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Tuesday Tea at Two pm.  “The Bell Gatha” led by Zen’etsu online only. 2-2:45pm 

Eight sangha members arrived by 10am at Woodburn Hill Farm on and exceptionally beautiful and relatively cool summer day. We enjoyed 4 periods of Zazen with slow walking intervals between each period of sitting meditation. We cleared the Iris beds between the two main houses and enjoyed a tasty vegan lunch silent lunch together before closing with chanting the refuges and heading back to our respective homes.

It was a welcome day of silent practice with sangha companions. Below are a few photos taken by Myoshin Carlos Moura of the activities.

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Train Dreams traces the life of Robert Grainier, a laborer in the early 20th-century American West. After a wildfire takes his family, Grainier retreats into the landscape, living out his days in quiet isolation amidst the shifting wilderness. Grainier’s journey is marked by a witnessing of change, grief, and the slow retreat of the world he was born into.

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This evening we will a short service (Enmei and Heart Sutra in English) followed by one period of Zazen, a five minute interval of Kinhin and a Talk by Rev. Seidō David Sarpal.

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.

Photo by Shundo Haye

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This evening, we will have a short service, followed by two periods of Zazen with a five-minute Kinhin interval in between. Since it is the first Thursday in June, we will “pass the feather.” We will conclude by chanting the refuges in Pali.

Above: Kanzeon, in our Zendo

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 in Zazen with you.

Please join us on Saturday, May 30 at 11am EST for an online conversation with Jonáš Zbořil — Czech poet, author, and friend to Shō Kū.

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Jonáš will be talking about his debut novella Flora, a surrealist story set in a world where ecological disaster is a regular occurrence, depicting a couple who encounter a strange creature while out walking one day. Sára, one member of the couple, projects her unfulfilled maternal desires onto the creature — a being composed of organic and inorganic material — and decides they will live together in an abandoned area being reclaimed by nature

He’ll share about the book and its connections to concepts in our practice like the beginner’s mind. After the talk, stay on the line for a brief discussion about the ABZS Dharma reading club and plans for the rest of the year. Questions can be directed to Sho Ku!

English language excerpt of Flora: https://www.czechlit.cz/en/excerpt/flora-3/

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All Beings Zen Sangha following the May 23, 2026 Jukai Ceremony

Tuesday Tea at Two: 2:00- 2:45pm May 12th, 2026 online only – “Spring Ango at Ryumonji Monastery in Iowa: Buds and Blossoms” Led by Shinren Mark Stone.

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All Beings Zen Buddha’s Birthday Ceremony

As we bathed the baby Buddha in reverence, we were likewise bathed in the sounds of the April rains outside the window. And the cherry on top… we closed with cherry blossom birthday cake and giggles. Such a joyous Spring celebration on birth and becoming the baby Buddha’s that we innately are. A remembrance.

Here is a poem about this special day in our tradition, written by great zen ancestor Dogen Zenji …

‘Bathing with the Baby Buddha’

Our Buddha Tathagata was born today,
and at once took seven steps in all ten directions.
Who knows that with each step he gave birth to many buddhas?
These buddhas are simply transmitting today’s voice.