Boundless

Boundless is the newsletter for the Salt Lake Buddhist Fellowship. We are a lay led, all-inclusive, non-discriminating trans-sectarian Sangha, influenced by the Pure Land Buddhist tradition, the Zen tradition and the teachings of Gyomay and Koyo Kubose. Our organization focuses on the universal teachings of Gautama Buddha, the historic Buddha. Our approach follows the teachings of the Way of Oneness, a unique form of American Buddhism developed by Venerable Rev. Gyomay Kubose based on the Shin-Zen tenets and teachings of Japanese Mahayana Buddhism. At the same time, we are administratively, financially and politically independent and not part of any formal organizational hierarchy, but our spiritual leader is a Sensei with the Bright Dawn Center for Oneness Buddhism.

Our newsletter content comes from the lay members and participants of the fellowship. Our goal is to share our encounter with everyday life and Buddhist practice.

In this edition you will find poetry, photography, essays and personal experiences with the teachings of the Buddha, Enjoy.

I would like to welcome you to our Winter 2017 edition of Boundless, the Salt Lake Buddhist Fellowship newsletter.

Over the past few months a lot of things have happened, most notably our first late summer retreat and Ti Sarana Ceremony where over 21 people took refuge in the Buddha the Dharma and the Sangha and received their Dharma names. It was a wonderful experience to share the Dharma and each other’s practice and to strengthen one another in our commitment to the Buddha way.

As many of you know, the Buddha taught that spiritual friendships were the whole of the way and since the retreat our fellowship has grown with more wonderful new people joining us and bringing their own wonderful compassionate and open-hearted energy. We would like to send out a warm welcome to all of you. The strength and the health of the fellowship is directly related to your participation.

In this edition of our newsletter we have a few who share their individual experiences during our retreat. We have poetry from some of our members, we have photography, art and other wonderful contributions.  We hope you enjoy this edition of our winter newsletter for the Salt Lake Buddhist Fellowship.

If you would ever like to send us your submissions about your practice, your personal experiences with the Sangha or your experiences applying the Buddha’s teachings in your life, please send me your submissions to sensei@saltlakebuddhist.org

Namu Amida Butsu.

Christopher Kakuyo Leibow Sensei

These photos are from the Chua Pho Quang Vietnamese Buddhist Temple in Salt Lake City, taken in July 2017. One of three Vietnamese Temples in Salt Lake County, it is located at 1185 W. 1000 N.  

About the Temple

After years of fundraising, first and second-generation immigrant members bought the former Salt Lake County library building in 1996. Members gradually outfitted the rundown 5,952-square-foot structure with a worship hall, dining area, meeting rooms and a shrine for ancestral ashes. About two years later the Utah group affiliated with the California-based Buddhist Congress, the American arm of a group based in Vietnam. The Congress shares a religious lineage with the Pho Quang Buddhists. For new arrivals from Vietnam, the Pho Quang temple serves as a cultural hub. Immigrants socialize here and have been able to take classes on assimilating and language. The temple is viewed as a safe haven as they settle in America. Now a U.S.-born generation attend to maintain Vietnamese ways.

The 11 a.m. Sunday services follow Mahayana traditions, seeking enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. Services are in Vietnamese and are followed by a silent mindfulness meditation with a shared meal, then a period of indoor walking meditation.

Nam mô A Di Đà Phật – Namu Amida Butsu

Nostalgic reflections of our summer retreat in the Uinta mountains regularly tug at my memory. It was, in one word – bliss. A short but very sweet time to be fully present and deliciously silent; a time to savor the depths of awareness and enjoy the freedom found in living the practice, without day to day distractions. Together with our Sangha family, I spent the weekend chanting, meditating, bowing and breathing, alive and awake, witnessing the vastness of each present moment. Sure, the monkey enjoyed plenty of swings through my mind, begging for attention, but I found that the more silent and present I became, the more the monkey stayed still. And the more the monkey stayed still, then the more blissful I became.

Every moment felt like a masterpiece, unfolding itself right before me. At a few points I remember thinking to myself – I could really live like this, imagining a simple life at some far-off monastery. And then Awareness kindly came to me whispering, “You don’t have to go to a monastery to live mindfully. That is what the practice is all about.”

Mindfulness practice and meditative experience don’t have to be far away dreams, something only grasped when we are away from the world and everyday realities. In fact, it’s much the opposite – mindfulness practice grows stronger when it has the chance to sink its roots into the soil of our day to day lives. Through awareness practice, we are invited to become the steward of our inner landscapes and the gardens of our lives. As we do this, sowing our mindfulness seeds and tending our awakening plants, we then receive the bounteous harvest, the fruits of our practice – our own medicine.

