Tuesday: Dharma Tea at Two pm for May 31, 2022 .  Use this link to join.

Inryū Sensei will talk about the fourth Ox Herding Picture. The Zen (Chan) Ox Herding School originated in China. The lessons were designed as a series of short poems and accompanying drawings to describe the stages of a practitioner’s progress toward enlightenment, and their return to society to enact wisdom and compassion. We begin with five minutes of silent tea drinking. Please have a piece of paper and a writing implement in hand as Inryū Sensei will offer a guided reflection/meditation and ask the participants to write and draw on paper as part of the tea.

Use this link to join. If asked for a password use  003827

Tuesday: Dharma Tea at Two pm for May 17, 2022 .  Use this link to join.

Inryū Sensei will talk about the third Ox Herding Picture. The Zen (Chan) Ox Herding School originated in China. The lessons were designed as a series of short poems and accompanying drawings to describe the stages of a practitioner’s progress toward enlightenment, and their return to society to enact wisdom and compassion. We begin with five minutes of silent tea drinking. Please have a piece of paper and a writing implement in hand as Inryū Sensei will offer a guided reflection/meditation and ask the participants to write and draw on paper as part of the tea.

Use this link to join. If asked for a password use  003827

Tuesday Dharma Tea at Two pm for May 10, 2022. Use this link to join.  2-2:45 pm Eastern.

Inryū Sensei will offering teaching on the second of the 10 Oxherding drawings on May 10, 2022.  The Zen (Chan) Ox Herding School originated in China. The lessons were designed as a series of short poems and accompanying drawings to describe the stages of a practitioner’s progress toward enlightenment, and their return to society to enact wisdom and compassion.

 brush painting by Max Gimblatt

Use this link to join.  If asked use this password 003827

Tuesday Dharma Tea at Two pm for May 3, 2022. Use this link to join.  2-2:45 pm Eastern.

Inryū Sensei will offering teaching on the first of the 10 Oxherding drawings on May 3, 2022.  The Zen (Chan) Ox Herding School originated in China. The lessons were designed as a series of short poems and accompanying drawings to describe the stages of a practitioner’s progress toward enlightenment, and their return to society to enact wisdom and compassion.

 brush painting by Max Gimblatt

Use this link to join.  If asked use this password 003827

Dear DC Metro All Beings Zen Sangha,
One of our members as been accepted to and is participating in the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center Work Practice Period.  She requests support from the sangha to find a temporary home for her beloved feline.  See below.
Inryū Sensei 

Hello dear sangha,I am currently in need of a volunteer to care for a sweet black cat named Ginny, for a duration of 3 months to one year and possibly longer. She is extremely affectionate! Ginny enjoys curling up on warm laps and hearts, purring, and being vocal.There have not been any incidents of scratching furniture or other materials including skin. She will be 10 in November and has been with me for almost all of those years.If you are interested in meeting and potentially fostering Ginny, please contact Beth McClain (bethcmcclain@gmail.com), who is currently acting as cat grandmother while i am a summer student in Tassajara Zen Center. Kitty is currently living in northern virginia. I miss her very much and hope someone from All Beings will be able to give her all the love and attention that i cannot offer right now. Beth and i will be happy to support with transportation and other logistics.
Yours in community,grace mcclain
— 
grace mcclain, MPH, they/she
703.431.4854

Dharma Tea at 2pm with Randy Shingler on April 19, 2022 – focusing on the “Beginning of the Environmental Movement”.

At today’s tea Randy will present historical perspective on the Global Environmental Movement and Poetry related to the subject and Zen Practice.

First 5 minutes are spent in silent tea drinking.

If you have to miss the tea you can read Randy’s article about the subject here.

Tuesday Dharma Tea at Two pm for April 19, 2022. Use this link to join.  2-2:45 pm Eastern. If asked for a password use  784873

Tuesday Dharma Tea at Two pm for April 19, 2022. Use this link to join today.  2-2:45 pm Eastern.

Tuesday Dharma Tea at Two pm for March 22, 2022. Use this link to join.  2-2:45 pm Eastern.

Dharma Tea at 2pm with Seido David Sarpal on April 12, 2022 – focusing on the “no mow May movement.

At today’s tea Seido will discuss dandelions and the efforts to redeem and appreciate this important pollinator food. He has created a wonderful slide show to make his case for rethinking how we as a culture treat dandelions.

First 5 minutes are spent in silent tea drinking.

Tuesday Dharma Tea at Two pm for March 22, 2022. Use this link to join.  2-2:45 pm Eastern.

Tuesday Dharma Tea at Two pm for April 5, 2022. Use this link to join.  2-2:45 pm Eastern.

During the month of April our teas will focus on Zen Practice and our Earth Environment.  April is also National Poetry Month.  Abiding Teacher Inryū Sensei will lead the tea offering today and will show a video of Mary Oliver reading her poem “Wild Geese”.  Inryū Sensei will lead us in exploring some of the themes in the recent interview which Krista Tippet had with Drew Lanham which you can find using this link.

Inryū Sensei offered a talk on March 31st on the topic of “Interbeing with the Environment”  in which she references the above interview with Drew Lanham, teachings by Thich Nhat Hanh and a poem by Thomas Merton. You can view/listen to this Dharma Talk with this link.

