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Mt Adams Zen Buddhist Temple

 

November 2012 Newsletter
Dear Dharma Friends, 
    It is with great joy that we announce the ordination of Thich Kobai Scott Whitney.  Thay Kobai was ordained at Chua Lin Hoa, Vietnamese Buddhist Temple, in Olympia, WA.  The Ordaining body was composed of two Theravada monks  (Venerable Bhikkhu Ratsamee, abbot of Buddhangkura Buddhist Temple and Venerable Bhikkhu Phan, Buddhangkura Buddhist Temple), three Vietnamese monks (The most Venerable Thich  Trung Khiet, Abbot of Chua Quang Duc Temple, Venerable Thich Nguyen Kim, Co Lam Pagoda, Ven. Thich Minh Tinh, abbot of Mt. Adams Zen Buddhist Temple).  Other monks and sanga members were also in attendance.
   Kobai is the guiding teacher of Plum Mountain Buddhist Community in Aberdeen, Washington. His sangha works "especially with the marginalized and those recovering-from trauma, homelessness, divorce, domestic violence and losses of various sorts." Plum Mountain members are active in the community, working to "partner with the 12-Step communities, jails, prisons and services for the hungry and the mentally ill." Kobai is well-known for his Prison Dharma work, having spent many years teaching Buddhism to incarcerated men and women. He has written a book, Sitting Inside: Buddhist Practice in America's Prisons, which is a very informative guide for those involved with Prison Dharma work.  


May Ven. Kobai's teachings help many find and practice the Dharma.  May his Bodhisattva practice of helping the dispossessed be a guide to all of us.
May all beings find peace.         In Loving Kindness, Thich Minh Tinh

UU Youth Retreat
UU Youth 2012
The Mid-Columbia Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (MCUUF) provided a special retreat for their youth group at the Abbey in October.  Their fellowship has a wonderful mission statement: "Our Mission: "We come together as a welcoming religious community that nurtures our spiritual growth, broadens our minds, and supports us in service to the wider world."  I want to thank the adults who supported the weekend - and the youth who participated - I think you have made a small change that has made the world for better place. You can learn more about the UU fellowship at http://www.mcuuf.org/.
We are a small Thien (Zen) Buddhist Temple practicing  "laughing farmer zen" - living our practice, sitting zazen, being here - right now!

Services & Meditation  

 

Morning Services  6:30AM 

Calendar

 

NOVEMBER
3 Saturday Service 9am
3 Druid - Samhain 5:30pm
5 Kozen to CRCC prison
7 Immigrant legalization 5:30pm   
10 Saturday Service 9am Celebrating Veterans service
16 - 18 Metta Retreat loving Kindness
17 Saturday Service 9am Celebrating Thanksgiving
19 Community Service at 

St. Joseph's Catholic Church, White Salmon - 7PM 

24 Saturday Service 9am

  

DECEMBER 

1 Saturday Service 9am  

3 Kozen to CRCC Prison

8 Saturday Service 9am

8 Bodhi Day - celebration of Buddha's birth - (Japan).  Temple gift exchange  

8 Midnight meditation 

11:30pm -12:30am  

15  Saturday Service 9am

22 Saturday Service 9am

29 Saturday Service 9am 

31 Midnight meditation  

           11:30pm - 12:30 am  

 

JANUARY 

5 Saturday Service 9am  

7 Kozen to CRCC Prison   

12 Saturday Service 9am

 19 Saturday Service 9am

26 Saturday Service 9am 

For folks local to The Gorge
Feast in White salmon has a wonderful natural food deli, natural marketplace, and sells the Abbey's wonderful brown eggs.

Gorge Dental in Hood River has a pleasant and competent crew. Dr. Andrew Olsson DDS is very gentle; (Ven. Kozen fell asleep in the chair while having
 a crown repaired).
Words of Wisdom
"Stand at the crossroads and look;
    ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls".
  Jeremiah 6:16

When the mind is the master,  

you live in a hell. When you are the master of your mind, you live in the land of the Buddhas.

 

"When you get to the top of the mountain, keep climbing".

Yasutani Roshi

 

The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

 

"There is more to life than increasing its speed." Gandhi 

  

"Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes."  

