Big changes at Northwest Dharma Association

As we are taught in the dharma, and as time and technology have proven out, all things are indeed impermanent.  In today’s interconnected world, our work at the Northwest Dharma Association depends far more on human resources and financial support from our membership, than it does on a fixed office space. As more and more of our work is conducted on the internet, it becomes more and more apparent that the Northwest Dharma Association is a regional organization that really has no physical center, but is centered in the lives of our community members and member organizations. So in light…

A Year of Living Peacefully: Ajahn Sona’s Upcoming Solitary Retreat

After almost 25 years of monastic life, Ajahn Sona, abbot of Birken Forest Monastery (Sitavana) in British Columbia, Canada, will be taking a step back from his duties to devote a full year to solitary retreat at the monastery.

He is to start his retreat in April, 2013, and end the following April. Venerable Sona will conduct his retreat in his small cabin, called a “kuti” in Theravada tradition.

During his retreat he will maintain silence, forsake contact with the outside world, and use no electronic gadgets.

The following interview was conducted by one of Birken’s resident stewards. The monastery is in the Thai western forest tradition, and is located in the secluded forests of British Columbia’s interior.

Interviewer: Ajahn…

Kobai Scott Whitney Ordained as Novice Monk

Kobai Scott Whitney, well known in the region for his work in prisons, has opened a new chapter in his life by ordaining as a novice monk in the Linchi (Rinzai) line of Vietnamese Zen Buddhism.

Due to his extensive life experience as a Buddhist practitioner and teacher, Whitney will spend only a year as a novice before being ordained a full monk.

As a monk Whitney has committed to a celibate lifestyle as a monk in the Vietnamese Thien tradition, and is now considered a teacher at Mount Adams Zen Center, as well as for the Plum Mountain Buddhist Community.

The ordination ceremony was performed on Oct. 15 at Chua Lien Hoa, a Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Olympia, Wash…

Teaching Buddhism, Psychology, the Absolute

This fall, for the fourth time, I taught a course on Buddhism and Western psychology – a topic that’s been at the heart of my intellectual life since I was old enough to have an intellectual life.

I taught the course under the auspices of the Experimental College, run by the Associated Students of the University of Washington, in Seattle. The course title is “Buddhist Insight Meditation and the Psych of Spiritual Development.” (I had to shorten psychology to psych, to fit the title into the catalogue’s computer template.)

After retiring from a career as a university professor in psychology, and after a lifelong interest in spiritual development, I missed teaching.

So when I discovered the opportunity to teach a…

Building Chenrezig Hall for Sravasti Abbey

Sravasti Abbey in Eastern Washington is now building its largest structure yet: Chenrezig Hall.

Named for the Buddha of Compassion, Chenrezig Hall, when finished in a year, will provide an array of facilities for growing numbers of guests.

At 9,882 square feet, the building will provide a kitchen and food storage facilities, a large dining room, a guest library, and guest sleeping rooms. It also will include a small chapel, and rooms for meetings, classes, and spiritual counseling.

“We want this building to radiate compassion,” said Tibetan Buddhist Nun Venerable Thubten Chodron, who founded Sravasti Abbey in 2003. “It will be the hub of activity when it’s completed, and the first stop for guests when they arrive at the abbey…