February Introduction to Shao Shan Temple

Sunday morning, February 27th, was an online "Introduction to Shao Shan Temple" program.  This program offers an overview of the Temple, history, programs offered, an introduction to meditation and the opportunity to ask questions.  Heather-GenKyoku joined as sangha (Temple community) representative and 8 new people participated.

The next Introduction to Shao Shan program is scheduled for Saturday, April 30th at 10am.

Annual Meeting Summary (newsletter article)

Summary of the 2022 Shao Shan Temple Annual Meeting

On Saturday, February 5, the Shao Shan Temple sangha gathered online at 10:00 am to attend the 2022 Annual Meeting. Present were Board members Rev. Kenzan, Stella, Noah, and Max. Twenty other sangha members were also present. 

Kenzan began the meeting by thanking people for their continued support and participation at the temple, despite a difficult year. He also expressed his gratitude to the Board and the Shao Shan Temple Soto Zen Council for their assistance. He then presented highlights from the Sangha Report, Program Report, Buildings & Grounds Report, Cemetery Report, Financial Report, and Organizational Report, all of which were distributed by email prior to the meeting.  Questions and comments from the sangha were then discussed.

 

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE TEMPLE REPORTS

• Special services including a Memorial Service and an Abbot's Funeral were held to honor Rev. Taihaku's passing.
• Rev. Kenzan was appointed by the Board as Abbot on December 1, 2021.
• 36 practitioners at the temple have either received the first five precepts or are formal students. 
• 343 people currently receive the newsletter.
• Most of the temple's usual ceremonies and celebrations were held in 2021, despite the need to sometimes offer them in modified online formats.
• Monthly Children's Programs and Zazenkais were offered along with the annual Rohatsu Sesshin in December.  An Introduction Program is now being offered approximately once every two months.
• Volunteers stepped up to regularly tend to temple cleaning and management of the gardens, including the vegetable garden which yielded produce for the temple, sangha members, and local food shelf programs.
• The Stupa Pole (Toba), which had fallen, was moved and installed on a sturdier base.  The roof on the outhouse was replaced.  
• In the Shao Shan Temple Cemetery, new wire hoops were installed to outline the center ceremonial circle, and the wooden benches were replaced.
• 100% of temple expenses were paid for in 2021 due to the generous contributions of the sangha and friends of Shao Shan Temple.  There was no Alms Round this year.  Please refer to the Financial Update feature below for more detailed information on 2021 financial donations and expenditures.

 

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2022

·         Rev. Kenzan announced that the 2022 Schedule had been published on the website.

·      The Board is developing plans to build a Bell Pavilion on the grounds of the temple in honor of Rev. Taihaku.  Rev. Shinjo’s temple in Japan will be donating the bell.

·         The stucco on the sides of the temple is cracking and will need to be repaired with the help of the sangha.

·    Noah spoke about the Garden Committee and its plans for 2022.  Noah and Ann will continue to coordinate garden activities for 2022.

·         Rev. Kenzan thanked everyone who helped with the temple gardens, cleaned the zendo and temple buildings (including the outhouses), and helped with various construction and maintenance projects.  As we approach the spring, he said that it would be helpful for people who were able to volunteer on a regular basis to sign up for work. 

·         Rev. Kenzan reported that he was looking for another member for the Cemetery Committee.

·         The twice-weekly emails from the temple are the best way to learn about the upcoming programs and status of COVID restrictions at the temple.

 

               

HIGHLIGHTS OF QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION

 

·         There was general consensus that sangha members very much appreciated the photos that Rev. Kenzan included with the twice-weekly emails.

·         It was suggested that Rev. Kenzan might need someone to help with coordinating jobs at the temple.  Rev. Kenzan advised that the online sign-up lists were working well and would continue for 2022.

·         It was suggested that there be a list for “on-call” people who are willing to help on short notice.  This option will be included in the online sign-up lists.

·         Sangha members wondered if there would be any visiting priests coming to the temple to assist Rev. Kenzan.  Rev. Kenzan advised that there were no plans to recruit assistants at this time.  He spoke of Rev. Taihaku’s model that the right person will appear when the time is right. 

·         It was discussed that there will be impacts on the temple after Rev. Taihaku’s estate is settled.  The Board is continuing to work on these details. 

·         There was a discussion about how programs would continue in the event that Rev. Kenzan needed to be away.  It was reported that volunteers are in place to fill the roles necessary to proceed with most programs in Rev. Kenzan’s absence.

 

Stella thanked everyone for their participation and ended the meeting at 10:52 am.

2022 New Year's Blessing (newsletter Dharma Talk)

 

Dharma Talk : The New Year’s Blessing

By

Rev. Kenzan Seidenberg

Every year Shao Shan Temple, in the tradition of Buddhist Monasteries, creates and sends New Year’s Greetings.  And each year, Shao Shan Temple selects a different message for the upcoming year.  This year the message is NURTURING GROUND.

