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WELCOME TO THE APRIL NEWSLETTER
This past month was an important time for the Center. With Koshin’s ACPE certification, the Center has matured into a place of education that can grow to meet the rising need to train Buddhists and Contemplatives in the only fully accredited Buddhist based training program for chaplains.
Our Sangha continues to meet and deepen at Tibet House. All are welcome to join. Also in the newsletter are links to Dharma talks, news about our 20010/11 CPE training, celebration of Jinpu’s art award, and a call for support of our chaplaincy students.
May you and those you care for have a beautiful month.
Bows,
Koshin + Chodo
Co-Founders
ACPE SUPERVISORY ACCREDIDATION
 On March 25, Koshin and Jinpu traveled to Mt. Bethel, PA to meet Koshin’s Association of Clinical Pastoral Education’s Supervisory certification committee. Through the rigorous four hour committee process, Koshin was granted certification as a ACPE Supervisory Candidate! This makes NYZCCC the only Buddhist organization that has a fully accredited ACPE Chaplaincy Training program as well as having two ACPE accredited teachers. This will allow us to continue to grow to meet the needs of our expanding student community. We are grateful to HealthCare Chaplaincy for their support.
CPE INTERVIEWS
 In the last weeks of March, we interviewed twenty six applicants for the twenty two spots we have for our 2010/11 Buddhist Clinical Pastoral Education trainings. We were struck by the depth of spiritual practice and caregiving that the applicants showed. The majority of the applicants are graduates of our Foundations in Buddhist Contemplative Care, and many have finished their first or second CPE units. We are looking forward to a rich year of certified training.
SCHOLARSHIP FUND
 On average, one chaplaincy student in our program will provide contemplative care for 479 individuals, 112 familes, 66 staff members and run 19 meditation groups for staff in just 10 months. You can help one of our chaplain interns help others by contributing to our scholarship fund. Our goal is to raise $10,000 in scholarships for our Clinical Pastoral Education students. We have already raised $3,000.
Make a difference and support a student by giving a tax deductible donation. Click here to make a donation, and write 'scholarship' in the memo field so we know how to allocate your gracious contribution.
FIRST PRIZE WINNER TRUDI JINPU HIRSCH ABRAMSON
 In April 2010, Jinpu won first prize in Pastel Journal’s 11th Annual Pastel 100 Competition—a showcase of 100 exceptional pastel paintings, selected from nearly 4,000 entries. The judges remarked, "The swirling composition, and use of pattern that keeps the eye moving, and the free and confident handling of the medium gives immediacy to the work and also shows the artist’s understanding of the simplification of form.” Congratulations to Jinpu for continuing the passion she has for creating art.
A WONDERFUL GUIDE TO END OF LIFE ISSUES
In March, Rev. Martha Jacobs, BCC a friend of NYZCCC and the Editor of PlainViews, an e-newsletter from HealthCare Chaplaincy, came to speak with our Foundations and CPE students. She led the classes in her Prayerful Discernment Process on contemplating death. You can experience this contemplation here. Martha has written a wonderful new book “A Clergy Guide to End-of Life Issues.” This book is a great resource. She wrote this book after finding the serious need for and, lack of one comprehensive collection of tools to help new and seasoned clergy guide individuals and families through end-of-life issues.
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 and it is filling up.
 Are you ready to train in contemplative caregiving skills with other like-minded people? Our 10-month 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.
Applications are due May 21st.
For more information, FAQs, and the application, please go here.
 NYZCCC SANGHA
We meet weekly on Monday evenings, from 6 to 7:30 pm for meditation, Dharma talks, council and conversation. All are welcome. For more info, click here.
NATIONAL HOSPICE AND PALLIATIVE CARE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
 Saturday, April 24, 2010
Koshin and Chodo Speak at NHPCO's 25th Management
and Leadership Conference
Contemplative Executive Leadership: The Eight Awarenesses
This session will focus on the Contemplative Leadership work being done at the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. The Center has led the field by not only contracting with a hospital and offering a comprehensive Contemplative Care Program, but also by developing their program into an accredited training program for Clinical Pastoral Education. The founders of the Center will talk about the best practice models for leadership by exploring the Eight Awarenesses: having few deisres, knowing how to be satisfied, enjoying equanimity, exerting meticulous effort, not forgetting right thought, practicing meditation, cultivating wisdom, and avoiding idle talk. In addition they will explore ways in which to use this contemplative approach for leadership in your work setting. For more info, click here.
