Weekly Temple Services
Monday - Friday 6:30 am and 6:30 pm
Meditation Saturday 9am full service + meditation
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Dear ones,
Temple update
- We are looking at starting the new temple building in the Spring. We have $125,000, which is enough to begin building.
DUKKHA - Homelessness
- I spent two weeks in San Francisco helping a friend. I saw many beautiful buildings, parks, and great cultural events. I also saw homeless people. I watched fellow human beings poop and pee in the gutter of a public street, inject heroin in their arm, sleep under a plastic bag on the sidewalk, talk or yell to imaginary people, and die - unwanted and un-cared for while lying in their sidewalk tent home. I was very sad after seeing these things, which led me to meditate on dukkha (suffering).
(Sa di Minh Phap was a good teacher about the homeless - he was especially kind and loving to them).
Our historical teacher, The Buddha, taught that life is filled with Dukkha. He goes on to teach us the three kinds of Dukkha:
I. Suffering (
Dukkha-dukkha
).
Ordinary suffering is one form of dukkha; which includes physical, emotional and mental pain. PAIN
II. Impermanence (
Viparinama-dukkha
).
Anything that is subject to change, is dukkha. Thus, happiness, success, failure, etc is dukkha, because it is not permanent. Great success, which fades with the passing of time, is dukkha. CHANGE
III. Conditioned States (
Samkhara-dukkha
).
To be conditioned is to be dependent on or affected by something else. Buddha’s teaching on dependent origination all phenomena are conditioned. “This is because that is, this is not because that is not” Everything affects everything else.
My heart goes out to our homeless and mentally ill brothers and sisters. I alone cannot stop their suffering. AND - I can be kind and open when I speak to them, provide support for local food banks and warming shelters, and pass out $5.00 gift cards (usually from McDonald's). In my own very small way I can decrease suffering just a little, for just a few minutes. I can also live, practice, and teach the Buddha's Dharma which is a true cure of suffering. The concept that "pain is inevitable but suffering is optional" isn't a direct quote from the Buddha, and it does sum up one of his teachings.
May we all know love and peace. in metta......Thay Kozen
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Transitions
Toby Wiggins
– a friend of many years took his own life. We have compassion on the suffering that drove him to suicide and offer our condolences to his survivors.
Thich Vinh Minh
– Chose to leave our temple and seek his calling in the greater USA. He has been such a wonderful asset to the temple, assisting us with so many things and projects. We're grateful he could stay here as long as he did. He will be missed, and we all wish him well in his journey.
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FALL MEDITATION RETREAT
3 day meditation practice
Friday - Sunday, Sept 13-15
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Join us in our annual fall meditation retreat. Friday evening - Sunday afternoon. All are welcome to join us in our practice of the Buddha's teachings and fellowship with the Sangha. Teachers from 3+ different traditions will be present to help with practice issues and Dharma teaching.
Suggested donation $250, we would rather have you than your money, so do not let finances be an obstacle.
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Fall Retreat Schedule
Friday Evening
5:30-6:30 Gathering and Casual Dinner
6:30 -7:30 Evening Service
7:30 – 8:30 on your own meditation
Saturday Schedule
5:45 Metta Practice
6:15 One period of seated meditation
6:45 Informal Breakfast
7:30 Clean up break period
8:00 Orientation for Retreat
9:00 Morning Service
10:00 ORDINATION / PRECEPTS ceremony
10:45 – 11:45 Mindful Work
11:45 Two periods of meditation divided by walking meditation
1:00 Lunch- Soto style Oryoki (Mindful eating)
2:00 Clean up and Break
3:45 Two periods of meditation w/walking meditation & private meeting with teacher
5:00 Half hour of walking meditation (outside)
5:30 Dinner-Soto style Oryoki (Mindful eating)
6:30 Clean up and break
7:00 Metta Practice
7:30 One period of seated meditation
8:00 Tea and Dharma talk
9:00 Time for Bed
Sunday Schedule
5:45 Metta Practice
6:15 Two periods of seated meditation divided by walking meditation
7:30 Informal Breakfast
8:30 Clean up
9:00 Morning Service
10:00 Samu (work period)
11:30 Two periods of meditation w/walking meditation & private meeting with teacher
12:45 Informal Lunch
1:45 Clean up and Break
2:45 One period seated meditation
3:15 Tea and Group discussion
4:15 Retreat Ends
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Upcoming Retreats and Practices
Oct 25-27 OctSoberfest
(see below for more information)
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OctSOBERfest. in the Gorge
October 25-27, 2019
A weekend to explore spiritual growth in recovery
from addictions, alcoholism, and other compulsions.
Family, friends and supporters are welcome at all sessions. Meditation, music, yoga, 12 step meetings, Dharma, walking the labyrinth, BBQ (meat-atarian and vegetarian) accommodations, classes, meetings, fellowship, and great fun!
Barbecue Saturday 1 - 5pm ALL are invited
Special Guest Speaker: Gary Sanders on Saturday Oct. 26, at 10:30am.
