Council Meeting – 5/5/20
The Portland Shambhala Center Council met on Tuesday, May 5. The general themes of the meeting were our current financial situation, potential future scenarios, and the first steps we need to do to move forward. We are currently paying rent for a space we can not use. To add more to the overall picture we … Continue
What outreach feels like
When I heard that the outreach team was meeting, I asked them if it would be OK to interview them about their experience. They had divided up a list of community members and tried to call them a couple of times since the beginning of the COVID-19 quarantine. Their experience varied widely: some people couldn’t … Continue
I Ching Summary for Portland Shambhala Center 2020
Every year on Shambhala Day, it is traditional to throw the I Ching, the classical Chinese system of interpreting questions or current situations by tossing, in our case, three coins. Each toss of three coins can result in a broken line, representing the yielding or the energy of earth; or a solid line, representing the … Continue
Council Meeting on March 25
The Council and Council members are subject to the “new normal”, so on March 25, the council met on Zoom. I was not able to attend so I watched a recording. Practice & Education virtual offerings and organizing Community Care were the main topics that were discussed. How can we maintain our practice and study … Continue
Portland Shambhala Closed Through March 31
“The current state of world affairs is a source of concern to all of us: the threat of nuclear war, widespread poverty and economic instability, social and political chaos, and psychological upheavals of many kinds. The world is in absolute turmoil. The Shambhala teachings are founded on the premise that there is basic human wisdom … Continue
Council Discussions On March 3rd Meeting
Have you ever wondered what is discussed during our monthly two hour council meetings? I volunteered to be the Council Secretary so I could help facilitate communications between our community to our council and vice versa. At my first council on 3/3/20, I realized there could be challenges to good communications. For example, how can … Continue
Shambhala Day – Year of the Iron Mouse
Shambhala Day this year was warm and remarkably pacified. Of course we began with a traditional Lhasang. In addition to sitting practice and the international broadcast, we held a fund-raising conversation, and had two people step down from the Governing Council: Bettina Hetz stepped down from her role as the Culture and Decorum representative after … Continue
Relocation Team Report 2/24/2020: Search Guidelines
Your Portland Shambhala Meditation Center’s Relocation Team continues to search for potential properties to lease. It appears certain that the Center will need to move to a less expensive, likely smaller location within the next year. Several Sangha members have shared prospective properties with us, and the team invites everyone to “keep eyes open” for … Continue
Experiments in reconciliation
Here’s a conversation with Mark Douglass about what reconciliation is. It’s for folks, it takes practice and happens in conversation. It’s not something that someone else does for you or to you. And it has actually happened in Portlalnd. Although there is far to go.
Let’s talk about reconciliation
Dear Portland Sangha, Can we talk? I have had several fruitful conversations with various members in the past 10 days. It’s difficult to talk about sexual misconduct and the Sakyong, but I am heartened at the depth of listening and communication from the heart that I have experienced in just a handful of individual meetings. … Continue
