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We recently received our final approval from the city to begin our renovation! Deep bows to the Design and Build Committee for all of your hard work!
The construction began at our work party on Sunday, October 20th; we "broke ground"...with jack hammers! Around 10 diligent volunteers worked on breaking up and clearing away the old foundation and sheetrock in the Zendo--first project! Thank you all for your hard work!!
Look for regular work parties to continue making progress...without needing to run a jack hammer. This next one will be on Sunday November 17th.
Another way you can help: we're asking for sangha input into interior design choices. Can you help with flooring choices by filling out this survey? Samples of the materials will be available on Thursday evenings at BUF at the above Work Party.
We invite you to save the date for our next one-day sit on April 26th, 2025.
These popular sits are a chance for those curious about Zen to ease into the forms, ritual, and structure of sustained practice. Experienced practitioners have similarly found one-day sits to be supportive of their practice. Breakfast, lunch and instruction on the forms of Zen are provided in a less structured environment than a typical sesshin (a period of intensive silent meditation).
We are hoping to gather at Sansui-ji Mountains and Waters Temple for this event, but if the building is not yet ready, we will continue use the temporary zendo at the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship.
More details will be announced in the new year--please check back!
Come join us in ringing in the New Year with 108 rings on the bell, a fire/purification ceremony, meditation and chanting at our temple-under-construction!
Bring forward your intentions for what to let go of in your life, and enjoy an evening with sangha in ritual and connection.
Come a little early to get settled as this popular evening of practice returns after a 5-year hiatus. Register here.
Pre-Event Prep: 4pm - Optional - to help sweep, clean and prepare Cloud Hall at Mountains and Waters Temple as our zendo for the evening. Dinner break before the ceremony.
Location: Mountains and Waters Temple (Sansui-ji), 2509 Cedarwood Drive in Bellingham.
Cancellation Warning: We expect the portion of the temple we'll be using will be safe and accessible to us on December 31st. If it isn't: cancellation of this event will be announced. If you're registered you will receive notice of any changes sent directly to you.
New Year's Eve Schedule: 7:00pm Zazen (sitting meditation) 7:30pm Kinhin 7:40pm Zazen 8:10pm New Year's Ceremony Approx 10:00pm close with snacks and tea outside around the fire
We'll also be burning any name cards from the altar of people who've died in the last years. If you have any of these from your home altar you are invited to bring them.
We hope to see you for this special evening.
Nomon Tim's dharma offerings from Samish Island Sesshin are now available in our dharma talks library.
These links will take you directly to the talks:
November 8th, 2024, talk one: Practicing With What's Here
November 9th, 2024, talk two: Practice Is Everywhere
To increase the ease and availability of dokusan (private interviews), Nomon Tim has set up a self-sign up appointments system. You can sign up for 25 minute dokusan appointments in the next two weeks at any time and accurately know when Nomon Tim is available.
Zoom dokusan appointments are currently offered:
In person dokusan is also available:
We encourage you to take advantage of the increased ease of connecting with our Guiding Teacher.
Nomon Tim's Bookings Page | Learn more about dokusan
The zendo at the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship will be closed the following dates:
Morning Zoom practice will continue as usual those weeks with the exception of the above dates and times.
Please reach out to admin@redcedarzen.org with any questions related to scheduling or anything else.
Held during our One-Day Sit on September 21st, this wonderful ceremony acknowledged Ryushin Kate's life of practice with the transmission ceremony of Menjuhai ("Face to face, Bowing in Completion"). After a peaceful day of sitting with the theme of "opening to joy" featuring a warm and insightful talk by Seiu Hannah, Kate formally shared that she was ready to take this step. Nomon Tim formally declared “The Dharma Gate of face-to-face transmission between Buddha and Buddha, Ancestor and Ancestor, is now realized.” The ceremony culminated with a wonderful Dharma talk by Ryushin Kate. Although the ceremony is named, "completion of practice", Kate reminded us that in reality, "there is no completion--our practice continues on forever...."
We thank you, Kate, for the deep and insightful talk and for your many years of deep heart practice.
The weekly schedule at Sansui-ji Mountains and Waters Temple will include richer offerings for the sangha, with two weekly zazen and study meetings per week:
In addition, look forward to a variety of interesting programs on several Sundays of the month. Sangha members are always invited to organize programs and events themselves! We look forward to the many opportunities the new temple will afford.
Update 10/30/24: The 2025 Rohatsu schedule is currently under discussion by Nomon Tim and the Practice Leaders. We are pondering whether it's a good fit during our construction/transition time to hold it this January. A decision will be announced and posted soon.
Rohatsu Sesshin is a celebration of Buddha's Enlightenment. The traditional retreat is 8 nights long ending on the morning of December 8th when, in the Japanese tradition, Buddha is said to have awakened.
We've generally held our a 2 or 3-day long Rohatsu ending on the 1st or 2nd weekend of December. However, now that Fall Samish Sesshin has proven so successful it has become clear that having another multi-day sesshin a month after Rohatsu to fit into the traditional dates is not viable.
Teachers in Western centers vary a lot around how freely they shift tradition for practical reasons, and there is value in holding to tradition even when it's awkward. In this case, where tradition and practicality have some friction, Nomon Tim and Practice Leaders have decided to honor practicality and will shift Rohatsu to early January.
It will be a time for the sangha to "Awaken in the New Year!". This year's retreat is expected to be on January 3rd and 4th.
Our Red Cedar Zen 8-week Practice Periods have always been in the winter, generally mid-January through early March. Due to challenges in January with snow and infectious disease, starting in 2025 we'll have our Practice Periods in the Fall. Additionally, Fall is a common time for Western Zen sanghas to have Practice Period. And, importantly, this winter we'll have the incredible opportunity to help our contractor remodel our building and set up our temple. (See details for our first construction work party in October here.)
Practice Periods will start during the 4th week of September and end on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. The 2025 Fall Practice Period will run from September 24th through November 23rd. Practice Period will now include the Fall Samish retreat too!
A few key dates if you like to plan ahead for the Fall 2025 Practice Period:
Red Cedar Zen Community is a 501(c) non-profit organization.
