NW Dharma News

Looking Back Over a Decade of Dharma Service
Looking Ahead to New Leadership and Vision

The Northwest Dharma News began in the 1980s as a packet of flyers announcing upcoming retreats at Cloud Mountain Retreat Center. Since then it has developed into a journal covering the evolution and growth of Buddhist teachings and community across the Pacific Northwest. The News has been created by a succession of editors, currently under the editorship of Steve Wilhelm, a retired journalist and active Dharma teacher. We thought it would be interesting and enlightening to look back over the past decade of Northwest Dharma News. Here are 15 of the most-read articles from the past decade, hinting at the…

A Decade of Inspired Dharma Activity
Shared for you by Northwest Dharma News

With this issue we’re offering something unique: year-by-highlights of the past decade of Northwest Dharma News, chosen by you, the readers. This is a splendid opportunity to see how the Northwest Dharma Association community has evolved in the last decade, responding to peoples’ changing needs, to new technologies, and to the internal power of the dharma itself. Using Google algorithms we were able to pick out most-popular stories for each of the past 11 years. Here we’re offering at least one story from each of those years. We settled on 11 years because this corresponds to the time since we…

Teens Explore Meditation and Mindfulness at Cloud Mountain Retreat

“How many of you think teenagers can meditate?” asks Joe Klein, director of Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme), on the first evening of the Pacific Northwest Teen Meditation Retreat this August.

All hands in the room go up.

“How many of you are ready to be challenged?”

Nearly all hands go up again. Although many of the teens have some doubt about their capacity to meditate, Klein is confident and reassuring. He tells them about the many retreats he’s led across the country, in which teens have committed themselves to this retreat format and found it to be a very positive experience, even if difficult at times.

Earlier in the day the 16 teenagers surrendered their phones, said goodbye to…

Bhod Khang, a New Home of Portland’s Northwest Tibetan Cultural Association

Recently, our small community of Tibetans in Oregon and Southwest Washington opened the doors to a new spiritual and cultural home. Our new community center is called “Bhod Khang,” or Tibet House. Northwest Tibetan Cultural Association (NWTCA) is a nonprofit organization whose aim is to preserve traditional Tibetan culture, and share it with our greater Portland community.  We feel immense gratitude, and the blessings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, as we continue do our best to serve our community and anyone in the Pacific Northwest region who has an interest in the dharma. The new building’s approximately 17,000 square…

Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche:
A Decade of Teaching With Seattle as Home

Ten years ago Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche made Seattle the home of his dharma activities around the world, and created what has become Nalanda West. Born in India, Rinpoche studied with some of the great teachers in the Nyingma/Kagu lineage, including Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and his current teacher, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. In the last decade Nalandabodhi has grown into a substantial dharma center with a wide range of teachings and activities. The center also has been very supportive of other Buddhist and sometimes non-Buddhist traditions, and serves as a locale for many teachings and events. In honor of Nalanda’s 10th…

Blue Heron’s Anita Feng, after Transmission,
Becomes One of Few Female Zen Masters

On a warm June evening fresh with summer, a crowd gathered at Blue Heron Zen Community in north Seattle to see Anita Feng receive transmission from her teacher Zen Master Ji Bong (Robert Moore). Feng ‘s teaching title and name is now Zen Master Jeong Ji. The transmission ceremony publicly conferred the title of Zen master on Jeong Ji, and established her as Ji Bong’s dharma heir. As Zen master, Jeong Ji is now the guiding teacher of the Seattle-area Blue Heron Zen Community, which is affiliated with the Golden Wind Zen Order, based in southern California. Blue Heron and…

A Great Leader Passes on in Seattle,
H.H. Jigdal Dagchen, Sakya Monastery Founder

His Holiness Jigdal Dagchen Sakya, the founder and for decades leader of Sakya Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism in Seattle, has passed into Paranirvana. Known more formally as His Holiness Vajra Dhara Kyabgön Dagchen Rinpoche Ngawang Kunga Sönam of the Phuntsok Phodrang, he died on April 29th, 2016. He was 87. His Holiness was considered a major leader within the world of Tibetan Buddhism. He headed one of the two families that led the Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism over generations. The Sakyas are one of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. His Holiness Dagchen Rinpoche was weak for some months,…

Buddhists Needed by EvergreenHealth Hospice
To Help Seattle-area People Move into Death

As the population of Western Washington becomes more diverse, EvergreenHealth Hospice Care is seeking Buddhist volunteers to support people in the last stages of their lives. Already about 250 people volunteer to support people as they near death, with the program supporting more than 3,000 patients in 2016, said Volunteer Coordinator Criss East. Currently only enough volunteers are available to fill half the requests. “It is important for us to expand our volunteer program to include Buddhists as well as volunteers from other religious backgrounds,” East said. “The population we serve is comprised of many cultures. When we serve immigrants,…

After 25 Years Teaching Meditation in Seattle
Rodney Smith Moves on to a New Phase of Life

