Dharma groups of many different traditions and nationalities  have long gathered together as one under the umbrella of Northwest Dharma Association, like this  2013 Vesak celebration in Seattle.

Another year is coming to a close — a year filled with controversy, political intrigue, and war. The conflicts and striving erupting world-wide, will likely continue in 2024 and beyond. This would be no surprise to the Buddha, who said:

“All is burning, burning with the fire of lust, the fire of hate, the fire of delusion, burning with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, with lamentation, with pain, with grief, with despair.”
(Samyutta Nikaya 35.28)

The hope for the world is the aspiration and capacity for tolerance, for the accommodation of different views, and for goodwill for all beings near and far. In a heated world, it is appropriate that nirvana means “cooling.”

The member groups of the Northwest Dharma Association are models of this goodwill and tolerance. Beyond tolerance, they attend each other’s events, share resources, and offer service and mutual aid, day in and day out.

“Among people who hate, we live without hate…
Among people in misery we live without misery…
Giving up striving for both victory and defeat…”
(Dhammapada 197, 198, 201)

NWDA has sponsored Regional Buddhist Teachers Gatherings for more than 15 years. Last April we continued that tradition, as teachers from the Theravada, Zen, Tibetan, and Pure Land traditions gathered together at the Dharma Rain Zen Center in Portland for a day of fellowship and learning. You can read about it in the Northwest Dharma News.

NWDA also continued its publishing schedule with winter and summer issues of the Northwest Dharma News, and twice-monthly Sangha Updates promoting member groups’ activities. Please sign up here to get both. They’re free, due to the generosity of many donors.

And if you have a news tip for the summer issue, about sangha or individual developments among Buddhists in the Northwest or Western Canada, please contact Editor Steve Wilhelm at this email. Also if you’d like to write something (and get a byline), let’s talk! (No calendar items please, those go in the “events calendar” section.)

As we look forward to another year of cooperation and goodwill, we invite Buddhist groups throughout the region to join together in the Northwest Dharma Association. We welcome your participation and support, and we offer the same to all who follow the Buddha’s path to peace and freedom. If you wish to contribute, please do so here.

And thank you, from everyone in the larger sangha, for the generosity of so many of you that keeps Northwest Dharma Association rolling. Bows to you all.