Announcements
Sangha Conversation - Sixteen sangha members attended our most recent Sangha Conversation on Wednesday, September 29. This open dialogue centered on a substantive discussion of the qualities and locations of the sort of place we are seeking for our new home.
Meeting notes are available on Ananda. If you need access to Ananda, you can request it here.
Here are some slides presented at the meeting, which summarize themes about these qualities which emerged from the visioning exercise, as well as the primary location criteria the SCORE committee have collected.
Upcoming Sangha Conversation - All current members are encouraged and warmly invited to participate in the next Sangha Conversation on Wednesday, September 29th. We follow last month’s very successful community dialogue with the next session in our renewed monthly engagement of sangha voices. This month will we gain valuable information, and be able to offer feedback, about the launch of our fundraising campaign in mid-September. In addition, to help our search committee in its process, we will explore as a community the question of “location”, and the perspectives that we imagine or hold towards various neighborhoods and sectors throughout the city, as potential places to find our new home. August Sangha Conversation Recap - Our Sangha Conversation on August 25th was attended by 23 members. Reports were made by the Campaign, Search, and Communications Committees. Board President Joden Bob Rose facilitated several breakout sessions where members engaged in a variety of discussions. It was an information rich evening, as there was much to share in preparation for the launch of our fund-raising campaign. Notes from the meeting can be found on Ananda, and here are screen captures of some slides presented:
Upcoming Sangha Conversation - All current members are encouraged and warmly invited to participate in the next Sangha Conversation on Wednesday, September 29th. We follow last month’s very successful community dialogue with the next session in our renewed monthly engagement of sangha voices. This month will we gain valuable information, and be able to offer feedback, about the launch of our fundraising campaign in mid-September. In addition, to help our search committee in its process, we will explore as a community the question of “location”, and the perspectives that we imagine or hold towards various neighborhoods and sectors throughout the city, as potential places to find our new home.
August Sangha Conversation Recap - Our Sangha Conversation on August 25th was attended by 23 members. Reports were made by the Campaign, Search, and Communications Committees. Board President Joden Bob Rose facilitated several breakout sessions where members engaged in a variety of discussions. It was an information rich evening, as there was much to share in preparation for the launch of our fund-raising campaign. Notes from the meeting can be found on Ananda, and here are screen captures of some slides presented:
Sitting at Shambala Suspended - Through community discussion at the last Sangha Conversation it became evident that the sangha has too much current trepidation and concern to go ahead with in-person practice at this time. The plans for in-person practice at the Shambala center have therefore been suspended for the moment, as we continue to monitor the Covid situation. Concern was also voiced that the Shambala center is not ADA accessible, and would therefore perhaps not be an ideal location for long. And yet, it was recognized that the center has the necessary cushions and gear to make a drop-in situation very workable. Multi Faith Network for Climate Justice (MCNJ) Event - Red Cedar Zen Community has been active in the past with the Multi Faith Network for Climate Justice (MCNJ). Reverend Dr. Andrea Asebado of MCNJ member organization The Center for Spiritual Living will host Greening With Integrity, September 24th, 6:30-8pm. Rev. Dr. Asebado will talk about her spiritual community’s successful effort to green their carbon footprint. The presentation is part of Bellingham’s “ALL IN - Climate Action Week” events. Asebado will be joined by Emily Larson-Kubiak, Energy Efficiency and Renewables Program Manager at Sustainable Connections, and Mark Schofield, Community Energy Challenge Manager for the Opportunity Council. Nomon Tim Burnett has been invited to give the closing practice. This is a live in-person, and live streaming, event. For more information visit the City of Bellingham's event page.
Sitting at Shambala Suspended - Through community discussion at the last Sangha Conversation it became evident that the sangha has too much current trepidation and concern to go ahead with in-person practice at this time. The plans for in-person practice at the Shambala center have therefore been suspended for the moment, as we continue to monitor the Covid situation. Concern was also voiced that the Shambala center is not ADA accessible, and would therefore perhaps not be an ideal location for long. And yet, it was recognized that the center has the necessary cushions and gear to make a drop-in situation very workable.
Multi Faith Network for Climate Justice (MCNJ) Event - Red Cedar Zen Community has been active in the past with the Multi Faith Network for Climate Justice (MCNJ). Reverend Dr. Andrea Asebado of MCNJ member organization The Center for Spiritual Living will host Greening With Integrity, September 24th, 6:30-8pm. Rev. Dr. Asebado will talk about her spiritual community’s successful effort to green their carbon footprint. The presentation is part of Bellingham’s “ALL IN - Climate Action Week” events. Asebado will be joined by Emily Larson-Kubiak, Energy Efficiency and Renewables Program Manager at Sustainable Connections, and Mark Schofield, Community Energy Challenge Manager for the Opportunity Council. Nomon Tim Burnett has been invited to give the closing practice. This is a live in-person, and live streaming, event. For more information visit the City of Bellingham's event page.
