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January 26, 2021 Newsette

I hope you are doing well in this time of midwinter. I have been feeling more hopeful in these early days of our new U.S. national leadership. I  appreciated last week’s inaugural ceremonies for their inclusivity, messages of compassion, and calls for both unity and accountability going forward.

Today I’m writing about a few offerings coming up in the next two weeks.

First, here is an invitation from Berkeley Zen Center’s board president, Mary Duryee, for the Mountain Seat Ceremony of Hozan Alan Senaukeon Sunday, January 31st at 3 p.m PST.

Dear Sangha friends,
We look forward to your participation in our joyous ceremony. For your ease in joining through zoom, here is the link you can use directly:  If you wish to send congratulations, you can do so on kudoboard.

Jon Voss will be offering his first Zoom Clinic of 2021 for those newer to Zoom on Wednesday, January 27th, from 11 to 12 PST. He will offer an intermediate/advanced Zoom clinic on Wednesday, February 3rd at the same time. Here’s the Zoom link or Meeting ID: 222 402 816, Passcode: 057143.

Marcia Lieberman, who has visited and taught at many Branching Streams groups in the U.S., will be teaching an online class through San Francisco Zen Center called Favorite Pages. The class starts on February 1st and is based on the haiku collection A White Tea Bowl—100 haiku from 100 years of life by Mitsu Suzuki. The book was translated by Kate McCandless, co-guiding teacher of Mountain Rain Zen Community in Vancouver, BC, Canada. This link will take you to the SFZC website for more information and registration. 

Here’s a reminder that Branching Streams is co-sponsoring a daylong workshop on February 7th called “Living my Practice Wholeheartedly: Whiteness, Race and the Bodhisattva Vow,” led by Crystal Johnson, Sarah Emerson, Chris Fortin, and myself. The flyer is attached. This workshop will be a benefit for the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, CA.  Please share the flyer with your sanghas!

More sanghas are launching online winter practice periods, offering one-day sittings, and a range of  classes, as outdoor activities are limited due to the weather. I will report on some of these events in my next Newsette.

I will leave you with the words of the inaugural poet, Amanda Gorman:

The new dawn blooms as we free it.

For there is always light,

If only we are brave enough to see it,

If only we are brave enough to be it.

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January 19, 2021 Newsette

I am writing this Newsette at the end of a weekend of celebrating the life and teachings of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and on the cusp of the U.S. presidential inauguration – which I hope will begin a period of change in the direction of a more equitable and just government in this country.

It’s good to see many of you participating in this year’s Green Gulch Farm January Intensive, which Tenshin Reb Anderson is offering online. He’s teaching the Lotus Sutra and the ‘Great Assembly’ consists of over 200 participants, including many from Europe.

As we move on in 2021, you may enjoy watching a video of photographs from Branching Streams sanghas’ experiences in 2020. The video was compiled by Teresa Bouza (a member of Kannon Do in Mountain View, CA). It expresses many of the 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows of last year. 

Branching Streams is co-sponsoring a daylong workshop on February 7th called “Living my Practice Wholeheartedly: Whiteness, Race and the Bodhisattva Vow,” led by Crystal Johnson, Sarah Emerson, Chris Fortin, and myself. The flyer is attached. Like “Unpacking the Whiteness of Leadership” which Branching Streams offered in 2020, this workshop will be a benefit for the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, CA.  Please share the flyer with your sanghas!

I’m repeating last week’s Website and Zoom news: As we head into 2021 Branching Streams webmaster Jon Voss and I are redesigning and restructuring the website. Many of the links on the website, especially on the Resources page are not working and we will replace them soon.

Jon Voss will be offering a Zoom Clinic for those newer to Zoom on Wednesday, January 27th, from 11 to 12 PST and an intermediate-advanced Zoom clinic on Wednesday, February 3rd at the same time. Here’s the Zoom link (Meeting ID: 222 402 816, Passcode: 057143)

May we all stay healthy and strong as we meet the changes of 2021.

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January 12, 2021 Newsette

The year 2021 has begun with a mix of celebration and grieving.

I began writing this Newsette early last week and as the week went on it grew increasingly more difficult to write. There’s much to share with you.

