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Newsette 10-26-2023

This is a liminal time of year.  There is a heightened awareness of those who have died in our Zen communities in the past year, as well as those dying in mass shootings and in armed conflicts around the world, most recently in Palestine and Israel.

Many sanghas are hosting Sejiki ceremonies this week. Austin Zen Center describes the ceremony in their newsletter:All are welcome at Sejiki, a traditional, annual Japanese Zen Buddhist ceremony honoring our ancestors. This is one of the most important Sōtō Zen Buddhist observances of the year, a time to remember and call forth the spirit realm by making offerings of food to ancestors and any ‘hungry ghosts’ (including our own neglected or unsatisfied body-mind states).” Both Austin Zen Center and Chapel Hill Zen Center invite those who come to bring shelf-stable food items for their local food banks.

Houston Zen Center calls their Sejiki ceremony “Bringing Peace to the Departed.” They include beloved animals in the list of names read during the ceremony

Those of you living in the San Francisco Bay Area may be interested in joining Berkeley Zen Center’s second year of racial justice training called Many Communities One Sangha. The training features five sessions with Rhonda Magee and begins on November 5. For more information, see the attached flyer or email Karen Sundheim, ksundheim@gmail.com.

Buddhist Global Relief’s online Dharma gathering “Creating a World That Works for Everyone”  will be held on October 28 from 1 to 3 p.m. EST. Hosted by BGR founder and chair Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, the event will include Dharma reflections, guided meditation, and chanting, along with presentations from our partners about a few of BGR’s inspiring projects to relieve world hunger.

I am in the midst of reading a novel that I highly recommend,  Make the Dark Night Shine by Alan Lessik, a San Francisco Zen Center student now living in Berlin. Although the novel was inspired by a relative of Alan’s named Nina Uchida, it draws from Alan’s Zen training and research into gay culture and history in the decades between the two World Wars. Alan gave a reading at City Center last week and will be reading at Santa Cruz Zen Center on November 1.

An invitation from Tassajara:  Volunteer as a cook, kitchen crew member, or tenzo (head of kitchen) at Tassajarato support the 2023 Firefighter Retreat!  Contact zmcdirector@sfzc.org if you are able to volunteer from December 28th – January 6th. 

May all hungry ghosts be nourished in the coming days.

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Newsette 10-19-1013

I returned home from visits to four Zen Centers in Germany and Switzerland two days ago. This morning my zazen was full of images of people and places I visited and a feeling of great gratitude for our shared practice. I will write more about my trip in a future Newsette.

During my time in Europe (October 1 – 17) the conflict in Israel/Palestine erupted. I am following several news sources and am, as you may be as well, very concerned as more and more lives are severed in Gaza and Israel. Several Branching Streams teachers have shared their thoughts, concerns, resources, and actions.

Hozan Alan Senauke, Abbot of Berkeley Zen Center, wrote, “At Berkeley Zen Center we are planning to have an open council later this week, and we are also looking for good channels to direct aid to those who are experiencing loss. I would love to know what is happening in your sangha around Israel and Gaza. Here is a statement I wrote after consulting with BZC’s priests and senior students. If this is useful to any of you, please use all or parts of it for your own communities. Note that there are valuable resources in the link to Nonviolence International.”

Taigen Leighton, guiding teacher of Ancient Dragon Zen Gate in Chicago, IL, writes: “Please consider signing this petition to Congress for a ceasefire. After you sign, there is a link to messages to your own House and Senate representatives.  Please share this with others.”

 From the organization Demand Progress: 13 House Democrats have now introduced legislation to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Now is the time to take action. Sign the petition: Demand an immediate ceasefire!

There are two groundbreaking articles by Branching Streams sangha members I highly recommend. Anlor Davin, founder and priest of Autsit in the San Francisco Bay Area, wrote an article, “The Joy of Low Stimulation,” in a recent Lion’s Roar feature “On the Spectrum, On the Path.”