Don’t get me wrong – finding a peaceful, mindful presence in the mundane and routine activities of our daily lives is not always easy, sometimes hardly feeling like bliss. And so often we feel like the harvest is a long-ways off. I regularly find myself contemplating my unskillful patterns of behavior, wondering when I’ll be able to be fully free from reactivity and fear, free from my conditioning. I wonder, will I ever taste the sweet fruits of unfailing compassion and unmistakable wisdom? Then I remember to listen to the call of Amida and the Great Compassion, always embracing me in every moment on every step of the Path, saying, “Yes, you will. Keep going.” And I again find the courage to walk further through the Rivers of Fire and Water.

This is the practice, one we must keep returning to over and over again, kindly returning home to the nembutsu, the present moment and the steady rhythm of the breath when we find ourselves wandering and confused. Sure, the simple monastic life may at times look idyllic but for me, I know that’s not where I belong right now. My story of escapism says otherwise, but I return my gaze to the garden I have grown in the “real world” and I smile, remembering that without the stories and sufferings of my life I wouldn’t be here now. And there is truly nowhere I’d rather be. I look at all my mud, and I see all my lotuses.

There can be a harvest every day, there are good fruits and seeds and medicine all around. We just need to open our eyes to see them. We must be willing to do the work to find them. And oh, how delightful it is to find something that is ripe for the picking. During the retreat I discovered a handful of wild raspberries and strawberries growing on the hillside, reminding me of this exact lesson. How delightful indeed.

After 4 years of Buddhist practice I made the decision to officially Go For Refuge, taking the Bodhisattva and Three Treasures vows in our fellowship’s Ti Sarana ceremony during our retreat, giving up the foundation of my old life for a new foundation - the Dharma. As my old name was called and my new name was given, I cried at the miracle of it all - this life, this beautiful rebirth, and the most perfect name I could have received as a mark of where I’ve been, where I stand now and where I’m headed.

Sensei Kakuyo gave me the Dharma name Zaiyo, which means Medicine Sun, or Awakening to Healing. I bow my head in deep gratitude for all I have learned and experienced on my path in the Way of Oneness, and I know that I have truly come home. I take refuge in the spirit of awakening, in the teachings found when I have my hands deep in the soil of my life, and in the community of fellow beings that I am blessed to be joined with on this Earth walk. I take refuge in the power of healing, and in the medicine that lives within, without and around me in every moment, always.

Namu Amida Butsu

From tear soaked darkness,

bone deep shame, I’ve died,

been reborn, found my claim

to life
and peace

through The Buddha’s name.

Just as I am, sides front and back,

I let walls fall, and sorrows stack

behind me, walking evermore

towards the Pure Land’s radiant shore.

No longer hurt and filled with hate
towards myself, my locked-down fate

I see now, eyes awash with tears
a life of service without fears.

I have a future
I’ve found a way

Within the Three Jewels I shall stay.

As student, teacher and as a friend

my journey starts but will not end
with this life nor the ones to come

but will continue on and on.

Until we are, our family whole
saved from our suffering and can go

together, with love, side by side
to Amida’s light there to reside.

I want to share something that happened to me when preparing for our Sangha’s summer Ti Sarana ceremony.  I was typing up our Ti Sarana program that I was adapting from another Bright Dawn Lay Minister, when I came to a part that says, Three Treasures Reading in bold. Somehow it did not register that this line was a title and  I misread,  well ….no not exactly…. I made a conclusion that there was a special reading regarding the three treasures. I thought to myself, “I wonder where could I find that, I have no idea.” I proceeded to create the program and outline for our ceremony with a Three Treasures Reading included and thinking that once I found I would ask one of the participants to read it to the group.  I sent it out promptly with a lovely highlighted blank for someone to read.   

It was a week later as I was getting things ready for the retreat that I reread the program.  It is odd those moments when a light goes on and what is now obvious escaped you before completely.  What I thought was a separate activity was actually just the bolded title for what was below it, Sensei: “I go to the Buddha for guidance.” ALL: “I shall become one with the Buddha. I resolve that I shall each day follow the Way of Life he laid down for us to walk and awaken to his supreme wisdom.” Looking back I have no logical explanation on how I could thought it was a separate activity.

The program was already out, so I quickly googled Three Treasures Reading and that was futile. After wading through pages and pages of explanation of three treasures there was no traditionally “special reading” for the ceremony.  So quickly I realized that I was going to need to create it.

