Buddhist Priory
Eugene, Oregon
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Eugene Buddhist Priory Newsletter |
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Eugene Buddhist Priory Eugene, Oregon |
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August has been a quiet month at the temple. The warm weather motivated the purchase and installation of outdoor blinds and shade cloth on the skylights to help keep the main building cool during the day. Work on most of our summer projects progressed slowly, with the firewood storage and wood stove installation completed so far. We are about half-way through paving the stupa site. Many of our members attended Rev. Master Meian Elbert's retreat at Shasta Abbey in late August. Retreats are always of value, even though they are usually hard work. Nothing of value comes without effort and certainly is true of meditation and spiritual practice. Attending a retreat with other members can prove especially helpful for the shared learning people bring back to the temple. The month ended with a Renewal of Vows & Precepts attended by about a dozen members. It was good to hear the reading of the Precepts and recommit to them and the Bodhisattva vow. Rev. Master Oswin lectured from the Dharma seat after the reading, clarifying what the "will of the Eternal" means: There is no set plan or blueprint for any of us. In each moment we shape our future by the choices that we make. The will of the Eternal or the Unborn is simply the wish for all beings to realize their True Nature and harmonize with It. Keeping the precepts is a way of accomplishing this harmonization in daily life. As we train and make preceptual choices, the "will of the Eternal" unfolds. Rev. Master Oswin particularly pointed out the importance of making our use of language accord with the Buddhist understanding of truth and reality: Nothing is "meant to be" for there is no being who plans with meaning in mind. If our choices harmonize with the Unborn, we align ourselves with Its Pure Love and become a part of Its "salvation" or "liberation" of all sentient beings. This is a wonderful ideal, but there is no preordained plan as to how that is accomplished. A more accurate, roughly equivalent (and probably what we may mean anyway) is "if and when all conditions ripen." Bus Pickup Drivers Needed: We try to provide a ride to Wednesday and Sunday meetings for those who do not
have transportation. To meet this need, we need volunteers to create a monthly rota of drivers willing to pick up
anyone who travels by bus as far as they can. Each driver would be responsible for one month, with another person as
the backup. The next month the backup would become the principle driver. Third Refuge Assistance Coordinators: September: Nancy Fletcher, 683-4137; October, Dave Wagar, 684-9482. If you're a member of our sangha 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. Phone List UpdatePlease update your phone list: Talbot Bielefeldt (work) 434-8937; Doreen Hock (work) 345-1608; Paul King (work/cell) 501-0568; Angela Martinek (cell) no longer in service. Shasta Abbey cookbook available The long awaited cookbook from Shasta Abbey is here! Entitled Cooking with Gentle Heart it features almost 400 recipes, two hundred of which come directly from the kitchen of Shasta Abbey. A number of the other recipes were offered by our Priory members. Copies are available at the Priory cost $22, or you may order directly from Shasta Abbey Buddhist Supplies (supplies@BuddhistSupplies.com). All proceeds go to help the Abbey finance the construction the Bodhidharma Hall, a residents for monks at the monastery. Furnishings have arrived and monks have moved into the building. We'll be selling the cookbook at the rummage & bake sale September 18. 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.
Alms & Offerings. We are very grateful to all who have made offerings in the past month. All offerings--large or small, material or spiritual, tangible or in service--enable the temple to exist as a place of teaching and refuge for those who wish to practice in the Serene Reflection tradition transmitted by Rev. Master Jiyu. Our support of the Priory is another way we show our gratitude for all that she bequeathed to us. In addition to an abundance of summer garden produce and other food items, the temple received lumber, mortar, mini-discs for recording purposes, sterile first aid pads, a box of latex gloves, Joint Care for Shila Cat, prayer flags and banner from Nepal, altar candles, Segaki offering dishes, recycled paper for photocopying, four double-pane windows, bamboo poles, a shelf unit, a small freezer and a tile saw blade purchased with a gift card, a CD from Shasta Abbey of lectures on "Female Buddhas" (from Rev. Master Koten's retreat last spring), and two copies of a biography of Achariya Mun, a Thai forest meditation master. We also thank Doreen Hock for veterinary care and blood tests for Shila Cat (she seems fine), Tom of Bladeworks for driveway maintenance, Rick Movsky for loan of wood splitter, and David Wagar for loan of a Saws-All. Also thanks go to: Kevin McCormack for work on the stupa site; Bev Schenler for work on the new firewood shed; and David Zeiss for work on dismantling and moving the tool shed. Other help provided included cooking of meals, sewing an apron and monk's bag for Rev. Master Oswin, Dharma tape production and organizing, bookkeeping, mailing list maintenance, Buddhist Supplies upkeep, and sacristy work. Lastly, we express our sincere thanks to Shasta Abbey, the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives, and Rev. Master Jisho Perry for making their books available as dana offerings. The Shasta Abbey Press books are profound in nature, and offering in them in this way will enable more people to discover and benefit from the Dharma. Future copies of books will be sponsored by donations and offered in the same way. Copies of most books are available at the Priory. Ask if you do not see them. Alms Bowl Requests. Items which the temple could use are: canola oil, nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans, etc.), whole wheat flour (both bread and pastry types), butter, 60-minute cassette tapes, 37-cent stamps, poly-fill pillows, toilet paper, canned cat food (fish flavors), Brillo pads, square freezer containers, and spring-flowering bulbs, such as daffodils, crocus & hyacinth. We are also in need of someone who could do a number of "odd jobs" around the temple, such as hanging pictures. No particular skills or long-term commitment needed. "The two kinds of alms, material and spiritual, have the endowment of boundless merit: Credits & Feedback:Thanks go to Mike Running and Jerry Mohr for their help with this calendar and news. Thanks go to Jerry as well for maintaining the Priory public and members website. Let us know if this webpage of the calendar and news provides you with information and updates about the Priory in an easily accessible and timely manner. Any thoughts or suggestions regarding format, design, articles, graphics, mailing, web access etc. are appreciated. We also welcome contributions of articles or questions about meditation and Buddhist practice, as well as artwork, graphics, and digital photographs with a Buddhist theme. Eugene Buddhist Priory Members' Photo Gallery Copyright © 2004 The Eugene Buddhist Priory
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