The first character, 養 , means “to nurture,” or foster, or support.

The second character, 地 , means “ground,” or earth.

The New Year’s message can always be understood in multiple ways.  Often people keep the greeting displayed in their home and they find that the meaning of the message or the way in which it manifests in their life changes over the course of the year.

The inspiration for this year’s message was gratitude for the nurturing ground of practice that Rev. Taihaku established here at Shao Shan: the temple building, Shao Shan traditions, her care, and her teachings.  The lower part of the “nurture” character means “eat” or “food.” Certainly Rev. Taihaku fed the Shao Shan community in so many ways, both with food from the garden and with Dharma teachings.  She supported and fed both temple practitioners’ bodies and minds/spirits, while encouraging us not to split the two apart,   her immense caring forming and creating this place of practice. 

Here at Shao Shan Temple, also the physical ground/land of Shao Shan nurtures our practice.  The temple extends beyond the boundary of the physical building, encompassing the fields and hills, the brooks and wetlands, the running, crawling, flying, and swimming critters.  The raven that joins in with “JI HO SAN SHI” or the deer that stands at the meadow edge waiting for the morning bell or the otters that come running up to greet the food offering procession.  When Dochosan (Rev. Taihaku’s teacher) came to Shao Shan for her Mountain Seat Ceremony in 2013, he exclaimed with surprise, “It’s all laughing here!  The trees and the grass, they’re all laughing!”

So many people, things, and experiences contribute to form the ground of our practice.  Great teacher Thich Nhat Hahn passed away recently; he was a deep influence of peace and mindfulness for many throughout the world and many in our sangha.  As we recognize and acknowledge with gratitude all that has contributed to form the ground/basis for our practice, we turn also in the other direction, asking how can we nurture, take care, and acknowledge the ground and land of Shao Shan Temple?  This past summer many community members stepped forward to help with the temple grounds maintenance and with the vegetable garden, mindfully weeding the moss gardens, or picking up sticks in the woods.  Every year we have a “Nature Pilgrimage” chanting and walking to the different places on the land to acknowledge the way in which the land supports our practice, asking how can we nurture the ground of the planet - of the entire earth?

Also asking how can we nurture and take care of the ground, the basis of our practice?  Perhaps first with recognizing how our practice is a ground, is fundamental, giving us a solid basis from which to engage our experience.  There is the oft cited metaphor of “walking on the bottom of the ocean while swimming on the surface.”  We can have a grounded centered core, even as we experience and swim in all the waves of activity in our lives.  Lately, I have often been recommending to people to put their attention on the soles of their feet at various times throughout the day, shifting attention from our head and thoughts down to our feet touching the earth.  Simply feet on the earth.  

While preparing to speak of this year’s New Year’s Greeting message, I came across a previous New Year’s Greeting and found that, unbeknownst to me at the time, the 2022’s message is actually part of a series of Shao Shan Temple New Year’s Greetings:

2013 – Promise Blossoming

2014 – Season to Ripen

2017 – Buddha Seed

2022 – Nurturing Ground

The full life cycle.  We may think of the ground being the end of the cycle, but of course it is also the beginning.  In the early spring, Taihaku would be out in the vegetable garden when the snow had just barely melted or maybe not even completely melted.  She’d rototill in the compost and all the beds would be the deep rich earth and she’d be so excited.  She would point to the empty garden beds and exclaim enthusiastically, “Look at the beautiful garden!”

May our practice also form the nurturing ground for future generations.

 

 

( For photos of the New Year’s Greeting creation process, see http://shaoshantemple.blogspot.com/2021/12/2022-new-years-greeting-cards.html  )

If you did not receive a New Year’s Greeting and would like one, please speak with us next time you are at the Temple!

Heart of the Way - RaiMon (newsletter article)

 HEART OF THE WAY

by Dick RaiMon Hurewitz-Herbert

I did not grow up in a family that practiced any religion or spirituality.  My life was crisis-to-crisis in an alcoholic family.  At age 35, I became sober, and now was the oddball in my family system.  Sobriety brought me the first “this is right” feeling of my life.  I dove into sobriety by being an alcohol counselor and attending Alcoholic Anonymous (AA).

AA was a challenge for me. I didn’t seem to quite fit in. Then I heard one man’s story, and I was sure I wanted this man to be my AA Sponsor (mentor).  Later I saw this man yelling and screaming at his wife and children. It jolted me.  But it was “I don’t want to be like that”.  I wanted 24/7 sobriety, not just looking good in meetings. A few years later, I noticed that some of my friends left me with warm and fuzzy feelings and others left me with heartburn. I examined what made some friends warm and fuzzy.  I found that all had a spiritual practice (meditation, 12 Step, martial arts, friendly religion, etc.).  None were working at the highest possible paying job.  And all were doing volunteer work. I signed up as a Hospice volunteer.

