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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.”

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. Also, an 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.

I am happy to welcome a new Branching Streams Sangha, Twining Vines Zen Centre, Katto-An Temple, in Canberra, Australia. This combined Soto Zen/Diamond Sangha temple is led by Neti Mushin Parakh. Neti was ordained as a priest by Kokyo Henkel in 2017 at Santa Cruz Zen Center and received dharma transmission from Kokyo in 2021 She was authorized to teach in the Diamond Sangha lineage by Daniel Terragno Roshi in 2009.

In case you missed this in last week’s Newsette, we have created a Branching Streams list-serve (using Google Groups) that is available to readers of these Newsettes. Jon Voss, who set up the list-serve, says, “You will more easily be able to share resources, request information from other sanghas, and work together on issues of mutual concern. If you would like to join this separate group email list, please sign up here. You do not need a Google account or gmail address to join, any email will work.” If you have any questions, please contact Jon Voss directly.

Ariane Lampe, a member of Akazienzendo in Berlin, wrote that she has successfully raised funds through  a Go-Fund-Me campaign to publish a German translation of Jarvis Master’s book Finding Freedom. Jarvis Masters is a Buddhist practitioner on Death Row in San Quentin, near San Francisco, CA. He recently gave a dharma talk from San Quentin with Lee Klinger Lesser. The recording is available at sfzc.org.

On the Soto Zen Buddhist Association Forum (SZBA’s list-serve) many Branching Streams teachers shared their responses to the Supreme Court’s ruling last week overturning Roe v. Wade.

Reirin Gumbel, guiding teacher of Milwaukee Zen Center, will be joining an interfaith group of clergy at a press conference on July 6 in front of the Planned Parenthood clinic in Milwaukee to show faith support for reproductive justice. 

In Washington State, the Faith Action Network, an interfaith statewide partnership “striving for a just, compassionate, and sustainable world through community building, education, and courageous public action,” issued a statement in response to the Roe decision.

Please share your thoughts, feelings and/or actions you, or members of your sangha, are considering or planning in the Branching Streams list-serve or send them to me for the next Newsette.

This seems like a perfect time to revisit the work of Joanna Macy, and I was happy to receive the news that Upaya Zen Center has rescheduled a micro-training with. Joanna Macy, who is healthy again after a bout with Covid. “She will help guide us in meeting a world on fire. Please join us on July 17th for A SPECIAL AND IMPORTANT INVITATION: Joanna Macy and Our World (Online 2022).” Stephanie Kaza, Wendy Johnson, and Roshi Joan Halifax will join Joanna in this micro-training.”

I appreciate Thich Nhat Hanh’s name for July 4^th – Interdependance Day. May we feel our intercon-nectedness with all beings.

Thanks to the work of Jon Voss, the Branching Streams webmaster, and San Francisco Zen Center’s IT department, as was mentioned a few weeks back, we have created a Branching Streams list-serve (using Google Groups) that will be available to readers of these Newsettes. You will more easily be able to share resources, request information from other sanghas, and work together on issues of mutual concern. If you would like to join this separate group email list, please sign up here. You do not need a Google account or gmail address to join, any email will work. If you have any questions, please contact Jon Voss directly. 

Here are some recent celebrations and mournings:

Austin Zen Center had a Guiding Teacher Installation Ceremony on June 18 for Choro Antonaccio. Choro had moved to Austin from Chapel Hill, NC, several years ago and was Austin Zen Center’s Tanto.

Sojun Mel Weitsman’s funeral was held at Green Gulch Farm on June 25^th. Sojun was both an Abbot of San Francisco Zen Center and the founding teacher and Abbot of Berkeley Zen Center. Many of Sojun Roshi’s deshi (dharma-transmitted students) lead Branching Streams sanghas.

Other news:

Richmond Zen Group (in Virginia) is launching a Women of Dharma Study & Discussion Group, focusing on  the history and teachings of women in the Buddhist tradition. The group is live, and for those who are interested in this topic and don’t live in Richmond, “a resource web page with recommending readings is in the works. A wonderful introduction can be found in this four-part series of talks on the Eihei Koso Hotusganmon and the meaning of ancestors in Zen by Jaune Evans and Chris Fortin, both of whom are teachers in the Everyday Zen sangha. Find the first talk here >>. You can also listen to a talk by Choro Antonaccio, guiding teacher of Austin Zen Center, on the same text here.

