[Victorian]

June 4, 2005 (Saturday), 12:30 pm - 5:30 pm,

Portland's second annual Change Your Mind Day: A Buddhist Festival

Colonel Summers Park (at SE 17th and Taylor). The festival will include "food offerings for monastics, chanting, Dharma talks, activities for kids, and more, all in an outdoor atmosphere of Dharma teaching and practice, freely given in the 2500-year Buddhist tradition." This event is free and open to everyone.

For more information, see http://www.geocities.com/portlandbpf/cymd.html

I have been studying Buddhism for the last couple of months and will be at this gathering with my kids. Anyone else going? Want to meet up? (I was thinking that maybe we could *swap* time out of the kid's area to go and do *adult* things)

V.

 

[DreamsInDigital]

I'm so there, and I'll be bringing my kiddos and hopefully my SO.

 

[wende]

I'm all over it

 

[mamadawg]

We've been planning on going. WE have a party to go to from 2-4 so we were going to go earlier or later than that. We went last year, but the girls were really little so we didn't stay long. We did go on a tour of one temple that was really cool.

But I doubt you want to see me Victoria.

 

[Victorian]

but I thought the flyer said no "DAWG"s allowed!

:LOL

I would love to see you!

V.

 

[Kitsune6]

I've been trying to get my DH to embrace his buddhist roots (He's Japanese and his mom was shinto/buddhist and his dad is catholic/buddhist). I'll see if I can drag him out!

We inherited his father's huge butsudan after he moved back to Osaka. It's really beautiful and my Dh prays every day but he doesn't really know that much about buddhism in general.

Anyway!

Hope to see you there!

 

[wende]

I'm heading out in a little bit. I'll be with dh and all 5 kids. Aine will be in her beautiful sling. If you see us say HI!

 

[DreamsInDigital]

I suck so bad. I missed it because Kolaiah needed a nap and I didn't want to leave him with my mom so we just stayed home. I hope you enjoyed it!

 

[Victorian]

we I went for a while but didn't see anyone. I learned a lot of asked questions

DD had a good time with an elderly Monk who showed her how to pray to Buddha for peace. Talked to a couple of different Saghis about their services and what they offer children. There is a parents group that meets at the Center for Compassionate Living which follows the teaching of Thich Nat Han. They are open to mother's arranging a way to bring children to retreats (i.e. setting up a children's area with activities and then switching out parents to watch them). There is a group (I have to look up which one ) that is offering a summer camp for children for a week, 5 mornings. I think that DD will go to it.

All in all a good time. We went to two birthday parties before it so the kids were burnt out, hyped up and just about done with it all.

V.

 

[Kitsune6]

We went too but not for very long. The kids were tired and just wanted to play on the playground. I walked the booths a little but ended up seeing a few women from my CUUPS group and just chatted with them. Sorry I missed everybody!

 

[mamadawg]

We were on our way to going, but then the girls fell asleep in the car. We had to let them nap for a while, so we didn't have time to go.

Victorian, do you mean sanghas (I'm not sure what a saghi is...)?

The Dharma Rain Zen center has a dharma school for ages 3 and up. They also have a summer camp at the Great Vow Monestary in Clatskanie every summer. We've gone to a few of the Dharma Rain introductory sessions and one retreat there. They're a Soto Zen center, and I've realized that Zen just isn't for me. Too austere for my liking. Dp likes it well enough, but we're trying to find something that fits the whole family.

I'm definitely interested in the Thich Nhat Hanh group. Do you know the name of the sangha? A good friend of mine was attending that one (I believe it's the same one) for a while and really liked it. But I'm not interested in going somewhere where I can't bring my girls. I think I have to wait until they're a bit older.

 

[Victorian]

sorry can't spell

yes Sanghas.

It is the Joyful Refuge Sangha. In I undertstood them correctly, there is a parents group that has activites for children. I have the contact name for the group and she said that if I call she will give me the contact number for the parents group that is affilicated with them.

I am not 100% conveinced that Buddhism is right for me. I am kinds poking around

IYKWIM. It is so different than the religion that I grew up in that I get confused. But, I guess that I am searching for a set belief that I can embrace and give to my children. Maybe I'll just go back to the UU church downtown. I went there for a while but when I was first pregnant with ds two of the new mothers there were discussing how much they hate bf and how they couldn't wait to wean at 12 weeks. I knew that I was going to have a lot of work ahead of me to bf ds given the problems I had with dd and I just couldn't stand being around that negativity toward something that I view as so important

.

sorry for the novel

V.

 

[Victorian]

Look what I found at the UU downtown!

Mindfulness Meditation Group

The main focus of this group is to study the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, although they also study mindfulness in all spiritual traditions (Taoism, Sufism, Christian mysticism, etc.). Meetings are every Thursday evening, from 7-8:30 p.m. The group is open to all who are interested in exploring the spirituality of peace, non-attachment, and living in the present moment. You are welcome to join!

For more information about this group, please contact the church office, 503-228-6389, ext. 0.

 

[mamadawg]

That's awesome, thanks for the tip, Victorian.

I'm interested in UU. I'm a pretty hard core atheist, but dp is much more spiritual--in terms of believing in something he thinks of as "god". I had horrible experiences growing up with church, so I have a knee-jerk reaction about church, in general. But UU is very interesting to me. My girls go to Music Together class as a UU church and I've been reading the bulletin boards there. It seems like something I'd like to check out.

I definitely hear you on not knowing if Buddhism is for you. I feel the same way, at times. But the more I understand about it, the more I feel like it's a good spiritual path to go down. I definitely want to share the principles of Buddhism with my girls. I feel like if I had been introduced with those ideas as a child, it would have saved me a lot of heart ache & thousands of dollars on therapy. :LOL

 

[Victorian]

I totally hear you about the childhood thing. I feel so *abused* by my childhood that I don't want to make that mistake with my children, but at the same time I acknowledge that it is their right to investigate and figure out what they believe.

I don't know if I would say that I am an atheist, I am more of a militant agnostic (I don't know and you don't either) kinda person

 

[mamadaisy]

we've recently dubbed oursleves "orthodox agnostics" in our house.

dh was growing his beard out which lead to this new terminology. thank goodness he has a job interview this week for which he had to shave to look a bit less wooly. well, a whole lot less as he is now bald and beardless.

 

[Kitsune6]

I go to a UU church out in Hillsboro. I belong to a covenent group there but I don't actually attend church often. I might go now that Marley is three and will start the roots and shoots program next fall. I've been pretty happy with UU and I just can't believe those women so against BF! A few bad apples man!

 

[mamadawg]

marleymama, your church is probably the one my girls go to for Music Together.

Who's against breastfeeding? I'm confused.

 

[Kitsune6]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamadawg marleymama, your church is probably the one my girls go to for Music Together. Who's against breastfeeding? I'm confused.

Victorian overheard some gals at the UU downtown.