The Library Committee is almost ready to get off the ground! Thank you to folks who have expressed interest in the past, we will be contacting you soon. If you are still interested in shelving/sorting/organizing books and/or developing and managing an efficient lending system for our library let us know! Can you help us care for our new space? The Property Management Committee will be responsible for maintenance and general stocking of our building plus caring for the temple grounds. Everything from shopping to building repairs to mowing the lawn will be involved in this dynamic committee.

 

...As we take up residence in our new space there will be an evolving set of volunteer opportunities. If you are interested in volunteering to be part of management and maintenance type tasks for care of our new Zendo there will be many opportunities! You can email volunteering@redcedar.org or talk to Ariel Paulenich to learn more about opportunities for regular/ongoing volunteer opportunities or one-time help/events where your presence and participation will be appreciated.

~art by Desiree Webster

After months of writing "so close" it's really, really, really true now. We are within spitting distance of receiving our "Temporary Certificate of Occupancy" and moving regular practice to Sansui-ji. Meantime to punch list to get all the way to our final inspection and permanent occupancy includes trim painting, ADA grab bars, doorway thresholds and a number of smaller items. And lots of cleaning and organizing.  You can help! We just put up two more August work parties and if you ever have time during the day, even for just an hour or so, please reach out to Nomon at tim@redcedarzen.org to get started on a task. Upcoming work parties: Saturday August 9th and Sunday August 17th. 9am-2pm window each day.

Enjoy Nomon Tim's latest video walkthrough of the building.

Curious about the Board's work? You can read last month's Board of Directors meeting minutes:  May Meeting Minutes Members of Red Cedar are always invited to attend monthly meetings and can also request access to Ananda, our online file sharing system, if you're interested in additional notes of the Board's doings.

Program Administrator Position Open With a deep bow of gratitude to outgoing Program Admin Kata Gombocz for their wonderful work this year (Kata is moving to take a new teaching position in the Tacoma area), we want everyone to know we are currently accepting applications for this 30-hour/month position supporting the flow of our programs and operations at Red Cedar. Please review the job description, and if interested submit a cover letter and resume to personnel@redcedarzen.org by Wednesday August 13th at 5pm. The position is open to new applicants and the Personnel Committee wants to share that we are also re-interviewing two strong candidates from last year's hiring process.

A new feature for our newsletter: have news you'd like to share with the broader sangha in the newsletter? Just send your submission to newsletter@redcedarzen.org

Joanna Macy Tributes and podcast info Hannah and Desiree did two Dharma talks over the past two weeks in honor of Joanna Macy and her lifelong work as a Bodhisattva--EcoSattva.  If you'd like to view these, you'll find them here. They are entitled, "Chen's Mountain Flowers" and "Despair and the Bodhisattva Vow."  Also, at the end of Desiree's talk, she shared "The Elm Dance" Also, David Ketter, Sangha member, mentioned a podcast that features The Work That Reconnects (Joanna's organization) and includes interviews with Joanna over the last few years. David really recommends it. It’s called “We Are The Great Turning”.  Here’s the info. about it. Web site: https://resources.soundstrue.com/we-are-the-great-turning-podcast/  People can also access it on their phone by simply looking up “We Are The Great Turning”. Here’s the introductory blurb about it from the website: The Great Turning: Love, Courage, and Connection in the Climate Crisis We welcome you to the kitchen table of the legendary eco-spiritual teacher Joanna Macy, where we’ll dive into what it takes to live with our hearts and integrity intact in this time of global crisis. You’ll be guided into these conversations by Jess Serrante, a longtime activist and student of Joanna’s. Together, we’ll discover abiding wisdom that can help us stay joyful and energized as we work toward a more just and life-sustaining world.

