Ceremonial Incense Supplies

This is where we order the hard-to-find chip incense for the altar: Scents of Earth's Ceremonial Incense Supplies For incense lovers, there are also sets of ceremonial incense supplies.

Remembering 9/11

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Today the news is full of memorials for the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 World Trade Center tragedy. But it is also the anniversary of the Ordinary Mind group moving into our new home at 913 East 38th St.
This is a reminder to me that every catastrophe carries within it the seeds of great joy, and that every great joy also emerges from and is enmeshed with great suffering. I hope that we can, through our practice, develop the capacity to contain all that life presents us, the bitter and the sweet, the joy and the grief. The celebrations and memorials remind us of the three marks of existence the Buddha taught: impermanence, interdependence, and the reality of suffering arising from all formations. When we keep these three truths in mind, we cherish each moment and appreciate each other and our collective struggles to meet on equal ground

Ordinary Mind is the Way

Ordinary Mind is the Way
Originally uploaded by Jiki Syverson.

Ordinary Mind Sangha, September 10, 2006
(some folks were not able to be with us that day)

Back row: Steven, Iain, Laurie, John, Jeanie
Front row: Charissa, Lila, Ronnie, Georgina, Victoria, Kathy, Mario

The calligraphy reads: Everyday Mind is the Way, and is by Nonin Chewaney.

Celebration!

Today we celebrated Jeanie Forsyth's 80th birthday in the garden at Texas French Bread, following Sunday morning zazen. Jeanie has been sitting with Ordinary Mind from its very first days out at Live Oak Unitarian Church. Many times the whole sangha sitting would be just Jeanie and I in those early days. When I am traveling, Jeanie is one of the people who is most faithful in keeping the sangha running smoothly for our Sunday morning program. Her contributions and devotion have held things together, even when I was away for as long as six months, first on leave to stay with Joko in 1998, and then most recently when I was at the monastery for training. I have deep gratitude for her dedication to this practice and her long-term work with Joko as her teacher. So it was a great pleasure to express some of our heartfelt appreciation in our little surprise garden party!