Dear Sangha, I'm noticing that I’m "cycling" a bit lately. Getting a bit revved up, getting a bit over involved with things, and then settling back down again: re-opening to trust and acceptance that everything works out. Finding again my breath in my hara. The feeling of the earth beneath my feet. It's a "big" time for us as a sangha: preparing to do our first ever big capital campaign, a committee starting to look at properties to purchase, numbers like $1 million dollars and more being bandied about. Seeing visions of us in this place or that place setting up a zendo and opening our doors wide to the community. And all of this happening against the confusing background of another round with Covid. And it's also just another day, another moment, another breath. Everything just as it is. There is so much to do and there's also nothing to do. I visited a center here in Sonoma County, California, and had an interview with the Zen teacher there who reminded me to rest deeply in zazen practice and the tradition. That zazen dissolves the ego and shows us our true face. In terms of fundraising, here's a nice bit of Zen historical context: including this wonderful quote from Dogen himself:
Dear Sangha,
I'm noticing that I’m "cycling" a bit lately. Getting a bit revved up, getting a bit over involved with things, and then settling back down again: re-opening to trust and acceptance that everything works out. Finding again my breath in my hara. The feeling of the earth beneath my feet.
It's a "big" time for us as a sangha: preparing to do our first ever big capital campaign, a committee starting to look at properties to purchase, numbers like $1 million dollars and more being bandied about. Seeing visions of us in this place or that place setting up a zendo and opening our doors wide to the community. And all of this happening against the confusing background of another round with Covid.
And it's also just another day, another moment, another breath. Everything just as it is. There is so much to do and there's also nothing to do. I visited a center here in Sonoma County, California, and had an interview with the Zen teacher there who reminded me to rest deeply in zazen practice and the tradition. That zazen dissolves the ego and shows us our true face.
In terms of fundraising, here's a nice bit of Zen historical context: including this wonderful quote from Dogen himself:
“It might be possible to build the hall with a donation from one patron, but I would like to encourage many people in the ten directions to make a donation in order to allow a wider range of people to form a good affinity with the Buddha Dharma.” Keep sitting! Nomon Tim
“It might be possible to build the hall with a donation from one patron, but I would like to encourage many people in the ten directions to make a donation in order to allow a wider range of people to form a good affinity with the Buddha Dharma.”
Keep sitting!
Nomon Tim
Dear Red Cedar Zen Community members, Our next All-Sangha conversation will take place at 8 PM, Wednesday, September 29, following regular services. We will focus on two critical aspects of “Our Journey Home: the Capital Campaign”; a funding raising update, and where we establish that sanctuary. We will open with a status report on the capital campaign, which will be transmitting its first mailing the previous week. This will be your opportunity to ask questions, offer additional ideas, and to benefit from other sangha members’ thoughts on engaging our colleagues, friends, family, and other supporters in this legacy-building effort. We’ve heard repeatedly of the desire to be an open and engaging community that offers the opportunity for Zen practice to all. We’ve also heard of the desire for a facility open to other students of the Buddha’s teachings, as well as to the creative and healing arts, which would be in keeping with the long tradition of a multi-purpose Dharma Hall in Bellingham. A key question for the board-designated Search Committee on Real Estate (SCORE) is where these community offerings could best be located. The campaign goal of $550,000 was set to raise adequate funds for the down payment on a $1 million property, as well as pay for initial modifications. As a community non-profit, our bank (WECU) tells us we must come up with a 40% down payment. Our calculations show that the remaining mortgage could be funded by about the same amount we previously paid in rent at Forest Street. Where would we prefer our new sanctuary be located; near the city center, in a neighborhood, or on the outskirts of town/in the county??? Each choice has financial and access implications. Some choices may be precluded, depending on budget and available property. The search committee would benefit greatly from having a better sense of what sangha members envision. Meeting that vision will depend, in large part, on the success of our campaign. Sangha leaders need to hear your voices as we set out on Our Journey Home. Please join us for next month’s Sangha Conversation. With deepest gratitude for your practice and generosity- Joden Bob Rose, President Red Cedar Zen Community Board of Directors
Dear Red Cedar Zen Community members,
Our next All-Sangha conversation will take place at 8 PM, Wednesday, September 29, following regular services. We will focus on two critical aspects of “Our Journey Home: the Capital Campaign”; a funding raising update, and where we establish that sanctuary.
