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| Desert Zen Center - Chùa Thiên Ân |
| a Zen Buddhist temple dedicated to teaching meditation to everyone |
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10 a.m.
Meditation
Dharma Talk
Chanting
April
3 - Tâm Hu'o'ng
Being Human.
10 - Roshi
Hanamatsuri Celebration
17 - tba
24 - Roshi
Renewing the Precepts
May
1 - Tâm Hu'o'ng
8 - Roshi
15 - Thay Minh Nhat
22 - Roshi
29 - Roshi
Renewing the Precepts
Service is followed by fellowship and light refreshments
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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.
Current study text is What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula. Please join us.
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Event Schedule
Life is uncertain... Everything changes
Updates here & on our website.
April
8 Hannamatsuri
9 Temple Work day
10 Hannamatsuri Celebration
May
10 Vesākha/Vesak
13-15 Dogen Retreat
17 Vesākha
Note: DZC plans various events on the second Saturday of every month.
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Very Venerable T.T. Thích Minh Tri
to visit DZC
Thay Thích Minh Tri, aka Ken McGuire Roshi, who was transmitted the Dharma Mind Seal in December at DZC, returns the first week of April to join us for Hanamatsuri and help out with our construction to-do list. We look forward to learning from and enjoying the labors of this skilled woodworker and member of our extended Sangha. Welcome back! . |
 | | Dramatic skies over DZC, and our dry lake is filled by rain. |
 | | Winter dawn at DZC |
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Hanamatsuri Ceremony
Sunday, April 10th, 10:00 a.m.
Please join us for a special Buddha's Birthday ceremony, where we chant and bathe a statue of the baby Buddha with sweet tea and flower petals. We encourage everyone to bring an instrument, a poem, a song, and/or a joke (suitable for the occasion), to entertain the sangha during our shared potluck meal after service.
About Buddha's Birthday
Hanamatsuri - Vesak - Vesākha - Phật Đản
The season of "Buddha's Birthday" starts this year with the Japanese Festival of Hanamatsuri on April 8th, which we will celebrate on the following Sunday, April 10th.
Over the miles and centuries, as Buddhism spread out from India, the anniversary of Siddhartha Gautama's birthday has been celebrated by different name and in various ways. Differing lunar calendars resulted in several observed dates of birth, but these were codified into one, at least for some Buddhists, according to our friends at Wikipedia, in the 20th Century:
"The decision to agree to celebrate the Vesākha as the Buddha's birthday was formalized at the first Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists held in Sri Lanka in 1950, although festivals at this time in the Buddhist world are a centuries-old tradition."
As part of this agreement, and as a general rule, Vesākha (Mahayana) or Vesak / Wesak (Theravadan) commemorates not only the birth, but also the enlightenment and death (parinirvana) of the Buddha. Popularly known as Buddha's Birthday, this is a national holiday in some countries..
Despite the Vesākha agreement, different dates are recognized by the different traditions within Buddhism. The Mahayana world uses the Chinese lunar calendar and marks the birthday anniversary as the 8th day of the 4th month, which corresponds to on different dates each year in the Gregorian calendar (May 10th or 17th, 2011). The Theravadan world uses a different Buddhist calendar, which specifies the full moon Uposatha day (in the 5th or 6th month) equaling May 10th in 2011.
In practice, in many countries Buddha's Birthday is celebrated throughout the whole lunar month, as well as before and beyond. The birthday season is extended regionally as related events are staggered so that communities can visit back-and-forth. Some Buddhists attend more than one temple on a regular basis and want to visit each during this time, while others make special pilgrimages to temples they support.
Happy Birthday! |
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Mark your calendar:
Temple Work Day
Saturday, April 9th
9:00 a.m. - noonish
Our upcoming Temple Work Day, the second Saturday in April, will be dedicated to paint, paint and more paint.*
We'll be sanding, scraping, washing, priming, cutting-in and rolling magicians.
No experience necessary - on the job training!
Please wear work clothes (subject to grime and spatters), sturdy shoes/boots and a hat. Good company guaranteed and vegetarian lunch provided.**
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*(continuing the good work of our longtime friend Kirk)
Please see "In Appreciation" below.
**Voluntary potluck always welcome - contact Sư cô.
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Mark your calendar:
May 13-15th - Dōgen Retreat
By popular request: the May Teaching Retreat returns
Learn about Dōgen Zenji, the 13th century founder of the Japanese Sōtō Zen school, whose large body of written works on meditation and Buddhist practice are considered the very essence of Zen
(an impossible possible).
Please RSVP - ASAP |
March Sesshin
Our silent formal weekend retreat March 10-13: good practice!.
Sun and shadow after the sitting & almost all smiles
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So, Katie, tell us it was worth all that effort!
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More photos up on the website as soon as y'all send them to us... |
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"All I teach is Loving Kindness."
--Thây Thích Minh Nhât
The poet Rumi asked why do you search from room to room, looking for the diamond necklace that is already around your neck?
There is a common belief that if anything has value or is useful, it has to be seen, heard or touched. However, all things -- whether tangible or intangible -- are lessons we can learn from, if only we are open to them. For we are on a voyage of discovery which consists of not seeing new landscapes, but having new eyes.
Loving Kindness is stepping back, letting go and listening to the "music" within our hearts. This may cause us to change, but as Alan Watts said so eloquently, "The only way to make sense out of change is to change with it, move with it, and join the dance." We must change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves otherwise we harden.
"May I have the next dance?"
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 | | Kirk by the Memorial |
In appreciation:
Special thanks to Kirk (Thomas Kirkpatrick), who has been regularly and diligently working with Roshi to paint our various buildings. The Zendo has a much-needed coat of white paint and the bathrooms, storage shed and bunkhouse are all a lovely desert brown.
While we're at it, kudos to Bryan Goodrich, who is spear-heading the Cactus Garden Landscape Project (yes, it should be in caps - he has a vision!), aided and abetted by Thornton Martin and Susan Chacon. Our banner photo at the top of this email shows the cactus garden-in-progress, just as it started to snow this March.
And thanks for helping to make our presence known: Mary Campbell worked with Sư cô to construct and mount the new Buddhist Flag billboard marking our driveway, visible from Highway 18. The Flag was made possible through generous donations.
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