At San Francisco Zen Center’s City Center we processed to all the alters on the morning of January 1stt and held our first in-person service since the pandemic began on the roof of 300 Page Street. Six days later, we rang the bonsho bell 108 times after we learned that Sojun Mel Weitsman had just died.

I offer my condolences to those of you who are dharma heirs or dharma grandchildren of Sojun Roshi, as well as to all of us who were encouraged by his presence and teaching. Barbara Wenger (photographer, community organizer and wife of Dairyu Michael Wenger, who leads Dragons Leap sangha in San Francisco) created a beautiful photo tribute to Sojun. Barbara is happy to share it with you. Here’s the link.

Last Wednesday we learned the results of the senate races in Georgia, in which the first African-American senator was elected in that state, a victory that was the result of much hard work to get out the vote. You may have participated in letter writing, online phone banking, or donating funds to turn the two senate seats from red to blue.

That same day, a mob who believed the presidential election had been stolen stormed the Capitol while the House and Senate were beginning the process of affirming electoral college votes to finalize the election of Biden and Harris. The light touch afforded the mob as they desecrated the Capitol differed painfully from the severe response to Black Lives Matters protesters last summer.

As teachers and sangha leaders how have you addressed these events with sangha members? Please let me know if you’ve had community discussions, offered dharma talks, written statements, participated in interfaith vigils or taken other actions that you’d like other sanghas to know about.

San Francisco Zen Center and the Soto Zen Buddhist Association are both preparing statements.

On another note, last week I received newsletters from many sanghas summing up the challenges and positive aspects of 2020. Here are a few quotes:

Abbot Gaelyn Godwin of Houston Zen Center looked back at 2020 “with appreciation and gratitude for the ways in which the sangha met the pandemic, racial injustice, continued offering teachings virtually, created ceremonies that were safe, and celebrated the births of three children of sangha members.”

Eden Heffernan, guiding teacher of Richmond VA Zen Center wrote: “In responding to the changes demanded by an invisible pathogen, and at times all too visible sociopathology, the Richmond Zen sangha has been an inspiration and support. Together, and with others, we created new ways to practice together in Zoom, at Byrd Park, and in the Ekoji garden. We have maintained our community and even welcomed new members. Via Zoom, we were fortunate to join in with others across the country and around the world to hear teachings of Dogen Zenji illuminated by Shohaku Okumura Roshi. We also participated in study groups led by Chapel Hill. We engaged in an exploration of race, privilege, and bias with many other Branching Streams sangha members. We found that “virtual” can still be intimate; although distanced we can connect.”

Taigen Leighton noted, “Ancient Dragon Zen Gate enters the New Year cast loose from our storefront home in North Center Chicago. Now we are a homeless sangha floating among Dharma realms in the adventure of how to express the awakening way and help to respond appropriately to suffering in our new-normal world. Vaccines pose hope for an end to the Covid pandemic sometime this year. Our society still faces the pandemics of systemic racism and a failed justice system, economic distress for many, as well as climate breakdown. We continue to sit upright amid the complexities and stresses of our world and our own lives.” 

Someone recently said to Joan Amaral, guiding teacher of Zen Center North Shore, “In this year of isolation, I’m amazed at how close I’ve come to feel with members of ZCNS. Thank you for helping to override the limited dimensions of a Zoom screen to break through to humanity!”

Laura O’Loughlin, co-guiding teacher of Brooklyn Zen Center comments: “In this year of change, loss and profound reckoning, we emerge as a community intact, resilient, and more committed than ever to our Bodhisattva vow of living from the wisdom of love and all that it requests of us.”

Website and Zoom news: As we head into 2021 Branching Streams webmaster Jon Voss and I are redesigning and restructuring the website. We will welcome your feedback when its further along.

Jon Voss will be offering a Zoom Clinic for those newer to Zoom on Wednesday, January 27th, from 11 to 12 PST and an intermediate-advanced Zoom clinic on Wednesday, February 4th at the same time. Here’s the Zoom link: Meeting ID: 222 402 816, Passcode: 057143 or https://us02web.zoom.us/j/222402816?pwd=ODVWLzZ5ZUFtREcvS2M3YmkyVnVaUT09

I look forward to connecting with you in as many ways as possible as 2021 unfolds.