The Best Seat in the House
It's unimaginable!
To think that just nine short years ago the Sunday GP classes, for the 8-10 people attending, were held in a one-room barn with no heat and a rustic wooden floor. Now through the collective efforts of all of our members, and growing interest in receiving and practicing Buddha's teachings, we've arrived at a very different and exciting point in time.
As many of you have experienced first hand, these days, the Sunday GP class of 60-70 people is rapidly outgrowing the current meditation room. On some Sundays there is barely enough room for even one more person! It has suddenly become our good fortune to have the space next door available to us, (previously rented by the beauty salon). Because of this development, we now find ourselves planning a renovation that will enable us to comfortably seat an additional 100 people.
The Best Seat in the House is the One You Give to Someone Else!
Contributions from our members and friends will enable us to begin these renovations, and we invite you to help us open up the space for more people to benefit from meditation and Buddha's teachings, by "giving a seat" to someone. To renovate, open up the space and provide seats for 100 more people, we've estimated a total cost of $40,000. Therefore each contribution of $400 we receive creates the space and provides a seat for one more person to learn how to meditate and find inner peace. It's a wonderful way to practice all four types of generosity: by giving love, giving protection from fear and suffering, giving Dharma, and giving materially.
Miniature Model
Some talented folks at the Center have created a miniature model of the future meditation room, including a beautiful tiny cherry wood shrine, complete with tiny Buddha statues and offerings. We have 100 tiny wooden chairs, which are being hand-painted and individually decorated, and each time we receive a contribution of $400, we imagine one more person sitting in the new space and place a mini chair in the model for them.
People have been very creative in using this as an opportunity to make special prayers for others by imagining them in the meditation room in the future, experiencing inner peace and inspiration. We can do this for family members, friends or those suffering in a particular way… We can also imagine loved ones who have died taking a fortunate rebirth and finding their way to a seat in the meditation space…
We invite you to participate along with us in this "3-dimensional prayer", as we actively wish for many people in this area and in this world to find a path to inner peace, wisdom and compassion. If we build it first in our imagination, we'll be able to build it in reality.
Stop by the center to see the miniature shrine in the window and watch our progress as we gradually add chairs offered through the kindness and generosity of many members and friends.
