Dear Priory friends,

I trust the spring brings some extra bounce and brightness to your training. You may wish to transfer merit for Carrie English, Lisa Raney’s partner, who has metastasized melanoma. He is losing mental clarity and declining rapidly, and Lisa needed to move him into Eugene Rehabilitation Center today because his needs exceeded home care. Carrie passed away shortly after this note was sent out.

Meditation Instructionat the Koinonia Center at 14^th & Kincaid will continue regularly on the third Thursday of each month. 7:00-8:30pm. Anyone is welcome; no prior notice required. It is completely on a dana basis, as are all our activities and offerings.

Alms Round and Public Talk. A main event of the spring was the Priory’s first alms round. Rev. Master Daishin of Shasta Abbey and Rev. Vera of Portland Buddhist Priory joined Rev. Oswin and half-dozen lay sangha members for the April 4 mid-morning round. We began near the University campus, proceeded by Lane County Transit central station to the downtown area, stopped at the city library for a tea break, and returned to the starting point.

The response was generous, kind, warm, and friendly. Food donations were shared with Shasta Abbey and a local center for homeless teens. We wish to thank all who helped or participated in the round, and especially the following who assisted in the procurement of the requisites: Shasta Abbey, Portland Priory, Ven. Tsung Tsu Shih of De-Lin-Nian-Fo Buddhist Temple in Nantou County, Taiwan, and Rev. Eijun Bill Eidson of the Shingon Buddhist International Institute in Fresno, California.

The next evening, April 5, Rev. Master Daishin offered our first public Dharma talk to be held at the temple. He spoke on “Buddhist Training and the Practice of Boundless Generosity.” Nearly 40 people attended the talk, of whom over a third were new to the Priory. We thank Rev. Master Daishin deeply for his visit and assistance in the alms round.

Visit to Shasta Abbey. Later in April Rev. Oswin traveled to Shasta Abbey for three monastic ordinations, one of which was Mike Running’s (now Rev. Sheridan), a former Priory lay member. The Order’s three Oregon temples provided the ordinands with their razors, a monastic requisite, to show our support for the new monks and their masters. We wish all three success in their vocation. Rev. Oswin stayed on for the spring monastic retreat, which he found helpful. The monastery kindly sent him home with gifts of kesa fabric, monastic clothing, vinaya books, dana books from Shasta Abbey Press, and new liturgy. We are grateful for the training of all the monks at the Abbey and their support of our temple.

Wesak (also Vesak, Vaisakha) Celebration. The temple celebrates Wesak, the worldwide festival honoring the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and teaching, on Sunday, May 21. Meditation begins at 9:30am, ceremony at 10:15, talk for Dharma school (and others, too) at 11:15, ringing in the Buddhist New Year (2550), and vegetarian potluck meal at approximately 12:30pm. Friends and family, especially children, are welcome. It’s traditional for children to dress in white.

Other Wesak events: Readings & Songs on the Life of the Buddha (Nine Lessons & Carols) on Wednesday, May 17, starting with meditation at 7:00, ceremony at 7:30, followed by tea. We will hold a work morning on Saturday, May 20, after morning service (approx. 10:30am) to clean and decorate the temple for the festival. Remember to bring marigolds that week for decorating. The committee chose marigolds for their low cost and because they can be planted out on the temple grounds without providing snacks for the local deer. If you can’t make it Saturday, we encourage you to come up earlier in the week to help prepare.

Thank you for your kind, generous, and committed support of the Priory and the Buddha Dharma. May all beings be well and at peace.

With gratitude,                Rev. Oswin

Notes

Drivers Still Needed:
If you can occasionally give a ride to someone, please let Rev. Master Oswin know, as some of our members still need transportation at times.

Sangha Support Committee Coordinators:
April: Wendy Schwall - 484-1262.
If you're a sangha member and need assistance due to illness or other pressing circumstances, contact the coordinator for that month to see who has offered to help in those particular ways. The sangha is one of the Three Treasures and is worthy of our offerings, time, and care.

Future of Newsletter
We plan to revive our printed version of the newsletter after the new year. If you want to receive it via post, please send or confirm your address with us. A pdf version for printing out will be posted on the website. And we will retain our e-list in order to notify you when it is posted. If you do not wish to receive email from the Priory, please let us know.

Shasta Abbey cookbook available
Cooking with Gentle Heart features almost 400 vegetarian recipes, two hundred of which come directly from the kitchen of Shasta Abbey. Copies are available at the Priory (cost $22). All proceeds go to help the Abbey finance the recent construction the Bodhidharma Hall, a residence for monks. Help the monastery repay the loan they took out to complete the building. As of last report, they are within $20,000 of the completion of the financing.

Respectful Dress at the Priory
In keeping with our intent to restrain the senses and cultivate a pure heart, please wear clothing at the temple that is both comfortable for meditation and at the same time respectful and neat. Body and mind being one, how we treat and regard our physical form can have a significant impact on our spiritual practice. Inappropriate dress includes shorts, jeans, tights, halter tops, tank tops, low cleavage dresses, T-shirts with loud slogans, and highly-scented lotions and perfumes.

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Last updated 05/17/2006
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