I guess this is where the “happening” takes place, it wasn’t in the faulty conclusion, but in the realization of the faulty conclusion, that space of realization, which brought a moment of Homer Simpsonesque “Doh.”  In my life before the Dharma, I would  have turned on my self for being so stupid, even for something rather small as was this, but the teachings of Gyomay Sensei keep me from doing that. Sensei teaches us to “Forget self pity, live life! Be the artist of your own life.” I translate that as, get over it and do something about it. It was up to me to turn the faulty conclusion into a new possibility.  I looked at the mistake and saw not something to feel stupid about but something to laugh at and an opportunity.

So I began to think of what would a Three Treasures Reading look like, and I tried googling again./ I thought maybe I could find a three treasures poem; not so easy.(I found a few but they were written by Hallmark Bodhisattvas and they didn’t ring true. In the end googling was the same fruitless search as before.  Then I realized that I am a poet (sometimes the most obvious things get past me, as if I need to tell you that).   I could write the reading myself!

OKay. What could I say, how could I express on an emotive level each of the three treasures, something to make a connection to to the heart as each one of them take the step forward to take refuge in the three jewels.  Here is what I came up with;

Three Treasure Reading

The three treasure are the Buddha , the Dharma and the Sangha.

The Buddha

The Buddha and I

Dependent on each other’s

awakening –

Amida and I are one.

and like a flitting butterfly

In a bamboo grove

Today ,

to Buddha’s lap -I return.

The Dharma.

To my surprise, learning

From the falling maple leaf

“to show front and back”

Living without pretense

Naturally,

“just as I am.”

Living in the midst of

Great compassion

Learning that every day is a good day

And to Keep going,

Now I can see

in the lotus’ blooming

my own awakening.

The Sangha

After such a long journey,

I have finally arrived.

Finally home.

exhausted and bare

You come to me

So happy to see me

Just as I am.

You run up

and put your arms

around me

Can you feel me let go

Of all the miles?

I never thought

I would find

the Buddha’s arms

right here in yours.

I learned from this simple experience that my misreading, my faulty conclusion was not a problem at all, but an opportunity to live dynamically and respond to what life brings us.  It was a door to create something meaningful.  The reading during the ceremony brought tears to a few eyes, especially the one reading it for the group. It made the ceremony its own uniquely unrepeatable experience.

We now have a new tradition for our Ti Sarana ceremony with Pre- Three Treasures Reading. I am so happy that I came to the wrong conclusion. I am happy to be wrong.  

I had the pleasure of attending the Salt Lake Buddhist Fellowship’s first summer retreat this past August in the beautiful Wasatch Mountains.  At the time of this retreat, I was very new to the Buddhist lifestyle.  I had attended several Sunday Sangha’s and instantly fell in love.  I have two very close friends who had been attending for a while and they had decided to take refuge and official become Buddhist, and I really wanted to be a part of this very special moment for them but also for myself to find out what a Buddhist ceremony entailed.  

The ceremony that took place was so wonderful and I found myself constantly smiling.  It was so great to take part in something that was so meaningful and special to those who decided to take refuge. As the ceremony was taking place I could see on Sensei Christopher’s face that it meant a lot to him to officiate this ceremony and to be in these people’s lives.  

It was very refreshing to take the time to be a part of nature and just listen; be silent.  When the conversations did get flowing, I was overwhelmed with the amount of love and acceptance I felt.  As a mother, I often take my children out into nature but in those moments it is hard for me to devote all my attention to the wonders of Mother Nature.  I was able to fully immerse myself in our beautiful nature that this universe has given us.  I really enjoyed the discussions that Sensei Christopher talked about with us.  Many times throughout the retreat, I found myself saying to myself that this is what it was to feel at home and truly accepted.  Something that I have struggled to find in my short life. Being a part of the retreat and the Sangha has taught me that I am more alike with people than I previously thought.  The truth circle that concluded the first night was wonderful.  It was great to hear so many people open up and share ideas and events that mean a lot to them.  I felt so much gratitude that these people allowed me to be a part of that sharing.   I went to bed that night staring up at the stars waiting to see a shooting star because I just knew that a night like this would provide me with a shooting star.  I was not disappointed and knew that I was ready to sleep.  

That night I dreamt of a Salvador Dali looking cat that had brightly colored fur and galaxy eyes.  This cat was so peaceful and made me feel so special when I woke up the next morning.  I left the retreat with a better idea of what it meant to be a Buddhist and found that I too want to take this path in life.  The whole experience was absolutely wonderful and I look forward to attending more retreats like this one.     

