Seaweed Soup

By Anne-Marie Keppel

This is a very simple, highly nutritious, and delicious recipe.  It’s perfect to boost your immune system and detoxify your body.  It is vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free.  Of course, it's best if you can use an onion and scallion from your own garden or your neighbor's garden! 

Seaweed soup is delicious on it’s own as a light meal or can be a perfect appetizer, especially as a prelude or accompaniment to a rice dish.

Ingredients:

- One yellow onion

- Wakame seaweed

- Miso brown rice paste

- Sea salt

- One bunch of scallions

- Olive oil

- Tofu (sprouted tofu is best)

Preparation and cooking instructions:

- In a large pot, gently sauté the onion in olive oil until the onion is slightly transparent, but remains crunchy.

- Create broth by adding desired amount of hot water and brown rice paste to the sautéed onion.  Start with a half-gallon of water and 3/4 cup of paste and add more water or paste as needed.  Add sea salt to preferred taste.  Mix well until all the brown rice paste has dissolved into the water.

- Drain and cut the tofu into bite-sized pieces and add to broth.

- Add two cups of dried wakame seaweed. The seaweed will expand and soften in the water.  More seaweed may be added if desired.

- Chop the scallions and add to broth.

Since all these ingredients essentially can be eaten raw, cooking time is minimal. Make sure all the brown rice paste has dissolved, the seaweed has expanded to full size, and the tofu is warm all the way through. It's easy to reheat this soup and add fresh seaweed, so making a large quantity is a good idea. 

*Nutritional note: seaweed contains all of the minerals and many of the vitamins the human body requires for restoring and maintaining supreme health!  Seaweed is known to prevent diseases and enhance the healing process for cancer, heart disease, and immune deficiency disorders.

Dathün Creativity and Aspiration

Reflecting on her recent dathün, Jenny Bruce was inspired to create a message. During the retreat, she watched a video featuring Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, titled "Building Enlightened Society."


At the end of the video, Rinpoche said, "This world needs your help very badly."  Jenny says, "Those words came to mind a number of times during my trip back to Buffalo and as I returned to work."


Jenny set to work on creating a poster: "The words remind me to engage wholeheartedly in whatever I am doing." With regards to the poster, Jenny aspires the words inspire others to engage in this world.

Jenny Bruce lives in Buffalo, New York, and works at the food co-op on the corner of her street. She first encountered Shambhala in January 2007. The Buffalo Shambhala Group had two members at the time and has since grown to 15-20 meditators who practice every week. This past fall she began to explore the art of letterpress printmaking.


About Dathün: Dathün, Tibetan for "month session," is a one-month group meditation retreat, and one of the most important training programs in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition. The program is open to anyone and is a very powerful introduction to and deepening of mindfulness-awareness meditation (learn more). Karmê Chöling hosts 3-4 full dathüns each year and also offers half-dathüns.

Hospice Work and the Art of Meditation - An Interview with Arthur Jennings

Interviewed by Anne-Marie Keppel


Arthur Jennings is a registered nurse and hospice worker and has been helping families, friends and patients with end of life transition for more than twenty years.  For more than 35 years, he has been a part of the Shambhala Buddhist community. In a recent interview with Karmê Chöling, Arthur offers his experiences assisting the dying, as well as how death has influenced his Buddhist practice and career.

* For italicized terms, please refer to 'Key Terms' below.

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Karmê Chöling:  What were your impressions and feelings surrounding the first death you were present for?

Jennings:  The first time I saw someone die it blew me away and affected me for weeks. It really put things into perspective.  We can go any day and it really drives home the preciousness of life.  That has been really good for my [Buddhist] practice.

One thing about death I had not realized until I saw it – most people die after being in a coma-like state for at least a day or two.  They are pretty unresponsive, and at the very end the breaths become slower and slower - maybe even a minute or more between breaths. You think, “That’s it!” -- and then there’s another breath.  There is definitely a bardo period.

Karmê Chöling:  What do the family and friends of hospice patients expect or need from you?

Jennings:  Often, my job is to be a rock in the house and just let them fall apart.  Most of the families have not seen death up close and they are looking for someone who knows what he or she is doing. I help patients, who, oftentimes, are in pain or have wounds that need to be tended.  I help tidy the space and uplift the room a little or put on soft music . . . if there are people in another room talking or working, I invite them in to be with their loved one. There often is a lot of confusion in these situations, so I reassure everyone, “This is normal.”

Part of my job is to soak up blame.  It’s a perfect time to practice “Drive All Blames into One."  Sometimes people think that, if Hospice is involved, death should be painless and a lovely spiritual experience.  But often it is not so pretty.  Even with good care, the person dying may be throwing up, in pain and questioning whey he or she is still alive.

“For me, it’s an honor to be there at a time when families are in such need and to get to know them so quickly in their rawness.”

Karmê Chöling:  How does your Buddhist practice influence you hospice work and vice versa?

