Editor''s Note: *Annual Meeting / Election 1/9/11
Reflect & Correct
Each year in January we, Dharma Center Board Members, leaders and the sangha, come together to review our mission; our strategic plans. It is an opportunity to identify overall aims and interests and the means of achieving them. We reflect on the accomplishments and perhaps the missed opportunities of the past year and determine the direction of the Dharma Center for the next year.
In addition, when it is time for a board member to roll-off the Board of Directors, new members are elected to serve. Any member can serve on the board if elected and any member can attend monthly meetings. Members are nominated by the Board, by other members or can just choose to run; this year Mike Moffeit and David Freeman have been nominated. It is not too late to run If you are compelled to serve.
The Board of the Dharma Center is small and informal. Their basic function is managing finances but also includes program development, organizing fund raising, establishing committees when needed and generally promoting the Dharma Center and her mission:
"Our purpose is to provide a place of meditation and spiritual growth through the study and practice of Buddhist principles. We seek to support each other and our community in the development of awareness, compassion and peace."
Our Board is made up of nine local individuals who are voting members; each serves 3 years in a capacity that suits his/her skill set. They are required to attend 1 Board Meeting each month and act to oversee the Dharma Center Budget and allocation of donations. In addition, two non-voting members appointed by Rissho Kosei Kai attend: Kris Ladusau, as Reverend, and Kim Miller, as General Manager.
Curtis Blair has been president elect with Rev Yasuko Hildebrand serving her last year as President.
Liz Peterson: Treasurer.
Mike Devrey: Secretary.
Dave Rose: Web Master, Education.
Joan Ewer: Sales
Jeaneil Jordan
Ira Bryant
Kris Ladusau, as Reverend will continue to attend but roll off as a voting member of the Board this year.
Organizations must continuously grow, change and adapt to remain healthy and successfully meet the changing needs of their membership. We need your help in making this a reality for the Dharma Centers future. Please attend and make your voice heard.
And, finally, at meetings end WE EAT PIZZA!
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At the beginning of Ch 12 in the Lotus Sutra it tells about Devadatta. This story concerns a past life of Shakyamuni. At that time, he was a king and his search for the absolute Truth was described as follows:
“…during many kalpas I was a king and I vowed to seek the supreme Awakening, my mind never faltering. Wanting to fulfill the Six Paramitas, I earnestly gave alms with an unsparing mind.”
Co-founder Naganuma Sensei often quoted this passage in her guidance and referred to is as “diligently practicing donation”.
In speaking about what is important for the practitioners of the Lotus Sutra, she claimed that there is no practice as sacred as
that of donation.
If we were to apply this to our daily practice, we would see it in donation of money, time, service and heart. Human beings, who so often focus on self preservation, may find difficulty in practicing all these kinds of donations - especially when it comes to the donation of money - when we have the tendency to cling to it.
Yet as Buddhists, we vow to practice these 6 paramitas as a part of our daily spiritual path. Those who have been raised in the Buddhist tradition and have seen their parents practice donation on a regular basis through the years, naturally acquire this practice as a part of their life. Some faith traditions teach practitioners to donate 10% of their annual income. In Rissho Kosei-kai, we don’t do that.
Each time you come to the Center, it is an opportunity to express your generosity. If you are not able to come to the Center very often, you can always make donation through the mail. This also establishes an “energy” connection between you and the Dharma Center. The amount is not as important as the simple act. For it is in the act of giving that we develop a generous heart and mind. With this practice, we also lose our “attachment” to money, which in the past may have caused us much fear and anxiety.
Traditionally, we use these times for donation:
> The 1st of each month – to begin the month with awareness and a generous attitude.
> Memorial Days for Buddha, Founder, Co-founder - to express our deep gratitude for the Buddhist teachings that they shared with us.
> Memorial Days for all our family and friends who have passed.
> Anytime we visit the Center for classes, lectures and programs.
There may be those who have experienced tremendous changes in their lives as a result of their practice of the Dharma. It is very easy for them to express their deep gratitude through donation.
As we follow our spiritual Path, we are able to free ourselves from the level of calculating self-interest, and our world expands to include many other people and worthwhile projects for the greater good. In other words, “having things” is not as important as “being a part of things.” This is the reason that donation is such an important practice in Buddhism.
Let’s start this New Year with full awareness and genuine effort to practice the 6 perfections – being bodhisattvas in the truest sense.
We can live the Dharma together and create a wonderful world.
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