Dear Sangha, Even though the Catskills are frozen and quiet right now, if I close my eyes, I can already hear the returning song of the Hermit Thrush and smell the tulips blooming.  Slowly the Esopus Creek, covered in ice, will loosen its grip on Winter and Spring will come. Continue reading “Shuso’s Letter Spring Ango 2020” »

by Eve Romm The first two meetings of the ZMM sangha's new “What is Whiteness?” (WIW) group began the same way: enlarging the circle of chairs in the Sangha House to accommodate far larger numbers than expected. The overwhelmingly high attendance on Sunday afternoons didn’t come as a surprise. Since the BFOD forum last March which invited the larger sangha into the anti-racism work—which smaller planning groups have been engaged in for a decade—many white sangha members have expressed different versions of the same sentiment: “When can we start?” Continue reading “Delving into “What is Whiteness?”” »

Book review by Hokyu JL Aronson Many years ago, still in college, I hitchhiked north from Berkeley to the uppermost reaches of California, my last ride dropping me off at the foot of Mt. Shasta in the southern Cascade Range. I didn’t yet know of the Zen monastery there but I’d come on a quasi-spiritual quest all the same. A friend had recently committed suicide and, in his honor, I wanted to test the fragile membrane of my own existence, going deep into solitude amidst the quiet embrace of a mountain landscape. Zen on the Trail: Hiking as Pilgrimage by...

Book Review by Finn Jogen Schubert This book is unlike any book I have ever read. Like a quilt, each piece contributes a unique perspective and style, coming together to provide warmth and comfort on the dharma path. Whether you are cisgender, trans, questioning, or something else entirely, you will find fresh perspectives on the dharma that will speak directly to your own experience, as well as perspectives that you may have never considered before. Transcending: Trans Buddhist Voices, Edited by Kevin Manders and Elizabeth Marston, North Atlantic Books (2019) Continue reading “Transcending: Trans Buddhist Voices” »

Upstate sangha traveled to Albany on Monday, January 28, to join forces in urging New York state legislators to fully fund the CLCPA (Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act) so it can fulfill its far reaching mandate to bring NYS’s carbon production and usage down to zero. Ten sangha members joined with hundreds from all over the state organized by NY Renews to visit with legislators and to rally at the legislative hearing on funding the CLCPA. Continue reading “Earth Initiative Winter Update” »

Catching up with rites of passage happening during fall ango's 90 days of practice: Jukai for six students, novice ordination, and the Shuso Hossen for senior student Yosha Scott-Childress. Continue reading “ZMM Roundup—Fall Ango 2019” »

The Buddhist Art of Iwasaki Tsuneo By Paula Arai Reviewed by Chikan Bacon Continue reading “Painting Enlightenment—Healing Visions of the Heart Sutra” »

By Birgitte J. Haug As fall ango came to an end, Monastery residents gathered to share their three-months of art practice. Led by Hojin Sensei, herself an artist, I felt that her deep interest in the work was contagious. Creative expression in art practice, one of the “eight gates” of Zen training, enriches our practice with something vital and uniquely alive.  hello, puddle... Continue reading “Illuminated Journals” »

by Sabine Russ The mountain offered itself in full autumn splendor on Daido Roshi’s tenth memorial day: flaming colors, sharp lines, the most pristine of skies. Such effortless radiance of nature and the light, creating extra rich contrasts—ironically (given the person we were commemorating) a photographer’s field day.  Continue reading “Sangha marks 10th anniversary of Daido Roshi’s passing” »

Sangha members joined with over six million people in a Global Climate Strike on September 20, 2019, attending rallies upstate and in NYC and other locations. Led by young people and their supporters inspired by Greta Thunberg’s leadership, the strike was an urgent call to wake up and address the causes of our climate crisis and to ask that governments take the lead. Continue reading “Earth Initiative at the Global Climate Strike” »