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DHARMA TALKS BY NYZCCC TEACHERS
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There are new Dharma Talks by both Koshin and Chodo on the Dharma Talk page. To listen to these talks and others, click here.
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WORDS FROM OUR RESEARCH DIRECTOR
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 Joshua Mitsunen Moses is currently serving as a senior investigator on a United States National Science Foundation study of social networks in Labrador Inuit communities. This project will result in 600 interviews, mapping 8 different networks, including youth support,as well as narrative interviews and ethnographic fieldwork. He has been sending artic dispatches, this is one of them.
I have now been in Nain, Labrador for two months, studying informal networks among Inuit as a senior investigator for a National Science Foundation project. It is a vast and harsh land here. In winter a world of snowmobiles, ice, snow dogs and ravens. In the days I interview people about their relationships with people, about community support. I ask them questions about who they hunt with, who they share food with, where they go when they are in trouble, how they find people who know where to hunt. They come into my office smelling of smoke, fish and seal. They sit for half an hour or an hour and we talk. Sometimes they don't speak English very well. Sometimes I have a translator. There are misunderstandings and sometimes people are shy about the questions. If it is possible to characterize a people, the Inuit tend to be reserved. For the most part, they are not garrulous people. The last seven centuries here, of course, have been characterized by tremendous change, which continues apace. Fisheries closing, mines opening. New land claim and government as of 2005. Continuing governmental malfeasance. Post-colonialism seems to mean another form of exploitation.
But I am learning. In the bar tonight a man said, thank you for helping, you are good man. I felt embarrassed, ashamed even. I don't feel like a good man. I ask questions and then go home. Sometimes I feel brokenhearted at what we can do to people. One more month and then I go home. I will continue to record what I can. Trungpa spoke of a brokenheartedness. What to do to with it. Somewhere in the hills beyond town there are still polar bears. With a mixture of joy and fear sometimes I think I see them. I wonder how much longer they will be here. I am thankful for my experiences here. At times I wish I could get on one of the rickety little planes and fly away. But then something happens. Light on ice. Glimpse of bear in trees. Heart's expanse expands.
Make a tax deductible donation to support our work helping others. You can do that here.
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DEDICATED TRAINING SPACE NEEDED
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The New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care is actively looking for a new location. We have outgrown our present space at 80 East 11th Street and our rented spaces for our training programs. In the Fall, we are expanding our offerings to four year-long training programs in caregiving, as well as our regular weekly programs, retreats and public talks. At the moment, all our workshops, public education and trainings are held at various rental locations. Our administration and consultations are held in a separate office suite. While we are looking to realize our vision of a permanent home for the Center--including the end-of -life guest house--we need an interim space where we could expand our offerings, provide more direct care, train more people and increase our public education programs. Ideally, we are looking for 3,000 + square feet in the Union Square/Flatiron/Greenwhich Village/Soho areas—centrally located to public transportation and near our partner Beth Israel Medical Center. We are hoping for a donated or subsidized loft space. This new space will enable us to offer a 60 seat (or greater) meditation room, two/three consulting rooms, office, library, classroom, kitchen and multi-purpose common area. In an effort to better serve the needs of our caregivers and the New York City community, we ask for your support. All offers and/or leads are welcome.
Please contact us at: info@zencare.org.
 We are currently seeking 2 new donated Mac Book Pros. If you can fulfill this wish, please email us at info@zencare.org.
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Make a Donation to New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care
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Our mission is to make accessible, the wisdom, compassion and equanimity of the Buddha both locally and globally by: Creating and operating an end-of-life care residence within a larger Dharma center. To mindfully and compassionately serve people approaching death. To support the dying, their family and friends. To train volunteers, staff, monastics and medical professionals the ways of attending to the sick and dying from a Buddhist perspective. Attending to residents physical, emotional and spiritual needs cognizant of the fact that death is an integral experience of life. To provide the larger community, educational programs with a foundation in Buddhist teachings. To offer daily meditation practice, workshops and teachings from visiting Dharma teachers and Healthcare professionals. Your tax deductible donation will go toward making our vision a reality.
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