Harvest of Peace 2013

The Harvest of Peace Celebration occurs each year near the equinox and it is a time for us to celebrate the season of harvest and the richness and joy of our community. Below are some of the highlights from this year’s celebration.

We had a great turn-out!

The shrine room was packed with other 70 members of the community in attendance.

We listened to greetings from Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche and Sakyong Wangmo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T9_APmny60&feature=youtu.be

Shastri Hines shared some thoughts related to…

the importance of community and contrasted that with today’s culture of hyper-individualism. He stressed the Sakyong’s example and leadership in showing how Shambhala’s teachings and practices provide a means to connect with ourselves, each other, and the world in a genuine open-hearted way, which provides a basis for a sane, decent society.

We welcomed in our new members!

This year we had over 30 new members! This is unprecedented for our Center. The new members were welcomed and took the Membership Oath.

Our Center Director spoke

Tom Gaylord, gave us an overview of all that was accomplished this year. In addition, he had a surprise announcement. The Sakyong has expressed interest in visiting Seattle in early May 2014. Stay tuned for details!

We thanked our volunteers

I have always known that our center is propelled by the work of our volunteers, but this was made even more clear as Greg Wolk took the time to personally thank them. The list was wonderfully long and diverse. Thank you all!

 

We generously contributed funds

In 2014, Seattle Shambhala will move to the Unified Giving Model where a portion of Seattle Shambhala’s revenues (10% for 2014) will go to support the center of the mandala. Also, additional funding is needed to support another space. Members were asked to support these initiatives by increasing their monthly dues. To donate or increase your monthly support, please contact Alan Ness at [email protected] or click here.

There was lots of good conversation with friends over lunch

Photos supplied by Ben Black and Mike Mayer.