Rev. Danny Fisher

“Dave Gaudette at the Front Range Boxing Studio.” Image via the Boulder Daily Camera.
There’s a neat story in the Boulder Daily Camera today about Dave Gaudette, proprietor of “a Buddhist boxing gym.” Take a look.

This past weekend, I enjoyed one of the most delightful Saturdays in recent memory. I spent most of it with members of the Hsi Lai Friends, helping to plan an interfaith dialogue event at UWest that is tentatively scheduled for March 2010. But it turned out that a lot more happened than just the meeting.

First, my friend and fellow Buddhist minister Nathan Michon and I got to hang out a little bit in the morning. We were ordained together, and one of the pleasures of being back in Rosemead is being able to reconnect with Nathan and get to know him a little better. Around lunchtime, we drove over to the Hua Shia Buddhist Association in Monterey Park to pick up our friend Ven. Chuan Jue for the Hsi Lai Friends meeting. This is the temple here:

We happened to arrive as her temple was celebrating the grand opening of a brand new Maitreya Buddha Shrine. The statue of Maitreya Buddha came all the way from China and is something of an antique. You can see both the shrine and the statue below:

It turns out that Ven. Chuan Jue’s Grand Master, the temple abbess, was one of the monastics who witnessed Nathan’s and my ordination. (She is pictured in my post about the ordination from last year.) It was absolutely delightful to encounter her again. She ended up showing us all around the temple with Ven. Chuan Jue, and graciously consented to a group photograph in the stunningly beautiful Buddha Hall (from left to right, it’s me, Ven. Chuan Jue, her Grand Master, and Nathan):

Someone finally noticed the time, and we scurried out to Whittier for the Hsi Lai Friends meeting. Though rather long, the meeting was extremely productive, light-hearted, and exciting–I’m really looking forward to this event! (As things start to unfold in the coming months, I will definitely make sure to keep you all posted about the dialogue.) Here our a couple of my candid (not to mention dark and sloppily taken) photos from our brainstorming session:

The evening ended with a delicious meal: vegetarian lasagna made by our kind host Nancy, and vegetarian “fried chicken” and corn fritters from Hsi Lai Temple. And, let me tell you, if you’ve not had the temple’s veggie “fried chicken,” it’s awesome. If the venerables ever decide to open a fast food restaurant that serves this stuff, KFC is going out of business!

Yep: a good Saturday.