Desert Zen Center - Chùa Thiên Ân
Winter morning at DZC
a Zen Buddhist temple dedicated to teaching meditation to everyone
 
 January 2011 
In this issue:
Save the Date 02/06/11
"Loving Kindness"
Transmission
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Sunday Service

10 a.m.
 
Meditation
Dharma Talk
Chanting
 


January 2011
     23 - Roshi
     30 - Tâm Hu'o'ng

February 
     6 - New YearCelebration
Reaffirming the Precepts 
   13 - Roshi
   20 - Thầy Minh Nhâ't
   27 - Tâm Hu'o'ng
      

Service is followed by fellowship and light refreshments

________
  

Can't make Sunday Service?

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Visit the Dharma Talk Archive at DesertZenCenter.org
 
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Meditation & Dharma Class

Thursday Nights
7 p.m. 

Every Thursday night, we gather in the Zendo for meditation, followed by training practice and, then, fellowship & Dharma class in the Sangha Hall.

We are currently studying the Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch (aka the Platform Sutra) 

Please join us.
 
Quicklinks

Photos Portal

 

 Save the date:  Sunday, February 6th, 2011

 

 Tết Nguyên Đán

 

 Welcoming in the Year of the Rabbit!

 

This year, February 3rd marks the official start of the Lunar New Year, known as Tết Nguyên Đán (or simply as Tết) in Vietnam, and we'll be holding our celebration on the following Sunday, February 6th, complete with a Ceremony of Reaffirming the Precepts and a fabulous potluck luncheon.

rabbit

 

The most important and popular festival of the year, Tết Nguyên Đán literally means "Feast of the First Morning" in Sino-Vietnamese. Traditionally marking the coming of Spring, Tết is a joyous time for visiting friends and family, remembering loved ones, and exchanging gifts and good wishes.

 

 

"All I teach is Loving Kindness."     

 

-- Thây Thích Minh Nhat         

Thich Minh Nhat

      

Metta   =   Loving Kindness(Sanskrit)

 

 

Practicing Metta is walking the path of the Bodhisattva. What does it mean to walk this road?

 

Does one have to become a saint or is it simply the commitment to reach out to others?  

 

I feel the Zen priest/poet Ryōkan expressed it so well in one of his poems:

 

"O, that my priest's robe

was wide enough

to gather up

all the suffering people

in this floating world."

 

Ask yourself: How wide is your "robe"? 

 

 

 

Website Update
 

Now that we're past the holiday hiatus, we find ourselves with  many photos, Dharma Talks and miscellaneous goodies (including a couple videos) to be posted on the website. 

We're on it, slowly but surely. And many thanks for your patience in the light of our (my) lnertia.        Palms together, Tam Hu'o'ng  

 Ni Sý Minh Chau

Introducing

 Thương Tọa Thích Minh Tri & 

Ni Sư Thích Minh Chau 

 

Transmission of the Light

On December 5, 2010, the Most Venerable Thích Ân Giao Roshi gave Dharma Mind Seal Transmission to Ken Hogaku Sho McGuire and Fern Shin Getsu Myosen McGuire, both of the Soto Zen lineage of Soyu Matsuoka Roshi, recognizing each of them as a Great Master. 

With this ceremony, they have been brought into the 83rd generation of the Vietnamese Lâm Tế (Rinzai) Zen lineage, where they will be known as Thương Tọa Thích Minh Tri (Ken Roshi, aka "Bright Mind" of the Sakyamuni clan) and Ni Sư Thích Minh Chau (Fern Roshi, aka "Bright Pearl" of the  Sakyamuni clan). Welcome to the family!
 
For more information on Great Masters Bright Mind and Bright Pearl or their Dharma Mountain Zendo, click the Quicklinks in the red box in the above left column.   Click the photo below to see our web photo album for this event.   
Receiving the Certificates of Transmission

The formal ceremony coincided with DZC's Rohatsu/Buddha's Enlightenment Day celebration and was followed by great fellowship at a potluck luncheon. 
 
Do not permit the events of your life to bind you,
 
but never withdraw yourself from them.
                                                                    - Huang-Po.
                                                                               

Desert Zen Center                               www.DesertZenCenter.org                          Thích Ân Giáo Roshi
10989 Buena Vista Road                                                                                             (760) 985-4567
Lucerne Valley, CA 92356-7303                                                             email: roshiDZC@hotmail.com

Regarding this email or to contribute to future newsletters:  
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