I went through the Hospice training and got my first client.  He was a huge angry man with a brain tumor, and I felt unsafe being with him.  When I asked to stop seeing him, I met the Hospice chaplain, who was a Shambala Buddhist.  In one meeting with her, I felt as if there were no walls between us.  It was profound. I know now that it was two Buddha Natures meeting. Then, I just knew I wanted to have what she had.  I joined Shambhala and had lunch with her any time she was available.  What I didn’t say was that I thought this had to be “true love”, and that she must be the one to have my children.  At that time, I had no ability to comprehend two Buddha Natures meeting other than to force it into my skewed “true love” definition.  Over time, she and I became very good friends and still are today. I was with Shambala for a few years, but again found that I did not fit in.  I left Shambhala and started going to the Milarepa Center which practiced Gelugpa Tibetan Buddhism.  I especially connected with the Venerable Robina Courtin, a crusty down to earth visiting teacher.  During this time, two different friends introduced me to Shao Shan.  For a while, I attended both the Milarepa Center and Shao Shan.

Shao Shan felt different from the beginning.  I felt that Taihaku had my back, but I was still leery of not fitting in again.  I did a lot of sitting at Shao Shan.  At one point, a young priest arrived at Shao Shan who had no training.  Taihaku took her under her wing.  Then Taihaku sent her to another temple for more training.  I realized I now had a teacher who did not profess to know everything! 

That realization, combined with seeing how many women priests and abbots were in Soto Zen, made me aware that the traditional patriarchal Buddhism was being transformed in Soto Zen, and especially here at Shao Shan. There was room for change, and that included Shao Shan accepting the imperfect me.  For the first time in my life, it felt as if I did not have to park what was important to me at the door of Shao Shan before entering. 

About four years before Taihaku became the Shao Shan Abbott, I rented a cabin near the Shao Shan garden.  I had just ended a relationship and sensed that I should not hang around men who had ended similar relationships and were complaining about the women who had wronged them. The cabin allowed me to attend both classes and almost all sittings. And I was witnessing a sangha that had people working out issues in relationships. About six months after Taihaku became Abbott, Hollie and I were married at Shao Shan.  A year later I adopted Hollie’s son, Daniel. Soon Hollie became Taihaku’s student.  I have certainly been blessed by knowing Shao Shan, and I do fit in.

February Zazenkai (one day meditation retreat)

Sunday, February 20th, was another well-attended online 1/2 day meditation retreat (Zazenkai).  This month, we were honored to have Rev. Jisho Siebert joining us and giving the Dharma Talk.  Rev. Jisho is a priest at Zen Fields in Ames, Iowa and one of Shao Shan Temple's "Soto Zen Council".  She gave a Dharma Talk on the topic: "Letting Go of Control".

We joined together online supporting one another in a morning of intensive practice. The day's program included opening & closing ceremonies, zazen(sitting meditation), kinhin(walking meditation). In addition to the Dharma Talk, this month's program also included a chance to ask questions at the end.

Birds and kindness - Children's program

 

For February's Children's Program, we celebrated birds, awareness, and the transition towards spring. We first shared our names and something that had caught our attention in nature, or simply something we wanted to show the group. We were introduced to baby dolls and stuffies, hatching insects and flower sprouts, and also recalled the songs of the chickadees, dripping icicles, snow noisily sliding off of roofs, and the gradual return of the light and warmth. 

We then read and acted out the book How to Find a Bird, written by Jennifer Ward and illustrated by Diana Sudyka. In the book we learned how to experience birds by expanding our awareness, sitting quietly, blending in, and listening intently. 

Next, we demonstrated how to make pine cone (or toilet paper roll) bird feeders with peanut butter and birdseed, as an act of lovingkindness to the winged ones (and probably also the climbing ones). 

We practiced our eagle eyes (pointed vision) and owl eyes (wide-angled vision), and then did a bird-call meditation, exploring how different bird calls might resonate differently in our bodies. We ended by listening to the Temple bell and then sounding a group OM.

Annual Meeting 2022

Shao Shan Temple's Annual Meeting took place on Sunday, February 5th.  This year it was again in the form of a zoom meeting.  While most of our programs are focused on matters of spiritual practice; this program is different in that it focuses on the administrative and functional aspects of Shao Shan Temple - the ground of how the Temple functions and moves forward.   

The Annual Meeting participants had the opportunity to review the Temple Reports (Sangha Report, Program Report, Cemetery Report and the Financial Report) and ask questions or offer feedback.  A summary of the Annual Meeting will be part of the next newsletter.