spring!  Laughing - I have had a wonderful cold which has kept me in bed much of April so far - silly old body, hence the late newsletter.  I am better now and enjoying the beauty of Spring.  After an illness it seems like my body feels like Spring after Winter - renewed and vibrant.  Illness is a good teacher for me about impermanence - everything will change - health and illness - laughing.  Be well and happy      Thay Kozen 

My intent is to be here for all three services daily, but occasionally, I am called away. If you need to talk with me or you need to be sure that I'm here, please call ahead.  509.637.5995... Kozen

Meditation in Vancouver with Thay Kozen the first Sunday of every month.
         
Join us for walking and sitting meditation and Dharma talks.  We start at 3:00 PM the first Sunday of the month 17808 NE 18th St., Vancouver WA 98684.  There will be not be a class in April due to our retreat at Mt. Adams Zen Temple that weekend.
Mindfulness and Science

 

Based on these new findings in social and personality psychology, here are five things you never knew mindfulness could do for you.  

 

Make you a kinder person

One series of studies from Paul Condon and colleagues at Northeastern University provides some compelling evidence that practicing mindfulness can indeed increase empathy and lead people to act more altruistically.

In a clever experiment, a group of study participants were asked to wait in a waiting room while the researchers were preparing their session, and were confronted by a person on crutches who was grimacing clearly in pain (an actor hired for the purpose of the study). The participant was seated in one of three chairs, all of which were occupied. The occupants of the other two chairs (also actors) did not volunteer their seats for the person in pain, creating a "bystander effect" that could encourage the participant not to help because the other people present weren't helping.

The researchers found that participants who were part of a group that had been practicing meditation for eight weeks (they were under the impression that the study was about the cognitive effects of mindfulness) was significantly more likely to volunteer the seat for the person in pain than the non-meditating control group.

"These findings are the first to show the power of meditation to increase one's compassionate response to others who are in pain," one of the study's lead authors, Dr. Paul Condon, said during the panel.

This study showed that meditation learned through live courses with a mindfulness teacher had a strong effect on altruistic behavior. Then, the researchers decided to find out if learning meditation

online might have a similar effect. In a subsequent study, they showed that people who underwent a two-week, 10 minute-a-day meditation course using the smartphone app Headspace 

were also more likely to behave altruistically, helping the actor who was pretending to be in pain, although the effect was not quite as pronounced."These findings... point to the ability to disseminate these practices through mobile technology, thereby lowering the barrier of entry for meditation," Condon said.

 

 

Learn to forgive

Psychologist Dr. Johan Karremans of Radboud University in the Netherlands presented three studies which suggested that people with more mindful personalities, as well as those who practice meditation, are more likely to forgive others for perceived wrongdoings. One of the studies showed that mindful people tend to more readily forgive their partners for past offenses, and also tend to be more accepting of their partners overall.

Calm your neuroses

Do you have neurotic tendencies? You might give mindfulness a try. The practice has been shown to help quell the voice of the "obnoxious roommate" in your head.

Robinson's research has shown that mindfulness can reduce feelings of anger and depression among people disposed to neuroticism. Other studies by Robinson and colleagues found that while negative feelings tend to lower self-control because they reduce mindfulness, practicing mindfulness can actually increase self-control.

Unravel unconscious racial biases

While most people are not overtly racist, research suggests that nearly all of us may display some level of unconscious racial biases operating below the surface that influence the way we think about behave. Some studies have suggested that meditation acts as an antidote to the mental automaticity -- our tendency to think about, judge and react to things swiftly and largely unconsciously -- that gives rise to these biases.

Mindfulness may reduce automatic responses, or even to the extreme, prevent these responses," psychologist and mindfulness researcher Dr. Brian Ostafin said during the symposium.

Restore your sense of wonder.

A mindfulness practice may actually prime the mind for these types of experiences. A recent University of Groningen study found that subjects who participated in a brief mindfulness exercise reported greater reactions to awe-inspiring images than those who did not complete the mindfulness exercise.

Read the whole article at? ? ?  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/05/surprising-mindfulness-be_n_6771374.html?utm_hp_ref=healthy-living 

Visiting Portland Buddhist Temples 

We visited 10 Buddhist temples in Portland. Above left is Minh Quang Temple
14719 SE.Powell Blvd, Pt, OR 97236, a lovely new temple.  Above right is  Maitripa College
1119 SE. Market, Portland, OR 97214.

Miao Fa Chan Temple 1722 SE. Madison St., Portland, OR 97214 provided us with a lovely vegetarian lunch.
We are a small Thien (Zen) Buddhist Temple practicing  "laughing farmer zen" - living our practice, sitting zazen, being here - right now!