The first five minutes of the tea are silent allowing us to enjoy tea drinking and be together in silence before conversation begins.

Use this link to join.  If asked use this password 784873

Tonight we will have a short service following by one period of Zazen and a Dharma Talk by ABZS Abiding and resident teacher, Rev. Inryū Poncé-Barger, Sensei on the topic of “Waking up to our interbeing with the Earth”.  Following the talk we will conclude with chanting the refuges.

Here is the link to join us via the cloud zendo at 7PM for the All Beings Zen Sangha evening program.

If you are asked for a password please use this   169513

Please put your zoom in gallery mode, and keep your video link on while muting your mic until the end of the service – Feel welcome to face away from your device camera while keeping your presence visible in the frame for others in attendance to see and know you are there. Please refrain from moving your device around while others are sitting zazen with you.

Order of Service

Greeting by the Kokyo

Enmei Jukko Kannon Gyo

Heart Sutra in English

All Buddhas Chant

25 Minute Zazen Period

Four Great Vows

Dharma Talk by Inryū Sensei

Pass the feather

Refuges in Pali

THE FOUR GREAT VOWS

Beings are numberless; I vow to save them.

Delusions are inexhaustible; I vow to end them.

Dharma Gates are boundless; I vow to enter them.

Buddha’s way is unsurpassable; I vow to become it.

Enmei Jukko Kannon Gyo

KAN ZEON

NA MU BUTSU

YO BUTSU U IN

YO BUTSU U EN

BUP PO SO  EN

JO RAKU GA JO

CHO NEN KANZEON

BO NEN KANZEON

NEN NEN JU SHIN KI

NEN NEN FU RI SHIN

Heart of Great Perfect Wisdom Sutra

Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva,

when deeply practicing prajña paramita,⨀

clearly saw that all five aggregates are empty

and thus relieved all suffering.

Shariputra,

form does not differ from emptiness,

emptiness does not differ from form.

Form itself is emptiness,

emptiness itself form.

Sensations, perceptions, formations,

and consciousness are also like this.

Shariputra,

all dharmas are marked by emptiness;

they neither arise nor cease,

are neither defiled nor pure,

neither increase nor decrease.

Therefore, given emptiness, there is

no form, no sensation, no perception,

no formation no consciousness;

no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue,

no body, no mind;

no sight, no sound, no smell, no taste,

no touch, no object of mind;

no realm of sight… no realm of mind consciousness

There is neither ignorance nor extinction of ignorance…

neither old age and death,

nor extinction of old age and death;

no suffering, no cause, no cessation, no path;

no knowledge and no attainment.

With nothing to attain,

a bodhisattva relies on prajña paramita,⨀

and thus the mind is without hindrance.

Without hindrance, there is no fear.

Far beyond all inverted views, one realizes nirvana.

All buddhas of past, present, and future

rely on prajña paramita ⨀ and thereby attain

unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment.

Therefore, know the prajña paramita ⨀ as

the great miraculous mantra,

the great bright mantra,

the supreme mantra,

the incomparable mantra,

which removes all suffering

and is true, not false.

Therefore we proclaim the prajña paramita ⨀ mantra,,

the mantra that says:

“Gate Gate ⨀ Paragate ⨀ Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha.” ∅

All Buddhas

All Buddhas, ten directions, Three times

All Honored Ones, Bodhisattvas-Mahasattvas

Wisdom beyond wisdom

Maha Prajna Paramita

Refuges in Pali (Call and Response)

Accapella, inflections as follows:

➞Buddham Saranam Ga➚cha➘mi➞iii

BUDDHAM SARANAM GACCHAMI

DHAMMAM SARANAM GACCHAMI

SANGHAM SARANAM GACCHAMI

DUTIYAMPI BUDDHAM SARANAM GACCHAMI

DUTIYAMPI DHAMMAM SARANAM GACCHAMI

DUTIYAMPI SANGHAM SARANAM GACCHAMI

TATIYAMPI BUDDHAM SARANAM GACCHAMI

TATIYAMPI DHAMMAM SARANAM GACCHAMI

TATIYAMPI SANGHAM SARANAM GACCHAMI



Tuesday Dharma Tea at Two pm for March 22, 2022. Use this link to join.  2-2:45 pm Eastern.

Dharma Tea at 2pm with Kōryū Naomi Knoble on March 29, 2022 – focusing on the Women Zen Ancestors.

In today’s tea Koryū will discuss women ancestors and the role of lineage in Soto Zen. We’ll discuss lineage as a statement of Zen’s identity (relative to other forms of Buddhism), emphasis on the value of spiritual relationships between teachers and students, and also a declaration of power and authority, which in Zen’s history has indicated political authority as well as authority to teach. Who gets to be included in the patriarchal lineage chart, which originated with early Zen (Chan) practitioners in China, has changed over time as Zen has evolved and moved into different countries/cultures. In Japan, although women were the first to ordain as Buddhist monastics, cultural perceptions of women eventually shifted to overtly exclude women practitioners. There were many important women ancestors in India, China, and Japan, and we’ll briefly get acquainted with the legacy of three of them. Our tea discussion will explore how the history of lineage charts and misogyny impacts our present-day experience of Soto Zen and our relationship to women ancestors. 

First 5 minutes are spent in silent tea drinking.