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Newsette July 23, 2025

It’s been about a month since my last Newsette. The days seem to have gone by very quickly.

I have continued to settle into Enso Village. We celebrated Interdependence Day here on July 3 with an evening sing-along of peace and protest songs largely from the 70’s – Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Joan Baez. A quartet I’m part of – three recorders and a cello – made our debut that evening playing topical tunes.

During this time several sanghas have had Jukai ceremonies and priest ordinations, retreats in places of natural beauty, and participated in protests, marches and other actions in support of a more just and peaceful country and world.

Berkeley Zen Center’s co-guiding teachers, Greg Fain and Linda Galijan, led a practice period focusing on the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. They wrote in the July BZC newsletter, “In these frankly frightening times in which we find ourselves, it is most incumbent upon us to give each other the gift of our true selves. We give each other the gift of non-fear…We discover capacities we never knew we had before, like finding a precious jewel sewed into a sleeve…A life worth living is something that money can’t buy. And it’s something we freely offer to each other in a web of mutuality and love.”

A few days ago, Joanna Macy breathed her last breath. Many of you may have experienced her teaching, either in person or through her books and online talks. From the time in 1982 when I participated in her weekend workshop “Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age,” she has been a mentor and source of courage and inspiration for me. She lived not too far from Berkeley Zen Center. Greg Fain met her on the street while taking a walk and shared this vibrant photo of them. Her work, now called The Work That Reconnects, is easily accessible.

On July 19 Kannon Do Zen Meditation Center in Mountain View, CA celebrated the priest ordination of Tim Sandoe, who was given the dharma name Ryuzan Keishin – Flowing Mountain, Joyous Truth. His teacher, Zoketsu Norman Fischer, founding teacher of Everyday Zen Foundation, and preceptor Jaune Evans, founder of Heart of Compassion in Pt. Reyes and senior teacher at Everyday Zen, co-officiated. Since Kannon Do’s founding teacher and Abbot, Les Kaye, stepped down a few years ago, Norman and senior teachers from Everyday Zen have been supporting the sangha to continue their practice and extend their skills.

The photo shows Jaune, Tim, and Norman relaxing after the ceremony.

Dharma Heart Zen in Sebastopol, CA celebrated a Jukai ceremony in June. Guiding teacher Chris Fortin gave the precepts to four sangha members: Judith Reimuller, Rinsho Kido, Turning toward the Light, Resolute Path; Kathy Barr, Konin Tetsudo, Authentic Person, Penetrating Path; Beth Fulton, Gosei Heido, Awake Energy, Peaceful Path; and Sue Husari, Kansan Ryodo, Generous Mountain, Path of Goodness.

During their recent Sangha Week at Green Gulch Farm, Inryu Ponce-Barger, guiding teacher, and students from All Beings Zen Sangha in Washington DC visited the International Soto Zen office in the basement of Sokoji temple in Japan. The staff welcomed them and showed them the beautiful zendo. Sokoji is the temple that invited Suzuki Roshi to be its Abbot in 1959 (though it was in another, nearby location then).

Bikkhu Bodhi posted this today: “I started a petition, with valuable input from Linda Hess, [a member of Berkeley Zen Center] demanding an end to the Israel government’s campaign of mass starvation of the population of Gaza. It’s addressed to President Trump. I know its quixotic, aiming lances at windmills… But it can’t hurt to try.” Bikkhu Bodhi is hoping for 3,000 signatures by Sunday. If you wish to sign, here is the link.https://www.change.org/p/president-trump-gaza-is-starving-please-stop-this

The Soto Zen Buddhist Association is offering two trainings in August in its 2025 speaker series, Actualizing and Sustaining Health Zen Communities. Both events are open to all. Click here for August 1, 2025 event flyer.

On Friday, August 1 from 3:30 to 5p.m. EDT, the topic is Fundraising for Buddhists: From Hesitance to Confidence, facilitated by Thomas Bruner. You can registerhere.

The topic on Saturday, August 23, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. EDT is Black Buddhists and the Black Radical Tradition with speaker Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad. For the event flyer, click here.

To close, here are some words from Joanna Macy, “Over the years I’ve realized …the importance of not knowing the outcome [of our work]…Liberated from the need for certainty, and even hope, we can more fully inhabit the present moment. Not knowing rivets our attention on what is happening right now. This present moment is the only time we can act and the only time, after all, to awaken.”