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Newsette 10-20-2022

In this Newsette I’ll share some highlights from my road trip to four Zen centers in the Suzuki Roshi lineage in Arcata CA, Ashland OR, Bellingham WA, and Vancouver BC. I also visited Shasta Abbey in Mt. Shasta CA and Great Vow Monastery in Clatskanie OR, spent time with dharma friends in Eugene and Portland, OR, hiked in an old-growth redwood forest, and explored the Oregon Coast on my way back to San Francisco. I traveled over 2,300 in my trusty Honda Fit and was warmly welcomed in every place I visited.

My first stop was Arcata Zen Group, whose founding teacher, Maylie Scott, had been one of my mentors when we were both on the board of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship in the 1990’s. The current guiding teacher, Gene Bush, divides his time between Arcata and Santa Cruz Zen Center. Gene was beginning an eleven-day visit to Arcata Zen Group when I arrived. Most events at AZG are both in-person and online. As is true in many Branching Streams sanghas, some sangha members live at a distance, or have health or family issues that make it difficult for them to participate in person. Several people came in person for zazen, Gene’s dharma talk, and an afternoon of temple work, while others joined the first two events online.

Since the zendo has reopened to in-person participation some new practitioners are joining the seasoned sangha members. As is true with many other Zen centers, some members are finding it difficult to make their way back to the zendo in person.

[In addition to the Zendo, there is a building on their property that houses a library, dokusan room, kitchen, and storage space, as well as two apartments that are currently rented to local college students. The grounds include a memorial garden which Marcia Lieberman helped to create when she visited AZG a few years ago, and many apple trees. Apple-picking was one of the work afternoon activities.]

I drove over mountain roads to the town of Mt. Shasta. The snow-capped mountain seemed to float in the sky over the town, and over Shasta Abbey, one of the earliest Soto Zen centers in the U.S., founded by Rev. Jiyu Kennet, an English woman who had studied in Japan in 1970. The current Abbesss, Rev. Master Meian Elbert, gave me a tour, and we sat outside, within view of the magical Mt. Shasta, for tea and a home-made chocolate chip cookie. She fondly remembered Zenkei Blanche Hartman, who had once visited.

As I was approaching Ashland Zen Center, a sign on the sidewalk advertised “A Little Zen Farm Stand.” Inside was an offering of produce, potted plants, lavender sachets, cards, and other items for sale on the honor system.  Guiding teachers Stacey and Ramana Waymire gave me a tour of the many gardens and buildings. They live on site with their teen-age son and another sangha member, Barbara. Their founding teachers, Harold Little and Patty Krahl, had built the zendo and a small abode where they lived, and which is available now for visitors to rent. Ashland ZC also has two apartments and a bunk room for visiting students and sesshin participants. They welcome Zen students to come and practice at AZC.

The vegetable and flower gardens were extensive, and we enjoyed figs, raspberries, and vegetables that night for dinner. Harold and Patty, long-time Zen practitioners who had met at Tassajara and later practiced at Kannon Do in Mountain View CA, joined us and I shared the history of the Zen Center. One question they asked Branching Streams to explore is the issue of retirement for senior Branching Streams teachers.

After visits with dharma friends in Eugene and Portland and a rest day in Portland, I drove to Bellingham WA, a long stretch on Rt. 5 with many big-rig trucks. I made it a practice to stop and get out of my car at least every two hours, stretch, have a snack.

In Bellingham I visited Red Cedar Zen Community, founded by Norman Fischer and his student Nomon Tim Burnett in 1991. Tim is now the guiding teacher. Red Cedar gave up their rented meeting place during the pandemic and raised funds to buy a new space. Since they began reopening, they have been renting a large space in a Unitarian Church. They store zafus and zabutons in the church and set it up as a Zendo every Thursday. Zazen and Nomon’s dharma talk were also accessed on Zoom.

I returned to Bellingham on my way back from Vancouver to have lunch with Tim, Tanto Chris Burkhart, and sangha member Hannah Sullivan. Hannah took me to see the new property, an office building they are in the process of converting to a Zen center, with an office space upstairs they will rent out. A committee is working on the design of the new space.

