March 24, 2008 UPAYA INSTITUTE | ZEN CENTER Santa Fe, New ...

March 24, 2008

UPAYA INSTITUTE | ZEN CENTER Santa Fe, New Mexico 505-986-8518 upaya@

Earth, water, fire, air and space Combine to make this food. Numberless beings gave their lives and labors that

we may eat. May we be nourished, that we may nourish life. -Meal Gatha

The passage of a vegetarian meal from sprout to table top is a long, complicated story. Here at Upaya, food's journey from delivery truck to the plate is itself a long chapter in this endless business of eating. It is a journey of interdependent moving cycles: the food has its own seasonal growing cycles; humans have their daily eating cycles, and the ordering and preparing of the food brings it all together in the simple activity of opening our mouths and putting in the food. It's almost too detailed to imagine. Our kitchen team uses skillful means to manage, i.e. guesswork, experience, a feel for impermanence, and tolerance for occasional burns and cuts.

Produce Manager Joko, and Pantry Manager Myokei, our new kitchen "Mamma," somehow figure out how to order huge quantities of food and dry goods that get delivered once or twice a week based on menus drawn up the week before by the team of cooks. They have to estimate how long it will last and how much to get next time according to ever changing numbers of residents and visitors. And there are the mini shopping trips for the special or last minute items ? raspberries for Rose's Swiss Meusli, the weird organic canned pumpkin, lemon grass, or the very rare purchase of ice cream, usually for someone's birthday.

In an organic, vegetarian kitchen, there is lots of vegetable prep. Out come the cutting boards, the knives and the huge stainless steel bowls for washing, for peels, for the diced beets, the kale, the marinating tofu. The knives have their own cycle which is strictly between them and the sharpener whom is never called by any human. He just shows up, several

times a year to everyone's nervous joy. How great and scary to work with these very discerning tools that demand respect and lots of band aids.

Once the chopping, slicing, cubing is done, cooking starts. Every day the moody, three legged oven lights up to steam, boil, bake, and saute countless ingredients. Master Chef, Sandra McDonald, who cooks when we have very large groups, manages to have all five burners and the oven going at once. It is impossible to predict what she is doing, but without fail, she produces glorious feasts for up to 100 people. Our resident cooks bring their own style and background to their work. Samar one of our new cooks, brings Lebanese lusciousness. Myokei cooks a clean, essentialist Japanese style. Rose represents Euro-elegance with a Swiss twist. And Joko does Marin County free styling. John, the newest of all, served his first meal on Saturday night to everyone's applause! His style is promisingly undetermined as of yet. Zen Master Dogen instructs the Tenzo, the zendo's cook: "Keep your eyes open. Do not allow even one grain of rice to be lost. Wash the rice thoroughly, put it in the pot, light the fire, and cook it. There is an old saying that goes, "See the pot as your own head: see the water as your lifeblood."" Etsudo

>>COMING UP: Wednesday, March 19th, 5:30PM, DHARMA TALK and book signing, by Ken McLeod, titled "An Arrow to the Heart." For more about Ken McLeod and his new book go to:

Saturday, April 12th, ZAZENKAI - What is Zen? Basic Instructions and Explorations with Vice Abbot Beate Stolte and Upaya Residents. This day long silent meditation retreat provides us with the experience of deep periods of uninterrupted meditation. It begins at 6 am and ends at 8:15 pm. We do sitting and walking meditation throughout the day, one hour of work practice, and three informal meals with a rest period after lunch. In the afternoon a dharma talk is given by Vice Abbot Beate Stolte. Personal interviews with the teacher and meditation instruction is available. Please join us for this day of deep and silent practice. If you have questions, please call the office: 986- 8518 or e-mail to registrar@ and we will send you the zazenkai schedule. Cost: $35 for meals. Donation to teacher.

Local Tibetans and Santa Feans hold candlelight vigil:Last weekend the local Tibetan Community and supporters conducted a 36 hour hunger

strike on the Santa Fe Plaza to bring attention to the Chinese Government's violent crackdown on their people in Tibet and called for the boycott of the Olympic Games. They will continue holding the candlelight vigils every night this week from 6:30 PM until 8:00 PM. They enormously appreciate the support of the local Santa Fe community members who come and share their prayers for the liberation of their homeland and people.