Himalayan Painting & Cascadian Basketry art show in Ferndale "I am coordinating a show at the It’s About Time Cultural Arts Center in Ferndale that I thought your membership might find interesting.  I wondered how we might spread the word.  The show – Reflections of the Land – features seldom shown traditional and contemporary works by Nepalese artists from a private collection, alongside an assembly of captivating baskets woven by members of the Basket Weavers of the Salish Sea. The paintings embody the warmth and spirituality of Himalayan culture, ranging from intricate and colorful Thangka paintings of Himalayan Buddhist Deities to delightful depictions of Sherpa village life.  Bringing traditional arts closer to home with a contemporary twist, visitors can explore the world of basketry through an assortment of intriguing functional and decorative baskets woven from materials found in our own Cascadian bioregion. The Opening Event is Saturday August 16th from 1pm to 7pm.  Following that the show will be open Thursday, Fridays, and Saturdays until September 27th, from noon to 5pm. If I’m able to submit something for  a newsletter, please let me know.  Otherwise I hope you might spread the word internally.  Please contact me with any questions. Thank you for your time! Alicia Wills Show Coordinator, It’s About Time Cultural Arts Center 2013 Main Street, Ferndale 360-941-1545 Aka_alicia@earthlink.net https://www.facebook.com/ItsAboutTimeCulturalArtsCenter An ongoing opportunity to support immigrant populations in our community is through  Whatcom Faith Community Immigrant Support if you'd like to help contact Carrie McCarthy at carolyn@carolynmcc.com to be added to the announcements list.

August Work Parties new!  Saturday August 9th and Sunday August 17th. 9am-2pm window each day. Continuing the trim painting, removing ivy from the parking lot (bring clippers), cleaning & organizing. We are so, so, so close....

One Day Sit; Sunday,  August 10th, 7 am - 3 pm at Sansui-ji (followed by the priest ordination ceremony for Seishin Tyndall. Hopefully held at Sansui-ji. Stay tuned.

Ordination Ceremony for Seishin Tyndall; Sunday, August 10th, 3:30 - 5:00 pm; join us in support of the Novice Priest Ordination (Shukke Tokudo) for Seishin Tyndall  as they receive formal priest's robes and bowls and begin their life-long journey as a Soto Zen Priest. Hopefully held at Sansui-ji. Stay tuned.

Opening to Nature Walk: Lake Padden; Satuday, August 16th, 8 am - 10 am; a mindful 2 1/2 mile walk around Lake Padden

Sansui-ji Opening Ceremony; Satuday, August 30th; 5 pm; 2509 Cedarwood Ave; come celebrate the grand opening of the temple!

Backpack: Mountains and Rivers Retreat; Saturday, September 6th, 1 pm; Hawk Meadow Farm; 1102 E. Kelly Rd; *this event requires a phone interview prior to registering

Hike: Ptarmigan Ridge; Saturday, September 13th; 8:30 am - 5 pm; carpool from Cedarwood Zendo or Nugent's Corner

Hike: Journey to the Source (Nooksack Cirque); Saturday, September 20th; 5 am - 7 pm; *a phone interview prior to registration is required for this rigorous hike of 12 miles over rough terrain

Practice Period 2025; Wednesday,September 24th through Sunday, November 23rd; overall application

2025 Practice Period Opening Ceremony; Wednesday, September 24th 6:30 - 8:30 pm; Sansui-ji temple; join us for this important evening of meditation and ceremony to open our annual 8 week fall practice period.

2025 Practice Period Opening Sesshin; Thursday, September 25th, 7 pm - Sunday, September 28th, 5 pm. Our opening sesshin with guiding teacher Nomon Tim and Shuso Junka Ken Oates opens the fall practice period.

Shuso's Way Seeking Mind Talk; Saturday, September 27th, 10:30 am; join us for the Shuso's first formal Dharma Talk.

Ordination Ceremony for Myoki Raizelah Bayen; Sunday, September 28th; 10:30 am - 1 pm; join us in supporting Myoki Raizelah Bayen as she receives her formal priest's robes and bowls and begins her life-long journey as a Soto Zen Priest.

