Weekly Temple Services
Monday Zoom Meeting - see below
Meditation Saturday 9am ZOOM meeting - see below
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Dear ones,
In ancient days in China a village was experiencing a drought. The villagers asked a Daoist master to come and help the village's lack of rain. The master asked to be given a small hut to stay in while he was in the village. For the first 4 days the master planted a garden next to the hut and worked on it each day. One the fifth day it rained and the villagers rejoiced. "What did you do to make this miracle" they asked? "Ah", the master said, "I am not responsible for the rain. I felt disharmony within myself so I practiced inner and outer cultivation, and as I returned to harmony and balance the rain came naturally. When we are in balance in ourselves we are naturally more connected to the natural flow and thus have access to the greater universe rhythms. Our own attitude is inseparable from events taking place in the world."
In this time of pandemic, uncertainty, and the great unrest in our communities, let us cultivate balance and harmony in our own thoughts and actions. Let each of us become part of the natural flow of the universe, seeking the well being, peace and health for all beings.
Our historic teacher, The Buddha, tells us, "what we think, we become."
My daily practice includes metta, Eight sentences that can change the world:
May I be Well
May I be Happy
May I know Love
May I know Peace
May you be Well
May you be Happy
May you know Love
May you know Peace
1.Start out by holding your right hand over the center of your chest, then place your left hand over your right one and gently hug your chest. Think of yourself as you say the “May I ...”
2.Then hold your hands out in front of yourself and think of a loved one as you say the “May you...”
3.Open your hands wider and higher as you think of an unknown person, and say “May you...”
4.Open your hands wider and higher, then to cleanse your heart, think of someone who has caused you pain or distress and repeat the “May you...”.
5.Open your hands as wide and high as you can, think of all beings of fur, feather, scale, and skin and say the "May you..."
6.Lastly return your right hand over the center of your chest, then place your left hand over your right one and gently hug your chest. Think of yourself as you say the “May I ...”
May we all be filled with loving kindness as we seek harmony for ourselves and the world.
in metta, Thay Kozen
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the National Council of Churches and Sojourners
Along with other national partners, FAN supports this National Day of Mourning and Lament on June 1 for 100,000 + deaths related to COVID-19 and invites you to mark it in your faith practice this weekend or on Monday, June 1.
As people of faith in the State of Washington we acknowledge and lament when we have been complicit in these structures of oppression. We say today, Black Lives Matter, all persons have dignity, and the violence must stop.
Let us all offer a metta practice for all suffering beings on Monday.
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Our proposed New Temple Complex
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Our building is on hold until the COVID Pandemic is resolved.
We're still saving money. One donor who was going to pay for the whole project has lost their business so they can no longer donate. May they be blessed for their intent and their devotion to the Buddha's teachings. May they recover their business and live well and healthy.
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The new temple design allow us to have a handicapped accessible temple with a large covered space protected from snow and rain, as well as a warm enclosed community and dining room. Many people have contributed to our building fund and we remain truly grateful for the support and encouragement from so many individuals. We hope to have plans approved and building started next year, in the Spring of 2020. May your support add to the peace and harmony for all who visit here.
Nam Mô Sakya Muni Phật, Hail to Shakyamuni Buddha.
Ways to donate:
Mailing in a check Mt Adams Buddhist Temple, PO Box 487, Trout Lake WA 98650
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Governors speak of compassion for others
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum & Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine speak out in compassion for others
“It’s been very clear what the studies have shown, you wear the mask not to protect yourself so much as to protect others. And this is one time where we truly are all in this together. What we do directly impacts others.” “Dial up empathy and understanding” and skip the partisan debate about wearing masks".
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COVID UPDATE
Evidence suggests the longer you are exposed to the virus, the higher your risk of infection.
From CNN's Eric Levenson
But there's one more aspect to infection that has received less attention. Growing evidence suggests that Covid-19 infection, like with other illnesses, is related to prolonged time exposed to the virus. The longer you stay in an environment that may contain the virus, the higher the risk of getting sick.
Erin Bromage, a comparative immunologist and professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, summed it up with a short and sweet equation:
Successful Infection = Exposure to Virus x Time.
