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Zen and Living with Disabilities Workshop with Rev. Daigan Gather on August 17th, 2019

Well attended workshop at All Beings Zen Sangha for guest teacher Rev. Daigan Gaither. He offered a meaningful look at “sickness, old age, and death” and how our zen practice requires us to quiet down and come back to connection with the bodies we have. All were touched and supported by his compassionate responses to questions and deep diving into our bodies with guided meditation and clear question processes to see “what does our practice ask of us”.

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Call for Artists – submissions for ABZS 2020 Calendar

Call to Artists! All Beings Zen Sangha is announcing a call to artists for the 2020 Sangha calendar project. Submissions are now being accepted for drawings, paintings, photography, poetry, and other forms of art and expression in digital format. Please submit up to three works for consideration by August 15, 2019 via e-mail to Inryu at inryubobbi@gmail.com or John at emailjohnf@gmail.com

(photo by Alex Lima)

May all beings be happy!

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Making Paper Cranes Fly: A Report from Fort Sill, Oklahoma by Rev. Duncan Ryuken Williams

 

By REV. DUNCAN RYUKEN WILLIAMS

Buddhist Leaders Join Tsuru for Solidarity and Other Marchers at Fort Sill Protest [July 20, 2019] (credit, AP Wire)
Tsuru for Solidarity x Buddhist Clergy and Lay Leaders: Group Photo Before the March onto Fort Sill Entrance (credit, Julie Yumi Hatta) Tsuru for Solidarity NYC (alphabetical): Becca Asaki, Mike Ishii, Linda Morris, Lauren Sumida, Carl Takei

Buddhist Clergy and Lay Leaders (alphabetical): Rev. Myozen Joan Amaral (Zen Center North Shore, MA), Rev. Gyokuko Carlson (Dharma Rain Zen Center, OR), Rev. William Briones (LA Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple), Rev. Eijun Linda Ruth Cutts (San Francisco Zen Center), Rev. Zenshin Greg Fain (Tassajara Zen Mountain Monastery), Rev. Jitsujo Tina Gauthier (Zen Center of Los Angeles), Rev. Tova Green (San Francisco Zen Center), Rev. Gesshin Greenwood (Empty Moon Zen Center), Julie Yumi Hatta (Buddhist Churches of America), Rev. Ryuji Hayashi (LA Koyasan Beikoku Betsuin), Sandy Seiju Hockenbury (Eon Zen Center, CO), Maurice Hoover (Prairie Wind Sangha, Oklahoma City), Juliet Hwang (Plum Village Sangha), Rev. Shumyo Kojima (LA Zenshuji Soto Mission), Rev. Mui Mike Lewis (Great Mountain Zen Center, CO), Rev. Nick Ushin Lowry (Rinzai/Oklahoma City), Keigetsu Heather Martin (San Antonio Zen Center), Rev. Egyoku Nakao (Zen Center of Los Angeles), Steven Nakasone (LA Higashi Honganji/Plum Village Sangha), Judy Nakatomi (San Diego Vista Buddhist Temple/Plum Village Sangha), Kenley Neufeld (Plum Village Sangha), Rev. Inryu Bobbi Ponce-Barger (All Beings Sangha, DC), Rev. Tenku Ruff (Soto Zen Buddhist Association), Eric Kairen Russell (Tendai Buddhist Institute/Oklahoma City), Rev. Grace Schireson (Shogaku Zen Institute), Kathy Spengler (Rissho Koseikai/Oklahoma City), Rev. Duncan Ryuken Williams (author of American Sutra)

 

To read the full report by Rev. Duncan Ryuken Williams click here 

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Remembrance of July 20th, 2019 Tsuru for Solidarity gathering in Oklahoma by ABZS guiding teacher Rev. Inryu.

 

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)

Protestors march outside Fort Sill in protest of plans to place migrant children at the Army post in Lawton, Okla., Saturday, July 20, 2019. (Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman via AP)

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.

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June 2019 Private Practice Week for Members of All Beings Zen Sangha at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center

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.

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Yuriko Beaman “KonMari” workshop Saturday May 4th, 2019

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