Dharma Heart Zen
April Sangha News
Bodhisattva Precepts Study Group
Tuesday, April 14
6:45-7:45pm PST
DHZ All-Day Sitting at Open Sky
Sunday, April 19
Announcements
Dharma Heart Zen Study and Practice Focus
Teachings from Thich Nhat Hanh
Resources:
be free where you are, this compendium of the core teachings of Thích Nhất Hạnh, based on a talk given at a prison, shows how mindfulness practice can cultivate freedom no matter where you are.
Peace Is Every Step, by Thich Nhat Hanh
Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames, by Thich Nhat Hanh
Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through The Storm, by Thich Nhat Hanh
Dharma Talks
For general information about Dharma Heart Zen
see Dharma Heart Zen Offerings
Practice News
Writing the Ordinary
with Nancy Dougherty and Elise TurnerWe’re starting a new monthly writing group called Writing the Ordinary. This is a chance to explore the everyday moments of life through words and silence from a Zen perspective.
Each gathering will begin with a short meditation, then we’ll read prompts, poems, or other texts to inspire our own writing.
There’s no need for experience—just bring a sense of curiosity about what is seen, observed, heard, or felt in a day.
Initial Meeting: April 6, 4:00pm
Ongoing: First Monday of the month, 4:00-5:30 pm (no July meeting)
Where: Elise's home in Sebastopol (we’ll email address upon RSVPs)
RSVP: Nancy: ncaversd@gmail.com or Elise: elise.october@gmail.comLimit 8 participants per meeting
Please rsvp: first-come, first-served~ Nancy Cavers Dougherty
More about Nancy and Elise:
Nancy Cavers Dougherty is the author of four chapbooks, with Heaven is in Truckee most recently published by The Orchard Street Press. Her poetry reflects a love of nature going back to her childhood in Massachusetts, making snow sculptures, and exploring the nearby creeks and woods. Today, she finds expression in different art mediums including collage, ceramics, journal-making, and poetry. She especially enjoys art projects with her grandchildren. She and her husband live in Sebastopol, California. www.ncdpoetry.com
Having enjoyed writing on and off throughout her life, Elise has taken a variety of writing workshops and enjoys sharing the writing experience with others. Inspired by the integration of Zen and the arts, Elise has been weaving together her journaling, poetry, and Zen practice for the past 11 years. Currently, she teaches Creative Writing and Humanities at Orchard View School in Sebastopol, California, and struggles to finish her own homework.
A Special Morning with the SFZC Family Sangha at Green Gulch
Sunday, April 19
With Meikyo Chelsea True, Junsen Shelly Hughes, Kanjin Yael Raff Peskin, Samara Alima, and Kanki Elis Herman
Rooted in the Soto Zen lineage of Suzuki Roshi and grounded in everyday family life, the SFZC Family Sangha welcomes you onto the tender and transformative path of family practice.
This special offering is an opportunity to learn more about the SFZC Family Sangha. Our group will meet outside the zendo at 9:45 AM with a song circle. At 10:00 AM, we’ll visit the zendo together where the lecturer will address the children. Then families will proceed outside onto the farm and into the garden, exploring the land and building community.
The morning program concludes with tea and muffins outside the zendo at 11:30AM.
The SFZC Family Sangha welcomes multi-generational families, parents, caregivers, self-partnered people, those caring for their elders, grandparents, aunties, uncles, siblings and niblings, foster parents, children of all ages, and anyone dedicated to healing their family lineages.
New Editor for Dharma Heart Zen Newsletter
Our first newsletter came out five years ago—February 2020— during the COVID shutdown. The newsletter and Zoom allowed us to stay connected during COVID and provides a useful venue to announce events and for Chris and the sangha members to contribute resources, reflections, photos, and poems. Just as valuable, it directs people to our excellent website for even more resources. Many thanks to webmaster, Shelly Hughes!
It’s been a pleasure to serve as editor during this time. I’ve loved working with everyone to put out the newsletter and announcements and reminders of sangha events. After five years, it seemed like a good time to offer this opportunity to serve the sangha to another member. Fortunately, Shalaby offered to take it on.
Many thanks to Shalaby for volunteering to serve as editor. It’s in good hands. Starting this month, please send your articles and other contributions to DHZnewsletter and Chris.
— Ellen Sherron, outgoing newsletter editor
with infinite bows of gratitude to you, dear Ellen — from Chris and the Dharma Heart Zen Sangha — and welcome, Shalaby!
