By Coral West
Bright Way Zen participated in Dharma Cloud Lineage Day on Saturday, February 21st. This is a biennial gathering of Zen Centers in our lineage, with the purpose of maintaining our connections and giving people a sense of our shared history. Dharma Rain graciously organized and hosted this event and provided us with an agenda full of camaraderie, a delicious vegan meal, a tour of their grounds, and a Founder’s Day Ceremony.
We started out the day with a session of meditation and an opportunity to do a short chanting service Dharma Rain style! Dharma Rain is where our teacher, Domyo, trained so it was a treat to see some of our roots. We moved onto small group discussions where we got to meet other Zen organizations that exist because of the training that was offered by Kyogen and Gyokuko Carlson at Dharma Rain. The groups present were Dharma Rain (Portland), Zen West (Eugene), Rose Villa (Portland), Wy’East (Sandy), and Bright Way Zen (Beaverton). A delicious lunch was served, which included beans that were grown on site in Dharma Rain’s organic garden. We were able to explore the garden during the tour of the grounds where we witnessed Dharma Rain’s involvement with youth programs and the ecology of the area.
The second half of the day consisted of discussion related to our commitments and responsibilities as a lineage and how we can remain connected and supportive to one another. Lastly, we summed up our visit with a founder’s ceremony to honor Jiyu Kennett (Domyo’s Dharma grandmother) and Keido Chisan (Roshi Kennett’s teacher).
The sweet hospitality provided by our Dharma Siblings at Dharma Rain was akin to being welcomed home. This event encourages us to keep our channels of communication open and planted a seed for continued mutual involvement.
