Month: February 2021

As the weather has warmed in some parts of the U.S., sanghas in Texas may be resuming many of their activities and finding ways of supporting those who have suffered during last week’s power and water outages. I checked back with the guiding teachers of Austin, Houston, and San Antonio Zen Centers last Thursday. If you’d like to read what they reported, you can find their words here.

At City Center we are getting ready for a three-week intensive led by Kathie and Norman Fischer on Dogen’s Zuimonki, from March 2^nd to March 20th. Here is a link to an interview with Kathie Fisher that you may enjoy reading. Norman is the teacher of many Branching Streams guiding teachers. Perhaps some of you will be participating in this intensive.

I am wondering what questions you have for other sanghas. What information would you like to share or hear from Branching Streams groups in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Columbia, and several countries in Europe?

Jon Voss and I are still working on the Branching Streams website. Pat Yingst of Austin Zen Center is assisting us with updating the links, particularly on the Resources page. 

Jon’s weekly Zoom class has been lively, and you or any member of your sangha are welcome to participate. It’s a drop-in group, although some people attend week after week to hone their skills and ease in creating ceremonies, using breakout rooms in creative ways, and solving audio and video problems. The next class is Wednesday, February 24^th, from 11 a.m. to 12 PST. Here’s the Zoom link or Meeting ID: 222 402 816, Passcode: 057143.

Can you please share this message with any members of your sangha you think might be interested? Guest Student Program Reopens at City Center

We’re pleased to announce that the guest student program at San Francisco Zen Center’s City Center location has reopened to the public. For this new iteration of the program, guest students participate in a three-month residency designed to deepen one’s practice, connect to the community, and experience what it’s like to live the temple life. The temple schedule includes morning and evening zazen, service (sutra chanting and bowing), work as a form of practice in action, Buddhist classes, and communal vegetarian meals.  To ensure the health safety of guest students and residents alike, we have created a hybrid program where some of these activities occur in person and others online. This allows new students to live, work, and practice in the temple, while supporting the health and well-being of the sangha.

To learn more about the new guest student program as well as our health and safety protocols, visit the guest student stay webpage.  

February is the shortest month, yet it can seem very long, especially in places where spring doesn’t begin to show its colors until March or even April. Many people may be feeling exhaustion, especially after nearly a year of meeting the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As the weather has warmed in some parts of the U.S., sanghas in Texas may be resuming many of their activities and finding ways of supporting those who have suffered during last week’s power and water outages. I checked back with the guiding teachers of Austin, Houston, and San Antonio Zen Centers last Thursday. If you’d like to read what they reported, you can find their words here.

At City Center we are getting ready for a three-week intensive led by Kathie and Norman Fischer on Dogen’s Zuimonki, from March 2^nd to March 20th. Here is a link to an interview with Kathie Fisher that you may enjoy reading. Norman is the teacher of many Branching Streams guiding teachers. Perhaps some of you will be participating in this intensive.

I am wondering what questions you have for other sanghas. What information would you like to share or hear from Branching Streams groups in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Columbia, and several countries in Europe?

Jon Voss and I are still working on the Branching Streams website. Pat Yingst of Austin Zen Center is assisting us with updating the links, particularly on the Resources page. 

Jon’s weekly Zoom class has been lively, and you or any member of your sangha are welcome to participate. It’s a drop-in group, although some people attend week after week to hone their skills and ease in creating ceremonies, using breakout rooms in creative ways, and solving audio and video problems. The next class is Wednesday, February 24^th, from 11 a.m. to 12 PST. Here’s the Zoom link or Meeting ID: 222 402 816, Passcode: 057143.

Can you please share this message with any members of your sangha you think might be interested? Guest Student Program Reopens at City Center

We’re pleased to announce that the guest student program at San Francisco Zen Center’s City Center location has reopened to the public. For this new iteration of the program, guest students participate in a three-month residency designed to deepen one’s practice, connect to the community, and experience what it’s like to live the temple life. The temple schedule includes morning and evening zazen, service (sutra chanting and bowing), work as a form of practice in action, Buddhist classes, and communal vegetarian meals.  To ensure the health safety of guest students and residents alike, we have created a hybrid program where some of these activities occur in person and others online. This allows new students to live, work, and practice in the temple, while supporting the health and well-being of the sangha.

