Year: 2013

Contractors have put this pile of dirt (called a surcharge) in place on the new property in preparation for construction in the spring. It will compact the soil underneath it over the next several months. The road is also rocked in, as the property begins to take shape.

This last week has seen big equipment working on the land scraping out the road and roughing it in. The contractors will also put in the surcharge, big piles of dirt where the buildings will be, in order to compact the soil in preparation for building next spring. They have also put in a lot… Read more »

From our Archives – an article printed years ago, and used as a handout – By Kyogen Carlson Next to Jukai, which comes every spring, Segaki is the most important festival on our calendar. The name “Segaki” means “feeding the hungry ghosts,” and the rituals and practices done for this festival contain a great deal… Read more »

This summary describing the work of the temple’s three major decision-making bodies is published regularly. Each of the three major bodies of the temple mandala, the Board of Directors, the Dharma Council and the Mandala Council meets monthly and provides notes to be consolidated for a report to the general sangha. A governance notebook with… Read more »

The 2013 youth summer camp “Mandala on the Mountain” ran from July 14-20 at Camp Adams not far from Portland near Molalla. This year we had 43 campers coming from Seattle, Tacoma, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Missouri as well as Oregon. These, along with 11 counselors and four support staff, all had a great… Read more »

From our Archives: an article by Kyogen  Carlson Based on a Dharma Talk Kyogen gave at Dharma Rain  Zen Center August 15, 2010 and published in Still Point May 2011. I had a conversation with a sangha member a few years ago. He said he had been looking at his life, at all his difficulties… Read more »

The Buddha told his followers to “walk alone like a rhinoceros” – but he told this to people living intimately in community. What does it mean to stand alone? How do we do this together? What is true solitude? We live so close to others that it can be hard to know what one truly… Read more »

At Segaki we focus on cleansing karma and releasing attachments to the past, including those who have died. This annual retreat begins Friday, October 25 and continues through the Festival of Segaki Sunday morning, and ends with Segaki Toro on the evening of Sunday, October 27. See the schedule for more information and to register… Read more »

Our unbroken string of work parties with good weather was finally broken, as we worked in the rain last Sunday, September 29. Madison High School students oriented themselves to the site in order to find potential points for their work. They formed into teams which will include those taking water samples over a long period… Read more »

The Buddha famously told Ananda that good spiritual friends are the whole of the holy life. Sangha includes teachers, friends and supporters, and also those who challenge us in many ways. Co-Abbot Gyokuko Carlson speaks about Sangha as refuge, and the various ways that manifests. To hear this talk, click here.

An Open Letter from Sallie Jiko Tisdale “Most people today mistakenly think that constructing buddha-images and building stupas helps the buddha-dharma flourish,” wrote Dogen in September of 1235. “Even though we might erect huge temples adorned with polished jewels and gold, we cannot attain the Way by these works. To learn even a single phrase of the… Read more »

Last Monday, September 23rd, a group from the Lummi Tribe on the Washington coast came through Portland with totem pole 22 feet high carved by elder Jewell Praying Wolf James, who is accompanying it on a journey from eastern Montana to Vancouver BC. Some years ago the Lummi started a tradition of taking poles to places… Read more »

No, this is not a Monty Python sketch, or anything like that, although bringing up the issue, these days, is taken as absurd. Not long ago I found myself telling someone that you can, in fact, discover the meaning of life, or at least your deeper purpose. However, when you do you will find it… Read more »

We are on silent retreat this week, studying the Dogen Shobogenzo fascicle “Gyobutso Yuigi,” the Awesome Presence of Active Buddhas. The focus of the sesshin is to sustain practice during an intensive period, acting out our Buddhahood in the meditation, disciplines and rituals of a traditional Zen retreat. Sesshin gathers our intention in a resolute… Read more »

This Sunday Seido will be talking about the seasonal changes we experience during summer practice where discipline loosens and the natural world presents itself in full color. What do we learn about ourselves during this time? What emerges in our relationship to zazen and what obstacles present themselves during a time of year typically marked… Read more »

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