River Shannon’s article, “My Foxy Body, Engaging with Trans Identity through the teachings of the Buddha,” was published in Tricycle on October 3rd. River is a member of Mountain Rain Zen Community in Vancouver B.C.  

River, whose dharma name is Myōsen (Shining River), and Yuki David Burke, who practices with Calgary Soto Zen and Mountain Rain Zen, were ordained as priests by Mountain Rain’s guiding teachers Myoshin Kate McCandless and Shinmon Michael Newton on October 15.

On October 14, Kannon Do Zen Meditation Center in Mountain View celebrated the priest ordination of Anna Breckenridge, by her teacher Les Kaye. Her dharma name is Kigen Tokushin (radiant field, sincere heart).

The Tassajara Winter Practice Period (1/10 – 4/4, 2024) will be led by Paul Haller, teaching on The Practice of Awakening. First month option: This Tassajara practice period will offer an opportunity for practitioners to attend the first month only, 1/10 – 2/7/2024 [dates TBC], to include sangha members who would appreciate the opportunity to participate in the forms of a traditional ango but aren’t able to take three months away from their lives or work.For the first month there will be an emphasis on training in the Zen monastic forms and to illustrate the role they play in the practice of awakening. The prerequisite for participating in the first month of the practice period will be to have sat at least one traditional seven-day sesshin. The deadline for applications is December 9, however applying as soon as possible helps Tassajara with the logistics of planning for the practice period; priority of acceptance will be given to those who apply early. Use this link for more information about the practice period.

I’d like to end this Newsette with a quote from an Eko written by Jaune Evans, senior teacher at Everyday Zen and founding teacher of Heart of Compassion in Pt. Reyes CA, for a ceremony she led at Everyday Zen on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, October 9.

“…in these times of worldwide pain and grief, climate catastrophe, insatiable greed, hunger, injustice and war,

May we offer our gratitude for how Indigenous traditional knowledge and sacred teachings

Are so critically important for the survival and resilience of our whole Mother Earth

How Their Original Instructions are so alive today —

So infused with generosity and respect, teaching how to live in peace and generosity,

Courageously saving All Beings, sustaining joy and laughter, in spite of history,

destruction and violence, broken treaties and heavy odds.”

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Newsette 9-28-2023

I am writing just before leaving on a journey to visit two Branching Streams Zen Centers in Germany – Akazienzendo in Berlin and the Zen Buddhist Center Black Forest – and two centers in Switzerland, Felsentor and Zendo am Fluss in Lucerne. I will be leaving for the airport in less than two hours, so this Newsette will be briefer than most.

The week before this, about sixty teachers, board members and sangha members met in Santa Cruz for the 2023 Branching Streams Gathering. We experimented with a new format, Open Space, in which breakout groups were generated by participants.  Jon Voss, who led us in this process, commented, “It helped us to better understand some of the themes that are alive for the people and the sanghas who were there. We hope our time together opened a door to continue to explore these themes across the Branching Streams.” We will post more information and some photos on the Branching Streams website in the near future.

Montana de Silencia in Medellin, Colombia, will have their first priest ordination in late March 2024. Jiryu Rutschmann-Byler, the guiding teacher for the sangha, will be the officiant, along with his student Sanriki Juan Felipe Jaramillo, who will receive dharma transmission at Green Gulch Farm this fall. They have gathered most of what will be given to the ordinands and are looking for two priest oryoki sets. If you know of anyone who has priest bowls, isn’t using them, and would like to pass them on, please let Jiryu know at ggfabbot@sfzc.org.

Rev. Doralee Grindler Katonah, a teacher at Valley Streams Sangha in Sacramento, wrote a piece about a Civil Rights Pilgrimage to Alabama in which she and seven other Zen students participated. Her writing is an introduction to a slide show by fellow participant Bob Andrews. I will post her article and a link to the slideshow when I return.