Konjin Gaelyn Godwin, Abbot of Houston Zen Center, asked me to share the following: “On June 25, 2-4 pm PDT, the Bay Area Buddhist Association is hosting an important and informative panel discussion with Rev. Dr. Tomon Marr, a Soto Zen Priest and palliative care physician, and Rev. Dr. Carmela Javellana, a Jodo Shinshu priest and psychiatrist. They will address the question: What can we do now for our future? The SDG Goal 3: Good Health and Well Being, from a Buddhist perspective.The event is free.” Here is the link to register.

I am looking forward to Pride weekend, as San Francisco Zen Center will again have a contingent in the parade. We will be joined by sangha members from Hartford Street Zen Center and Berkeley Zen Center. The theme of this year’s parade is Love Will Keep Us Together, an important message for these times!

Some good news:

Bernd Bender, co-founder and guiding teacher of Akazienzendo in Berlin, wrote that the sangha celebrated their 10th anniversary on Saturday, June 11 with a summer party.

Brooklyn Zen Center announced that Dojin Sarah Emerson and Korin Charlie Pokorny are moving this summer to Brooklyn and have offered to support sangha life at BZC’s Boundless Mind Temple.

Inryu Ponce-Barger, guiding teacher of All Beings Zen Sangha in Washington, DC, and Koryu Naomi Knoble shared their account of the April Branching Streams Conference, including a few photos you may not have seen.

If you’re interested in the teachings of Charlotte Joko Beck, Houston Zen Center is offering a live and online class, Ordinary Wonder, on Tuesdays from July 5 to August 2, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Central Time.Ordinary Wonder is the title of a collection of Joko Beck’s essays which focus on how Zen practice is centered in the experience of our daily life. The class will be led by Shindō Neely Atkinson, a long-time member of HZC, who was a long-distance student of Joko from 1994 until 2007.

The Soto Zen Buddhist Association is offering a free, four-part series of conversations on Understanding Buddhist Ethics. The series began on Sunday, June 12. The remaining sessions are June 26, July 10 and July 24 from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. All will be recorded.

This week we celebrate both a full moon and the summer solstice. I’m enjoying the long days and waking up at dawn instead of in the dark.

May you be well.

June is Pride month, and Market Street in San Francisco is aglow with rainbow flags. Yesterday, Sunday June 5, I celebrated Pride by joining Santa Cruz Zen Center and Ocean Gate Zen Center at an “Out in Our Faith” interfaith service and marched with them in the Santa Cruz Pride Parade. Despite a steady drizzle bordering on a light rain, the streets were lined with people of all ages wearing rainbow shirts and scarves and waving rainbow flags as we walked by. It was joyful – in contrast to the sorrow of so many lives lost through gun violence in recent weeks.

The photo features Ocean Gate Zen Center’s “song-ha” performing at the Out in Our Faith service.

In response to recent events, Taigen Leighton wrote in Ancient Dragon Zen Gate’s June newsetter: “Our Soto Zen meditation and devotional practices and our strong teaching traditions of compassion and insight are more important than ever in our situation today. In last month’s message I spoke of supporting peace in the Ukraine. The courageous Ukrainian people still need and deserve peace. But now, after the horrifying mass murders of Black grandparents in Buffalo, and the mass murder of fourth grade children in Uvalde, Texas, we need to work for peace in the United States…This is not at all about “politics” but about basic human decency and ethics. We must speak out and oppose the purveyors of American mass murder.”

In recognition of the critical importance to the U.S. of the upcoming midterm elections, the Engaged Buddhist Election Retreat group (many are members of Berkeley Zen Center) is once again offering, in partnership with Vote Forward, a series of online letter writing retreats beginning Saturday, June 18 from 1 to 4 p.m. PDT. For more information, please go to the Election Retreat website.

Branching streams is about to launch a list-serve that will be available to readers of these Newsettes. You will more easily be able to share resources, request information from other sanghas, and work together on issues of mutual concern. I am working on the instructions for using the list-serve with Jon Voss, our Branching Streams webmaster, and we will share them with you soon.