Alan Watts

Northwest Dharma Resources

Cloud Mountain Retreat Center http://www.cloudmountain.org/  

Co Lam Pagoda

3503 S. Graham St.,

Seattle WA 98118 
Some monks speak English

(Ask for Master Kim)  

  

 Dharma Rain  

http://www.dharma-rain.org

 

Hood River Zen 

Hood River, OR 

www.hoodriverzen.org   

(affiliated with Dharma Rain)     

 

 Minh Quang Temple  

14719 SE Powell Blvd.  

Portland, OR     


Northwest Dharma Association http://www.northwestdharma.org/

 

Pacific Hermitage  http://hermitage.abhayagiri.org/ 

65 Barnedt Road

White Salmon,
Washington 98672

Plum Mountain Buddhist Com. http://www.plummountain.org 

 

Portland Buddhist Priory http://www.portlandbuddhistpriory.org/  

 

Zen Community of Oregon https://www.zendust.org/    

 

No Likes..No Dislikes 

   When we approach our study of the Dharma, we are given many choices.  For some of us, we find the "perfect" teacher or denomination of Buddhism.  Others of us find a wonderful Dharma with many, many aspects.  The great Chinese Zen Patriarch Hui-k'o (successor to Bodhidharma) said "do not like, do not dislike, the way then will be clear."   

 

   I like to "sit" with all the schools of Buddhism.  They all carry the core essence of the Dharma.  I encourage all of us to visit many temples and teachers, meditating everywhere without likes or dislikes.  Kozen  

Is your group part of the Northwest Dharma Association? 
if not, it is time to join!  If you are a solitary practitioner or without a sanga you can still send them some dana (money).  The are a clearing house for Buddhist Activity in the Northwest and need our support.

 read more about the NWDA at http://www.northwestdharma.org/
BODHI DAY CELEBRATION

Saturday 8 December midnight meditation (11pm-1am)

Bodhi Day celebrates Siddhartha Gautauma (Shakyamuni)'s enlightenment. Buddha's enlightenment came after years of extreme practice and hardships and a vow to meditate until he found the cause of suffering and liberated himself from it.

Cultural traditions vary on exactly what happened as Siddhartha sat in deep meditation; One tradition says he made a second vow to nirvana and earth - promising to find the root of suffering or die trying, another tradition says that he was tempted by the god Mara (the god of illusion/maya), still another traditions says that he entered into deeper and deeper levels of meditation.

 

The Pali Canon scripture relating to this story is in The Longer Discourse to Saccaka (MN 36), where the Buddha describes his Enlightenment in three stages:

1. The awakening Buddha discovered all of his past lives in the cycle of rebirth, realizing that he had been born and reborn countless times before.

2. The awakening Buddha uncovered the Law of Karma, and the importance of the Eightfold Path.

3. The awakened Buddha realized the Four Noble Truths, finally reaching Nirvana.

 

The Buddha said:

"My heart, thus knowing, thus seeing, was released from the fermentation of sensuality, released from the fermentation of becoming, released from the fermentation of ignorance. With release, there was the knowledge, 'Released.' I discerned that 'Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world."  

 

As the morning star rose in the sky in the early morning, (the third watch of the night), Siddhartha became the Buddha as he had found the answers and became Enlightened, and experienced Nirvana.

 

One translator gives us another glimpse into the Buddha's realization, "I was, am, and will be, simultaneously enlightened with the Universe".  remember that the Buddha himself had no teacher to show him the way - his own meditation brought about the great awakening.  From the teachings we also hear that all may awaken - the smart and the foolish - education alone will not help enter the gate-less gate of enlightenment. 

 

So on this occasion we celebrate the great awakening with meditation and an offering of gratitude for Buddha's wonderful efforts and teachings.

Sri Lanka - preserver of Buddha's teachings
   Many of us know that Sri Lanka has been a storehouse of Buddha's teachings as practiced by our Theravada brothers and sisters.  What we may not know is that the Buddha is reported to have visited the island nation 3 times during his life.  By legend, his first visit was to Mahiyangana where he subdued local supernatural beings and met with local leaders and converted them to Buddhism.  On his second visit the Buddha is said to have mediated between 2 kings who were threatening war against each other.  On his third visit, the Buddha left a footprint of his left foot on the peak of Mount Sri Pada. On all 3 visits the Buddha presented the Dharma and Buddhism soon became the primary religion of the island.  While historically these visits have been questioned, the local lore accepts them without doubt.
   The earliest history of Sri Lanka is recorded in the Dipavamsa, probably written around the 3rd or 4th century.  There is some question as to its accuracy as a historical document as it was written by Buddhist monks who may have recorded the verbal traditions from a "possibly biased Buddhist perspective".
   Sri Lanka kept many of the Theravada traditions alive and eventually supported Thailand and Burma to revive and strengthen the Buddhist practices in their countries.  In turn, when Sri Lanka's monks needed a renewed focus, both Thailand and Burma sent monk teachers at different times to help Sri Lanka renew its practice.
In his delightful small book - Island of Light, TY Lee explores Sri Lanka's secular and Buddhist history.  It is a wonderful source of Theravada traditions and a Buddhist history Sri Lanka.  The book is available at the Abbey - please contact us for a copy.

