VIEW PHOTO GALLERY OF MOVING IN.

New Year, New Home for Dharma Friendship Foundation

As of January 1, 2009 Seattle’s Dharma Friendship Foundation has a new home at 2420 East Union Street in the city’s Central District.

For many years the group had rented space in a pleasant but somewhat out of the way location in the Magnolia neighborhood. A survey conducted a few months back confirmed what many had suspected: 45% of respondents said the Magnolia location interfered with their participation in Dharma Friendship Foundation (DFF) activities and 79% felt that having a more convenient location was of medium or great importance to them. Because serving as “a vehicle for disseminating the Dharma for the greatest number of beings possible” is integral to the DFF mission, it was clear a move was in order.

The new location is easily accessible on two major bus routes and is close to both I-5 and I-90, as well as to downtown Seattle.

In a whirlwind of cleaning and painting, with a special work party on New Year’s Day, hardworking volunteers transformed the new space in time for moving day, January 3rd. Others assisted with equipment and moving trucks or with financial support to buy paint, carpets, and other supplies.

With all in readiness, DFF welcomed its first visiting teacher, Geshe Lhundub Sopa, to the new center on January 19 and 20. One of the last surviving teachers originally educated in Tibet prior to 1959 and one of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s debate examiners, Geshe Sopa offered teachings on the “Three Higher Trainings: Ethics, Concentration, Wisdom.”

Dharma Friendship Foundation was founded in 1985 with Alan Wallace as its guiding teacher. The group’s initial activity was to sponsor a year-long retreat led by a beloved Tibetan teacher, Gen Lamrimpa, who passed away in meditation in 2004.

Venerable Thubten Chodron served DFF as resident teacher and spiritual advisor for many years until she left to found Sravasti Abbey in Newport, Washington in 2002. She continued as spiritual advisor until 2005 when Yangsi Rinpoche took over the role.

Yangsi Rinpoche, born in Nepal of Tibetan parents, is President of Maitripa College in Portland and longtime associate of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition. A graduate with highest honors from Sera Je Monastery in South India, Rinpoche teaches monthly in Seattle at DFF. Ven. Thubten Chodron and other monastics from Sravasti Abbey also visit frequently to offer classes and teachings.