Services & Meditation   

 

New Winter Schedule  

 

Morning Meditation  6:30AM 

Tuesday - Saturday

 

Evening Meditation
6:30 PM
Thursday - Saturday

 

 
Morning Services
9AM

Thursday - Saturday

****************   

Sunday Evening meditation at 6:00 pm at Trinity Natural Medicine
1808 Belmont Ave, Hood River, OR  

 

**************** 

1st Sunday of the month at Buu-hung Buddhist Monastery 17808 NE  18th St, Vancouver, WA  

Tel: (360) 718-6158    3:30pm - 4:30 pm    

No Vancouver service in April 

Calendar
  

APRIL

 

4-5 Retreat - Buu Hung

21 Thay Kozen to CRCC 

22 Earthday   


MAY
9 Buddha Day at CRCC


JUNE
13 Amit?bha Buddha Day
23 CRCC
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/ 

Sound Meditation and Manifestation Circle

April 2nd, 2015, Thursday
May 7th, 2015, Thursday
7:00-8:30pm.

At Cascade Acupuncture Center, Bamboo Room
104 5th St, Hood River, OR 

You are invited to experience the power of sound vibration and clear intention to relax, release, and feel renewed. We will tone, meditate, and focus our imagination, increasing the capacity for creativity and wellbeing.

All welcome- No experience required- Pre-regististration appreciated

Facilitated by Beth Welton-Miller, MS, LMT  For over 30 years, Beth has lived her passion for personal and relationship transformation helping people connect with their core essence. Her professional experience includes teaching workshops and working individually with people using body centered and energetic healing practices.

Reserve a space by e-mail to beth@vibrant-living.com or calling 503-680-5810 Sound Meditation and Manifestation Circle

Other Opportunities:
Beth is available for Intuitive Guidance, Energy Clearing and Balancing sessions at Cascade Acupuncture on Thursday's.  

Nghe ti?ng chu?ng phi?n n?o nh?

Tr? tu? l?n, B? ?? sinh

L?a ??a ng?c tho?t h?m l?a

Nguy?n th?nh Ph?t ?? ch?ng sinh.

When I listen to the sound of a bell,

Great wisdom and the Bodhi mind is awakened.

I leave hell and wish that

I may awaken to help all sentient beings. 
 

 

 


Community Resources

 

Free Trade coffee that goes for a good cause:   

The Presbyterian Coffee Project provides free trade, sustainable, worker friendly coffee.  In the greater Trout Lake area you can purchase it from The Farm Store at Trout Lake Abbey.  Proceeds are shared between the Trout Lake Presbyterian church and the Mt. Adams Zen Buddhist Temple.

Some Wonderful Northwest Dharma Resources

Cloud Mountain Retreat Center  http://www.cloudmountain.org/    

  

 Northwest Dharma Association http://www.northwestdharma.org/

 

Open Gate Zendo http://www.boundlessmindzen.org/

 

Pacific Hermitage  http://hermitage.abhayagiri.org/

 

Portland Buddhist Priory http://www.portlandbuddhistpriory.org/  

 

Plum Mountain Buddhist Community http://www.plummountain.org  


Zen Community of Oregon https://www.zendust.org/
(Great Vow Monastery)
 

A Buddhist Monk Deals With Cancer 

In 2011, William Tran, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk with the honorable ranking of Highest Buddhist Master, went to the dentist for inflammation in his gums. Antibiotics did not help and when the dentist saw him again, he was so concerned that he personally took Tran to the emergency room.

There, Tran was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and was told that his disease might not be cured.

1. As a patient, you have to let go now. Letting go means having no attachment.  Let's say you light a candle and there is a flame. If you transfer the flame to another candle and blow out the first one, where did it go? It's the same thing when we die. You were different 10 minutes ago from now. Every time we have a new experience, our soul isn't the same as it was before."


2. Don't deny the disease. Accept it as fact.
"Face reality. Deal with your stress right now. Doctors can take care of the body, but they cannot take care of the mind. Accept what you have right now. Face it directly and deal with it. If you accept the facts and ask for help, your mind will calm down. The medicine will kick in."

3. When you're faced with a crisis, believe in your own religion, God or morals.
"Don't start questioning now. Believe in morality and what your good deeds are. And you have to believe in yourself. This is really important. You have a lot of knowledge and power. All people have the potential for something great. For a great accomplishment."

 

4. Believe and trust in your medical team. Follow their instructions. "We can deal with the side effects of the drugs with our minds. The doctors are the professionals. Trust them. It is a misconception that Buddhists believe that when you donate part of your body (blood, bone marrow) that your body is no longer intact and that you will not have a full rebirth in your new life. We believe that donating your body is the highest level of Buddhism. Donate anything. It's the right thing to do. The key is you do it for nothing in return -- just to help people."

