Summer 2023 News
Revs. Oswin and Kodo offered Dharma talks and discussions via Zoom and in person as part of a retreat on The Scripture of the Buddha’s Last Teaching in early March. The event was well-received. We were joined for part of the retreat by 20 nuns and 10 lay people from Duc Vien Temple in San Jose. They brought abundant offerings, including enough food for three meals, which they prepared for the community and lay guests. For many of them it was the first time they had seen snow. Their visit included a gathering around Rev. Master Jiyu’s stupa.
Early in April we also enjoyed a short visit by Rev. Quang Tue, a novice monk currently living in Vietnam who joined the Order last fall as part of the Shasta Abbey community. We hope to see him again in the fall.
We had an unusually cold and snowy winter and spring, at times over five feet of snow, including a heavy snowfall in late March. We are looking forward to warmer weather.
On April 28 we said farewell or “until later” to Rev. Kalden Wangmo (formerly Rev. Berenice) who departed for India and other destinations in Asia. She has been of immeasurable help caring for Rev. Master Jisho and filling other vacancies around the monastery. We will miss her bright spirit.
Rev Master Jisho, the longest ordained monk in our Order and the Shasta community died on May 3 after a long illness. He had been in a nearby care home since the first of the year, receiving visits from monks and lay congregation most days. Because of the danger of contagion in the care home, we had a ‘viewing of the body’ with his portrait. Then on May 11 he was cremated in Yreka. Most of the community and over a half a dozen lay trainees, including many of his local lay disciples, participated, which included a robust chanting of The Scripture of Great Wisdom and the Adoration of the Buddha’s Relics. Rev. Master Jisho will be much missed in the community.
In May we had our annual Ten Precepts Retreat (Jukai). Nine lay trainees received the Precepts for the first time: Megan Ann Conn, Marin Djendjinovic, Maria Domenech Florit, Thomas David Gibson, Louthea Lazay Griffin, Russ Patrick Honea, Gregory James, Arnold Lade, Monica Eden Payne, and Joseph Raymond Zaragosa.