August 2011 Newsletter 


Tuyết Sơn Thiền Tự

Mt Adams Zen Buddhist Temple

雪山禅寺

 

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

Calendar

August

 

6-7 Trout Lake Fair

7 - Sunday Service 

7 - Lughnasadh - Druid service  

13 - Full moon  

14 - Sunday Service

14 - Thich Nhat Hanh Public talk in Vancouver BC  

14 - Hood River Zen  

17 - Potluck Lunch at Debbie's 360.951.2329 - please join us!  

19 Buddhist Movie Night - 6PM at the Abbey 

21 - Sunday Service

28 - New Moon 

28 - Sunday Service

28 - Hood River Zen 

 

 

September

 

4 - Sunday Service
10 - Change in service days from Sunday to Saturday for the winter.
10 - Saturday Service
17 - Saturday Service
24 - Saturday Service


* Buddhist Events are in blue 

 

Thich Nhat Hanh will be in Vancouver BC on August 14th.  He is a wonderful and kindhearted master and I encourage you to go to hear him speak.  

Thich Nhat Hanh   "When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That's the message he is sending."  

Venerabel Thich Nhat Hanh 

If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?

Dogen Zenji

Dogen Zenji


"Enlightenment is intimacy with all things".

"Yet, though it is like this, simply, flowers fall amid our longing and weeds spring up amid our dislike".

Empty Mind Sayings   

Sengstan Hsin Hsin Ming,

 

Third Chinese Patriarch of Ch�n (Thien or Zen) after Bodhidharma

 

"To deny the reality of things is to miss their reality; to assert the emptiness of things is to miss their reality. The more you talk and think about it, the further astray you wander from the truth. Stop talking and thinking and there is nothing you will not be able to know."
 

"When mind exists undisturbed in the Way, nothing in the world can offend, and when a thing can no longer offend it ceases to exist in the old way. When no discriminating thoughts arise, the old mind ceases to exist."
 

"When thought is in bondage the truth is hidden, for everything is murky and unclear, and the burdensome practice of judging brings annoyance and weariness. What benefit can be derived from distinctions and separations?"

Local Providers of Care

 
Cookie Gilpatrick  LMT  Massage Therapist
Yoga Instructor
Trout Lake and Hood River       

cell 541.490.9077  home 509.395.2468

 

  

Karen Hoffman LMT
Massage Therapist
Trout Lake and White Salmon                 
cell 509.637.4995

   

  Newly Opened    Dave Martin MSOM, LAc                        
Acupuncture and Classical Chinese Medicine 
 

410 E. Jewett Blvd, White Salmon WA

office 509.493.1241

 

Denise Morrison PA-C
Mid Columbia Family Health Center
http://www.mcfhc.com/


Jennifer Silapie ND

Naturopathic Physician
251 N. Main Ave, White Salmon
509.493.3300

These individuals are recommended because of the quality of their practice, not because of any religious beliefs.

 

Early Zen in America

 

Rev. Ken McGuire Roshi (Kozen's Dharma Brother and creator of our temple altar) recently did an interview with Sweeping Zen about his experiences in the formative years of Zen in America.  

 

Sweeping Zen is a website that maintains dialogue between the different Zen traditions, and directories of zen centers throughout the nation.

 

Please click on the link to read the interesting interview  http://sweepingzen.com/2011/06/04/hogaku-ken-mcguire-interview/


 

Resources

 

Buddhist Woodworking

Reverend Ken McGuire has started a new woodworking company specifically for Buddhist Altars and supplies.  You can view some of his wonderful work at the Trout Lake Zen Temple or online at 

http://zenfurnishings.net/ 

 by Ken's workshop. 

 

 

Free Trade coffee that goes for a good cause:   

The Presbyterian Coffee Project provides free trade, sustainable, worker friendly coffee.  In the greater Trout Lake area you can purchase it from our temple or the Trout Lake Presbyterian Church.

  

Local Churches that teach and practice an embracing, kind, and loving faith.

