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Introducing Kevin Costa!
A few years ago, while exploring Bellingham as a possible retirement site, Kevin happened to pass by our Red Cedar Zendo at our old location on Forest St. He says that he made a quiet commitment at that time to connect, if things worked out and he settled here.
Kevin moved to Bellingham in 2022 and found his way back to Red Cedar after settling in. He relates that his practice began many years ago where he sat at the San Diego Zen Center--with a much respected teacher, Charlotte Joko Beck. He participated there for some years, also attending offerings at San Francisco Zen Center, Green Gulch, and other Zen centers in CA and in NY.
He had been inspired initially by the solid, no nonsense teachings of Joko Beck--and inspired anew by Nomon Tim Burnett, after hearing him speak at Village Books on Mindfulness. His "profound and flowing dharma" re-connected Kevin to our Red Cedar Community.
Kevin is retired now, after many years as a speech/ language therapist and during those years, felt that the practice really informed his work and helped to bring skill to his interactions.
His aspiration is to commit to practicing with clarity and sincerity, to meet life directly, embracing the unfolding of reality not as a problem to be solved, but as the very path itself. Sansui-ji temple and the Red Cedar Zen Community now embody this vow.
Thank you, Kevin, for your commitment to our Red Cedar Community!
Meet Joe Garvin! Joe has been a regular at Red Cedar for awhile but slowly and happily continues to get to know more and more folks. Joe came to us through the suggestion of Seattle Soto Zen members when he was living in Seattle around 2 1/2 years ago. He is originally from just outside of Chicago and came to Buddhist practice from taking classes at Loyola University. The classes happened to be with Taigen Dan Leighton--which many of you may know of from his well-known and much respected teachings and commentaries. Joe enjoyed his classes so much that he ended up taking several while he was attending the university.
Joe's current focus is integrating practice with home life--and raising a 3 year old..."patience, tenderness, and humility" come to mind, he says! (good timing with our Shuso class on practicing as a layperson!)
Also, Joe is very interested in how Buddhist practices and principles can be integrated with recovery from addiction. He is celebrating 15 years of sobriety and is the facilitator of a Buddhist Recovery group "Recovery Dharma", which currently meets at our new Sansui-ji temple on Thursday evenings!--This natural fit has been wonderful, he says.
Lastly, Joe wanted to share his impressions of the Red Cedar Community. At first glance, he found that it is a very tight-knit community--but as he has kept coming back, he has noticed a very down-to-earth quality about our sangha--with a lightness and sense of humor about it. He feels that this is balanced by this commitment and earnestness. "It has a sense of accessibility--committed but not taking ourselves too seriously" which he sees as the tone set by Nomon Tim and Kanho Chris.
Joe expresses that he is enjoying getting to know the individual folks here at Red Cedar, so, if you have a chance to stop by and say hello to Joe, please do!
Thank you so much, Joe!
Volunteers needed for indoor and outdoor projects at Sansui-Ji on November 15, from 9am-4pm. No need to stay the whole time but please bring a lunch if you plan to stay the whole day. Projects are as follows:
Spreading mulch (bring garden clothes) Goodwill run Dump run Deep cleaning indoors Labeling and organizing tasks
Sign up below so we know how many to expect, many thanks to our volunteers!
November Work Party
We had a very nice ceremony to bring in our new Shuso, Junka Ken Oates in our new zendo on Wednesday, September 24th.
Then, on Saturday morning, Ken delivered an honest and revealing Way-Seeking-Mind talk. It was vulnerable and authentic. These talks are always so enlightening to hear; they reveal a part of the complex conditions and circumstances that lead us all to where we are just now; thank you for your transparency and honesty, Junka Ken!
And it's not too late to join us for Junka Ken's 6 session class! He will be leading us through an exploration of the Path of the Committed Lay Person on Zen. Join us for that if you haven't already (see listed under events) and, welcome to our new Shuso!
And, what a marvelous novice ordination for Myoki Raizelah Bayen it was!! With a packed house in person--and on Zoom, and with her formal teacher Hoka Chris Fortin and our guiding teacher Nomon Tim, we participated in her deep and moving ceremony before she heads off to Green Gulch. There she will enjoy a taste of monastic life as a new Novice Priest in the Soto Zen tradition. We will look forward to hearing from her about her adventures as she deepens her understanding and commitment.
For those of you who were unable to attend Raizelah's ordination ceremony on September 28th, please find the recorded session at the link below:
https://redcedarzen.org/event-6376367
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.
Seasons of Trees...
~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.
https://www.facebook.com/ItsAboutTimeCulturalArtsCenter
An ongoing opportunity to support immigrant populations in our community is through
Red Cedar Zen Community is a 501(c) non-profit organization.
