Red Cedar Zen Community's Wilderness Dharma Program emphasizes the practice of mindfulness and compassion through intimacy with a sense of place. Through mindful awareness and ritual enactments on our seasonal hikes and journeys we confirm the wholeness of ourselves, our home here in Pacific Cascadia, and the intrinsic Buddha Nature of all things. We walk in peace with every step.
Our schedule has a full slate of hikes and programs this year that offers something for almost everyone. From full backpacking trips to moderate day hikes, to our new short and easy Opening to Nature Walks in local parks, participants can engage with our travels in whichever format works for them. Red Cedar's Wilderness Dharma Program committee of Bob Penny, Bob Rose, Tim Burnett, Terrill Thompson, and Talus Latona each take turns leading the various programs.
Receiving Water Ceremony / Hills and Streams Hike
To begin our season we warmly invite the community to join us Saturday, March 26th at Larrabee Beach for our Receiving Water/Hills and Streams hike program. This beachside ritual has become a poignant starting point for our season, and we hope you can attend. We carry the water we receive from the Salish Sea at this ritual with us throughout the season, exchanging it during our other hikes with mountain source water from the three headwaters of the Nooksack River, and return that mountain water to Larrabee Beach in the fall. In this way we follow what Eihei Dogen describes in his Mountains and Rivers Sutra as "the path of water" as our guide to practice being settled in this place. Each of us contributes to the whole season-long ritual by attending any part of it along the way, beginning with the Receiving Water ritual.
The Hills and Streams hike which immediately follows is optional. Talus Latona will lead the hike, which features a landscape level recitation of Dogen's Genjo Koan, in a ritual we call "sutra mapping" - the Hills and Streams hike being a mini day hike version of our full Mountains and Rivers backpack ritual.
A full description of the Wilderness Dharma Program can be found here.
Registration
The first two hikes for the season are ready for registration - the Receiving Water/ Hills and Streams hike, and next month's popular annual Mt. Eire Circumambulation hike led by Bob Rose. The other programs will come online for registration shortly, and announcements will also be in upcoming editions of Bending Bough, the Red Cedar Zen Community's monthly newsletter. A full list of the season's programs can be found below. Registration for all events is at redcedarzen.org.
We hope to see you at Larrabee Beach on March 26th to help with our beachside ritual of Receiving Water, or at another Wilderness Dharma Program event this season.
In Wildness,
Bob Penny
Wilderness Dharma Program Coordinator
Red Cedar Zen Community
2022 Schedule
March 26th with Talus Latona and Bob Penny
Receiving Water Ceremony – Larrabee Park
Hills and Streams Hike/Genjo Koan – Lost Lake or Fragrance Lake
April 9th (Buddha’s Birthday) with Bob Rose
Meeting the Mountain/Poet’s Tree Ritual – Mt. Erie Circumambulation
May 7th with Bob Penny
Opening to Nature Walk – Tennant Lake
May 14th-15th with Bob Penny and Talus Latona
Hidden Mountain Spring Retreat – Hidden Mountain Zendo
June 4th with Terrill Thompson
Opening to Nature Walk – Stimpson Forest Reserve
July 2nd with Tim Burnett
Opening to Nature Walk – 100 Acre Woods
July 16th with Bob Penny
Opening the Mountains Hike/Dividing Water Ritual – Skyline Divide
July 31st with Bob Penny
Sacred Earth Fair/sponsored by Multifaith Network for Climate Justice – Center for Spiritual Living
August 6th with Bob Penny
Opening to Nature Walk - Old Growth Ceremony
August 22st-27th with Bob Penny, Terrill Thompson, Tim Burnett, and Talus Latona
Mountains and Rivers Backpack/Exchanging Water Rituals – Hidden Mountain Zendo/Mt. Baker
September 3rdwith Bob Penny
Opening to Nature Walk – Cornwall Park
September 10th with Terrill Thompson, Tim Burnett, and Bob Penny
Sauk Mountain Full Moonrise Hike
September 24th (Fall Equinox) with Terrill Thompson
Journey to the Source/Exchanging Water Ritual – Nooksack Cirque
October 1st with Bob Rose
Heart Sutra Walk – Heart Lake
October 15th with Bob Penny
Closing the Mountains/Returning Water Ceremony – Oyster Dome/ Larrabee State Park
