Wonderful sangha,
We are delighted to announce that our annual Fall Ango (安居, “dwelling in peace”) will begin Monday, October 11th and conclude on the winter solstice, December 21st. An ango period is a time of intensified practice to set our intentions, focus on our bodhisattva vows, and be fully present for our unfolding lives and the myriad things as they are. Inryū Sensei is our Practice Period Leader for the Ango and Kōryū Naomi will serve as her Benji (弁事, administrative assistant).
Our theme for this fall ango will be Being Time: Practicing with the myriad things as they are. Being-time, or uji (有時), is a term created by Dōgen, Sōtō Zen’s founder in Japan. Being time can be thought of as being real, authentic, and showing up for ourselves and each other as we face the challenges of everyday life. We are all managing great uncertainty due to the ongoing COVID pandemic. We share and hold and process the grief around the loss of so many people and our former ways of being. Embracing being-time is an invitation to be fully present for the impermanence and freedom of our lives right now.
We will begin the Ango on Indigenous Peoples Day with a half day retreat in our urban zendo and invite people to join us via zoom as well. The following weekend Inryū Sensei will be offering a memorial service for our departed Dharma Sister Francy Stilwell. And on October 23 at 2pm we are happy to have Jishin Susan Salek help us with a class entitled “Grieving Here. A reflection on grief, loss and living with the wholeness of life” offered in our cloud zendo. On Sunday, October 31st, we will have an outdoor Sejiki-e Ceremony to honor our heart felt practice over the past year and to offer peace for deceased loved ones, to everyone who is suffering, and to the “hungry ghosts” (beings in perpetual states of wanting).
We will do a deep Dharma dive into Dōgen’s work by reading Shinshu Robert’s Being-Time: A Practitioner’s Guide to Dogen’s Shobogenzo Uji. We will meet as a sangha to discuss the book on Saturday, October 30th at 9:30-11am, and will have a discussion with the author, Shinshu Roberts, who will join us by Zoom Saturday, 2-3pm on November 13th .
We are scheduling Way Seeking Mind talks for sangha members to share their own reflections on their path of practice and to deepen our connections to each other. And we will continue our tradition of cloud zendo Tuesday Teas at 2pm (Eastern Time), for fun, formal and informal zen practice topics to widen the fields of knowledge and connect amongst us. Please contact Kōryū Naomi if you would like to offer a Way Seeking Mind talk or lead a tea, contact details can be found in the email announcement.
Inryū Sensei will be available for Dokusan, an opportunity to just be yourself and discuss your life and practice. And our former shusos (head students) from past angos will also be available to meet you for tea and practice discussions. Please contact Kōryū Naomi for dokusan and shuso tea scheduling.
You are warmly invited and encouraged to join us for any or all of the events below. We will send out email updates weekly as new items are added. Please refer to the All Beings Zen Sangha events page on our website.
Fall Ango Events October 11 to December 21
All events in Eastern Time
October
Monday, October 11: Ango begins with a Half Day Zazenkai in-person and online, 6:30-11:30 am EDT
Saturday, October 16: Francy Stilwell Memorial Service – contact Inryū if you would like to attend online or via zoom
Sunday, October 17: Work practice to freshen the urban zendo and guest space 9-11am
Thursday, October 21: Full moon ceremony
Saturday, October 23: “Grieving Here: A reflection on grief, loss and living with the wholeness of life” discussion led by JiShin Susan Salek 2pm.
Jishin (Compassion Heart) Susan Salek has been a longtime and engaged member of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC (IMCW)’s 
LGBTQIA+ sangha, and she currently serves on the IMCW Board of Directors. She is committed to holding space and creating opportunities for the queer and trans community on this Buddhist path. Jishin is a graduate of the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher program taught by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. Her lived experience and bearing witness to this wild, difficult and beautiful life as a human being has motivated her to teach mindfulness meditation in particular as a support to women and the queer and transgender communities.
She is a student of grief from her own experience of companioning friends, family and other beings thru illness, dying and death as well as a volunteer with Capital Caring Hospice. She recently taught a half-day workshop on Grief and Gratitude for the LGBTQIA+ community through IMCW. She expects to graduate from the Buddhist Chaplaincy program at Upaya Zen Center in March 2022. Jishin currently works as a Business Director for 3M and shares a home with her two cats in Maryland.
Thursday, October 28: Dharma talk “Ask the Stone Lantern” about how Dharma pervades all things by Rev. Konin Cardenas 7pm 
Konin, aka Ayya Dhammadīpā, is a fully ordained bhikkhuni in the Theravada tradition and a Dharma Heir in the Suzuki Roshi lineage of Soto Zen, Her shift to the Theravada tradition is a natural extension of her longtime metta practice and study of the Pali suttas. In addition to English, Ayya teaches in Spanish, an expression of her Latin heritage. She is a trained interfaith chaplain, and has provided spiritual care in both hospital and hospice settings. Ayya Dhammadīpā is mother to a lovely adult daughter, and enjoys watercolor painting and sewing.
Saturday, October 30: Book group discussion of Being-Time, 9:30am-11am, please read first half the of the book
Sunday, October 31: Sejiki-e Ceremony. Sejiki-e is a Japanese word meaning “The Feeding and Nourishing of Hungry Ghosts.” Location: Outdoors at Still Spring Zendo, Bethesda MD, 3-4:30pm
November
Friday, November 5: Movie night [film and time TBD]
Saturday, November 13: Rev. Shinshu Roberts author Being-Time will join the sangha via zoom, 2 – 3:00pm. 
Rev. Shinshu Roberts is co-founder and teacher, with Rev. Daijaku Kinst, of Ocean Gate Zen Center in Capitola, CA. She is a Dharma heir of Sojun Weitsman Roshi, in the Soto Zen lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. Shinshu holds the appointment of International Dharma Teacher in the Japanese Soto Zen School and is the author Being-Time: A Practitioner’s Guide to Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō Uji, as well as articles appearing in BuddhaDharma and Lion’s Roar.
Thursday, November 18: Full moon ceremony 7pm
Saturday, November 20: All-day zazenkai urban zendo and via cloud zendo 6:30am- 4:30pm
Thursday, November 25: Zendo closed
Sunday, November 28: Jukai ceremony (Time TBA)
December
Rohatsu Sesshin begins the night of Sunday November 28 – Saturday, December 4: This Sesshin/Intensive Retreat is held annually to celebrate Buddha’s enlightenment
Saturday, December 18: Work practice to mail 2022 calendars, 9am – 11am Urban zendo and guest space
Tuesday, December 21: End of fall ango and Benji poem / Winter Solstice ceremony with 108 Enmei Jikku Kannongyo and bows, 7pm, Recitation of names of the ancestors
Way Seeking Mind Talk offered by Suzanne Ehrenhalt — following a short period of zazen. We will have a 10 minute of zazen which will be followed by a Way Seeking Mind. Join us with this