To learn more about the new guest student program as well as our health and safety protocols, visit the guest student stay webpage.  

February is the shortest month, yet it can seem very long, especially in places where spring doesn’t begin to show its colors until March or even April. Many people may be feeling exhaustion, especially after nearly a year of meeting the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.

May you be well, and may you find moments of delight even in difficult times.

Dear Branching Streams Teachers and Leaders,

Last week I mentioned a number of parts of the U.S. that were dealing with winter storms – and Texas and the Gulf Coast were not included. However, an intense cold front accompanied by snow and freezing rain, has landed in that part of the country.

This morning. Reirin Gumbel, Milwaukee Zen Center’s guiding teacher, posted her concerns about sanghas in Texas on the Soto Zen Buddhist Associations members’ forum. She wrote:

Our three Texas Branching Streams sanghas in Austin, Houston, and San Antonio responded within hours. 

Mako Voelkel, guiding teacher of Austin Zen Center replied, “Texans are *really* not prepared for such cold temps, and pipes freezing seems to be a huge issue. One of the buildings at AZC has lost hot water, and we’re concerned it’s due to a frozen pipe. Natural gas still works, thankfully, but we just received a recent warning statement from Texas Gas Services saying gas wells are starting to freeze due to the sustained low temps!

“While Austin Zen Center (with five residents) has not lost power yet – likely due to its location a few blocks from a major hospital – our Tanto and a few board members have not had power since 5:45pm last night. With no clear end in sight of either above-freezing weather or repairs to the energy grid, this may go on for some time. Driving anywhere right now seems out of the question, with snow on top of a sheet of ice, cars left stranded, and zero preparedness for such conditions! I myself am safe and thankful for having power (as well as Tassajara training in hot water bottles, headlamps, and bundling up).”

Gaelyn Godwin, Abbot of Houston Zen Center, commented: “Thanks for asking – the report in Houston is almost identical to Mako’s in Austin. A wide array of concerns and outages. Perhaps the biggest issue right now is that the water pressure is so low – due to everyone leaving their taps dripping and the big pumps freezing – that we may start having back flow into the drinking lines. The city asked us all to stop the dripping, but we already had frozen pipes here the first day and we are reluctant to repeat that.
“Tim told me part of the electrical shortage is due to the freeze on the gigantic wind turbine wings. No newspapers or mail, limited broadband, but we always have rumors. We’ve brought a member and her 2 dogs into the temple for refuge from the cold.The lack of hot showers was a challenge, but we are very grateful for all we have.”

Colin Gipson, San Antonio Zen Center’s guiding teacher, wrote: “Thank you very much for asking, and for your concern. We received around 3 1/2 inches of snow here at SAZC and so far have been very lucky in that we haven’t lost power or heat at the Zen Center. We are supposed to receive freezing rain tonight, but it begins warming tomorrow and the overall situation will improve rapidly over the next few days.”

The extreme cold and severe winter weather experience in much of the U.S. and in parts of Canada is related to the climate crisis, as Kritee Kanko, a Zen priest and climate scientist/activist posted on the SZBA Forum today. I will include a small part of her post in this Newsette and attach the rest to this Newsette.

“Dear fellow dharma teachers, Zen/Ecodharma enthusiasts and faith leaders, 

Yesterday I was moved to tears several times while listening to two indigenous women speak of Line 3 and repeatedly ask people to stand by their side as they put their bodies on the line to stop this pipeline in Minnesota. This issue is right at the intersection of facing the climate crisis and justice for indigenous people (especially women who are leading this effort). While Biden has put a stop on the Keystone pipeline, Enbridge’s Line 3 and other pipelines are continuing to put sacred indigenous sites, bodies of indigenous women, hundreds of waterlands where they grow their food and the Mississippi river in danger.” Kritee discusses the climate impacts of the Line 3 pipeline, its impact on indigenous communities, resources to better inform ourselves, and actions we can take in her letter.

