by Nomon Tim Burnett
April 15, 2008
Dear Sangha,
As I write this Buddhism and what Buddhism has to offer is very much in the news. The Dalai Lama is in Seattle for the Seeds of Compassion workshops and (large!) public gatherings. (If you have a fast internet connection, you can watch many of the events online at http://www.uwtv.org/dalailama/). And it's amazing me more than a little that there are filling up 50,000 seat arenas with people who want to study compassion. And that the events are front page news in the Seattle and Bellingham newspapers.
In a time of so many troubles (but then maybe every time is full of troubles, only there are various levels of shared denial? Think the 1950's) it is so deeply encouraging that compassion and peacefulness is something that can be written about in the newspapers. And also that our Buddhist practices and understandings of the mind and heart are seen more and more to transcend the bounds of religion as it is conventionally understood. It seems like not many years ago something like a visit from the Dalai Lama would be an interesting article in the religion section next to a column by a guest columnist Presbyterian minister writing about interfaith dialog, not front page news. It would have been a special interest item about local Buddhists maybe, much as the Pope's coming visit is being seen as something of importance to Catholics but much less to the rest of us. The Dalai Lama's visit being seen as of special interest to everyone.
I guess this is a good thing for Buddhism, but more importantly I think this is a good thing for humanity. Not that Buddhism is somehow the best, there many ways to access our true heart and learn to understand the ways in which we are blocked and clouded and cut off from open hearted love for all beings. There are many ways and sometimes spontaneously and with no clear method people realize something of the true human heart. And yet most of us human beings are most of the time too caught in our suffering, our judgments, our need for self-protection and self-preservation (and often for very good reasons) to really open to compassion and start to turn the world around. And Buddhist practice has some very definite help for this. So it's a good thing that is suddenly so much more widely accepted I think.
I have been struck lately in my own practice by two things in this regard. Firstly that what limits and binds us is not always so strong and undefeatable as we think it is. Secondly that our own knowledge of who we are and what we are doing is so suspect, so colored by delusion and confusion. I am reminded again and again of the critical need in our lives for deep and open hearted relationships that help us see, and love, ourselves more clearly and fully.
The other day, my son Walker and I had the evening together and I was taking care of him and also running around taking care of various things around the house. Once he was safely tucked into bed I went into the bathroom for something and was surprised to see that the tub still hadn't drained from his bath. With a few friends I had remodeled this bathroom and even installed the very plumbing that now appeared to be clogged. The drain's been a bit slow ever since we finished the bathroom and that's always bothered me. The toilet flushes well, the sink drains great, it's on the second floor and there's no good reason the tub should drain slowly. And the plumbing is buried so there's no easy way to open things up and see what's really happening. So a project I did has this flaw and it bugs me. Even more so somehow because otherwise it turned out great, we turned a very ugly and awkward little bathroom into a pleasant little space. And so I was a little surprised that it would suddenly go from slow to totally stopped up but not totally surprised and I was a bit annoyed.
But I'm anything if not determined and motivated not to let annoyance stop me from fixing things up so I got out the big plunger, found the drain declogger stuff, and set to work. But it was weird, I could not get any water to go down at all. I was plunging and plunging, water splashing all around, not upset exactly but not terribly happy either. Just determined, just plunging. Starting to suffer after a bit thinking about how a rare bit of quiet time to myself (with son now asleep and wife out of town) was being squandered, but hoarding that kind of time is another cause of suffering for another letter, but I was just there standing in the bathtub with 10 inches of sudsy bath water plunging away.
Finally I took a break and did something else for a bit and was trying to convince myself to let it go for the night. Life could indeed go on if I went to bed with standing water in the bathtub and in fact life could tool right on for quite a while, we actually have a second full bath downstairs anyway. But walking by the open door of the bathroom on the way to lie down and read I suddenly had a sort of gut feeling that I was missing something.
