The workshop is up and ready for use, and so is the new UTV!
The finished workshop and new UTV
The much-needed new workshop is now complete, sitting snugly next to the storage "turtle". The structure is ready just in time to house the new UTV (Utility Terrain/Task Vehicle) and will also hold lumber, tools, a workbench, and other materials. The new UTV is important for carrying construction materials and passengers up the steep hill to kuti sites. Thanks to all the many donors, volunteers and workers who made these possible! The workshop and UTV will be essential to the Hermitage development in the coming years.
Kuti #2 is Almost Finished
Ayya Santussika sits on the front step of the second kuti.
The second kuti is nearly finished, only needing caulk, paint, and curtains. It's located up the hill from the main house in a beautiful clearing by a creek bed. This kuti is wired for electricity, ready for potential solar. The new UTV has already come in handy hauling materials to the site.
Where Do You Put a 400 Pound Buddha Statue???
Ayya Cittananda builds the shrine pedestal.
The garden below the main house will soon have a new shrine, with an exquisite volcanic stone Buddha rupa that has been generously donated by a devoted couple from the East Bay. Ayya Cittananda and others have been constructing a large pedestal with cottage stones, hopefully with a mosaic top as a finish. The plan is to plant KBV's Bodhi tree, hang the beautiful new monastery bell nearby with a path around for circumambulation, and create a sitting area for ceremonies. We're looking forward to completing this sacred outdoor space in time for the Kathina Celebration.
Kathina Committee Volunteers Needed
This year’s Kathina will take place on Saturday October 29. We are planning to offer a hybrid event again which will be held outdoors at KBV and on Zoom. A committee is being formed to help with technology, site preparation, flowers, etc. If you would like to help please email me at [email protected]
- Linda Booth, Kathina Sponsor
- Linda Booth, Kathina Sponsor
Dhamma Reflection
Hermitage garden tree rupa
I cherish the opportunities I have to be kind, generous and to share the Dhamma. Currently, a theme running through those opportunities has been the clarity that happiness and suffering exist in the mind. We often think our happiness is outside ourselves. We reach for something "out there" for happiness or maybe just for a bit of relief from discomfort. We are also generally convinced that our suffering comes from outside ourselves. After all, aren't there at least half a dozen things you can point to right now as the source of your pain, irritation, or aggravation? We also reach into the future and into the past to evoke both happiness and suffering.
When we stop to reflect, we recognize that the happiness or relief we find in this way is so fleeting. And the suffering is endless. Then we might conclude that we just need to work harder, be more patient or smarter in the way we engage with the world, the past or the future. But actually, this isn't the problem. The problem begins with the wrong view that happiness and suffering are outside the mind. Shifting to the right view that real happiness lies within the mind and that suffering cannot invade the mind once we understand it, changes the whole field of experience.
This shift does not come from positive thinking, spiritual bypassing, or wishing or willing it to be so. It comes from practicing all the factors of the Noble Eightfold Path. The beauty of this is that in any moment, from the beginning of our practice as we develop virtue, samadhi and wisdom, we can pause and remember that the problem and the power lie within the mind. That's where the game changes.
- Ayya Santussika
When we stop to reflect, we recognize that the happiness or relief we find in this way is so fleeting. And the suffering is endless. Then we might conclude that we just need to work harder, be more patient or smarter in the way we engage with the world, the past or the future. But actually, this isn't the problem. The problem begins with the wrong view that happiness and suffering are outside the mind. Shifting to the right view that real happiness lies within the mind and that suffering cannot invade the mind once we understand it, changes the whole field of experience.
This shift does not come from positive thinking, spiritual bypassing, or wishing or willing it to be so. It comes from practicing all the factors of the Noble Eightfold Path. The beauty of this is that in any moment, from the beginning of our practice as we develop virtue, samadhi and wisdom, we can pause and remember that the problem and the power lie within the mind. That's where the game changes.
- Ayya Santussika
With Mettā
The Newsletter Team
The Newsletter Team