Practicing with Covid-19: Update

Dear Sangha friends,

As the spread of the Covid-19 continues around the world, Vancouver is far from being one of the high-risk areas, but there has been community transmission here. At Mountain Rai Zen Community we want to do our part as a sangha to minimize risk to each other and the wider community by taking careful precautionary measures. Let's fold this situation right into our practice of moment-to-moment awareness for the benefit of all beings. Equanimity in the face of fear and distress does not mean passivity or indifference. It means staying steady, with open heart/mind, meeting and responding to what arises with patience, wisdom and compassion. 

Sanitary measures:
1. Please do not come to the zendo if you are feeling unwell, with fever, coughing, or shortness of breath.  We recognize that sometimes people sneeze or cough due to other factors than illness. If you are prone, it’s good to have a tissue on hand.

2. Effective and frequent hand-washing is the key to reducing transmission risk. Guidelines are posted at the zendo. Also, please use hand sanitizer upon arrival, on the table in the entrance hall. There is another hand sanitizer on the kitchen table to use after using the washroom or before handling food or dishes.

3. Please avoid direct hand contact and hugging. Fortunately, we have a wonderful way to greet each other--palms together in gassho!

4. Please dispose of used tissue immediately in garbage containers--not the orange plastic paper towel container in the washroom. 

5. Avoid touching your face. This is a challenging mindfulness practice, that we can take up with the intention of caring for self and others.

5. We will clean and disinfect door handles upon arriving and leaving the zendo.

Food:
1. We will not be serving tea and snacks at our regular practice times.

We will not be serving tea and snacks at our regular practice times.We will not be serving meals at the upcoming weekend retreat March 29-29 as originally planned. Please bring your lunches to eat in the zendo. For Saturday dinner, you can bring your own dinner to eat in the zendo, or go out for dinner. 

Cancellations: 

At this time we are not cancelling any of our scheduled practice times or events. We will continue to monitor the situation daily, checking BC government recommendations, and will announce any changes here on the website and in our email newsletter. We are exploring ways to continue to support sangha practice through electronic media if we need to suspend public events.

Please take care of yourselves and make the best choices for your circumstances.

Gassho,
Mountain Rain teachers, council and practice committee