Here are series photos by Evana Mauriz

It’s not even November yet and I’m already bracing myself for the “Are you going home for the holidays?” question. This year, the inquiring 3-year-old (plus 40) wants to know what exactly this ‘home’ is that these odd big humans repeatedly speak of this time of year…so I turn to Webster. Home…well, it’s a noun. I know what a noun is; after all, School House Rock embedded in me that a noun is a “person, place or thing.” I read further and find a multitude of definitions, so I try to put the definition into the context of the question, and find that this definition seems to fit best…

Home: noun. a familiar or usual setting : congenial environment. So I give it more thought. My car is familiar and usual, and mostly congenial; so is my office. And then there’s the Starbucks near my house on the corner… The adult in me steps in. I know what they are innocently asking in their naively ignorant manner. I get that they are asking about a family in a city in which I feel familiar and usual. The 3-year-old comes back.

Most years, that 3-year-old inside me wants to clench my fists and stamp my foot and scream petulantly, “I DON’T HAVE ONE!” and there’s that rare occasion in which I want to say, “What do you mean by that? Your question assumes that everyone has one of those nouns…a home,” but usually I nod my head in silent deceitfulness, allowing them to assume I have one of those home things.

This year, I want to be prepared for the question with something intelligent. Not the 3-year-old answer, and not the know-it-all condescending answer, but an answer that gives enough information while still allowing me to be honest…with them, but especially with myself.

Home.

The truth is, the usual and familiar space… the ‘home’ that people generally speak of… it’s what I call my ‘spot.’ The ‘spot’ beneath my feet when I am standing, or beneath my body when I am sitting or lying down. My ‘spot’ is the home I’ve created in the midst of the incessant environmental instability. I work every day to make it more congenial. My home, my ‘spot’, is where my body exists at any given time.

So when I think it through, the answer is simple.

Am I going home for the holidays?

Yes I am.

I’m already there.

Late this summer I renewed my Buddhist refuge vows. I was able to take refuge into the tradition of the Inconceivably Magnificent Cosmic Buddha of Infinite Light, Lord Amitabha. According to the Buddhist tradition, many eons ago a bodhisattva, Dharmakara made vows before the Buddha Lokeśvararāja, to cultivate a buddha realm of infinite light for the benefit of the countless sentient beings throughout all of the immeasurably vast realm and dimensions of space and time. One of his vows was that he would not awaken until he had created the conditions that any sentient being who would remember him and call out his name would be assured birth in his buddha realm, Sukhavati. After countless eons Dharmakara awoke as the cosmic buddha Amitabha. Upon awakening Lord Amitabha gave birth to the Cosmic Bodhisattva of Inexhaustible Compassion, Lord Avalokiteshvara.

Like the bodhisattva Dharmakara before him Avalokiteshvara made vows to Lord Amitabha that he would not awaken as a fully realized Buddha until each and every being without a single exception would be liberated from suffering. After working to relieve the suffering of all sentient beings upon Mother Earth for millennium he was overwhelmed by the horror of the worsening conditions. He witnessed the earth changes, the rising temperatures, the melting glaciers, the dying forests, the extinction of countless species, the rampaging wildfires and extreme weather events. The deepening crisis of the appalling corruption of the vast majority of humanity’s public and private institutions, the cancerous spread of hatred and terrorism throughout our planetary home. He witnessed how the complete bankruptcy of Western Civilization’s materialism bringing humanity, Mother Earth and all her many different species to the brink of disaster. Avalokiteshvara’s heart was shattered, he fell to the ground and wept. And from his tears of compassion Tara, the unsurpassable feminine bodhisattva of compassion awoke and from their bond of love they invoked this cosmic prayer:

Lord Amitabha

“May the Sacred Bodhichitta Tree of Infinite Healing Light

Now blaze forth within the Inner Heart and Soul Realms

Of Humanity, Mother Earth and all of her many different living beings

To purify, illuminate and transform Mother Earth

Into a Radiant Mandala of the Infinite Healing Light

Of the Potala Mountain Paradise.

May the roots of the Sacred Bodhichitta Tree of Infinite Healing Light penetrate into the deepest most horrific hell realms.

May its crown reach into the highest most sublime heaven realms.
May the trunk of this Holy Tree
Be sculptured from the Indestructible Diamond Light emanating
From the vast primordial vows of the Cosmic Illuminator Buddha Vairocana.

