Oak Park Newspaper

Veterans Coming Home Circle will take place at the Zen Community of Oak Park on Friday, February 29th from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. The circle is open to Veterans and members of the Zen Community. Veterans often have difficulties integrating their lives back into civilian life. The Zen Community honors all veterans and is committed to providing them community and spiritual support. Practice Circles are inclusive in nature, embracing any religious or faith tradition. They create a safe container for speaking and listening from the heart. The circle will be facilitated by the Abbot of the temple, Rev. Robert Joshin Althouse, along with David Pyle and Seanon Holland, both veterans and students at Meadville Lombard Theological School. David is a US Army Chaplaincy Candidate. Seanon is preparing to return to active duty as a chaplain. There is no cost for this event, though contributions are always welcome. The Zen Community is located at 163 N. Humphrey Ave. in Oak Park (one block west of Austin Blvd and 1/2 block north of Lake St.). For more information, call the Zen Community office at 708.445.1651 or go online to http://www.zencommunity.org/html/circle-veterans.html. This Coming Home Practice Circle takes place the last Friday of every month.

An Evening with Dr. Charika Marasinge: Caring for Children in Sri Lanka at the Zen Community of Oak Park, Empty Sound Temple on Friday, March 7^th from 7:30 to 9:00 pm.

Dr. Charika Marasinge is visiting Chicago to receive an Engaged Buddhism Award, along with Sensei Joan Hogetsu Hoeberichts at the Buddhist Women’s Conference for their work on the Sarvodaya Psycho-Spiritual Healing Project for Tsunami survivors.

Dr. Marasinge is a Human Rights and Child Rights Law Consultant in Sri Lanka. She has a Bachelor of Law from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka and in 2005 she was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Law by Balliol College, University of Oxford for her thesis entitled ‘A Child’s Right to Privacy in International Law’. She is the first Sri Lankan woman to obtain this qualification. She taught law for 17 years. She is founder-trustee
of the Sarvodaya Vishva Niketan International Peace Centre.

Dr. Marasinghe will talk about her work with children. In 2005 she pioneered a company, Child Rights Law Guarantee Limited. She wanted to break the ‘dependency’ mentality since most organizations that help children and women depend on external funding to support their activities. “I really wanted the children to know that whenever we worked we worked hard to earn the money. It is self-reliance in the true sense. That’s why I didn’t want to set up an NGO, but a company that will generate its income where the directors do not share the dividends among themselves.”

The eldest daughter of Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne, she grew up in the Sarvodaya movement. Dr. Ariyaratne founded the Sarvodaya Shramadana movement in 1958. Sarvodaya is an internationally recognized development program based on Buddhist and Gandhian principles. It is the largest indigenous organization working in reconstruction form the tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.

Sarvodaya begins with an invitation from a village for discussion of what is needed and how it can be done. It proceeds in stages through creating a village council, building a school and clinic, setting up family programs, creating economic opportunity so that the village economy becomes self-sustaining, starting a village bank and offering help to other villages. Sarvodaya sponsors public meditations in which tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Christians meditate together on each other’s welfare, using broad inclusive teachings which are acceptable to all faiths.

The Zen Community is located at 163 N. Humphrey Ave. in Oak Park (1 block west of Austin Blvd. And 1/2 block north of Lake St.). All dana contributions will go to support her work in Sri Lanka. For more information, call 708-445-1651 or visit www.zencommunity.org.

Dharma Talk: A Buddhist Response to the 2004 Tsunami in Sri Lanka by Zen Teacher, Sensei Joan Hogetsu Hoeberichts at the Zen Community of Oak Park, Empty Sound Temple on Sunday, March 9^th at 9:00 am.

Rev. Joan Hogetsu Hoeberichts, LCSW, along with Dr. Charika Marasinge are co-recipients of the 2008 Award for Women in Engaged Buddhism for their collaboration to develop counseling for treatment of grief and trauma. Together they will receive this award at the “Women Being the Dharma” Conference. The award is in recognition of their work in the Sri Lankan-based Psycho-Spiritual Healing Program. The work involves senior American therapists training a team of Sri Lankan Counselors to conduct grief and trauma counseling with emphasis on the spiritual aspects of healing.

Rev. Hoeberichts will speak about her work, which is a collaborative effort to train Sri Lankan counselors and to leave in Sri Lanka a cadre of clinicians skilled in trauma relief techniques. The workshops teach skills of deep listening, empathy, the healing power of connection, and highlight the interdependence of all beings. The project emphasizes counseling skills that empower clients.

Rev. Joan Hoeberichts is a full time psychotherapist with a private practice in Manhattan and Montclair, NY. She has a BA from Cornell University, an MBA from NYU and an MSW from Fordham Universtity. She received post-graduate certifications in Pastoral Psychotherapy and Marriage and Family Therapy from Blanton-Peale Graduate Institute. She is a member of the New York Psychotherapy Collective. She is an ordained Zen Buddhist Priest, Zen Teacher, and Abbot of the Heart Circle Sangha. The Heart Circle Sangha fosters the practice and study of Buddhism through meditation, study, services, retreats and workshops. The Heart Circle Sangha is committed to service in the community and the world.

<>The Zen Community is located at 163 N. Humphrey Ave. in Oak Park (1 block west of Austin Blvd. And 1/2 block north of Lake St.). All dana contributions will go to support her work in Sri Lanka. For more information, call 708-445-1651 or visit www.zencommunity.org.