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Newsette August 9, 2021

I am sending this Newsette on August 9, the 76th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki. I first went to Japan in 1986, when visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and spoke with Hibakushas (atomic bomb survivors) in Nagasaki. As a way of remembering these days I’d like to share a piece of music called “August 6” composed by a friend, Shinji Eshima.

The headlines today include reports of the largest wildfire in the history of California, wildfires in Greece and Turkey, with extremely hot temperatures. There is a surge of new Covid cases across the United States as well as in other countries. In Austin, TX, there is a shortage of intensive care beds, while the Governor prohibits cities in his state from requiring indoor masking and encouraging people to get vaccinated.

At this time, some sanghas are opening their doors again, some are meeting in person outdoors, and others are continuing a combination of in-person and virtual offerings. Protocols for meeting inside change from no masks to masks, as CDC and local guidelines keep changing.

Myoshin Kate McCandless and Shinmon Michael Newton, guiding teachers at Mountain Rain Zen Community in Vancouver BC write, “As we go forward into the fall, the time when we usually strengthen and intensify our practice, many are noticing the cumulative fatigue and emotional toll the pandemic has taken…As we transition to whatever the next phase of this second pandemic year brings, let’s recognize that we will need to renew our energy, rehabilitate relationships, and recommit to our practice. The home page of their website includes a slide show of photos from members’ gardens this summer – very inspiring!

This Newsette includes some good news from Houston Zen Center, several study opportunities coming in September and October, and a link to my interview with Zenju Earthlyn Manuel on her life-long love of poetry.

Jon Voss’s Zoom clinic resumes this week, on Wednesday August 11 from 11 to noon PDT. Here is the Zoom link or Meeting ID: 222 402 816, Passcode: 057143.

Houston Zen Center recently received the gift of the Margaret Austin Center, which provides a retreat center and 40 acres of land. Their announcement states, “The gift from the Margaret Austin Center board to HZC is … the fruit of a decades-long relationship among the members of Margaret Austin Center and Houston Zen Community, based in mutual respect, confidence, and trust.” . Congratulations to Abbot Gaelyn Godwin, board chair Royce Johnson, and all those who contributed to the unfolding of this gift.

Fall classes:

For meditators who want to enter Zen deeply, to investigate the mind of daily life, Houston Zen Center offers Entering the Path of Practice, an 8-week  advanced program of guided exploration, study and training.  The program begins on September 5.

The Soto Zen Buddhist Association is announcing its Fall course, Many Communities, One Sangha: Exploring the Reality of Equity & Inclusion with Rhonda Magee, Mushim Ikeda and Crystal Johnson. This 5-session online course will take place on Saturdays in October from 1-3:30 pm Pacific Time). Registration for the general public opens on August 13th. I will include registration information in next week’s Newsette.

The Shogaku Institute is offering Honoring Asian American Buddhists an 8-week online class from October 6 to December 10, Wednesdays, 6-8 pm PST, 7-9 pm MST, 8-10 pm CST, 9-11 pm EST. Here’s is a link to a flyer with more information about the course and how to register. The course begins with the history of Asian Buddhist immigration to America and ends with examining ways that we might identify and work to bridge some of the issues that often have kept ethnic and convert Buddhists apart.

Many sanghas have invited Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, founder of Still Breathing Zen to give talks during the last year – and many of us may not know about her life as a poet. Here’s the link to an interview I did with her about the importance of poetry in her life.

In the midst of many reminders of the fragility and preciousness of life on our planet, may our practice continue with persistence, creativity, vigor, and joy.

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Newsette 7-27-2021

This Newsette includes an update on the 2022 Tassajara Branching Streams Sangha weeks, a reminder about Jon Voss’s next Zoom Clinic, a link to an article I wrote about the Zen Buddhist Sewing Teachers’ first practice period, and an invitation to a dharma talk by Rhonda Magee.

Branching Streams Tassajara Sangha Weeks will be available throughout the summer guest season in 2022, from April 29 through September 11. Groups of up to ten participants plus a teacher can attend for 3, 4, or 7 nights. The fee for Sangha Week is $80 per night per person. If more than 10 members of a group wish to attend, they will need to book guest housing, which is more costly. Teacher housing for one teacher is complementary. 2022 Sangha weeks:

  • start on Friday and end of Monday (3-nights/Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
  • start on Monday and end on Friday (4-nights/Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday).
  • seven-night stays will be a combination of a 3 and a 4 night stay.

