I am happy to welcome a new Branching Streams Sangha, Twining Vines Zen Centre, Katto-An Temple, in Canberra, Australia. This combined Soto Zen/Diamond Sangha temple is led by Neti Mushin Parakh. Neti was ordained as a priest by Kokyo Henkel in 2017 at Santa Cruz Zen Center and received dharma transmission from Kokyo in 2021 She was authorized to teach in the Diamond Sangha lineage by Daniel Terragno Roshi in 2009.
In case you missed this in last week’s Newsette, we have created a Branching Streams list-serve (using Google Groups) that is available to readers of these Newsettes. Jon Voss, who set up the list-serve, says, “You will more easily be able to share resources, request information from other sanghas, and work together on issues of mutual concern. If you would like to join this separate group email list, please sign up here. You do not need a Google account or gmail address to join, any email will work.” If you have any questions, please contact Jon Voss directly.
Ariane Lampe, a member of Akazienzendo in Berlin, wrote that she has successfully raised funds through a Go-Fund-Me campaign to publish a German translation of Jarvis Master’s book Finding Freedom. Jarvis Masters is a Buddhist practitioner on Death Row in San Quentin, near San Francisco, CA. He recently gave a dharma talk from San Quentin with Lee Klinger Lesser. The recording is available at sfzc.org.
On the Soto Zen Buddhist Association Forum (SZBA’s list-serve) many Branching Streams teachers shared their responses to the Supreme Court’s ruling last week overturning Roe v. Wade.
Reirin Gumbel, guiding teacher of Milwaukee Zen Center, will be joining an interfaith group of clergy at a press conference on July 6 in front of the Planned Parenthood clinic in Milwaukee to show faith support for reproductive justice.