March 2011 Newsletter 


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Mt Adams Zen Buddhist Temple

We are a small Thien (Zen) Buddhist Temple practicing  "laughing farmer zen" - living our practice, sitting zazen, being here - right now!

March Happenings 

2 - New Moon*

14 CRCC - Prison Ministry  

17 Potluck lunch at Katrinka's home call 509-847-4200 for details

17 St. Patrick's Day

17 Linda Brice's Free Seminar at the TL Grange

18-20 Linda Brice's voice class at TLA   

19 - Full Moon*

20 -Spring Equinox (Druid celebration 509.395.2030 

 

27 UU Service in Hood River 

28 - CRCC - Prison Ministry 
* Buddhist Ceremonies  

 

 

April Happenings

1 Buddhist Movie Night (at the Abbey - 6pm) 

11 CRCC - Prison ministery

15 -17 Three day meditation intensive at Mt Adams Zen Temple


Thich Nhat Hanh Speaks:

 

Thich Nhat Hanh   "The fact is that when you make the other suffer, he will try to find relief by making you suffer more. The result is an escalation of suffering on both sides."   

   

"If our love is only a will to possess, it is not love."   

 

 "In modern society most of us don't want to be in touch with ourselves; we want to be in touch with other things like religion, sports, politics, a book - we want to forget ourselves. Anytime we have leisure, we want to invite something else to enter us, opening ourselves to the television and telling the television to come and colonize us."  

Dogen Zenji

Dogen Zenji

MEDITATION

"Zazen is not 'step-by-step' meditation. Rather it is simply the easy and pleasant practice of a Buddha, the realization of the Buddha's Wisdom. The Truth appears, there being no delusion. If you understand this, you are completely free, like a dragon that has obtained water or a tiger that reclines on a mountain. The supreme law will then appear of itself, and you will be free of weariness and confusion." Dogen

Empty Mind Sayings   

 

The Buddha's last words:  

This I tell you: decay is inherent in all conditioned things. Work out your own salvation, with diligence.    

The Dighanikaya (ii 154)

 

"When you're deluded, every statement is an ulcer; when you're enlightened, every word is wisdom".  Zhiqu

 

"If you understand, things are just as they are... If you do not understand, things are just as they are...." - Zen Saying

 

No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place.

 

 

"Realization makes

Every place a temple,

The absolute endows

All beings with the true eye.

When you come to grasp it,

You find it was ever

Before your eyes.

If you can see clear

What is before your very eyes,

It is what fills the ten directions;

When you see what fills

The ten directions,

You find it is only what is before your eyes".

  

- Daikaku (1213-1279)

The Buddhist Wheel

  Buddhist Wheel

  The Buddha was the one who "turned the great wheel of the dharma" and the wheel became the symbol of the law (Dharmachakra).

   The wheel's motion is a symbol of the spiritual change which occur with Buddha's teachings.   The Buddha's first discourse at the Deer Park in Sarnath is known as the "first turning of the wheel of dharma." His subsequent discourses at Rajgir and Shravasti are known as the "second and third turnings of the wheel of dharma."

   The eight spokes of the wheel symbolize the Noble Eightfold Path part of Buddha's original "Noble Truths" teaching. 

    The wheel also represents the endless cycle of samsara,  or rebirth, which can only be escaped by means of the Buddha's teachings.

   Some Buddhists regard the the wheel's three basic parts as symbols of the "three trainings"  in Buddhist practice: The hub symbolizes moral discipline, which stabilizes the mind. The spokes (usually there are eight) represent wisdom which is applied to defeat ignorance. The rim represents training in concentration, which holds everything else together.

   

We are all on the Wheel.

Dear Dharma Friends,

   The very early signs of Spring are starting here. Laughing - even as I write this there is a very light snow falling.  Yet, even in the snow and cold here there are signs of spring - the pussy willows have bloomed, the robins have arrived, and there are buds forming on the trees.

   So it is with our own life.  Regardless of our personal wishes and thoughts, each season of our life comes at its own appointed time.  There is no stopping the Great Wheel's turning.

   May we all  experience the joy and re-birth that Spring brings.  May we all be mindful of our own journey on the Great Wheel.  May we all know peace.  May we not waste our life.  

 

In loving kindness,
Thich Minh Tinh

Part of our Buddhist Practice includes living well with the earth and all the creatures that abide here.  Our Certified Organic Farm and mindful practice of Loving Kindness includes a sustainable and harm free life style.

Green Living

We have recently joined an organization:  

  Green Sanga (http://greensanga.org) 

Green Sangha brings spiritual practice and environmental work together to heal our planet. Our mission is to bring healing to ourselves, one another, and the earth through thoughts, words, and actions rooted in love.

Green Sangha chapters meet once a month to meditate, educate, and support each other, and to plan and perform direct environmental actions. Our time together is designed to help develop the qualities of calmness, lucidity, and awareness which we believe are vital to our work as spiritually-based environmental activists. We are non-denominational and find inspiration from the lives of non-violent leaders such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., The Dalai Lama, and Julia Butterfly Hill. We incorporate a deep ecological perspective and experiential exercises based on Joanna Macy's work.

Our groups are based on shared leadership and full participation. If you are interested in environmental activism as spiritual practice you are invited to join us!

Their Mission:  Green Sangha is dedicated to restoring oneness - healing our communities and restoring the earth through mindful practice and awakened action.