Shuso's Class; Monday, September 20th - November 17th; on Zoom, 6:30 - 8 pm, as he guides us on a study of "The Path of the Committed Layperson in Zen"

Opening to Nature Walk: Heart Lake Circumambulation/Heart Sutra; , Satuday, October 11th, from 10 am - 1 pm...we'll chant the Heart Sutra while walking around Heart Lake

Hike & Ceremony: Closing the Mountains, Returning the Waters; Saturday, October 18th, 10 am - 4 pm; carpool from the Cedarwood Zendo or meet at the trailhead

Samish Island Fall Sesshin 2025 - On the Island and on Zoom; Thurday, November 6th at 4 pm - Sunday, November 9th at 4 pm--including our Jukai ceremony on Sunday* see below

Jukai Precepts Ceremony 2025Sunday, November 9th, 11 am - 12:30 pm; Join us for the Zen ceremony of Jukai--"receiving the precepts"--a ceremony of committment to the Zen precepts, Zen path.

2025 Practice Period Closing Sesshin; Sunday, November 23rd, 7 am - 5 pm; Sansui-ji; one day sit with Guiding teaching Nomon Tim Burnett and Shuso Junka Ken Oates closes the fall practice period.

Shuso's Dharma Inquiry Ceremony; Sunday, November 23rd; 3 pm - 5 pm; an important ceremony for the Shuso's training and culmination of the practice period. Join us for a question from the heart to share with the Shuso.

Samish Island Sesshin 2026 - Save the Date!! Friday, June 12 - Saturday, June 20th, 2026

It's amazing how often challenges and stress in our lives circles back to the Buddha's second noble truth.

As you know, he taught that suffering arises from the desire for something to be other than how it is.  Whether that something is me, someone else, something that's happening (or not happening), or the world in general.

How powerfully the conditioned mind is drawn to strongly towards the unpleasant state of wanting something to be different!

So much so that we can easily lose track of the blessings and supports in our lives. So much so that we're tempted to take ethical short-cuts and lose track of our precepts practice.

So much so that we can be so stressed out and miserable sometimes.

So it's felt for me off and on in these last weeks as the Sansui-ji temple project moves gradually towards completion. My mind has been repeatedly caught by various versions of the desire to be "done!" I don't want "gradually" anymore! I've felt sometimes like the kids in the back seat of the station wagon on a road trip: "are we *there* yet??!!"

One of the needed improvements for occupancy: address numbers.

As I write this, we are expecting three more building inspections to happen today which, if those three inspectors are satisfied with the state of our almost done building, will then allow us a "Temporary Certificate of Occupancy." With that in hand we can legally use the building for our programs.

This is particularly relevant today as months ago we scheduled at One Day Sit followed by the ordination ceremony for Seishin Tyndall this Sunday. At the time it seems like surely we'd be done my August 10th, but it's going to be down to the wire (if you're signed up: do keep a close eye on the email on Friday eve/Saturday morning to see what's happening on Sunday and where!)

I really want to be able to do these events in our temple. I really want us to get to start practicing at the temple. I really want all of our collective energy and zazen there. The Unitarians have been fine hosts, but it's time to get out of their basement. This desire is quite strong.

A strong desire easily gets obsessive doesn't it? Strong enough to do things to the mind. Strong desires, as I'm sure you've seen, can contribute to taking ethical short cuts. And strong desires easily lead to losing track of the positive while the mind hyper-focuses on the unmet desire.

I have a confession to make. I feel moved to admit that I was encouraging the leadership to consider starting programming at Sansui-ji before we receive that legal permission from the city. Just a few days before most likely but who knows!

This would have been a minor infraction only, but still, breaking the rules for our convenience.

The building, as far as we know after consulting our architect and builder, does meet the safety requirements needed to be approved for this temporary certificate of occupancy, but we don't have it yet. Why not just sit in our space, that mind of desire was saying.

But of course it'd be risky. I was reminded by a colleague that it's fine to have our folks volunteering to come work on the building. That there's is a certain assumption of risk in picking up a hammer or a paint brush in what you know to be a construction site. You'll naturally be more alert to the hazards of that environment. But it's a different thing to have a public event in an unfinished building. And of course if a worst case happened and someone was hurt, all we've built as a sangha is potentially put at risk.

