Annual Remembrance Ceremony 2025

 

This year the Annual Remembrance Ceremony took place Sunday evening, October 5th.  The beautiful evening ceremony was surrounded by candles and took place both in front of the Temple and in the cemetery. 

The Annual Remembrance Ceremony is a time to honor deceased loved ones, our spiritual lineage and those who are interred in the Shao Shan Temple Cemetery.

This ceremony also includes elements of the Japanese Obon Ceremony - a time to honor the ancestors and to invite them to be with us for a celebration.

A new cemetery gate was completed just in time for the Remembrance Ceremony.

Garden Work Day/Closing /Harvest Potluck 2025

 

 

On a October 4th, we gathered to for a garden work day, season-closing ceremony and a harvest potluck.  We filled buckets with the harvest of carrots,and beets and more.  Work time was followed by a Garden-Closing Ceremony - expressing gratitude for all that had made the garden possible and apologies to all beings harmed in the gardening process. This was followed by a delicious Harvest Potluck.

25th Anniversary Ceremony/Celebration

 

On Sunday, September 14, 2025, we celebrated Shao Shan Temple's 25th Anniversary.  This momentous occasion combined ceremony and celebration with the full afternoon program having several phases: 

Meditation - the Temple was open for sitting meditation, 

Honoring the Temple Founder, Taihaku Nishiren Daiosho - we chanted the Heart Sutra and the Dharma Lineage and offered incense

Honoring the first Sangha Elder - Honoring Kinsho Max Schlueter as Shao Shan Temple's first Sangha Elder.

Dedicating the new Bell Pavilion - the construction of the new bell pavilion was completed just a few days before the ceremony.  The bell sent to Shao Shan from Ryuunji Temple in Japan is housed in a stunning small pavilion that matches the unique Shao Shan Temple style.

Vows/Intentions - a primary part of our annual Anniversary Ceremony, we then tied ribbons onto the Temple gold pole with our highest aspiration.

Taiko drumming - we were honored to have the Burlington Taiko Drummers perform.  They were also part of the original Temple Opening Ceremony! (9/13/2000)

And closing with refreshments & social time & fiddle playing!

Nature Spirits Pilgrimage 2025

On a perfect-weather late-summer day, we gathered at Shao Shan Temple to acknowledge and pay respect to the greater nature that supports our practice.  This included a modified version of a ceremony done in Japan for blessings in gratitude to the protecting Spirits of the Land.

 Beginning with fog covered hills and dewy spider webs, and continuing into bright sun all of nature joined in our ceremony.  We offered flowers, incense and chanting at multiple sites on the Temple land acknowledging the myriad ways - known and unknown that they support our practice.  We sat in outside meditation on top of White Jewel Mountain and in front of the Temple.

The program was followed by a light lunch including vegetables fresh from the Temple Leafye Garden.

Maintenance Weekend 2025

 This year's Maintenance Weekend was August 14-17, 2025.  This year was primarily minor upkeep rather than major projects.  Work included: weeding, harvesting vegetables, processing vegetables for storage, sewing, machine maintenence, setting up the Mountain Retreat tent, installing a cemetery steps railing.

Deep gratitude to everyone who joined together as the life and breath of Shao Shan Temple!

Zen Summer Camp For All Ages! 2025

 

We had another successful Zen Summer Camp for All Ages in August of 2025. We began each day with a gathering of children and adults in the zendo, where the children set up the altar and we all listened to the sound of the big bell and sang our morning song. From there the children's program departed for their morning activity, while the adults meditated, had discussions about living mindfully, and participated in their own activities. We all then joined together again for lunch, a food offering walk, and a closing circle and song by the fire pit.  We were honored to be joined again by Rev. Jisho Siebert and Rev. Daishin McCabe and family from Zen Fields in Ames, Iowa.

Each day the children's program would first gather and share our names and something we had been noticing about the natural world. We reviewed our primary intentions in Zen Summer Camp, which were to pay attention, take care, and have fun! On the first day the children trekked over to the Leafye Garden, where we made sun prints using materials collected from the garden and beyond, harvested vegetables to snack on and share for lunch, and helped the adults with weeding and garden care. Periodically someone would ring a bell in the garden, everyone would pause and pay attention to our experiences of the present moment for a few breaths, and then resume our activities. 

