Sacramento Dharma Center

Sacramento Dharma Center is created by dana, or generosity – your generosity. We all benefit from your dana of service and funding. From the founding donors to SDC’s initial Capital Campaign, to volunteers who rake, dig, blow, sweep, and mulch the grounds, and wash down counters and clean, to those who meet and make decisions – such as our new Green Policy, with protection of the earth as a criteria for our supplies – Thank you!!

Right now we ask your help for our end-of-year appeal, to meet the operating and special expenses that arise from using the building. New lamps and coat trees, storage shelves, more chairs, utilities, insurance and many more costs must be met. While Sustaining Sangha rents cover about 1/3rd of our costs, the Dharma Center depends on generous individuals like you to cover the remaining 2/3rd of our costs. We currently have no programs that bring in additional income.

Please become a part of the SDC Sustaining Circle, if you haven’t already. We need new sustainers to raise an additional $1800/month, in order to keep rents as low as possible for our Sanghas. Visit our website Contribute page to sign up today! If you currently donate monthly, please consider increasing the amount – and enjoy the matching generosity that results:

Two of our dedicated donors have pledged up to

$10,000 to match all new and increased sustaining gifts for three months!

Whatever amount you can give each month helps us pay the bills and budget for a marvelous future. This coming spring our three Sanghas will participate in an envisioning process planning for that future for our building and grounds.

Many of us are feeling blown about as we meet the inner and outer winds of change in our country and the world. How wonderful it is that the Dharma Center is here for all of our community to come together, and here for those in search for equanimity and compassion!  We are so grateful for each of you.

What a wonderful opportunity for us to offer dana for our Dharma Center! Part of our shared practice is working with ‘what is’.  Within this turbulent world, we are fortunate, my friends, to have a Dharma Center as part of our ‘what is’.

We will gather at the Dharma Center at 9am, bow in with one another, and play and work until Noon.  Please bring work gloves and your big heart!  An extra wheelbarrow would be nice, too. This Sunday we have many gifts to provide the Dharma Center, including:

• Finish off the wall painting by filling in the trench we dug and making sure it slopes away from the building.
• Raking and mulching leaves.  Linda Franklin and Dave Judd have contributed a chipper to the SDC and will show us how to operate it!
• Moving chips to the valley oaks.
• Creating a designated compost pile.
• Creating bird sanctuary and playgrounds by using sticks from North and SE yards to create a couple of enclaves along the East fence.  Can you imagine birding in the SDC backyard?!
• Breaking down and storing the wood from the large containers SBMG used to store zabutons and zafus.
• Dusting, vacuuming, and mopping the floors.
• Cleaning the bathrooms.  As a special treat, the new countertops in the older bathrooms may be installed this Friday and we will have a chance to see how they look!
• Cleaning the kitchen.

 

With love and gratitude,

Julia Mullen, Grounds Shepherd

916-844-8643

 

Sunday, November 6, 2016 ~ from 1:00-3:00

Sustaining Sangha members are invited to the once-in-a-lifetime Sangha Dedication and Celebration of opening our Dharma Center, come and participate as each sangha creates a dedication of our sanctuary and shared space, inside and out. Join members of Sacramento Buddhist Meditation Group, Sacramento Insight Meditation, and Valley Streams Zen Sangha to celebrate how we are realizing our Mission: “to create a sanctuary for meditation and Buddha’s teachings, welcoming everyone who seeks to end suffering and live in harmony.” And stay awhile, to enjoy refreshments and time with our community!

Arriving home: Move-in, storage, and first gatherings have taken shape for Valley Streams Zen Sangha and Sacramento Buddhist Meditation Group in October. We look forward to Sacramento Insight Meditation’s first night at SDC on November 3^rd.

Work in progress: SBMG and VS are experimenting with set-up, altar location, audio, entryways, storage, all kinds of procedures and systems in our new home. Beginner’s mind is helping us find our way in this new freedom, with patience and enthusiasm.

Maintenance: Bathrooms; walkways; leafy gutters; clean floors; tidying and cleaning; supplies; grass, trees, and shrubs, all need and are receiving attention. In its front office window, SDC has posted Interim Housekeeping and Opening/ Closing Guidelines for everyone. Feedback is invited.

Art and Design: Generous offers of art, questions about décor, colors, entry hall, information tables, and more continue to be explored. SDC’s newest committee will be grappling with creating guidelines and criteria for a harmonious and pleasing environment.

