All News

An Update from the EBMC Space Force on 1422 Harrison St.

/in /by

Dear Sangha, 

 

Over the last few months, we (the EBMC Space Force!) have been happy to share and discuss the promising results of our building search: a single-story property at 1422 Harrison Street, just a few blocks from our current home. Through a series of community workshops and surveys, we heard your excitement about the building’s central location and proximity to 12th Street BART; its ground floor location; the potential to create spaces that meet the needs of our sangha for spacious gatherings, healthy indoor air quality, and child-care; and the feasibility of providing tenant space to a values-aligned non-profit that also supports EBMC’s financial sustainability. We also heard your concerns about the building’s lack of parking, green space, the financial burden of renovation, and the narrow, closed-in shape of the space. 

 

Although every site will have its drawbacks, the fact that this property ultimately did not permit emergency egress through the rear or sides of the building proved to be a non-starter for our community. Our architects provided some wonderful alternative designs to better meet our needs for accessibility and ease of exit, but the physical constraints of the structure proved challenging.  Because this is a zero–lot–line property, we could only guarantee exits on the Harrison-Street-facing side of the building. Thus, we could not assure the sangha’s safety in the case of various emergency situations. As a result, we have decided not to move forward with the 1422 Harrison Street property. 

 

We will be working with our realtor to continue our search, and refining our requirements and designs for our new home. We have been so bolstered by the amount of enthusiasm and constructive feedback we’ve received in this process, and encourage your continued participation in our ongoing efforts to find a safe and suitable new building. If you are aware of any potential leads on properties that might meet our needs, we invite you to get in touch with us! 

 

Your small but mighty Space Force!

Kaily Heitz, Ramon Honea, Marian Urquilla, Cassandra Shaylor, Xiaojing Wang, Crystal Johnson

Many Communities, One Sangha: Exploring the Reality of Equity & Inclusion

/in /by

Many Communities, One Sangha:

Exploring the Reality of Equity & Inclusion

October 2, 9, 16, 23, 30

A Class Series to benefit East Bay Meditation Center and SZBA BIPOC Fund

It has been over a year since the murder of George Floyd spurred a reinvigorated effort to bring the principles and practices of racial equity to our sanghas and our lives. While many have had some success, many of us report disappointment at the progress we have made. This course is designed as an online facilitated community inquiry to support and energize sanghas and dharma practitioners seeking to create equitable, inclusive communities.

We will explore questions such as:

  • What do we actually mean by equity?
  • What are the values, intentions and commitments that drive our pursuit of equity?
  • What does it mean to create sanghas that offer safety, dignity and belonging to a diverse community?
  • What does it mean to practice being in “right relationship” to hierarchy and authority in our communities?
  • How do we work with the intensity of emotion and pain that arises when we are intimate together?
  • How do we handle the loss (for some) of “traditional” ways?
  • How do we handle the harm that has already arisen (and continues to arise) so that we can move forward in a different way?

We invite you to join us in deep inquiry and practice to investigate together how we can create the ongoing conversation in our dharma communities and our lives that will allow us to create community spaces that provide safety, dignity and belonging to as diverse a group of people as possible. This course will offer dharma talks, panel discussions, journaling, and small and large group discussions, supported by embodied practices that support our capacity to be in the difficult conversations that lead to real change.

Please be aware that this is not a beginning class. To join us, we ask that you bring openness and curiosity, some experience exploring the impact of racism, homophobia, misogyny, ableism, transphobia and classism on our communities, and the capacity (or at least the aspiration!) to stay with difficult conversations.

To learn more, please visit szba.org/courses.

ONLINE: Community Meeting

/in /by
An Online Community Meeting

Thursday, August 5th 5:30-7 p.m.

OR Sunday, August 8th 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

 (Time Zone Converter) –

ASL Interpretation and Closed Captioning Provided

The EBMC Staff, Leadership Sangha, and Space Force invite you to join us for an important EBMC all-Sangha Community Meeting about our new home!

All EBMC Sangha members, past and present, are invited! 

We need your input to shape EBMC’s future! 

Our EBMC Space Force has been working hard to secure a new physical location for EBMC given that our current lease will be up in fall of 2022.

Join EBMC for a discussion about a potential building purchase

    • Weigh in on building design
    • Learn the tradeoffs and consequences of this project

There are two opportunities to be part of this community conversation:

Thursday, August 5 5:30 p.m.

OR Sunday, August 8 at 11:00 a.m.

Open to All – RSVP requested

This meeting is VIRTUAL. You will be sent a Zoom link after registration.

We look forward to being with you then!

For Thursday, August 5th 5:30-7 p.m.

Sunday, August 8th 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Online: Practice in Transformative Action Cohort 9

/in /by

Consulting Opportunity: Real Estate Committee Project Management

/in /by

Available Immediately

Applications due June 2, 2021.
Duration: 90 to 120 days

The East Bay Meditation Center (EBMC) seeks a consultant to provide short-term, specialized project management support to the Real Estate Committee guiding the identification, purchase, and build out of a new facility for the Center in downtown Oakland. We expect the project to require between five to ten hours a week of consultation.

See full description HERE.

EBMC signs on to Defund the Police recommendations for Oakland City Council

/in /by

“Lives saved in Oakland means lives saved across the nation.”

