Dharma Heart Zen
May Sangha News
Native wildflowers with native Long-Horn bees
taking refuge
Announcements
Dharma Heart Zen Bag Lunch
Thursday, May 1
At Ellen Sherron's house at 12:00pm
All are welcome to celebrate Spring
More Information
Chris will be away in Dharma Transmission/Shiho Retreat and Ceremonies for Mary Ann Sacksteder, Debi Papazian and Mary Koopman April 28-May 9.
Chelsea True, Erika Wild and Marilyn Eversole will be leading Tuesday and Thursday sangha meetings.
Bodhisattva Precepts Study Class
Tuesday, May 13
6:45-7:45 pm PT
More Information
All-Day Sitting
Sunday, May 25
9:00am-4:00pm PT
More Information
Dharma Heart Zen Study and Practice Focus
The Eightfold Path
Resources:
The Noble Eightfold Path: Way to the End of Suffering, by Bhikkhu Bodhi (online source)
The Eightfold Path - A Buddhist teaching anthology offered by Soto Zen Women, edited by Jikyo Cheryl Wolfer, Introduction by Byakuren Judith Ragir (online source)
Dharma Heart Zen
Dharma Talks on the Eightfold Path
For general information about weekly sittings and other offerings,
see Dharma Heart Zen Offerings
Practice News
Dharma Heart Zen Practice Retreats and Dharma Events
April 28- May 9: Dharma Transmission/Shiho Retreat and Ceremonies, Mary Ann Sacksteder, Debi Papazian, and Mary Koopman
May 31: Everyday Zen Jukai Bodhisattva Precept Ceremony, Chris is preceptor for Judith Linzer
May 25: All-day Sitting (see above)
June 29: All-day Sitting and Jukai Bodhisattva Precept Ceremony: Judith Reimuller , Kathy Barr, Beth Fulton , Sue Husari
August 3: Practicing in Nature Retreat Day
August 8-9: Lay Entrustment Ceremony: Chelsea True, with Lay Entrusted teacher Erika Wild assisting
September 7: All-day Sitting and Full Moon Bodhisattva Ceremony
September 25-28: Chris officiates Raizelah Bayen's Shukke Tokudo Priest Ordination Ceremony, Red Cedar Zen, Bellingham WA. Everyone is invited to sit the retreat.
October 12: All-day Sitting with Opening of 2025 Practice Period and Shuso Entering Ceremony
November 9: All-day Sitting
December 8-9: Buddha’s Enlightenment Retreat with Hossenshiki Shuso Ceremony and Closing of Practice Period
December 28 - January 2: Tassajara Wildland Firefighter Retreat
These events are also listed on the Dharma Heart Zen Upcoming Events page and Calendar
Annual Summer Sangha
Way-Seeking Mind Talks
If you have been practicing regularly with Dharma Heart Zen for two or more years and would like to share your practice path with the sangha—or, if you've given a Way-Seeking Mind talk in the past and would like to share your current path of practice, please talk with Chris.
It's a wonderful way for us all to get to know each other more deeply. Talks are usually about 20 minutes and are not recorded for intimacy and confidentiality.
What is Doan Ryo?
During Dharma Heart Zen zazen, services, and ceremonies, you may have noticed that there are sangha members who ring bells, lead the chants, strike wooden drums, and use wooden clackers. These are collectively called the Doan Ryo.
Several sangha members have learned and done these activities over the years. Dharma Heart Zen has periodically had training sessions for people to learn these skills in order to help the sangha.
We would like to offer another training (or ongoing trainings) for those who would like to learn how to become part of the Doan Ryo. If you are interested in finding out more about the Doan Ryo and attending upcoming Doan Ryo trainings, please email Constance or call her at 707. 526-7016. Constance will send a survey out asking about possible times and dates that interested sangha members are available. You will be notified about upcoming trainings and invited to attend and learn.
This is a wonderful opportunity to participate in the life of the sangha and learn helpful skills to support our ongoing activities.
Warmly, Constance
with Meikyo Chelsea True
Green Gulch Farm is happy to welcome families for a special, two-night retreat. In this gentle offering, we’ll explore our favorite Zen family stories and discover the Dharma as it already exists within our lives.
Together, we will share family-friendly zazen and creative projects, listen to the wisdom of the land, and center our practice on the family unit as a location for collective liberation.
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.
Please visit the Engaged Buddhism page and join in as you can.
It is updated regularly. You can also look for the dharma wheel symbol on the Dharma Heart Zen homepage to access the Engaged Buddhism page.
Interfaith Leaders Coalition
at Sanctuary Rally, Santa Rosa Courthouse Square
April 16
Pope Francis and Sister Chan Khong
Coalition of Buddhist teachers, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi issue new letters of support for Mohsen Mahdawi
Letters of Buddhist-community support for Mohsen Mahdawi —
a former president of Columbia University’s Buddhist Association and student activist who has been critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza — have been issued in response to his detention by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on April 14.
Oak boughs in spring, Olompali State Park, Novato, CA
We Are Firefighters: A Talk About the Climate and the Trees
Meditations in an emergency
by Rebecca Solnit
We are creatures of the air, for when we stand, all but the soles of our feet are in and of the air. We move through the air to dance, to walk, to explore, and while gravity pins part of us to something solid--the earth itself, a chair, a bed, a ladder--all the rest of us is up there in the very bottom of the atmosphere, the air all around us. We travel across the bottom of the sky the way a crab moves across the bottom of the sea. Breath by breath from our first to the last we take this atmosphere, this sky into where our lungs separate out the oxygen and our hearts send it coursing through our bodies and we exhale the rest, the nitrogen and the carbon dioxide. We think we are solids, but we are two thirds liquid, and survive through taking these sips of sky into our lungs.