I arrived in Vancouver the morning of the Canadian National Holiday, Truth and Reconciliation Day, formerly Indigenous People’s Day. This year the day was also called Orange Shirt Day, to remember the indigenous children who had died in boarding schools. I met Kate McCandless who is co-guiding teacher with her husband Michael Newton, at the site of Mountain Rain Zen Community, a storefront space they rent from an indigenous women’s non-profit. Kate was wearing a vivid orange t-shirt with an indigenous design and the words “Every Child Matters.” We headed for a park to meet sangha members. As we approached the park it seemed that people wearing orange t-shirts were streaming toward the park from all directions. We met up with at least ten sangha members and their friends, as we stood and listened to speakers, drummers, and saw dancers on a raised stage.

Kate and Michael live about an hour’s drive east of the city of Vancouver, in a house with a zendo in the basement, and a large garden in back. The next day, Kate and I led a daylong Zen and poetry workshop attended by eleven sangha members. The day included meditation, listening to poems participants brought with them, writing outdoors, some writing prompts, and listening to one another’s poems in a closing circle. Michael was Tenzo for the day and provided lunch.

Sunday was a practice day at the Vancouver location, with zazen, service, and a dharma talk by Kate on the theme of their Fall Practice Period, the Vimalakirti Sutra. At lunch I met with members of the Engaged Buddhism committee, and then sat in on a Council (board)meeting that was in-person with a few Council members participating by Zoom. Many in leadership roles, including the Ino, Council Chair, and Treasurer are young (from my perspective) and have been practicing at Mountain Rain for several years.

After a rest day in which I visited the Anthropology Museum at the University of British Columbia and had a cello lesson from my teacher, who moved from San Francisco to Vancouver with her family last summer.

On my way back to San Francisco I spent about 24 hours at Great Vow Monastery, enjoying the teaching of Chozen and Hogen Bays, the kindness of sangha members, morning service in which there was some melodic chanting and a harmonium, oryoki breakfast (my first since the pandemic began) and a walk in their Jizo garden, where moss clings to some of the trees and hugs the heads of some Jizos.

I drove home along the Oregon Coast, stopping to follow a trail to a 500 year old Sitka Spruce and walk on a sandy beach with the nearby lighthouse hidden in dense fog.

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Newsette 10-10-2022

I returned from my journey to Vancouver yesterday, having driven over 2,500 miles. In addition to practicing with Branching Streams sanghas in Arcata CA, Ashland OR, Bellingham WA, and Vancouver BC, I visited Shasta Abbey, Great Vow Monastery, and dharma friends in Eureka CA and Eugene and Portland OR. I walked in redwood forests and on sandy beaches. 

Meanwhile, last week City Center launched our Fall Practice Period, led by Abbots Ed Sattizahn and David Zimmerman. On returning to work today, I learned of celebrations at Suzuki Roshi’s home temple in Japan, and the loss of Black Mountain Zen Centre’s space in Belfast, Northern Ireland due to a fire. I also received October newsletters from many sanghas and saw that two articles related to Branching Streams I’d written for SFZC’s Sangha News had been posted in my absence.

In order to keep this Newsette to a reasonable length, as well as to take some time to reflect on what I learned on my journey, this week’s Newsette will focus on the Rinsoin ceremonies, the Belfast fire, and will include links to my two Sangha News blogs. I’ll report on my journey in next week’s Newsette.

Rinsoin Ceremonies

Here is a message from Taiga Ito at the Soto Zen Buddhism International Center office in San Francisco: “This year is 550th Anniversary of Rinsoin in Yaezu, Japan, along with the 50th anniversary of Suzuki Roshi’s passing away. They will have celebration events and ceremonies on October 22 and 23. 

Regarding this wonderful occasion, our office is planning to send flowers and a celebration telegram on behalf of sanghas or teachers who wish to celebrate. The cost for the flowers and telegram are $100 each, and you could send either both flowers and a telegram, or only one of them.

Please return your reply to this mail by October 15th; (please do not be late)

Instructions:

Flowers= we will put your name or your Sangha’s name with the flowers, so please send the name you would like to send with the flowers.

Telegram= send your message of up to 25 words and your name. We will translate and send it.

Please made your payment to Soto Zen Buddhism International Center and send the check to our office, 1691 Laguna Street, San Francisco, CA 9411, tel. 415-567-7686.”

On October 3 a fire broke out in the building that housed Black Mountain Zen Centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland. All of the Zen Centre’s cushions, instruments, art work, and other belongings were destroyed. Djinn Gallagher, the abiding priest, started a Go-Fund-Me campaign to raise funds to recreate the Zendo in a new space. For photos and some words from Djinn, see their FaceBook page.

