Saturday, July 16 2022, members of the All Beings Zen Sangha (ABZS) in Washington, DC and fellow Branching Streams sangha Richmond Zen gathered to view a museum exhibition, Mind Over Matter: Zen in Medieval Japan, at the Smithsonian’s National Gallery of Asian Art.

The spark for this gathering was the involvement of ABZS’ guiding teacher, Reverend Inryū Bobbi Poncé-Barger, who provided commentary for the museum notes on some of the objects in the exhibition.

The majority of the exhibition consists of monochrome screens, landscape paintings, and portraits created by Zen monastics during Japan’s medieval period (ca. 1200–1600). It also contained several ceramic objects, most of which were related to chadō (the way of tea).

On entering a room filled with enormous screens, one is struck by the lighting – dim and diffuse, which allows us to see the artwork the same way it was seen when it was created, as if the pieces were lit only by indirect sunlight or candles.

The screens and portraits teemed with minute detail and at the same time boasted large areas of open space. Brushwork in some paintings was precise and heavy, and in others it was feathery and abstract. In a painting of an orchid, a third of the composition was reserved for the upper extremities of two thin, grass-like leaves to reach up, up, into the lower part of a white expanse.

The areas of open space in these compositions was deceptive. Rather than being unpainted, empty areas, the space usually consisted of a subtly worked wash constructed with many brushstrokes to create subtle shading. The empty space was full and purposeful. —EiShin Mike Barreda, All Beings Zen Sangha Member

It was a real pleasure getting to know these folks and learning a bit about how their sangha operates. In fact, the mood was so pleasant that some of us lingered into the summer afternoon, connecting with small talk, before returning to the gallery to see objects we had missed.—Suzanne Ehrenhalt, All Beings Zen Sangha memberPh

I loved the opportunity to bring together two sanghas and share our enthusiasm and interest in Zen arts. Richmond Zen looks forward to doing more together with All Beings! —Eiden Kevin Heffernan, Resident Priest for Ekoji Richmond Zen Sangha.

Tuesday: Dharma Tea at Two pm for June 28, 2022 .  Use this link to join. If asked for a password use 003827

Inryū Sensei will talk about the eighth 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.

Last year, your donations were used to purchase a new suite of technology for the Zendo, providing an improved experience for members joining us from home or other parts of the country. In addition to a dedicated computer and internet connection, we purchased a high-quality conference camera that provides a much clearer view of the zendo and allows us to much improved view of those presenting teachings. Then, to prepare for our return to a hybrid format, we purchased a large monitor which allows everyone in the Zendo to see and interact with members joining us over Zoom for more natural discussion. 

These upgrades have significantly improved our ability to engage with members who are located in other parts of the country (as far away as Alaska!), and those who are not yet ready to return to in-person meetings. One group that is specifically benefitting from this is our annual cohort of Rakusu sewers! 

As you may know, we have been inviting people to join our precepts and sewing class remotely since the start of the pandemic. Last fall, several members who completed their Rakusu during the pandemic received the precepts in a ceremony at Woodburn Hill Farm. This year, we have eight members sewing together. While a few are local, we have also been able to include members from other parts of the country. We support this process by mailing students’ sewing back and forth between teachers and students. Each leg of the journey costs around $10, for each of the 8 people, every other week. This is only possible through your generous donations, which also allow us to provide students with the cloth and thread used to sew each Rakusu.

Many of you have joined us for a retreat at Woodburn Hill Farm over the years. While ABZS has always had a close relationship with the farm, this year we took that a step further by acquiring several shares of ownership in the farm, formalizing our relationship. This was quite an expense, but it allows the sangha to have a vote in the direction of the farm, and the ownership interest provides opportunities to the sangha on the farm. After receiving our shares, we were approached by other shareholders interested in donating their shares to the sangha.

 

While this required some research and due diligence by the board, ABZS is happy to now accept donations of both private and publicly traded stocks. Shares donated in this way provide unique benefits for donors, and allow the sangha to benefit from the full market value of the shares. If you’d like to discuss this type of donation, or if you have an interest in directing stock donations while estate planning, please reach out and we’ll be happy to discuss it with you. See the side bar to contact our Treasurer Shōryū.

Paula Chiplis and Shinren Mark Stone represented the sangha at the march on Washington organized by the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival on June 18. Thousands of people from all over the country and every walk of life joined together on a lovely sunny day in support of new policies and legal priorities to address systemic injustices in our country. The highlights for Paula and Shinren were the Yelling Trees paintings and meeting Jodie Evans, the founder of Code Pink (“Make Out Not War”) organization for grassroots & social justice.