The main idea is that people get infected when they are exposed to a certain amount of viral particles. That viral threshold can be reached by an infected person's sneeze or cough, which releases a large number of viral particles into the air. But an infected person talking or even just breathing still releases some virus into the air, and over a long period of time in an enclosed space, that could still infect others.
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Up coming classes and retreats
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All of our classes and retreats through July 2020 have been cancelled.
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Thich Minh Thien's Column
(Thay Z, abbot of Budding Dharma Temple, Arlington Texas)
Going From Small to Great
It is told that the Buddha once said that if you take a bowl of water, pour a cup of salt into the water and stir it up, the water becomes undrinkable. But if you take that same amount of salt and pour it into a great stream, the water remains crystal clear and is lovely to drink.
If we look at the current media frenzy over Covid-19 with over one million lost souls, the terrible treatment of people of color, the economic and job calamity caused by the shut-down and the crazy goings on in our governing bodies, it seems that things have never been worse. And from just our small perspective, it may feel that way as well. We may be seeing all of this suffering as the cup of salt in our small bowl where we only find bitterness, sadness and unhappiness. We do have the opportunity however, to expand our small focus to that greater stream of connection to all sentient beings as we observe and rely on our spiritual practice and the teachings of the Buddha. Through this practice we can all begin to awaken to the real truth that our buddha nature is vast like the sky - infinite, free and spacious. That is our true nature. That is the “Amitabha Infinite Light”.
It is not that we go from small to great. It is that we awaken from the illusion; the delusion that we are only our small human self. Now is definitely an opportune moment that we awaken to the reality that has always been there from the beginning of time. We are the whole universe; we are all of it and more. And when we realize that and awaken - whether it is just for a second or longer, we allow this realization to keep growing because enlightenment is infinite and never ends. We allow that awakening to keep growing. In doing so, as individuals or sanghas, that infinite vastness manifests in real and tangible ways in how we think, how we feel, how we speak, how we act, and in ways we relate with others in this world.
Our practice will lead us to open our hearts to all the wonderful joys of life and begin to see and relate to all of life in a greater capacity, moving us out of our smaller, “me” focused existence to that greater realization and connection to the vastness of all things in our world and the universe. And when we awaken to that truth deep within our whole being, then when fear comes along we can handle it. Sadness, we can hold it. Anger, we can be with it until it transforms. Joy, we can celebrate it. Love, we can offer it. Peace, we can radiate it.
And so in this chaos we find our small selves in at the moment, we know change is right around the corner. Let us hope that we all move to a greater understanding that the craziness of life is worth it because it is here that the ‘infinite light’ actually experiences deep compassion and deep wisdom.
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
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Poetry from Venerable Fa Sing
(Thich Tâm Minh)
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You can’t outrun
the afternoon,
so why not slow down
and enjoy the sun?
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The dogwood out back
speaks mostly in flowers,
and oh how I love to listen!
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The surest way to heaven
that I have ever seen
is a path of earthen brown
through a field of deepest green.
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Summer Tick Warning
According to science news, the rise of tick borne illnesses keep growing. A newly identified disease alpha-gal allergy can cause individuals to become allergic to meat. Add that to Lyme disease, weather changes, and a growing deer population and we have an almost perfect storm.
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Dhammapada
Everything arises and passes away." When you see this with insight- wisdom, you are away from sorrow. (Dhammapada verse # 277)
Better than a hundred years in the life of a person who is idle and inactive, is a day in the life of one who makes a zealous and strenuous effort in Tranquility and Insight Development Practice.
(Dhammapada verse # 112)
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"Rev. Senzaki Teaching"
Drawing done in his "Wyoming Zendo" by Estelle Ishigo during their time at Heart Mountain Relocation Center. Venerable Nyogen Senzaki was an enlightened teacher with great compassion. Read more here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyogen_Senzaki
During World War II Japanese-Americans were put into relocation camps. One such place is Heart Mountain Relocation Camp outside of Cody Wyoming. Please visit the site to gain insight into how we Americans dealt with fear, even over riding the constitution in our haste to deal with war.
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May the Infinite Light of Wisdom and Compassion so shine within us
that the errors and vanities of self may be dispelled;
so shall we understand the changing nature of existence and awaken into spiritual peace.
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