Ryan Wong, the Director of Brooklyn Zen Center, just published his first novel, Which Side Are You On. I interviewed Ryan for SFZC’s Sangha News. Here’s a link to the interview. I highly recommend the novel. 

Here’s the link to my interview with Alan Senauke about his becoming the second Abbot of Berkeley Zen Center and his reflections on his engaged Buddhist path.

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Newsette 9-19-2022

As we turn toward the Autumn Equinox later this week, I am preparing to venture out on a road trip to Vancouver. This is a trip I envisioned in 2020, before the Covid pandemic. I will be visiting Branching Streams sanghas, starting with Arcata Zen Group in Northern California, and ending with Mountain Rain Zen Community in Vancouver. I look forward to doing a morning of practice with Ashland Zen Center and to seeing the new home of Red Cedar Zen Community in Bellingham, WA. I will also be visiting Shasta Abbey and Great Vow Monastery, places I’ve heard so much about and never seen.

When I began serving as the Branching Streams liaison in early 2019, my predecessor Steve Weintraub encouraged me to visit Branching Streams groups, and this has been one of the most rewarding parts of my role. I visited many of the Bay Area groups that first year, as well as Zen Centers in Seattle, Milwaukee, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Brooklyn, New York, and Rome and Belfast in Europe . At the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 I was visiting the three Branching Streams Zen Centers in Texas.

Now that many Zen groups who lost their practice places during the pandemic are finding new homes, and sanghas that were meeting entirely on Zoom are reopening to in-person practice, it is possible to visit again.

I will take to the road on Friday, September 23rd, in my Honda Fit. I am preparing for the many hours of driving by taking the AARP Driver Safety online class and pouring over maps to check distances between destinations and decide where to stop for rest breaks.

I look forward to connecting with the teachers, sangha members, and dharma friends I will meet on my journey. I’ll pack my watercolors and journal and hope to find a number of ways to report back. I’ll return on October 9thand will send my next Newsette soon after.

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Newsette 9-7-2022

Although it’s still early September, the Autumn Equinox will soon be here. With the full moon this coming weekend, we can enjoy the beauty of moonlight and the cooler night air, as many parts of California, the U.S., and the world are experiencing temperatures above 100 degrees.

In the midst of concerns about one another and our planet, I invite you to take a moment to view the images on the website Collecting Fog, by Jaune Evans, founding teacher of Heart of Compassion Sangha in Pt. Reyes, CA. Collecting Fog is also the title of an exhibit of Jaune’s work at Commonweal Gallery in Bolinas, CA from September 12 to November 4. There will be an opening reception on September 18 from 3 to 5 p.m. PDT.

Djinn Gallagher writes from Black Mountain Zen Centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland, “our much-loved teacher Paul Haller will be visiting Belfast from Thursday, September 8 to Sunday, September 18, and there will be many joyful opportunities to experience his wisdom, good humour and insight. We are offering two workshops, plus a zazenkai, the Sunday morning programme, and lots of online and in-person events. He will also lead an in-person sesshin in Slovenia after his time in Belfast.” Here is the link for dates and times.

Many teachers and sanghas are engaging with social justice issues as well as environmental concerns. I’m including a few of their offerings in this Newsette.

Members of Branching Streams Zen Center, from Brattleboro, VT to Bellingham, WA, are joining with other socially engaged Buddhists to support voter turnout in this fall’s elections. If this is of interest to you, the Buddhist Election Retreat Organizing Committee is organizing four online letter writing retreats this fall. 

Kannon Do Zen Meditation Center is holding a two-day in person interactive and experiential workshop on Right Use of Power (RUP) facilitated by Tenku Ruff on September 10 and 11 from 11 a.m. to 4:30p.m. PDT each day, outdoors at Kannon Do. RUP, developed by Cedar Barstow, is also known as “ethics of the heart.”

Reirin Gumbel, guiding teacher of Milwaukee Zen Center, writes: “Many Zen centers are aware of the state of the death penalty in this country and have protested against it. Right now, executions are on the rise again, and there is a lot we can do about it. Please follow this link and watch the one-minute video!”

Reirin will be giving the dharma talk at Ancient Dragon Zen Gate in Chicago, IL . as part of the Sunday morning program on October 2 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. CST.

