New Year’s Eve Change

If you’re coming to our New Year’s Eve festivities tomorrow, you will not need to bring a noise-making instrument – or ear plugs. This year we will dispense with that feature of the rituals.

And if you’re still uncertain about coming, do come anyway! In addition to the annual repentance ceremony (preceded by two rounds of sitting) and some shorter, simple rituals, the main element is sitting, though with plenty of breaks (including one where tea and coffee are available). For those who attend this every year, it’s the safest, cleanest, freshest way to kick off a new year – and this year a new decade.

Deliver Them from Temptation

To repeat one of our periodic announcements about parking security at the Center: Be sure to leave no belongings of any kind in your car, visible on the seats or anywhere. Recently, on two occasions, cars at or near the Center were broken into again. A Sangha member came out of an evening sitting to find a window broken in her car (and the car behind hers), which she’d parked on the street, and her cell phone taken. 

Over the years, cars have been safer, generally, when parked in our lot, which is well-lit. But just last week one of the Zen Center’s cars parked there was rifled through (the car may or may not have been left unlocked). 

In our lot, parking spaces for Monday and Tuesday evening sittings can be scarce. But remember that our magnanimous next-door neighbor, the Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, still welcomes us to park in the Arnold Park end of their lot (accessed from Goodman Street) except on Sunday mornings, when they need every spot. But wherever you park, don’t leave things visible that will tempt people to sow bad karma.

Phone Found

A lost phone appeared on the 5 Arnold Park porch a few days ago. It’s a Motorola Moto with a dead battery (and not the stolen one mentioned above). If you think it might be yours, give us a call.