I went back into the bathroom, reached down, and tried the drain lever. Ah, it seemed that during his bath Walker had pushed it up. The drain was not clogged at all, it was working as designed, the lever was up and the drain was shut. I flipped it down and out the water drained (a bit slowly of course but at this point I was wiling to forgive that).
How many of our limitations are like my clogged bathtub? So hard to shift or beat, so limiting and defining when all we need to do is find a way to flip the switch, to change our approach, to shift our attitude.
And then I remembered that my wife some months ago had been starting to go through the exact same process I had just been through. Telling me "when you get to it, I think the tub is clogged" and me going in there and seeing right away it was just the little lever. How much easier sometimes for others so see our little lever and help us flip it. Encourage us to let go of this or that bias, to soften up around this or that judgment and just let the waters drain…so to speak. (In the Dharma writing business it seems you inevitably get heavily into the metaphor business too, so I apologize for any bad metaphors!).
The other day I had a very nice meeting with someone who gave me a beautiful gift, a kind of lever flipping experience for me. This person looked at me and said something like, "I just really want to encourage you to rest and to take care of yourself, you are too important to us to let yourself get all stressed out. We need you grounded and in good shape and in touch with your wisdom."
This was a very nice thing to say and I appreciated it but to be honest I didn't listen very carefully at the time. My conditioning being so much to focus on how I can be of service to the other person and support them much more than letting the other support me.
But a few days later I found the love and support that I was offered in that meeting just come washing over me. I felt myself relax more deeply into the moment. I felt my shoulders release a little more and my breath still, and I looked up out of the window (I was in the kitchen, doing dishes always a good place for awakening) and saw the tree outside and the sky and really felt so deeply the okay-ness of this life, the perfection of the world even including all its troubles. And that gave me great joy and some strength.
And then I realized that of course there is nothing particular or special about me as an individual. There are not special people (priests, t teachers, naturalists, whomever you tend to revere) who are the wise ones who should be given extra support to stay grounded and take care of themselves by the rest of us non-special people. We are all Buddhas. We all need that kind of support from each other. They say in the tradition "It takes a Buddha and a Buddha."
I hope you have someone in your life you can help you in the same way, you probably do but maybe you need to make some little effort to open to your friend or partner and really hear the support they have for you. To have a quiet moment together when there is listening and reflection and quiet. I wish all of us this experience of sitting with someone and really hearing, "You are very important, the world needs you, take good care of yourself and touch the deep wisdom in your heart." We are all of us so important, so wise, so compassionate, but like my bathtub we think the drain is clogged. We don't believe we are wise and compassionate, not really. May we all have plenty of support to flip the little drain lever down and empty ourselves of all that dirty water so that we can touch the beauty of our hearts and the feel the sky. (Ouch, bad metaphor again, sorry!).
Membership
Membership is more important than ever as we look towards paying the rent on our new space as the Earth Room donation transitions out. If you have not yet become a member and would like to support what we are doing please consider doing so. If you were a member last year please consider renewing and whether it is feasible for you to increase your monthly donation somewhat. Membership Coordinator Bernadette Prinster is available to help with membership questions and sign ups. There are membership forms in the lobby of the center and available online from the "sangha" page of http://www.redcedarzen.org. You can print out and mail in a membership form or sign up online using PayPal or a credit card for payment. Automatic monthly payments are also available (either through the online system or ask Bernadette to help you set it up). Bernadette can be reached at info@redcedarzen.org or 360-752-0888.
Red Cedar Dharma Hall weekly schedule
Our regular weekly schedule is currently:
Morning Practice
Monday-Friday 6:30am-7:15am non-sectarian morning sit (simply 45 minutes of sitting meditation followed by a short recitation)
Noon Practice
Monday, Wednesday, Friday noon - 1pm, Zen
Thursday noon - 1pm, Insight
Evening Practice
Tuesday 7pm - 9pm, Insight
Wednesday 5:30-6:30pm Tai Chi with Bob Lau
Wednesday 6:30pm new sitter orientation
Wednesday 7pm - 9pm, Zen
Still to come are regular hours for drop in, individual practice, library use, family programming and study and Earth Room open hours. We hope the center will be open most days in future.