Please forgive any errors or omissions in this Newsette, which was written hastily, wanting to connect with all of you in between the Gathering and my journey.

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Newsette 9-11-2023

This morning at City Center’s work circle, Keith Baker, who gives an ASL lesson every morning, taught us to sign: “Let-us Remember 9-11; And Everyone’s Well-Being.” I remember that on 9/11/2001 I was on a break from Tassara, staying with a friend in Berkeley on my way to visit my parents in New York City, when the news was on TV. I volunteered to help the Buddhist Peace Fellowship organize a community meeting. That event impacted all of us, whether we were alive at that time or not, as our country and world have been changed by it.

Transitions are in the air! Last week I attended the Stepping Down Ceremony of Les Kaye, founding and guiding teacher of Kannon Do Zen Meditation Center in Mountain View. The Sangha rehearsed for the ceremony supported by Taiga Ito and other priests from the Soto Zen International Center based in San Francisco. Great appreciation was expressed for Les’s over fifty years of teaching.

There were also Stepping Down and Mountain Seat Ceremonies at Sonoma Zen Mountain Center when Jakusho Kwong Roshi, a student of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, who founded SZMC in 1973, passed the leadership of the temple to his son, ­Nyoze Kwong. A local newspaper described the ceremony.

Hoitsu Suzuki Roshi and his son Shungo Suzuki attended the ceremonies at SZMC and Kannon Do and spent a night at City Center before returning to Japan. It was the weekend of our annual Suzuki Roshi memorial services on the 3rd and 4th of every month, and the connection to Shuryu Suzuki felt very strong.

Last week I also went to a joyful celebration of Kaz Tanahashi’s 90th birthday at Green Gulch Farm. Many of us have read Kaz’s translations of Dogen, studied calligraphy with him, or appreciated his brushwork and his activism. A tree was planted in his honor in the GGF Peace Garden.

I met with Anna Malo, San Francisco Zen Center’s Conference and Program Manager, this morning to talk about this summer’s Tassajara Sangha weeks and what SFZC is planning for summer 2024. This summer 25 Branching Streams Sanghas went to Tassajara for five-day Sangha Weeks! Anna expressed her gratitude to all the sanghas who participated. She said the sanghas “breathed life back into the Valley.” I’ve heard reports from many of you about how valuable your time at Tassjara was for bringing sangha members closer together and strengthening your practice.

The good news is that Anna will be inviting the sanghas that participated this summer to return for Sangha Weeks in 2024! It may be possible to organize some sangha weeks at Green Gulch Farm as well in 2024; please let me know if you are interested.

Many Branching Streams sanghas have not yet made an Annual Contribution for 2023. You can do so either electronically through the website, or by writing a check to San Francisco Zen Center, with the name of your sangha on the memo line, and send it to 300 Page Street, San Francisco, CA 94102, attn: Tova Green. I will be following up with sangha leaders individually later this month.

If there are ceremonies, celebrations or mournings, or programs your Sangha would like mentioned in a Newsette, please email the information to me at branchingstreams@sfzc.org.

Taigen Dan Leighton, guiding teacher at Ancient Dragon Zen Gate in Chicago Il, will be offering an online Seminar on Dogen’s Extensive Record on October 21 from 1 to 4:30 p.m. CT. For more information, email info@ancientdragon.org. A flyer is attached.

For those of us who love the poetry of Jane Hirshfield, her newest book, The Asking: New and Selected Poems, is being released this week. She is giving many readings this month in the SF Bay Area, Sonoma County, and Seattle.

Our Branching Streams Gathering begins next Monday, September 16th in Santa Cruz. Sixty people from thirty Branching Streams sanghas will be exploring the theme, Transitions. We will be sharing what we learn in future Newsettes and on the Branching Streams website.

Next week is the Autumn Equinox, as we transition from summer to autumn. Transitions are everywhere!

I will write my next Newsette after the Gathering.

