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!
Take a peak into our annual Sejiki Ceremony, 2023!
Sejiki is a traditional Soto Zen ceremony in which participants come to appease what are known as pretas, or “hungry ghosts” in Buddhist cosmology. These hungry ghosts are beings who have an abundance of cravings, yet are unable to get any satisfaction. This type of being can represent not only these ghosts, but also the inexhaustible desires that we may have in ourselves/society as well.
In this ceremony, it is custom to invite various instruments to cling-clang-bang (bottom left photo), in order to invoke these hungry ghosts to come to our peaceful offering. From here, we recite well-wishing chants such as ‘Gate of Sweet Dew,’ have sweets and treats displayed as offerings, and finally send them off, hoping that they were nourished. At this time, we also say aloud and burn the name-cards from our Zendo altar of those who have departed within the year.
Below are pictures from our All Beings Sejiki Ceremony, and if you would like to see the music video of our gathering, please go to our facebook page here: All Beings Zen Sejiki Ceremony 2023
All Beings Zen Sangha gathered together at Woodburn Hill Farm on October 28th to enjoy a half-day work practice together. Starting the day off with zazen and our monthly full moon ceremony, we were ready to engage our heart-minds *and hands* with the various tasks on the farm. From stacking wood, trimming the bamboo off the barn, to setting up a nice space for us to gather around for our (delicious!) vegetarian potluck, we shared sweat and smiles with each other and the land on this beautiful autumn morning.
Tonight we will have a short service followed by two periods of Zazen with an interval of Kinhin (5 minutes of slow walking in between). We will have our monthly pass the feather sharing and conclude by chanting the refuges in Pali. Please feel welcome to stay on zoom if you are able to share greetings with the sangha.
Please put your zoom in gallery mode, and keep your video link on while muting your mic until the end of the service – Feel welcome to face away from your device camera while keeping your presence visible in the frame for others in attendance to see and know you are there. Please refrain from moving your device around while others are sitting zazen with you.
Please put your zoom in gallery mode, and keep your video link on while muting your mic until the end of the service – Feel welcome to face away from your device camera while keeping your presence visible in the frame for others in attendance to see and know you are there. Please refrain from moving your device around while others are sitting zazen with you.
Order of Service (text available at highlighted links)
Here is the link to join us via the cloud zendo at 7PM for the All Beings Zen Sangha evening program. Tonight we will have short service with Heart Sutra in English followed by one period of Zazen and Inryu Sensei will talk a little about the Fall Ango and offer a poem. We will close by chanting the Refuges in Pali. If you would like stay after refuges and do a welcome and check-in please do.
If you are asked for a password please use this 955165
Brushwork by Dairyǔ Michael Wenger
ABZS does keep an attendance of participation in sangha events* this is done for the welfare of it’s members and for guidance in future programing
Please put your zoom in gallery mode, and keep your video link on while muting your mic until the end of the service – Feel welcome to face away from your device camera while keeping your presence visible in the frame for others in attendance to see and know you are there. Please refrain from moving your device around while others are sitting zazen with you.
Order of Service
Greeting by the Kokyo
Enmei Jukko Kannon Gyo
Heart Sutra in English
Dedication of Merit
25 Minute Zazen Period
5 minute period of Kinhin (slow walking)
Four Great Vows
Inryu’s words about the Ango and a poem offering
Introduction of the Ango Benji
Refuges in Pali
Enmei Jukko Kannon Gyo X7
KAN ZEON
NA MU BUTSU
YO BUTSU U IN
YO BUTSU U EN
BUP PO SO EN
JO RAKU GA JO
CHO NEN KANZEON
BO NEN KANZEON
NEN NEN JU SHIN KI
NEN NEN FU RI SHIN
Heart Sutra in English
Heart of Great Perfect Wisdom Sutra
Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva,
when deeply practicing prajña paramita,⨀
clearly saw that all five aggregates are empty
and thus relieved all suffering.
Shariputra,
form does not differ from emptiness,
emptiness does not differ from form.
Form itself is emptiness,
emptiness itself form.
Sensations, perceptions, formations,
and consciousness are also like this.
Shariputra,
all dharmas are marked by emptiness;
they neither arise nor cease,
are neither defiled nor pure,
neither increase nor decrease.
Therefore, given emptiness, there is
no form, no sensation, no perception,
no formation no consciousness;
no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue,
no body, no mind;
no sight, no sound, no smell, no taste,
no touch, no object of mind;
no realm of sight… no realm of mind consciousness
There is neither ignorance nor extinction of ignorance…
neither old age and death,
nor extinction of old age and death;
no suffering, no cause, no cessation, no path;
no knowledge and no attainment.
With nothing to attain,
a bodhisattva relies on prajña paramita,⨀
and thus the mind is without hindrance.
Without hindrance, there is no fear.
Far beyond all inverted views, one realizes nirvana.
All buddhas of past, present, and future
rely on prajña paramita ⨀ and thereby attain
unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment.
Therefore, know the prajña paramita ⨀ as
the great miraculous mantra,
the great bright mantra,
the supreme mantra,
the incomparable mantra,
which removes all suffering
and is true, not false.
Therefore we proclaim the prajña paramita ⨀ mantra,
Dōgen saw himself, at least in part, as a “translator” of the wisdom of the Chinese ancestors into the Japanese language. In the Shōbōgenzō, he directly quotes from Chinese texts in over 300 instances. Similarly, the goal of the Sōtō Zen Translation Project has been to render into English the words of Dōgen and his followers.
