NWDA News

Thanking All Supporters of the Association

A statue of the Buddha from the Seattle Asian Art Museum’s recently renovated showcase of Buddhist art

We’d like to offer a sincere “Thank you!” to several people who recently generously donated to the Northwest Dharma Association. These kind donations give the association a healthy financial basis to continue contributing to the region’s dharma community. An additional step will be for new people to reach forward to volunteer, to serve on the board, to carry this organization ahead for the next generation of dharma practitioners. Northwest Dharma Association is a grassroots, community-based, volunteer-run organization. When you support NWDA, nothing is wasted. There’s no expensive office, no padded salaries or expense accounts, no money spent on public relations…

Dharma in Canada

Canadian Soto Zen Temple Survives Fire, Floods

The Lions Gate Buddhist Priory Kwan Yin statue, with spot fires still burning on the mountain

Over the last year our small Soto Zen monastic community experienced onslaughts of fire, heat and rain, vividly illustrating the Buddha’s teachings on impermanence and unsatisfactoriness. Lions Gate Buddhist Priory was founded as a center of contemplative practice on 160 acres of forested mountain land, nearly 200 miles northeast of Vancouver, B.C. The three disasters we faced over the last year pushed us to deeply tap the fruits of our practice, in ways we never could have anticipated. First, in June, an unprecedented “heat-dome” sent temperatures to 121 degrees Fahrenheit. This was a record temperature for Canada, the highest temperature…

Compassionate Action

Taiwanese Buddhist Charity Group Tzu Chi
Manifests Compassion to Victims of Fires, COVID

Tzu Chi Seattle volunteers distribute relief supplies to eastern Washington residents of Pine City and Malden, two towns hit by the Babb Road wildfire

Two days before Thanksgiving, Buddhist Tzu Chi Seattle volunteers sorted and loaded food boxes for formerly incarcerated King County people living in transitional housing. Sponsored by an anonymous donor, this was Tzu Chi’s second year of delivering food to Seattle-area people recently out of prison, and at risk for hunger due to the pandemic. Tzu Chi Seattle is just one branch of Tzu Chi Foundation, which operates more than 60 offices in the U.S., and also in 63 countries worldwide. Founded in Taiwan in 1966 by Master Cheng Yen, a Buddhist nun, the name Tzu Chi in Mandarin means “compassion…

Dharma Arts

A Buddhist Peace Pagoda Rises in Washington
To Quell the Threat of Nuclear Weapons

Peace Pagoda builders Denny Moore and Jim Lyman, rejoicing in completion of the second inner cylinder of the rising pagoda

A new incarnation of the Pacific Northwest Peace Pagoda is rising on the shores of Washington state’s Hood Canal, just a few hundred feet from the largest concentration of deployed nuclear weapons in North America. Construction of the pagoda, supported by Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhists monks, has steadily progressed over the past two years. The Pacific Northwest Peace Pagoda is a Buddhist stupa that seeks to unite all sentient beings, regardless of race, creed or nationality, in the universal aspiration for genuine world peace. The Peace Pagoda is inspired by traditional stupa designs, reflecting the original Indian style of a dome-shaped building topped…

Dharma Education

Seattle-based Young Buddhist Editorial
Links Asian-American Buddhists Online

Founding members brainstorm Young Buddhist Editorial at a 2020 meeting at Seattle Betsuin Temple.Photos by: Marissa Wong

Asian-American founders of Young Buddhist Editorial are building the online multimedia platform worldwide, and broadening its mission, just two years after launching it from a Seattle-area temple. Young Buddhist Editorial, usually called YBE, grew out of a young adult minister’s assistant retreat organized by Rev. Katsuya Kusunoki of the Seattle Betsuin Buddhist Temple. This is the city’s oldest Buddhist temple, which for decades has primarily served the Japanese community, although membership has been broadening in recent years. During that winter 2020 retreat we dedicated the weekend to Buddhist practices, learning more about our tradition, and spending time with temple friends….

Sangha News

Southern Washington Zen Temple Expanding

The current barn-temple, with visitors in the foreground

Mt. Adams Buddhist Temple is replacing its 13-year-old temple building with a new one; to offer improved access and support to the people it serves. The new temple is rising in Trout Lake, Washington, at the base of 12,000-foot Mt. Adams, a snow-capped volcano on the southern border of Washington state. The existing temple has served the community well since 2008, when sangha members converted the second floor of a 110-year-old barn into a Buddhist temple. The current structure features floor-to-ceiling murals by local artist Ardis DeFreece, and a dizzying number of statues and artwork, each with a story to…