The Red Cedar Zen Community Has a New Home
On Monday, August 15 at 5 PM, RCZC Board president Joden Bob Rose received the keys for the building 2509 Cedarwood Avenue.
After nearly two years of probing every corner of Bellingham during an intense and dynamic real estate market, a building that met nearly all of our search criteria became unexpectedly available. Of interest a few months earlier, we believed it had sold. But that sale fell through and by a series of remarkable circumstances, our offer was accepted in early July. Now that this purchase has been recorded, Our Journey Home can pause as a new era of settling and care begins for our sangha.
And, if you are available, Please join us on Sunday from 1-3 PM for an Open House with light refreshments.
A few brief facts to note:
What’s Next?
Note: If you can’t make the open house, you can see pictures of the building here https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/2509-Cedarwood-Ave-Bellingham-WA/25754442/
I'm excited to have virtual visit by Bakurin Judith Ragir from the Clouds and Water Zen Center in Minneapolis. Judith will be give the talk on at our weekly Thursday evening practice about her new book Untangling Karma: Intimate Zen Stories on Healing Trauma.
Judith is Eko Jeff Kelley's teacher and someone I've been looking forward to learning with for some time. Below is a note from noted Zen writing teacher Natalie Goldberg about her book.
Please join us in person at BUF or online on Zoom.
-Nomon Tim
“Judith Ragir, a Zen teacher, a mom, a Jew, a sexual assault survivor, splits open her heart and fearlessly pours out the hate, internalized anti-Semitism, and unquestioned rule-following that blocks her love. This book is at once a love letter to Zen practice and a critique of late twentieth century American Zen. Judith inspires us to investigate our own karmic knots, and in the middle of this suffering, she invites us to walk quietly down the backyard steps to the neighborhood pond and take a cooling dip in the moonlight.” —Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones, Long Quiet Highway, Three Simple Lines, and many other books
You can find all past Summer Series talks on our Buddhist Psychology page.
A warm welcome to Ginger Harris, who has volunteered to take the position of Assistant Treasurer.
Ginger Harris became interested in Buddhism after picking up a Buddhist text in a Netherlands hotel room in 2009 and reading what the Buddha taught about suffering. She began studying Buddhism in its various forms and had the opportunity during that time to visit to several Buddhist temples in Thailand and Singapore. In 2010, she took an Introduction to Zen Meditation course series at the Houston Zen Center, and in 2011 attended a retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh, where she received the Five Mindfulness Trainings. She also practiced for couple of years after this with Lost Coin Zen, a semi-virtual Zen group from both Rinzai and Soto Zen lineages.
In 2016, she moved for work to the PNW with her two sons and husband and practiced on her own until recently when a desire to deepen her practice and to be part of a Sangha led her to find Red Cedar.
Professionally, Ginger is an engineer and works in business development for bp in Cherry Point, where she seeks to help bridge the gap from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy. She has served as the Treasurer for both Bayou Village school in Houston in 2013, and for OPAL, a community beautification non-profit in La Conner in 2019. She is a Kundalini Yoga instructor and loves health and fitness. She is looking forward to serving the Red Cedar Sangha and getting to know more of our members in the future!
Open House! We'll be having an open house to celebrate our new home on August 21st from 1-3 pm. Please come! We'll be providing light refreshments, so please RSVP here so we have any idea of how many to plan for.
“The sanctuary is built” - Koan 4, Book of Serenity, “The world honored one points to the ground.”
Deep Bows and Greetings Red Cedar Zen Sangha Members-
Almost two years ago, we “jumped off the hundred-foot flagpole,” and left our home on Forest Street. We now have come to the place where we will plant our blade of grass. On August 15, we will close the purchase of 2509 Cedarwood as the new home of the Red Cedar Zen Community.
On July 7, nearly 20 sangha members inspected the building. If you weren’t able to join us, you can get a sense of the inside and outside here: https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/2509-Cedarwood-Ave-Bellingham-WA/25754442/
Our agent, Mike Parry, then began a negotiation with the owner to hopefully secure better terms, based on the inspection report. This 40+ year-old structure called for some critical repairs due to deferred maintenance. Of chief concern was the condition of the flat roof, in conjunction with the need to replace one of the two roof-mounted HVAC systems nearing the end of its life span (the other was replaced 2 years ago). The estimate for bringing both systems up to current standards for long-term structural integrity, health, and comfort was about $50,000. Mike did a masterful job of presenting these findings (and costs) to the owner with whom we will have a long-term relationship (since he is financing our purchase).
These negotiations resulted in two excellent outcomes: our final purchase price was reduced by $25,000 to $775,000 and our down payment amount was raised from 15% to 20%, resulting in a lower monthly payment schedule than originally agreed to. In addition, the current tenant in the east wing of the building will continue his lease. The net result, with many details yet to be resolved, will generate an income stream that will pay a good part of our monthly obligation. We are also in early discussion with Bellingham Insight Meditation Society (BIMS) about re-establishing their paid use of the dharma hall on a regular schedule. Since one of our fundamental goals in this home-seeking journey was to not burden younger and future sangha members with an unsupportable mortgage obligation, this is all very good news.
It also appears we will more than meet the city’s parking requirements with a recorded reciprocal use agreement with the neighboring property.
The board has appointed a “Design Advisory Committee” to evaluate the best ways to re-organize and use this new gathering place and to meet all health and safety standards while creating as welcoming and aesthetic space as possible (inside and out). The committee will provide the board with choices for alterative spatial arrangements, timing of improvements, and estimated costs. The design group will include sangha members Heidi Epstein, Robin Kucklick, Bob Penny, Richard Eggemeyer, and Bob Rose, with Shudo Chris Burkhart and Nomon Tim Burnett providing practice perspective.
Over the next weeks, the committee will create a schedule with multiple opportunities and ways for sangha members to provide input and ideas as we begin to imagine this new home. In the meantime, please contact me or other board members with ideas and concerns.
Three Bows-
Joden Bob Rose, RCZC Board President
boardpresident@redcedarzen.org
The 2023 Samish Sesshin will be June 23 - July 1, 2023.
The 2024 Samish Sesshin will be June 14 - June 22, 2024.
Final event details will be announced early each year, and registration normally opens in the spring.
We first heard of these from a post on the Branching Streams website.
Update: The Berkeley based Election Retreat team is hosting another online Letter Writing Retreat Sunday July 24, 10 am to 1 pm, PST. Forty-two people attended their July 10 retreat and wrote over 800 letters. You can register at this link. “Once again we’ll focus our efforts on Nevada, where a Congressional seat, a Senate seat, and a Governorship are all in play. Once you’ve registered, we’ll email you everything you need to participate, including letters, schedules, chants, etc.”
More info and a schedule of future retreats can be found HERE.
You can find them all here.
Red Cedar Zen Community is a 501(c) non-profit organization.
