by Nomon Tim Burnett
February 01, 2008
Responding Gate
A monthly letter from Resident Priest Nomon Tim Burnett
February 2008
Dear Sangha,
The last months has been a whirlwind adventure with the new Red Cedar Dharma Hall which sprang into existence between the beginning of October and the end of January. It's basically all done - a few trim details and getting a more permanent sign still to go. The Earth Room donor is doing finishing touches on the Earth Room. The center is functional and beautiful. A quiet, warm, clean, nicely lit place for the practice of peace and awareness. And many of us who've been in the center of this great activity are tired but excited. As one sangha leader put it "we are giddy!" A wonderful place for our Zen Sangha to practice has been born and even more importantly a wonderful place to share with Bellingham and the world has been born.
Now the task before us is to fully use this treasure for its deepest purpose: to support ourselves and others in waking up to our true human life. To find in the depths of our hearts peace and compassion. To strengthen our resolve to take care of ourselves and our world deeply and fully. As wonderful as the new center is I am realizing now that like all possessions it's a little overwhelming and burdensome too. A joyful responsibility and a burden too in a way. It makes sense that the Buddha kept arrangements as simple as possible during this lifetime. Encouraging his students to be possessionless monks, simple huts and buildings or no buildings at all (being in a warm climate helped this!).
Showing up and keeping the center lively and in use is a kind of training stage for us all now, how to stay aware of the responsibilty and opportunity of the great gift of this beautiful center. There are many new and different things we will do to share this place with the our broader community, but to start with we are doing what we already know how to do which is to sit practice period.
During the rainy season in the Buddha's day when it was hard to travel the monks would settle in one place for a 3-month rains retreat. The practice went to Japan in the year 683 I just learned and there it's usually done as a winter and a summer retreat. For our lay life practice we've shortened and simplified practice period to 6 weeks (but logistics of Norman's schedule make it 5 weeks this year) but we keep the same spirit as the original monks sitting under their trees during the rains. To have a time where we make practice a priority, to bring up our life as revealed by the practice and work with that. To learn a little more about the tradition, to learn more about being with sangha, to learn more about the human heart. These are the goals of practice period. We don't expect to suddenly be different people - we are who we are and conditioning runs deep - but we do very reasonably expect that if we make effort in practice period with the support of the community we will understand this conditioned "me" in a different way. A lighter way, a more open way. That we will be less trapped by our conditioned and more able to be of service to the world. This we can hope for.
As I write this all of the weekly practice period events have started and the practice period has been opened. Our visiting shuso (head student), priest Kotatsu John Bailes is in residence and sharing his warmth and depth of practice with the community. The opening retreats have happened but the middle one day retreat is still to come (this Sunday Feb. 10th) and the closing retreat when Zoketsu Norman Fischer returns to lead us in our first multi-day sesshin (meditation retreat) at the new center is coming up soon (eve. of Feb 28th - March 2). As a wonderful extra a half-day retreat with the gifted translator Red Pine has been added (Feb 23rd). And do note in your calendar that everyone is very much invited to the closing ceremony of practice period which is also the final training step for John in completing his training as shuso. This is the Shuso's Dharma Inquiry Ceremony (hossenshiki) on Sunday March 2nd at 11am. Note the earlier time than previous years. This is an important and beautiful community ritual, please do come if you are in the area that day.
Tea with the Shusho
John Bailes, Shuso for the 2008 Practice Period
January 24 – March 3
is available to practice period students for Tea to get acquainted
and to discuss practice.
Best times are afternoons or early evenings, e.g.,
· following noon meditation, M W F
· prior to the 7:00 pm Shuso classes, Mondays and Thursdays in February
· prior to Wednesday evening 7:00 pm meditation
· OR – at another afternoon time mutually convenient
To make an appointment, please contact the benji (shuso’s assistant) Edie Norton at 527-9101 or by email at edwinanorton@earthlink.net.
All practice period students are encouraged to take this opportunity to explore and deepen their practice with our Shuso. Time permitting, John is happy to meet with any students who would like to speak with him.
Online Registration Issues…Fixed
We experienced some issues with our online registration system recently. If you got error messages or trouble registering online please know that this is corrected. And we are now printing out and offering paper registration at Red Cedar Dharma Hall as well. Contact Registrar Diane Mirro at registrar@redcedarzen.org or 360-933-1060 if you ever have questions about registration.
Membership
Membership is more important than ever as we look towards paying the rent on our new space as the Earth Room donation runs out. If you have not yet become a member and would like to support what we are doing please consider doing so. If you were a member last year please consider renewing and whether it is feasible for you to increase your monthly donation somewhat. Our memberships all renew with each calendar year. Membership Coordinator Bernadette Prinster is available to help with membership questions and sign ups. There are membership forms in the lobby of the center and available online from the "sangha" page of http://www.redcedarzen.org. You can print out and mail in a membership form or sign up online using PayPal or a credit card for payment. Automatic monthly payments are also available (either through the online system or ask Bernadette to help you set it up). Bernadette can be reached at brndet@comcast.net or 360-752-0888.
Red Cedar Dharma Hall weekly schedule
Our regular weekly schedule is currently:
Monday noon - 1pm, Zen
Tuesday 7pm - 9pm, Insight
Wednesday noon - 1pm, Zen
Wednesday 6:30pm new sitter orientation
Wednesday 7pm - 9pm, Zen
Friday noon - 1pm, Zen
Saturday 6am - 8am meditation and breakfast, Zen Practice Period Only
Still to come are regular hours for drop in, individual practice, library use, family programming and study and Earth Room open hours. We hope the center will be open most days in future.