Jennings: Buddhist practice affects my work because mindfulness affects my work.  Buddhism is all about working with speed and distraction and cutting through to be present, even amidst chaos. The medical world is so speedy - this is getting worse all the time. So if you can go into the situation being present and efficient, but slowed-down, people really notice.

I do Tonglen, as well as mindfulness awareness practice to remain a steady presence. Sometimes families and friends, or the patient, are really struggling and I just want to do something. Tonglen helps in these situations . . . it really would be helpful for any medical practitioner.  Also, sometimes I do Phowa in my mind. Most families are not Buddhist. If the person dying is Christian, I visualize Jesus above his or her head and I visualize him or her moving towards Jesus.

Karmê Chöling:  Is there anything special or unique you have noticed being present with the dying?

Jennings:  More often than not, the dying see Jesus, or their grandmother or a childhood friend, and I try to warn the families about this.  I bring it up because a lot of time the patient does not want to be the first to talk about it. I’ll ask patients,  “Have you seen any angels?” -- and their faces will light up. They start using a lot of symbolic communication and they are confused.  They’ll say things like, “I need the key,” or “I have to go home, do you know the way home?”  I tell the families and friends to say empowering things, like “You know the way home,” or “Go the usual way,” or, “You have the key.” 

Karmê Chöling:  You were present for a death at Karmê Chöling, would you like to tell the story?

Jennings:  At Karmê Chöling, Ruthie Aster was head of practice and study and she also was my meditation instructor.  She was living at Ashoka Bavhan and I became her visiting nurse. Today, the Aster Suite is named after her. Towards the end of her life, I moved into the house, taking time off from work.

It was a perfect hospice situation- it’s the kind of situation you would want for everyone.  The Karmê Chöling community really rallied around her.  People would come to clean her up and take her to appointments and bring her lunch.  We had a scrabble day once a week and, even when she couldn’t play anymore, people would come and she would be there in the middle of this little, weekly party.

When she passed we already had talked to her doctor about performing a Sukhāvatī.  Lady Kunchok (the mother of Sakyong Mipham Rinphoche) was living on the property at the time and guided everyone through the three-day period. As Ruthie was dying, Lady Kunchok encouraged us to whisper in her ear and remind her about her practice and to remember Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.

The unusual thing was that Ruthie was in samadhi after death. Lady Kunchok advised us to leave her body totally undisturbed until this was over. Lady Kunchok felt Ruthie’s heart every day - she was really happy, because samadhi is a sign a person is a very good practitioner. Most people do not go through a samadhi state and heat leaves the heart center more quickly. Lady Kunchok showed a few of us where to put our hands at Ruthie’s heart center, to feel the heat. On the third day the heat was finally gone and we bathed the body and moved it into a casket.

The casket was made simply of plywood by a local community member, who installed a dry ice compartment underneath. Ruthie’s body was washed, lotioned and perfumed and it stayed at Ashoka Bavhan, in a shrine room for people to come to sit until we held the Sukhāvatī ceremony. There is nothing like meditating next to a corpse to drive home the reality of death, impermanence and precious human life.

~

Key Terms

Ashoka Bavhan - a house for practitioners near Karmê Chöling.

Bardo period - a state of transition.

Drive All Blames into One - a Buddhist practice for working with blame to reduce harm to self and others.

Phowa - a practice to help another attain enlightenment.

Sukhāvatī - a traditional Buddhist death ceremony which involves cremating the body three days after death.

Tonglen - a practice of sending compassion and love to others and taking in their suffering.

~ 

To learn more about Hospice, please visit: http://www.hospicenet.org/index.html

Rebirth in the Garden: Composting at Karmê Chöling

By Aaron Delong

Why Do We Compost?

Managing fertility is a key component of long-term success in any garden. At Karmê Chöling, we rely on our compost as a primary source of achieving this goal. Compost acts as both a slow release fertilizer in our beds, as well as an organic matter builder in our soil. It also helps to reduce the waste stream produced by the center.

What Do We Compost?


The answer is: what have we got? Our compost is primarily composed of kitchen scraps (excluding meat, dairy, and some cooked foods), garden residues (plant debris), and cow manure (supplied by the farmer who hays our fields). Kitchen scraps and fresh plant debris are considered 'green' materials: materials rich in nitrogen. Older garden residues, such as woodier plant debris, straw and leaves, are considered 'brown' materials. Brown materials are rich in carbon. By striking the proper balance between brown materials and greens (about 20:1, carbon to nitrogen), we can create a compost pile that is both nutrient-rich and structurally sound. Cow manure is a vital component for us, intrinsically providing nearly the ideal balance of carbon and nitrogen, as well as being a good microbial activator in the pile.

Often, we chop up our compost ingredients before putting them in the pile. Sometimes we use a machete, sometimes we use a chipper-shredder machine. Chopping up materials reduces particle size and gives microbes and bacteria more access to their food source, speeding up the composting process.

