Month: July 2021

This Newsette includes an update on the 2022 Tassajara Branching Streams Sangha weeks, a reminder about Jon Voss’s next Zoom Clinic, a link to an article I wrote about the Zen Buddhist Sewing Teachers’ first practice period, and an invitation to a dharma talk by Rhonda Magee.

Branching Streams Tassajara Sangha Weeks will be available throughout the summer guest season in 2022, from April 29 through September 11. Groups of up to ten participants plus a teacher can attend for 3, 4, or 7 nights. The fee for Sangha Week is $80 per night per person. If more than 10 members of a group wish to attend, they will need to book guest housing, which is more costly. Teacher housing for one teacher is complementary. 2022 Sangha weeks:

• start on Friday and end of Monday (3-nights/Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
• start on Monday and end on Friday (4-nights/Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday).
• seven-night stays will be a combination of a 3 and a 4 night stay.

Please begin speaking with your sangha if you would like to reserve a space, and give me your first, second, and third choice of dates. Sanghas who were planning to attend in 2020 and were unable to due to Tassajara’s closure will be given priority in choice of dates. There should be enough openings for all the groups who would like to attend to do so. If you have any questions, please email me: branchingstreams@sfzc.org.

Jon Voss will be on vacation the last two weeks of July. His next Wednesday Zoom Clinic will be August 11.

If you’d like to learn more about the Zen Buddhist Sewing Teacher’s 6-month practice period, here is the link to an article I wrote for last week’s SFZC Sangha News. Sewing teachers from Branching Streams sanghas in the U.S., Europe, and Canada are participating.

One of my favorite teachers in the area of racial justice, Rhonda Magee, will be speaking online tomorrow, July 28 at 5:30 p.m. MDT/4:30 PDT, 7:30 EDT at Upaya Zen Center: The topic of her talk is Beginning Again: The Four Establishments of Mindfulness as Antidote to Identity-Based Suffering. Called by some the mother of the movement to integrate mindfulness and racial justice efforts, Rhonda is Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco, and has spent more than twenty years exploring the intersections of antiracist education, social justice, and contemplative practices. Here is the link: Live Dharma Talk .

I have some good news for you this week about Branching Streams programs we’re planning for 2022.

We are planning an in-person Branching Streams Conference April 25-28, 2022 hosted by Austin Zen Center. The venue will be Ancient Yoga Center, a retreat center close to Austin. Please Save the Dates. More details will be forthcoming.

Branching Streams Tassajara Sangha Weeks will be available throughout the summer guest season in 2022, from April 29 through September 11. Groups of up to ten participants plus a teacher can attend for 3 or 4 nights. The fee for Sangha Week is $80 per night per person. Teacher housing is complementary. 2022 Sangha weeks:

• start on Friday and end of Monday (3-nights/Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
• start on Monday and end on Friday (4-nights/Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday).

Please begin speaking with your sangha if you would like to reserve a space, and give me your first, second, and third choice of dates. Sanghas who were planning to attend in 2021 and were unable to due to Tassajara’s closure will be given priority in choice of dates. There should be enough openings for all the groups who would like to attend to do so. If you have any questions, please email me.

Last Saturday’s informative Hybrid Zoom Zendo workshop, hosted by Jon Voss, featured presentations from Mid-City Zen in New Orleans; Milwaukee Zen Center; Centro Zen Soto in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Berkeley Zen Center; and Bodhi Oak Zen Center in Oakhurst, CA. By popular demand, the workshop was recorded for those who could not attend in person. Here is the link to a blog post with the video and presentations!

Jon will be on vacation the last two weeks of July. His next Wednesday Zoom Clinic will be August 11.

I’m attaching a gift from Kannon Do in Mountain View, CA and their guiding teacher, Les Kaye – an expanded version of the precepts, including both the traditional “prohibitory” style and a more positive rendering, suitable for the modern, western world. The second page provides background on how it was developed.

I hope you found ways to nourish your bodies and spirits during the Interdependence Day weekend. I took a trip to Pt. Reyes yesterday to walk on the dunes, listen to birdsong and the sound of waves, and try to convey the hues of sky, clouds, and sand with watercolors.

Our newest Branching Streams affiliate is Seattle Soto Zen, whose guiding teacher is Kanshin Allison Tait. Kanshin is a student of Norman Fischer who trained at San Francisco Zen Center, both at City Center and at Tassajara.

There will not be a Zoom clinic with Jon Voss this week.

If your sangha/center is reopening while remaining available to participants by Zoom (and it’s not already on your calendar) you may wish to attend:

A Branching Streams Workshop

After Covid — Technology and the Zendo, A Practical Approach

Facilitated by Jon Voss

Saturday, July 17, 9:00 – 10:30 a.m. PDT/12:00-1:30 p.m. EDT

 Zoom link or Meeting ID: 222 402 816, Passcode:057143

By popular demand, we’re offering a 90 minute online program to explore how various sanghas are making their temples accessible with technology. We’ll be going behind the scenes at a handful of hybrid zendos to learn what technology solutions people have come up with, from computer and a/v hardware to aesthetic and privacy considerations. We’ll also leave ample time for Q&A so you can ask your own questions about various technology setups. No registration is needed. Please share this invitation with your sangha members.