Red Cedar Dharma Hall funding update
The leaders of the sangha are deeply grateful to everyone who has contributed financially to this new project. The response was both phenomenal and also quiet and relaxed. We did our best to explain what was needed and the community responded. Thank you so much. We requested $5,000 for building set up help and received more than $7,000! The additional funds were in the end very much needed as a few areas (electrical work, new walls) were more expensive than budgeted. The sangha will wind up this project with about $2000 remaining in our accounts. Not a bad place to land after a project which we put nearly $28,000 into. It completely amazes me that we were able to do this, but somehow…we did.
Tax Receipts update: The IRS tells us that our status as a 501c(3) tax exempt non-profit is pending and we should be notified officially in a few months. Our tax exempt status will be back-dated to our non-profit incorporation last summer so we will be able to send tax receipts for donations received for setting up the Dharma Hall for use on your 2007 taxes. Please contact our bookkeeper, Marti Bartlett at 306-0038 or bartlettmartha@gmail.com with questions. And please note that Marti has a new email address.
Renting the Red Cedar Dharma Hall
Red Cedar Dharma Hall will be the home practice space for Red Cedar Zen Community and Bellingham Insight Meditation Society (BIMS), but did you know we are making the space available to other community groups for hourly rental or regular weekly use? Our new building manager, Latona Maillard (thank you Latona!) has created a web site to explain the building, handle scheduling and rental. See his fine first draft at
http://dharmahall.redcedarzen.org and if you know of a compatible group who might be able to use our facilities please let them know. Latona's contact information is on this website.
We picture Red Cedar Dharma Hall as a lively center for community. A place for peacefulness, growth and inner work. A place decided to mindfulness, peacefulness, and compassion. We hope offerings will include things like mediation in different traditions, yoga, tai chi, chi gung, non-violent communication. Please spread the word and help make this possible. (and along the way we hope with the help of these other groups to be able to afford the rent once the initial Earth Room donation is depleted!).
Family Programs…coming soon?
It is one of my goals to make Buddhist practice more available to families with children. Both so that parents can practice but also so that children can have the opportunity to consider and experience the benefits of meditation practice and the Buddha's straight forward teachings about cause and effect, awareness, and morality. The energy and time won't be available to start family programs for another few months yet but I am now collecting names of people who would be interested in supporting this project on any level. I envision a small organizing committee which based on our previous positive experience with the Family Dharma Program in the old Bellingham Dharma Hall could brainstorm a program that fits our needs in the new space. It would also be very helpful just to hear about families who would be interested in attending a program even if you don't have time to help with organizing. Please drop me a line at 360-223-0687 or tim@redcedarzen.org if you are interested in supporting, organizing, or attending family programs at Red Cedar Dharma Hall.
Upcoming Events
Two Classes, Three Times
It's not too late to join classes by Shuso John Bailes ("Dana Paramita: The Perfection of Generosity") and Resident Priest Tim Burnett ("Early Teachings of the Buddha"). John's class is in two sessions: Monday or Thursday evenings at 7pm, Tim's class is at 1pm on Fridays after noon zazen. Both do not require pre-registration and a $10/class donation is suggested. For details please see the website http://www.redcedarzen.org
One-Day Retreat
Sunday February 10, 8:30 am - 4:00 pm Registration Required
Red Cedar Dharma Hall
Join us for a one day retreat to include Shuso John Bailes Way-Seeking Mind talk and oryoki practice. PLEASE NOTE: this retreat is on 2/10, the website was mistakenly updated earlier to show it on the 17th.
The Heart Sutra with Red Pine
Saturday February 23, 8:30am - 1:00pm Registration Required
Red Cedar Dharma Hall
Join us for an illuminating morning unpacking a core Zen text with this gifted translator and teacher.
Final Sesshin of Winter Practice Period
Thursday February 28, 7:00 pm - Sunday March 02, 2:00 pm Registration Required
Red Cedar Dharma Hall
Final Practice Period Sesshin with Zoketsu Norman Fischer and Shuso John Bailes.
Shuso's Dharma Inquiry Ceremony (hossenshiki)
Sunday March 02, 11:00am
Red Cedar Dharma Hall
Regardless of your level of participation in the practice period please consider attending this important ceremony in which Shuso John Bailes completes his training as shuso with a formal yet intimate question and answer ceremony with the sangha.
Samish Sesshin 2008
Friday 6/20 at 5:00pm - Saturday 6/28 at noon Registration Required, opening soon
(half time attendence an option)
Samish Island
A 7 day, 8 night, Zen retreat in the Everyday Zen Community Retreat format. First half classes and workshops, second half silent sesshin.
yours,
Tim
Nomon Tim Burnett
Resident Priest
Resident Priest Nomon Tim Burnett has been a student of Zoketsu Norman Fischer since 1987 when he was a resident at San Francisco Zen Center's Green Gulch Farm. After sitting practice periods at Green Gulch and Tassajara Zen Monastery, Tim helped found the Bellingham Zen Practice Group in 1991. Tim was ordained as a Zen Priest by Norman in June, 2000. Like his teacher, Tim is interested in the possibility of deep and complete practice by lay people.
A person of wide-ranging professional interests, Tim has been a botanist, elementary schoolteacher, writer, and computer programmer. In addition to his work at the Resident Priest of Red Cedar Zen Community, Tim works as a software developer.