5. Meditate."When you meditate, your body produces endorphins. You produce less cortisol --that's the bad thing that creates a lot of stress. This is one way to calm yourself down and let your body heal along with the medication. I practiced meditation every day and I did not have problems with nausea or vomiting during chemotherapy. I ate double what I was expected to!"

   "Accepting your fate doesn't mean that you give up. It means facing your reality. Stand up and fight it. You don't just give up. When we say we accept our fate that means we face the facts right now and we will deal with it."

6. When confronting the unknown or the fear of relapse, live in the present."To practice meditation, you have to live in the present. [Your disease] might come back and it might not. Don't live for the future. Plan for the future. We still plan for the future in the normal ways in life. But we are all going to die. If someone doesn't die of cancer it could be heart disease or a traffic accident outside. We have to die somewhere. We don't know when. So we try our best."
Sonam and Dechen

Sonam and Dechen, Tibetan refugee girls whom our temple sponsors, have received the latest gift package that we sent.  We try to get them girly things as well as school supplies and warm clothes. 

 

EWG singles out produce with the highest pesticide loads for its Dirty Dozen? list. This year, it is comprised of apples, peaches, nectarines, strawberries, grapes, celery, spinach, sweet bell peppers, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, imported snap peas and potatoes.

Each of these foods tested positive a number of different pesticide residues and showed higher concentrations of pesticides than other produce items.

 

EWG's Clean Fifteen? list of produce least likely to hold pesticide residues consists of avocados, sweet corn, pineapples, cabbage, frozen sweet peas, onions, asparagus, mangoes, papayas, kiwis, eggplant, grapefruit, cantaloupe, cauliflower and sweet potatoes. Relatively few pesticides were detected on these foods, and tests found low total concentrations of pesticides on them.

 

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

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

Plum Mountain Buddhist Community

April 2014 Newsletter

  

Weekly Schedule: Daily 6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Service with short recitation and half hour seated meditation, at 516 W. Cushing in Aberdeen. This is except for Fridays and when Thay Kobai is away from the Harbor. Our regular community (sangha) gathering is Tuesday evenings at Cushing St. 6:30 to 8 p.m. We do some movement and sitting meditation, with plenty of guidance for newcomers.  Thay Kobai or a senior student gives a short talk on Buddhist principles followed by Q&A and discussion.


End of March Events

25 March, Wednesday: Chris Richards (Sucarita) arrives in Aberdeen to join the PMR Sangha.


31 March, Tuesday: Kobai on Coffee Talk, 8:15 a.m. 1450AM or 100.5FM

31 March Tuesday: Community Meditation, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. We do some simple movement and seated meditation, followed by a short talk and sandwich making for "Lunch Under the Bridge," tomorrow. Other details above.


April Events

1 April, Wednesday:  Lunch Under the Bridge   Meet at 10 a.m. St. Andrew's Episcopal kithchen.


1 April: Thay Kobai & Sucarita leave for Desert Zen Center

4 April, Saturday:  Full  Moon ?


7 April, 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. Check with Thay Kobai if you have questions.

12 April, Sunday Buddha's Birthday Celebration at Desert Zen Center


14 April, Tuesday: Community Meditation, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. We do some simple movement and seated meditation, followed by a short talk by a senior student and a Q&A discussion. People of any or no faith are welcome. Kobai & Sucarita return today
18 April, Saturday: New Moon ?

21 April, 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 on Mudra in Buddhist Practice & Iconography.

28 April, 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. Check with Thay Kobai if you have questions.


Future Events
Shorebird Festival, Hoquiam, Friday May 1 thru Sunday May 3. Link at:  www.shorebirdfestival.com   

5 May, Tuesday: Dedication of Lady Altar along with Tuesday program, including guest speakers.


16 May, Saturday Mindfulness in the Kitchen, Montesano Community Education, Monte HS Home Ec Rm. 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. $11, register MCE

5 June, Friday: Meditation for People Who Think They Can't Meditate. Register MCE $5.


Some Dharma:

There is no way to count the number of living beings each of us comes across in a day as we go about our ordinary life. All of them, whether they are obnoxious drivers who tail-gate us (while texting) or the crow who squawks because he expects to be fed, or the boring or unprepossessing person who we run into at the market-and who wants to talk. We swim through all these beings on our way downstream, or up, and they need our generosity and our non-judging listening


This is what a life of praying constantly, or living in the presence of God means. It is what our own tradition insists on when we pair mindfulness with loving-kindness. Our encounters with others are the interstices where we get to set aside our own self-cherishing and listen to the cries of the world. As Jeff Miles reminds us, we cannot breathe in the past or in the future. The breath is always right now, as is the opportunity for deep listening to the words and songs of other living beings.



We are happy to be a member of the Northwest Dharma Association

and encourage you to consider joining.

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