We will open with a status report on the capital campaign, which will be transmitting its first mailing the previous week. This will be your opportunity to ask questions, offer additional ideas, and to benefit from other sangha members’ thoughts on engaging our colleagues, friends, family, and other supporters in this legacy-building effort.
We’ve heard repeatedly of the desire to be an open and engaging community that offers the opportunity for Zen practice to all. We’ve also heard of the desire for a facility open to other students of the Buddha’s teachings, as well as to the creative and healing arts, which would be in keeping with the long tradition of a multi-purpose Dharma Hall in Bellingham. A key question for the board-designated Search Committee on Real Estate (SCORE) is where these community offerings could best be located.
The campaign goal of $550,000 was set to raise adequate funds for the down payment on a $1 million property, as well as pay for initial modifications. As a community non-profit, our bank (WECU) tells us we must come up with a 40% down payment. Our calculations show that the remaining mortgage could be funded by about the same amount we previously paid in rent at Forest Street.
Where would we prefer our new sanctuary be located; near the city center, in a neighborhood, or on the outskirts of town/in the county??? Each choice has financial and access implications. Some choices may be precluded, depending on budget and available property. The search committee would benefit greatly from having a better sense of what sangha members envision. Meeting that vision will depend, in large part, on the success of our campaign.
Sangha leaders need to hear your voices as we set out on Our Journey Home. Please join us for next month’s Sangha Conversation.
With deepest gratitude for your practice and generosity-
Joden Bob Rose, President
Red Cedar Zen Community Board of Directors
The Search for a New Home Begins Joden Bob Rose, Board President Fellow Sangha Members, Your Board of Directors recently appointed a small group to work on your behalf to find our new “permanent” home in this impermanent and rapidly changing world. As we are all aware, the Bellingham real estate market is vibrant and dynamic. The Search Committee on Real Estate (SCORE) is purposefully small to respond rapidly and decisively if the right opportunity arises. The committee’s members are: Guiding teacher Nomon Tim Burnett, Board President Joden Bob Rose, Vice President Mary Durbrow, and Bellingham commercial real estate broker Richard Eggemeyer (semi-retired). In addition, sangha members Bob Penny and Chris Burkhart will provide essential technical assistance and guidance. We have formulated a set of criteria (below) to guide our investigation of available real estate within the Bellingham city limits. We are only a limited set of eyes and ears, so we would welcome your suggestions of suitable properties if they fit some or most of these criteria. Please contact one of the SCORE members if you identify a suitable candidate property. Finding the right site, addressing the inevitable remodeling/renovation issues such as permitting, design, finding contractors, and completing a complex work order in a timely fashion, will all take more time than we would like. We will all have to translate the patience and equanimity we find on the cushion to this process. But we will, at the appropriate time, step across the threshold, into a Zendo and Dharma Hall we can truly call our own. Your Board looks forward to your active participation in the upcoming RCZC campaign to build our new sangha home. It will be the perfect time for simultaneously practicing patience and generosity as we build our legacy in Bellingham and Northwest Washington. Please contact one of the SCORE members if you have any questions or ideas as we begin this process. CRITERIA FOR NEW RCZC SANCTUARY Required: 3,000 sq ft minimum on a single level with room for dedicated zendo Existing building rather than bare ground Reasonable visibility and accessibility by bus & bike Adequate parking /space available to meet city code) As close to city core as financially feasible Minimum cost and time to renovate (unless price discount compensates for added costs) Upgrade interior walls and façade ADA accessible Preferred: Zoning allows Churches outright (or minimal time/hassle for variance or conditional use) Close to or adjacent to park/green space/urban trails Near neighborhood services such as coffee shop/grocery Easily modified and/or flexible spaces Space to share as rental to other groups to increase cash flow Limited external noise (traffic, freeway, mfg.) Estimated cost for building ready for move in: +/- $ 1,000,000 - $1,200,000 Sangha Conversation To discuss our current status of fund raising and property acquisition All current members are encouraged to attend the August Sangha Conversation during our regular Wednesday evening practice on August 25th 7pm. Board President and 2021 Shuso Joden Bob Rose will host the conversation. Joden Bob will introduce the current status of our fund raising efforts, and other currently unfolding developments in our effort to find a suitable property. Ample time will be given for Q & A. We look forward to hearing voices from the sangha contribute your input and ideas to the current efforts. Sangha Conversations are our whole-community time to discuss important topics of business and our practice amongst the entire sangha. At the end of June we held our first sangha conversation in quite a while, and it served as a nice ice breaker to