NWDA News

Northwest Dharma Association 2017 Annual Report

2017 Accomplishments Inclusive Communities: Northwest Dharma Association participated in a dialogue with a World Affairs Council delegation of Christians, Jews and Muslims from around the world (May 2017). Contemplative Caregiving: NWDA co-sponsored the Buddhist Recovery Summit for practitioners, teachers and clinicians, to collaborate and share resources and perspectives (October 2017). Dharma Arts & Culture: NWDA’s “Celebrating the Sangha” event at…

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Compassionate Action

Seattle Teacher Bonnie Duran First Native
American to Join Spirit Rock Teachers Council

Bonnie Duran

Bonnie Duran, a Seattle-based dharma teacher and Native American scholar, has joined the Spirit Rock Meditation Center Teachers Council. This makes Duran the first Native American, and the first Northwesterner, to join the council. The council sets policy for Spirit Rock Meditation Center, which is in Marin County north of San Francisco. Covering 412 acres, and serving 60,000 people annually,…

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Dharma Healing, Arts

Vietnamese Dia Tang Temple Celebrates
Lunar New Year with Lights and Lots of Smiles

Women with incense bowing to the Buddha, at Dia Tang Temple's Lunar New Year Celebration

With incense, prayers and blessings, amidst colorful lights, banners and lanterns, people of many cultures ushered in the Vietnamese Lunar New Year at Dia Tang Temple in Lynnwood, Washington. The Feb. 15 event marked about 20 years at this sprawling hillside property north of Seattle.  By 9 p.m. cars were squeezing into the last few empty spaces in the parking…

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Dharma Education

Reflections on a Weekend of Radical Dharma

Reverend Angel Kyoto Williams

Reverend Angel Kyodo Williams, sensei, the second of only four black women recognized as teachers in the Japanese Zen lineage of Buddhism, visited Seattle this December to offer a weekend of radical dharma.  Reverend Williams based her offering on the book “Radical Dharma,” which she co-authored with Lama Rod Owens and Jasmine Syedullah. Co-hosted by 8 Limbs yoga, Rainier Beach…

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Dharma in Canada

New Urban Centre for Dharma Drum Vancouver

Reflecting the honoring of Asian and Western practitioners

In March 2018 the Vancouver Chan Meditation Centre opened in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, dedicated to sharing the dharma with Westerners. The new centre is an offshoot of the existing Dharma Drum Vancouver Centre, which is in a southern suburb of Vancouver and which primarily serves Chinese dharma practitioners. The new facility, at 333-550 Broadway, will host meditation classes as…

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Sangha News

In June Thai Monks from Around the United States
To Convene at Washington State Monastery

Monks conduct a ceremony at Atammayatarama Buddhist Monastery and Meditation Center in Woodinville

In June one of Washington state’s leading Thai Buddhist monasteries will host more than 300 monks from around the United States, the 42nd meeting of The Council of Thai Bhikkhus in the U.S.A. About 200 temples will send monks. The event also will be the 20th anniversary of Atammayatarama Buddhist Monastery and Meditation Center, which is in Woodinville, Washington, a small town north of Seattle. The monks will meet June 21 through June 24. This is an important milestone for Atammayatarama monastery, and for Abbot Ajahn Ritthi. He has been a member of the council for 20 years, and this…

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