I am sharing again these workshops offered by Valley Streams Zen Sangha in Sacramento, CA. They are co-sponsoring two events with the BIPOC Sangha Sacramento featuring Rhonda Magee, author of The Inner Work of Racial Justice. The first program, Meditation for People of Color, is September 11 at 4:15 p.m. PDT (online only) and is for BIPOC. The second event on September 12 at 7 p.m. PDT is for everyone and is both in person and online (Rhonda Magee will be online).Her topic is “Reflections on Engaged Mindfulness and Social Justice Work.” For more information, see the attached flyer.

Lee Klinger Lesser brings her training in Sensory Awareness and Zen practice together with her concerns about our planet in a nine-month journey of engagement and responsiveness beginning in September: “Relying on Sensory Awareness, Mindfulness and Meditation Practice to Nurture and Sustain Our Ongoing Response to the Climate Crisis.” See the attached flyer for more information.

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Newsette 8-22-2022

There are some wonderful practice opportunities coming up, including opportunities for residential practice in Ashland OR and in forested land north of New York City.

Ashland (OR) Zen Center is pleased to announce openings for student residencies or guest retreats. “Ashland Zen Center is an intimate Soto Zen Buddhist community. “Our sangha is a community of householders from throughout the region including laypeople and priests, led by transmitted Soto Zen Buddhist teachers, two of whom are in residence. The residential sangha is three to ten people. Ashland Zen Center has private and shared housing on an acre of cultivated grounds and gardens at the edge of the small, mountain town of Ashland, Oregon.” For more information about staying at Ashland Zen Center visit https://www.ashlandzencenter.org/guest-retreats-student-residencies/

Kosen Gregory Snyder will be leading the first month-long Brooklyn Zen Center intensive Practice Period at Ancestral Heart. Leadership will also include Shingetsu Laura O’Loughlin in the role of supporting dharma teacher and Kidō Ian Case in the role of tanto. Ancestral Heart Zen Temple will partner with their neighbors at The Watershed Center, located on a 73-acre farm adjacent to hundreds of state forest, two hours north of New York City, to offer this practice opportunity. Participants will follow an intensive monastic schedule, eat oryoki meals, sit multiple periods of zazen each day, and engage in communal work and ritual life. Here’s a link and description: https://brooklynzen.org/events/event/january-residential-practice-period/

In the near future, here are a few programs that may interest you:

Red Cedar Zen Community in Bellingham WA will hold a one day sitting, Opening to Joy, on Saturday August 27 from 7a.m. to 3 p.m. PDT, led by Shudo Chris Burkhart and visiting teacher Sensei Amy Diller. This will be both in person and by Zoom.

Valley Streams Zen Sangha in Sacramento CA is co-sponsoring two events with the BIPOC Sangha Sacramento featuring Rhonda Magee, author of The Inner Work of Racial Justice. The first program, Meditation for People of Color, is September 11 at 4:15 p.m. PDT (online only) and is for BIPOC. The second event on September 12 at 7 p.m. PDT is for everyone and is both in person and online (Rhonda Magee will be online).Her topic is “Reflections on Engaged Mindfulness and Social Justice work.” Rhonda inspires us to look deeply inside ourselves and to change how we think, act and live together in a conflicted world. For more information, see the attached flyer.

There are still some openings in the in-person Genzo-e retreat led by Shohaku Okumura Roshi at Chapel Hill Zen Center from September 9 to 14. Here’s the link for more information.

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Newsette 8-15-2022

 Many Sanghas are finding ways to practice in natural settings during these summer months. I found it encouraging to read about the two sesshins described below, one that already took place and the other scheduled for September.

Myoshin Kate McCandless and Shinmon Michael Newton, guiding teachers of Mountain Rain Zen Community in Vancouver B.C. wrote, “Recently twenty-two of us practiced at Sea to Sky Retreat Centre for our first full-week Mountains and Waters sesshin, and experienced the elements, the plant and animal inhabitants of that beautiful environment in a very direct way. Each morning and afternoon we had a period of outdoor practice, meditating while sitting, standing, walking, and lying down in the forest, present and awake to the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures around us, and our body/mind responses to them. The koans of mountains, waters, and the great earth from the old Chinese Zen masters, Dogen Zenji and contemporary poets resonated strongly and supported us to go beyond the habitual contracted view of self vs. everything-else.” 