Renting the Red Cedar Dharma Hall
Red Cedar Dharma Hall will be the home practice space for Red Cedar Zen Community and Bellingham Insight Meditation Society (BIMS), but did you know we are making the space available to other community groups for hourly rental or regular weekly use? Our new building manager, Latona Maillard (thank you Latona!) has created a web site to explain the building, handle scheduling and rental. See his fine first draft at
http://dharmahall.redcedarzen.org and if you know of a compatible group who might be able to use our facilities please let them know. Latona's contact information is on this website.
We picture Red Cedar Dharma Hall as a lively center for community. A place for peacefulness, growth and inner work. A place decided to mindfulness, peacefulness, and compassion. We hope offerings will include things like mediation in different traditions, yoga, tai chi, chi gung, non-violent communication. Please spread the word and help make this possible. (and along the way we hope with the help of these other groups to be able to afford the rent once the initial Earth Room donation is depleted!).
Upcoming Events
Tai Chi with Bob Lau
Ongoing, Wednesdays 5:30 - 6:30pm
Red Cedar Dharma Hall
Red Cedar Zen member and Tai Chi teacher Bob Lau is offering Tai Chi classes on Wednesdays before zazen. Contact Bob at boblautaiji@yahoo.com or 734-2847, see his website at http://www.boblautaiji.com/ or just show up for class.
Weekend Retreat with Zoketsu Norman Fischer
Friday May 09, 7:00pm - Sunday May 11, 4:00pm
Vancouver (UBC's Liu Center)
A weekend retreat which runs Friday evening through Sunday afternoon, sponsored by the Mountain Rain Zen Community. The retreat is non-residential, but the MRZC sangha does their best to find housing for out-of-town retreatants.
Registration and information through Mountain Rain Zen Community. See http://www.mountainrainzen.ca
Samish Island Work Day
Saturday May 10, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Samish Island Campground (meet at Dharma Hall)
Help our friends at the Samish Island Campground maintain this beautiful space. Retreats at Samish have been an integral part of our community life for over ten years.
Samish Island Campground is managed on a modest budget by the Community of Christ. They offer it to us and other spiritual groups at their costs for our use each year and have been more than accommodating and helpful to us. We have become good friends with the cooks and caretakers at Samish.
Join us in pitching in at their annual work day. Our hands can make a real difference in helping them care for this beautiful place of practice. It's a large facility maintained by volunteers plus a small paid staff. Our recent challenges setting up Red Cedar Dharma Hall give us a better idea how important successful work parties are for a community caring for a space!
Meet at Red Cedar Dharma Hall at 9am for carpooling to Samish. Be back to the Dharma Hall by 5pm. Lunch cooked by the Samish Island staff is included. Carpenters are encouraged to bring tools but people of all skillsets are welcome and will be put to good use.
No charge or registration for this event, but please RSVP to Latona Maillard at dharmahall@redcedarzen.org or 360-510-3167 to that we can let the Samish staff know how many people are joining them for their work and lunch planning.
Dharma Hall Work Weekend
10am-3pm Saturday May 31st & Sunday June 1st
Red Cedar Dharma Hall
We set up the Red Cedar Dharma Hall through an amazing series of 6 or 7 work weekends. We did incredibly well and the building is in great shape.
Time for some loose ends and improvements that have become clear now that we've inhabited the space a while.
All skill levels welcome - many tasks to work on.
Questions? Contact building manager Latona Maillard at dharmahall@redcedarzen.org or 510-3167.
Zen and Yoga with Nomon Tim Burnett and Amy Robinson
Saturday June 07, 9am - 1pm
Red Cedar Dharma Hall
Join us for a quiet morning of Zen meditation and Yoga asanas at our beautiful new meditation center in Bellingham. The morning will include sitting and walking meditation, Zen teachings, and Yoga instruction.
