I am writing from Chicago, where I’m visiting Ancient Dragon Zen Gate, after a brief visit to Milwaukee Zen Center. The two centers will be co-hosting the 2025 Branching Streams Conference from September 15 to 18 at Loyola University Recreation and Ecology Center. I’ve been meeting with guiding teachers Kogetsu Laurie Belzer (in Chicago) and Reirin Gumbel (in Milwaukee) and members of their sanghas to begin forming the local committee that will work with me on logistics for the Gathering.
This trip followed quickly on the heels of a trip to the East Coast to attend the Soto Zen Buddhist Association meeting at Pendle Hill, near Philadelphia. While on the East Coast I visited Ancestral Heart Monastery in Millerton NY, connected with Brooklyn Zen Center, and Richmond VA Zen Center. These will be the last sangha visits I will make outside the Bay Area in 2024.
On these visits, I have been warmly welcomed and found it inspiring to practice with each sangha and to meet with teachers, board members, and sangha members. I gave dharma talks in Millerton and Ancient Dragon and spoke informally about the role of Branching Streams. At the SZBA Conference, Patrick …, the guiding teacher of Santa Cruz Zen Center, and Kate McCandless, co-guiding teacher of Mountain Rain Zen Community joined me to co-facilitate a discussion on how we can welcome more young people to our sanghas.
Several sanghas have recently held Jukai ceremonies. Congratulations to the new Bodhisattvas and their teachers!
In September, Karen de Kotis (third from the left) was the preceptor for a Jukai ceremony for five students at Bozeman Zen Group (MT). Their names (from left to right) are: Ryan Erickson – Yusho Kanjaku, Courageous life, Perfect Nirvana; Jack Pearson – Seigaku Seido, Sincere Study, Clear Path; Doug Beaudoin – Daiki Seisho, Great Veneration, True Vow, Marilia Librandi – Seishin Myogen, Pure Heart, Subtle Source, and Sean Tillotson – Jushin Keijo. Tender Heart, Joyous Samadhi.
Bozeman Zen Group also held its first sesshin, with Karen and visiting teacher Nomon Tim Burnett from Red Cedar Zen Community (Bellingham, WA) co- leading. On October 20th, the Bozeman sangha will hold a formal stepping down ceremony for Karen prior to her departure to San Antonio Zen Center, where she will be the new guiding teacher.
On Sunday September 22, Taigen Leighton and Hogetsu Laurie Belzer led a jukai ceremony at Ancient Dragon Zen Gate for four dragons, Chris Cadman, Compassionate Melody, Sage Mountain; Jikyokū, Tettsuzan, Mike Evans, Bamboo Sound, True Dragon; Chikuon Shōryū, Simone Salis (Radiant Path, Gate of Determination: Kōdō Shimon, and Kerstin Schaars (Abiding in Light, Following the Stream; Jūkō Zuiryū.
At Richmond (VA) Zen on September 29 Josho Pat Phelen, Abbot of Chapel Hill Zen Center, was the preceptor for a Jukai ceremony for Blythe King, Poke Keishin and Indranil Bagchi, Kakushin Hokki.
From left to right: guiding teacher Eden Heffernan, guiding teacher at Richmond Zen, Blythe King, Indranil Bagchi, Josho Pat Phelan, and Zenki Batson, Vice Abbot of Chapel Hill Zen Center
Renshin Bunce, guiding teacher of Beginner’s Mind Zen in Eureka CA, priest ordained Marie Ferreboeuf (Sei Kyo Ji Shin, True Mirror Compassion Heart) on September 28th..in Eureka CA. Renshin noted that “the ceremony was a true group effort.”
It’s not too late to register for Hearing Younger Women’s Voiceson October 17 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. PDT,the October offering in the Soto Zen Buddhist Association’s yearlong series, Celebrating the Voices of Women in Buddhism. The series continues through December.
May you and your sangha thrive, in the midst of a stressful time for our countries and the planet.