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FEBRUARY 2006

Dear Friends,

All of us are still rejoicing for this opportunity to be here at the Abbey during this three-month Vajrasattva Retreat. It is such a precious time and such a powerful practice to do—for ourselves and for all of you…for all sentient beings.

This retreat and all the goodness coming from it would not be possible without the kindness and dedication of the local support team in Coeur d'Alene, the kindness and generosity of all those who make offerings to the Abbey, and the moral support of all those 72 people doing the retreat with us from afar.

I know Venerable is especially happy to have her own place in which she can retreat from her ongoing administrative concerns. She appears joyful when we see her strolling up the hill or coming in to give us teachings. That, in and of itself, is and will continue to be a wonderful benefit to all of us.

Dusk
Even though the days are lengthening and we are able to go into the Meditation Hall now with some light in the sky (both mornings and evenings), it is hard to believe that we finish this retreat soon, on March 8th. That is, if we finish. Venerable teasingly tells the retreatants that all 111,111 mantras must be completed or they cannot leave! (Secretly, those of us who live here hope that some of the retreatants will not complete their mantras…especially our illustrious chefs, Gaby and Flora from Mexico!)

The Lama Chopa Puja will be held Sunday, March 5th in thanksgiving of our completing our Vajrasattva commitments, and to purify those days we were…well, a bit ‘under par' in performing our recitations and visualizations. If you live nearby, please come and celebrate with us on Sunday morning: the puja will begin at 10am, followed by a potluck vegetarian lunch. And, we can talk! We will not be in silence, so it will be a good opportunity to transition from No Speech to Right Speech.

Purification manifests in many ways…. Before this retreat I think I had the image of ‘purifying' as being similar to taking a hot shower, something that's suppose to make you feel good all over as it's happening. Not so! Now I have a little different view, more realistic. Now I know that sometimes things have to break down completely in order to be purified. But there's a wonderful relief that comes from letting go of the old mental baggage: ker-plunk! “Just drop it!” as Venerable says.

Speaking of things breaking, we've had our share of things decide not to function well this winter. First, was the leaky roof on the meditation hall – with the roofers having to come back not once but three times, often in snowy conditions, and the retreatants sitting inside listening to their hammering and stapling as they clomped up and down the roof! At least one retreatant turned all the noise into a vivid reminder and metaphor for his own purification practice: ‘Needing to Repair past negative actions now, so as not to reap the karmic results later.' We also had some problems with Venerable's new composting toilet, which, thankfully, is now fixed.

Then we had long electricity outages in both the barn and the new multi-purpose community room, so the poor guys had very little heat for several days at a time! Luckily, it wasn't those low freezing temperatures we saw in the beginning of December. And I've had more than my share of ongoing email and computer frustrations in the office (usually just when I need to get emails out pronto, or someone was expecting a much needed reply that day.)

So, these have been some of the more mundane challenges of this retreat, challenges that we each apply our practice to, and see if we can deal with each episode more calmly than before. So my definition of purification has definitely been altered! All I can say is, I hope it's all been purified.

Q&A Sessions

I can't tell you how helpful the Q&A sessions with Venerable have been each week for all of us. Venerable has been discussing The 37 Practices of the Bodhisattvas as a kind of guiding backdrop and much needed inspiration for our own experiences during this retreat. Some of the other things we've discussed recently are:

One week about mid-retreat, Venerable asked us each to make our Lists of “What We're Going To Do After Retreat,” so that we could just get all those details onto paper and out of our heads. So, we covered the living room walls with lists! Very funny what some people had been obsessing over—er—contemplating during sessions: e.g. whether to stop at Starbucks on the way home, which novels or Dharma books they wanted to read, which teachers they wanted to see, what the next retreat would be, who we needed to contact from 40 years ago, what chores to do—to our house, our car, our computer, etc. ad infinitum! You can imagine; I'm sure you have similar lists of your own swimming around up there. It was a valuable insight, yet again, about our ordinary minds at work.

The Q&As also give us an opportunity to hear from the several inmates Venerable and many of us are writing to during retreat. Through them we are able to really hear and value the depth of the Dharma that they are each turning to, and living, each day in prison. The letters are insightful, warm, and often humorous. These men have overcome a lot, and are inspirations for all of us. And always, when hearing about their current situations our comparatively petty problems out here are simply nil.

Turkey Sangha
Also, more and more we are discussing the turkeys, better known as the Turkey Sangha.Last week Venerable challenged us: 𠇍o we want to be like the turkeys, terrified to be separated from the flock… or do we want to find the open gate to liberation?” “Liberation!” we all gobbled in unison.

For these and all the Q&A teachings from this retreat, see

http://www.thubtenchodron.org/OtherArticlesAudio/vajrasattva_retreat_2006.html

You'll be happy to know that the rescued deer next door at Emily Richardson's house, “the Three–Legged Deer” after his full-leg amputation surgery, is leaping and running with a new herd. Emily says that each morning he leaps (yes, leaps) over the fence –“with feet to spare” —to be with his new friends. Then he returns (leaping over the fence) to the wood shed to bed down in fresh alfalfa each night. Smart deer! Knowing this makes us all feel more at ease when we hear the coyotes baying at night. (We'll have to introduce Manjushri, our three-legged Abbey cat, to him after retreat!)