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Newsette – August 23, 2023

This week I’m including a reminder about the Branching Streams List-Serve, a mourning and a celebration, offerings and news from three sanghas, a fall class from the Shogagu Institute, and a teacher search from a cousin (Katagiri lineage) sangha.

Please consider joining the Branching Streams List-Serve if you would like to more easily share resources, request information from other sanghas, and work together on issues of mutual concern. It was created after the 2022 Branching Streams Conference in Austin, using Google Groups, and is available to readers of these Newsettes. If you’d like to join this separate group email,  please sign up here. You don’t need a Google account or gmail address to join; any email will work. If you have any questions, please contact Jon Voss, our Branching Streams webmaster.

In the last weeks, memorial services were held at Chapel Hill Zen Center, San Francisco Zen Center, and Green Gulch Farm for Curtis Fabens, Daishi Zenkai: Great Resolve, Complete Openness, who passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, August 10. Curtis began practicing at the CHZC in 2006, after visiting Tassajara for several weeks. He returned to Tassajara to begin his monastic training in 2010, where he was ordained as a priest by Zenshin Greg Fain. Curtis received Dharma Transmission at Berkeley Zen Center from Greg on the evening of Friday, June 28, 2023. Curtis is survived by his wife, Caitlin, and their seven-year-old daughter.. Cards and packages may be sent to Caitlin’s home address: 2171 Burton Dr Cambria CA 93428. She has set up a Go Fund Me Page.

Mazel Tov and Great Congratulations to Nomon Tim Burnett and Raizelah Bayen who were married on July 22, 2023, with Hoka Chris Fortin (a teacher at Everyday Zen in the S.F. Bay Area) officiating. Nomon is the guiding teacher of Red Cedar Zen Community in Bellingham WA. He writes: “It’s a great thing to practice relaxing as family and friends gather to celebrate and support our marriage, and to feel the incredible support of sangha. Amazing!”

Beginners Mind Zen Center in Northridge CA, whose founding and guiding teachers are Peter and Jane Schneider, will have a Shukke Tokudo ceremony on Saturday August 26 for Spencer Levy and Chris Burnham.

Brooklyn Zen Center writes, “We’re overjoyed to share that we now have a new Brooklyn Zen Center website. The website goes along with our new logo and brand identity. We got excited about our new look and decided to go a step further—we are very happy to unveil our BZC T-shirt campaign, featuring our new kechimyaku design by Cathleen Tseng!

When I visited Ashland Zen Center last September the first thing that caught my eye as I drove up was their Little Farm Stand. A lavender sachet I brought home with me is still fragrant! I was happy to read in their August Newsletter, “the Sangha Farm Stand is humming along! Numerous people have contributed potted plants, handmade crafts, gardening books, cookbooks, and treasures with a country flair. The Farm Stand, with the help of many hands, is proving to be a great fundraiser and an important outreach to the community.

Shogaku Zen Institute is announcing its Fall 2023 class: – Preaching the Dharma Practicum taught by Steve Kanji and Daishin McCabe, ONLINE for 11 Tuesday evenings, October 24, 2023 to January 9, 2024, 6:00 to 7:30 pm, Pacific Time. The fee is $600. To register, email  registrar@shogakuzen.org. For more information, email the instructors at stevekanjiruhl@gmail.com or daishin@zenfields.org.

Several months ago, members of Nebraska Zen Center reached out to speak with me as they were discerning how they might find a priest to lead their sangha. They recently finalized a plan to invite a Resident Teacher for a four to six-month period, rather than looking for a Guiding Teacher immediately. Here is the  NZC | Resident Teacher Blurb and the NZC Resident Teacher Position Description.

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Newsette August 17, 2023

I have enjoyed compiling this Newsette, which includes a range of topics, including a new affiliate, book launchings, retreat offerings, a Pilgrimage to the South, and a request from our Branching Streams affiliate in Medellin, Colombia. I hope you will enjoy reading it.