re-engaging our community dialogue. In July, because Guiding Teacher Nomon Tim was not present, we did not hold a conversation. In the past we have had these conversations only about every three months, with a shifting emphasis upon whatever topic seemed current. But presently we will be conducting these sangha conversations going forward on a monthly basis, the last Wednesday of the month, at least for this period of time we are engaged in the process of finding a new physical home. We feel it is important at this time to keep the membership up to date, and gain critical input from members, as we enter a very active phase of planning and fundraising. We encourage everyone to attend. If you are not able to attend then information from the sangha conversation will be included in next month’s newsletter. Nomon Tim is moving back to Bellingham Over the course of August, Red Cedar’s Guiding Teacher Nomon Tim Burnett with his partner Raizelah Bayen will be getting situated permanently back in Bellingham. Nomon has been living in California for the last year, participating with our activities, as we all have been, on Zoom. July has been his accustomed annual sabbatical month to get the batteries recharged for another year of guiding the Sangha. In August Nomon will resume regular attendance at weekly zazen and will again be giving regular dharma talks and conducting dokusan via Zoom. Wilderness Dharma Program News Summer is time for hiking and enjoying the outdoors, and is when our Wilderness Dharma Program gets out on the trails. On July 10th Reizan Bob Penny led a very successful Opening the Mountains day hike to Skyline Divide. About half a dozen Red Cedar pilgrims performed our Dividing Water Ceremony on the ridge, in full view of Mt. Baker, Mt. Shuksan, and the North Cascades. The Salish Sea water we gathered at our Receiving Water Ceremony, conducted in May at Larrabee Beach, was divided into three vials, to be exchanged later in the hiking season with mountain water at each of the three branches of the Nooksack River. To complete our annual water cycle ceremonies the mountain water will be recombined and then returned to the Salish Sea at Larrabee Beach at our Closing the Mountains hike in October. In late June Terrill Thompson led a very peaceful and quite mindfulness walk for over half a dozen sangha members around the Stimpson Family Forest Reserve, a wonderful land holding near Lake Whatcom managed by the Whatcom Land Trust and Whatcom County Parks. We were graced by the silent presence of great old growth trees, and the passing flight of a barred owl during the easy five mile walk. Upcoming Mountains and Rivers Backpacking Retreat September 7-9 (tentative) We believe our annual pilgrimage to Mt. Baker will happen despite the pandemic. All participants must be fully vaccinated. Final decision will be made closer to the time. This trip to the high upper flanks of Mt. Baker involves many wilderness based ceremonies, including a grand “sutra mapping” of Dogen’s Mountains and Rivers Sutra across the landscape of the upper Middle and South Fork watersheds of the Nooksack River. The trip this year is being organized informally, through direct communication with Nomon Tim Burnett, who is leading the backpack, as long-time Wilderness Dharma Program Coordinator Reizan Bob Penny is currently unable to participate. To view a past (somewhat outdated) trip description for reference please click here Contact Nomon Tim directly you may email him at tim@redcedarzen.org if you are interested in joining. You must have some backpacking experience. There are only a very few spaces still available for this trip.
The Search for a New Home Begins
Joden Bob Rose, Board President
Fellow Sangha Members,
Your Board of Directors recently appointed a small group to work on your behalf to find our new “permanent” home in this impermanent and rapidly changing world. As we are all aware, the Bellingham real estate market is vibrant and dynamic. The Search Committee on Real Estate (SCORE) is purposefully small to respond rapidly and decisively if the right opportunity arises.
The committee’s members are: Guiding teacher Nomon Tim Burnett, Board President Joden Bob Rose, Vice President Mary Durbrow, and Bellingham commercial real estate broker Richard Eggemeyer (semi-retired). In addition, sangha members Bob Penny and Chris Burkhart will provide essential technical assistance and guidance.
We have formulated a set of criteria (below) to guide our investigation of available real estate within the Bellingham city limits. We are only a limited set of eyes and ears, so we would welcome your suggestions of suitable properties if they fit some or most of these criteria. Please contact one of the SCORE members if you identify a suitable candidate property.
Finding the right site, addressing the inevitable remodeling/renovation issues such as permitting, design, finding contractors, and completing a complex work order in a timely fashion, will all take more time than we would like. We will all have to translate the patience and equanimity we find on the cushion to this process. But we will, at the appropriate time, step across the threshold, into a Zendo and Dharma Hall we can truly call our own.
Your Board looks forward to your active participation in the upcoming RCZC campaign to build our new sangha home. It will be the perfect time for simultaneously practicing patience and generosity as we build our legacy in Bellingham and Northwest Washington.
Please contact one of the SCORE members if you have any questions or ideas as we begin this process.