On the second day Susan Stitely shared a demonstration of kyudo, the art form of Japanese archery, with both the children and adults. Susan explained some of the history of kyudo, the various types of bows, arrows and equipment involved, and showed us a short-range shooting technique. The children were then able to spend time with Susan Calza, who painted their faces with designs inspired by nature and their personal interests. We explored various forms of nature art, including nature sculptures inspired by several Andy Goldsworthy books, as well as nature mandalas.

For the final day the children hiked up to the tent platform on top of White Jewel Mountain, gathering wild edibles and noticing other interesting aspects of the natural world, including various critters, stone walls, mushrooms, plants and trees. We spent some time in the cemetery, where we walked around the stupa and visited Taihaku's resting place. At the tent platform we ate snacks and made "tree tea" with the hemlock, balsam fir, white pine and yellow birch we had gathered, along with a dash of maple syrup!  The adults had the opportunity to practice Zen Calligraphy with instruction from Rev. Daishin.

Thank you to everyone who supported and participated in Zen Summer Camp this year!

Summer Mini-Practice-Period 2025

This year, June 10-20, 2025 was an 11 day Summer mini-practice period with the opportunity to join a monastic-like schedule for all or part of the time.  

The first seven days included morning and evening meditation, formal meals, chanting services three times a day, blocks of work practice, times to connect with one another and periods of noble silence.  Participants engaged in many varieties of work practice including: sewing, cooking, machine maintenance, weeding, garden harvest processing and making new benches.

The theme text for this Summer's Mini-Practice Preiod was the "Eihei Koso Hotsuganmon".

The final four days was a meditation retreat (sesshin) and closed with an informal lunch.

Rev. Shinshu Roberts joins online study group

 This week was the conclusion of our study group on Being-Time: A Practitioner's Guide to Dogen's Shobogenzo Uji.  For the final class, we were honored to have the author, Rev. Shinshu Roberts of Ocean Gate Zen Center in Santa Cruz join us online to answer questions.  Thank you to Rev. Shinshu and to all who participated in this study group embracing this important and challenging topic - time.

“Experiencing our interconnection and interpenetrating relationship with all beings is the genesis of our happiness. Even the most mundane task becomes meaningful and fulfilling when we feel a universal connection with the totality of being.”
― Shinshu Roberts, Being-Time: A Practitioner's Guide to Dogen's Shobogenzo Uji

Strawberries & Difficulties - June Family Program

For June's Children's Program, we gathered virtually and celebrated the sweetness of early summer! We began by introducing ourselves and sharing something we've been noticing about the natural world, including the purple irises, deep pink peonies, variable temperatures, and the arrival of the wild strawberries at Shao Shan Temple! 

We then read and acted out the Zen story, "A Man, Two Tigers, and a Strawberry," as told in the book Kindness by Sarah Conover. In the story a monk is gathering firewood in the forest, when all of a sudden he comes face to face with a ferocious tiger. The man flees the tiger as fast as he can, dodging obstacles along the way, until he comes to a cliff. He lowers himself onto a vine overhanging the cliff, and then realizes that there is another tiger at the base of the cliff, as well as a squirrel eating away at the vine that is supporting him. As the monk contemplates his predicament, he notices a small strawberry growing out of the side of the cliff, plucks it, and eats it with great gusto and appreciation. 

We discussed how when there are difficult things that happen to us (though hopefully not that difficult!), and it can sometimes be helpful to also notice the things in the present moment that we appreciate or are going well, not as a way to ignore the difficult things, but rather to put them in a broader perspective. We then practiced mindful eating meditation and closed with a ringing of the temple bell and a group OM.

Tiny Shao Shan Wild Strawberries

Taihaku Roshi - 4 Year Memorial

 

May 24th, 2025 marked the 4th year since Taihaku Roshi's sudden passing.  We had a special ceremony honored Shao Shan Temple's beloved founding abbot on this day directly after the Saturday morning program.  We offered incense and chanting in the small room at the Taihaku Altar and then processed up to the cemetery chanting the ancestor lineage with each step.  After offering incense at Taihaku Roshi's memorial stone we processed in silence back to the Temple and joined in a time of refreshments.  The tender time of rememberance and connection was joined by all of nature with the calls of ravens and the fragrance of flowering trees.