Dharma Heart Zen
December Sangha News
December 23-30 and January 1 - no meetings
Tuesday, January 6 - meetings resume
Tassajara Wildland Firefighter Retreat
December 28 - January 2
Announcements
The world is asking us to grow up spiritually—to embody the Dharma not just as personal comfort, but as a force for true sanity in an unsteady time. This does not necessarily mean becoming activists in the conventional sense, but becoming so awake, so present, so rooted in reality that our very being becomes a refuge for those caught in collective delusion.”
—Dōshin Mako Voelkel, San Francisco Zen Center , City Center Abiding Abbot. 12/25
pictured: local Pixie cup lichen
Chris and Shuso Rachel at Dharma Heart Zen Rohatsu Retreat
December 6
Dharma Heart Zen Study and Practice Focus
True Peace Work: Essential Writings on Engaged Buddhism
by Thich Naht Hanh
Resources:
True Peace Work, Thich Naht Hanh, The Dalai Lama, bell hooks, Joanna Macy, Bill McKibben and others
December Dharma Talks
For general information about weekly sittings and other offerings,
see Dharma Heart Zen Offerings
Practice News
More Dharma Heart Zen Practice Retreats and Dharma Events
December 28 - January 2: Tassajara Wildland Firefighter Retreat
January 10: Doan Ryo Practice
These events are also listed on the Dharma Heart Zen Upcoming Events page and Calendar
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.
New Sangha Resource:
Solidarity With Our Migrant Neighbors webpage
Doan Ryo Practice
January 10, 2026, Saturday
10:00 am to ~noon
Yulupa Cohousing libraryWhat is Doan Ryo?
Doan Ryo is a group of Sangha members who play the bells or wooden drum, and lead the chants during services, All-Day Sits, and special ceremonies during the year. We have gathered periodically to practice and learn new things.
Experienced, inexperienced, and curious sangha members are cordially invited to join us to review, improve, sample, and explore the roles of doan, kokyo, and mokugyo player. We are all beginners at heart and everyone helps each other.
If you are interested in finding out more about the Doan Ryo, please join us.
If you are a regular Doan Ryo member, please join us to share your skill and learn more about this important practice.
For more information, email Constance Fisher, nazdrovya@sonic.net, or call her at 707 526-7016.
Jizos for Peace
Our Jizos for Peace gatherings have continued to be deeply heartwarming and connecting. We have created hundreds of bodhisattvas now out of clay, in honor of the children that have perished from the war in Gaza. May the love and care generated bring more healing and peace to our inner and outer world....
Upcoming dates:
Tuesday, December 16, 1:30 - 4:00 pm
You can email Cherie at thecolourofqi@gmail.com if you want to sign up for any of these times.
Faith Vigil for Solidarity (Ongoing)
December 17, 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
Poem by Thich Naht Hanh
Breathing
Breathing in, I see myself as a flower.
I am the freshness of a dewdrop. Breathing out, my eyes have become flowers. Please look at me. I am looking with the eyes of love.
Breathing in, I am a mountain, imperturbable,
still, alive, vigorous.
Breathing out,
I feel solid.
The waves of emotion
can never carry me away.
Breathing in, I am still water. I reflect the sky faithfully. Look, I have a full moon within my heart, the refreshing moon of the bodhisattva. Breathing out, I offer the perfect reflection of my mirror-mind.
Breathing in, I have become space without boundaries. I have no plans left. I have no luggage. Breathing out, I am the moon that is sailing through the sky of utmost emptiness. I am freedom.
—Thich Nhat Hahn
offered by Cherie Goodwin Lippard.
This is a poem I would recite every full moon for years...
it definitely whispers of Avatamsaka.
Wildland Firefighter Retreat Reflection
Since 2019, San Francisco Zen Center has offered a 7-day mindfulness-based Wildland Firefighter Retreat at Tassajara, co-facilitated by Chris Fortin, Lee Klinger Lesser, and Marc Lesser. SFZC offers this annual end-of-year retreat by providing refuge, rest, and renewal as well as trauma-sensitive training in mindfulness, meditation, and sensory awareness. Read more