Tuyết Sơn Thiền Tự

Mt Adams Zen Buddhist Temple

 

June 2015 Newsletter
Dear Dharma Family, 
Thich Vinh Minh has returned to Vietnam and we will miss him.  Thay Z has been here for an extended stay and we will also miss his kind and hardworking support. 
Change, change, change - as we greet each moment in the present and treat it as a friend, we begin to experience the miracles.          May we all find peace.  Thay Minh Tinh  
Our Snow Pavilion gets great use during rain and snowy times
 
We have built a small sitting platform with a simple roof and poly carbon sliding barn doors .  It allows us to meditate outside in the snow and rain.  Above are photos of us out in the mornings - most of us bundled up in blankets and coats to protect us from the cold. 
Come and join us for 6:30 am morning meditation Tuesday - Saturday mornings.
ONE DAY RETREAT
Join us for an 8 hour retreat on Saturday June 13.

Walking Meditation....Sitting Meditation...Mindfulness Practices
Mindful Eating...Work Meditation...Metta

 

8:00 Orientation and Tour

8:30 Meditation basics lecture  

9 Morning Service

10:15 Tea

10:30  14 movement "Moving Buddha" meditation 

10:50 Work Meditation 

11:30 Walking Meditation

12 noon - clean up and prepare food 

12:20 Lunch - Vegetarian

2:45 clean up and break 

3:15 Sitting meditation 

3:45 Dharma Talk

4:00 Metta Practice  

4:20  Closing service  

 

What to expect at a day-long retreat

Meditation instruction - how to deal with body, breath, and mind

Sitting and walking meditation.

Discussions of some of the lectures and sutras from great teachers

Chanting and reading sutras

Wear loose clothing - coats and hats for winter time

A vegetarian lunch (eating as mindful practice)

Private time to work on your personal meditation practice

Work as mindful practice

Please plan on attending.

$30.00 suggested donation

 

We'd rather have you here than your money - Don't let finances stop you from attending.

Laurie VanCott's Yoga Retreat


  A lovely group of individuals came and shared our facility practicing yoga. In this photo they are all in The Cloister area on our walking meditation boardwalk.
Sadi Minh Thien's Column

We will have a new column written by Ven. Ron Zimmerman each month.  
This is his first installment - may we all benefit from his Dharma Teaching.  Thay Kozen


 For Buddha, the path to happiness starts from an understanding of the root causes of suffering (The Four Noble Truths). Those who consider Buddha a pessimist because of his concern for suffering have missed the point. In fact, through his Awakening, one might think of him as a skillful doctor.  First he breaks the bad news of our suffering (The First Noble Truth), provides a diagnosis (The Second Noble Truth), provides hope for relief from the suffering (The Third Noble Truth) and finally prescribes a proactive course of treatment (The Fourth Noble Truth).
 
In this metaphor, the medicine is the Buddhist teachings of wisdom and compassion known as Dharma.  We are also encouraged to seek support in a community that we know as Sangha.  The suffering however, can only be cured if the patient follows the doctor's advice.  This is done by following the course of treatment through understanding, practicing and growing in The Noble Eightfold Path.

In Buddhism, this treatment is not a simple medicine to be swallowed, but rather a daily practice of mindful thought and action that we ourselves can test through our own experiences. Meditation is the most well-known tool of this practice; but contrary to what some believe, it is not about detaching from the world.  Rather it is a tool to train the mind not to dwell on the past or the future, but to live in the here and now, the realm in which we can experience peace and balance most readily.

The first and second verses of the Dammapada, the earliest known collection of Buddha's sayings, talk about suffering and happiness.
 
"All that we are is the result of what we have thought.  It is founded on our thoughts.   It is made up of our thoughts.  If one speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows one, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the wagon.

All that we are is the result of what we have thought.  It is founded on our thoughts.  It is made up of our thoughts.  If one speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows one, like a shadow that never leaves."
 
May All Beings Be Happy and Free  Ven. Z
Ven. Fa Hsing in meditation

Thay Jeff Miles joins in meditation with the mountain and pond during a recent visit.
Thich Vinh Minh's Column
Thich Thien An wrote two books in English

           

Thích Thiên-Ân (September 1926 - November 1980) was an influential teacher and Buddhist monk of Vietnamese Thiền (Zen) Buddhism and was active in the United States from 1966 to 1980.

