My last Newsette was sent before the Thanksgiving weekend. This was followed by Rohatsu Sesshin here at City Center – and by many sanghas in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and elsewere. Now we are moving toward the winter solstice and end of the year holidays and ceremonies.
There are both mournings and celebrations to share in this Newsette
Our beloved Alan Senauke, Abbot of Berkeley Zen Center, recently began receiving Hospice care at home. For updates about Alan or to leave a message for him and his family, here is the link to his CaringBridge page.
Bamboo in the Wind’s founding and guiding teacher, Val Meiren Szymanski had a Stepping Down Ceremony on December 7. She founded Bamboo in the Wind in Sunnyvale, CA on 9-11-2001. The new contact person for Bamboo in the Wind is board member Rev. Allison Draper.
Twining Vines Zen Centre in Canberra, Australia, celebrated the priest ordination of Jack Wicks on December 2 at the Silver Wattle Quaker Centre at Lake George near Canberra. Guiding teacher Neti Mushin Parekh ordained Jack, whose dharma name is Zenko Chigetsu/ Zen Illumination, Wisdom Moon. Jack writes, “It was on the second day of our Rohatsu Sesshin, attended by our small sangha and numerous kangaroos and other flora and fauna.”
On December 8, 2024, Renee Rausin and Jane Merschen, members of Great Spirit Sangha in San Francisco, received Jukai from Guiding Teacher, Cynthia RyoTan Kear.
To the left is Renee, Kei Shi So Jin, Fierce Protector Nest of Compassion and to the rightis Jane, Myo Shin Shi Do, Luminous Heart/Mind Messenger of the Way.
Zen Heart Sangha in Woodside CA is happy to announce that Alisa Mallari Tu, Shin Do Fu Rei (Heart Path Wind Spirit), received lay precepts from her teacher Jill Kaplan on November 2.
The Soto Zen Buddhist Association is offering its last event in the monthly series Celebrating the Voices of Women in Buddhism, a Full Moon Bodhisattva Ceremony (Ryaku Fusatsu) on Sunday, December 15 2024, from 3:30 to 5PM EST, led by Konjin Gaelyn Godwin, Abbot of Houston Zen Center. To learn more about the event and the series, click here.
I wish you joy and ease in the coming days, and will send another Newsette before the year-end holidays.