19th of 10th Anniversary

10th d.gif

Saturday May 19th
Crestone Community Interfaith Day

Community Interfaith Event @ Dharma Ocean

10:20 – 11:05 AM

Ashtanga Yoga - Annie Pace of Shakti Sharanam Yoga Shala

11:15 AM– 12:00 PM

The Nine Breathings of Purification - Gerry Heikes of Chamma Ling Retreat Center

1:30 – 2:15 PM

Experiencing Fullness – William Howell of Sanctuary House and the Crestone End of Life Project

2:30 – 3:15 PM

Tai Chi – Bill Smith of Way of Nature Fellowship

Note that the intensives take place at the same time as the short programs and kirtan in the shrine room so you will need to choose what you'd like to participate in most.

For directions to Dharma Ocean click here

4:00 Taiko Concert @ Shumei Center

5:15 PM
Fire, Water, Earth Tea Offering immediately followed by
- Sampai for World Peace

Fire, Water, Earth Tea Offering

For the first time in the U.S. Tea Master Yoshino Sosho will conduct a tea offering prior to the start of the world peace sampai. This is an extremely unique and unusual occasion to witness a ceremony held only on rare occasions even in Japan. The ceremony will be simultaneously be conducted at all three of Shumei’s scared sites (Misono Japan, Kishima Island – Japan and Crestone Colorado) which represent the elements of fire, water and earth.

Shumei commissioned 3 tea bowls to be made which represent the elements of fire, water and earth. The bowls were made by Mr. Morihiro Hosokawa, who is the 18th generation of the Hosakawa family. The Hosokawa family ancestors, some of who were samurai traditionally ruled the Kumamoto area of Southern Japan. The Hosokawa family have long been collectors of the most exquisite art and were very familiar with tea ceremony. They trace their ancestry all the way back to the origins of tea ceremony in the 16th century, when one of their their ancient relative was a student of Sen Rikyu.

Sen Rikyu lived from 1522 – 1591 and is considered the historical figure with the most profound influence on chanoyu, the Japanese “Way of Tea”. Sen Rikyu’s three grand children founded the 3 major tea schools in Japan Omotesenke, Urasenke and Mushakojisenke. Tea Master Yoshino Sosho is tea master in the Mushakojisenke school, which was the school Shumei’s founder Mokichi Okada favored. These tangible connections of object and ancestry quite literally connect this evening’s tea offering to the very origins in the 16th century.

In a spectacular natural co-incidence a annular eclipse in which the sun (fire), the moon (water) and the earth (earth) are all in alignment takes place the day following this tea offering. Tokyo lies only 10 kilometers north of the central line of this eclipse. For 5 minutes beginning at about 7:30 AM on May 21 in Japan (4:30 PM on May 20th, our time here in Crestone, on the day of our anniversary) more than 10 million residents within the Tokyo metropolitan area, will witness the peak annular phase of the eclipse, when all that is visible is a ring of fire around the outer edge of the moon.
In Crestone the prediction is that the sun will be eclipsed starting at about 6:30 PM Sunday 5/21 and peak at 7:30 PM with about 80% of the sun being eclipsed at this latitude. With tens of thousands of people around the world joining together in prayer along with this natural event, surely this is a beautiful time to join our intentions with these elements for peace on earth.

For more information about this eclipse you can visit to Nasa website
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2012May20Agoogle.html

Community Interfaith Event

Mokichi Okada, reverently know as “Meishusama” had a vision of working to “…bring about a world free of poverty and strife.” Shumei believes that one way we can do this through unity in diversity. In this spirit Shumei has always participated and helped to organize interfaith events around the world. Crestone with its remarkable collection of 30 or more groups gathered in this remote and beautiful area is an ideal place to recognize both unity and diversity.

On the Saturday of our anniversary weekend, since the Shumei International Institute’s grand opening in 2002, we have invited people from every spiritual and religious tradition in Crestone to participate in an interfaith gathering. This event has grown into a truly community wide collaborative event, with the Crestone Spiritual Alliance helping to organize and plan it and volunteers from across a broad spectrum of the community helping to carry it out. In 2011, the event moved to our neighbor Dharma Ocean’s facilities which have a large enough space to hold all activities inside protected from the sometimes strong Spring winds in the San Luis Valley.

The program has developed from a simple line up of presenters to a more diverse line up of options for participation. Guests have the option of attending short presentations from groups, 45 minute intensives, or visiting display tables of some other groups. An inexpensive lunch will be served on site by our friend Tshering Dorje of the Desert Sage Restaurant. After lunch there will be a kirtan (call and response devotional music in the Hindu tradition) organized by Annie Pace of the Shakti Sharanam Yoga shala (http://www.anniepace.com/)and Ramloti of the Haidakhandi Universal Ashram (http://www.babajiashram.org/).

In addition to the short programs in Dharma Ocean’s Shine room, display tables and kirtan, 4 intensives will take place downstairs. The intensives are limited to 30 participants.

Sampai for World Peace

Shumei’s principle contribution to the Crestone Community Interfaith Day activities is the sampai for world peace. We are deeply grateful that Shumei’s worldwide spiritual leader Ms. Hiroko Koyama will be traveling from Japan to lead our world peace prayer sampai service this year. Tens of thousands of Shumei’s friends from around the world join in this prayer for world peace. Sampai is held at Shumei’s headquarters, centers all around Japan, Europe and other parts of the world with friends chanting simultaneously while holding the intention for peace on earth.

As part of the special sampai for world peace Ms. Hiroko Koyama will share jyorei with everyone present at the sampai. For an explanation of jyorei click here. [link to http://www.jyorei.org/ ]

The ceremony itself is similar to Shumei’s regularly scheduled daily and monthly sampai. Click here for a general description of what daily and monthly sampai is. [link to http://www.shumeicrestone.org/events/Visiting_SII.htm]

Tea bowls & select items from Miho Museum collection on display

The 3 tea bowls representing fire, water and earth as well as a scroll from the Miho Museum collection will be displayed for a limited time. The scroll can be viewed Saturday afternoon in the art gallery from 3:30 – 5:00.

The bowls were made by Mr. Morihiro Hosokawa, who is the 18th generation of the Hosakawa family. Mr. Hosokawa’s ancestors, some of who were samurai traditionally ruled the Kamamoto area of Southern Japan. Mr. Hosokawa’s family have long been collectors of the most exquisite and were very familiar with tea ceremony. They trace their ancestry all the way back to the origins of the way of tea in the 16th century, when their ancient relative was a student of Sen Rikyu.

Sen Rikyu lived from 1522 – 1591 and is considered the historical figure with the most profound influence on chanoyu, the Japanese “Way of Tea”. Sen Rikyu’s three grand children founded the 3 major tea schools in Japan Omotesenke, Urasenke and Mushakojisenke. Shumei’s special guest for our tenth anniversary, Mr. Yoshino Sosho is tea master in the Mushakojisenke school, which was the school Shumei’s founder Mokichi Okada favored. These tangible connections of object and ancestry quite literally connect this anniversary event to the very origins of the “way of tea” in the 16th century.