Pema Kilaya
I went to a sangha meeting for Pema Kilaya this evening. This is the local organization or sangha (yes, that term is explicitly used) for Kilung Rinpoche. Kilung Rinpoche is a Nyingma lama that I’m a student of though I’m not working with him as my exclusive teacher or whatnot. In the outer of the two levels of studying with him.
Pema Kilaya has been meeting since it formed early this year (I posted about that then) in the apartment of Diane, who is the main person running it and the non-profit Kilung Foundation with Rinpoche. When he is in town, Rinpoche lives in the spare bedroom of her place and teaches there. The group had begun to talk about getting at least an office space for the non-profit foundation with the eventual goal of getting a permanent practice space and office for Pema Kilaya so we weren’t just cramming 27 members into Diane’s living room and kitchen. There is a local, of all things, Baptist Church (”First Baptist”) on Capitol Hill in Seattle that does a lot of work with the homeless, children, abuse, the dying, etc. as a big part of its overall mission. For Christians, it seems to be very progressive and very much living the Christian values of Charity. Kilung Rinpoche has used their sanctuary hall in the past because they are friendly to Buddhists and have some sort of Buddhist-Christian meditation group in their church. (Which I think is really freaky for Baptists, of all people!)
Anyway….they have a Chinese clinic, a daycare and other organizations that rent space from them in their annex building. One of thse was the Still Point Center, which sounds familiar but I can’t place. They vacated recently and their space has become available. Pema Kilaya hasn’t really been to the point of renting anything beyond talking but this becoming available has just driven the conversation to the next stage. The space they have available is an 900+ sq. ft. space with a large classroom/practice room and two offices, one right off the the room and one down the hall. The rest of the church building is also available for no extra charge (including their sanctury and fellowship hall) to renters for events. They are only charging $8 per sq. ft. per year or, to put it another way, less than $1 per sq. ft. per month. This is something like a third of the going rate if not less. It’s also within walking distance of Diane’s apartment where Rinpoche will live and close to the central part of Seattle where the group wants to stay.
So, the meeting tonight was about two things. One was a question and answer bit with Rinpoche because he’s back and town and knew people had questions about practice and such. The other half was devoted to a discussion of the pros and cons of renting the space, the increase in dues that would have to be done to cover it and a lot of related discussion. It’s funny that in a room of 22 people, I found myself asking 90% of the logistics questions about income, risks, organization, etc. Makes you wonder about what the others were thinking. The group is going to do an anonymous mailed survey to try to get neutral, name-free responses on this but it looks like we’d have to add, roughly, $35 a month extra in dues to cover the space. Extra money from various talks, teachings, etc. would help add a buffer over time. This is a big commitment for a lot of people in the group so no decisions have been made. Personally, I think the group should do it as it really opens up a lot of possibilities and we’d have 24 hour access to the space for practice sessions (on our own or in groups) and for doing other work. We’d turn the classroom into a shrine room and practice area.
In any case, I’m excited about that. I’m also excited because it looks like Rinpoche is going to teach and/or supervise a class on Tibetan Yoga (physical and energetic) in October or November based on my prompting and asking questions of a few people about it. It’s part of the daily practices that he teaches and I really want to learn it.