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Thich Minh Thien, Abbot of Budding Dharma
Arlington, Texas
SAME OLD, SAME OLD
Have you ever asked or been asked, “What’s new”?…and you hear your self or someone else reply, “Same Old, Same Old”. What does that actually mean? I hear in that response that there is nothing new or exciting and maybe life is just a tad boring. I recently read on the Google that there is a buddhist understanding of boredom and that it arises due to the habit of the mind to label experiences as either pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. This labelling is referred to as “vedana” or feeling tone. The Google further stated that Boredom arises when we are in any situation where the most obvious tone is neutral.
In my prison Sangha, I am frequently asked does this meditation stuff really do anything. They comment that just sitting and focusing on the breath feels boring and nothing seems to be happening. I think in our modern world, boredom raises its’ head more and more as a result of mass production of distractions. How many of us panic when we can’t locate our cell phones or we can’t even go out to eat with family or friends without periodically checking our messages or taking pictures of our food to share on facebook or instagram and then re-checking to see how many people responded/liked our posts!
Another thing I read on the Google said that this boredom is the feeling of your small mind drawing in empty thoughts and that this emptiness feels lonely or elicits feelings of boredom. I suspect that at a deeper level, it comes from a conscious or unconscious dissatisfaction with the present moment. And many times we will do anything to avoid it. We go to the refrigerator, pick up our phone, watch TV, read a novel…anything in order to be busy in an attempt to escape our loneliness, our emptiness, our boredom. When we are without awareness (mindfulness), boredom can have a great power over us and we find it difficult to be at rest.
In his book, “A Path With Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of a Spiritual Life”, Jack Kornfield says: “When boredom arises, feel it in the body. Stay with it. Let yourself be really bored. Name it softly as long as it lasts. See what the demon is. Note it, feel its texture and energy, the pains and tensions in it, the resistance to it. Look directly at the workings of this quality in the body and mind. See what story it tells and what opens up as you listen. When we finally stop running away or resisting it, then wherever we are can actually become interesting! When the awareness is clear and focused, even the repeated movement of the in- and out-breath can be a most wonderful experience.”
So there is the answer for my prison Sangha and for all of us who might find our practice and maybe even our life, a little boring at times. As my Teacher frequently has to remind me, JUST BE WITH IT! Just Be!
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
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What’s Happening at Budding Dharma?
Arlington, Texas
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Budding Dharma continues with our Wednesday service schedule of Zen-to-Go at 1pm and our full service beginning at 7pm.
The Zen-to-Go is designed to those individuals whose evening schedules are busy with family and or work. It lasts for about an hour and includes an opportunity for a 30 minute sit, recitation of a Sutra, and brief dharma conversation.
The full service lasts about 2 hours and includes Sangha check-in, a selected short reading, practice of the 14 point moving Buddha meditation, a 25 minute sit, walking meditation, some rudimentary Shibashi movements, a dharma talk and the sharing of wisdom from the Sangha members.
Our prison ministry at the Sanders-Estes Correctional Unit in Venus, Texas is thriving. It is about and hour drive to get there but I use that time to listen to Buddhist audio presentations looking for the possible dharma talk topics. We meet each Thursday from 2pm to 5pm and practice meditation, mindfulness practices and just talk about life in general. There are about 15 regular attendees with a sprinkling of the curious thrown in for good measure. One of our members took Refuge during one of our sessions and received his Dharma name of Minh Tam. On that day we had almost 25 of the men attend and we had all the Sangha participate in the ceremony. Additionally we had cookies, which were a big hit. The Amida Society is sending a box of books for me to share with this Sangha. Freedom from suffering is available to all beings, even those imprisoned for their previous actions.
And…we have found a new bell for the temple…actually it is a crystal bowl from Nepal. It is an 18 inches in diameter and is in the key of C. It will add to the beauty of our services and I am grateful for the generosity of this temple which bought this for us. Members of this Sangha are working on developing a program to have a 1/2 day Retreat which will be our first.
We are happy to be growing and busy. Budding Dharma Zen Buddhist Temple is so grateful to be associated with Mount Adams Zen Buddhist Temple. As we grow and mature, we hope to emulate the spirit and many of the good works already well established at MAZBT.
May All Beings Be Happy and Free.
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Poetry from Venerable Fa Sing
(Thich Tâm Minh)
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I've spent all afternoon
Amongst wildflowers
Chasing butterflies and bees,
But all I have captured
In the last few hours
Is a lifetime of memories.
---
One step at a time,
I follow this breath
Into the next moment.
---
The quiet white light
of forty august moons
has left a few traces
in this young hermit's beard
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A lovely late night visit from Minh Quang Temple members in August
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Here are our local meditation groups. Please help us update our poster - send updates etc. to
[email protected]
. Also - print out a poster and post it!
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Our first Bat mitzvah
בַ מִצְוָה
; (a Jewish coming of age ritual for girls) was held at The Abbey. We were so honored to host the ceremony.
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Thay Kozen
holds up a sign reminding us to all be kind and loving to one another.
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Toby Wiggins
took his life in August. He was a talented artist and friend.
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May the Infinite Light of Wisdom and Compassion so shine within us
that the errors and vanities of self may be dispelled;
so shall we understand the changing nature of existence and awaken into spiritual peace.
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Mt Adams Zen Buddhist Temple 46 Stoller Rd., Trout Lake WA 98650 509.395.2030
www.Mtadamszen.org
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