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.