On February 7, 2021, Ayyā Santussikā of Karuna Buddhist Vihara met online with Portland Friends of the Dhamma and friends from Seattle, Northern California, and throughout the Western Hemisphere. Ayya spoke to these 60 practitioners during a daylong session of meditation and teaching on the Mahāmangala Sutta, (Snp 2-4) also known as the chant “The Highest Blessings.”

Ayya is well loved by PFoD. She has the ability to help us see both the content of a sutta and its inspiration for us. With her interactive style, suttas spring from the page with a relevance for daily life. The Highest Blessings unfurled into guidance for living a blameless life and seeing the freedom in this. She advised that it is important to make space for awakening and to practice as if seeing Nibbana will happen. It is right here. We just need to shift in our thinking so we are not looking from the place of the self. 

Portland Friends of the Dhamma is grateful to the volunteers and donors who made possible the meal offering, online production, and recording of the session. The recordings and wisdom from today’s sessions are available here. Ayya’s teachings are available here and here. Join a growing number of PFoD practitioners at her online Sutta Study on Wednesday evenings here. 

There is a new library at the Center, with build-in shelves and an area for backstock. It was funded in memory of a community member Sophary Varns by her husband Nathan and grew from the vision and effort of many in the community. Here’s the story:

Patty Pandzik, PFOD librarian, had a problem. Boxes of books were randomly stashed throughout the building. “Books were above the meditation hall, in the furnace area, and behind various curtains. No one knew how to find what you wanted,” Patty said. Plus, “there were big gaps on the shelves and no organizing system.” 

She brought her concerns to Alistair Williamson, chair of the Building Committee. “We had 110 boxes of books,” said Alistair. “I had been feeling that stacking books all over the Center was just not treating them well. It was not respectful.” So after talking with many community members, “Alistair came up with a beautiful plan for a new library area,” Patty said. “And he could build it himself if we could find the money.” They brought the plan to the Board, unsure of the response since money was tight.

Meanwhile, Patty had invited Nathan to help her sort and inventory the exploding stock of books. As they organized, she showed him the design for a new library area, mentioning that she and Alistair had offered seed money for the project. Thinking of his wife Sophary, who had recently passed away, Nathan inquired into how much more funding was needed. When he got the answer, he said, “I can do that,” — and he did.

“Sophary would be pleased to leave something like that for our members as a tool for helping and to benefit their practice,” Nathan said. Adding, “I feel so much gratitude toward this Dhamma Center and the monks and so much appreciation for having the Center here.”

With funds secured, Alistair started building. “He did 99% of the labor,” Nathan said, including “finding a nice door and getting everything leveled and plumbed.”  

At the same time, Patty and Nathan completed the book inventory—a huge task—and concluded they had many more books than the area would ever hold. And so 23 boxes were driven to Wat Atammayatarama, a Thai monastery outside of Seattle (Ajahn Ritthi, abbot of the monastery, was delighted to have them). Other boxes went to Wat Dhammarangsey, a Cambodian monastery in West Linn, which needed books in English for their younger generation (this was especially sweet because Nathan serves on their Board). “That left us with just the books we wanted to keep,” said Patty.

Once construction was complete, Patty and Nathan loaded up the shelves. According to Patty, the library is now organized, “in a way that people can find what they’re looking for.”

With the project done, Alistair reflected on how it gradually came to fruition. “Patty saw a real need at the Center. It took a lot of persistence for her to get people involved and figure out a solution. In doing so, she drew people together.” He added, “it was fitting that Nathan wanted to fund it in memory of Sophary, that we could provide a way for him to do that.” 

Patty reflected on the patience and other Dhamma qualities the project inspired. “If you had told me this would take a year, I might not have done it. My mind would have spun all sorts of stories and I would have just given up. But I was determined to not entertain those stories. I just stayed in the present moment and id the next thing. Plus the collaboration of kalyanamitta – it was beautiful. the Dhamma was always present.” 

Nathan added, “Sophary would be happy to know this was going on with her in mind. I thought this was something I could do to help the Dhamma Center and also to remember Sophary. I’m just pleased I had the resources to help out.”

If you are interested in participating in a project at the Center, please contact us. If you would like to learn how to remember PFOD in your will or living trust visit our planned giving page.

On September 27, 2020, Portland Friends of the Dhamma hosted a Daylong led by Ayya Santussikā, abbess of Karuna Buddhist Vihara. The topic which ran throughout the day was  “Directing the Mind, Cooling the Heart” and was attended by many, including one person from abroad. The day began with taking the Five Precepts, followed with a lovely guided meditation. The Vihara’s meal was offered by members of the PFoD community and was followed up with even more lovely reflections which you can hear for yourself by following this link “Directing the Mind, Cooling the Heart.”  The day has been described as a “treasure.” 

This is the second time in 2020 that Ayya Santussika Bhikkhuni, along with her attendant Ayya Cittananda Bhikkhuni have graced us with their presence. The first time was in March just before PFoD had to shut down due to the pandemic. Of course for now we meet online, one advantage is a much broader spectrum of people are able to participate.  

We are grateful to our donors and volunteers who made the meal offering, flowers, and technical support possible for this event. You are securing our ability to continue our training during the pandemic. Anumodana!

Conversations have already begun to secure Santussika Bhikkhuni’s return for more teachings. We will happily send out notices when this comes into being.

For more talks by Ayya Santussika click on Karuna Vihara Dhamma Talks.

Sharing stories from her own life, Debbie Stamp reflected on skills for looking after our own heart with patience and kindness. We are grateful to our volunteers  and donors who made it possible for Debbie, a lay teacher and resident of the Abhayagiri community, to visit Friends of the Dhamma again this year. 

With “The Refuge Within” being the theme for the weekend, Debbie’s voice was filled with warmth as she reflected on her life and those small moments or key individuals who brought insight. She encouraged us to see how the small changes that come with our practice can go unnoticed unless we look for them.  

Teachings from the weekend can be found here.

 At the end of weekend Debbie learned of our plans for visiting monastics over the next two years and was so inspired that she gave the dana she had received to Friends of the Dhamma. She wishes to thank everyone for making possible the joy she felt in giving back to our community in this way.