Please begin speaking with your sangha if you would like to reserve a space, and give me your first, second, and third choice of dates. Sanghas who were planning to attend in 2020 and were unable to due to Tassajara’s closure will be given priority in choice of dates. There should be enough openings for all the groups who would like to attend to do so. If you have any questions, please email me: branchingstreams@sfzc.org.

Jon Voss will be on vacation the last two weeks of July. His next Wednesday Zoom Clinic will be August 11.

If you’d like to learn more about the Zen Buddhist Sewing Teacher’s 6-month practice period, here is the link to an article I wrote for last week’s SFZC Sangha News. Sewing teachers from Branching Streams sanghas in the U.S., Europe, and Canada are participating.

One of my favorite teachers in the area of racial justice, Rhonda Magee, will be speaking online tomorrow, July 28 at 5:30 p.m. MDT/4:30 PDT, 7:30 EDT at Upaya Zen Center: The topic of her talk is Beginning Again: The Four Establishments of Mindfulness as Antidote to Identity-Based Suffering. Called by some the mother of the movement to integrate mindfulness and racial justice efforts, Rhonda is Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco, and has spent more than twenty years exploring the intersections of antiracist education, social justice, and contemplative practices. Here is the link: Live Dharma Talk .

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Newsette 7-20-2021

I have some good news for you this week about Branching Streams programs we’re planning for 2022.

We are planning an in-person Branching Streams Conference April 25-28, 2022 hosted by Austin Zen Center. The venue will be Ancient Yoga Center, a retreat center close to Austin. Please Save the Dates. More details will be forthcoming.

Branching Streams Tassajara Sangha Weeks will be available throughout the summer guest season in 2022, from April 29 through September 11. Groups of up to ten participants plus a teacher can attend for 3 or 4 nights. The fee for Sangha Week is $80 per night per person. Teacher housing is complementary. 2022 Sangha weeks:

  • start on Friday and end of Monday (3-nights/Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
  • start on Monday and end on Friday (4-nights/Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday).

Please begin speaking with your sangha if you would like to reserve a space, and give me your first, second, and third choice of dates. Sanghas who were planning to attend in 2021 and were unable to due to Tassajara’s closure will be given priority in choice of dates. There should be enough openings for all the groups who would like to attend to do so. If you have any questions, please email me.

Last Saturday’s informative Hybrid Zoom Zendo workshop, hosted by Jon Voss, featured presentations from Mid-City Zen in New Orleans; Milwaukee Zen Center; Centro Zen Soto in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Berkeley Zen Center; and Bodhi Oak Zen Center in Oakhurst, CA. By popular demand, the workshop was recorded for those who could not attend in person. Here is the link to a blog post with the video and presentations!

Jon will be on vacation the last two weeks of July. His next Wednesday Zoom Clinic will be August 11.

I’m attaching a gift from Kannon Do in Mountain View, CA and their guiding teacher, Les Kaye – an expanded version of the precepts, including both the traditional “prohibitory” style and a more positive rendering, suitable for the modern, western world. The second page provides background on how it was developed.

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Newsette July 6-2021

I hope you found ways to nourish your bodies and spirits during the Interdependence Day weekend. I took a trip to Pt. Reyes yesterday to walk on the dunes, listen to birdsong and the sound of waves, and try to convey the hues of sky, clouds, and sand with watercolors.

Our newest Branching Streams affiliate is Seattle Soto Zen, whose guiding teacher is Kanshin Allison Tait. Kanshin is a student of Norman Fischer who trained at San Francisco Zen Center, both at City Center and at Tassajara.

There will not be a Zoom clinic with Jon Voss this week.

If your sangha/center is reopening while remaining available to participants by Zoom (and it’s not already on your calendar) you may wish to attend:

A Branching Streams Workshop

After Covid — Technology and the Zendo, A Practical Approach

Facilitated by Jon Voss

Saturday, July 17, 9:00 – 10:30 a.m. PDT/12:00-1:30 p.m. EDT

 Zoom link or Meeting ID: 222 402 816, Passcode:057143

By popular demand, we’re offering a 90 minute online program to explore how various sanghas are making their temples accessible with technology. We’ll be going behind the scenes at a handful of hybrid zendos to learn what technology solutions people have come up with, from computer and a/v hardware to aesthetic and privacy considerations. We’ll also leave ample time for Q&A so you can ask your own questions about various technology setups. No registration is needed. Please share this invitation with your sangha members.

