NWDA News

2016 The Year of Sustainability

The board of the Northwest Dharma Association has designated 2016 as The Year of Sustainability. 2016 will mark the 27th year since the official recognition of NWDA as a charity. These years have been a heroic effort, depending on the generosity and good intentions of a great many supporters, volunteers and donors. Now it is time to plan for the future. So, the board plans to develop a long-term strategic plan in 2016. We invite your participation. The Northwest Dharma Association, as you may know, is unique. If you’ve poked around the web to find regional organizations comparable to NWDA…

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Compassionate Action

With great joy, chanting together for 24 hours

Sixteen members of the Portland Threshold Choir led an hour of Chanting again this year

A diverse group of spiritual friends gathered at Great Vow Monastery in Oregon on August 1, for the 13th annual 24-Hour Interfaith Chant for Peace. The sound of chanting filled the zendo, halls, and surrounding meadows from Saturday noon to Sunday noon, with the energy continually refreshed by new participants arriving. The Chant for Peace is distinguished by its 24-hour cycle of nonstop chanting, with each hour led by a representative from a different spiritual tradition. This year’s chant leaders included some new to the event, as well as an eclectic mix of familiar contributors. Great Vow Monastery, just outside…

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Dharma Education

Tibetan nuns step closer to historic milestone

Much of the two weeks of exams was conducted in the presence of other monastics

Twenty nuns in May passed the third of four years of examinations, as they neared their goals of becoming the first women of Tibetan ethnicity, in their Buddhist tradition, to win the equivalent of a doctorate degree. Of the 20 nuns, seven were fully or partly sponsored through Tibetan Nuns Project, a non-profit headquartered in Seattle and in India. The degree the nuns have been pursuing is called a Geshema degree. This is a relatively new term, because until recently only men could win the doctorate-level degrees, which have been called Geshe degrees. Geshes, and soon also Geshemas, are the…

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Dharma Healing, Arts

Jade Buddha’s Last Visit, New Temple, 
Attracted Visitors to August Seattle Ceremony

Buddhist leaders, temple members and temple friends, gathered from around the region for the ceremony

Several hundred people gathered at Seattle’s Duoc Su Ten Thousand Medicine Buddha Temple on a sunny August day, to see the beautiful Jade Buddha for Universal Peace. The visitors also were there to see the construction progress at the Medicine Buddhist Temple, also called the Buddhist Cultural Center of the Northwest, which is nearing completion after four years of work. The 13-foot-high Jade Buddha for Universal Peace statue, carved of gem-grade jade in Thailand, was visiting Duoc Su for the second time. The Jade Buddha statue was patterned after the Buddha statue inside the Mahabodhi Stupa in Bodhgaya, where the…

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Sangha News

Portland’s 12th Buddhist Festival Celebrates
Diversity, Harmony Among Many Traditions

“Peace in oneself, peace in the world,” was the theme of the 12th annual Portland Buddhist Festival, dedicated to Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, who is currently recovering from a serious stroke. The June 13 festival was celebrated at Colonel Summers Park in Portland.  The event brings together sanghas (communities) from many Buddhist traditions to celebrate the teachings of the Buddha, promote friendships across traditions, and educate the public about Buddhism. The Portland Buddhist Festival is organized by the Portland branch of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, with the help of many volunteers and sanghas in the local Buddhist community….

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