[UD News] Weekly Happenings
"This storm is you."“Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn't something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside of you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn't get in, and walk through it, step by step. There's no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverized bones. That's the kind of sandstorm you need to imagine.
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And once the storm is over you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about.”
– “Kafka on the Shore,” by Murakami Haruki.
Progress at the Drikung Forest HermitageDr. Lye (now back in town from his recent travels) and volunteers from Urban Dharma recently visited the site of the Drikung Forest Monastery in Green Mountain to check on the progress of the newly erected Dharma Hall. Check out more photos on the Drikung Kagyu Foundation's post here! Development at the site is proceeding nicely thanks to generous donors, the supervision of project manager Bill L., and the much-appreciated work of many helpful volunteers! Stay tuned for updates and opportunities to help out with this project. Upcoming: Freedom from FearsStatistically speaking, we are living at a time where violent crime rates are down, life expectancy is higher than we have ever seen, and technology has made life more secure and less difficult. Yet, fear and anxiety seem to drive many of the decisions we make whether as individuals or as national, ethnic, class, or religious collectives. Why is this so? Is there an alternative? Dr. Lye invites you to a special retreat on Lady Tārā—a buddha who vowed to always appear in a female form to protect beings from any and all fears. Dr. Lye will help us consider this paradox of fear and offer traditional vajrayāna resources on working with fear through the principle and practice of Tārā. You are encouraged to attend both days but can choose to attend only one.The only commitment to taking the empowerment is a desire to benefit self and other. Program will be in English. Register here!
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Notice:
Please note that we will not be holding Sunday Smoke Cleansing on 2/23 or 3/2 due to the temple hosting other programs currently scheduled for those days. We will send additional reminders of this on the respective weeks.
Urban Dharma
Words for the Year of the Snake February 28th marked the beginning of the Female Wood Snake Year in the Tibetan calendar. Our spiritual director Dr. Hun Lye shared some words about the significance of this day in the Tibetan Buddhist context, and encouraged the following: ...Trust in each other, trust in basic goodness have eroded so much that even teachers who are supposed to inspire bodhicitta and divine pride in all of us are sowing more seeds of confusion and divisions, wedging Mount...
"What Steadies the Heart" We won't become free of attachments by "getting rid" of them—only through clear seeing will we naturally lay them aside. Watch this drop of dharma here! This Weekend: Freedom From Fears Just a reminder that there are still in-person and online tickets available for this upcoming weekend’s “Freedom From Fears: Principles & Practices of Lady Tara” retreat with Dorjé Lopön Dr. Lye. Dr. Lye invites you to a special retreat on Lady Tārā—a buddha who vowed to always appear...
"Start with you right now..." One drop of dharma from the ongoing series “The Foundational Teachings are Truly Profound” that Dr. Lye has been giving at Urban Dharma recently. For more details about that series (and to access the full recordings, available upon registration), click here. Dr. Lye's Travels Our Founder and Spiritual Director Dr. Lye is wrapping up his time teaching in Cusco, where he also serves as Spiritual Director to the Budismo Drikung Kagyu Cusco community. Over the last...