This Newsette contains news from two Texas sanghas, a creative response to encourage Covid vaccinations, a request from a sangha in search of a sewing teacher, a sangha member’s interesting website, and a link to register for the Soto Zen Buddhist Association’s Fall course.
Jon Voss will be offering his Zoom clinic again next week, Wednesday, August 25 at 11a.m. PDT. Here is the Zoom link or Meeting ID: 222 402 816, Passcode: 057143.
Abbot Gaelyn Godwin of Houston Zen Center reports that members are preparing for another Sangha Day at their new retreat center, Margaret Austin Center/Auspicious Cloud West. “A convoy of members will spend the day at the 40 acres, cleaning, painting, and gardening. We are looking forward to it with enthusiasm and joy.” In order to open the retreat center HZC needs funds to purchase a new commercial refrigerator, replace decking around a building, and care for trees on the property. Here’s the link to read more about it or donate.
Choro Antonaccio, Tanto at Austin Zen Center, shared that “Kokyo Henkel and Shoho Kuebast are going to be in residence with us for four months starting this weekend. Kokyo will offer a Genzo-e August 27-31. At this time, we don’t know if we can be in person. He will also visit Houston Zen Center in Sept. for a 3-day retreat at their new retreat center, and lead Rohatsu here in December.”
The Global Vaccine Poem is a global community poem inviting all to share their voices to promote Covid-19 vaccination through the imaginative language of poetry. It is easy to add a verse, inspired by Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “Dear Vaccine,” by following this link. Naomi, a poet who lives in San Antonio, Texas, has accepted our invitation to speak at the April, 2022 Branching Streams Conference, which will be held near Austin.
Kannon Do in Mountain View, CA: is looking for a new sewing teacher. Their current sewing teacher, Valorie Beer, will bow out at the end of the year. If you know of a sewing teacher who might be interested in stepping into the role, please have them contact Abbot Keido Les Kaye, medatwork@sbcglobal.net.
Vanessa Able, a priest at Kannon Do, launched a website in 2018 called The Dewdrop. It began as a weekly newsletter in which Vanessa posted Zen texts or interesting reads connected with practice and has grown to include interviews with Zen teachers, poetry, and “book bits.” You may want to check it out!
Registration is now open to everyone for the Soto Zen Buddhist Association’s fall online course Many Communities, One Sangha: Exploring the Reality of Equity & Inclusion with Rhonda Magee, Mushim Ikeda, and Crystal Johnson – a 5-session course that will take place on Saturdays in October from 1 to 3:30 p.m. PT. For more information, visit szba.org/courses. Here is a link to a flyer. Please help spread the word!