incorporating 350 Event and environmental awareness into our religious activities

[M. Cathy Martin]

It would be great if we embraced the 350 Event on October 24th in a
big way including a series of activities leading up to that day. In
particular, I would like to suggest that we incorporate environmental
awareness into our regular activities particularly our religious
activities.

For example, we could dedicate one of the upcoming Medicine Buddha
Ceremonies (8/16/09 or 9/14/09) to the healing of the earth's
atmosphere. On the October 18th Guan Yin Blessing Ceremony we could
seek compassion for the earth's atmosphere and all living beings
dependent on it. During a few half day meditation retreats prior to
the event we could incorporate a talk by a Shifu on how and why taking
care of the environment is an important part of the Buddhist practice
or how to practice mindfulness on the impact we each have on the
atmosphere every minute we live. We could promote these events,
especially the half day meditation retreats, to bring new people into
the Zen Center.

Michael’s idea of inviting guests and community to toll the monastery
bell 350 times fits well into this concept and gives us another way to
bring new people into the Zen Center.

Cathy

[Jianhu Shi]

Yes, on those services I will give lectures specifically on the theme of mindfulness and our health and the health of our environment.