Welcome to Great Spirit Sangha in San Francisco, whose founding and guiding teacher is Cynthia Kear. Cynthia received dharma transmission from the late Darlene Cohen. She writes, “Our form of practice is firmly rooted in the Suzuki Roshi lineage of Soto Zen Buddhism, in the dharma of our immediate ancestor, Darlene Cohen (Su Rei Ken Po, Great Spirit Manifesting Dharma).” Great Spirit Sangha is open to and respects the inherent Buddha Nature of all beings, is very LQBTQI and recovery friendly.

Lien Shutt, founding and guiding teacher of Access to Zen in Oakland, CA is celebrating the release of Home is Here,  Practicing Antiracism with the Engaged Eightfold Path on Tuesday August 22 at 7 p.m. at Books Inc in Berkeley. She will be in conversation with Zen Priest Dana Takagi.

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Paula Arai, the author of Women Living Zen and Bringing Zen Home, and a professor at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, CA will launch The Little Book of Zen Healing with a reading at Book Shop Santa Cruz on Monday August 28 at 7 p.m.

Houston Zen Center is offering a 4-day Teaching Retreat with Kokyo Henkel focusing on Menzan Zenji’s Self-Enjoyment Samadhi.  The retreat begins at Houston Zen Center the evening of Thursday, August 31 and continues from Friday September 1 to Sunday September 3 at Auspicious Cloud Temple in Chappell Hill, Texas.  “In this retreat, we can examine together and discuss some highlights from the treatise on Self-Enjoyment Samadhi by a great 18th century Soto Zen teacher. It was written for his devoted lay disciples to clarify the practice of zazen.”

Practicing with Water, a three-day Sesshin led by Zenki Kathleen Batson is offered at Chapel Hill NC Zen Center from Friday September 29 to Monday October 2. “In this sesshin we will explore the theme of water in some of Dogen’s writings, consider what stories we tell ourselves about water, and how to engage with water as part of our practice in everyday life.”

Nine Buddhist practitioners affiliated with the Racial and Social Justice as Dharma Practice Group (RSJD) will make a Pilgrimage to the South from September 5 to 10. They will journey to Alabama to “witness, learn, and practice within the context of the lived truths of the institution of slavery, the growth of systemic racism, the Civil Rights Movement, and the ongoing work of racial and social justice as currently manifesting in the South,” visiting sites of historical significance in Brimingham, Selma, and Montgomery .RSJD is co-led by Chris Fortin of Everyday Zen and Dharm Heart Zen and Doralee Grindler Katonah of Valley Streams Zen Group in Sacramento CA.

Montaña de Silencio in Medellin, Colombia requests our support! Their board president, Engyoku Nidia Gil writes: “We are wholeheartedly working here to make this center more available to practice and study Dharma. Last month we launched a campaign to raise funds to guarantee the sustainability of this organization. We are currently being supported by donations that come from our members, that today are 28.” Here is the link to their campaign: https://fundrazr.com/montanadesilencio?ref=ab_1RoptCuoyW91RoptCuoyW9.

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Newsette August 5, 2023

Dear Branching Streams teachers and leaders,

Patrick Teverbaugh, guiding teacher at Santa Cruz Zen Center, and I visited Villa Maria del Mar, the oceanside retreat center where we’ll hold the  2023 Branching Streams Gathering in September. I stayed overnight to get acquainted with the layout of the buildings, the breakout rooms, and the meals. I could hear the waves breaking on the beach below as I fell asleep. The deadline for registration is rapidly approaching! If you plan to attend and haven’t yet registered, please do so this week.

Ceremonies past and future:

On July 30, Hakusho Ostlund, who founded Brattleboro Zen Center in Vermont during the pandemic, received Dharma Transmission from Senior Dharma Teacher Furyu Schroeder at Green Gulch Farm. The photo below was taken by Reirin Gumbel, the guiding teacher of Milwaukee Zen Center, who came to assist with her dharma brother’s ceremony.

