Wesak is the festival of Shakyamuni Buddha’s birth. This is a precious time when the entire sangha – adults and kids, parents and those without children – celebrates together. The children meet before the Wesak ceremony to decorate a bower with flowers. This becomes shelter for a statue of the baby buddha placed in front… Read more »
For many years, our friends at Ota Tofu have donated many pounds of delicious tofu to the Zen Center for everyday resident meals, retreats, Dharma Camp, and other special events. We didn’t ask them too, they volunteered it because they want to support the Dharma. We really appreciate their generosity!
Did you know that we have a City Park on Siskiyou Square? The path that begins on 82nd Avenue and goes along the road, through the garden, through the orchard, and out onto the street leading to Russell Place, making Rocky Butte accessible from 82nd Avenue, is being funded by Metro. When completed, it will… Read more »
While Lotus Blooming – our fundraising campaign to Plant Zen in Siskiyou Square – is about money, our vision and aspiration for Siskiyou Square is about the Dharma. So, why does Lotus Blooming matter? Thomas Koshin Bruner has made a three-year pledge of $10,000 to Lotus Blooming. He says: “Dharma Rain Zen Center has changed… Read more »
Many Zen metaphors point to the insubstantiality of reality and our attempts to fix it. Zen practice offers a kind of clarity and centeredness to one’s life that comes from a lots of determined looking at what is. But all that looking doesn’t tell us what it is, in fact, it does quite the opposite.… Read more »
While Lotus Blooming – our fundraising campaign to Plant Zen in Siskiyou Square – is about money, our vision and aspiration for Siskiyou Square is about the Dharma. So, why does Lotus Blooming matter? “The goal of our practice is to experience and be in harmony with a sense of spaciousness and abundance in life.… Read more »
On Wednesday, April 22, lots of volunteers from Friends of Trees came in to do weeding and mulching. Teasel, blackberries, and more were removed and cut back, and many areas were mulched to help them survive dry weather. We have work parties every Wednesday on the property from about 9:30am to about 3:30pm. Come in… Read more »
Twice a year, the sangha has an opportunity to hear from our governing bodies, to ask questions and give feedback. The spring forum is primarily sponsored by the Dharma Council, giving updates on classes and programs. The Board will also report on where we are in our multiple transitions. Have questions about the progress on… Read more »
Our Sangha has made significant progress in our bold, multi-year vision to Plant Zen In Siskiyou Square. Half of us have contributed thus far, and our goal and need remains 100% Sangha participation. With gifts and pledges ranging from $100 to $100,000, the generosity of Sangha members is fueling Lotus Blooming – our campaign to… Read more »
Yesterday’s work party saw the kitchen floor and other areas in the Sodo painted. Most of the Sodo floor has now been painted, so we can more easily keep it clean and don’t have to put rugs down on dusty bare wood. See the photo of the sanzen room inside the Sodo. Volunteers sheet-rocked the… Read more »
Now that we’re sitting on-site, sometimes the zendo is cold in the mornings. Discomfort arises. What then? Buddhism has a long history of mining this dilemma. We’ll look at some of these approaches and how this applies to the rest of life. This talk was given on Sunday, April 12.
With gifts and pledges ranging from $100 to $100,000, the generosity of Sangha members is fueling Lotus Blooming – our campaign to Plant Zen in Siskiyou Square. Half of us have contributed thus far, and our goal remains 100% Sangha participation. Many of us have opted to donate by making a multi-year pledge. Multi-year pledges… Read more »
This last week, Friends of Trees and Ecology in Classrooms and Outdoors (ECO) teamed up with our sangha to plant 400 native shrubs and trees along the pathway in the oak savanna area. Six different classrooms of fourth- and fifth-graders came to the site to take part in habitat restoration and nature/science exploration activities. ECO… Read more »
I met my teacher and said “I have only always wanted to be helpful.” She probably thought: “Oh, here comes another one suffering with some heavy stuff to sort out.” Then she said to herself with sincerity: “Great beginning.” To me she said instead, “well, let’s put that on hold for awhile, learn our practice… Read more »
We now have a tree-lined street, with a graveled sidewalk alongside. Our wonderful volunteers have worked hard planting many trees, with more still to go in the ground. The photograph shows Uji (the closer, light-colored double-wide portable building) and the Sodo (past Uji). We also got beautiful black dirt put into the light-pole base holes,… Read more »
We are pleased to announce that Frog Song Montessori Preschool will open September 2015! Frog Song joins Dharma School and Mandala on the Mountain summer camp as a new Dharma Garden program. Preschool development team members Shin’yu Vitells and Ko’in Newsom have worked to make this longtime vision of abbot Gyokuko Carlson and others a… Read more »