Here is the link to join us via the cloud zendo at 7PM for the All Beings Zen Sangha evening program. Tonight we will have a short service before one period of Zazen. We will then have our monthly Wellbeing Service and the chanting of the refuges. If you would like stay after refuges and do a welcome and check-in please do
If you are asked for a password please use this 041285
ABZS does keep an attendance of participation in sangha events* this is done for the welfare of it’s members and for guidance in future programing
Please put your zoom in gallery mode, and keep your video link on while muting your mic until the end of the service – Feel welcome to face away from your device camera while keeping your presence visible in the frame for others in attendance to see and know you are there. Please refrain from moving your device around while others are sitting zazen with you.
Order of Service
Greeting by the Kokyo
Heart Sutra in English
30 minutes period of zazen
5 minute period of Kinhin (slow walking meditation)
Wellbeing Service
Enmei X 9
Loving Kindness Meditation
Dedication of merit.
Refuges in Pali
Heart of Great Perfect Wisdom Sutra
Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva,
when deeply practicing prajña paramita,⨀
clearly saw that all five aggregates are empty
and thus relieved all suffering.
Shariputra,
form does not differ from emptiness,
emptiness does not differ from form.
Form itself is emptiness,
emptiness itself form.
Sensations, perceptions, formations,
and consciousness are also like this.
Shariputra,
all dharmas are marked by emptiness;
they neither arise nor cease,
are neither defiled nor pure,
neither increase nor decrease.
Therefore, given emptiness, there is
no form, no sensation, no perception,
no formation no consciousness;
no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue,
no body, no mind;
no sight, no sound, no smell, no taste,
no touch, no object of mind;
no realm of sight… no realm of mind consciousness
There is neither ignorance nor extinction of ignorance…
neither old age and death,
nor extinction of old age and death;
no suffering, no cause, no cessation, no path;
no knowledge and no attainment.
With nothing to attain,
a bodhisattva relies on prajña paramita,⨀
and thus the mind is without hindrance.
Without hindrance, there is no fear.
Far beyond all inverted views, one realizes nirvana.
All buddhas of past, present, and future
rely on prajña paramita ⨀ and thereby attain
unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment.
Therefore, know the prajña paramita ⨀ as
the great miraculous mantra,
the great bright mantra,
the supreme mantra,
the incomparable mantra,
which removes all suffering
and is true, not false.
Therefore we proclaim the prajña paramita ⨀ mantra,
Tuesday October 17, 2023 2pm Eastern , 2023 – Join All Beings Zen Sangha Guiding Teacher Inryǔ Poncé=Barger for a photo show and explanation about the migration of the library, zendo and archival materials from Dragons Leap in San Francisco to ABZS in Washington DC. These items are gifted to us by our very first formal Soto Zen Guiding Teacher Dairyǔ Michael Wenger. Dairyǔ and his wife Barbara are retiring and moving to Enso Village (a retirement community/houseing complex newly built in Healdsburg, CA.
Thursday, October 12, 2023 7PM – In person and in our cloud zendo. Guest Teacher Rev. Liên Shutt will talk about her new book. Rev. Liên will be in-person with books for sale and to sign in our urban zendo. We will also have the event offered in our cloud zendo. Use this link to join and if asked for a password use 041285
Order of Practice
Short Service in Spanish
10 minutes of Zazen
Guest Speaker Dharma Offering
Refuges in Pali
Book signing
Rev. Liên Shutt (she/they) is a recognized leader in the movement that breaks through the wall of American white-centered convert Buddhism to welcome people of all backgrounds into a contemporary, engaged Buddhism. As an ordained Zen priest, licensed social worker, and longtime educator/teacher of Buddhism, Shutt represents new leadership at the nexus of spirituality and social justice, offering a special warm welcome to Asian Americans, all BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, and those seeking a “home” in the midst of North American society’s reckoning around racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia. Shutt is a co-founder of Buddhists of Color (1998) and founder of Access to Zen (2014). As the creator, producer, and host, she launched a podcast series, “Opening Dharma Ac-cess: Listening to BIPOC Teachers,” in 2021 with Lama Karma Yeshe Chödrön and Kaira Jewel Lingo. For Season 2, Sister Peace and Dalila Bothwell joined the team.
Join us next week Tuesday October 17, 2023 at 2pm for a slide show about the Migration of the Dragons Leap Library and Archive to All Beings Zen Sangha. Inryǔ Sensei will offer photographs and description of the Library and Archive gifted to us from our first Guiding Teacher Dairyǔ Michael Wenger from his temple in San Francisco (Dragons Leap). Dairyǔ and his wife Barbara are retiring and moving to Enso Village (a retirement community/houseing complex newly built in Healdsburg, CA.
For the All Beings Zen Sangha Tuesday Teas at Two, a topic is introduced and then a few questions are proposed for discussion by those present. The Teas are online only.
We start with 5 minutes of silent tea drinking. Sensei Inryǔ will offer photographs and background on the migration of the library from West to East coast. Please use this link to join. If asked for a password use 842721
The dharma tea concludes at 2:45pm Eastern. All are welcome.
Tonight we will have a short service followed by two periods of Zazen with an interval of Kinhin (5 minutes of slow walking in between). We will have our monthly pass the feather sharing and conclude by chanting the refuges in Pali. Please feel welcome to stay on zoom if you are able to share greetings with the sangha.
Please put your zoom in gallery mode, and keep your video link on while muting your mic until the end of the service – Feel welcome to face away from your device camera while keeping your presence visible in the frame for others in attendance to see and know you are there. Please refrain from moving your device around while others are sitting zazen with you.
Please put your zoom in gallery mode, and keep your video link on while muting your mic until the end of the service – Feel welcome to face away from your device camera while keeping your presence visible in the frame for others in attendance to see and know you are there. Please refrain from moving your device around while others are sitting zazen with you.
Order of Service (text available at highlighted links)