During that week, at Berkeley Zen Center, Hannah Meara and Carol Paul received dharma transmission from Hozan Alan Senauke and Curtis Fabens received dharma transmission from Zenshin Greg Fain. Hannah’s dharma name is KiJin SeiSho/ Resolute Love Clear Illumination. Carol’s is ShiKen SeiGetsu/ Clear Intention, Serene Moon, and Curtis’s is DaiShi ZenKai/ Great Resolve, Complete Openness. The photo was taken by BZC sangha member Dean Bradley.

Keido Les Kaye’s Stepping Down Ceremony as Abbot of Kannon Do Zen Center in Mountain View CA will be held at 10 a.m. PDT on Monday September 4 (Labor Day). It’s possible to attend virtually or in person. If you’d like to RSVP for the ceremony please do so very soon, using this form.

I’m attaching a flyer for a six-month Mindful Leadership Training co-led by Marin Zen’s founding and guiding teacher Marc Lesser at Spirit Rock. The six-month training begins later in August.

And the Enso Village team is sharing news about Enso Verde, a second Zen-inspired senior living community they are developing in southern California. There will be several in-person and virtual meetings in August and September for those interested in learning more. The flyer is attached.

I look forward to visiting Seattle Soto Zen in their new home at Seattle Koyasan Buddhist Temple.  I will meet with SSZ’s spiritual director, Kanshin Allison Tate, and be their guest speaker on Sunday August 27. I will stay with dear cousins and meet the newest member of the family, named Ori, who was born on my birthday.

Bowing deeply,

Tova

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Newsette July 24, 2023

We have extended the registration deadline for the  2023 Branching Streams Gathering to August 8. If you haven’t registered, please consider attending!  Fifty-five people have registered so far. We have room for up to 15 more participants.

Welcome to a new Branching Streams affiliate, Autsit: Meditation for people on the autism / neurodiverse spectrum, based in Fairfax, CA. Autsit was co-founded by Anlor Davin, a priest ordained by Norman Fischer, guiding teacher of Autsit and founder and guiding teacher of Everyday Zen.

Josho Pat Phelan, Abbess of Chapel Hill Zen Center (NC) writes, “I am so pleased to announce that Richmond Zen, VA, with the Chapel Hill Zen Center, NC, completed a 90-day Kessei Ango, or Practice Period, that was registered with the Soto School in Japan. Eden Kevin Heffernan was Shuso. Konjin Godwin Roshi and Zenki Nishimura represented the Soto Zen International Center, and visiting teachers Teijo Munnich of Great Tree Zen Women’s Temple, Inryu Ponce-Barger of All Beings Zen Sangha, Kuden Boyle of Forest City Zen Group, and Choro Antonaccio of the Austin Zen Center, attended the Shuso Dharma Inquiry Ceremony on June 15.”

Konjin Gaelyn Godwin and others from Soto Zen International Center sent this Save the Date: “In honor of the important 700 year anniversary and commemoration of Keizan Zenji’s life and teaching, your center is invited to participate in the ceremonies. We have organized a tour, April 21-24, 2024. You might want to arrive in Japan before the tour or stay on after it ends.

“We will start April 21st at Fukui station near Eiheiji, where we will practice together, and stay in a nearby onsen/hot springs hotel. April 22nd and 23rd will be at Sojiji, where there will be ceremonies to honor Keizan Zenji. We will stay in a nearby hotel. The final day, April 24th, includes a symposium on Shobogenzo, at the Tokyo Grand Hotel. Important Shobogenzo scholars will make presentations, which will be a very fortunate opportunity for us.”

More details, including costs for the trip, and an informative poster, will be available soon.

Tassajara and Green Gulch offerings:

The due date for applications for the Fall 2023 Practice Period at Tassajara, led by Ryushin Paul Haller, is August 10th. Here’s the link on the SFZC website.