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Branching Streams Newsette 6-28-2021

Some good news about Tassajara: the 2021 Willow Fire is 73% contained and Tassajara is no longer in critical danger. As Tassajara is still under an evacuation warning status, the Tassajara Fire Crew will remain there until further notice. SFZC thanks all of those who have been following the situation and keeping Tassajara in your thoughts.

Updates about the Willow fire are posted on the SFZC website.

Many sanghas are partially reopening while continuing to make their offerings available via Zoom. If you would like some support with the technical side of this transition, you may wish to attend:

A Branching Streams Workshop

After Covid — Technology and the Zendo, A Practical Approach

Facilitated by Jon Voss

Saturday, July 17, 9:00 – 10:30 a.m. PDT/12:00-1:30 p.m. EDT

 Zoom link or Meeting ID: 222 402 816, Passcode:057143

By popular demand, we’re offering a 90 minute online program to explore how various sanghas are making their temples accessible with technology. We’ll be going behind the scenes at a handful of hybrid zendos to learn what technology solutions people have come up with, from computer and a/v hardware to aesthetic and privacy considerations. We’ll also leave ample time for Q&A so you can ask your own questions about various technology setups. No registration is needed. Please share this invitation with your sangha members.

Jon Voss’s Zoom clinic, which was launched in March 2020, is now meeting every two weeks. The next meeting is this Wednesday, June 30, from 11 to 12 PDT. Here is the Zoom link or Meeting ID: 222 402 816, Passcode:057143.

 On Sunday, July 4, Taigen Leighton, Ancient Dragon Zen Gate’s guiding teacher will give his annual Interdependence Day talk, celebrating the intersection of American ideals of freedom with Buddhist liberation. 

I wish you all a nourishing Interdependence Day weekend.

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Branching Streams Newsette 6-21-2021

This has been an eventful week for Branching Streams as well as for many in the U.S.

Last Thursday we held our first online gathering of European/British Branching Streams Teachers and Leaders. The Branching Streams Advisory Group met to plan our next workshop. And many sanghas celebrated the summer solstice as well as the new U.S. national holiday, Juneteenth, a recognition of emancipation from slavery as well as of all the ways in which African Americans still are not free.

You may have heard about the Willow fire, which began on June 17, three miles from Tassajara. Most residents were evacuated the next morning and fire crews are on site. The best way to get updates about the fire is on the sfzc.org website.

The workshop below evolved from the breakout group on hybrid zendos Jon Voss led at our Branching Streams Flow On conference on May 22nd:

A Branching Streams Workshop

After Covid — Technology and the Zendo, A Practical Approach

Facilitated by Jon Voss

Saturday, July 17, 9:00 – 10:30 a.m. PDT/12:00-1:30 p.m. EDT

By popular demand, we’re offering a 90 minute online program to explore how various sanghas are making their temples accessible with technology. We’ll be going behind the scenes at a handful of hybrid zendos to learn what technology solutions people have come up with, from computer and a/v hardware to aesthetic and privacy considerations. We’ll also leave ample time for Q&A so you can ask your own questions about various technology setups. No registration is needed. We’ll send a Zoom link closer to the time of the event.

Last week eighteen teachers and leaders from Britain and nine countries in Europe (Austria, Finland, Germany, Greece, Northern Ireland, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland), met via Zoom.

Participants discussed ways to build the connections between all the groups represented. There was also shared interest in exploring how Zen training, including chaplaincy training, can evolve in Europe, responses to the climate crisis, and how groups can continue to benefit from the positive aspects of Zoom as in-person meetings become possible again.

Welcome to Branching Stream’s new affiliate, Brattleboro Zen Center in Vermont, whose guiding teacher is Hakusho Johan Ostland. Hakusho trained at Green Gulch Farm and Tassajara and was ordained by GGF Abiding Abbess Fu Schroeder.

Austin Zen Center is seeking a new Administrative Assistant. – to support day-to-day temple management in collaboration with senior leadership. This ~30hr/wk. position requires a consistently warm and welcoming presence, someone technologically inclined and extremely well-organized. Read more…Prospective candidates may apply via our our Indeed Posting

Jon Voss’s Zoom clinic will not meet this week and will be back on Wednesday, June 30th

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Branching Streams Newsette 6-14-021

I’ve had several meetings today regarding Branching Streams and want to share with you two events we are planning.