Seattle Soto Zen is holding an in-person five-day Fall Sesshin September 16 to 21 co-led by SSZ’s Kanshin Allison Tait and Red Cedar Zen Community’s Shudo Chris Burkhart, at Camp Indianola on Puget Sound. Logistic details and registration are available on the SSZ calendar. Due to COVID protocols, space is limited to 20 total participants. The 2022 Indianola sesshin will be the first opportunity for many months for the Seattle Soto Zen sangha to join their heart-minds together under the same roof and practice intensively as a community.

On another note, here is an invitation from Jan Chozen Bays at Great Vow Monastery in Oregon to participate in a five-week online course called Healthy Boundaries. This course provides Buddhist leaders with the tools and knowledge to understand the importance of healthy boundaries in spiritual communities and to critically discern the complexities of boundaries, power, and vulnerability in spiritual teacher-student relationships. The course also addresses practices for responding to misconduct by spiritual teachers as well as the importance of self-care and peer support as preventive measures. The course is being offered three times in 2022 and 2023: October 17-November 18, 2022, and January 9-February 10 and March 6 – April 7, 2023. You can register through www.buddhist healthy boundaries.org

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Newsette 8-8-2022

As school reopens in some states, and the upper leaves on the Japanese Maple in the City Center courtyard are turning red, I can sense that summer will soon be coming to an end.

There are several online offerings in the coming weeks that may be of interest to you, as well as an opportunity to attend Tassajara’s Fall Practice Period at no cost.

Black Mountain Zen Centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland is offering a zazenkai – a half-day sitting – guided by Ryushin Paul Haller (who will be in San Francisco) on August 13, from 2 pm to 5pm Belfast time, 6 am to 9 am California time. You can come and sit in person at Black Mountain if you’re in Belfast, or join online via Zoom. This offering is free to everyone; click here for more information, and email Djinn Gallagher, resident priest, at reverendmyogan@gmail.com if you’d like to join. 

On the same day, August 13, from 2 to 4 p.m. PDT, Rev. Chimyo Atkinson will give a two hour workshop, Exploring the Life and Teachings of Keizan Jokin Zenji, through San Francisco Zen Center. This event will include a talk about the life of Keizan Jokin Zenji (1268 – 1325), and will cover excerpts from Keizan’s writings including “Zazen Yojinki” and “Denoroku,” followed by a discussion and Q&A.Recommended reading: Zazen Yojinki: Notes on What to be Aware of in Zazen. To register, use this link.

Akazienzendo in Berlin is hosting an online talk on Zen in the age of Climate Change by Kankyo Tannier, a priest in the Deshimaru lineage, on Friday, August 19 from 7:30 to 9pm, Berlin time, 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. PDT. She will discuss what the Zen way offers us in these troubled times, when the future for everyone looks difficult. Read more… Here is the  Zoom link for her talk.t

On August 21 from 1 to 3 p.m. PDT Red Cedar Zen Community in Bellingham, WA will have an in-person open house to celebrate their new home.

Tassajara is offering a free practice period for this Fall (September 26 – December 20), led by Abbess Fu Schroeder, to anyone who has done at least one Tassajara practice period and who would be interested in working in the kitchen. Please email the Tassajara director, Lauren Bouyea, at zmcdirector@sfzc.org  before September 9 for details.

In this time of impermanence and change, may you find joy and connection.

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Newsette 8-1-2022

Here are several events that bring me joy:

Heart of Compassion Zen Sangha in Pt. Reyes, CA just celebrated its fifth anniversary and its first Jukai ceremony. Seven students received the precepts from founding teacher Jaune Evens. Also, Wendy Johnson recently joined Jaune as co-leader of Heart of Compassion “Her wondrous dharma presence and ‘rooted practice’ nourishes and inspires our (sometimes) weary hearts and minds,” says Jaune.

Wrapped rakusus, lavender wands, and lineage papers

Red Cedar Zen Community in Bellingham, WA will be having an open house for their new home on August 21. Board President Joden Bob Rose writes, “Almost two years ago, we “jumped off the hundred-foot flagpole,” and left our home on Forest Street.  We now have come to the place where we will plant our blade of grass.  On August 15, we will close the purchase of 2509 Cedarwood as the new home of the Red Cedar Zen Community.”