From Tassajara’s Director: “Nourish the community and your heart-mind by practicing as a member of the Tassajara kitchen crew during the 2023 fall practice period. Deepen your understanding of Zen while learning essential cooking skills with a tight-knit crew of monks. Apply now! If you’re accepted, you won’t have to pay for the practice period. You would be welcome to arrive September 1 and stay through the practice period. Please email  zmcdirector@sfzc.org by Sept. 9 to find out more details.”

Tassajara Zen Mountain Center welcomes applicants for the position of plant manager, with a start date in autumn 2023.  Please contact Jamie at zmcdirector@sfzc.org if interested.

Tenshin Reb Anderson Roshi has accepted an invitation to lead the 2024 January Intensive, a residential practice intensive to be held at Green Gulch Farm and Zen Center from January 6 to January 27. The window for the period of application is now open. More information about the intensive and the process for application may be found at this Information Link. Everyone who is interested is warmly welcome to apply.
 

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Newsette – July 6, 2023

Last week I was at Tassajara, co-leading a Queer Dharma Sangha Week. Two other Branching Streams teachers and groups were also there – Hogetsu Laurie Belzer with Ancient Dragon Zen Gate and Ryushin Andrea Thach with Berkeley Zen Center. Our sanghas mingled with one another and with residents – over meals, in the zendo, and on work crews – creating a joyful sense of one large sangha.

The deadline for registrations for the 2023 Branching Streams Gathering is July 15. About 30 people have registered thus far. We’d like to have a wide range of sanghas represented. Please consider attending! The capacity of our venue, Villa Maria del Mar, is 70 participants.

In my last Newsette, I made a mistake in how I described the leader of our new Branching Streams affiliate, Sky Island Zen in Tucson, AZ. Corrected description:

In my last Newsette, I made a mistake in how I described the leader of our new Branching Streams affiliate, Sky Island Zen in Tucson, AZ. Corrected description:  Mary Koopman is the founding priest and student of Chris Fortin. Chris is the guiding teacher of SIZ, a senior teacher at Everyday Zen and founding teacher of two groups in Sebastopol CA.  

Sorrows and Joys

I and many others who knew Keith Wiley, were saddened by his recent death. Keith was the resident priest of Crystal Springs Sangha in San Mateo, CA. He was a student of Sarita Tomayo-Moraga , who was a dharma heir of Darlene Cohen. You may have met Keith at a Branching Streams conference or online, as he attended many of Jon Voss’s Zoom clinics during the pandemic. A retired physician, Keith was devoted to his sangha and his teacher.  Keith was the first person to register for this September’s Branching Streams Gathering. In his last email to me he said, “I am looking forward to Santa Cruz this fall.”

On a joyful note, Josho Phelan, Abbess of Chapel Hill Zen Center, wrote, “I am so pleased to announce that Zenki Kathleen Batson will be installed as Vice-Abbess after zazen on September 17th, followed by a reception. Everyone is warmly invited to attend.”

Misha Merrill, guiding teacher of Zen Heart Sangha in Woodside CA ordained two priests on May 13th, Kathleen Dickey – Hoshin Ushun, Dharma Heart/Rain (of) Spring and Sylvia Hawley – Jizan Seishin, Compassion(ate) Mountain/Sincere Heart.

Berkeley Zen Center recently completed its first Many Communities, One Sangha program led by Rhonda Magee. “Over the course of ten months we met in small and large groups to discuss how to build a more inclusive community by exploring mindful responses to racism in ourselves, our sangha, and the greater world.” The program will continue for a second year.

Brooklyn Zen Center/Ancestral Heart Temple writes, “We’re overjoyed to announce the opening of the Millerton Zendo, a meditation space in Millerton, NY. Please join us for our opening on Saturday, July 22, at 10am EST. Starting Saturday, July 29, we will be offering weekly Saturday morning programs of zazen instruction, zazen, service, and dharma discussion. Please find more information and the schedule here. All are welcome.