May its four majestic boughs blaze forth from the vast primordial vows of the Cosmic Buddhas of the four sacred directions within Vairocana Buddha’s Cosmic Cathedral of Infinite Light.

May its stately branches blossom forth from the immeasurably vast Prayers and practices of the Cosmic Bodhisattva Samantabhadra.May its shimmering translucent leaves arise from The kind acts of all sentient beings throughout all of space and time.

May its luminous blossoms flower forth from the infinite prayers and practices of all of the innumerable Bodhisattvas who traverse the Immeasurably Vast Oceans of the Six Realms of Samsara extinguhing the suffering of all living beings.

May its radiant fruits ripen into the Infinite Buddhas and all of their inconceivably magnificent Buddha Realms.

May the inconceivably magnificent healing light of this Holy Tree
Now blaze forth with the purifying radiance of a billion suns
As an emanation of the Inconceivably Magnificent Healing
Eleven Faced Thousand Armed Avalokiteshvara

To purify, illuminate and transform the Immeasurably Vast Oceans
Of the Six Realms of the Terrible Karmic Dream Realms of Samsara
Into Radiant Mandalas of the Infinite Healing Light of the Potala Mountain Paradise

Immersed, Lord Amitabha, within the very heart of the Miraculous Infinite Healing Light of your legendary Buddha Realm, Sukhavati and may all of this be immersed within the Cosmic Illuminator Buddha

Vairocana’s Cosmic Cathedral of the Infinite Oceans of Pure Awareness
Of the Immeasurable Buddha Realms of Infinite Light
Where within may each and every living being
Without a single exception who are transmigrating throughout

The Immeasurably Vast Realms and Dimensions of Space and Time awaken to the Cosmic Heart Mind of Bodhichitta and set off to realize and fulfill their unique individual cosmic destinies of awakening

To the Omniscient Light of Complete Supreme Cosmic Buddhahood.”

In taking refuge in Lord Amitabha this summer I surrendered my heart into this cosmic prayer and ask the blessings of Lord Amitabha that this prayer may be realized and fulfilled.

My life propels me. I have an undying thirst for exploration and travel that needs to be continuously quenched, and between all of the journeying I have come to find this Sangha. I first discovered the Salt Lake City Buddhist Fellowship years ago when I moved to the city. The Sangha was my first home- my first complete feeling of belonging and acceptance during a time of soul searching and discovery. Throughout the years this group has been my anchor. A safe fortress to always come back to just as I am.

The Fellowship Retreat took place directly after the great Solar Eclipse of North America. I had been looking forward to this event for months and I traveled 658 miles from Bend, Oregon to be there. To my surprise it was held in Woodland, Utah. The same area I had traveled to once before when I was looking for serenity, peace, and alignment. This is the place where I meditated- alone- in the woods two years ago. This is where a great realization dawned on me: I need people.  

And by the fate of all the bodhisattvas- here we were! In Woodland with the Sangha. I was beyond words. Overwhelmed with awe and amazement. We meditated together. We ate together. Words were limited but love was boundless. The days were filled with gratitude and awareness practice.

We said our vows and laid down our burdens. I fought back tears when the Khata was placed around my shoulders and I received my dharma name. The Ti Sarana ceremony was spectacular. (Like the cherry on top of a double fudge sundae.) This was truly one of the biggest and most fundamental stepping stones in all my life. I am ever so grateful for such an enlightening experience.

I held a baby in my arms tonight and she asked me

“What are people made of?”

         I replied you don’t know?

            If you were to cut a person open it’s not blood that you                    would

                          see spilling out

     she said it’s not?

          I said no         no         it’s not – I said it’s life

            I said you see life pouring out of the veins and heart

And arteries that’s not blood I said

          I said that’s life

                   She looked at me funny     not like what I said was funny

      But she looked at me funny

Then she gently touched my wrist and looked at it

Then she looked up at me

      Then back down at my wrist

And she smiled

     She smiled as she leaned her head against my shoulder

And fell asleep

I smiled too

“The Intimate Smile”

AWARENESS is the dance between you and that which can destroy you.

DANCING is the electric ordeal that summons the intimate smile.

the INTIMATE SMILE is a glimpse of divinity breaking through... in search of an indestructible, eternal moment.

---
”Divinity”

IMAGINATION is the weather of the mind.

SOCIETY is the electric storm of the different weather colliding.

DIVINITY is the greatest of all the lightning that surges through the collective, cloud of swirling imaginations.

---

“Desire”
The desire to LEARN is what happens when the desire to HAVE wakes up.