May 20, 2021: East Bay Meditation Center #EBMCOakland has signed on to the Defund Police Coalition’s call to Refund, Restore, and Reimagine our communities in Oakland. The Defund Police Coalition has been working hard to cut the Oakland Police Department’s budget by 50%, and ensure that those funds are reinvested in much needed community resources, services, and programs that keep us safe and healthy.

As a result of grassroots pressure and tireless advocacy, a City of Oakland “Reimagining Public Safety Task Force” adopted powerful recommendations for how the city can be redirecting funds away from policing and into community health and safety. Please read these recommendations here: https://bit.ly/3oAkgZT They will be presented to the Oakland City Council, and will be discussed and voted on in the coming months. We will let City Council members know that these recommendations have massive, popular support from all corners of our city and movement!

If you’re part of an organization that wants to sign on to Refund, Restore, Reimagine – Support the Call to Defund OPD and Invest in Our Communities! – you can find the Googledoc here: https://bit.ly/3f7va6x

 

When Will East Bay Meditation Center Reopen Its Physical Space?

/in /by

As vaccines become more available and the State of California slowly begins to reopen businesses, some of you may be wondering whether East Bay Meditation Center will be reopening our physical space. We are monitoring the herd immunity rates for Alameda and surrounding counties and want to ensure that our communities have access to vaccines, and for those that cannot get vaccinated, we are mindfully creating safer spaces for in person events. 

As we have seen, conditions surrounding COVID-19 are ever changing and EBMC’s priority is to ensure that we continue to cultivate a place of refuge for all, with special care for our most vulnerable Sangha members. We are committed to radical inclusivity and accessibility, and will be keeping our physical space closed for the foreseeable future. 

We thank you for your continued support of our many online programs. As we face the unknown challenges of the time ahead of us, EBMC remains committed to the safety and well-being of the communities we serve. In the words of the great Buddhist teacher Shantideva: 

May the frightened cease to be afraid

And those bound be freed.

May the powerless find power

And may people think of benefiting one another.

Unpacking Whiteness: Exploring the Delusion of Race from a Buddhist Perspective | A Benefit for EBMC hosted by Soto Zen Buddhist Association

/in /by

Unpacking Whiteness: Exploring the Delusion of Race from a Buddhist Perspective | A Benefit for EBMC hosted by Soto Zen Buddhist Association

Unpacking Whiteness is a 4-session online course to benefit the East Bay Meditation Center, led and facilitated by Crystal Johnson.

More white people than ever before are waking up to the terrible impact of racial injustice, and seeking ways to skillfully keep our commitment to relieve suffering. This class, taught from a Buddhist perspective, is designed as a collaborative exploration of our conditioning as white people and a time to develop skills for interrupting racism and building diverse community.

This class is designed for white people who are learning about whiteness; it is open to anyone who would like to join.

This event will benefit the East Bay Meditation Center and fund the initiation of the SZBA’s BIPOC Support Fund, a fund to support Black, Indigenous and People of Color in Soto Zen lineages. We offer sliding scale registration and invite you to give as generously as you can. The course is open to everyone, regardless of donation level.

You may sign up and find more information here: www.szba.org/courses

Tomorrow Tues May 4 “May We Gather: National Buddhist Ceremony for Asian American Ancestors”

/in /by

May 4 2021 Buddhist Memorial for Asian American Ancestors ceremony

 

Tuesday May 4, 2021 at 4 PM PDT – 5:30 PM PDT
May We Gather: A National Buddhist Memorial Ceremony for Asian American Ancestors.
You are warmly invited to attend this free online healing ceremony led and organized by Asian American Buddhists in the face of anti-Asian American violence. Access the event website here: https://www.maywegather.org/
East Bay Meditation Center is proud to be among the many Buddhist organizations endorsing this national memorial ceremony.

ONLINE: Honoring Our Asian American Buddhist Ancestors

/in /by
An Online Event with Rev. Duncan Williams

Saturday, May 15th 2021 2:00PM – 4:00PM PST  (Time Zone Converter)

Closed Captioning Provided

The March 16th Atlanta shootings claimed the lives of eight people, six of them women of Asian descent, including 63-year-old Buddhist, Yong Ae Yue. Yue’s tragic death follows upon months of unrelenting racist taunts and violence against Asian Americans, including the senseless assault of 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee in San Francisco. His daughter, who herself had been accosted twice in the past year and told to go back to Asia because “Asians caused the coronavirus,” described her father as a devout Thai Buddhist; his funeral was held at Wat Buddhanusorn in Fremont, California. Our temples have also come under attack. Six Vietnamese American temples in Orange County, California were vandalized in a single month; an outdoor Buddhist statue was spray-painted with the word “Jesus” at Huong Tich Temple. More recently, the Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple in Los Angeles was damaged when windows were smashed, lanterns broken, and the building set on fire.

Rev. Duncan Williams will speak about the National Buddhist Memorial Ceremony for Asian American Ancestors scheduled on May 4, 2021 – Forty-nine days after the Atlanta shootings. Forty-nine days after death marks an important transition for the bereaved in many Buddhist traditions.

 

Registered participants will receive a link to join us via Zoom with their EventBrite confirmation.