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Newsette 9-27-2021

Perhaps some of you who have gardens are enjoying the last tomatoes, or the first winter squash. Yesterday I participated in an afternoon of gleaning at Green Gulch Farm, one of about forty volunteers who harvested over 300 pounds of collards, chard, kale, broccoli, and cabbage – good nourishing food left in the fields after the commercial harvest to donate to the wider community through several local organizations.

This Newsette features three offerings on racial justice, news from Just Show Up sangha, and a book recommendation.

Hollaback is launching a new training in Bystander Intervention to support Latinx communities in Public Spaces.  We are offering this free, one-hour, interactive webinar, in honor of Latinx Heritage Month (September 15th – October 15th) and to bring awareness to the increase of harassment toward the Latinx community in recent years. Register here. I have participated in several Hollaback bystander trainings in the past year and highly recommend them.

Houston Zen Center and Dawn Mountain dharma center are presenting Myokei Caine-Barrett Shonin speaking on A Story of a Fully Engaged Dharma Life, on Sunday, October 10th from 3 to 4:30 p.m. CST online.  Her talk is part of their ongoing series of events on Dharma and Social Justice

Registration is open until October 1 for the Soto Zen Buddhist Association’s class Many Communities, One Sangha: Exploring the Reality of Equity and Inclusion, with Rhonda Magee, Mushim Ikeda, and Crystal Johnson. The five week online class meets October 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30 from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time. You may find it useful to attend with several members of your sangha.

Just Show Up Zen Sangha in Southern California has started an online fall practice period, Seeing the Habits of Heart Mind Using the Five Precepts which goes through December 11th. Guiding teacher Ava Stanton writes, we will each choose a precept to live and practice with.  We will meet in small groups and as a sangha, speak in Practice Discussions and sit a final retreat together.  More information is available at our website.”

Ruth Ozeki is a priest affiliated with Everyday Zen, a novelist and filmmaker. I have been awaiting her new novel, The Book of Form and Emptiness, released last week. I find the characters in Ruth’s novels jump off the page and permeate my life long after I’ve turned the last page, and look forward to finding out who I will meet this time.

May you and your sanghas be healthy and strong.

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