Sunlight through the buds
While we still have some foggy cold days, today is sunny and warm. We even got the cathedral windows washed --because Nanc's To Do List never rests! The paths meandering through the woods still have hard crusts of snow in places, but underneath is soft mud, the sound of trickling water, and new grass growing. As with our practice, when the path gets slushy and muddy, we're learning how to slog through it. There are new buds and new bright green shoots on the trees.

And you no longer have to squint to see the first shimmering soft green color on the aspens. I'd say we are starting to see our way into spring. Each night I am genuinely amazed to see the sky glow a bit brighter as we go into the evening session at 6:45 pm. How lovely it is to go to the site of the future temple and look out at the view as it's turning dusk, imagining the hillside filled with maroon-robed monastics… We truly are blessed to be here at this time.

That's all the news from the Abbey. It feels like we'll be out of retreat in no time, even though a month is still a while. Venerable advised us to look at this as if we're just starting a one-month retreat so that we will continue having a beginner's mind. May these last days of Vajrasattva practice be as inspiring as the first, and may all our efforts benefit countless beings throughout all realms and time.

Many Blessings to you ~ from Venerable and all of us at the Abbey.

With Love,

Pema

Venerable's Spring Schedule:

March 5 Sravasti Abbey
Lama Chopa Puja
Sunday 10am to Noon with vegetarian Potluck following.
In thanksgiving for the three-month Vajrasattva Retreat, all are invited
to welcome the retreatants out of retreat and celebrate the merits of their practice!

March 10 Sravasti Abbey
End of three-month Vajrasattva Retreat

March 12 Sandpoint, ID
10am to 11am Sunday Service with Ven. Chodron
Gardenia Center
400 Church St. (corner of Fourth Ave.), Sandpoint, Idaho
For details, contact: Shirley sanjeevini@imbris.net
www.gardeniacenter.org

March 14, 21, 28 Newport, WA
Tuesday Evening Series 7pm-8:15pm
Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage”
The Create Place, 900 West 4th Street, Newport WA

March 19 Sravasti Abbey
Sharing the Dharma Day”
Sunday 9:30am to 3pm

March 24 Sandpoint, ID
Evening Talk 7pm
Gardenia Center
400 Church St. (corner of Fourth Ave.), Sandpoint, Idaho
For details, contact: Shirley
sanjeevini@imbris.net
www.gardeniacenter.org

March 25 Spokane, WA
Workshop “Buddhist Practices” 1-4pm
Unitarian Universalist Church
4340 W Fort Wright Dr., Spokane, WA
For details, contact: Penny reipe19@msn.com

March 26 Sravasti Abbey
Refuge Ceremony at 10am
Taking refuge is entrusting your spiritual guidance to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. You may also take any or all of the Five Lay Precepts at this time: to avoid killing, stealing, unwise sexual behavior, lying, and taking intoxicants.

March 30 New York City
Evening Talk “How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator”
Tibet House 7pm-9pm
22 West 15th Street (between 5th and 6th Ave.), New York
Tel: (212) 807-0563 www.tibethouse.org

March 31 to April 2 Phoenicia, NY (outside New York City)
Tara Retreat: “How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator”
Menla Retreat Center
375 Patherkill Rd., Phoenicia, NY
For details, contact: Shanti
www.menla.org, shanti@tibethouse.org, office@menla.org
Tel: (212) 807-0563 or (845) 688-6897

April 2 Middletown, CT
Evening Public Talk 7pm
Chenrezig Tibetan Buddhist Center
504 Main Street 2nd Floor, Middletown CT
Tel: (860) 346-6136
www.chenrezigcenter.org
For details, contact Alison cacunningham5@msn.com

April 3 Boston area
Public Talk 7pm-9pm “Tranquility during Times of Grief and Loss”
Kurukulla Center
68 Magoun Ave, Medford, MA
Tel: (617) 624-0177
www.kurukulla.org
For details, contact: Debra kkc@kurukulla.org

April 3 and 4 Boston area
Talks, classes and seminars
Tuesday Evening Public Talk [to be announced]
Harvard University, Cambridge MA
For details, contact: Yi-Ping ypong@fas.harvard.edu

April 5 through 9 Austin, TX
Talks, classes, and workshop
The University of Texas at Austin
Public Talk Wednesday, April 5 at 7pm, Burdine Hall/Room 130, UT
Public Talk Friday, April 7 at 7pm, Burdine Hall/Room 106, UT
For details, contact: Mei Chu Chen meichu.chen@gmail.com

April 8 Austin, TX
Half-Day Retreat 1-4pm
Transforming the Heart: The Buddhist Way to Joy and Courage”
(The 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva)

Refuge Ceremony 4-4:30pm
Austin, FPMT Center
2700 W. Anderson Lane, #320, Austin
http://www.austinfpmt.com/
For more info, contact: Bonnie bonniebaptist@hotmail.com

April 8 Austin, TX
Public Book signing 7pm “How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator”
BookPeople Book Store
s603 N Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX
Tel: (512) 472-4288
For details, contact: Mei Chu Chen meichu.chen@gmail.com
or Bonnie bonniebaptist@hotmail.com

April 21 through 24 Singapore
Talks (April 21) “Living a Meaningful Life” and (April 22) “Faith and Inquiry”
2-day workshop (April 23-24) “Vajrasattva Practice: The Path of Purification”
For details, contact: Andy andy@kmspks.org

See http://www.thubtenchodron.org/Activities/activities.html for the complete schedule of Venerable's activities abroad.

 
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