June 1/2 day Zazenkai

Within moist soft air laden with the scent of lilacs, practioners gathered on Sunday, June 18th at Shao Shan Temple for a full morning of intensive practice.

The Zazenkai program included opening and closing ceremonies, zazen (sitting meditation), kinhin (walking meditation), and dokusan(individual meetings) and a Dharma reading/talk. 

The theme for this weekend (both Saturday's and Sunday's Dharma Talk) was Hakuin Zenji's "Song of Zazen".

All beings by nature are Buddha,

As ice by nature is water.

Apart from water there is no ice;

Apart from beings, no Buddha.

...

...

This very place is the Lotus Land,

This very body, the Buddha

- Zen Master Hakuin

June Introduction Program

Friday evening, June 16th, was an in-person "Introduction to Shao Shan Temple" program.  This program offers an overview of the Temple, history, programs offered, an introduction to meditation, the opportunity to ask questions.  Usually it also includes a tour of the grounds, but due to pouring rain, this month, we pointed out the various structures through the windows!  Lizabeth joined as sangha (Temple community) representative and 8 new people participated.

Beavers and Boats - June Family Program

For this month’s Family Program, the children learned about the qualities of patience and persistence while exploring the area around Connie’s Pond, where some very busy beavers have been building a lodge and enormous dam. 

We learned about the interplay between the beavers and the road crew, in which the beavers keep trying to dam up the culverts under the road, while the road crew keeps on taking out the dams, and the beavers build them right back up. 

We discussed how we all have setbacks in our lives, and we always have the opportunity to take a breath and try again. 

The children then experimented with building boats out of natural materials. Some of the attempts sunk, while others could hold small rocks above the
water! 

We offered a bit of our snack to the fish in the pond, standing quietly while they nibbled away, before returning to the Temple grounds for our own snack. 

We ended with some Temple time in the zendo, where we listened to the bell, the ravens, and our own minds and hearts.