In attendance: Basia, VoIker, Anraku, Kim, Linda, Lisa, Maia, Margi and Gineen.

We began with a couple minutes of silence and went around the circle checking in.

Affiliate Updates: Anraku read letter she sent out to Village Zendo, Margi gave an update on the Zen Peacemaker Circle mentioning the group that is forming locally and inviting anyone who would like to participate. Maia gave an update on the Buddhist Peace Fellowship and invited anyone interested in attending meetings to come to the next meeting on Sunday, Oct 5.

Schedule: Peter is opening up on Mon and Wed mornings, Gineen volunteered to take on Thursday morning so that all mornings will be covered. Beginning Instruction which has been on Wednedays has been changed to 4:45 to allow for enough time. It was also suggested that we have a followup Instruction for beginners, this would be a check in with them after they have been sitting for a few weeks.

Training: It was expressed that there needed to be more time allowed for training in service positions. Anraku said that she would train people right after the Wed sitting for 30 mins. It was recommended that someone in a service position commit to coming early and doing the same position for at least a month. Those involved in Service for the month would gather at 5:15 PM to review and rehearse on Wednesdays.

Another issue came up regarding the continuation of training for people who have had beginning instruction and who might want more guidance in terms of some of the rituals and in their practice. Some suggestions were to have a, "Dharma Friends Beginners Mind Tea" in which we would gather informally to share issues of practice. (I think it was once every month for an hour.)

Also offering an 'Introduction to Zen Workshop' for 3 hours every couple of months might be helpful to introduce newcomers to practice.

Guest Teachers: Everyone present felt that having guest teachers and speakers was great. Margi and Anraku will meet to set up a proposed schedule. Basia also was interested in giving her talk on Poetry and Psychotherapy and Zen at the Zendo possibly as part of the "Tea" series.

Many Flavors of the Dharma, Zen Center on Main Street will participate. Anyone interested in volunteering a few hours or even the day to help with our table and the workshop. Anraku will lead a workshop, "Expressing Emptiness through Form; The Practice of Zen."

Basia brought up the question of how we decide which services we do on Wednesdays. We had been doing the Heart Sutra all last year and last week began doing, "The Identity of Relative and Absolute" This issue I do not think was really resolved. I will also run it by Sensei to see if she has an opinion.

Financial Report: Anraku brought up the reality of decreasing donations over the summer and the reality of continued rent which is 425 for the zendo space alone. Last year the donations covered about 1/2 the rent. Perhaps there is a way to encourage people to give monthly as it was expressed that it was easy to forget. Suggestions?

Also acquiring Tax Exempt Status would help those making more substantial and regular donations to be able to deduct it from their income tax. Maia will bring in the paperwork that BPF as a local chapter used to link them to BPF international. Anraku will then pursue further with the Village Zendo.

New Sutra books will be put together using the covers that Gineen designed.

Entry into the AFSC sponsored Anti Racism Calendar for 2004 begining on January 19, the birthday of MLK, was discussed. All were in favor and many suggestions were made. Anraku will tell AFSC that we are interested and we will decide what we want to do within the next couple of weeks. Any suggestions please contact Anraku at hondorp@comcast.net

Please let me know if I have forgotten or misrepresented anything in these minutes.

Humbly submitted,

Catherine Anraku Hondorp