The winter and early spring were relatively quiet this year, as we remained closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A major event at the monastery was the celebration of the 50^thanniversary of its founding on November 22^nd. Unfortunately, given we were closed, the monks celebrated with just the community (photo attached). Rev. Master Haryo gave a Dharma talk afterwards ( https://shastaabbey.org/blog/mixed_audio_post/the-merit-of-going-on/), and the kitchen prepared a special cake for the event.

In early December we held our usual Rohatsu retreat, climaxing with a late night Abbess’s Dharma Ceremony on the 7^thand a festival ceremony for Shakyamuni’s enlightenment on the morning of the 8^th. After the retreat, Mike Summers withdrew from the postulancy to explore other training venues—we are grateful for all the help he extended while here—and then Rev. Vivian Gruenenfelder spent a week with us following a stay at our Fugen Forest Hermitage.

Our January closed month was also quiet, the only significant event being the passing of Copernicus (Nic), our eldest cat ,with those remarkable green eyes. He had been the companion animal of Rev. Master Chosei for many years. Nic was about 19 years old and the last of his generation of Abbey cats. On January 14^thRev. Master Oswin performed his funeral, attended by the entire community. Nic will be missed.

Nic’s funeral

Copernicus

On February 4^thRev. Master Ando conducted a memorial via Skype for Veronique Barbareaux, a young French woman in Lyons, France.

During the pandemic we are keeping in touch with our lay sangha primarily through online Zoom talks and retreats. In February we began offering a series of talks on the Buddhist Precepts.

Also in February, three quarters of the monks began receiving their Covid-19 vaccine, and we hope the rest of the community, our younger monks, will be able to receive theirs soon. We continue to follow California state guidelines and recommended safety measures. We are grateful to Beth Gong, Hong Liam Cheng, and Jeanne Yalon-Owens for their ongoing counsel and support during the pandemic.