Thích Thiên-Ân came to the United States from Vietnam in the summer of 1966 as an exchange professor. He taught philosophy at the University of California, Los Angeles. After discovering that he was not only a renowned scholar, but a Zen Buddhist monk, as well, his students convinced him to teach Zen meditation and to start a Buddhist study group on the UCLA campus.

A few years later, his enthusiastic students encouraged Thích Thiên-Ân to apply for permanent residence and open a meditation center that included a place for practitioners to live and study Zen Buddhism. In 1970, he founded the International Buddhist Meditation Center in the Koreatown section of Los Angeles, California . The International Buddhist Meditation Center he founded continues to thrive.

Once established, Thích Thiên-Ân taught the traditions of Zen Buddhism at his center. In addition, he taught Eastern Philosophy and Asian Studies at Los Angeles City College. He retired from teaching at the college when he was diagnosed with liver cancer in 1979. He continued teaching at his center until he died in 1980 at the age of 54, succumbing to the effects of the liver cancer.

Thích Thiên-Ân authored the following books: Zen Philosophy, Zen Practice (ISBN 0-913546-33-X);and Buddhism and Zen in Vietnam copyright 1975 (ISBN 0-8048-1144-X).

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Thi%C3%AAn-%C3%82n

Thich Thien An's oldest living disciple is The Venerable Thich An Giao, of Chua Thien An (Desert Zen Center) in Lucerne Valley CA. Thay An Giao carries on the teachings and heart of Thich Thien An in the Lam Te tradition of Rinzai Zen.   

We at Mt Adams Zen Center are in the lineage of Thich Thien An and Thich An Giao and remain in their debt for the wonderful Dharma that they developed and passed on to us.  Thank you.

September Yoga Retreat

An upcoming yoga retreat with Jo Matson.  For more information or registration contact
www.joannematson.com   (509) 310-9650
 

Temple Services Schedule

Morning Meditation at 6:30 am

Tuesday - Saturday

Morning Service at 9:00 am

Saturday

 

Evening Meditation at 6:30 pm

Thursday - Saturday

- off site services -   

Sunday evenings at Trinity Natural Medicine in Hood River we have meditation at 6 pm.

(1808 Belmont Ave, Hood River, OR 97031  tel.  541.386.2025)  

The first Sunday of the month Buu Hung Monastery we have meditation at 3 pm

17808 NE 18th St. Vancouver WA  

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

Calendar 

 

JUNE
13 - one day retreat

23 - CRCC
27 - Bike Tour de Trout Lake    

29 Hospice presentation 

 

JULY    

4 - Independance Day

5 Buu Hung Monastery 

  

  AUGUST
1 - 2 Aug Precepts retreat
4 - CRCC
22 - Ksitigarbha Day
29 - Temple Anniversary
30- Sept 7 Joanna Macy Retreat
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 sangha 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/  
Thich Minh Tam
About 1 year ago Thich Minh Tam arrived at our temple to negotiate a location for an educational retreat.  A date was set and then he left, stating that he would follow up with us in 1 week.  One month later we received 6 phone calls from individuals stating that they were Vietnamese and claiming that Thich Minh Tam was "a man who stole money and defrauded many people".  After his visit we have not heard from this monk again.    We have no idea of his whereabouts or his actions or of his guilt or innocence.  He is not now or has he ever been part of our temple o r a member of our staff.  We wish him and all beings peace and happiness.
Master Wan Xing's book is available
I t is available in electronic or paperback from
or Barnes and Nobel http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
Dogen Zenji
Dogen Zenji -
Japan's great Zen Master

This wonderful movie is available on youtube.  We also have a copy at the temple if you wish to borrow it.  It is the story of Japan's Soto Zen's great teacher.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s5Uz8XSc-Y

Thich Vinh Minh's visit
 
     Thay is on an evening walk                    Thay Vinh Minh takes a break


Thay Vinh Minh visits with Vietnamese clergy and lay folk when they visit our temple.

  Metta - 4 Sentences that can change our life

First: Take a deep breath, shift your body into a gently aligned state with your spine straight.


Start with yourself - picture yourself right now in your mind, and say:
May I be well
May I be happy
May I know love
May I know peace

Then visualize a loved one, then a stranger, then an "enemy" (or someone who has caused you pain), then everybody, and for each say:
May you be well

May you be happy
May you know love
May you know peace
 
Take a deep breath and hold it for a second between each of these visualizationsLastly, return to yourself and visualize yourself and say the 4 sentences again for you.

By practicing this simple exercise daily we can start the process of re-framing our thoughts.  The Buddha tells us, "What we think we become".  May we all find peace.


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

 

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