Donate
Member Katarina Gombocz is a part of the group putting this social justice event together. You can reach her at katarina.gombocz@gmail.com. You can also sign a petition the group put together in support of a City of Bellingham resolution.
Please join us from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, December 10 for our second interfaith kids action, celebrating Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. We can and must create a miraculous world that is just, starting with ceasefire in Palestine.
Activities will include postcard making and writing to elected officials, children's literature readings, card-making for Palestinian community members, and children's art projects. There will be an outdoor march to close the event.
Snacks provided. Masks encouraged to help protect and welcome vulnerable community members.
First floor lecture room (across from the Children's Library) of the Bellingham Public Library's Central Branch. This program is not sponsored or endorsed by the Bellingham Public Library.
Featured News: Ordinations - Jukai and
Lay Entrustment!
Jukai!
What a joyous November day--3 sangha members received the precepts in our wonderful Jukai ceremony:
Peter Pretkel (on left): "Ryudo Gyosan" Ryu Do--Dragon Way, Gyo San--Mountain Walking
Toi Geil (in middle): "Renho Sho-e"; Ren Ho--Practice Dharma, Sho-E--Bright Wisdom
Michael Kelberer (right) "Shuho Hoken"; Shu Ho--Study Dharma, Ho Ken--Phoenix Revealed
Warm hearted congratulations to all!!
Lay Teacher Entrustment
...and then! ...our dear Hannah Sullivan: SeiU HeiAn--"Quiet Rain, Stable Abobe", received Lay Entrustment as a teacher in our lineage. In her own words:
"...that night [Saturday], I was humbled to receive lay entrustment from Kathie Fischer, and we then celebrated with a public ceremony on Sunday. This culminates years of study and practice both within the Red Cedar group and ongoing study with Kathie. I'm honored to join the long and auspicious line of teachers in our lineage, and to recognize the teacher in all of us."
Afterwards--what a warm reception!--a dear community of friends and followers!
Great Congratulations, Hannah!
Winter Practice Period 2024
January 18 - March 16 with Shuso Myoki Raizelah Bayen, Guiding Teacher Nomon Tim Burnett, and Visiting Teacher Hoka Chris Fortin
Our annual 8-week period of more intensive practice is scheduled, on the website and ready for registration! The overview and intentions registration is available here. Please note that the two sesshin and classes do require a separate registration.
Look forward to more study, more sitting, more time together in sangha.
REGISTER FOR PRACTICE PERIOD
An article from the December 2023 Red Cedar Zen newsletter:
From Nomon Tim
Dear Sangha,
I have to admit something.
I've been feeling distracted and unfocussed in zazen lately: catching myself idly planning and thinking about this or that, and wondering just how long I'd been mind wandering. I suspect I've been spending more time than I care to admit sitting around and not really sitting.
Actually I'm not so ashamed or embarrassed. In any long relationship there are ups and downs. Engaged, strongly connected times - wonderful - and also dry spells. It's how it goes.
But having noticed the pattern I've been renewing my energy and intention. Staying closer to the breath at the start of the period. And trying to hold this awareness very lightly - gently releasing into the deep stillness. When I am more deliberate and engaged in this way zazen feels different. More settled. Deeper.
An additional challenge is about half of my sitting's in front of a computer screen in our Zoom zendo. The deep associations I have with this gadget pull at me! The busy-ness, all of my work, the little dopamine hits of finding out new things and being up-to-date with the latest news are right in front of me. I need to be a bit response to chat requests for dokusan so I'm going to stay facing the machine but I've been working on casting my gaze just beyond it which helps. If you're in the Zoom zendo you might turn sideways from the screen. We'll still feeling connected enough.
Here are a few more suggestions for your zazen.
The first is trying (or returning to) breath counting. I did this powerful practice for almost a decade and nothing else when I started (I didn't know about other options back then!). And I'm grateful for this. The trick is to hold the numbers very lightly as you tune into the feeling of each exhale. Just the softest touch with "one"…"two"...
