Weekly ZOOM Services
Saturday 9:00 am - service + meditation ZOOM 891 8528 5652
Thich Nhat Hanh study group - please text Dick at (414) 587-4065 for info
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Dear ones,
Well we have good news - the COVID-19 immunization is on the way. May it diminish suffering of body and mind. Our stress levels have been increasing and Covid fatigue is a real and difficult problem. May the vaccine help us all to be more peace-filled.
Please do join us for our on-line retreats. We have 1 day retreats scheduled in December and January, and a 3 day retreat in February - all on line.
I will be having surgery for a rotator cuff repair in mid December, so email etc will be responded to very slowly for a while.
We have a new president starting in January and our current president ending, let us all wish them well and send metta (loving kind thoughts) to them and all who work with them. Beginnings and Endings can be difficult times for people, let us fill our hears with loving kindness again and again in well wishing for all. Dear Abby told me many times "when in doubt, love more" . I have found it to be a great truth.
As we approach the New Year, rather than make resolutions, let us look into our own hearts and seek to follow the path of loving kindness (metta) and peace. Every day we are born again and each day we can make many choices. Times of change (New Year, birthday, a birth or death of a loved one, etc.) all offer us a reminder to choose the path of our lives. May you and I choose well and find peace.
in Metta, Thay Kozen
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The Holidays in Harmony with Columbia Gorge Peace Village.
Come gather round the fire and cozy up to a night of songs and stories with Columbia Gorge Peace Village! With special guests from Peace Village past, we’ll hear from different faith traditions, cultures, and ages as they pass around the torch, evoking the spirit of the holidays.
The virtual campfire is set for Sunday, December 20th from 7:00-8:30pm. Zoom into the live gathering to share in presence & cheer! No cost to attend, no expectation to participate, although engagement is encouraged, and donations are welcome. Above all else, we want to connect with our community and continue to build relationship with friends, family, and extended relatives, spreading the spirit of Peace Village to all.
So, join us the day before winter solstice to generate some much needed joy & lightness during one of the darkest nights of the year. May we celebrate the Holidays in Harmony, together :)
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December Holidays
Tue Dec 8 Bodhi Day - Also known as Rohatsu, commemorates the day that the Buddha, Siddharta
Gautama, experienced enlightenment or spiritual awakening (bodhi)
Mon Dec 15 Dhanu Sankranti (Hindu), Bill of rights Day
“first fruits (of the harvest)” in Swahili.
Thu Dec 31 Ring the great bell 108 times at Midnight (outside service)
December is:
On all the holidays of every faith, let us practice metta (loving kindness)
and well wishing for all sentient beings.
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New Temple Funds at 1/2 way
We've raised $180,000 for our
new temple construction
We've gotten approval for a septic system and are planning to dig the underground electric connection, septic system, and water access.
We'll start construction in the Spring 2021
You can help us by donating to the temple via:
CHECKS
(made out Mt Adams Buddhist Temple and mailed to PO Box 487 Trout Lake, WA 98650)
Also on Amazon via Smile:
This email is to notify you that Mount Adams Zen Buddhist Temple (EIN: 30-0468937) has been issued a $56.39 donation from the AmazonSmile Foundation as a result of AmazonSmile program activity between July 1 and September 30, 2020.
Sign up on https://smile.amazon.com choose Mt Adams Zen Buddhist Temple as your beneficiary and Amazon will donate money for each purchase you make.
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Our Temple UPCOMING Retreats & Practices
19 December Saturday 8:00am - 4:15 pm on ZOOM
16 January Saturday 8:00 am - 4:15 pm on ZOOM
February 26-28 Friday evening - Sunday afternoon on ZOOM
Zoom meeting number - 891 8528 5652
New Year - December 31, midnight - We will ring the great bell 108 times
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The Trout Lake Abbey is closed to overnight guests until 20 June 2021
Zoom meditation and temple services are ongoing
We are open for walk-about from dawn to dusk
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Zen student, Scott # 2 wrote a note:
"The changing season brings me solace
that, unfazed by our human dramas,
the big show continues on, in its splendid wonder.
