The All Beings Zen Sangha welcomes and affirms all who come here to seek the Way, and who will work toward respectful acceptance of others across our many differences, harmonizing the one and the many. May all beings be happy!
“Embracing the Inconceivable Power of Life: The Wisdom of Motomachi”
Rev. Shojo Danny Parker is currently the resident priest at “The Zen Room” in Cocoa Beach Florida. Rev. Shojo received priest ordination at the Berkeley Zen Center in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi in 2011. His long time zen teacher, Edward Espe Brown was the preceptor. In addition to being a Zen teacher, Rev. Shojo is a writer, scientist and cook.
Kin Ki Shin Sei Ilaria Tassi to offer a Way Seeking Mind Talk on Thursday May 11th at 7pm
Inspired by the book When Breath Becomes Air by Mr.. Paul Kalanithi (who was a resident in neurosurgery when he died of lung cancer before completing his residency), Ilaria will talk about her identity as a daughter to her parents and as a scientist in a corporation and how the Dharma teachings guide her in these two important aspects of her life.
Ilaria Tassi is originally from Rome, Italy and moved to St Louis, MO, in 2003 to be trained as scientist in Immunology. She began her zen practice in Washington DC with the All Beings Zen Sangha in 2012. Where she studied with Rev. Inryu Bobbi Ponce-Barger. In April of 2016 she received Jukai with Roshi Dairyu Michael Wenger and Inryu Bobbi Ponce-Barger officiating.
Since 2014 she has lived in San Francisco, where she works as a scientist in a start-up company that is working to find cures to neuro-degenerative diseases. She currently practices at the San Francisco Zen Center with Anshin Rosalie Curtis and at Dragon’s Leap Meditation Center with Roshi Dairyu Michael Wenger.
Photo by Muhammad Alhawagri
Guest Dharma Teacher, Roshi Kotatsu John Bailes to offer a Dharma talk on Dogen Zenji’s “Ocean Mudra Samadhi”.
Sunday April 30th 2pm
Soto Zen Priest, Kotatsu John Bailes practiced Zen at the San Francisco Zen Center from the age of 19 to 32, 1972 through 1984. He was ordained a Zen Priest by Richard Baker Roshi in 1977, lived at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, a Zen monastery, for three years, practiced at Green Gulch Farm and the City Center in San Francisco during which time he held various positions from garbage man to Abbot’s Assistant and “Head” of the Zendo.
From 1984 until 2004 he practiced as an ordinary citizen while receiving a degree in International Political Economy from Harvard University, developing the Investment Advisory and Securities Division of a regional financial planning firm in the Boston area, marrying the visual artist Jesa Damora in 1989, participating in a sailboat race around the world in 2000 – 01 and becoming a professional sailboat captain, USCG 100 Ton Sail, RYA Yacht Master Ocean, and sailing about all over the world.
In 2004 John returned to community dharma practice, received the precepts from and was recognized and acknowledged as a Zen Teacher by Zoketsu Norman Fischer who invited him to participate in the Everyday Zen Community, the Red Cedar Zen Community of Bellingham, Washington, where he was Shuso, Head Monk, and the Mountain Rain Zen Community of Vancouver BC all of whom so kindly adopted him and helped him Open to this One Heart of Being. We cannot do this alone.
Kotatsu currently resides in Somerville, MA and is the guiding teacher for the Monmouth Zen Circle/Compassion Ocean Sangha in NJ.
RSVP: inryu@allbeingszen.org
Both photos courtesy of Carlos Moura
All Beings Zen Sangha is pleased to hostRev. Ben Connelly for a Dharma Talk about the practice of YogacaraThursday April 27th – 7pm.Please RSVP : inryu@allbeingszen.orgBen Connelly is a Soto Zen teacher and Dharma heir in the Katagiri lineage. He teaches at Minnesota Zen Meditation Center. Ben is also a professional musician and teaches mindfulness in a wide variety of secular contexts. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Rev. Ben Connelly has written Inside Vasubandhu’s Yogacara : a practical, down-to-earth guide to Vasubandhu’s classic work “ hirty Verses of Consciousness Only” that can transform modern life and change how you see the world.
The Dharma of Jikan Leonard Cohen
The iconic songwriter, poet and raconteur was a committed lifelong practitioner of Rinzai zen. Jikan Cohen’s Buddhist name—“the silence between two thoughts”—embodies well his many contradictions. This meeting will be guided by Jikan Cohen’s music and especially the timeless appeal and compassion of his extraordinary poetry.
The Study session will be lead by: Shinren Mark Stone who received the Buddhist precepts from Dairyu Michael Wenger in the Soto Zen Buddhist lineage and practices with the All Beings sangha. He leads mindfulness classes in residences for men and wome
n in transition and at his home. After a career in economic policymaking, he is now an international economics consultant and lives in Washington DC with his wife Jessica and two wonderful sons Sam and Maurie.
“For more than a year, members of the Standing Rock Sioux nation, called Water Protectors, have resisted the Dakota Access Pipeline, which will run underneath the Missouri River, the tribe’s main source of water. My talk will reflect on how the Buddhist path has led me to listen deeply and respond in vow to the witness of native Water Protectors.” – Rev. Satya Cynthia Scott
Rev. Satya Cynthia Scott is an ordained Soto Zen Buddhist Priest in the lineage of Dainin Katagiri Roshi. She is currently a practitioner at the Clouds in Water Zen Center in St. Paul. Minnesota www.cloudsinwater.org. She is also a full-time magazine editor at the University of Minnesota. She bows in gratitude to indigenous people who are prodding us to wake up with a deeper sense of urgency. She belongs to Clergy Standing With Standing Rock, which issued a call to support the All Nations Action in Washington DC on March 10, 2017.
