& Meditation Retreat
"May the offerings we make here show our gratitude and joy to all living things."
(offertory from Morning Service).
IN GRATITUDE
As well as generous offerings of food and drink the temple gratefully received: wonderful gifts for our 10th anniversary: a new edition of the Surangama Sutra, a picture of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, a plaque depicting the life of Shakyamuni Buddha, a book on Stupas, a glass panel depicting the Snowy Heron in the Bright Moon, several paintings, a coffee maker and carafe. We also received much help with preparations, paper goods, silk flowers, garden lights, food and drink for our potluck lunch, fabric, T-shirts, shoes and socks, a printer, garden hoses, stamps, wood stain, birdseed, animal food, water and help with temple maintenance while Rev. Phoebe was away.
THE ALMS BOWL
The temple can use: white candles, 2 1/2 to 3" diameter, indoor doormats, mini blinds for Dharma House (please call or email to get exact measurements in advance), canola oil, paper towels, toilet paper, Lysol toilet bowl cleaner, ice cube trays, contributions for the newsletter, garden hoses, sugar for hummingbirds, and bird seed.
TEMPLE BUILDING FUND
Our ongoing Building Projects include:
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Reinforcing the Carport Roof
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Solar System for the Buddha House
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Improving Infrastructure
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General Maintenance
Our Building Fund was emptied out recently. Any contributions to building and maintaining this temple will be gratefully accepted.
The Future: Continuing to Build Pine Mountain Buddhist Temple
The temple currently is restricted in the amount of livable square footage we are allowed by the Ventura County Meditation Retreat Ordinance. The ordinance sets a limit of 6,000 square feet total—4,000 of living space and 2,000 for food preparation and other utilitarian purposes. As of this year, 2009, we have used up the above totals; any future construction will have to be preceded by creating an ordinance to reflect our specific needs as a religious monastic community with guest accommodations, as the County currently does not have such a category. Also, as part of that process we would like to investigate the possibility of invoking the Federal Religious Land Use Act, instituted during the Clinton Administration.
There are two projects which we have discussed with our congregation and supporters: one is a purpose-built Meditation Hall or Temple Building; the second is a monks' residential building.
The Meditation Hall would be a relatively large-scale project of 2,000 or more square feet, to create more space for ceremonial and seated meditation than our current meditation room of just over 600 square feet allows. The monks' residential building would be smaller in scale, perhaps 800 square feet. The costs of these projects would vary significantly in ratio to the scale of construction: possibly $500,000 for the Temple Building, and $200,000 for the residential building.
To gain approval from Ventura County to build either one or both of these buildings, as noted above, we would need the help of a lawyer familiar with land use, permitting and ordinance issues.
If you or someone you know are in a position to help with this, please contact the Temple. Donations of services and time are of course tax deductible, as are donations to our ongoing BUILDING FUND. We invite you to help us build this temple, thereby increasing your blessings and wisdom. We dedicate the merit of our meditation and training to all living things.
