Nov. 2-4 Heart of Wisdom Teachings

Heart of Wisdom, Heart of Love:
The Buddha's Teachings of the Essential Heart Sutra
A Weekend Meditation Course with Ari Goldfield and Rose Taylor Goldfield
 

The Heart Sutra is a concise teaching that is full of meaning. Its words help us find connection, peace, and courage in our lives. Its simple, powerful explanation of genuine reality energizes and sustains our meditation in the here-and-now, and also gives us deeper levels of profundity that we can explore for a lifetime. It is a fascinating, inspiring text!

Hiistory of the KSC Building

This is a long piece by Lama Yeshe. 

It presents an interesting history on how the KSC center came to be.

 

 

History of the Creation of the KSC Building

Narrated by Lama Yeshe, May 9, 2012

Transcribed by David Teegarden

 

The start of Kagyu Sukha Chöling in Ashland was in 2000. For more than two years, we used offered and borrowed spaces for meditations, classes, and public talks.  In late 2001, Lama Lodru Rinpoche attended a Board meeting in Ashland. At that meeting, we lamas proposed that the board rent a garage and remodel it for use as a dedicated space for meditations and practice. Lama Lodru put aside this request immediately. “KSC does not need a garage. It needs a center. It needs a two- story center, with meditations and classes on the ground floor, and the lamas living upstairs.”

The Board and lamas were both shocked. KSC’s bank account was so tiny that it was silly we even had a bank account. However, within three months, we had in fact found a building that was stunningly affordable.  It was easily accessible to the Ashland community and it was precisely as Lama Lodru had described. The financial wherewithal had been found, and we signed a month-to-month lease for 147 Granite Street. 

The building was 90 years old the year we moved in, and all of its 90 years showed.  It was somewhat shabby, the wind whistled through it all year round, and we quickly learned that there was asbestos in the walls.  However, it met the needs of the Center very, very well, and the community grew rapidly, just by virtue of having a dedicated meeting space.

During the remainder of 2002, we had two important teaching visits, from Khenpo Tsultrim Gyantso Rinpoche and Lama Lodru Rinpoche.  We chose to have the community of 50 to 60 people meet these lamas, on their different visiting weekends, with conch shells on the front sidewalk.  After the second event, we received a letter from Ashland’s Planning Department, saying a neighbor had complained about parking issues during our events.

Thus we began our long and supportive relationship with the Ashland Planning Department. They made clear to us that, as a church or faith organization, we needed to have a conditional permit to operate in a legal fashion.  But the staff member we met with was very helpful. He indicated that the City supported what we were doing, but we would never get a conditional use for the building we were in, because of parking issues in proximity to Lithia Park.  He encouraged us to continue to meet with the Planning Department and to look for places to lease or to rent, or perhaps to buy.  We laughed about the idea that KSC could ever purchase something, which seemed completely impossible. The staff member volunteered to advise us as to whether buildings we found might qualify for conditional use. There was an alliance forming between members of the department, our Board president Phyllis Norris, and the architect Joyce Ward, who volunteered to help us from this point on. 

In May, 2003, we held a Vision Circle on a Sunday afternoon at Hidden Springs Wellness Center to accommodate the growing Sangha.  We talked about many things: What was the purpose of the Center in the Rogue Valley? Could we consider moving to more affordable communities? How big did we want to get?  What kind of a space would we want if we could have whatever we felt we needed? 

This informative meeting directed our future efforts. The consensus was for KSC to remain in Ashland. A tiny group volunteered to be a Finders Committee, and they searched widely for a larger building with proper zoning.  The Planning Department advised, “Be near a church, a school or a business; be inside a business; look for something with a parking lot. All of these things will help you get a conditional use permit.” 

The Committee looked and looked.  We came close to leasing or renting a couple of quite suitable places, but for odd reasons, those fell through. The Finders eventually connected with John Fields, the owner/builder of a seven-acre development at the corner of Oak and East Hersey Streets. He had space available on the upper floor of one of his buildings, and the Finders made an appointment to see it. As they walked the apartments with John, everyone realized very quickly that they wouldn’t be suitable.  At that point, John turned to the Finders -- Ellen Waldman and France Robinson -- and said, “Why don’t you tell me what you are looking for. What do you want?”  They told John about our hope:   A two-story building with a footprint of 2000 square feet. A Sangha member, Michaeldavid Uri, had created a beautiful building design for this dream, using themes of Tibetan architectural style, utilizing construction methods of the Northwest. 

Hearing this dream, John turned around pointed across the development toward an old barn, and said, “Right there is a pre-approved building space, with a 2000 square-foot footprint, which could be two or three stories high.  There are 108 parking places planned for this development.  This is a live/work neighborhood, so all of these buildings have businesses as well as residences. I hate to pave the planet, and if those parking spaces, which are required, could be used when businesses and residences were not using them, it would make me so happy.  Let’s keep talking!”

