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OCTOBER 2004 UPDATE

Dear Friends,

Autumn, that beautiful time of year, has arrived. he colors in the forest and garden change day by

Red "Mt.Tara"
remodeling the downstairs to transforming the garage into a meditation hall to a tripling of the number of residents (from 1 to 3!). Check out the photos of the meditation hall-the outside is quite impressive. Now that the contractor has finished his part, volunteers will paint the inside, lay the laminate floor, and build the altar. Then heating, bookshelves, a sound system, benches, coat racks, meditation cushions, and small tables will be added and statues placed on the altar. This will be completed before the Vajrasattva retreat begins.

As summer drew to a close, many locals visited the abbey: Susan, Melanie, Barbara, Carolyn, and Diane to mention a few. Jan and Miles came from Seattle to help. Andy's mother and sister from Wisconsin, Kathy and Julie, visited, and we had a surprise visit from Rev. Jisho from the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives. Our many projects continued with their help, as did the teaching program.

Nanc has been attending the Forestry Stewardship class in Newport to learn about caring for our forest and meadows. Barry and Ruth, our ecologists, have drawn up a master plan for the forest which we've submitted to the government in the hopes of receiving a grant to enhance wildlife habitat and protect the trees from damage by disease, insects, and fire.

September saw me traveling a lot. I spoke at a Chinese Temple in Seattle-where the nuns and members have also been very encouraging and supportive of the Abbey-led a nine-day retreat at Cloud Mountain, gave a talk in Portland, and attended a monastic conference in CA. The retreat went well; we meditated on Manjushri and on the powerful verses from the Wheel of Sharp Weapons, a thought training text that speaks about the disadvantages of self-centeredness and ignorance. It does this by relating it to karma, i.e. by stating a problem we may encounter in life, tracing its cause to a previous type of action we, and then showing how the motivation for that action depended on self-centeredness and self-grasping ignorance. It's a great text, which is straightforward and gives us a lot to contemplate.

The monastic conference brought joy to our hearts and I hope it does to yours too. It is a blessing to know that in a world where people quarrel and kill each other in the name of religion, monastics from various Buddhist traditions gather in harmony for the purpose of supporting each other in spiritual practice and creating peace. Since many of the participants have attended this conference over the years, our friendship continues to deepen, and the bonds among our monastic communities strengthen. In addition to presentations and discussion, it was auspicious that both the nuns and the monks did our bi-weekly confession ceremony.

In Portland I met with Jan Chozen Bays, the co-founder of a Zen monastery in OR, and with Rev. Meiko and her two monastic disciples from the Portland Buddhist Priory, who like Rev. Jisho, are from the OBC. These, and the monastics at the conference are all very supportive of the Abbey and have offered us good advice, gleaned from their experience in setting up monasteries in the West. My travels also took me to Mahabodhi Society in San Jose and to Treasure Valley Dharma Friends in Boise. People from these two centers have been very generous and supportive of the Abbey. It was good to see them and update them on our progress.

Many people have told me that they are apprehensive about the results of the upcoming US elections. Compassion is the key to having a peaceful mind as we exercise our voting rights as citizens-compassion for the candidates, for fellow countrypeople who have different political opinion than we do, for all of us citizens of the planet Earth who will be influenced by decisions the leaders make. Putting compassion into our daily life in our interactions with others is our contribution to world peace.

May you have a peaceful heart and share that with those around you,

Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron

Cultivating Beneficial Habits

Practicing Dharma in Daily Life-cont.

Greeting Others

After your morning meditation, have breakfast. Greeting your family in the morning is also part of Dharma practice. Many people are grumpy in the morning. They sit at the breakfast table, pouring over the newspaper or reading the back of the cereal box for the umpteenth time. When their bright-eyed children greet them, they grunt and, without looking up, keep reading. When their partner asks them a question, they don't respond, or they glance at them for a moment with a look that says, "Don't bother me." Later, they wonder why they have problems in the family!

Some of us are tired in the morning. But if we generate a motivation of kindness upon awakening, that will help us to overcome the habit of being grumpy and to cultivate a new habit of rejoicing in our fortune. "How fortunate I am to be alive. How wonderful that I am to live with the people I cherish. How fortunate I am to have food to eat today." Reflecting in this manner makes it easier to greet your family with love, to look in their eyes with the genuine affection that's in your heart.

A few minutes chatting warmly with your family in the morning can get both you and them off to a good start for the day. In this way, parents will know their children and won't simply be drill sergeants. It's easy to bark orders at your children, "Get up!" "Brush your teeth!" "Why are you wearing that? It looks terrible! Change clothes!" "Stop playing around and eat breakfast." "Hurry up and get to school. You're late." Many children will react as unruly subordinates when treated in this way. But if you greet your children with love and firmly help them navigate everything in their morning routine, they'll be happier and so will you. Take a few minutes and learn about your children's interests. What do they think about? What are they curious about? Learn about their friends. If you're involved in your children's lives when they're young, you'll be able to instill good values in them. Then, when they're older you'll be more confident that they'll be able to deal with situations, and you won't worry so much.

This excerpt from Taming the Mind by Thubten Chodron will be continued in the Abbey's November e-news.

 
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