The first is a meeting of European teachers and leaders in the Suzuki Roshi lineage, which will occur this Thursday, June 17th. There will be about fifteen participants from Zen Centers and sanghas in eight countries. This initial meeting will provide an opportunity for networking and sharing common concerns and resources. I will report on it in my next Newsette.

The Branching Streams Advisory Group met today to debrief our May 22 gathering, Branching Streams Flow On, and to plan our next offering, on “hybrid zendos.” Many centers are beginning to reopen for in-person zazen and other programs, while wanting to stay connected with sangha members who live at a distance. We will have a description of the program and a date soon.

Jon Voss’s Zoom clinic will meet twice this month, on Wednesdays June 16th and 30th from 11 a.m. to noon PDT. Here is the Zoom link or Meeting ID: 222 402 816, Passcode:057143.

Joan Amaral of Zen Center North Shore shared news of an important series, Abuse, Sex, and the Sangha: Conversations for Healing, hosted by Buddhist Currents. On Saturday, June 26, from 3:30 to 5 p.m ET, they will offer “Speaking As, With, and For Survivors” with Lama Willa Miller, Chozen Bays Roshi, Rev. Grace Shireson, and Carol Merchasin. You can register in advance here.

Several years ago, Hakusho Johan Ostland, a San Francisco Zen Center priest, was a Branching Streams intern at Ancient Dragon Zen Gate in Chicago. Hakusho now lives in Vermont, where he is establishing the Brattleboro Zen Center. He will return to Ancient Dragon to give an online summer solstice talk on June 20th from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. CST.

May you enjoy these days of longest sunshine as we approach the summer solstice.

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Newsette 6-3-2021

It is now early June, and summer solstice is only a few weeks away. I’ve been reading some of your newsletters and notice that some Zen Centers are beginning to open their zendos to in-person zazen and to half-day or daylong retreats. Other groups are taking advantage of the longer days and warm weather to hold sittings and daylong retreats outside. As we in the U.S. continue to venture out and reconnect with friends and family, I’m aware of the many parts of the world in which this is still not possible.

For those of you who attended Branching Streams Flow On two weeks ago, please complete the Survey I emailed yesterday so we can use your suggestions for planning our next offerings. For everyone, if you’d like to watch Teresa Bouza’s seven-minute video of nature photos and words, here’s the link.

I will be on vacation next week and my next Newsette will be sent the week of June 14th.

Zoom Clinics with Jon Voss will be offered every two weeks instead of weekly, on Wednesdays from 11 to noon PDT, June 16 and 30. Here is the Zoom link or Meeting ID: 222 402 816, Passcode:057143.

Here are a few offerings coming up this weekend and next week, all online.

Valley Streams Zen Sangha in Sacramento, CA is offering “Allowing Emptiness to Fill the Page,” a one-day Zen and Writing retreat on Saturday, June 5from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. PDT, led by author and lay Zen teacher Beth Jacobs. one-day retreat and writing workshop led by author and lay Zen teacher Beth Jacobs, Ph.D.

Sandra Barros Pena will be giving the June 6 Sunday dharma talk on “The Bodhisattva Vows as Heart-Based Action” at Zen Center North Shore at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Sandra will be Zooming in from Argentina where she works in a community clinic with women who have experienced sexual abuse or gender violence.

At Ancient Dragon Zen Gate, the Sunday morning talk on June 6th (zazen at 9:30, talk at 10:10 CDT) will be given by anthropologist Juan Pablo Restrepo, their participant from Patagonia in Argentina, speaking on “Spiritual Practice in the Age of Ecological Crisis.”

Also on Sunday June 6, Mountain Rain Zen Community in Vancouver, BC will have a memorial service for the 215 native children whose remains were discovered recently on the grounds of one of Canada’s largest residential schools in Kamloops—”holding the grieving communities in our hearts.”

Alan Senauke, Abbot of Berkeley Zen Center, is part of a team producing the Burma Spring Film Festival June 4 – 13. He says, “Extraordinary films and beautifully constructed panels, all of which throw a bright light on life in Burma/Myanmar today.”

May you be well.

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Newsette – May 24, 2021

It was wonderful to see so many of you at Saturday’s gathering, Branching Streams Flow On. Thirty-five Branching Streams sanghas in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany, Italy, and Greece participated. Three themes were highlighted through Abbot Gaelyn Godwin’s talk on “The Climate of Our Time” and  breakout groups on Climate Chaos, The Sacred Work of Racial Justice, and Transitioning to Hybrid Zendo Offerings.