Leaves turn and drop, birds migrate".
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Thich Minh Thien, Abbot of Budding Dharma
Arlington, Texas
I AM OF THE NATURE TO GROW OLD…
One of the earliest teachings of our ancestral teacher, Shakyamuni Buddha, are the Five Remembrances and they are:
1. I am of the nature to grow old - there is no way to escape growing old
2. I am of the nature to have ill health - there is no way to escape having ill health
3. I am of the nature to die - there is no way to escape death
4. All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change - there is no way to escape being separated from them
5. My actions are my only true belongings - I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground on which I stand.
I don’t think anyone would deny that these are truths, with a capital “T”. They outline the pattern of life and the undeniable fact of Impermanence. I suspect that at one time or another, all of us have suffered some anguish over these truths. As I get closer and closer to more personally experiencing them, I find myself shedding most of the anguish I may have felt about my own impermanence and that of those I have known and loved. The joy available in these teachings may not however, be as self-evident on the surface as the words imply.
For example, the first one that speaks to growing older, brings me closer to feelings of gratitude than unhappiness about aging. When we look at the process of aging, we see we begin to grow older when we are born and the life time clock starts ticking. Certainly no one experiences sadness or unhappiness when an infant goes from crawling to walking. The focus isn’t about … gosh isn’t it sad the infant is growing older … but rather we experience joy and gratitude about the growth and gained abilities.
Conversely, sometimes we look at many of the changes that occur to us about mid-life moving into our senior years and primarily see the consequences of physically aging rather than evidencing the gratitude of this longer life clock and celebrating this gift of age. And certainly, we frequently forget that not all beings get to what we call, that “ripe old age”.
I recently came across the following story which I hope illustrates a different perspective. An elderly man was once asked what it was like to be old and to know the majority of his life was behind him. He responded that he has been the same age his entire life. He said the voice inside of his head had never aged. He said he has always just been in spirit, this same boy, his mother’s son. He said that he did wonder, like we all do, when would he feel fully grown and be an old man. He said he watched as his body aged and faculties became a little duller but realized that the person inside never got as tired as the body did; that the spirit never aged; never really changed. He realized that our spirits are eternal, forever and are inter-are with the spirits of all sentient beings, no matter what their age.
So the next time you feel your physicality and mental acuity aging, or you encounter someone of advancing age, look with different eyes and perspective knowing that the child inside is still there and grateful for every day. Children always need love, attention, respect and purpose so give yourself and others all of those needs through our Metta practice in all our actions and thoughts. Our Metta practice, can gives us an entirely different outlook and response to just the meaning of the words found in the First Remembrance.
May all be well, may all be happy, may all know love, may all know peace.
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
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Poetry from Venerable Fa Hsing
(Thich Tâm Minh)
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Drinking my tea in Silence
in the bless-ed stillness before Dawn
I watch the candles burn down
one after another
until Darkness enfolds me
in her timeless embrace.
*****
This cup of tea
warms my hands
while the falling snow
warms my spirit.
*****
With nowhere to go
and nothing to do,
I return to stillness,
rest in silence,
and find again
what was never lost.
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Our temple sponsors 2 young Tibetan girls in Northern India, and 2 monks. Please consider sponsoring a monk, nun, Tibetan child or a Tibetan school in India. |
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"Hundreds of thousands of Tibetan people live in exile around the world, providing models of courageous work for freedom and peace. Let us stand with them proudly!
We are looking for sponsors for two older Tibetan students in Dharamsala, one pursuing a Masters degree, in addition to our regular sponsorships for Tibetan monks, nuns, children and elders.
Our Temple Yearly Donation
480.00 Monk HN-303 Lobsang Nyima at Sera Jhe Monastery
480.00 Monk #723 Lobsang Legden (Tashi Lhunpo Monastery)
100.00 TCV Gopalpur School
480.00 Student (08-10875-10) Sonam Choetso at Gopalpur
480.00 Student (08-10876-10) Dechen Youdon at Gopalpur
120.00 Pocket money for Sonam Choetso
120.00 Pocket money for Dechen Youdon
150.00 General support for Tibet Aid
total $2410
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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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