CRITERIA FOR NEW RCZC SANCTUARY
Required:
3,000 sq ft minimum on a single level with room for dedicated zendo
Existing building rather than bare ground
Reasonable visibility and accessibility by bus & bike
Adequate parking /space available to meet city code)
As close to city core as financially feasible
Minimum cost and time to renovate (unless price discount compensates for added costs)
Upgrade interior walls and façade
ADA accessible
Preferred:
Zoning allows Churches outright (or minimal time/hassle for variance or conditional use)
Close to or adjacent to park/green space/urban trails
Near neighborhood services such as coffee shop/grocery
Easily modified and/or flexible spaces
Space to share as rental to other groups to increase cash flow
Limited external noise (traffic, freeway, mfg.)
Estimated cost for building ready for move in: +/- $ 1,000,000 - $1,200,000
Sangha Conversation
To discuss our current status of fund raising and property acquisition
All current members are encouraged to attend the August Sangha Conversation during our regular Wednesday evening practice on August 25th 7pm. Board President and 2021 Shuso Joden Bob Rose will host the conversation. Joden Bob will introduce the current status of our fund raising efforts, and other currently unfolding developments in our effort to find a suitable property. Ample time will be given for Q & A. We look forward to hearing voices from the sangha contribute your input and ideas to the current efforts.
Sangha Conversations are our whole-community time to discuss important topics of business and our practice amongst the entire sangha. At the end of June we held our first sangha conversation in quite a while, and it served as a nice ice breaker to re-engaging our community dialogue. In July, because Guiding Teacher Nomon Tim was not present, we did not hold a conversation. In the past we have had these conversations only about every three months, with a shifting emphasis upon whatever topic seemed current. But presently we will be conducting these sangha conversations going forward on a monthly basis, the last Wednesday of the month, at least for this period of time we are engaged in the process of finding a new physical home. We feel it is important at this time to keep the membership up to date, and gain critical input from members, as we enter a very active phase of planning and fundraising.
We encourage everyone to attend. If you are not able to attend then information from the sangha conversation will be included in next month’s newsletter.
Nomon Tim is moving back to Bellingham
Over the course of August, Red Cedar’s Guiding Teacher Nomon Tim Burnett with his partner Raizelah Bayen will be getting situated permanently back in Bellingham. Nomon has been living in California for the last year, participating with our activities, as we all have been, on Zoom. July has been his accustomed annual sabbatical month to get the batteries recharged for another year of guiding the Sangha. In August Nomon will resume regular attendance at weekly zazen and will again be giving regular dharma talks and conducting dokusan via Zoom.
Wilderness Dharma Program News
Summer is time for hiking and enjoying the outdoors, and is when our Wilderness Dharma Program gets out on the trails. On July 10th Reizan Bob Penny led a very successful Opening the Mountains day hike to Skyline Divide. About half a dozen Red Cedar pilgrims performed our Dividing Water Ceremony on the ridge, in full view of Mt. Baker, Mt. Shuksan, and the North Cascades. The Salish Sea water we gathered at our Receiving Water Ceremony, conducted in May at Larrabee Beach, was divided into three vials, to be exchanged later in the hiking season with mountain water at each of the three branches of the Nooksack River. To complete our annual water cycle ceremonies the mountain water will be recombined and then returned to the Salish Sea at Larrabee Beach at our Closing the Mountains hike in October.
In late June Terrill Thompson led a very peaceful and quite mindfulness walk for over half a dozen sangha members around the Stimpson Family Forest Reserve, a wonderful land holding near Lake Whatcom managed by the Whatcom Land Trust and Whatcom County Parks. We were graced by the silent presence of great old growth trees, and the passing flight of a barred owl during the easy five mile walk.
Upcoming Mountains and Rivers Backpacking Retreat September 7-9 (tentative)
We believe our annual pilgrimage to Mt. Baker will happen despite the pandemic. All participants must be fully vaccinated. Final decision will be made closer to the time.
This trip to the high upper flanks of Mt. Baker involves many wilderness based ceremonies, including a grand “sutra mapping” of Dogen’s Mountains and Rivers Sutra across the landscape of the upper Middle and South Fork watersheds of the Nooksack River. The trip this year is being organized informally, through direct communication with Nomon Tim Burnett, who is leading the backpack, as long-time Wilderness Dharma Program Coordinator Reizan Bob Penny is currently unable to participate. To view a past (somewhat outdated) trip description for reference please click here
Contact Nomon Tim directly you may email him at tim@redcedarzen.org if you are interested in joining. You must have some backpacking experience. There are only a very few spaces still available for this trip.
Red Cedar Zen Community is a 501(c) non-profit organization.