On July 30, Reirin Gumbel, guiding teacher of Milwaukee Zen Center, returned from the first Pride event in Watertown, Wisconsin, “a hardcore fundamentalist Christian city. But there are now five churches who are openly affirming,” Reirin writes. “The area was fenced and heavily protected by police. I had a conversation with a group outside who were calling us sinners. I don’t have the illusion that I can change anybody’s conviction, but these people are serious and worthy of attention. I told them I was happy for them to pray for me. To the question if I realized that Jesus was God’s son, I answered that I thought that to be true, and that they also were God!”

Some offerings you may want to know about:

Paula Arai, author of Women Living Zen and Bringing Zen Home, The Healing Heart of Japanese Women’s Rituals is giving a talk via Zoom hosted by Richmond Zen Center on Monday, August 8, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. EST. In her talk, Zen Women’s Wisdom, Paula will share how Japanese Sōtō Zen women, both lay and monastic, have responded to challenges historically, institutionally, and personally by drawing on Dōgen’s teachings and their own wisdom. Please register for the Zoom meeting link. Suggested teaching donation $10 >>(include note: “Arai teaching donation”).

Bamboo in the Wind Zen Center in Sunnyvale CA will launch their Fall class series, “A Living View of the Abhidharma,” taught by Sensei Beth Jacobs. Classes are September 8 and 22, and October 6 and 20, 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. PST. Suggested reading is Jacob’s book, Abhidharma, The Original Buddhist Psychology, available online. Here is the link for more details or to register.

For meditators who want to enter Zen deeply, to investigate the mind of daily life, Houston Zen Center offers Entering the Path of Practice (EPP), an advanced program of guided exploration, study, and training, in three modules. The third module begins September 4 and ends October 29. Zen Priest Seirin Tim Schorre, senior HZC member Kyoshin Anna Mastantuono, and Zen Priest Gyōzan Royce Johnson lead the program. The third module focuses on Sangha. Participants entering the program may begin with any one of the three modules. Select here for the application and schedule . $150 is requested for each module. Scholarships are available.

Chapel Hill Zen Center writes that there are still a few in-person openings for the September 9 to 14 Genzo-e sesshin with Shohaku Okumura Roshi.

Okumura Roshi is also offering four online talks on Eihei Dogen’s Chinese Poems, August 4 to 7, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. EDT, hosted by Great Tree Zen Women’s Temple near Asheville, NC.

These offerings lead me to feel a sense of abundance in the dharma realm as I envision them radiating out to benefit all beings.

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Newsette 7-18-2022

Some upcoming study and practice opportunities:

Black Mountain Zen Centre in Belfast launched a 5-week class today (7 p.m. on Mondays in Belfast, 11 a.m. PDT) on the Bodhisattva Vows and the Brahma Viharas taught by their guiding teacher, Ryushin Paul Haller. The classes will be recorded and it’s not too late to sign up. The class description begins with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King: “The formidable challenges in our lives offer the opportunity of education and transformation”. Paul writes, “The first two Bodhisattva vows offer us insights into the education and transformation that Dr King mentions. The other two vows describe the engagement that enacts that teaching. In a practical way we can apply the four Brahma Viharas to our psychological being to enhance our innate caring and help cultivate the sentiments that guide us in caring for all beings. The website link above has more details.

Chapel Hill Zen Center will host an in-person five-day Genzo-e Sesshin (a teaching retreat) with talks twice a day by Shohaku Okumura Roshi offered through Zoom. The dates are September 9 to 14. Space is limited, so if you’re interested CHZC encourages you to sign up now. For more information, use this link. To register, use this one.

The Tassajara Fall Practice Period (September 26 to December 20) led by Green Gulch Farm Abiding Abbess Fu Schroeder, is accepting applications until August 1. “During this practice period we will view Zen practice through the lens of two classic Zen koans: “Does a Dog Have Buddha Nature?” and “Hyakujo and the Fox.” These teaching stories can help to illuminate the two truths about ourselves and the world—the ultimate truth and the relative truth. Understanding and practicing in the light of these truths, the Buddha said, will set us free. For more information click on this link. If you have any questions, you can direct them to Lauren Bouyea, tassdirector@sfzc.org.

And here’s a way to do something that may make a difference: The Berkeley based Election Retreat team is hosting another online Letter Writing Retreat Sunday July 24, 10 am to 1 pm, PST. Forty-two people attended their July 10 retreat and wrote over 800 letters. You can register at this link. “Once again we’ll focus our efforts on Nevada, where a Congressional seat, a Senate seat, and a Governorship are all in play. Once you’ve registered, we’ll email you everything you need to participate, including letters, schedules, chants, etc.”

