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Zen Center News

 

 

Congratulations & Thanks Go to Jay Dosho VanSant

The annual Shuso Hossen ceremony was held Sun. Feb 3. Jay Dosho Van Sant, who has served as the head trainee for the past 11 months, presented his verse, a portion of the Heart Sutra, and was examined for his understanding by the community and visiting teachers. After the solemn ceremony and questions from almost all present, Dosho was "passed" by his teacher, Kyogen, and then congratulatory verses were offered all around. Thank you to Dosho for a year of unstinting responsibility.


 

DRZC Conditional Use Approved

 


Our Land Use Review hearing on Jan. 28 went remarkably well. One neighborhood person came to the hearing to support us, and one to oppose the proposal on the basis of general neighborhood parking issues. The hearings officer suggested a few minor changes in our proposal, which we made on the spot after conferring directly with the person voicing opposition. Letters have been received by neighbors indicating our Conditional Use was granted!

The next step is applying for a Change of Occupancy permit for the Dharma House, converting it from purely residential use to a mixed residential/ institutional use. Whenever there is a change in the permit status for a building, the city gets to come in and make sure it is up to building code for all of the uses proposed. Therefore, we have to document the state of the Dharma House, appeal for leniency on things we can't change, and make a proposal to the city for how we can improve the house to meet their standards. Then we get to actually make those changes, which will probably include enlarging the basement windows, and adding a door and exit stairs on the second floor. We'll keep you updated!

Above: The first cars roll into place. We now have permission to use the Safeway Credit Union parking lot, conveniently located next to the zendo. Now there are three parking lots available for us to use-plenty of off-street parking.



ZCO May Move to the Clatskanie School

Zen Community of Oregon is close to making a deal with the Clatskanie school board for leasing (with an option to buy) an empty grade school building in Clatskanie for use as a monastery and retreat center. We at DRZC have watched the often harrowing proceedings with bated breath. There was a much-publicized response from some fundamentalist Christians in Clatskanie who were adamantly opposed to Buddhists moving into town, but it looks like this will not affect the school board's willingness to work with ZCO. If ZCO gets the school it will be very exciting; not only do we want to see ZCO's dreams unfold, we will also be holding our retreats and Dharma Camp there. This will make the set-up and function of our retreats much easier (so much less schlepping!), and our retreat fees will be going in part to support another Buddhist group. Yahoo!



On-Line Purchaces

DRZC now has the capability to accept payment for many goods and services on-line through our web site. You can sign up and pay for retreats, subscribe to Still Point, and puruse and purchace Zen Center publicatons. Point your browser to: http://www.dharma-rain.org/StillPoint/pp/pub.html.


 

Operations Corner - Water, Water, Everywhere!

 

The last few months have seen a rather tiresome and expensive litany of problems in this arena. However, we have had some successes, and in many ways have even improved the physical state of our temple.

At long last, the boiler at the zendo is repaired! Good riddance to the chill and the kerosene fumes! Take a peek into the boiler room to see The Mrs. Dooley Memorial Boiler (see "Thank You" section), which is natural gas-powered (our old boiler was oil-powered) and promises to be quiet and efficient.

Left: Exotic new Bodhisattvas of Heat manifested themselves next to the more traditional images when our boiler broke down. Thanks to Eric Leatha for loaning the heaters to us during this time!

Below: The old boiler leaves after many long, years of faithful service.

Above: The Void left in the basement after the old boiler was removed. Now the home of the new Mrs. Dooley Memorial Boiler. Welcome Mrs. Dooley!

The carpet in the zendo lecture room, particularly after our old boiler was disassembled and carried out across it, was beginning to look very grim. Someone generously offered to buy the Center new carpet! The old carpet was removed, leaving an ugly tile floor covered with lint and old carpet tape. We hope to have new carpet in place by the time this newsletter goes to press, which should transform the lecture room into a more inviting place. The carpet change inspired a new paint job for the lecture room, too.

A brief flooding of the basement of the Dharma House proved to be due to a clog in the gray-water sewer line - easily (but not cheaply) fixed by a cheerful plumber, who had to spend most of a day at the job. Finally, our leaky pond in the side yard was an issue of concern because the frogs will be returning any day to sing to us and lay eggs! We aim for a successful tadpole fledge this year. We replaced the pond liner, and with the help and advice of Steve Tai'an Blackwood and J.D. Devros, installed a pump to keep the water moving. Kakumyo Lowe has placed the stones around the pond; the effect is quite stunning, and the raccoons have already come to check it out.

Also, a leak has developed in the wall of the zendo sewing room, periodically flooding that space, much to the sewing master's chagrin. Unfortunately, the basement water-proofers that guaranteed our zendo have gone out of business. We are currently receiving bids on the job of repairing the drain outside the sewing room, which collects water from the zendo roof, plus the neighbor's roof. Hopefully this will alleviate the flooding.

 


Board Member Election Results Are In

 

The results of our recent board election are in: Jeanette Ryan was re-elected, and Joe Niski is a new member of the board. Many thanks to retiring member Rick Fumyo Mishaga, and to all board members, for their time ana energy.




Beautiful Hand-crafted Pins Available


David Wilson from the OSP Zen Group is offering hand-crafted silver pins for $30 each. The pin is very beautiful, with amazing detail work (see sketch, which doesn't do the pin justice; the pin is about 3/4 of an inch long). David, inspired by reading Dogen's comments on the event for seminary class, wanted to portray the Buddha's hand twirling a flower in front of Makakashyo. He also sees the "Hand Holds Flower" gesture as the embodiment of love, offering healing and peace to the world. Indeed, this image is also the emblem of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship and echoes many images of Kanzeon.

Currently, any funds raised by David will simply cover his production costs in the hobby shop, but if he starts making a profit he would like to split it with organizations that could use the pins as fundraising items. Orders with payment are needed ahead of time. Send to David's contact person outside the prison: Terry Pilcher, 8924 NE Humbolht, Portland, 97226.; acortozian@attbi.com.


 

 

New Year's Celebration

Once again DRZC and ZCO combined festivities to welcome in the new year. As usual, there was lots of bowing, bell ringing, sacred dancing, eating, and sparklers.

Right: Everyone gathers in a circle to start the dance.

Below Left: Things always seem to get more complicated, even in sacred dance, but they always work out in the end.

Below Right: Their faces say it all, "you never get too old for The Joy of Sparklers."

 


 

Thanks To:

To the Portland Sakya Center for $1000 toward the new boiler at the zendo. The money came from the estate of Ani Gilda Taylor's aunt and so the furnace will be named the "Mrs. Dooley Memorial Boiler."

Thanks also to Anonymous for a beautiful basket of fruit; Mary Lou Ritter for kitchen appliances; an anymous neighbor for a couch, rugs, and other furniture; Judy Seicho Fleischman for a computer monitor and CD; Rebekah Elowyn for fresh homegrown fruit; Deb Martin and Horton Organics for lots of produce; J.D. Devros and Steve Tai'an Blackwood for electrical supplies, plumbing and pumps for the pond (check it out!); John Schultz for legal support around conditional use as well as our attempt to refinance our mortgage; Anonymous for new carpet in the zendo lecture room; many others for their labor and love, and countless other things we may have forgotten to mention.

 

 


STILL POINT archive edit of 7 July 2002
Dharma Rain Zen Center Newsletter
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