Those conversations unfolded with Board members, because this was a change in focus and a big step.  We were considering buying property and constructing a building, and even at the modest square footage building rate that John felt he could offer if he were our contractor, we knew that economically we would be looking at much greater expense and the necessity for fundraising.

The members of the board members met with John several times.  We also talked with the Planning Department. They advised us that this was the best of all possible situations, from a zoning point of view, if we could manage it.  Then we asked Lama Lodru Rinpoche during one of his visits, what he thought of the building site, and what he thought of the whole project. Coincidentally, John Fields arrived while Lama Lodru was walking on the property. They met and it was a very good meeting. In the Tibetan tradition, attention is paid to what just appears to happen – the coincidental meetings and coincidental connections. Initially, Lama Lodru was very happy with the property.  He was especially happy about meeting John, and he said to John directly, “If you build this building, I will bring the Dalai Lama here.”

As you can imagine we were all thrilled and shocked and terrified.  So that was a very positive beginning. IN December, 2003 the Board sent a letter to all the members and active Sangha.  There had been many meetings and informational sessions happening during this whole year of searching, but at this point, the initial fundraising letter went out. Our goal was to raise slightly less than $200,000 to buy the property.  Our commitment was to save money, buy the property and save to build the building in stages, so that the community would not incur any debt.  We knew that we could not secure any mortgage, so 'save as you go' was the initial method. 

When Khenpo Tsultrim visited in 2004, we had wonderful fundraising materials available, and we had raised about $130,000. We sought Khenpo’s advice, and his advice was very, very specific.  “Make friends with all of your future neighbors; engage them. Even if they are unhappy, they will be informed, and if they’re happy, then they will support you.  Secondly, use local architects and builders and use local suppliers.  You want to benefit your community from the minute that you start your project, and if you do, then everyone will be happy to have you here.”

          Beginning in late 2004, we were working with the Planning Department on the pre-application process, preceding the application to the Planning Commission for approval to build.  In the pre-application process, we learned, much to our surprise, that in a live/work neighborhood, a church would not be considered a business by the traditional definition. It had to have its own portion of the building, with a conditional use permit. To meet the definition of live/work zoning, we would have to have a genuine business in the building, as well as at least one residence on the top floor.

The architect went back to the drawing board to create a three-story building, which required a larger share of the parking lots, changing the price of the land to $300,000.  It also changed the cost of construction quite significantly. 

To prepare for the Planning Commission meeting, we invited our neighbors to an informational meeting to view the building design. We also called on every business in the vicinity and left letters for all nearby neighbors, informing them about the proposed building and its purpose. With that preparation, and the completion of the pre-application process, we felt ready to make our appearance at the Planning Commission in June, 2005. The architects, a private planner and the lamas all made statements and answered the questions of the commissioners. In addition, there were 25 individuals, families, businesses speaking on our behalf, and only one individual concerned about the impact of construction on the wetlands adjoining the building. This was handled by the architects with a commitment to protect the wetlands during construction. We received unanimous approval that evening. 

The purchase was concluded in October, 2005, and at the end of the month, we held a morning fire offering ceremony, in which traditional offerings are made to a large fire.  Following Khenpo Tsultrim’s advice, we informed our neighbors of the event and its purpose, and made safety arrangements to gain permission from the city’s fire marshal. 

In the ceremony, we made offerings to the spirits of the land and the water of the wetlands.  The purpose of such an event is to engage prevailing natural energies that we can’t see, and ones that we can, to let them know our intention to use the land for the dharma.  We know that any construction destroys life, and changes our relationship with the natural world. Our purpose was to set the intention that we humans and the forces of the land and water would work in harmony for the good of all beings.

Throughout 2006, the Fundraising Committee did extensive fundraising, with teas, campaigns and special events.  In February, 2007, we held an Early Groundbreaking ceremony.   Lama Lodru Rinpoche came from San Francisco to lead practice for a very large fire offering to the Lords of the Land. It was carried out over several hours, with about 100 people attending. Lama Lodru brought a treasure vase consecrated by Venerable Bokar Rinpoche, for placement under a dharma building.  At the end of the fire offering, a backhoe dug a hole 8-10 feet deep in the earth in a particular location.  Lots of water arose at that point, which was felt to be a very good sign.  The waterproof container for the treasure vase was buried, along with gems, grains, silks, and mantras. That treasure lies deep below the center.