Tuesday: Dharma Tea at Two pm for June 21, 2022 .  Use this link to join. If asked for a password use 003827

Inryū Sensei will talk about the seventh 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.

Being held at the Green Gulch Farm Zen Practice CenterOnlineDate / Time June 19, 2022 / 6:00pm – 7:00pm Eastern

Abbot’s Funeral for Hakuryu Sojun Mel Weitsman

Long delayed due to Covid, an Abbot’s Funeral for Hakuryu Sojun Mel Weitsman Roshi, former San Francisco Zen Center and Berkeley Zen Center Abbot, will take place on Sunday, June 19 at 3:00 pm. The ceremony will be livestreamed and all are invited to participate online.

Sojun’s Teachings Remembered in this tribute by some of his students here.

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To join the ceremony using Zoom:

Meeting ID: 264-616-8381
Passcode: 805991

By phone:
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
Find your local number

Tuesday: Dharma Tea at Two pm for June 14, 2022 .  Use this link to join. If asked for a password use 003827

Inryū Sensei will talk about the sixth 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.

Tuesday: Dharma Tea at Two pm for June 7, 2022 .  Use this link to join. If asked for a password use 003827

Inryū Sensei will talk about the fifth 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.

The retreat is both in-person (urban Zendo) and via our cloud Zendo space. To join the cloud Zendo space use this link.

If asked for a password use 159586

6:30 Robe Chant /Zazen  (first wave – time to arrive for early birds)

7:10 Short Service

7:25 Meal Offering

7:30 Oryoki Breakfast

8:15 Soji – Temple Cleaning

8:30 Break/Walk outside

9:00 Opening Bell Chant/Song of the Grass Hut (second wave – arrival at mid-morning)

9:15 Zazen

9:25 Kinhin

9:35 Zazen

10:05 Dharma Talk

10:40 Kinhin

10:50 Zazen

11:20 Kinhin

11:30 Zazen

12:00 Closing and Refuges

Please offer a donation if you are able.

The Branching Streams Conference is a gathering that happens about every two years. Branching Streams is a network of Suzuki Roshi lineage sanghas of which All Beings Zen is a part. Our Guiding Dharma Teacher and Senior Priest, Inryu Ponce-Barger, and Koryu Naomi had the privilege of attending the recent Branching Streams conference in-person on April 25-28 in Austin, TX. There were approximately 40 practitioners from the Suzuki Roshi lineage from Vancouver, BC, Germany, and many places in between. The conference was held at the Ancient Yoga Center, a retreat center situated on a 230-acre Hindu temple and ashram.

We practiced zazen in the mornings and evenings, with brief accompanying ceremonies, attended workshops, and connected with new and long-time friends in the larger sangha. In addition to new friendships we learned practical sangha administration ideas from each other, for example how other sanghas are approaching hybrid zendos and conducting outreach with young sangha members. We also did some spontaneous hiking!

Here’s a brief overview of the workshops from this year’s Branching Streams conference:

• Healing Circles: During the first morning of the conference, we did a 2-hour small group activity called Healing Circles, a deep-listening practice based on compassionately bearing witness and experiencing our interconnectedness. It uses the basic-yet-powerful human tools of social support, sharing time, and humbly being present together creating a spirit of acceptance to explore suffering, uncertainty, and finding meaning to promote healing and a sense of community.
• Poetry Workshop with Naomi Shihab Nye: Naomi Shihab Nye, a prolific awarded American poet, creative writing educator, and bright shining light of a human being, led us in a poetry workshop. She said, “We live in a poem,” and then read aloud some text (instructions for using the retreat center bathroom) that transformed our perspective of the ordinary as extraordinary. She presented many simple but powerful poetry compositions and guided us through scribbled poetry drafts. To learn more about Naomi Shibah Nye, this interview from On Being conveys her warmth, kindness, and her message that poetry loves us.
• Work that Reconnects: Based on the life’s work of Joanna Macy, Stephanie Kaza, Environmental Studies Professor Emerita of the University of Vermont and Lay Entrusted teacher, led us through the four steps that were aligned with Buddhist practice which were: Coming From Gratitude, Honoring our Pain for the World, Seeing with New/Ancient Eyes, and Going Forth.

There’s so much more to share, but to sum it up: the Branching Streams conference conveyed the power of good spiritual friends, that spiritual friends are the whole of our practice, here in our sangha, and reaching across the globe. And we cannot do this bodhisattva work without each other and the friendships that sustain us.