I'm grateful the collective wisdom pushed gently back at me. Point taken. Thank you.

Reminders to practice do come in so, so many forms, don't they? I can get curious about how mind got there. I can renew my patience practice.

And the joyful part of this: I can refocus myself on the miracle of the whole thing.

The little sitting group that came together with a few friends in 1991 is now, 34 years later (!), close to opening a Zen temple in Bellingham. In a building we own. After doing a major remodel to turn that building into just what we need it to be. How is that possible? Amazing. Very amazing.

I smile and sigh as I think of the miracle of all of this. And I can't help but chuckle a little at the power of desire and impatience. And how it can cause stress and overwhelm so easily.

We'll get there. We are really, really, really close. (And if you have some time this Saturday, or next Sunday, or pretty much any time really: we could use all the help we can get.)

I hope to see many of you at the temple soon!

Maybe we'll have our first formal practice there this Sunday, or maybe it'll be next week, or the week after. But it'll happen.

And I'm so grateful: for the temple, for the sangha, for the teachings, and for the way life serves up so very, very many opportunities to deepen and renew the practice.

With love and a deep bow,
Nomon Tim

Well friends--it's truly, truly, truly almost here now after one last (we hope!) postponement.  The floors are all down, the doors are installed, the kitchen is in, the lovely stone counters are in place. A lovely shoji screen divider between the kitchen and Cloud Hall was even installed recently.  Our temple is gorgeous and only getting nicer. But there is enough construction work left to do that it's not quite time to start sitting at Mountains and Waters Temple.  Our lastest, and we really think final, forecast is that we'll start our weekly evening sits at Sansui-ji on Wednesday August 6th (6:30pm-8:30pm). At this point we'll also have our more immersive Zoom-in system for those who would like to join us that way. For the month of July we'll continue to sit at the church of our friends at Bellingham Unitarian for one last month of Thursdays (7pm-9pm).  And yes, you can still help: Attend the Late June Work Party this Sunday, June 29th. Reach out to the Design & Build Committee (Nomon Tim, Bob Rose, and Talus) if you have mid-week time and skills to share. Watch our website and email space for more updates. Have one more donation in you? We are needing to dip some into the reserves and appreciate help of any amount. And do add to your calendar:  Opening Ceremony at Sansui-ji temple "Opening the Eyes of the Buddha". Saturday August 30th. 3pm optional work party, 5pm potluck dinner, 7pm ceremony and meditation. Lastly, a bow of gratitude to the Bellingham Insight Meditation Society (BIMS). In addition to being again our keystone meditation tenant at the new building, BIMS recently shared that they'll be making a significant donation to help us finish up the project. Thanks BIMS!

As we take up residence in our new space there will be an evolving set of volunteer opportunities. If you are interested in volunteering to be part of management and maintenance type tasks for care of our new Zendo there will be many opportunities! You can email volunteering@redcedar.org or talk to Ariel Paulenich to learn more about opportunities for regular/ongoing volunteer opportunities or one-time help/events where your presence and participation will be appreciated. The Library Committee is almost ready to get off the ground! Thank you to folks who have expressed interest in the past, we will be contacting you soon. If you are still interested in shelving/sorting/organizing books and/or developing and managing an efficient lending system for our library let us know! Can you help us care for our new space? The Property Management Committee will be responsible for maintenance and general stocking of our building plus caring for the temple grounds. Everything from shopping to building repairs to mowing the lawn will be involved in this dynamic committee.

Dear friends, The Board would like to remind the sangha that per the Red Cedar Bylaws, "all meetings of the Board of Directors shall be open for observation by all Members of the Sangha". Our next meeting is on Tuesday July 29 at 5.30 in our Zoom Zendo. Our latest approved minutes from our May Board Meeting are available here: Meeting Minutes. Please contact the Board President, Mari Ritalahti, at mtritalahti@gmail.com with any questions or concerns. Members of Red Cedar can request access to Ananda, our online file sharing system, if you're interested in additional notes of the Board's doings.