On a Sunday in early January members of Seattle Insight Meditation Society honored Rodney Smith, the organization’s founder and guiding teacher, as he retired from his regular teaching role. The Jan. 8 event, held at the Seattle Insight Meditation Society center in an industrial zone south of downtown, brought together hundreds of regional Sangha members, past and present. These were just a few of the thousands of people around the country—and the world—whose lives Smith had touched over his 30-year teaching career. The event was not just a celebration of Smith or his career; it was a reunion of friends,…

Three NW African-American Buddhist Teachers
Share Their Perspectives (On the Way Things Are)

It is with the utmost delight that I present small snippets of conversations I had with three African-American Buddhist teachers in the Pacific Northwest.  These started out as interviews and evolved into heartfelt exchanges on topics near and dear to my heart.  I am convinced that Buddhism has much to offer us Americans of African descent.  Some of our particular…

Retreat Center Offers Canadian Mountain Solitude

Less than a year after opening in the snowy Canadian Rockies, the Mahasiddha Retreat Centre is planning more retreats for 2020. Mahasiddha is the first rural retreat center to be operated by Seattle-based Nalandabodhi. That organization, under the direction of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, offers traditional Tibetan Buddhist teachings tailored for contemporary practitioners. Mahasiddha Retreat Centre complements Nalandabodhi’s normal focus on daily practice, study and mindful activity. Since its opening last spring Mahasiddha Retreat Centre has supported several group retreats. We’ve also welcomed retreatants who found there the space and tranquility for individual practice of several days or weeks. We look…

Portland Zen Leader Receives Full Transmission

This fall longtime Zen teacher Genjo Marinello Roshi gave the heart-mind-to-heart-mind Dharma transmission to his student, Rinzan Pechovnik Osho. This Oct. 5 transmission, known in Japanese as inka, empowers Osho to carry and transmit the Rinzai Zen tradition to future generations. Rinzan Pechovnik Osho founded No-Rank Zen Temple in Portland in 2013. He began leading sesshins there after he was made an osho, full priest, in 2016. This inka ceremony is the final step in his empowerment. Genjo Marinello serves as abbot of Dai Bai Zan Cho Bo Zen Ji in Seattle. The ceremony was completed at Portland Dhamma Center,…

Ten NW Buddhist Climate Action Leaders’ Paths

Northwest Buddhists are responding creatively to the climate crisis in many ways, including art, activism, lifestyle choices and Dharma practice. The climate crisis is huge and complex, requiring systemic and individual changes to move toward solutions. Buddhist ethics and vows impel us to strive to protect life and alleviate suffering, by doing everything we can to reverse the destruction of the planet from climate heating and environmental destruction. Regional Buddhists are taking steps including going vegan, creating food security through gardening, participating in climate rallies, filmmaking, blogging, lobbying policymakers, and supporting indigenous cultural revitalization. We heard from 10 Northwest climate…

Seattle Woman and Seattle University Professor
Leads Global Buddhist Women’s Group Sakyadhita

Seattle Buddhist leader Dr. Sharon Suh this year was chosen president of Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women, considered by many the most important organization for Buddhist women in the world. Suh, a professor who for 21 years has taught Buddhism and related subjects at Seattle University, will now also be leading Sakyadhita into the online dharma world. Sakyadhita translates as “daughters of the Buddha,” based on Pali and Sanskrit languages. Currently Suh is leading planning for Sakydhita’s 2021 global conference, which will be the first to be held online. The title of the December 24-28 conference is “Buddhist Women…

Creating Clear Mountain Theravada Monastery
To Serve Sangha in the Greater Seattle Area

This summer some leaders in the Seattle Buddhist community are taking first steps to create a Thai forest monastery not far from downtown Seattle. While monasteries springing from the Ajahn Chah lineage exist near Portland, and in British Columbia and northern California, Clear Mountain Monastery will be the first near Seattle, though it will remain independent of the official lineage. As monastic founder of Clear Mountain Monastery I have started by taking up residence in a small hut just outside Seattle,. You can find its location on Clear Mountain’s website. Each morning I walk for alms to the nearby town…

Northwest Vipassana Center Preparing to
Offer Long-Term Practice With Individual Cells

Work has resumed at Northwest Vipassana Center on an assemblage of small meditation cells, all housed in a three-story pagoda, which will greatly expand future opportunities for deep meditation. Volunteers and contractors are again working on the $4.5 million project in Onalaska, Washington. Construction was halted in early 2020, with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile regular 10-day meditation courses, taught by S.N. Goenka through recorded teachings and presented by assistant teachers, also have been gradually resuming on-site since mid-2021. Leaders plan to increase on-site capacity further in 2022, as public health conditions allow. The pagoda project will transform…

B.C. Vihara Opening to Fulfill 20-Year Vision

This fall a substantial redevelopment of the Po Lam Meditation Vihara, a meditation center for monastics and laypeople in Chilliwack, British Columbia, is to open. The project vision has been cultivated over 20 years by Abbot Venerable Yin Kit Sik, the Po Lam sangha, and by devoted regional layperson Kwok (KS) Tse.  The Po Lam Buddhist Association project has been supported by donors from around the world. Over these many long years, the Po Lam monastics have worked tirelessly to create a new vihara facility as a place for monastics and laypeople to cultivate happy mind, according to the ancient…