Garden Opening Ceremony & Work Day 2023

Thank you to everyone who joined in the opening of the Temple garden on Saturday, April 22nd!  

There was a "Garden Opening Ceremony" to begin the garden growing season.  The ceremony included walking in procession around the garden chanting the "Disaster Preventing Dharani", ceremonially planting the first seeds, and chanting our "Garden Chant". We also read a Thich Nhat Hanh quote about being aware of what kinds of thoughts we "water" within ourselves - whether wholesome or unwholesome.

This was a big garden work day and many hands made light work!  The garden fence was repaired, peas and spinach planted, the garden tilled and beds shaped and the garden orchard trees were tended and many other getting the garden ready tasks!

Food from the Temple vegetable garden nourishes Temple programs, the sangha, Kenzan and local community food shelves.  May our garden work also be a time of practice.

The Shao Shan Garden chant:

May we grow healthy, fresh food for our Temple, our families, and our communities. 

May we offer our wholehearted attention to the plants, the land, the tools and each other.

Like Taihaku, may we enter the garden gates with wonder, enthusiasm, and gratitude.

Like Taihaku, may we cultivate here a deep caring that extends to all of the miraculous creation.

April 1/2 day Zazenkai

On a gloriously sunny day, dedicated practitioners braved muddy roads to support one another in a full morning of intensive practice.

The Zazenkai program included opening and closing ceremonies, zazen (sitting meditation), kinhin (walking meditation) and a Dharma reading (part of Keizan Zenji's "Zazen Yojinki"). 

Mindful Puppy - Children's Program

 For April's Children's Program, we opted to hold the program online due to the mud season roads. We began by sharing our names and signs of spring, including warmer days, intense winds, the return of the robins, orange and purple flowers popping up, and melting snow. We then read and acted out the book Being a Dog: A Tail of Mindfulness by Maria Gianferrari and Pete Oswald. In the book we learned how to practice being present like a dog, using all of our senses to take in the world around us, yowling when sad and yipping when happy, and playing exuberantly whether rain or shine. We then practiced training our attention like a little puppy, allowing it to play and wander in the present, and pulling it back gently to our breathing when it wandered too far away. We closed by listening to the big Temple bell and sharing a group 

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Winter Practice Period 2023

From March 1st - 21st, 2023, Shao Shan Temple

was immersed in a Winter Practice Period. 

The Practice Period was designed to provide an opportunity for sangha members to make a individual commitment to intensive practice during these three weeks. There were opportunities for extended sitting,  experiencing the new chant, additional in-person & online practice times, a full weekend sesshin and Dharma talks by visiting teachers.

The theme for the Practice Period was the “Affirming Faith in Mind” (HsinHsinMing), an early Chinese poem which is a core Zen text in both the Soto and Rinzai traditions. The Dharma Talks all focused on this text and it was chanted in several programs each week. 

Sangha members expressed that this intensive time was rejuvenating for their practice. 

Rev.Shinshu from Ocean Gate Zen Center (Online Dharma Talk - 3/7/23)

Rev. Jisho Siebert of Zen Fields (Online Dharma Talk - 3/14/23)

Rev. Gendo Field of Upper Valley Zen Center (In-person Dharma Talk - 3/18/23)

The Winter Practice Period ended with a Spring Equinox Ceremony on March 21st

Celebrating Snow - March family program

For March's Family Program, the children celebrated the snow and the animals that live over and under it. We began by sharing our names and some things we'd been noticing in nature, such as the lengthening of the days, chickadees changing from winter to spring songs, melting snow, bumpy roads, and leaves still hanging on the beech trees. We then explored various animals and their movements in the snow. We used magnifying glasses to identify some tracks on top of the snow (fox perhaps?), slid on our bellies like otters, and dug tunnels and burrows in the snow banks. We then entered our burrows and sat quietly, listening as the beech leaves rustled and the woodpeckers pecked. We read the book Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner during snack, before joining the adults in the Temple for a breath meditation and closing.