WELCOME TO THE FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER
the servant beats
his wooden drum—
winter rain
— Kobayashi Issa
May this find you well as we enter more deeply into the New Year. January was an eventful month. We received the approval of a national nursing organization, American Association of Critical Care Nurses, we will now offer CEUs for nurses for our Foundations Training and our Annual Contemplative Care Retreat. We also added a podcast section to our web site for all to enjoy. Our year end appeal letter brought in much needed funds to support our ongoing work. Thank you to all those who contributed. Each of you help us help others.
We received a generous lead gift from our late student Peggy Grote’s sister Kate to start a Scholarship Fund in Peggy’s name for future Clinical Pastoral Education Students. One of our Foundation student’s, Ardythe Ashley, donated a bountiful amount of books—which has brought depth to our library. Thank you Ardythe!
In this issue of the newsletter, you will find a Dharma Talk by Roshi, a piece by Advisory Council member Carlyle Coash, words by Foundation’s student Hatti Figge, our wish list, and information about upcoming events.
A few days ago, a large package arrived, with a beautiful wooden mokugyo. For the past several months is has been on our Wish List, and one of our students, Anne Teich, generously and quietly had this one sent to us. Thank you Anne!
A mokugyo is a wooden fish drum that is carved out of a single piece of wood. The instrument is carved with fish scales on its top, and a carving of two fish heads embracing a pearl on the handle (to symbolize unity), hence the instrument is called a wooden fish for that reason. In Buddhism the fish, which never sleeps, symbolizes wakefulness. May this mokugyo’s great sound benefit many people.
In the Dharma,
Koshin + Chodo
Co-Founders
NYZCCC Podcast Archive is Established
In January, we began the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care Podcast Archive. It is
a digital archive of presentations and Dharma talks related to contemplative care. Each month we will add to the archive. Our first three are now broadcasting.
• Roshi Enkyo O"Hara Talks on the Precept "Encountering All Creations With Respect and Dignity"
• Jennifer Block, NYZCCC Advisory Council Member, Speaks on Zen Hospice Care
• Frank Ostaseski, NYZCCC Advisory Council Member, Speaks on Compassion and Attunement
To listen in, click here.
Peggy Grote Scholarship Fund Established for CPE Students
In January, Kate Shanley, the sister of our late beloved student Peggy Grote, who died last year, has donated a lead gift to establish a scholarship for Clinical Pastoral Education students in memory of Peggy. This scholarship will allow future students the opportunity to study and provide contemplative compassionate care to hundreds of New Yorkers. To contribute to the fund,
click here and note “scholarship fund."
CEUs Now Available for Nurses
On January 27, 2010, the American Association of Critical Care Nurses approved both our Contemplative Care Retreat and the Foundations in Buddhist Contemplative Care for CEUs. Nurses are one of the largest professional groups that we train, and we are happy to be a provider of these Continuing Education to enable these front line caregivers credits towards their study and practice of contemplative approaches to care.
This is The Last Week to Register: NYZCCC Annual Contemplative Care Retreat: February 11-14, 2010
All are Welcome to Join the Core Teachers and the NYZCCC Sangha for four days at the Guest House—a beautiful new retreat center in the scenic Connecticut River Valley. In this retreat, we will take a deep look at how to integrate contemplative practice with care giving, whether at home or in the work place. Combining Buddhist teachings with periods of sitting and walking meditation, didactics, small group work, question and answer periods, this retreat will provide an opportunity to explore the depths of our inner wisdom and compassion. Most importantly, this will be a time to look at how we can take care of ourselves whilst taking care of others.
Guest House offers spacious guest rooms all with private bathrooms, superb vegetarian cuisine, and a nurturing and comfortable environment for restoration and meditation. The center is a renovated country inn on private wooded land, adjacent to a state forest with hiking trails and two neighboring lakes. Conveniently located midway between New York City and Boston, Guest House is easily reachable via major highways or by train. The retreat will be especially beneficial to doctors, nurses, psychotherapists, social workers, chaplains, and lay caregivers. Come and connect. Space is limited. Register early.
For more info, click here.
Applications for the Foundations in Buddhist Contemplative Care Training Program are now being received for the 2010-2011 academic year. Please apply early as space is limited.
Are you ready to train in contemplative care skills for year with other like-minded people? Our Foundations in Buddhist Contemplative Care Training Program is designed to meet the needs of people in a variety of ways:
- Building a community of caregivers interested in integrating caregiving with contemplative practices.