Inspired, awake individuals with commitment to community service deeply affect everything and everyone they touch. With this in mind, we meet to: 1) raise awareness of the interdependence of humans and our environment; 2) inspire mindful actions in daily lifestyle choices; and 3) catalyze systemic change in business practices and government policies. We are dedicated to creating a healthy, just society and averting ecological collapse by creating a rapid shift from the destructive paradigm of extract-use-discard toward a restoration of sustainability in all economic practices.

 

May we all find peace.


Good Works

 

Sometimes, the best good works are done in secret. When we get wrapped up in the recognition of our good works and showing everyone what a great job we're doing, we lose the heart of service. When we do something purely out of our hearts without any expectation of recognition, we leave our ego out of the picture and provide a true gift to the person on the receiving end of our actions.  

 

So let's all perform intentional acts of kindness this month, and at the end of the month, we can get together and.......

 

                       NOT talk about it! 


The Noble 8 Fold Path by Thich Tam Tri
8 fold path

In the last few months we discussed the Four Noble Truths and how the Noble Eight-fold Path was the path to the cessation of suffering. The entire Noble Eight-fold Path is a bit weighty to take on in one article, so we'll start with the first two this month: Right View and Right Intention. These are considered the Wisdom portion of the Path. They augment each other and build a positive feedback loop.

 

Right View:

This examines how we look at the world vs how the world really is. How many "truths" do we hold in our minds about the way things are or should be? Right View challenges us to understand the impermanent and "perfectly-imperfect" nature of all things in the universe.

 

 I often joke about how things will change when I become "benevolent dictator" of the universe: my mind likes to create a list of things that I would improve upon and make them the way that I think they should be. People wouldn't be inconsiderate or angry. Everyone would always get along. No one would go hungry or hurt another being. Children wouldn't die young before their parents. In reality, the universe and all of us in it are perfect as is. The situations we think of as "bad" may work out to benefit other areas that we cannot see. Accepting reality doesn't stop us from working on putting good energy into the universe, but it allows us to see the connectedness of all things. Our mental conflicts against the way things are in the universe leads to the suffering discussed in the Four Noble Truths.

 

Right Intention:

As we begin to fully understand Right View, the knowledge of a connected, perfectly-imperfect world begins to have an effect on our behavior. Where our minds go, our actions follow. We begin to see the consequences of greed, hatred, and ignorance, and begin to counter them in our own actions. We then begin the intention of renunciation, good will, and harmlessness. By being aware that greed will get us nowhere and that we share all things with the universe, we learn to ask only for what we need. By seeing the harm caused by hatred, and the suffering caused both to ourselves and to others, we begin to act in a more kind and loving fashion. By seeing the fruitlessness of clinging to our own way of how things are "supposed" to be, we begin to act more in harmony with the universe.

 

As Right Intention takes hold in our actions, we also seek an improved understanding of Right View. We seek to understand even more clearly how the universe works together. We seek to end our own suffering and that of others by seeing the connectedness that exists. The more our understanding of Right View increases, the more Right Intention develops. The more we practice Right Intention, the more we seek Right View. The two roll along like a snowball downhill, increasing our wisdom!

Karma

   When we think of karma we all have many different ideas of exactly what karma is and what it does and does not do. Karma is the law of moral causation. It is not fate or predestination.

 

The Buddha spoke: 

   "Intention monks, is karma, I say. Having willed, one acts through body, speech and mind.  (Anguttara Nikaya 3.415 - Sutta Pitaka)  

   "I am the owner of my karma. I inherit my karma. I am born of my karma. I am related to my karma. I live supported by my karma. Whatever karma I create, whether good or evil, that I shall inherit."  

 

   One short explanation of karma is: "you get what you give, whatever you do, a similar thing will happen to you at sometime in the future".   

   The Buddha speaks of karma as wholesome or unwholesome - not good and bad (kushala or akushala karma).  Buddha tells us that intent is a main axis of karma.  We are responsible for all that occurs from our body, speech, and mind. 

    A simple thought to guide you in your quest for knowledge about karma is that everything is connected, everyone is connected, all are part of the undying eternal.  Anytime our intent is to cause another to lose or suffer we enter into an unwholesome action.  Anytime our intent is to help another we enter into wholesome action. 
   There will be times that we incur karma that is unwholesome in order to do the most wholesome act.  One example is going to war.  To kill violates a precept, yet to not protect one's family also causes unwholesome karma.  We can do only the best we can do.  In my personal life, I do the best I can with whatever happens and focus on practicing loving kindness to all beings. 
    May we all find peace.   Minh Tinh 

zazen

Meditation

Join us for meditation: 

+ Monday - Friday at 6:30 AM for our usual daily service. (We have an extra early sit at 6 AM M-F for those wishing more meditation time). 

+ Thursday and Friday Evenings at 6:30pm

+ Saturday Morning at 9 AM

 

I recently joined GEM (Gorge Ecumenical Ministries).  A group of clergy from local churches who work toward the common good of all. Even with all of our differing beliefs and practices, we find common goals in caring for others, the environment, and the lessening of suffering. I am blessed to work within such a fellowship. May we all find peace.    Kozen

Mt Adams Zen Buddhist Temple, PO Box 487, Trout Lake WA 98650

509.395.2030   (e-mail -put in the @ sign) kozen1at embarqmail.com