Message from Sylvia Boorstein about the Sangha of Thousands of Buddhas

 
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
P.O. Box 169, Woodacre CA 94973
www.spiritrock.org

Dharma Teachings

Appreciation!

On March 3 we celebrated all of the people who have supported Spirit Rock in a significant way in the last few years with what we called a Dharma Jamboree. It was a beautiful beginning of spring day at Spirit Rock. Almost three hundred people filled the Community Hall for the afternoon for a program of “TED” style teachings from six different teachers. Larry Yang started with a meditation connecting us to ancestors back through time, and Anushka Fernandopulle presented a slide show of Buddhist cosmology. Jack led a meditation connecting each of us to our own wisdom, and Richard Shankman roused everyone’s zeal for practice by presenting the questions one could (ought to) ask oneself to keep practice alive. Then Wes Nisker and I presented what we thought of as a Metta/Gratitude “duet”, taking turns teaching by presenting what we had to offer as a conversation between us. The entire afternoon was great. People loved it. People who had come to sign up for the Sangha Of Thousands of Buddhas joined. I reminded people, as I thanked them for fulfilling their initial pledge that they could pledge again, this time signing the scroll in the name of someone they wanted to honor. I’m always pleased to remind people that it looks as if Chogyam Trungpa Rimpoche has signed the school twice, while in fact two separate people, unknown to each other, have joined in his name to honor him. I also know that one of the names signed on the school is the name of a six month old baby who grandfather joined in honor of his birth.

The Sangha of Thousands of Buddhas has almost 1,000 members! That is wonderful! Our goal is 2,000, but I think the second thousand will be easier. People who found that they loved discovering every month that they had contributed (electronically) and that their generosity was causing the plans for building to move forward will help, I am sure, by encouraging others to join or re-pledging themselves. We ARE beginning to feel like a real community.

We have between 970 and 980 Buddhas enrolled in the program. I thought of making a sort of BINGO prize for the one thousandth joiner, but decided in the end that whoever that person is, her (or his) gift will be equally significant as the first gift was and the last gift will be.

Thank you for your support!

Warmly,

Sylvia

PS:  If you have not already joined the Sangha of Thousands of Buddhas, please consider joining us today by supporting this community-wide effort. You can donate online by clicking this link. Thank you!  -  Sylvia

It Takes a Community

If you are reading this page for the first time, please read my original invitation letter about the Sangha of Thousands of Buddhas community-wide campaign.

If you are familiar with the Sangha of Thousands of Buddhas initiative to raise the money to build the new Community Meditation Hall, I am delighted to tell you that the number of members has now exceeded seven hundred, and we have now raised $1 million! We’ve been increasing steadily since this initiative was announced last summer. I’m hoping this wonderful community will continue to support this community-wide effort, and help us raise the next $million.

You can see the plans for the entire renovation of the lower campus and also see drawings of it on the walls of the entry foyer of the current Community Hall. I am most excited about the new Community Hall building which, in addition to a large and beautiful meditation hall, will also have rooms for smaller classes to meet and rooms for teachers to meet individually with students for practice discussions.  In the twenty plus years since the temporary buildings that make up the lower campus were installed, we have increased the number of classes we offer to the point where we haven’t room for all we would like to do. And, the facilities themselves were only meant to be temporary and definitely need to be replaced.

I am imagining each of the people who have given their gift of $1000 to this project coming to Spirit Rock in 2014 and thinking, “I, along with three thousand equal partners, built this building.” This includes those people who live at a great distance, people who support Spirit Rock because they enjoy the teachings they access on line or through dharmaseed.org, or simply because they feel it is important for Spirit Rock to be able to continue to spread teachings of compassion and peace in the world. We will all be able to know, “I am one of the people who shared in building this wonderful center.”

Thank you for your support.

Warmly,

Sylvia

A New Community Meditation Hall
to Support Our Sangha

Located in a serene open grassland hillside setting, with an outdoor terrace and arrival space, the new Community Meditation Hall will create an environment conducive to practice and will form a respectful setting for the precious teachings we offer.

If you’ve attended classes in the Community Hall or volunteered in our administrative offices, you’ll know that the conditions here are not sustainable: dilapidated trailers, challenging lay-out, difficult logistics. This next building phase will be the second of four phases that will complete the approved 1988 build-out of the Spirit Rock campus. Designed by local notable green architectural firm Hart Howerton, our permanent new buildings with green design functions will improve all aspects of Spirit Rock’s programs and operations. To learn more about our master plan vision, click here.