Category: Blog
This week we are on Genzo-e sesshin. Registration for meals and overnights is closed, but all are welcome to join us during meditation and services. Both duplexes are now on the property, situated where they will end up, though up on blocks so that work can go on underneath them. Much of the Genzo-e work… Read more »
While many sangha members headed out to the Pride Parade, Jyoshin presented a talk on manifesting fearlessness in life and in practice. In Buddhism, the gift of fearlessness is one of the highest gifts. She unpacks this idea to see where it shows up in our lives and in the lives of those around us.… Read more »
Every year we say we will put together something for Pride, and every year we get too busy. This year is no exception. Last year (photo), we marched at the last minute with the Community of Welcoming Congregations (CWC), who welcomes all. We will be doing so again this year, on Sunday, June 18, though… Read more »
Chapters One Through Five with a Different Lens by Carrie Schulz ONE: The person, the woman, was walking and looking at cracks and lichen in the sidewalk, near Benson high school, not far from the Lloyd center and See See’s coffee. There were birds singing and fluttering, people driving cars, the occasional darting squirrel, and… Read more »
by Linda Hoka Bebernes In the Wisdom Sutra seminary class this spring, our first reading assignment was the Ratnaguna, the verse form of The Perfection of Wisdom Sutra. As often happens the first time I encounter a Sutra new to me, I was at a loss to make sense of what I was reading. I… Read more »
Our list of grave Precepts begins, like those of most religions, with Do Not Kill. The commentary says “holding no thought of killing is the Precept of Not Killing.” What are these thoughts, and what does it mean to hold them? Genko explores some of the ways this Precept applies to us all. This talk… Read more »
The Dogwood group expresses exuberance over their skit “Princesses of Porkland.” As always, a good time was had by all for the last Sunday of Dharma School for this year. The Doug Fir group presented Gyokuko with a hand-made book of photos and text of thanks for her support of Dharma School over the years.… Read more »
tional year-end Dharma School skits, where the children share something of what they have learned in the past year. This takes the place of the Dharma Talk, and is always a lot of fun. After that, we will have an ice cream social. All are invited. Join us this Sunday, June 4, for zazen, sanzen,… Read more »
Natalie, Gary, and Kakumyo set off happily from the Barn to go work on landscaping tasks for the Wednesday work party. Joel works in the kitchen in an ongoing effort to mouse-proof the Sodo. He’s caulking the newly-installed toe kicks. Justin at ReCraft Home Remodeling did that work for us, and did an excellent job.… Read more »
Kakumyo will talk about the closing of term, the power of intention, and the fraility of intention and how they might relate to each other. This talk was given Sunday, May 28.
Anraku works in the garden as part of a regular Wednesday work party. Work also got done on the Founders Shrine. We have work parties most Wednesdays from 9am to 3:30pm, and there is plenty of work for people to do, inside and outside, light and heavy. Come for as much or little of the… Read more »
At the center of this Sunday’s Dharma Talk will be a twentieth century Korean koan from The Hidden Lamp collection entitled “Manseong’s No Cultivation.” Bukkai will respond to the material and offer her thoughts on related teachings. One day a nun asked Manseong Sunim, “How do I cultivate the Way of the Buddha?” “No cultivation,”… Read more »
Wednesday’s work party did a variety of things, including working on the Founders Shrine. We are adding trim to make it more similar in style to the Sodo, and also tightening up the building to make it more functional. The lupine flowers, along with a lot of other plants, flowers, shrubs, and trees, are everywhere… Read more »
When we begin to practice, we feel a sense of hope and promise. In time, this fades and we feel disappointment again. What does it mean to let go of our expectations and hopes, and really fall into this disappointment? How do we practice when our supports are taken away, one by one? This talk… Read more »
This week’s work party moved items from the garages at Siskiyou House and 85th House to the barn and Conex and continued organizing them. Also did a lot of gardening and landscaping. We will be moving out of the Siskiyou House (corner of 84th and Siskiyou Street, with a great view of the property) at… Read more »
Wesak is the festival of Shakyamuni Buddha’s birth and is a very precious time when the entire sangha – adults and kids, parents and those without children – celebrate together. For the Wesak ceremony, a bower built over a statue of the baby buddha placed in front of the main altar. The statue depicts the… Read more »