Happy HVAC savings! – after investigation of two HVAC units previously evaluated as inoperable, we’re delighted that SDC saved over $20,000 for replacement units, when Buckley Heating determined that minor electrical repairs were all that was needed for safe and efficient operation. And less landfill!

Access: SDC welcomes your ideas in the new Suggestion Box, located in the breakroom. Recent progress includes completion of our pristine ADA bathrooms; signage at driveway; lightweight sandwich boards to indicate where meetings are; contact info at the front door; maps and contact info on our website and Facebook page; training for sangha boards about the security alarm; and much more.

Volunteers: Your generous hearts have brought our community home to this refuge – thank you! Rain or shine, we invite your energies for the October 30^th Workday, 9am-12 noon, for an hour or more, doing outdoor projects and indoor preparation for our Sangha gathering on November 6^th. More info: Julia at juliam@surewest.net or Terry at terrywenner@gmail.com. And if you love working with people committed to the dharma, let Helen know at hdhobart@gmail.com, as we’re seeking a co-coordinator for the SDC Volunteer Program.

The Board of Sacramento Dharma Center is delighted and profoundly grateful to announce, that on October 12^th the Center received the City of Sacramento’s Certificate of Occupancy that allows gatherings in excess of fifty (50). Although smaller groups had begun to meet at SDC, now all three Sustaining Sanghas—Sacramento Buddhist Meditation Group (SBMG,) Sacramento Insight Meditation (SIM), and Valley Streams Zen Sangha (VSZS) may hold their regular weekly sittings at the Center, as well as daylong retreats and their full complement of activities. We look forward to experiencing the Center as it manifests a vision of a sanctuary for all who seek wisdom and the end of suffering through the teachings of the Buddha.

We are full of gratitude for the hundreds of people who have contributed time, money, and merit to build this refuge for our Sanghas. Truly, Sacramento Dharma Center comes into being and will continue through dana – the generosity of so many supporters.

We hope to see you at the dedication and celebration, on Sunday, November 6 from 1 til 3. On Sunday, January 29, 2017, SDC will hold a grand opening for the wider community. Watch for details! Please visit the SDC website, sacdharma.org, for up to date information.

With a flurry of volunteer activity getting the Dharma Center clear and clean, our Founding Sanghas are now arranging for trucking and schlepping their supplies, and setting up house at SDC. There is leave-taking of our familiar Dharma homes at Congregation B’nai Israel, Friends’ Meeting House, and the Yoga Solution.

As summer turns toward fall, we shed our routines
and separate ways of being, to join together
in sharing and creating
Sacramento Dharma Center.

Save Sunday November 6th, 1:00 – 3:00, when all members of SIM, Valley Streams, and SBMG are invited to come together for our SDC Opening Celebration. We will enjoy time to sit together and to celebrate, walk the grounds, ponder possibilities, and enjoy refreshments. Our big Community-wide Grand Opening is scheduled for January 29th 2017 – bring friends and family!

Daily progress is flowing fast. Check our progress in photos, updated frequently on our facebook page. How about that shiny new sign, with logo by David Angstead, and yards of curtains being cut and sewn by Julie DeHart! Each Sustaining Sangha is receiving new keys and entry/exit guidelines; the ADA restrooms are plumbed and SDC Board members are choosing counter tops, tiling, paint and more; a secure Tuff Shed for tools has been assembled.

Volunteers will paint and garden during SDC Workdays on Sept. 24th and 25th, covering graffiti on the building facing our property, as well as tackling a variety of inside and outside tasks. Please see details on the upcoming events calendar.

Come breathe in the spaciousness of the entry space, now free of the gigantic reception desk. And, amazingly, after months of effort, SDC Building Manager Bob Jenne found someone to haul away the mammoth door to the back vault, taking it to Washington. Our Sanctuary space is blossoming.

Wondering about upcoming events?

Office Manager Linda Dekker has been sorting our many Sustaining Sangha activities – check the updated Calendar and Upcoming events list. Sanghas are collaborating with the SDC Scheduling Committee to establish procedures for reserving rooms and accommodating our diverse needs under this one big roof.

We are hoping that in a few weeks we will all know the dates for SBMG and SIM to begin their Sunday night and Thursday night programs at SDC, in compliance with the much-awaited occupancy permit. Valley Streams will have its first Monday night program at SDC on 9/26,; SIM launched its first retreat on 9/17; and SBMG opens its first class series on 9/21 – please see Calendar for details. Welcome all!!