A Dharma Center for PIMC
by Robert Beatty

Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.

Whatever you can do
Or dream you can, 
begin it
Boldness has genius,
Power and magic in it.

                                            Goethe

Our bold dream of having a Dharma Center for PIMC has become a reality. The former Assembly of God church at 6536 SE Duke became the Portland Insight Meditation Center at 10:30 AM on Monday January 23, 2004. As Goethe described, countless streams of ripening karma that were totally unforeseen arose to help us along our way. 

Having a place in which to develop our community has been a dream for more than two decades. Six years ago Nancy and I visited with Dharma Teachers Kamala Masters and Stephen Armstrong at their Dharma center on the slopes of Mount Haleakala on Maui. Overlooking the ocean a few thousand feet below we talked of creating a center in Portland. Five years ago PIMC incorporated as a non-profit, and began to develop the social and organizational infrastructure to allow this to happen. Two years ago I traveled to Boston to visit the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center, started by Larry Rosenberg, and learn how that center of practice had come about and how it functioned. The same year, Nancy and I went to Mountainview California to meet with Gil Fronsdale of the Mid-Peninsula Insight Meditation Center. That group had purchased a church about a year before. In all of these encounters I heard the same message: “Go for it. Having a center will galvanize the community and there will be a whole lot more Dharma study and practice”. 

On the trip to California we also visited Ruth Denison who is one of the pioneering Dharma teachers in America. Her retreat center, Dhamma Dena, is in the high desert near Joshua Tree northeast of Palm Springs. I met Ruth in 1980 when we were both visiting the Ven. Taungpulu Sayadaw of Burma in the mountains west of Palo Alto. At our first meeting we talked for several hours and she became my Dharma teacher. Ruth has had a profound and formative influence on my life and I think of her as my Dharma Mother. She was very encouraging of PIMC getting a home, and she sent us back to Portland with a donation of $10,000 as seed money. 

I came home from that trip very inspired. I talked with the board and there was agreement that it would be skillful to move toward a center. We had a community meeting and solicited feedback from the community and made a list of desirable attributes for our someday center. Informal fund raising began and we began to keep our ears to the ground for a suitable building. Simultaneously we worked at board development.

A year ago, on the pilgrimage Nancy and I led to Thailand, a most graceful and beautiful standing Buddha came before us in the Chekachek market in Bangkok. Some discussion led to the realization that he was a gift we would give to PIMC as a beacon to draw the energies of a center together. He has been standing at the Portland Dharma Center for a year. He will soon move to his new home. 

As with any change, there was a lot of uncertainty and discomfort, along with the excitement and pleasure of dreaming and creativity. Some members of the community thought a center was a great idea. Others were not comfortable with it. A spirited and healthy dialogue ensued. My own interior process mirrored that of the board and community as I would find my thoughts and emotions at times confident that a center was possible and highly desirable. At other times doubt would come sweeping in and I would wonder if I was out of my mind and leading the community astray. Behind these oscillations, however, there was a quiet knowing that the path led toward a Dharma Center. 

Last July our realtor, Terry Crotteau, discovered what turned out to be our warmup church. It looked good, had a huge lot, and seemingly brimmed with promise. The inspections revealed that it was in very bad shape and that it would be a financial disaster to buy it. It is still for sale. The warmup church also revealed that we needed to pay more attention to the inclusion of the community and to the development of community structure. 

In late December one of our community members saw the ‘for sale’ sign on the Assembly of God Church on Duke, and sent me an e-mail. It had not even been listed before we were in contact with the selling realtor and asking to see it. We acted quickly because the property looked good and the asking price of $450,000 seemed too good to be true. Market value on the city of Portland tax rolls is $634,000. It was essential that we act quickly, because there immediately developed a feeding frenzy of other groups around the sale. Most of the board toured the property with several community members, at the same time as a Russian group that really wanted it as well. We learned that if we wanted it we had to act fast, so we made a full price offer the same evening. The next day, the PIMC board was having an all day working retreat. We learned that the other group had made an identical offer. Our realtor, Terry Crotteau, told us to “make our best shot”. I called one of our donors and we were given another $35,000. The board authorized an offer of $485,000. On the phone with Terry I felt unsettled with the offer. My intuition kept nagging and I feared that we might not be being quite generous enough. I added $1000. We found out a day or so later that our offer had been accepted and that the last minute increase had been important. 

There followed a roller coaster of events. The extra $1000 was returned so that the groups renting the building could stay on a few weeks and not have to move out precipitously. It was discovered that the fourth building on the property, and the property on which it stood, were not part of the sale property. They belonged to an adjacent lot which the selling realtor was purchasing. The seller made an adjustment of $25,000 in the sale price, bringing the cost to $460,000. 

The timelines were very tight and it was difficult to get the inspections done on time. Other groups were calling the selling realtor on a daily basis, no doubt offering cash and higher bids than our accepted offer. Had we not acted expeditiously, we could easily have missed a deadline and lost the church. 

Now it is ours and we can bring our deepest love, creativity and devotion to making it into a place worthy of being a Dharma Center. We are following in the footsteps of the former Assembly of God pastor, Dan Thomas. He took over the church four years ago with the vision of creating a place of spirit which could house and nourish several faith communities as they grow. His personal ministry is particularly inspired by offering aid to the disadvantaged and minorities. My conversations with him have revealed to me a man of deep love, devotion to God, and an enduring calling to be of service to all human beings. Meeting him was meeting a Dharma Brother. 

There is quite a lot of cleanup and minor repair work to be done on the buildings. In the next few weeks there will be opportunities to participate in making the place truly ours. I am envisioning having our first Sunday evening gathering in early March. Sometime in the spring we will have a grand opening, and will invite Ruth Denison and the other Buddhist groups in Portland to come help us set the wheel of the Dharma rolling in our new home. 

Since our first attempt at a building purchase I have been sensitized to churches synagogues and mosques as I drive around Portland. They seem to be everywhere. All these spiritual communities have found it to be important to have a location in which to pursue their spiritual journey. Now there is another center of Buddhist practice which is part of the blossoming of the Dharma in America. We are part of an energy which is vast and unfathomable. I bow in deepest respect and gratitude to all who have participated in this journey thus far. Your financial support, participation in the process and encouragement have contributed to manifesting this dream as a reality.

May all beings benefit from the existence the Portland Insight Meditation Center.