“If one meditates on the Medicine Buddha, one will eventually attain enlightenment, but in the meantime one will experience an increase in healing powers both for oneself and others and a decrease in physical and mental illness and suffering.” —Lama Tashi Mamgyal

We were most fortunate this week to have Gaden Shartse monks from South India build a Medicine Buddha Sand Mandala in South Waterfront at the Artist in Residence Studio. It began fairly small, on Monday morning, as the monks took turns carefully releasing the sand into the mandala.

They worked with a vast array of sand in different colors, which was loaded into the cone shaped metal tools and slowly tapped into the emerging images

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The mandala grew as details

were painstakingly added.

This is how it looked on Tuesday afternoon, almost complete.

That evening it was complete and a Dismantling Ceremony took place where the symbolism of this intricate design of world peace was explained…

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and ritual formulas recited by the monks as they requested the deities to leave the mandala.

Different symbols made of sand represent the mandala’s deities. They were removed in a strict sequence. The sand was then swept into a pile to be distributed in small portions to those who attended the event.

The event was made possible in cooperation with the Wholistic Peace Institute and the sponsored by the Larson family. The monks are on a tour to raise funds for a hospital in India so medical care and medications can be dispensed free of charge to those in their community.

For more information on the Wholistic Peace Institute, call 503-266-8996

For more information on mandala construction and symbolic meaning, see

http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/online/mandala/

Support for Neighborhood House continues in the South Waterfront. Bee Cleaners recently delivered a large shipment of clean clothing that had been donated by SW residents or, inadvertently, by people who had not picked up their cleaning in over 6 months. Bee Cleaners must regularly dispose of unclaimed clothing and have adopted Neighborhood House as a recipient of this “gift,” as a result of the SWF 20/20 Health, Wellness and Social Spaces Committee work with this charity. The Community Relations program at the Discovery Center donated $300 and individuals from SWF have donated too, increasing our total contributions to $6569, Recently some folks who led the effort to support Neighborhood House and organize the House Tour in December met at Umpqua Bank to review these activities.

SOWA event organizers and supporters celebrate their success. From Left: Lew Pusch, volunteer; Lesley Poirier, SWF Community Relations; Peggy Pusch, event organizer; Brian Alfano, Umpqua Bank; David Gutzler, Neighborhood House Board Treasurer; Linda McCaw event organizer; Julie Countryman, Bella Espresso; and Greg Hardman, home tour host.

Once again, we are so appreciative of the generosity of our neighbors in the SWF. To learn more about Neighborhood House programs, please go to www.nhweb.org.

Several people have asked me to comment on our experiences in Hong Kong over the holidays. Here are some of our impressions. It is a great place to be at Christmas as the decorations are amazing and everything is lit up (well, that is true much of the time but even more at Christmas). So if you want to get into the spirit, Hong Kong is the place to be.

It is a very vertical environment so you have to like steps and climbing up hills. Needless to say, that contributes to its attractiveness.

The smog does not! The ferries in the harbour are wonderful. Great way to get between Kowloon and Hong Kong and all the other islands; also quite inexpensive. We found one that was free for seniors which became our personal favorite.

The people are welcoming and so ready to help you understand the place and the culture. We had some amazing conversations in places like the museum at an exhibit of portraits of people who live in low income housing. The portraits captured the character of the individual residents being photographed. As we looked at them, a local gentleman asked if we found this exhibit interesting. Thus began a long conversation about the meaning of some of the things we noticed (ex. piles of filled plastic bags surrounding an old woman were the “products” she attempted to sell on the street, not uncollected trash), how you live in a small room with a family using the community kitchen and bath/toilet facilities (our informant lived in one of these rooms for many years with 2 children and a wife), how happy people were to have these homes. It is hard to describe the joy and learning that took place in this conversation. Unfortunately, there was no catalog! The food, variety and quality, is excellent. We ate in several restaurants where only locals were eating and discovered some rather interesting dishes–some we tried and some we decided were for very discriminating tastes that we did not have.

The harbour is the busiest I have ever seen. We lived and I worked on a ship for one week; Lew ran back and forth to land on a tender. Getting on and off was a trick! I did it once! We felt as if we were part of a huge neighborhood on water although you did not interact with your neighbors. We also visited an area where fishing families live on their boats and a whole village of support services exists.

Temples were fascinating and we saw as many as possible. There are big coils of incense hanging and burning all around and you have to be open to having ash on your shoulders….and to being overwhelmed by sweet smoke. It became quickly apparent that I could not stay long and would leave with eyes streaming. The temple here is located in the New Territories where we also visited the walled cities.

That is a quick take on Hong Kong at Christmas and at the beginning of 2008…Chinese New Year (Feb. 7) will be much more exciting, I am told, but that is hard to imagine. Happy Year of the Rat.Peggy Pusch

We in the SWF 20/20 Health, Wellness and Social Spaces Committee are excited about the South Waterfront Wine and Dine Excursion #1.
The idea is simple: you and your South Waterfront friends and neighbors will meet at the streetcar stop at SW Moody and Gibbs (right next to OHSU’s Center for Health and Healing) at 6:00 pm on February 21st. You’ll get on the next streetcar and ride together to Bay 13 Restaurant in the Pearl District, giving yourself over to pleasant conversation for the entire ride rather than battling traffic and hunting for parking.
At Bay 13, you’ll enjoy contemporary seafood dishes with international influences and a free dessert with your purchase of an entrée. When’s it’s all over, you’ll ride the rails back home. What could be simpler? If you’d like to join in the fun, please RSVP to Michelle Walsh at 503.226.4941. Seating is limited to twenty, so act now! Residents only.

The excitement of the House Tour has retreated into the memories of 2007. But we are still collecting funds for Neighborhood House. Some folks tell us that they forgot to get those donations in by the end of December. We’ll continue to support N.H. so there will be more chances to help them out but we have collected, so far, over $6000. It also was an opportunity for greater visibility for Neighborhood House and they are delighted that we will be continuing to think of them as “our adopted charity.”

The Health, Wellness, and Social Spaces committee met last week and agreed to sponsor the, as of this year, South Waterfront Annual Fourth of July picnic. It will take place in the new and quite attractive area outside the Atwater–well, kind of between the Atwater and the Town Houses across the street. The idea is to have spill over space should we have a huge crowd. Last year this was held in the courtyard of the Meriwether with combined sponsorship of the Meriwether Events Committee and the HWSS. Those who were there know how much fun it was so mark your calendars and stay tuned for details. We realize that the 4th is on Friday so people may be taking long weekend trips but those of us who stay here, at home in SWF, will be having a great party.