Zen Center North Shore in Beverly MA has officially initiated a property search “for a location to call home. The time has come to consider locations where we can unpack, settle in, and continue to practice, learn, and grow our intentions to each other and the community.”

A Grant Program that may be of interest:

In 2024, Lenz Foundation grants will cover the emergent, broad-based field of women’s leadership in Buddhism, bringing women to the foreground in innovative ways and creating programming for empowering women. The window to apply for a grant is open until September 30, 2023.” If you know of people whose work may align with our grant theme, please refer them to our Grant Policy page and encourage them to write us.”

And a SFZC online program on Soto and Rinzai Zen you may want to explore:

Jiryu Rutschman-Byler, Abbot of Green Gulch Farm, and Meido Moore, Abbot of Korinji monastery in Wisconsin, will each be teaching a four-week online class on Soto and Rinzai Zen, respectively. These series will feature a conversation between the two Abbots on Saturday, July 15 — The Zen Spectrum: Bridging Soto and Rinzai through Dialogue and Understanding.
This conversation is part of a greater exploration of Zen traditions taking place in The Spirit of Soto Zen, July 10 to July 31, and The Way of Rinzai Zen, July 13 to August 3.

May you enjoy these long days of summer.

With bows of appreciation,

Tova

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Newsette – April 24, 2023

As May approaches, I am looking forward to visiting several Branching Streams groups on the East Coast. Inryu Ponce-Barger, guiding teacher of All Beings Zen Sangha in Washington, DC invited me to give a talk on May 11 and assist her with preparations for a Shuso Ceremony May 13. From DC I will go to Boston to join Joan Amaral and Zen Center North Shore in a one day sitting on May 14th, and then visit Hakusho Ostlund at Brattleboro Zen Center in Vermont, giving a talk on May 16th.  I will end my trip back in Boston, to meet with John Bailes, who leads One Heart Zen in Somerville.

Today’s Newsette highlights news from two European teachers, and a request from Vancouver.

Dario Girolami, Abbot of Centro Zen l’Arco in Rome, is organizing the first conference on European Buddhist Chaplaincy in Rome on June 24 and 25, both at Sapienza University and online. There will be pre-conference workshops on June 23. The conference is sponsored by the Italian Buddhist Union (UBI) and by the European Buddhist Union (EBU). “The purpose of the conference is to develop, organize and support Buddhist chaplaincy in Europe to provide support, training opportunities and materials for those engaged in Buddhist chaplaincy, to identify spiritual and pastoral needs within Buddhist communities and to encourage broader community cohesion and social integration.”

Bernd Bender writes that Akazienzendo in Berlin’s summer sesshin is scheduled from July 12-16. The sesshin will take place in a small village close to the Polish border, about 90 minutes east of Berlin. Bernd is also organizing a retreat this fall in Greece, in the tradition of Suzuki Roshi, where English will be the spoken language. Here is a link to the retreat.

Mountain Rain Zen Community in Vancouver BC is looking for “an experienced Administrative Director to provide administrative support in managing our growing organization. This is a one-year contract position, renewable after 12 months depending on funding. Click here for a job description and contact details. Please share this information widely.”

We are nearing the end of National Poetry Month in the U.S. Thursday April 27 is Poem in Your Pocket Day – a day to share poems with family members, friends, storekeepers, etc.I will close with a poem:

“Small Kindnesses” by Santa Cruz poet Danusha Laméris, from her book Bonfire Opera:

I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk
down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs
to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you”
when someone sneezes, a leftover
from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying.
And sometimes, when you spill lemons
from your grocery bag, someone else will help you
pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other.
We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,
and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile
at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress
to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder,
and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.
We have so little of each other, now. So far
from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.
What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these
fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here,
have my seat,” “Go ahead — you first,” “I like your hat.”