Breath counting holds us wonderfully accountable too! The answer to, "hmm, am I on four or five?" is always: "one!". If you go onto autopilot - counting away, kind of aware of breath sort of, and simultaneously planning your day, just refocus on the rich subtle sensations of the breath. There's so much so explore in breath.
Sometimes counting feels extraneous. Then try inviting a very grounded, right there, following of the breath cycle. All the way in, all the way out, and everything in between. Getting so interested in every sensation as the breath sweeps in and out. Each breath a new breath.
And sometimes any kind of directedness in your awareness isn’t so needed and you can invite an open, settled feeling of just sitting. Just being.
There is some creativity here. Being responsive to what's needed is helpful. And at the same time there can be a deep value to sticking gently but firmly to a single chosen technique. Zoom out from time to time to consider how it's going in zazen.
There are several other options and ways to focus in zazen practice, some of which I've found are wiser to explore one-on-one to feel into whether they are a good fit for you. I warmly invite you to come to dokusan or practice discussion with me or the other teachers to explore zazen. This quiet life partner right in the middle of all of our lives can be easy to take for granted sometimes. Other concerns seem more pressing.
And so important from time to time to deeply renew this central relationship in Zen practice to just sitting.
Yours with breathing out,
Nomon
(and now breathing in!)
Nomon Tim Burnett is Red Cedar Zen Community's Guiding Teacher.
Hi everyone, I've worked with the Practice Leaders to come up with our 2024 Calendar Plan the "bones" of 2024 at Red Cedar with retreats, one day sits, work days at Cedarwood, and hikes.
Please take a look. As the event process rolls along they'll be added to the website and you can sign up and register. It's possible some small changes will happen from plan to reality but at the moment it's looking pretty good.
Interested in hosting or putting on a new event? I'll be excited to see the many ways we can open up our programming and include more community events once we get moved into to Cedarwood. Hopefully in September.
Please be in dialog with me or any Practice Leader if you have an idea simmering.
all best for a rich 2024,
Nomon Tim
Interested in Studying or Receiving the Precepts in 2024?
Every year we offer an 8-month process of precept study starting in March and concluding with a Jukai (receiving the precepts) Ceremony in November. Read more about how this forms the backbone of our practice on the website here.
The precepts study cohort meets monthly on Zoom with an additional monthly small group meeting.
This year's study group will be led by Kanho Chris Burkhart and Ikushun Desiree Webster.
Watch this space and the website for the schedule and sign up.
All are welcome to join our annual precepts study group!
To also formally receive the precepts requires permission from a teacher - don't hesitate to ask if you're interested.
Our annual period of more intensive practice and warm community effort to awaken is just around the corner. While not yet on the website, see the Save the Date announcement in this newsletter.
I'm happy to announce that this year's Shuso (head student) will be Myoki Raizelah Bayen and we'll also be joined by Raizelah's teacher Hoka Chris Fortin from California. Our Benji (Shuso's assistant) will be Junka Ken Oates.
I invite you to think about ways you might bring your practice more into the foreground this winter. Are there other activites you could pause to make more space? You might consider media intake and other entertainments: would it be wise to take a break or reduce?
You might also start thinking about intentions for a this time of more focussed practice. Are there personal qualities or Dharma materials you've been meaning to focus more on?
Whether you've formally taken the precepts or not they do offer such powerful guideposts for practice. Is there a precept, or two, that feels especially important in life lately? Practice Period could be a time to gently but firmly bring those precepts often to mind and explore your relationship with them.
I look forward to practicing with you during our annual 8-week deep dive into Buddha, Dharma, and especially Sangha!
Warmly, Nomon Tim
Opening Ceremony Thursday January 18th
Opening Sesshin - Thursday January 18th - Saturday January 20th.
Regular Zazen Meetings - Weekday morning, Thursday evenings,1st Sunday mornings
Shuso's Class Monday evenings January 22 - March 4th.
