As the people crowded into the Tao Sangha Toronto Centre last Saturday evening for the party, my mind became as blank as a sheet freshly washed & pressed …

Overwhelming is a hard word to use, however the feelings that I still cannot explain clearly even now are tied to that evening.   After so many years of imagining, then planning and designing (even without a physical building), and then finally purchasing and constructing a centre, my wish here is to convey the deep joy I felt, watching so many people enjoying themselves at the Centre that night.  Maybe you can say that my mind relaxed too much at one point, as my body shuffled from room to room, person to person.  There were moments where it was as if my body had gone into some higher of state of happiness where I was no longer hungry, nor thirsty, not tired… not anything in particular; only a piece of the grand happiness of everyone present.

Suffice it to say, I have no doubt that a smile will come to my face whenever i think of all the happy faces & congratulations pouring in that evening.

Thus, with great appreciation and care, I would like to start this new blog by thanking everyone who was there and also who has been there, supporting the ‘dream’ of the New Tao Sangha Healing Centre in Toronto.  And special thanks also must be given to people who have given not only their time & energy, but also supported the Centre financially. Okay, so let’s begin…  And then this is where I struggle:  where to start this list, and also with who?

After some contemplation,  i begin with something my brother, the architect who  worked tirelessly on the design, said to me one day recently: “You know, Dad would be proud of us, for working together & realizing this Centre.”

So I begin here:  thank you father, thank you mother, thank you Dmytriy P and Karen M, and all the staff at DK Studio for the design, thank you to Jeremiah D and Gord B & Mike M for your amazing donations & hard work, to Tom & Florianne for huge support and work done, Himanshu S, to Karin R for constant support, Anne D from Montreal for wonderful painting skills, Mostafa A & David for lots of work & dump runs & tools, Bob W, for cleanups, Raynald L. for carpentry skills, Karen K for continuing to raise funds, Rian S, Greg & Yufuko, Ted K, Mike G & Dmytro G, Lee S, Rian S,  Yoshi for finishing work, Lee and Tomomi from Vancouver, Kyoko and Kevin for photography & video work, Vicky & Bernice, Hashimoto family, Bohdan and Andrew for the facade, Renatto and Tommy, Ziggy and the framing gang, Walter and the HVAC boys, Fred W & Rudy & Eddie for the plumbing, Barbara the mechanical Eng, Victor the structural Eng, all our neighbours, all the people working now at the centre as instructors, as well as ALL the Sangha members from Toronto and Montreal and Vancouver and Madison, that came to clean and set up and volunteer at the opening!

There is also my family, my children and wife, that i give deep thanks to for their endless support and understanding.

Finally I would like to thank Endo Sensei and the Universal Spirit of great wisdom and light, Amida Buddha.

Sincerely,

Alex