- Beginning training for those interested in becoming volunteer or professional caregivers in your local community, hospitals, hospices, and other places where spiritual care is needed.
- Basic training in spiritual care: attending the sick and dying, performing ritual, and offering spiritual direction.
For more information, FAQs, and the application, please go here.
Contemplative Care Sangha
Join a wonderful opportunity for anyone who is a caregiver. Whether you are working as a professional, interested in care giving and Buddhist practice or simply taking care of someone else as a family member or a friend, you are welcome. Come sit in quiet meditation, listen to a dharma talk and engage in dialog with like minded people. Come practice with the NYZCCC Sangha every Monday at OM yoga from 6 to 7:30 pm.
To find out more, click here.
Koshin and Chodo to Deliver a Plenary Talk at the Integrative HealthCare Symposium: One Moment, One Chance
In each moment, we have the opportunity to be fully present with ourselves and others. As contemplative spiritual practices find an increasing presence within integrative care, there are basic skills that we can practice to allow our body and mind to be fully present for another—even if we only have a minute. Join the Founders of the New York Zen Center to explore what contemplative care is and its practical experiential value in the care giving you provide to yourself and others.
This talk is a part of a larger conference. Don’t miss this opportunity to be a part of one of the most comprehensive integrative healthcare conferences available with inspiring lectures, interactive sessions, case presentations and experiential workshops presented by leading pioneers covering emerging research and issues in health care today. Keep up with patient demand-take away practical knowledge and applications to help you integrate what you’ve learned into your current practice immediately.
For more information, click here.
Roshi Enkyo O’Hara On Going the Bodhisattva Way
It had been a long silent retreat, and I was feeling that gracious lightness that flows over one after deep practice. In fact, I was literally skipping down the cool dark stairway of the monastery, headed for the lush green paths of a rustic New York summer day. As I bounded into the foyer, I saw a fellow Zen student, hunched against the wall, his face contorted in what looked like shock and pain. He was gripping the receiver of an old fashioned pay phone, attached to the wall. Prevented from sitting by the short cord on the telephone, he half-stood, leaning heavily into the wall. He was saying good bye to someone on the other end.
I didn’t really know Robert all that well, and might easily have slipped by him not even noticing, much as most of us slip by those who are suffering while we continue immersed in our own world. But on that day, in that moment, I stopped. I stopped and I sat down by his feet and waited for him to finish his phone call.
To read the full Dharma Talk, click here.
|
WORDS FROM OUR ADVISORY COUNCIL
|
Just This by Carlye Coash, BCC
Our life moves quickly. Before we know it, what seemed like forever is just around the corner, and we are often unprepared. When we are at a time of facing illness, it is easy to feel overwhelmed, unsure of how to take the next steps. In this day and age, the systems that care for us in illness often add to the confusion and fear. The system seems uncomfortable slowing down to look at the impact that illness is having on the individual seeking help.
To read the full piece, click here.
Hatti Figge, LYT, LMSW, Foundations Student, On Letting Go
 |
Ten minutes before she died something in me clicked. I stopped caring that a visitor prior to me might have had a reason for leaving the TV on and I just up and switched it off. Then I sat back down to sit with Aurora and connect to her breath. She was not connecting very easily to it herself. Her exhales were long and once she got into one, she seemed to deeply let go into it. And then just like that! — her eyebrows would lift in shock, her mouth would grimace. She’d grab for air, get a tiny bit and hold on. It was like, at the bottom of each exhale, some last outpost in her mind would remember that it wasn’t ready and forcefully assert itself over the rest. This was mesmerizing. Nothing held any more importance for me in that moment. For all the ways I have of distracting myself that I call living, this moment of dying was truly alive—“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” It felt to me that there was so much relief in the exhales and so much pain in the inhales. The field of my mind had been mostly empty just being absorbed with witnessing this breath when a clear and simple thought happened:
To read the full piece, click here.
|
WAYS TO GIVING TO THE CENTER
|
Use Your Birthday to Raise Money on FACEBOOK for the New York Zen Center For Contemplative Care!
How It Works:
As a supporter you can “donate” your birthday to New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. Anyone can make a
Birthday Wish and ask friends to give money to your cause.
Make a tax deductible donation to support our work helping others. You can do that here.
We need a donation of 2 new Mac Book Pros. If you can fulfill this wish, please email us at 
