From left to right, sangha members Isaac Sather, Jinryu Allgood, and Courtney Seablom at the Bright Way Zen booth
On Saturday July 12, approximately 20 Buddhist sanghas and related organizations – including Bright Way Zen – set up shop on the spacious grounds of Dharma Rain Zen Center for the 2025 Portland Buddhist Festival.
Given the heat and the somewhat “hidden” location of Dharma Rain’s property, most of the attendees were affiliated with one of the sanghas in attendance, but we did have quite a few ‘sangha shoppers’ as well!
In attendance were leaders from such diverse communities as Dorje Ling (Tibetan Nyingma), Portland Friends of the Dhamma and Wise Spirit Buddhist Community (Theravada Thai Forest), No Rank Zendo (Rinzai Zen), Henjyoji Shingon Buddhist Temple (Japanese Shingon), Mt. Adams Buddhist Temple (Vietnamese Thien), Nritya Mandala Mahavihara (Newar Vajrayana), and our good friends from the Zen Community of Oregon (representing Heart of Wisdom and Great Vow Zen Monastery), and of course, our “mothership” Dharma Rain Zen Center.
The morning began with an opening ceremony that included everything from Nepalese dance to sutra chanting in Sino-Japanese to Beat poetry, with each community sharing something from their tradition. It was a heartwarming example of sangha and shared practice, despite what might be our doctrinal and cultural differences.
Also in attendance were representatives from Recovery Dharma, Maitripa College, a certified “Laughter Yoga” teacher who conducted a few hilarious workshops on the porch of the Sodo, and a bustling food cart courtesy of Killer Banhmi & Momo, serving up delicious momo!
The Bright Way Zen booth got a lot of traffic from interested passersby. Some were delighted to hear of our robust Cloud sangha, as many said they don’t get to the west side of Portland. Many were intrigued by the Zen Studies Podcast and took brochures for both the ZSP and BWZ. Many of them also had questions about how Soto Zen practice compares to other traditions, primarily insight meditation (vipassana) and Rinzai Zen.
We also received lovely visits from Domyo’s teacher Gyokuko Carlson, Domyo’s dharma sister Sallie Jiko Tisdale, and Patrick Bansho Green from the Zen Community of Oregon (Great Vow & Heart of Wisdom).
It was great to see so many our own Bright Way Zen members turn out for the event – not only our fabulous volunteers (deep bows of thanks to Vincent Winters, Joan Maurer, Leah Jay, Jinryu Allgood, and Courtney Seablom!) but also various other sangha members who stopped by to hang out a while and answer questions!
All in all it was a lovely day of connecting with likeminded practitioners, enjoying each other’s company, and learning a bit more about the amazing diversity of Buddhist traditions that exist in the Portland area. We are fortunate indeed!
Click the photos to enlarge!