Tea with the Shuso - by arrangement.
Closing Sesshin - Thursday March 14th - Saturday March 16th.
Shuso's Dharma Inquiry Ceremony - Saturday March 16th, 2pm.
SAVE THE DATES - events will be live on the website in a few weeks.
Alabama Pilgrimage; Civil Rights Journey by Bob Andrews
Justice as Dharma Practice. The group is facilitated by Chris Fortin of Everyday Zen and Dharma Heart Zen sanghas and Doralee Grindler Katonah, a priest with Valley Stream Zen in Sacramento. The group is committed to study, investigate, explore and embody bodhisattva practice. The seed for this Pilgrimage came from my participation in the group along with a conversation with Doralee in which we each expressed our desire to travel to the South to learn more about the Civil Rights Movement and the struggles of the African American people.
We spent five days in Birmingham, Selma, and Montgomery. The journey was sometimes difficult, uncomfortable, raw, and definitely emotional. The emotions ran from deep sadness to anger. We were bearing witness to the history of evil and suffering. And we had each other, our little sangha, for support. Each day began with a sitting practice together as well as setting our intentions for the day. Most days ended with some reflection time together. The container we created as sangha, was filled with love and a shared respect for individual as well as collective experiences.
We began the Pilgrimage in Birmingham where we visited landmarks like the Bethel Baptist Church, where the civil rights movement took hold in the 1950’s and 60’s, and the 16th Street Baptist Church where four girls were murdered when a bomb exploded. That event brought national attention to Birmingham. Our journey continued to Selma, where we were led through the history by a local guide and activist, JoAnne Bland. JoAnne and her sister marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge as young girls, on Bloody Sunday. That was JoAnne’s first involvement with civil disobedience. (She was arrested 11 times by age 13). She marched across the bridge again on the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday holding the hand of President Obama on one side and Representative John Lewis on the other. JoAnne was and is an incredible person - and inspiration.
Our journey continued from Selma to Montgomery via a small bus. Our driver’s name was Jake Williams. He was part of the Civil Rights March from Selma to Montgomery with Dr. Martin Luther King that took place in the 1960s. It’s impossible to describe how incredible it was to re-live the march through Jake’s experience as a teenager during that time. We were really blessed to have JoAnne and Jake guide us through the civil rights movement history via their own personal life experience. They remain activists today.
In Montgomery, my emotions were pushed to the edge. The experience of bearing witness at the National Memorial for Peace & Justice, often referred to as The Lynching Memorial, was deep. The Memorial stands on a hilltop where iron slabs hang from the ceiling - each representing a County in the U.S where lynchings took place. Each slab had the name of who was lynched and the date the lynching took place. It became very personal as I found the iron slab for a lynching that happened in my mom’s hometown when she was a child. Every cell and bone in my body had a reaction. I was comforted by an African American man who came to me with the question, “as a White man, I’m curious what you hope to learn here today?”. We had a long and heart opening conversation.
Also in Montgomery, is The Legacy Museum. You must put this on your list to visit. It takes you through the history of African Americans from the time they were put on ships in Africa, to slavery in the U.S., to the modern-day struggles for freedom. The experience was profound. Imagine walking by a prison cell from the 1700s and having a hologram appear with a slave telling you their story. Then an hour later walking by another prison cell from the 2000’s where you pick up the phone as if you were visiting the prison - and hear an innocent man tell you his story. The museum was transformative.
When I came home, I wanted to re-live and remember the experience. That’s impossible. But I hope the attached slideshow provides a humble attempt to share this extraordinary experience with you.
With love,
Bob
[here is a link to the slideshow]
Bob Andrews is a regular supporter of our Red Cedar Community and served as Benji during our recent Winter Practice Period. He is devoted to his teacher, Zoketsu Norman Fischer and his root community--Everyday Zen--which he has practiced with for many years.
The following talks from late summer and early Fall are now online. Enjoy
Red Cedar Zen Community is a 501(c) non-profit organization.