On another note, Josho Pat Phelan, guiding teacher of Chapel Hill Zen Center, invites you to participate in a Zoom workshop with Kokyo Henkel, Questioning Our Assumptions about the World: Vasubandhu’s Twenty Verses on Mere Cognizance on Saturday, March 27, 10:30-3:30 EST
Although Vasubanhu’s 30 Verses is more well-known, his 20 Verses offers another interesting angle on Yogacara. In this short workshop, Kokyo will focus on just a few verses and go into them deeply. To register, please contact info@chzc.org by Wednesday, March 24. After registering, the Zoom link and reading materials will be sent to you. The suggested donation is $20-$50. Donations can be made electronically through MoonClerk at: https://app.moonclerk.com/pay/4yi5tx1i14xf. Please indicate “Workshop Donation.”

You are invited to join Jon Voss’s Zoom Clinic tomorrow, Wednesday, February 10^th, from 11 a.m. to 12 PST. Here’s the Zoom link or Meeting ID: 222 402 816, Passcode: 057143.

Jon and I are still working on the Branching Streams Website to make it more user-friendly and current. We will also be correcting all the links that are not functioning.

I am also working with a staff member of the SFZC Communications Department on a new format for these Newsettes. I hope this will improve the aesthetics of the Newsette and make it easier to include photos.

I hope that those of you who are in the grips of winter storms stay safe and warm. Thank you to all of you for being part of this interconnected network of sanghas. May we continue to find ways to support one another’s practice.

This week contains a number of holidays you may be celebrating – Bodhidharma’s Birthday, the Chinese lunar New Year on the 13^th, and Valentine’s day on the 14^th. And, in the U.S. it’s Black History Month. While the northeast, Midwest and Pacific Northwest of the U.S. are blanketed in snow, in the Bay Area of California plum trees and camellias are beginning to blossom.

Regarding Black History Month, Chapel Hill Zen Center’s newsletter featured a number of events that might be of interest to other sanghas, as they are all online. 

Brooklyn Zen Center’s co-guiding teacher Kosen Gregory Snyder is offering an 8-week online Socially Engaged Buddhism class starting February 19. Class dates: Fridays 2/19, 2/26, 3/5, 3/12, 3/26, 4/2, 4/9, 4/16. Class time: 7 to 8:30 pm EST. This class will explore some of the tenets, movements, leading figures, and issues central to what has come to be known as socially engaged Buddhism. In addition to exploring how these movements initially responded to the colonial and wartime contexts from which they often emerged, the course examines the critiques that engaged Buddhism offers current social and economic realities, as well as Buddhism’s own institutions and practices.

In last week’s Newsette, Fushin Susan Schoenbohm, Ancient Dragon Zen Gate board member, was searching for other sanghas who have created what ADZG is calling a Sangha Care Committee, which checks in with sangha members in need of assistance and sees what others can do to help. Many sanghas replied. Here are some of the responses she received:

Jill Kakushin Kaplan of Zen Heart Sangha in Woodside, CA, wrote : “Our sangha has for many years had what we call a “Dana Steward”. This person takes care of anyone in need by organizing members to support them, especially in times of illness or death in the family. Additionally, we recently created a position for another Sangha member to explore and share community resources during Covid-19, such as health updates, food banks, social security assistance etc. (what we’re calling our “Resource Steward”).

Tricia Teater, guiding teacher at Udumbara Zen Sangha in Evanston, IL noted, “At the first of the year.  we sent out a survey,  gathered/updated members phone numbers, and have a Board member available to field calls and connect as necessary. The latest example: snow removal – we hooked up someone who could with someone who needed. 

Laurie Senauke and Liz Weitsman are the point people for Berkeley Zen Center’s Sangha Support which has been going on for about 25 years.

Gene Bush sent a document the Santa Cruz Zen Center Board adopted in 2014 when they established the position of Sangha Support Leader, which Gene was the first to fill. This document is attached.