Are you interested in learning more about President Obama's legalization program, the "Dream Act,"  

and how it might relate to you?

 

Karen Murphy of Hood River Legalization Project has worked to inform interested people about this issue

 

She will be presenting that information in Spanish

 

Wednesday, November 7, from 5:30 to 7 pm

 

at Trout Lake Abbey, 46 Stoller Rd., Trout lake 

 

To protect your privacy, there will be no registration of participants. You can come and listen and ask questions.  You can decide if there is an opportunity you want to

pursue. There will be no record of your attendance.

 

Call Stefanie Stevens at 509-395-2275 for additional information.

(Spanish flier attached below - please print a copy  

and post it on a bulletin board)  

to learn more:http://www.immigrationadvocates.org/nonprofit/legaldirectory/organization.393258-Hood_River_Valley_Legalization_Project 


4 sentences to change your life. 
The Buddha tells us, "what we think, we become".  If we are able to look at everyone;  ourselves, our loved ones, individuals whom we do not know, and others whom we have resentments, anger, or any negative thought towards, then we can begin to let go of judgements and discriminative thoughts.

   Try this simple exercise.  First start with you - visualize you sitting here and say:  

May I be well, (Estoy bien),

May I be happy, (Estoy feliz),

May I know love, (Conozco el amor),

May I know peace. (Conozco la paz).

   

Then one by one visualize a loved one, then a stranger, then a person about whom you feel angry or upset with and with each focus say:

 

May you be well, (Que est�s bien),

May you be happy, (Que seas feliz),

May you know love, (Que conozcas el amor),

May you know peace. (Que conozcas la paz).  

 

Then return to thinking of you again and say:

 

May I be well, (Estoy bien),

May I be happy, (Estoy feliz),

May I know love, (Conozco el amor),

May I know peace. (Conozco la paz).

When you are able, try this twice a day for 1 week. Use this simple practice whenever you find yourself in conflict or concern with another being.
The Mamma Bears - a earth loving, life living, group of women have come together to make a positive change in our area.  Here they are at the Abbey this summer, conspiring to do more good deeds and protect the earth. http://www.mamabearproject.com/

Mamma Bears

                YOGA
                     Get Fit & Healthy.
cookie Feel well & Happy.
Be Good to Yourself

Cookie Gilpatrick has started the winter programs for yoga and therapeutic movement here at Trout Lake Abbey. 
Contact her: 541.490.9077

 Classes start in November 
Tuesday 9:00am and Thursday 5:30 pm

Dream Act Flyer in Spanish - Please Post
           

REUNION INFORMATIVA SOBRE EL "DREAM ACT - LEGALIZACION DE INMIGRACION"

MIERCOLES, DIA 7, DESDE LAS 5,30 A LAS 7

(FAVOR DE LLEGAR A TIEMPO)

 

�Est�n ustedes interesados saber m�s del Programa de Legalizaci�n de Imigraci�n y como se puede afectarles?

 

�Est� usted o tiene usted hijos entre los 15 y 30 a�os de edad? �Han estado en los Estados Unidos para 5 a�os o m�s?

 

Est�n invitados (gratis) a escuchar a Sra. Karen Murphy del "Programa de Legalizaci�n del Valle de Hood River." Ella ha trabajado con mucha gente sobre la inmigraci�n y ha ofrecido repartir informaci�n acerca este asunto importante.

 

Su presentaci�n ser� en espa�ol.

 

Para proteger su privacidad, no habr� ning�n

registro de asistencia. Est�n invitados venir y escuchar y hacer preguntas a ver si hay una oportunidad que desean perseguir.

 

LUGAR: TROUT LAKE ABBEY, 46 STOLLER ROAD, TROUT LAKE

HORA: las 5,30 en punto

 

DIRECCIONES: En Trout Lake, gire al este en WARNER ROAD. Vaya una milla hasta llegar a Sunnyside Road. Pase Sunnyside y continue recto a STOLLER ROAD. Gire a la derecha (justo despues de una fila de buzones de correo) y vaya media milla al letrero de 'TROUT LAKE ABBEY.' Pase por la entrada y sigue despacio al Abbey donde hay aparcamento. Avisamos que lleguen con tiempo.

Mas informes, favor de llamar a S. Stevens, 509-395-2275

  MEDITATION SERVICES 

+ Join us Monday - Friday at 6:30 AM for our usual daily service.  

+ Thursday and Friday Evenings at 6:30pm

+ Saturday Morning at 9 AM

PO Box 487, Trout Lake WA 98650     www.MtAdamsZen.org

509.395.2030  (e-mail -put in the @ sign) kozen1 at embarqmail.com