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DECEMBER 2003 UPDATE

    Dear Friends,

    Sravasti Abbey has become a winter wonderland. As Jeff commented, “Just when you think a place

    the barn, with a little snow on the ground
    Miles planting tulips in the snow
    couldn't be more peaceful, cover it in white and watch it transform.”

    Seattle friends came for a work party (Click here to see more pictures) to “bring in the wood” to fuel the furnace over the winter. Harold, the previous owner, came for the day and had a great time hauling wood from the forest with our group of volunteers. It was wonderful to see Miles at age 18 working along side with Harold, age 75, heaving wood into the truck and then stacking it in the furnace room. Harold teased Miles and the others and “threatened” to take a coffee break because they were so slow!

    While that was happening, Dianne and Richard put together the puzzle that was an assemble-yourselves dresser. They did it successfully, and I'm grateful to have a place for my few clothes. Other people planted tulip and daffodil bulbs in the garden, while some dug up the rest of this year's carrots and old corn stalks.

    We got the wood in just in time, for the next day was our first snowfall of the season. Steve, a local forester, came out and walked the land with us, giving us advice on how to take care of the trees and by extension, the animals that inhabit the forest. Barry and Ruth with their forest and ecology backgrounds were able to understand the technical language and “translate” for the rest of us. Barry will draw up a forest management plan, and Fred is eager to map the old logging roads. Meanwhile, I'm learning the names of trees - red fir, white fir, Ponderosa pine, lodge pole, tamarack - and am pondering the animal footprints I now see in the snow. I can recognize turkeys and deer prints; the others are still mysteries.

    The abbey saw its first refuge ceremony in November as Alice and Tracy, both from the fledging Coeur d'Alene group entrusted their spiritual guidance to the Three Jewels and took the five lay precepts.

    Before we found the property that has become the abbey's location, I had planned a trip to Asia. Thus I taught in Singapore Nov. 18 - 25. Public talks were well attended with nearly 600 people at each one, and the talk at a prison school was well received as well. Singaporeans want to help the Dharma spread in the West and have been very supportive of the abbey. I'm hoping that they will come to visit before too long. Now, I am in India to visit Serkong Rinpoche, Khensur Jampa Tegchok, and other teachers.

    Meanwhile Gordon and Jeff have begun remodeling to make more bedrooms and to transform the garage into a meditation hall. Gordon completed the ceiling in one room, and Jeff, a talented builder who will be at the abbey over the winter, has drawn up plans for the rest of the work. Work parties in December will begin this; they hope to winterize the cabin as well.

    Please see the appeal to help launch the abbey from Friends of Sravasti Abbey as well as Dan's interview with me and some photos of the land on the website: www.sravastiabbey.org. Your help is most appreciated. While you're at the web site, take a look at the new photos there.

    Enthusiasm has poured in from many points on our globe. Here's a sampling of the international response:

    Parami in Valencia, Spain:

    We wish you all the best. May the Sangha flourish. I do so hope to visit some day and meanwhile please know that you are in my heart. It is wonderful to know

    of a monastic community forming in North America.

    Pei Feng in Singapore:

    I have a strong sense of the kind of support the lay community must continue to provide for the Sangha, our guiding light. I share all merits from the pilgrimage (I just went on), reflecting on the virtues of the Triple Gem, and offering of requisites to individual members of the Sangha to the successful establishment of Sravasti Abbey and the clearing of all obstacles!

    Helen Ann in Georgia:

    Something about the abbey grabbed me when I first read about it. When Venerable was signing that paper for the closing at our retreat I just broke down and wept. Somehow this touches me at the very foundation of my heart. I feel that it is so significant for the spiritual progress of our entire nation to have a monastic community that is dedicated solely to that purpose on our soil. As His Holiness said, it's the next step after Dharma centers. I'm honored to play whatever minor part I can play.

    Maria in Argentina:

    I would like to congratulate you and your collaborators for the recent set up of the Abbey. You are really working for the benefit of sentient beings. A place where the Buddha's teachings will be genuinely followed and also shared with equanimity, love, compassion and joy is a precious source of inspiration for the mind of a practitioner.

    Israel Chifflis, Morelia, Mexico:

    May this be a firm step towards the ongoing and much needed process of having the Buddha's teachings in pure form on this side of the world.

    Noa in Israel:

    May the abbey be the ground for the flourishing of the sangha in the west!

    Sr. Meg, a Catholic nun in Indiana:

    Well, my dear, you did it! Congratulations! I looked up the site and the specs. Impressive, indeed!

    Isabel in Mexico City:

    I am really happy to see your news! Sravasti Abbey will be a real refuge for many and I am grateful for your efforts to have such a place in a Western site.

    I am sure all Buddhas are happy to see the good motivation and love to build the place.

    May compassion, as symbolized by the upcoming holiday season, fill your hearts,

    Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron

 
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