I returned a week ago from several days of ceremonies at the Zen Buddhist Center Black Forest (ZBZS) in Germany. About 250 current and former students, family members and friends from many countries, joined the ZBZS staff and volunteers to honor the leadership of Zentatsu Richard Baker as he stepped down from his position as Abbot, and to support Tatsudo Nicole Badden in her Mountain Seat ceremony, as she became the new Abbot.
A highlight of the ceremony for me was seeing Richard Baker give Nicole Baden the kotsu he had been given by Suzuki Roshi decades ago…warm hand to warm hand.
Several people from San Francisco Zen Center, past and present, attended, including David Zimmerman, Furyu Schroeder, Victoria Austin, Norman and Kathie Fischer, and David Chadwick. Our presence was greatly appreciated.
SAVE THE DATES: the 2025 Branching Streams Gathering will be co-sponsored by Chicago-based Ancient Dragon Zen Center and Milwaukee Zen Center from Monday, September 15 to Thursday, September 18, 2025. The venue will be Loyola University’s Retreat and Ecology Center in Woodstock, IL, about an hour from Chicago’s O’Hare airport. We will share more information as plans develop.
Jon Voss, the Branching Streams webmaster, and I recently refreshed the Resources section of the Branching Streams Website. We updated and added some information, and grouped resources by categories to make them easier to find.
Montaña de Silencio in Medallin, Colombia had their first Jukai ceremony in their new country location. Jiryu Rutschman-Byler gave the precepts to his student Brenda Zambrano, supported by founding teacher Sanriki Jaramillo. Brenda’s dharma name is Shogan Koichi, Voto Radiante, Imperturbable Unidad.
In my last Newsette I welcomed Saltspring Island Zen Circle as a new affiliate. Here is an amendment to what I wrote: The sangha’s founding teacher, Peter Levitt, gave Lay Entrustment to Simon Rompre and Judy Daylen in 2023. Judy Daylen is currently serving as the sangha’s guiding teacher.
Santa Cruz Zen Center’s Earth Care Practice Group is meeting weeklyto do voter outreach. “As an expression of caring for the Earth and social justice, we are writing letters to increase voter participation throughVote Forward. This is a non-partisan effort supporting less-likely voters to vote more often. We have been having a wonderful time writing and chatting with each other and strengthening our connections. It has been beautiful to see the Sangha House serve as a community center; people have been inviting friends and our Buddha-field is expanding.”
The recently released film about Red Pine will be available to screen at home or with your sangha from September 20 to 29. Mountain Rain Zen Community in Vancouver, BC shared this description in their newsletter: Dancing with the Dead Red Pine and the Art of Translation is a film about Port Townsend’s Bill Porter, who goes by the pen name Red Pine. The film follows Bill’s adventures as a child of a bank robber, raised in a gilded household, who turned his back on American devotion to materialism and went off to live in monasteries and mountains in Taiwan. He pursued a fascination with Buddhism and poetry and traveled to remote regions of China to rediscover an ancient tradition of mountain hermits vital to Chinese culture.” HERE is the link to view the film.
The October Soto Zen Buddhist Association offering in the Voices of Women in Buddhism series will be a panel, Hearing the Voices of Younger Women on October 19 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. EDT. The panel features Blythe King who practices at Richmond Zen, Heather Martin who practices at San Antonio Zen Center, and Zenki Kathleen Batson from Chapel Hill Zen Center. I will be the moderator.
I’ll be traveling from September 19 to 30, to attend the Soto Zen Buddhist Conference at Pendle Hill, near Philadelphia PA. I look forward to seeing some of you there. Before the Conference I will visit Brooklyn Zen Center’s Ancestral Heart Temple in Millerton, NY, and after SZBA I will head to Richmond Zen in VA for a few days.
I wish you good health and virya (joyful energy) as we turn towards the Autumn equinox.