Appropriate for beginning and experienced Zen students and Yoga students.
Amy Robinson has developed her dynamic therapeutic style of Hatha Yoga over 10 years of practice of Forrest, Ashtanga, Sivananda, Iyengar and Kundalini yoga. She dove deep into the many waves of yoga living in an ashram in India and has completed Ana Forrest's teacher training: a rigorous process of finding her true inner voice and exploring yoga deeper in her body. She teaches at the Yoga Room in Bellingham
Nomon Tim Burnett is Resident Priest of Red Cedar Zen Community where he leads meditation, offers classes and workshops, and officiates at ceremonies.
$30-$60 sliding scale donation includes support for the teachers. Drop in, no pre-registration required.
Samish Sesshin 2008
Friday 6/20 at 5:00pm - Saturday 6/28 at noon
(half time attendance an option)
Samish Island Registration is Now Open at www.redcedarzen.org
Every June we offer a full 7-day (8 nights) sesshin in residence at the Community of Christ's camp on beautiful Samish Island. Great Blue Herons fly overhead while swallows dance above the grass. Sleeping in simple but comfortable cabins or tents we spend the week away from phones, newspapers, and our busy daily schedule. Together we settle deeply into the practice of the Way in this lovely spot.
This year we return to the Everyday Zen Community Retreat format. First half will be classes with several Everyday Zen teachers, daily dharma talks by Norman, part of the day silent, part with time to talk and get to know each other. Second half will be silent sesshin.
Attend the first half (workshops), the second half (sesshin), or the entire retreat.
First half: classes and workshops while still maintaining a daily schedule of zazen, service, dharma talks. Arrive 5pm Friday June 20th and leave 5pm Tuesday June 24th.
Second half: formal Zen sesshin, arrive 5pm Tuesday June 24th and continue to the end of the retreat at noon on Saturday June 28th.
Costs and housing for full attendance (all costs are sliding scale):
Costs and housing for half-time attendance:
Note on these fees: The low end of the sliding scale are our actual costs with no padding. We are making every effort to make this retreat as affordable as possible. If you can afford to give more that allows us to offer more scholarships and supports our sangha. Note that the registration fee does not include a donation to the teacher.
Summer Picnic
Saturday August 23, 2:00pm - 6:00pm
Lake Padden
Mark you calendar for our summer picnic, a joint production with Bellingham Insight.
October 2008 Study Retreat
Saturday October 11, 8:00am - Sunday October 12, 3:00pm
Red Cedar Dharma Hall
In this two-day study retreat Norman will teach on an important topic in Buddhism. Details TBA.
In previous retreats Norman taught on the Prajna Paramita wisdom sutras, Shantideva, and Zen Koans.
A study retreat is a regular feature in our fall practice schedule.
These retreats include sitting and walking meditation, but their main focus is study and discussion. There will be two talks and question-and-answer periods each day. Individual interviews with the teacher (dokusan) are not available at study retreats.
Scholarships to cover up to half of the retreat cost are available. Please contact the registrar.
Check back again for registration information.
yours,
Tim
Nomon Tim Burnett
Resident Priest
Resident Priest Nomon Tim Burnett has been a student of Zoketsu Norman Fischer since 1987 when he was a resident at San Francisco Zen Center's Green Gulch Farm. After sitting practice periods at Green Gulch and Tassajara Zen Monastery, Tim helped found the Bellingham Zen Practice Group in 1991. Tim was ordained as a Zen Priest by Norman in June, 2000. Like his teacher, Tim is interested in the possibility of deep and complete practice by lay people.
A person of wide-ranging professional interests, Tim has been a botanist, elementary schoolteacher, writer, and computer programmer. In addition to his work at the Resident Priest of Red Cedar Zen Community, Tim works as a software developer.