Before joining the morning procession to the memorial site near the Ft. Sill Gate we were gathered for a photograph

Walking in the procession (Buddhist Clergy to the right in the below photograph)

Later in the day at Shepler park…

Tsuru (paper peace cranes) being offered in the second memorial service of the day to those who have suffered or were killed at Ft Sill Army Base in the past. The names of Indiginous Indian leaders were remembered.  The names of Americans of Japanese decent were remembered who died at Ft Sill interment during WWII and the names of the 10 children who have died in I.C.E custody or trying to get safe passage into the U.S. during the past year were also remembered thus linking past to present.

Those gathering at the park (more than two hundred mostly youth leaders) were invited to write the names of someone they mourned and remembered.  It was heart wrenching to see so many young people writing names and walking to the altar to offer the names for remembering.  So much suffering was being processed in this second memorial service of our day.  All the priests were struggling to remain steady witnessing this gravity, this solemn expression of so many young people’s life experience.

99 Paper Peace Cranes which our All Beings Zen Sangha made.  Inryu Sensei is taking these with her to Ft Sill Oklahoma today as part of the Tsuru for Solidarity gathering on Saturday.

Photography by Vero Balderas-Iglesias

Members of All Beings Zen Sangha at Green Gulch Zen Center, Mill Valley CA visiting for a five day private practice week. We had a wonder filled time. Practiced with the resident community in the beautiful Zen Temple, we worked alongside in the kitchen and fields each morning and in our afternoon evening and free time we hiked the coyote trail, visited Muir Beach, wrote death poems, brush painted Enso’s and kept a daily Segiki journal.

Rev Shokuchi Deidre Carrigan offering training for All Beings Zen Sangha Doanryo

Very fun “KonMari” workshop taught by Yuriko Beaman for eleven All Beings Zen Sangha Members last Saturday. Yuriko inspired us to begin to look at our homes in a fresh way. Asking us “What do you want from your life?” “What does your ideal home after it is tidied look like?” She then outlined the way to move ourselves in that direction by focusing on one area at a time and holding and evaluating each item asking what action with this item moves us toward the tidied home and life we envisioned. She gave us direction on how to say goodbye to items we are ready to let go of and instructions on how to fold, store, displaying the items that we’ve decided to keep. She asked us to shift our mindset asking what items are joy sparking. She can be contacted for personal consulting via her web site www.joyandspace.com

Here are a few photographs from our 5 day All Beings Zen Sangha Spring Sesshin at Woodburn Hill Farm. In the background you can see that the trees had a neon green of pollen to drop. The bird songs in the mornings were a glorious symphony. And the full moon filled the night sky and our dreams. What a great time and place for deep diving into Dharma practice

Photography by  Kaizen and Longman.

Photography by Vero Hires

When: Saturday –  March 23th, 2019  9-11:30 a.m.

What : Workshop: Diving deeper into Restorative Justice Practices 

What are the ways we show up in conflict?  Do we head into it, avoid it or some combination?  What do we do when we’ve been harmed or harmed someone?  How does this compare to our nation’s way of handling “crime”?  

In this workshop you will get an overall understanding of what the umbrella term “restorative justice” means in different contexts.  We will dive deeper into methods of conflict resolution, looking systemically and personally.  We will also explore our own relationship to conflict and specifically how our Zen or Buddhist practice meets this very natural part of being alive.

No prior knowledge or experience of these topics is necessary.  We will explore it together.

About Rev. Michaela

Rev Michaela O’Connor Bono is a Soto Zen Buddhist Priest, and the resident teacher for the Mid City Zen Sangha in New Orleans, LA.  Ordained in the Suzuki Roshi Lineage, she has trained at both Tassajara Zen Mountain Center and Green Gulch Farm.  She is a founding member of Sakyadhita USA( a branch of the International Association of Buddhist Women) and has served as a board member for Buddhist Peace Fellowship.  She is active in prison meditation and chaplaincy ministry and believes everyone has a mystic heart. 

In Gassho,

Inryu Sensei