 

Trout Lake Presbyterian - Sunday service at 11:15 am    

http://www.troutlake.org/main/custom.asp?recid=15&id=38

Sunday Service at 10AM (Summer schedule), Trout Lake

Bethel Congregational Church (United Church of Christ)  

http://church.gorge.net/bethel/
Sunday Service at 10AM in White Salmon

Mid-Columbia Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.        

 

http://mcuuf.org/index.php  
Sunday Service at 10AM at the Rockford Grange, Hood River    

 

Minh Quang Temple 14719 SE Powell Blvd. Portland, OR  

 

Hood River Zen - affiliated with Dharma Rain 

www.hoodriverzen.org    

 

 

 

Venerable Thich Minh Tam

Venerable Thich Minh Tam

Dear Dharma Friends,

We had a lovely visit from Venerable Thich Minh Tam, a Master of the Thien (Zen) school in Vietnam.  He has plans for a training university for monks in the USA.  We may be able to play a small part in supporting this university and we do wish Venerable Thich Minh Tam well in his efforts.   

In loving kindness,

Thich Minh Tinh  

The National Geographic has a wonderful "Green Guide" at http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/green-guide/

 

Green Living
Green living

Please look at the website and read some of the wonderful articles about the environment.

 

 

Every action we make is karma - it behooves us to live well with our earth and environment - practicing loving kindness in all that we do.


 
Good Works -  Realizing the Buddha's Way in Prison 

by Jeff Kerr

            It may seem weird to talk about going to prison as a "privilege," but that is exactly how I felt when I visited Coyote Ridge Corrections Center with Sensei Kozen. Spending time with the inmates was a very powerful experience that gave me an interesting perspective on both the dharma and prison life.

            Kozen had a great rapport with the inmates. He brought his delightful sense of humor, his way of making the dharma seem so simple, and his warm heart. The inmates were interested in what he was teaching, and they connected with the basic message. Kozen emphasized that anger is really not the responsibility of the person we are angry at, it is our responsibility. He held up a meditation cushion and said "my arm will hurt if I keep holding this up indefinitely. Who can put it down? Only I can". It seemed like many of the inmates probably experienced a fair amount of anger and had good reasons for thinking that other people caused this anger. After all, inmates often pick on each other, fight with each other, and do even worse things. It seems only natural to be angry at people who hurt us. Yet the message was simple and clear: we can continue to harbor the grudge or we can let go. Which one is the Buddha's way?

            Many of us probably assume that when someone is in prison they need some help, and as Buddhists we should help as much as we can. It's also important for us to remember that some prisoners have a lot of experience with the dharma and they might be able to help us as well. We should question our assumption that we are the teacher and they are the student. It could just as easily be the other way around. I learned a lot from listening to the inmates talk about their experiences in prison and some of them seemed like committed practitioners who were quite serious and adept in their practice. Going into prison is not just a way to "teach them" something, it is about sharing our practice and learning from each other. They have a lot to offer us. People in prison actually have a profound opportunity to see and realize the truth of the Buddha's way. Visiting our brothers and sisters in prison can be a powerful way for us to realize the deep truth of the dharma and to take a deeper refuge in the sangha.    

Do it now!

In the Udana (the collection of "Inspired Utterances" of the Buddha), Buddha says:

"There is that sphere of being where there is no earth, no water, no fire, nor wind; no experience of infinity of space, of infinity of consciousness, of no-thingness, or even of neither-perception-nor-non-perception; here there is neither this world nor another world, neither moon nor sun; this sphere of being I call neither a coming nor a going nor a staying still, neither a dying nor a reappearance; it has no basis, no evolution, and no support: it is the end of dukkha". (ud. 8.1)

Rigpa, nondual awareness, is the direct knowing of this. It's the quality of mind that knows, while abiding nowhere. 

A wonderful story of Awakening....... 

