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Newsette 1-29-2025

The Program Committee for the September 15-18 Branching Streams Gathering met this week for the first time. We are a group of eight, four members who have planned past gatherings and four who are new to the planning process, bringing fresh energy, skills, and ideas. We spent much of the meeting discerning the theme for the gathering, Bridging and Belonging – Living a Zen Life A in the Midst of Conflict.

A question that has arisen for me and for many of my friends, Zen Center peers and students is how to respond to the cries of the world – including the climate crisis, ongoing wars, and the divisions in the U.S., intensified by the actions of the new president and administration in the last week. Here is one sangha’s response:

The Zen Center North Shore (in Beverly MA) newsletter states: “Weare committed as a sangha to being in and with our world, along with whatever happens to be arising at any given time. On Monday evenings beginning 1/27 we will hold space for grief, anxiety, anger, confusion, determination, and love. This will be a time for sharing emotions, resources, and practices to help us stay buoyant and connected in times to come. You can join at any time and stay for as long as you’d like.” The schedule for Monday evenings (ZenZoom only) from 6:30pm to 8:00pm EST, includes zazen, followed by Jizo Chanting for Total Accompaniment, and Open Space for Sharing and Organizing.

If your sangha is offering listening circles or other gatherings in that vein, please let me know so I can share the information. At this time it’s important to remember what nourishes us and our sanghs, including the gifts of retreats and the wonders of natural environments.

Houston Zen Center is offering an in-person retreat, Awakening with Birds, at HZC’s Auspicious Cloud Zen Retreat Center from March 28 to 30. “What is it like to share our lives with birds? What can we learn from this observation? Join Mary Carol Edwards and Stuart Nelson for a weekend of practicing meditation and observing birds. Both Mary Carol and Stuart are lifelong naturalists.”

Everyday Zen, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, will hold its 20th annual Bay Area sesshin from March 24 to 30, in person at Villa Maria del Mar in Santa Cruz and virtually by Zoom. Guiding teacher Zoketsu Norman Fischer will lead the sesshin.

Red Cedar Zen Community in Bellingham WA will hold their annual Samish Island Sesshin from June 13 to 20, co-led by Zoketsu Norman Fischer, Nomon Tim Burnett, and Kanho Chris Burkhart.

There will be a memorial service for Peter Schneider conducted by Tenshin Reb Anderson at Green Gulch Farm the afternoon of Sunday, March 2. If you want to know the exact time, please email me after Friday 1/31. Peter Schneider was an early student of Suzuki Roshi and the co-founder and co-guiding teacher of Beginners Mind Zen Center in Northridge CA.

May our practice nourish us and ripple out widely in our communities and countries.

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Newsette 1-9-2025

This Newsette, the first of 2025, contains both celebrations and mournings.

First, SAVE THE DATE for the 2025 Branching Streams Gathering, September 15 – 18. The Gathering will be co-hosted by Ancient Dragon Zen Gate in Chicago and Milwaukee Zen Center, and will take place at LUREC, Loyola University’s Recreation and Environmental Center in Illinois.

As several wildfires are raging in Los Angeles, the annual Wildland Firefighters retreat at Tassajara seems more needed than ever.

Chris Fortin (guiding teacher of Dharma Heart Zen in Cotati CA), who co-facilitated this winter’s Wildland Firefighters Retreat at Tassajara with Marc Lesser (guiding teacher of Mill Valley Zen) and Lee Klinger Lesser, reports: “It was wonderful to feel the valley glowing with warm hand to warm hand relationships as firefighters, work volunteers, students, and staff came together in real and authentic meeting , blending like milk and water to support the activity of the way.

“The firefighter’s work assignment was to move Sojun Mel Weitsman’s Memorial Stone up the hill to the Suzuki Roshi Memorial site and set it in place The photo shows firefighters from all over the country joining hearts and minds in this great activity on New Years Day . Sojun’s stone is in place!”

We mourn the loss of Peter Schneider, Yozen Taishin, Embracing Zen/Surrender to the Truth, who died on January 4, 2025. Peter and Myokaku Jane Schneider, his wife, co-founded Beginner’s Mind Zen Center in Northridge, CA in 2003, after many years of living and practicing in Kyoto Japan. Peter was ordained by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi in 1970 and was a dharma heir of Sojun Mel Weitsman. His cremation ceremony will be January 10 between 9 a.m. and noon PST.

There was a cremation ceremony for Hozan Alan Senauke, Berkeley Zen Center’s second Abbot, on January 5, conducted by Gengo Akiba Roshi, the Japanese Sotoshu Bishop for North America. The Ceremony was attended by family members, Berkeley Zen Center members, and friends, as well as by 150 people from around the world who attended on Zoom.

Brattleboro Zen Center (VT) opened its new zendo on January 7 with a ceremony, described by founding teacher Hakusho Ostlund: “We will ritually open the eyes of two of the figures on our altar. Traditionally, Buddhist statues and images are not related to as inert objects or mere symbols, but as actual beings. It is customary to paint the eyes of the image, literally or symbolically. By the performance of this ritual animation, the statue is transformed into someone capable of relating to those who relate to them, who doesn’t just get looked at but who can also look back at us… We will place a statue of Quan Yin, the bodhisattva of compassion, on our altar and open its eyes as well. She will be seated alongside Shakyamuni and Manjusri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, where she can face the Sangha directly.

It is a good month to remember the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who deeply understood our interconnectedness and the importance of Beloved Community.

Everyday Zen, based in Marin county CA, will hold its Annual Remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King led by Jaune Evans on Monday, January 20, from 8:00 to 8:30 a.m. PT. Here is the link to Join Online, Meeting ID: 818 1405 8944, Passcode: Zazen (note the upper case “Z”).

As we face many unknowns going into 2025, may our practice and our sanghas sustain us and all beings.