Rise and shine, Sangha Family –
I hope this email finds you well this cool mid September morning.
As Benji, I will be the middle-man to help you connect with Sangha, answer questions about the Fall schedule, and arrange times for you to meet with Inryū Sensei and Seiryū Paula! Inryū Sensei will be accepting Dokusan meetings all Ango, which gives the opportunity to have private one-on-one conversations with our Dharma teacher. Also, as Seiryū will be our head student, it is also customary and encouraged to meet and schedule a casual sit-down tea with her. These meetings with our Guiding Teacher and Shuso, I find, can help us enter the stream of practice that is reciprocal in nourishment — a way to build relationship and also inquire about our Zen Practice / Practice Period Theme: Sandokai-The Harmony of Difference and Sameness.
September 15th is approaching us this coming Sunday, which will commence the beginning of our Fall Ango!
Seiryū Paula Chiplis will serve as the 2024 Fall Practice Period Ango’s Shuso (Head Student) and I, Zen’etsu,
will be her Benji (Shuso’s assistant / coordinator). So! Here I am coordinating this practice period full of wonderful happenings that I am so excited to share with you all.
As you may know from past Ango’s, we will also start to have Way Seeking Mind Talks on Monday/Wednesday/Friday mornings (after a shorter period of zazen), as well as Tuesday Tea Talks at 2pm.
Way Seeking Mind talks can be also understood as Way ‘Finding’ Talks! These are talks where we get to speak about how/when our experiences in our lives ~woke us up~, and how we found our Zen practice way-back-when or maybe even within this year.
Tuesday Dharma Tea Talks are a bit more casual and can also be creative! On Tuesday’s, we convene on zoom to hear the speaker of the week present a Buddhist-related topic that interests them. You would provide a 20 minute presentation on the topic and allow another 20 minutes for open discussion. Super interesting, but also grounding to have tea in the afternoon with Sangha.
To give you a little more outlook on this 3-month journey, this Ango will include a 7 Day Sesshin (meditation retreat) in December 1-8 for Rohatsu Observance, Dharma Movie Nights, Full and Half Day Zazenkais (day retreats) in our Urban Zendo, guest speakers throughout the Ango, and more — full schedule on the website! Check the web site regularly for schedule updates.
I would kindly like you to consider a time throughout these 3 months (September 15-December 21) to do a Way Seeking Mind Talk and also a Tuesday-Tea-Talk! Please email me at zenjoyclay@gmail or text/call me at 501-289-0897 so that I can put it on our schedule.
Lastly, I want to express my gratitude to everyone in this Sangha, as each year we all co-create this feeling of wholeness in these 3-months of “calm-abiding.” Thank you to our teacher, Inryū Sensei, for guiding us into these seasonal transitions with wisdom and ease. I look forward to yet again taking the backward step inward, along with the creatures of this land .. taking refuge in this dedicated time.
If your space allows, please join in entering this Fall Practice Period with our Shuso Entering Ceremony this coming Sunday 9/15 at 2pm EST in person and online. Join with this link.
Virtual hugs and bows to you all. Zen-etsu