More about Shalaby:
Hello! It has been so sweet to be in practice with you all these past months and being newer to practice, I am grateful for this warm hearted Zen you all have cultivated here at DHZ. I’m the fortunate parent of two kiddos and one dog: Quinn (10), Ry (8) and Pickle (2) who all live with me half time in Sebastopol. We love spending time at Green Gulch Farm with the SFZC Family Sangha. I grew up and have lived most of my life here in Sonoma County. I work as a nurse and have spent most of my career working in community health centers, hospice care, and will begin working in palliative care in the coming weeks. I love being present with people and their families near end of life and tending to whatever is arising in those moments— no wonder zen practice feels like home to me.
—With love, Shalaby (they/them)
Jizos for Peace Project hosted by Cherie Goodwin Lippard
Hello Everyone:
Our healing Jizo field is growing as we continue on with this creative and healing practice. I invite you all to come join in as we connect with each other and Jizo's natural qualities through claywork. For those who have not participated yet, we are dedicating this peace practice to all the children who have perished in Gaza and Israel these last few years.
Here are the upcoming dates for the Jizo gatherings:
April 15: 10:00 am - 12:30 pm, my home
April 21: 1:30 - 4:00 pm, my home
May 1:1:00 - 3:00 pm, Sebastopol Center for the Arts
Let me know if you would like to sign up for any of these dates and you can invite friends from the community to join the Sebastopol Center for the Arts gatherings which is also listed on their website.
— In gratitude, Cherie Goodwin Lippard(click name for email)
Doan Ryo Practice Opportunity
I hope that you can participate in May, no matter what level you are. If there newcomers, we can work with you individually and get you up to speed. We will practice the roles as a group, taking turns. This practice is for beginners as well as experienced because we all help each other.
When: May 2, 10 am to 12 pm
Where: Yulupa Cohousing Library— Constance
Tassajara altar and Buddha
Tassajara Fire
At around 11:30 pm Thursday night, March 26, the Tassajara Zendo caught fire. No one was hurt, but the zendo burned down completely. Some of the library was also destroyed. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
From Abbott David Zimmerman who was at Tassajara leading the Practice Period and was one of the fire monks who helped save Tassajara in a previous fire:
Good morning. Tassajara practice continues uninterrupted. The Sangha is resilient. Monks sit zazen now in the Retreat Hall. Canyon wrens sing on the Kaisando roof in the morning, frogs chant along Cabarga Creek at night. Gratitude to the Buddhas and Ancestors, the mountains and waters, for this liberating Way of life.
Zendo Fire Donations can be sent to
giving.sfzc.org/zendo-fire
Susan Husari: A Life in Fire, Leadership, and Care
—Women’s History Month Spotlight
Bed Head Zen
This new offering meets at 6:15 am Monday through Friday, using the Zoom Zendo link. We sit for 30 minutes, chant (currently Zenju's Chant for All Beings (have your own copy please) and dedicate merit.
—Kristen Sorensen and Shalaby
Shantideva’s Prayer:
Dedication to the Precepts of A Bodhisattva
May I be a protector to those who are protectorless,
A guide for those who journey on the road.
For those who wish to cross the water
May I be a boat, a raft, a bridge.
May I be an isle for those who yearn for land, A lamp for those who long for light;
For all who need a resting place, a bed;
For those who need help, a friend
May I be a wishing jewel, a vase of abundance,
A word of power and the supreme healing,
May I be the wish fulfilling tree,
A cow of plenty for the world,
Just like the earth and space itself
And all the other mighty elements.
For boundless multitudes of beings
May I always be the ground of life, the source of varied substance.
Thus for everything that lives,
For as long as space endures,
And for as long as living beings remain,
Until then may I too abide,
To dispel the misery of the world.
Source: His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama
Engaged Buddhism:
Practicing in the World
Resources and ways to engage and help
Responding with Clarity and Compassion
Dharma Heart Zen is curating a list of resources and engaged actions to help us respond with bodhisattva hearts and minds to the suffering and chaos that is unfolding in our government and in the world.
Visit the Engaged Buddhism page and join in as you can. It is updated regularly.
Visit the Solidarity With Our Migrant Neighbors page for resources related to the Sonoma County Sanctuary Coalition.
Faith Vigil for Solidarity (Ongoing)
April 22, 5:00-6:00 pm
Old Courthouse Square, Santa Rosa
Bring Your Candle
Oranized by the Faith Leaders Work Group of the Sonoma County Sanctuary Coalition
for more information, contact office@srchristchurch.org