How Do We Compost?

We build our piles in a layering method: a layer of brown materials is followed by a layer of greens, followed by a layer of manure. The sequence is then repeated. Our piles, when finished, are about ten feet by five feet by three. It is important for any pile being made to be sufficiently large enough to create an internal environment where bacteria and microbes can thrive. Three feet by three feet by three is considered a minimum requirement for this goal. At Karmê Chöling, we build bigger, hoping to attain internal temperatures between 130 and 150 degrees Fahrenheit. This ensures weed seeds will be killed and any potential diseases will be sterilized. Over 160 F, however, and harmful bacteria can enter the pile; bacteria that might negatively affect plants were the compost to be applied to a garden bed.

Turning the Pile

Compost happens, whether we tend the pile or not, but how fast the process occurs depends in large part on how much effort we put in to facilitating the decomposition process. Probably the hardest part of making compost is turning compost, but this action is critical towards speeding the breakdown of the organic materials in a pile. Turning introduces oxygen into the pile, allowing the bacteria inside to breathe and helping to elevate temperature. It also keeps the pile from turning towards anaerobic respiration in the absence of oxygen, a development that can slow down decomposition and lead to the buildup of toxic components in a pile. Often, when a pile 'stinks,’ it stinks of anaerobic respiration.

To turn our piles, we simply move the contents with a pitchfork from one place to another, hopefully nearby! We try and put the parts that were on the outside of the pile to the inside, and the parts that were on the bottom on top. This maintains an even rate of decomposition throughout the pile.

Water

In addition to size, oxygen, and carbon and nitrogen-rich materials, water is a crucial factor in the composting process. Too little water slows everything down, too much cuts off oxygen flow. The general guideline is that a compost pile should have the moisture content of a wrung out sponge. Occasionally, we will add water to a pile if it seems to dry. Often, we will cover our piles with cloths or tarps to prevent them from becoming too wet in the rain. We build our piles on old pallets, as well, to aid with drainage and aeration. Excessive moisture is one of our principal composting challenges at Karmê Chöling.

The Finished Product

The length of time it takes to create finished compost depends on time of year, time spent managing the pile, and quality of materials used. Generally, in peak season, we manage a finished pile in eight weeks. The original pile can be expected to diminish to half its original volume during the composting process. The finished compost itself should be a black, crumbly soil with a slightly greasy texture, high in organic matter content, holding a good supply of nutrients that will be gradually released over a long period of time.

We apply finished compost at a rate of about one wheelbarrow to every eighty square feet, lightly working the fertilizer into our garden beds with a rake. We can plant immediately thereafter.

Composting can be a lot of fun. There is an art to the process, a mixture of chemistry, alchemy, and common sense that changes with each pile we build. There is also a satisfaction in taking our 'waste' materials and using them as a foundation for future growth. In that sense, composting is a metaphor any meditator can relate with.

Buying Local and Organic with Vermont Fresh Network

By Greg Garner, Director of Planning and Major Projects, Karmê Chöling

Since its inception, Karmê Chöling has paid a great deal of attention to how food is prepared and eaten. For years, our meditation retreat center has offered month-long retreats where oryoki, a Japanese monastic way of eating and appreciating food, is practiced.

Our kitchen staff practices mindfulness and awareness when it prepares and offers food to practitioners, teachers, staff and guests. Food is made from scratch using local and/or organic ingredients.

For the last several years, we have taken a fresh look at what we serve and where it comes from. Being in Vermont, we are fortunate to have many local growers and producers. Karmê Chöling has made a heartfelt effort to purchase more ingredients from local sources, in addition to our own organic garden.

Currently, we use more than fifty percent organic and/or local products!  Our leadership and kitchen staff are committed to increasing this percentage and sourcing directly from farmers and producers whenever possible.

One key way we have been able to buy local ingredients and eat healthy organic produce is through our partnership with Vermont Fresh Network (VFN).

Since 2007, VFN has opened doors for us, helping us meet local growers and producers. It has been a joy getting to know more folks that really care about the local food scene and how and what we feed ourselves. We look forward to making more relationships as we continue our goal of creating a sane, enlightened environment where wholesome, nutritious, local and minimally processed food can be offered to staff and guests.

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Vermont Fresh Network (VFN), founded in 1995, is a statewide organization that encourages farmers, food producers and chefs to work directly with each other to build partnerships. Building strong regional connections contributes to stronger local communities and their economies.


VFN is dedicated to promoting and publicizing Vermont chefs and restaurants that use Vermont grown and produced foods. Chefs that purchase the products of Vermont's working landscape help maintain her agricultural heritage and contribute to the future of Vermont's farm economy.


VFN also educates consumers. Through its website and links VFN hopes to educate the dining public of the wholesomeness, nutritional value, freshness, and safety of Vermont-grown foods, as well as the economic impact of supporting local businesses.