Austin Zen Center has developed an online Mutual Aid Project. Here’s the description: Have a need/ask/request (anything from running an errand to needing someone to talk with to borrowing a book – anything!) – or perhaps something to offer (an old zafu or a book that might be of interest or extra cookies from all the stress baking you are doing)? – post them in our Mutual Aid channel, now on our AZC Chat (Discord) Server! Read more.. Austin Zen Center’s Mutual Aid Project is based on an article in Vox.com

So many of us have lost loved ones during the last year. If you or members of your sangha are grieving, this four week Jizo Practice Group, Journeying Through Grief and Change with Fearlessness is being offered by San Francisco Zen Center. This group, co-led by Hoka Chris Fortin, teacher at Everyday Zen, Dojin Sarah Emerson co-guiding teacher of Stone Creek Zendo, and chaplain Jennifer Block will meet on Thursdays, February 18 – March 11. “In this time of difficulty and uncertainty, the archetype of Jizo Bodhisattva, an embodiment of fearlessness and great persistence, is a profound resource. In this group, we will deepen our capacity to meet personal and collective grief with the qualities of Jizo Bodhisattva.” 

Jon Voss’s Zoom Clinic is available this Wednesday, February 10^th, from 11 a.m. to 12 PST. Here’s the Zoom link or Meeting ID: 222 402 816, Passcode: 057143.

I wish you good health, fortitude, and joy in the coming week.

I am still feeling the joy of yesterday’s Mountain Seat Ceremony at Berkeley Zen Center. Among over 350 Zoom participants I noted teachers and members from nearly thirty Branching Streams sanghas, from coast to coast in the U.S., as well as from Canada and Italy. 

A request from Fushin Susan Schoenbohm, Ancient Dragon Zen Gate board member, who writes: “We are starting here what we are calling a Sangha Care Committee, which checks in with sangha members who might be in need of some kind of assistance and sees what we can do to help.” Susan is looking for other sanghas that have such committees, “to learn about what their “mission” statement might be, and some best practices that might guide us going forward.” Please let both Susan and me know if you have such a committee or program/practice in your sangha. Her email address is s.schoenbohm@gmail.com.

Jon Voss will be offering an intermediate/advanced Zoom Clinic on Wednesday, February 3rd, from 11 to 12 PST. Here’s the Zoom link or Meeting ID: 222 402 816, Passcode: 057143.

In the midst of winter several sanghas are beginning or have recently begun Winter Practice Periods and other programs that are all available online.

Ava Stanton, guiding teacher of Just Show Up Sangha notes:  We are starting a Practice Period , Yasodhara’s Path, on Friday, February 5th.  Information about our online Practice Period is at The Just Show Up Zen Sangha Blog or  https://justshowupzensangha.com/new-blog-1

Chapel Hill Zen Center and Richmond Zen and are collaborating on a monthlong Winter Practice Intensive, Sunday, January 31 through Sunday, February 28, 2021 Via Zoom co-led by their guiding teachers Josho Pat Phelan and Eden Heffernan. This is an innovative model for sharing teachers and teachings that other centers may wish to explore. In addition to zazen, the intensive includes Dharma talks, Way-seeking Mind talks, group Dharma discussions, and weekly teas.

Houston Zen Center is offering a program for meditators who want to enter Zen deeply, to investigate the mind of daily life: Entering the Path of Practice (EPP), an advanced program of guided exploration, study and training. Zen Priests Tim Schorre and Royce Johnson will lead the program. Entering the Path of Practice is organized as three eight-week-long modules, each module emphasizing one of the three treasures: BUDDHA (great teachers and practitioners of the Way), DHARMA (teachings and practice) and SANGHA (the community of practitioners).Registration ends on February 7^th.

Some upcoming dharma talks that may be of interest:

Austin Zen Center is hosting Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, founding teacher of Still Breathing  Zen group on Saturday, February 13^th at 10 am Central Time. The talk is titled, “The Deepest Peace in the Midst of Chaos.” Zenju’s most recent book, the Deepest Peace, Contemplations from a Season of Stillness, was published in December, 2020.

On Sunday February 21st , from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Central Time, as part of Ancient Dragon Zen Gate’s series of Black women guest teachers, Breeshia Wade will speak. Breeshia from lived in Chicago and practiced at Ancient Dragon’s temple or at their Hyde Park group. Breeshia now lives in Los Angeles and works as a hospice chaplain. She has written a powerful new book coming out later this month, Grieving While Black: An Antiracist Take on Oppression and Sorrow.  

Wishing you all good health and sustained energy as we enter a new month.