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Portland Buddhist Priory

Practicing Soto Zen In Portland with the OBC


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Transfer Of Merit

Portland Buddhist Priory Posted on May 12, 2020 by LeonMay 12, 2020

(Follow this link to see the April 2020 Priory Newsletter where this was originally published.)

We got around to planting some natives (a currant with pink flowers and a still sleepy service berry to the right) offered to the temple late last year.

Before I dive into the matter of transferring merit, I have a confession to make: I don’t seem to be able to escape the feeling, sense, or experience that there is a Greater Thing that embraces and permeates all of existence and non-existence. This Greater Thing even embraces my minuscule little self and yours.

I really do not have any accurate idea what this thing is and I don’t have any proof, in a scientific or logical sense, that it is there. But, it is there.

I can say that my sense of it is not belief (like believing in a set of doctrines or ideas) and it is not knowledge (in the usual sense of knowing a fact or a concept); it has more to do with a bone deep experience. Maybe it is another kind of knowing? I am a lot less bothered these days by not having any idea what this Thing is and I recognize that it seems to be beyond and contain the idea making process. Paradoxically, we come to “know” Continue reading →

Temporary Temple Closure

Portland Buddhist Priory Posted on March 17, 2020 by LeonMay 12, 2020

“The light of Buddha is increasing in brilliance and the wheel of the Dharma is always turning. This temple building and this ground are guarding the Dharma and the trainees and all meditations and contemplations are full of treasure and wisdom.”
(From the ceremony for closing the meditation hall at the end of a retreat, a monastic week, or a training term.)

The Crocuses Have Bloomed

Dear Friends,

To protect the health of our Sangha and to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Portland Buddhist Priory is closed through March 31. The Priory will be closed today, March 17 through Tuesday, March 31.  Over these next two weeks, we will evaluate whether to reopen at the beginning of April, or to extend this closure.

The temple residents are well and will continue to follow our regular schedule of meditation and practice and I invite you to take this time to develop and deepen your own individual practice by sitting with us in spirit, at your home sitting place. In addition Continue reading →

How Can I Train Now

Portland Buddhist Priory Posted on February 6, 2020 by LeonMay 12, 2020

(Follow this link to see the February 2019 Priory Newsletter where this was originally published.)

The crocuses we planted in the fall haven’t bloomed yet

It is a pretty human thing to get distracted by what is down the road: won’t everything be better when I get that new … house, bike, partner, tool? What will happen when I die? Since I am a mess today, will I be able to to realize enlightenment? What will enlightenment be like? And on and on. It is not so much a problem that we are able to foresee events and needs in the future, and to take thoughtful action to deal with them, but it can be a problem when we spend time worrying and obsessing about things in the future to the exclusion of doing what is needful right now. Continue reading →

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Building A Meditation Hall

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Recent Posts

  • How to Meditate: Part VII December 2, 2020
  • The Sangha We Have October 15, 2020
  • A Soft and Flexible Mind August 29, 2020

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