08/18/2023
Letter from the Heart ❤️
Namo Sakya Muni Buddhaya,
Dear Noble Communities,
Dear Noble Friends in the Practice,
Blue Cliff Monastery is located in a beautiful mountainous area about two hours north of New York City. It was established in 2007 and every weekend it welcomes hundreds of practitioners for whom it has become a spiritual home. Unfortunately, the physical condition of the buildings and the infrastructure of the monastery are in poor condition and some of them no longer meet the safety requirements established by the government.
During the holidays and the summer, the monastery has to work hard to provide adequate accommodation and practice space. Everyone who comes here is aware of a certain lack of comfort. While this is not an obstacle to touch the source of peace and happiness during their practice, the nuns and monks were, at times, obligated to ask some practitioners attending activities to rent hotel rooms in the vicinity. This turns out to be quite expensive.
Blue Cliff Monastery used to be a resort surrounded by forests and natural spaces, but the infrastructure has deteriorated.
We have joined hands in repairing, patching and turning this place into a residence and practice center for many years. However, some buildings can no longer be repaired, their foundation and wall boards have begun to rot and break, to the point that they can no longer be used.
We will need to begin working on MOON LAKE building, which is seriously degraded and is likely to collapse in the near future without intervention. The nuns who used to live in Moon Lake are temporarily housed in the buildings dedicated for our guests. We also expect a group of new sisters to arrive from Vietnam soon which will increase our lack of space. When winter comes and inclement weather arrives, we also expect to temporarily use some additional guest rooms as study rooms. Therefore, we consider rebuilding Moon Lake to be a top priority and would like to ask for your support.
The estimate for the total project cost is two and a half million dollars ($2,500,000), and we hope to start working on the new nunnery in August of 2023. We look forward to your support, big or small, one brick at a time, to help carry out this important project.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR MERIT OF PROTECTING THE THREE JEWELS
