Queer Dharma Approaches First Weekend Retreat – Reflections by Co-Coordinator Jason Bray
As co-coordinator of the Portland Shambhala Center’s Queer Dharma group, I’m reflecting on the beginning and intention of the the program as our first weekend retreat, led by Craig Smith, fast approaches. Our Queer Dharma group is for LGBTQ people to study and practice meditation and Dharma and to discuss personal experiences. The group serves … Continue
July Council Meeting Summary and Meeting Notes
The PSMC Governing Council met on Thursday, July 10th, 2014- the meeting notes, where you can find more details about what was discussed at our meeting, are accessible here: July 10th Council Meeting Notes Here is a short summary of the meeting: Doug McCanne, who leads our long running Prison Dharma program, came to talk to … Continue
Integrative Arts Festival: Explore Deep Ecology: July 7 – July 12!
“In this time [when all beings are in danger] the kingdom of Shambhala will emerge. The Shambhala Warrior has two weapons: compassion and insight into the deep interconnectedness of all things. The smallest act with clear intention has repercussions throughout the whole web, beyond your capacity to see . . . We need to show … Continue
How to keep on helping
Last Sunday, on the drive back to Portland from Eugene, where we were teaching a Shambhala class on the basic goodness of society subtitled “How Can I Help?”, Doug McCanne and I discussed a project he’s been involved with for the past two years that seeks to teach mindfulness practices to prison correctional staff around Oregon. I … Continue
Reflections on the Ziji Collective Global Leadership Summit
It’s been almost two months since I got back from a week of programs in the Bay Area. One of the programs I attended some of you all were at, the Being Brave weekend with the Sakyong and Ani Pema. But prior to that, I attended another three day program with a few fellow young … Continue
An Update from Gampo Abbey and Request to help Ruth Hampton return to Portland
Ruth Hampton writes us from Gampo Abbey: Hello Portland Shambhalians! What an amazing year plus this has been at Gampo Abbey! Finally it is beginning to warm up, and our garden is growing. It’s a long winter here in Nova Scotia…snow in May! The practice and environment here lends itself to a certain level of … Continue
Learning to accept people’s care for me has been both a hard and a good thing
Already I can’t do as much as I want, or at least I should not. Usually this is about driving, though it can also be about changing light hard-to-reach light bulbs or staying out too late. When I do something I shouldn’t anyway, generally out of some sort of anger, I usually regret it, though … Continue
Welcome to our new Bookkeeper: Maralena Murphy!
The Bookkeeper Hiring Team—Lisa Stanley, Alice Price, and Abbey Pleviak – interviewed three bright candidates and, with Governing Council approval, have offered the position to Maralena Murphy. Maralena has a degree in Cultural Anthropology from Reed College and over ten years of accounting experience. Her first nonprofit accounting began with City Repair Project, a volunteer-run … Continue
Hi you have Parkinson’s Disease!
The first thing I notice is how strange it all feels. I would say, calmly, “I need to plan for becoming more disabled over time.” But I didn’t know much about what that was going to mean. Remember when you used to be able to play the guitar pretty well? Time went by, you quit … Continue
Introducing occasional contributions by Dale Bennett
Dale Bennett is a Shambhala member who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2010. I asked him to contribute some occasional thoughts about his feelings and experience, in the belief that building an enlightened society requires us to talk about the hard parts of life as well as the easy parts, and the parts where … Continue
