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Newsette – June 19, 2025

This Newsette includes celebratory news from three Branching Streams centers, information about three training opportunities, and recommends an article about the meaning of Jukai.

Red Cedar Zen Community in Bellingham WA celebrated the Lay Entrustment of Reizan Bob Penny on May 10th in a ceremony conducted by guiding teacher Nomon Tim Burnett. Reizan Bob is the co-founder of their sangha and the creative energetic force behind their Wilderness Dharma program over the past 25 years.

Josho Pat Phelan, Guiding Teacher of Chapel Hill Zen Center (North Carolina) sent news of recent ceremonies for her student Kunro Kuden, Paul Boyle who is the guiding teacher of Forest City Zen Center in London, Ontario, Canada. These ceremonies will enable Paul to visit and participate in Zuise at Eiheiji and Sojiji in Japan. Konjin Gaelyn Godwin, Zenki Nishimura, and Tenmyo Dojima from the North American Soto Zen International Office based in San Francisco, as well as Inryu Bobbie Ponce-Barger from All Beings Zen Sangha, in Washington, DC, and Choro Carla Antonaccio from Austin Zen Center attended to support the ceremonies.

Soko Chris Fortin, who is both the guiding teacher of Dharma Heart Zen in Sebastopol CA and a senior teacher at Everyday Zen, gave dharma transmission to students in both sanghas on May 7 and 8, supported by Rinsho Norman Fisher, founding teacher of Everyday Zen and Kanho Chris Burkhart, teacher at Red Cedar Zen Community. The students are Hofu Mary Ann Sacksteder, Eryu Debi Papazian, and Kodo Mary Koopman. Chris also gave Menjuhai to Myoko Iva Slone.

Brooklyn Zen Center’s May newsletter includes an article by BZC’s director, Ryan Lee Wong, “Inside the Jukai Process” that explores the meaning of Jukai. I highly recommend it to any of you that have received Jukai or given Jukai to students.

Training that may interest you:

Anlor Davin, founding and guiding teacher of AutSit, will offer an online conversation with Ben Connelly on June 21, from 1 to 3 p.m., Voices on Inclusion and Practice. They will explore how Zen practice can be made more inclusive and supportive for neurodivergent individuals,

The Sati Center for Buddhist Studies is now taking applications for its yearlong Buddhist Chaplaincy Training programs that start in the fall. “There are two programs – an in-person one for folks who can make it to the monthly workshops in Redwood City, CA; and an online program for those living further afield. Both programs deliver the same level of training and are suitable for those wishing to engage in spiritual care on a voluntary basis, or as the first step in a professional trajectory.” For more information, contact Vanessa at bct@sati.org. To apply, use this link.

Zen Buddhist Organizational Consultant Thomas Bruner is offering a series of onlineworkshops beginning in June. He writes, “My hope is for our institutions to not only be spiritually and ethically sound but organizationally healthy and robust as well.” Each workshop meets four times: Fundraising for Buddhists: From Hesitance to Confidence in June; Effective Boards: Good Governance for Buddhists in July, Charting our Future: Strategic Planning for Buddhists in August, and Ensuring our Future: Planned Giving for Buddhists in September. See the attached flier for dates and other details.

I will be spending the next two weeks at Tassajara, first participating in a Poetry and Zen retreat with Naomi Shihab Nye and Paul Haller, then co-leading a Queer Dharma Sangha Week. The next Newsette will come to you in the first week of June.

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Newsette – May 5, 2025

Spring is in full swing in Healdsburg, as it is in many locations. At Enso Village we celebrated Beltane, the midpoint between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice at Enso Village on April 4th, honoring the earth and the other elements that make our human lives possible.

On the theme of Spring, Hogetsu Laurie Belzer, guiding teacher of Ancient Dragon Zen Gate in Chicago, writes: “On a cool spring morning, sangha member and birder, Lou, led a group of ‘dragons’ through a morning bird and nature walk in the local West Ridge Nature Park. Walking mostly in silence, Lou gently indicated birds and other park-beings. With their help, I met a golden-crowned kinglet for the first time and spied a kestrel, red wing blackbirds, a gold finch, wood ducks, Virginia bluebells, redbud, cherry blossoms and even a turtle. As a hawk glided away, someone asked, “was that a Cooper’s Hawk?” “We’ll never know”, responded Lou. On our walk, delight in the not knowing arose along with delight in the momentarily named and known.”

In the spirit of celebration, San Antonio Zen Center (SAZC) participated in a Buddhist Interfaith event, the 20 year anniversary of Lien Hoa Buddhist Temple, on April 5. The SAZC sangha “joined hundreds of Buddhist practitioners from San Antonio and around the world. Monks and lay practitioners from several Asian traditions, including Vietnamese, Taiwanese, and Tibetan offered chanting and teachings throughout the day. SAZC was honored to be invited to participate by chanting and a sangha leader offered teaching on the power and benefit of sangha practice.”

The newsletter of Everyday Zen (EDZ), based in the San Francisco Bay Area, reports: “Senior EDZ teacher Jaune Evans opened our April All-Day Sitting at Green Gulch Farm (GGF) by reading a beautiful and timely letter [by GGF’s Abiding Abbot Jiryu Rutschmann-Byler] sent out to the San Francisco Zen Center community. The letter begins, “I’ve been aspiring these days to the practice of kindness – kindness in defiance of cruelty, in refusal of the pull towards cynicism and numbness…kindness as an expression of our innate deep vow.” You can access the entire letter.

Engaging the Heart of Wisdom, Pathways for Meeting Uncertainty, is a weekend of free online teachings from May 23 to 25.The ten teachers include Tatsudo Nicole Baden Roshi, Zentatsu Richard Baker Roshi, Valerie Brown, Jiryu Rutschmann-Byler, Rev. Lien Shutt, and Roshi Joan Halifax. A flyer with more information is attached. “This isn’t a weekend packed with information. It’s a rare invitation to explore your own experience, listen to inspiring talks, connect with a living community – and settle into silence.”

Karen Sundheim, President of the Berkeley Zen Center board, has sent a letter to Soto Zen teachers: “As you know, our beloved Abbot Hozan Kushiki Alan Senauke passed away in December 2024. While we continue to feel the loss deeply, we are beginning the process of finding our next Abbot (or two co-abbots). We welcome applications, preferably before June 1, 2025.” Attached you will find a more official announcement describing Berkeley Zen Center, a list of desirable qualifications, as well as a job description.

San Francisco Zen Center welcomes a gathering of ten local writers of diverse faiths and backgrounds who will hold a reading in support of ceasefire and ongoing peace in Gaza and Israel on Sunday May 18 from 4 to 6 p.m. This event is hosted by poet Naomi Shihab Nye and SFZC Senior Dharma Teacher Ryushin Paul Haller. Admission is free. Donations will be collected and distributed through the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) of Berkeley. I had the pleasure of  interviewing Naomi and Paul about their long friendship and what led them to offer this event. The interview was posted on SFZC’s Sangha News.

May you find joy in this season of new growth.