On a rainy Saturday in October 2022, a work party of about 15 volunteers planted more than 100 plants in Puget Park, an event blessed by a Tibetan chant.
The Marici Fellowship is based out of the Sakya Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle. According to Teresa Lamb of the fellowship, in Tibetan monasteries and Buddhist sites all over the world sacred buildings called stupas or chortens are built as a symbol of the mind of the Buddha although there are many meanings. Many prayers and blessings exist in these locations. H.E. Avikrita Vajra Sakya, the Head lama, wanted to make it so these sacred, blessed places exist not only in structures far away but in the form of a living monument—such as a tree.
With this in mind, he created the Marici Branch-out Intiative, a volunteer tree planting program with a special prayer ceremony to be done during each of the events. “We believe this ceremony creates a protected space for the trees and a sense of peacefulness in the areas and communities where the planting takes place.”
Following the prayer ceremony, the volunteers picked up shovels and began planting in the rain, under the leadership of forest stewards Christine Clark and Noah Starbuck, the latter a member of the Marici Fellowship.
