2025 New Year's Greeting Cards

 

 Shao Shan Temple's

2025 New Year's Greetings

have been sent!  

Below is the message on the back of each.

-------------------------------------

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2025

This prayer tablet is an expression of Shao Shan Temple’s deep wishes and dedication to the welfare of the community.  It is a bridge between the temple and your everyday practice

This has been placed on the temple’s altar - it has been charged with the great energy of faith and courage. 

This prayer tablet is designed to be displayed in your home to bring peace and protection for the upcoming year.

This year’s message is

RETURN 
to the

ROOT

( KI – KON)

May peace and blessings extend from your home to the wider world in the upcoming year.

Each card is hand done in a multiple step process.  

Above photo shows the cards with the ink drying after being stamped with the red star and before the gold circle. 

To see additional detailed photos of the card construction process, see previous years' blog entries (2022 & 2021)

Winter Solstice 2024

 

 At this time of the longest night, we gathered together to acknowledge the time of Winter Solstice.  With chanting, darkness and candlelight, we joined together in blessing in this time of transition - the longest night of the year and the returning of the light.

Shao Shan Temple offered two Winter Solstice Ceremonies - both an earlier in-person ceremony and later an online one - sharing the light and resting in a nourishing dark.

Generosity & Gratitude - December Children's Program

 For December's Family Program we met virtually and celebrated generosity and gratitude. We first shared observations of the natural world, including animal tracks in the snow, the varying warm and cold temperatures, and the shorter daylight hours.

 We then read and acted out a chapter titled "The Letter" from Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel. In the story Toad is feeling sad because it is the time of day when the mail arrives, but Toad never receives any mail. Frog gets inspired to go home and send Toad a letter, in which he thanks Frog for being his best friend. Frog then gives the letter to Snail, who takes a very long time to bring the letter to Toad's mailbox. In the meantime Toad can't wait to tell Frog that the letter is coming, and so the two friends sit together on the porch waiting for the letter and feeling grateful for their friendship. 

After the story we discussed various ways to practice generosity and gratitude, including just breathing, in which we generously share carbon dioxide with the trees, who then generously share oxygen with us in a beautiful, ongoing cycle. After a brief generosity and gratitude meditation we listened to the ringing of the temple bell and shared a group "OM."

Rohatsu Sesshin 2024

 The Rohatsu Sesshin is a meditation retreat the first week in December.  This is a time of concentrated practice to commemorate Shakyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment upon seeing the morning star.  Temples around the world join in this practice.

The sesshin consisted primarily of sitting and walking meditation and also included oryoki breakfasts, lunch with food offering walks, an opening ceremony (Ryakufusatsu), brief dharma talks, and a celebratory closing ceremony.  

This year was the snowiest Rohatsu in memory with an estimated 15" snow total by the end of Sesshin!

The Dharma Talks focused on the 5 Faculties of Awakening: Conviction, Perserverence, Mindfulness, Concentration and Discernment.

Courage & Kindness - November Children's Program

For November's online Family Program, we explored the themes of courage and kindness. 

We began by sharing our names and something we had been noticing about the natural world, such as the colder temperatures, windy days, bare trees of "stick season," and many shades of brown. 

We then discussed courage and bravery - when we feel scared or anxious, but choose to do the thing we feel afraid of anyway because it is important to us. We read and acted out the book Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall, in which a young boy, Jabari, feels nervous about going off the diving board, but through the support of his father, some back and forth, taking a deep breath, and reframing something scary as a surprise, Jabari finds the courage to take the plunge. Our group shared stories of times we have acted with courage and bravery in the face of fear.

And we practiced loving-kindness meditation, which, as the story goes, the Buddha offered as a practice to some monks who were feeling afraid of sleeping in the forest. We ended with the ringing of the bell and a group "OM."