---

“Sacrifice”

HUMILITY is learning how to sacrifice the part of yourself you love the most.

PRIDE is sacrificing others in order to protect a part of you that has not been loved.

SACRIFICE is intimacy with the unknown.

---
”Love”

LOVE is the echo of divinity breaking through...

ATTRACTION is the search for the source of the echo...

HEARTBREAK is forgetting you must be broken in order to reclaim the divine...

Sat down and started to think, there was the first mistake. Not actually in the act of sitting of course, everything is okay with that. Sitting by itself is actually a very enjoyable and enjoyed activity throughout humanity. Unless of course you’ve just bruised your tailbone and find yourself in a military training camp of sorts, then the last thing they want you to do and the last thing you would enjoy doing would be unfortunately, you guessed it, sitting. No, this was not a military training facility and no he did not have a bruised tailbone but all the same, he did not enjoy the sit and his best friend who was sitting comfortably across from him noticed and also did not enjoy his sit. Together they sat in mutual discomfort, his based in his own discomfort and his friends also in his. The friend was not the sort to stir when someone was sitting uncomfortable, no quite the opposite in fact. His friend actually enjoyed making people feel uncomfortable but this however, this was different, the friend took stock in his buddies uncomfortable feeling for the simple fact that his buddy was generally never uncomfortable and seeing him uncomfortable made him stir ever so slightly. Not unlike the way you stir your coffee when you someone has just told you that they may have robbed a bank and hidden the money in your backyard for safe keeping. Yes, he stirred and they sat in perfect uncomfortable silence for what seemed to be a very unsure amount of time. The silence was so perfect none of them wanted to disrupt it, perhaps in fear of losing the record for longest amount of time gone in an uncomfortable silence. So the continued to sit. They had some thoughts, these thoughts disturbed them greatly and made them even more silent and still then they were before. They sat, not wanting to think about the great task ahead or the tasks that were now waving goodbye in the distance. They didn’t want to think about them.. but they did anyways. And the thoughts were paralyzing, so much so that they continued to sit and think about how these thoughts got there in the first place. Their minds decided to tackle this question first because they found it quite a bit more manageable. So they sat in silence and now pondered of the question. Where did the thoughts come from? Good. At least they had a question now, it was much better than the thoughts they had. And from that question, they built. It was a particularly good question because when they thought of it, they weren’t able to think of just one agreeable answer. No, This was a good question because they actually didn’t know the answer. This, was a genuine question! He broke the silence, simultaneously losing the both of them the world record for longest uncomfortable silence for which his friend was awfully put out about, and exclaimed. “I have got a question!” The way he exclaimed this was surprising, it was so surprising in fact that it surprised even himself! He jumped, His friend jumped. His friend, still feeling sort of put out about the whole world record thing, said, “Yes, I know. We were both in the same thought bubble remember? Anyways, we better do something about it, hadn’t we?”. “Well urhm, yes, I suppose we should” he replied. So they both sat and contemplated the question they had developed about the question in question…. Moments later, they were lost. But then he suddenly sprang up from his sit, refusing to be beaten by their own mind, yet still wanting to do something about it. Then, he realized there was no where to go and...

We hope you enjoyed this issue of our newsletter. I want to thank all the contributors to this issue for sharing their insight and practice.

Here are a few last things.

STARTING IN February..BUDDHIST TRADITIONS COURSE.

Starting in February we will be offering a Buddhist Traditions Course. It is more accurate to say Buddhism(s) than Buddhism and this course is designed to look at how the different schools of Buddhism approach the teachings and insights of the Buddha. From the pantheon of the Tibetan tradition to the stripped down and more scientific approach of Secular Buddhism, we will look at how the Buddha’s teaching are still making a powerful impact across cultures. It may also provide you with insight to your own personal practice and you may even find a home in a tradition or outlook that you have never considered. There will be more details on the website shortly.

WEDNESDAY PRACTICE

We are continuing to offer meditation, laughter yoga, peace beads meditation, Q & A with Sensei and 12 Step Sangha on Wednesdays.  Keep abreast of what is going on by finding us on Facebook or our website.

WINTER RETREAT

We are looking at doing a winter retreat on Compassionate Listening. It will be an all day retreat at Vitalize sometime in Feb or March. IF you are interested please reach out. There will be limited seating so stay in touch.

CONTACT US AT

sensei@saltlakebuddhist.org

SLBF PO BOX 58803, Salt Lake City 84158

Kakuyo Sensei @ 801-502-8130