This is a time of transition for many Zen Centers, including San Francisco Zen Center. At City Center we had our first in-person work circle this morning after 15 months of Zoom work meetings.  Several sanghas are doing member surveys as they make plans to reopen while maintaining the capacity to include online participation.

You can bring your questions about anything related to Zoom to Jon Voss’s Zoom Clinic which meets on Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to noon, Pacific time. Here is the Zoom link or Meeting ID: 222 402 816, Passcode: 057143.

Most of you will be reading this Newsette on May 25th, the one year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder. This year has brought a heightened awareness of racial injustice in the U.S. Pamela Ayo Yetunde, Community Dharma Leader, Zen practitioner, chaplain, and author is offering George Floyd, the Bodhisattva’s Cry, and the Paramita of Persistence, a San Francisco Zen Center program on Thursday June 10th from 4 to 6 p.m. PT.

Last summer Branching Streams offered our first course, Unpacking Whiteness led by Crystal Johnson. If you missed it, a similar course led by Crystal is being offered by the Soto Zen Buddhist Association: Unpacking Whiteness; exploring the delusion of race from a Buddhist perspective. Dates: June 6, 13, 20, and 27 from 1-3:30 Pacific.For more information or to register: www.szba.org/courses .” This event will benefit the East Bay Meditation Center and fund the initiation of the SZBA’s BIPOC Support Fund; a fund to support Black, Indigenous and People of Color in Soto Zen lineages.

Taigen Leighton is offering an Online Seminar on Dogen’s Being Time and view of temporality, and its implications for Joanna Macy’s teaching of Deep Time and reinhabiting time, on Saturday, June 19th from 2pm to 5:30 p.m. EST/11am to 2:30pm PST. For more information or to register contact: info@ancientdragon.org.

In a prior Newsette I shared an invitation from the Zen Buddhist Sewing Teachers and Everyday Zen to participate in their first 6-month practice period, “Sew With Heart.”  It begins on June 3rd. The entire schedule is on the registration form. If you wish to participate, please register before May 28th.

Royce Johnson of Houston Zen Center received a request from a practitioner in  the U.K. who writes:  “My name is Christopher Jarrell and I am a retired social worker and counsellor, and I am autistic. I live in the UK and have been a practicing Buddhist for about thirty years. I’m researching for a book with a working title of Buddhism, Sangha and Autism: An Anthology of Personal Stories, which has been accepted for publication by Jessica Kingsley Publishers (London and New York). I’m writing to ask for your help in reaching out to potential autistic Buddhist contributors.” If you know sangha members who might like to contribute to this anthology they can contact Christopher directly. His email address is chris@jarrell.karoo.co.uk .

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Newsette May 17, 2021

We are less than a week from our Spring Gathering, Branching Streams Flow On, Saturday, May 22 from 9 a.m. to noon PT/noon to 3 p.m. ET. Registration is free of charge and is open to sangha members as well as teachers and leaders. Thank you to those who have registered and/or shared the invitation in your newsletters. An abbreviated program is on the Branching Streams website. You can still Register Here or from the website.

Jon Voss’s Zoom Clinic this Wednesday at 11 a.m. PT will focus on the many ways to use Breakout Groups. Here is the Zoom link or Meeting ID: 222 402 816, Passcode: 057143.

Since February, in addition to my weekly Newsettes, I’ve been writing weekly blogs for San Francisco Zen Center’s Sangha News. I recently wrote about our refreshed Branching Streams website. Here’s the link.

For details and applications forms for Tassajara’s summer student work opportunities and Fall Practice period, here’s the link to another Sangha News article.

Another blog focuses on Dario Girolomi, Abbot of Centro Zen l’Arco in Rome, who is creating a network of chaplains in countries connected with the European Buddhist Union.

Charlie Pokorny from Stone Creek Zen Center, asked me to share this with you: Stone Creek Zen Center in Sonoma County California is seeking a new head priest. Please read the job description here for more information.

If you’ve missed hearing Chenxing Han, who has spoken at several Branching Streams sanghas since her book Be the Refuge, Raising the Voices of Young American Buddhists was released in January, she and Rev. Dana Takagi will be giving a live-streamed  dharma talk on Saturday May 29at 10 a.m.PT  at San Francisco Zen Center.

There are some wonderful offerings coming in June, which I’ll share in next week’s Newsette.