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Newsette – July 11, 2022

I’m happy to let you know that Santa Cruz Zen Center has offered to host our next Branching Streams Conference. The dates are September 18 to 21, 2023. We are returning to the pre-Covid timing, meeting on alternate years to the Soto Zen Buddhist Association’s conference, which will be held this September. We have reserved a wonderful retreat center in Santa Cruz, Villa Maria del Mar, overlooking the ocean. Please save the dates!

It’s time to make your annual contribution to Branching Streams if your sangha has not already done so! You can send your contribution electronically or by writing a check to San Francisco Zen Center with the name of your sangha on the memo line and mailing it to 300 Page Street, San Francisco CA 94102, attention Tova Green. Please contact me if you are unable to make a contribution this year.

Sangha News and Events:

Hozan Alan Senauke, Abbot of Berkeley Zen Center (CA), writes, “On Friday night July 9, in the inner room of Shogakuji/Berkeley Zen Center, I was privileged to entrust the dharma to Nanzan Shunki Harald Schoeklmann and Juen Ryushin Friederike Boissevain. Juen and Nanzan are the priests and teachers at Wind und Wolken (Wind and Clouds) Sangha, a Berkeley Zen Center affiliate in Gettorf, northern Germany, and founders of Hospiz im Wohld, also in Gettorf. We are grateful for wonderful support and assistance from Nyokai Laurie Senauke, Shosan Vicki Austin, and the BZC sangha.”

Nanzan, Hozan, Juen, Nyokai

Santa Cruz Zen Center and Monterey Bay Zen Center will have a 10-year memorial gathering for their Abbot Sobun Katherine Thanas. The gathering will take place outdoors at Santa Cruz Zen Center, 113 School Streat, Santa Cruz, on Sunday, July 24th, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. and will include a short ceremony, sharing memories, and enjoying each other’s company with snacks and conversation. All are welcome to attend, and it will simultaneously be zoom- cast.

Santa Cruz Zen Center and Monterey Bay Zen Center will have a 10-year memorial gathering for their Abbot Sobun Katherine Thanas. The gathering will take place outdoors at Santa Cruz Zen Center, 113 School Streat, Santa Cruz, on Sunday, July 24th, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. and will include a short ceremony, sharing memories, and enjoying each other’s company with snacks and conversation. All are welcome to attend, and it will simultaneously be zoom- cast.

On June 27,Taigen Leighton, guiding teacher of Ancient Dragon Zen Center, shared comments by Konjin Gaelyn Godwin, Abbot of Houston Zen Center, concerning “the end of reproductive rights along with his own response in an ADZG newsletter.

Richmond (VA) Zen Center’s Difference + Unity Study Group is currently focusing on Asian and Asian American experiences. “Zen Buddhism is a tradition that comes to us from Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese practitioners and the cultures they created to express and transmit the Dharma. Alsoan alarming trend of rising anti-Asian violence in the US makes this an urgent inquiry.

They recommend three resources, the PBS five-episode documentary series released in 2020, Asian Americans, which covers the history of Asian and Pacific Islanders’ immigration to and roles in American history and culture; American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War, by Buddhist priest and scholar Duncan Ryukan Williams, and  this 50-minute podcast episode of On Being in which Krista Tippett interviews poet, novelist, and Zen Buddhist, Ocean Vuong.

Red Cedar Zen Community in Bellingham, WA is participating in the first annual Sacred Earth Fair on July 31st, 2022 at the Center for Spiritual Living. “The fair will include activities, special guests, and informational booths, all focused on how we can come together to honor and protect our precious planet. The fair is offered by the Multifaith Network for Climate Justice (of which RCZC is a member), and co-sponsored by Earth Ministry of Washington and Interfaith Power & Light. The emphasis of the fair is to encourage everyone to view ourselves as allies of the earth, and to view faith traditions as having an important contribution to make, at this important juncture of climate crisis.” Red Cedar’s Wilderness Dharma Program will host an information table and will offer short mindfulness nature walks through the beautiful mature forest surrounding the center.

I find it encouraging to see Zen teachers speaking and writing about some of the divisive issues in the U.S., as well as finding ways to study Zen’s cultural roots, and to encourage sanghas to work with others to care for our planet.