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>> DATE CHANGES FOR MARCH AND APRIL EVENTS - Zazenkai will be held on April 12th (originally scheduled for April 5th) - Introduction to Chaplaincy will happen April 2-10 (originally scheduled for April 4-10) - Thinking Like a System is now scheduled for April 3-6 (originally scheduled for April 10-13)

================= >>UPCOMING UPAYA RETREATS THINKING LIKE A SYSTEM: How to Intervene in a System for Social Change. Thursday, April 3 - 6, 2008. Merle Lefkoff, Ph.D, John Goekler. For details: programs/event.php

LIVING WITH ILLNESS AND LOSS: The Nature of Change and Transformation. Monday April 14, 2008, 9:30am ? 4:30 pm - Susan Benjamin, Jean Wilkins. Facing illness and loss in our lives can bring us to a moment when we need to slow down and look deeply into our lives, a time to find acceptance of a diagnosis, or the death of a loved one, to review healing strategies, and make peace with one's mortality. This day-long retreat provides an opportunity to explore where we are in each moment of our lives, to listen to ourselves and each other from a heart that is free of judgment and blame. The day includes guided meditation/reflection, council process and contemplative writing/art process. Donation to teachers. For details: programs/event.php

2008 BEING WITH DYING: Professional Training Program in Compassionate End-of-LIfe Care. April 25 - May 2, 2008. Roshi Joan Halifax, Gary Pasternak, MD, Tony Back, MD, Cynda Rushton RN, PhD, Barbara Dossey, RN, PhD, Gwynne Sullivan, RN, Sensei Fleet Maull, Troy Fernandez, MSW, Tussi Kluge, Claudia Luisi-Flueckiger MA, Mary Tayler,

Jean Wilkins. For registration and details: programs/event.php

MOUNTAIN AND MONASTERY SESSHIN, May 05 - May 11, 2008. Roshi Joan Halifax, Roshi Enkyo O'Hara, Marty Peale. For registration and details: programs/event.php

LIBERATION THROUGH YOGA AND BUDDHISM May 22- May 25, 2008. Richard Freeman, Roshi Joan Halifax For registration and details: programs/event.php

WILDERNESS FAST AND COMPASSIONATE ACTION.Jun 26, 2008 -- Jul 06, 2008 Roshi Joan Halifax, Marty Peale. For registration and details: programs/event.php

IN THE SHELTER OF EACH OTHER, Women's Retreat: Power, compassion, Resilience, and the Shadow. July 16-20, 2008. Roshi Joan Halifax, Mayumi Oda, Zuleikha, plus others. For reistration and details: programs/event.php

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL PROGRAMS Journey to Mongolia July 14 - August 4, 2008. Kazakh/Altai Mountains Western Mongolia Horse Trip August 7-26, 2008. Himalayan Pilgrimage to Mani Rimdu. October 10-31, 2008. For details: programs/international.php

SUMMER PRACTICE PERIOD: Essence of Engaged Buddhism. August 6September 7, 2008. Roshi Joan Halifax, Roshi Bernie Glassman, Sensei Fleet Maull, sensei Kazuaki Tanahashi, Natalie Goldberg and others. Participants may sign up for the whole practice period or by program. Appropriate for both seasoned practitioners and beginners. For registrtion and details: programs/event.php ==========

>>ENGAGED BUDDHISM - ONGOING PROJECTS Path of Service Dear Friends. Upaya is very happy to let you know that we have once again opened up our powerful Path of Service program. Living in a practice community

with 15-20 people for three months to a year in the historic east valley of Santa Fe, New Mexico; having the precious opportunity to receive teachings from our Roshi and many other extraordinary teachers, weekly seminars and dharma talks, dokusan and retreats, and the deep joy of living in community; this is in exchange for serving all the many beings who come through our doors every day. If you are interested, or know of someone who might be interested, please let Yushin know (pos@ ). Path of Service candidates must have a deep appreciation of practice and community, and be physically and mentally healthy. You can find more information and the requirements for this program on our website, as well as the application form. We are looking forward to you! Click here: about/path-of-service.php

METTA COUNClL - Living with Illness Tuesdays from 10:30 a.m. to 12.00 noon--a weekly group for people who are ill, their partners, caregivers, hospice volunteers, nurses, and anyone interested in exploring issues around living, sickness aging and death. Beginning around 12:05 p.m. until 1:00 p.m. the group engages in contemplative writing. This is not a writing group per se but rather an alternative way of exploring what is alive for people in the moment. No previous writing experience is needed, just a willingness to be fully present. Please call Jean at 505-986-8518 or email jean@ for more information.

PRISON OUTREACH PROJECT A Prisoner's Letter : "I am an indigent inmate in a California institution.....I came across your organization's address scratched into the bunk of my cell. I'm taking a shot, a kind of long shot, it may seem....but the word "Zen" sounds like something calm and soothing. I don't have a dictionary, or any kind of reading materials for that matter, but Zen reminds me of something calm. You would wonder why a man would want to write a place that was scratched on a piece of metal...but I guess it would be for the same reason a person would call a number written on a restroom stall...loneliness."

Volunteers in the Prison Outreach Project offer weekly mindfulness instruction classes in three correctional facilities: Santa Fe County Adult Detention Facility (both state and county inmates), Santa Fe County Youth Development Facility, and Central New Mexico Correctional Facility (at Los Lunas). In addition, one of our workers visits the prisons at Hobbs and Roswell, NM. The classes consist of instruction in meditation, yoga, and

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