The purpose of the ceremony was to ask the Nagas, as Lords of the Land, to give their permission that a Dharma building could be built. The treasure was given to them to make up for the fact that we were asking them to move, to leave their land. With that permission received, the preparation for building could begin.  For the next several months of 2007, the resident clay soil was removed from the site, and replaced with rock and gravel, down to a level of more than six feet. This would assure the flow of the city’s watershed drainage underneath the building to the wetlands, which is our neighbor. There was a lot of physical work done by many people, as you can imagine, and varying levels of rock and gravel were laid in, in a particular order.  At the end of that stage, the building site surface was flat and covered with rock.

In December, 2007, the Foundation Consecration was held, as the final preparatory ceremony before construction. For two days, a large tent replicated the shape of the building in its precise future location. We set up a full shrine, created a food offering, and provided seating for the 200 guests.  Lama Lodru Rinpoche led the day-long practice of Vajrayogini, which was carried out by the resident lamas and several of Rinpoche’s senior students.  The purpose was to bring the feminine energy of wisdom into the future building, by placing a mandala and many more offerings into a concrete vault created to lie beneath the future building. Each guest and participant placed a cedar bough, brought from the cedar tree at the Granite Street center, into the vault, which was sealed that evening.

In January 2008, we began the building process with a huge concrete pour.  Then the recycled steel beams began to rise, and the walls for the first (ground) floor, made of integrated concrete forms -- styrofoam forms filled with concrete. These gave the walls of the building the mass they would need to hold cool in the summer and heat in the winter.  The walls went to the ceiling of the ground floor, which is a daylight basement – windows on two sides, and two sides tucked into the hillside. The steel posts to the top of the third floor were placed, as well as beams for the steel ceiling of the first floor, which was also the base for the future concrete middle floor. Construction ended at that point, because that was the end of the money we had at that time.

In late 2008, the beams for the ceiling of the middle floor, and the steel for the future concrete third floor were placed, as we continued fund raising. Prayer flags flew from the tops of the steel beams

In January 2009, we met with our contractor John Fields, to review the remaining budget and determine what the next phase of building would be. This decision would determine our next fundraising goal.  At that point, there was about $500,000 to $700,000 of work remaining to completion. We hoped to select $250,000 - $300,000 of construction for the next phase, and do the completion phase sometime after that.

We discussed the possibilities for the next phase, and then at a certain point, John said, “It’s been six months since the stock market crash. This country is in a catastrophic recession right now. I care about this project.  I care about your community and I care even more about the community of the Rogue Valley. If there’s any way on earth that you can find a way to build, you should do it as soon as possible.  There will never be a better time to build.  Every worker needs work, every supplier needs you to buy, and everybody who wants to volunteer has more time on their hands right now. There is no better time to build!”

This proactive suggestion was very surprising to us. It felt very loving, actually.  It was very challenging, and it also felt just right.  We held a series of meetings with the Sangha community, which was now bursting out of the seams of the Granite Street house.  After a detailed meeting with our board, and a unanimous decision to approach the Sangha, we held a series of Sunday afternoon meetings to present this radical change in direction. The proposal was this: To seek members of the Sangha and the wider community to loan a total of $650,000 to KSC, in order to bring the building to occupancy within one year. The loans would be for five years, with principal and 3 – 7% interest paid monthly, with a balloon payment at the end. We asked the Sangha to endorse the proposal by consensus, agreeing that taking our personal loans was a risk worth taking, so that we could complete the project. The lamas and board were recommending that the Sangha have faith in the economic future of this community, that we would be able to repay these loans. 

The consensus was ‘yes’, although there were many who were fearful, of course. But with the majority feeling optimistic, in June 2009, the Board notified the Sangha and interested local supporters that we were looking for ‘generous lenders’ to aid us to complete the building.  Ten individuals and families stepped forward, and all of the needed money was secured. This allowed us to begin construction in August, 2009, and build straight through to occupancy, opening in June, 2010. During the final construction process, we brought Lama Lodru Rinpoche to Ashland to confer on final decisions and ceremonial details incorporated into the design.

There were several important factors in bringing such a big project to completion. One was John Fields’ willingness to have volunteers involved in building and cleanup on site.  A second factor was the leader for the volunteers, Clay Colley, a board member and local contractor. Under his organization and supervision, more than 200 volunteers from the Sangha and beyond, came weekly, even daily, to volunteer their time and skills. A third factor was the donation and/or discounting of materials by generous suppliers. We estimate that this combination of John and Clay’s leadership, along with the hands and skills of volunteers, and donated materials, saved KSC more than $200,000.  

As we had hoped and planned, the KSC meditation center is a green and sustainable building, one of the first such commercial projects in the Rogue Valley, with all local workers and suppliers. The building was formally consecrated by Kyabjé Kalu Rinpoche in September, 2012.