It has been a month since I sent the March 5 Newsette, written in my last week of living at San Francisco Zen Center. I am writing today from Enso Village in Healdsburg CA, about 70 miles north of San Francisco. I moved on March 10. It will take me a while to put down roots here, get to know community members, and establish a daily schedule. I’m happy to continue in my role as Branching Streams Director until the Fall.
Meanwhile, Branching Streams groups have continued to flow and there is much news to share.
On March 15, Mid City Zen (MCZ)in New Orleans celebrated the ordination of two priests. Jon Voss, our Branching Streams webmaster, was ordained by Susan O’Connell, who flew from San Francisco for the ceremony, and Reimoku Greg Smith was ordained by Greg Fain. Greg Fain and Linda Galijan are in New Orleans for six weeks leading the MCZ spring practice period. Jon’s dharma name is Gikai Shinryu, Justice Protector, Authentic Dragon. Reimoku Myoshin, Spiritual Silence/Clear Heart, received the name Reimoku from his first Zen teacher, Robert Livingston Roshi, and the second part of his name, Myoshin, from Greg Fain.

(from left to right: Greg Fain, Reimoku Smith, Jon Voss, Linda Galijan, and in front, Susan O’Connell)
Two days after the ordination, Rev. Reimoku, spiritual advisor to Jesse Hoffman, who was imprisoned on death row at Angola State Penitentiary for many years, offered support to Jesse during his execution, the first in Louisiana since 2010. Jon Voss wrote, “While Reimoku was inside at Angola, Greg Fain and I took part in the interfaith vigil outside, with ours and other sanghas, waiting for Jessie Hoffman’s family and Reimoku to come out. Meanwhile Linda [Galijan] led zazen and discussion at MCZ. Brooklyn Zen Center held a vigil and service for Jessie as well.
“While it was a sad and heavy day for us all, and a jump from the joy of ordination to the pain of a senseless state sanctioned murder, our sangha has been held close together in meditation and action, and our sangha and our close friends at Sanghahouse NOLA have played a prominent role in the voices calling for an end to execution.”
Reirin Gumbel, guiding teacher at Milwaukee Zen Center, writes, “Yesterday [April 1] was a big day in Wisconsin.” {Reirin is referring to the State Supreme Court Race, which was won by liberal candidate Susan Crawford despite $20 million invested in her opponent’s campaign.] “I was an election observer at three different polling places, and we had three people here from Election Retreat for two weeks, who practiced with us in the morning and canvassed every day.”
Brooklyn Zen Center is offering an online class, Practicing with Jizo Bodhisattva, Cultivating Fearlessness in a World of Suffering. Co-led by Dojin Sarah Emerson and Wesley Sansei Ancel, the class will meet on four Tuesdays, May 16 to May 27 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. EDT.
Wesley Sansei Ancel writes, “I’m excited to announce that Zen Tailoring is open for business! I make a full range of custom Soto Zen robes and samue for lay practitioners and priests, including nagasamue, kairyoe, and koromo. I’m grateful to Jakuko Mo Ferrell, who trained me to make robes in the Soto style. See the website for more info, and contact me at wesley@zentailoring.com.”
Tatsudo Nicole Baden will be in residence at Crestone Mountain Zen Center in Colorado during April and May. She is the Abbot of the international non-profit organization Dharma Sangha and its two Zen practice centers, Crestone and the Zen Buddhist Center in the Black Forest, Germany. Nicole is a Dharma Successor of Zentatsu Baker. She and Baker Roshi will visit San Francisco Zen Center and Green Gulch Farm during her stay at Crestone.
The Sati Center, which has been offering yearlong Introduction to Buddhist Chaplaincy programs co-led by Gil Fronsdal, Paul Haller, Jennifer Block, and others, will have an online free informational event for those interested in the 2025-2026 training on April 27 from 9 a.m. to noon.
Reirin reminded me of a poem that we shared at a Branching Streams conference a few years ago, “We Are of a Tribe,” by Alberto Rios. It includes these lines:
“Together, we are a tribe of eyes that look upward,
Even as we stand on uncertain ground.”
May we remember to look upward, and to look at one another, in these uncertain times.