On December 31, 2025, our community gathered on a cold and rainy San Diego night for a milestone celebration with our the 20th Annual New Year’s Eve at the Dharma Bum Temple.
For two decades now, this evening has been a sacred pause between what has been and what is yet to come. This year felt especially meaningful as we honored twenty years of practice, friendship, resilience, and shared experiences.
The night began with a vibrant vegetarian potluck. Tables quickly filled with lovingly prepared dishes of colorful salads, nourishing soups, handmade dumplings, curries, desserts, and family recipes passed from one generation to the next. The potluck has always been more than a meal; it is a reflection of our community itself. Each dish different. Each offering generous. Together creating abundance.
As we ate and reconnected, there was laughter, storytelling, and the quiet warmth of people who have walked alongside one another for years along with new friends attending their very first New Year’s Eve at the Temple.
At 9pm we gathered in the main hall for a telling of the history of the Dharma Bum Temple. We revisited the early days and the humble beginnings, the original gatherings, the food redistribution efforts, the challenges we faced, and the steady growth that followed. We remembered the leaders, volunteers, donors, and practitioners who helped shape what this community has become. There were moments of humor, moments of tenderness, and deep gratitude for the countless acts of service that built this Sangha.
Looking back over twenty years reminded us that the Temple has never just been about a building. It is a living practice of compassion in action.
As the final hour of 2025 approached, the energy shifted inward. Conversations softened. Lights dimmed. Cushions were arranged. Together, we entered into midnight meditation.
Sitting side by side, we breathed through the final moments of the year and not with fireworks or noise, but with awareness. At the stroke of midnight, we welcomed 2026 in silence. A new year not rushed into, but mindfully received.
There was something profoundly beautiful about crossing that threshold together in stillness. No grasping at resolutions. No pushing away the past. Simply presence.
After meditation, gentle smiles spread across the room. Some embraced. Some bowed. Some stepped outside to feel the cool rainy night air with fresh eyes. The new year had arrived and we had arrived with it.
Twenty years of New Year’s Eve at the Dharma Bum Temple have shown us that transformation does not require spectacle. It requires community. It requires reflection. It requires the courage to begin again.
As we step into 2026, we carry forward gratitude for the past, steadiness in the present, and faith in the unfolding path ahead.
May this new year be rooted in compassion.
May our practice deepen.
May our community continue to grow in wisdom and solidarity.
Happy New Year (again) from all of us at the Dharma Bum Temple.