Another story from the same collection tells the story of a religious hermit named Bahiya. Bahiya was concerned about his own spiritual development so he went to visit the Buddha.  He stopped the Buddha on the street in Savatthi and said, "Venerable Sir, you are the Samana Gotama. Your Dharma is famous throughout the land. Please teach me that I may understand the truth".

The Buddha replied, "We're on our almsround, Bahiya. This is not the right time". Bahiya said, "Life is uncertain, Venerable Sir. We never know when we are going to die. It is hard to know for sure what dangers there may be for the Blessed One's life, or what dangers there may be for mine. Teach me the Dhamma, O Blessed One! Teach me the Dhamma, O One-Well-Gone, that will be for my long-term welfare and bliss".

This dialogue repeats itself three times. Three times over, the Buddha says the same thing, and Bahiya responds in the same way. Finally, the Buddha says, "When a Tathagata is pressed three times, he has to answer. Listen carefully, Bahiya, and attend to what I say:

In the seen, there is only the seen,
in the heard, there is only the heard,
in the sensed, there is only the sensed,
in the cognized, there is only the cognized.
Thus you should see that
indeed there is no thing here;
this, Bahiya, is how you should train yourself.
Since, Bahiya, there is for you
in the seen, only the seen,
in the heard, only the heard,
in the sensed, only the sensed,
in the cognized, only the cognized,
and you see that there is no thing here,
you will therefore see that
indeed there is no thing there.
As you see that there is no thing there,
you will see that
you are therefore located neither in the world of this,
nor in the world of that, nor in any place betwixt the two.
This alone is the end of suffering". (ud. 1.10)

Upon hearing these words, Bahiya was immediately enlightened. Moments later he was killed by a runaway cow. So he was right: life is uncertain. Later Bahiya was awarded the title of  "The Disciple Who Understood the Teaching Most Quickly".

Our only moment is now! 


Changes  

By Denise Morrison 

  

From the Upajjhatthana Sutra:

 

"'I am subject to aging, have not gone beyond aging.' This is the first fact that one should reflect on often, whether one is a woman or a man, lay or ordained.

 

'I am subject to illness, have not gone beyond illness.' ...

 

'I am subject to death, have not gone beyond death.' ...

'I will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to me.' ...

'I am the owner of my actions,  heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir'" ...

 

And to paraphrase Dogen Zenji:
All that is dear to us will change.

 

All that is dear to us will change. 

 

Nearly a year ago I entered into the monastic life here at the Abbey. Through the help of Sensei Kozen and many others,  I began making changes in my practice which have had a tremendous benefit. I have been able to examine a lot of my own "stuff" that hinders my practice, and to work on letting it go. I've been able to help other people on their spiritual path, and have been exposed to a wonderful sangha of varying practices that have shared their love of the teachings with me.

 

Perhaps ironically, these changes have helped me to realize that my path lies elsewhere. While the monastic path is and has been dear to me, it is also subject to change. Two weeks ago I went back to being a lay Buddhist.  

 

As I begin life again as a householder, my goal is to sustain the same practices I had as a monastic, and to hopefully increase them. I am hopeful that I can, like so many others I have met, remain an accessible example of how to live a good life with wisdom and compassion. My goal continues to be, as Thomas Merton stated: "Preach often. Use words if necessary".

   

- The Buddha's first teachings -

 

The Four Noble Truths


1. The truth of suffering. (dukkha)

2. The truth of the cause of suffering - attachment. (samudaya)

3. The truth of the ending of suffering. (nirhodha)

4. The truth of the path to the cessation of suffering - the noble eight fold path. (magga)

 


The Noble Eightfold Path

1.  Right View

2.  Right Intention

3.  Right Speech

4.  Right Action

5.  Right Livelihood

6.  Right Effort

7.  Right Mindfulness

8.  Right Concentration


Meditation

Join us 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

Sunday Morning at 9 AM ( the day will change on September 10th to Saturday mornings) 

 

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

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

Temple name in Vietnamese: Tuyết Sơn Thiền Tự

Temple name in Chinese & Japanese: 雪山禅寺