Thank you to the sanghas who have sent their annual contributions, which are starting to trickle in. You can make an electronic payment on the Branching Streams website membership page. or send a check payable to San Francisco Zen Center, attention Tova Green, with your sangha’s name on the memo line, 300 Page Street, San Francisco, CA 94102.

Ian Case, Tanto of Brooklyn Zen Center, described his experience at the April Branching Streams Conference in Austin, TX in the BZC newsletter. Click on his comments to read more and to see some photos.

This summer many sanghas are offering sesshins, both indoors and outdoors, in person and online.

Houston Zen Center is offering a 5-day sesshin from Tuesday evening June 21 to Sunday June25, both in-person and via their cloud zendo. Deepen meditation practice and gather the mind during this 5-day intensive meditation practice led by Abbot Gaelyn Godwin and Shuso Sengetsu Tricia McFarlin.

Red Cedar Zen Community in Bellingham WA is having their annual sesshin on Sammish Island from June 20 to 26. All are welcome to join the sesshin dharma talks by Founding and Guiding teacher Zoketsu Norman Fischer and Guiding Teacher Nomon Tim Burkett by Zoom:
Samish Island Dharma Talks:

If you live in or near Chicago, Ancient Dragon Zen Gate is offering a three-day camping sesshin from July7 to 10 that will combine traditional Zen forms and Dharma teachings within the natural setting provided by Illinois Beach State Park.

As summer solstice approaches, may you find ways to enjoy the longer days, the shade of trees, the bright colors of flowers, and the sweetness of summer fruits.

Many of you probably received the same message I did today from Siobhan Cassidy, Program Director at San Francisco Zen Center:

“Tassajara began this summer season with much optimism and enthusiasm as we once again welcomed guests and students back to the valley. Sadly, we have had to make the very difficult decision this week to closeTassajara for the remainder of the summer. This means your sangha week is now cancelled, I am so sorry to have to deliver this news.

“There are many reasons why we’ve come to this decision, including several cases of Covid among the students, maintenance and supply chain problems, as well as severe staffing shortages and other complexities. Because of this, we are simply unable to provide our guests with the high level of care and attention that we want to offer while also taking care of our staff and students.

“This decision was not made lightly nor without much discussion. This is a very sad moment for all of us and we are deeply sorry for how this will affect your plans for the summer. In the middle of this constantly shifting, impermanent world, may you and all living beings everywhere be happy, peaceful, and free from suffering.”

I know that many of you were looking forward to being back at Tassajara with your sangha, had booked plane tickets, and made the necessary arrangements with family members and workplaces in order to go. This is especially disappointing, as Tassajara was closed for the last two summers due to the Covid pandemic. I share your grief, as I was planning to co-lead a LBGTQIA+ sangha week again this summer and a Zen and writing workshop.

Please feel free to contact me if you would like to talk about how this is impacting you.

Many of you may also be grieving the shooting of ten African Americans in a grocery store in Buffalo, New York and the shooting of nineteen children and two teachers at an elementary school whose students and faculty are primarily Latinx in Uvalde, Texas.

Two Streams Zen in Western MA is mourning the Buffalo victims of racial violence with a 49-day remembrance. They will have an online community sitting and chanting for 7 consecutive Sundays, beginning May 29 through July 3 from 9 to 10 a.m. EDT. Here is the Zoom link.

At City Center we have had two memorial services this week for those who died in Buffalo and in Uvalde. Please let me know of ways in which you are responding to the cries of our world.

A friend sent me a poem by Kim Stafford today which I find encouraging and will share with you.

Advice from a Raindrop
by Kim Stafford

You think you’re too small
to make a difference? Tell me
about it. You think you’re
helpless, at the mercy of forces
beyond your control? Been there.

Think you’re doomed to disappear,
just one small voice among millions?
That’s no weakness, trust me. That’s
your wild card, your trick, your
implement. They won’t see you coming

until you’re there, in their faces, shining,
festive, expendable, eternal. Sure you’re
small, just one small part of a storm that
changes everything. That’s how you win,
my friend, again and again and again.

Kim Stafford, “Advice from a Raindrop” from Singer Come From Afar. Copyright © 2021 by Kim Stafford.