Mountains and Waters Alliance – summer events, briefly

Dear Friends,

I’m still in retreat, but want to let you know a bit about the summer schedule. Most of the events don’t have full contact information yet.

2026 schedule:

• May 1 – I encourage you to participate in the strike, rally, protests, whatever is happening locally, to express community and resilience against fascism.
• May 1-2: I will be at a weekend with Sam Thayer (in northern Wisconsin) learning how to tend and restore a natural forest.
• Various: I’ll be doing garden prep throughout the spring. Help is welcome, just contact me.
• June 12-14: Land care weekend. You’re invited to come for all or any part of this weekend. I have commitments from two people with experience, so learning opportunities are strong. Focus is probably putting in the garden and land restoration. Please register if interested, or inquire. No charge, food provided, camping and/or housing offered if you would like to stay overnight. Families welcome.
• July 4-10: Visit Cleveland, OH, family time.
• July 10-11: talk and workshop at Crooked River Zen, Cleveland, OH.
• July 12: Sunday morning Dharma talk at Ancient Dragon Zen Gate, Chicago.
• July 19: Sunday morning talk at Minnesota Zen Center, Minneapolis.
• August 8: Land workday with Clean River Partners. No charge, lunch provided, registration requested. Most likely activities: making biochar plus clearing invasives, getting land ready for plantings next spring.
• More events of meditation and on land: work events, Earth Apprentice retreats, and meditation retreats. To be scheduled. More talks, to be scheduled.
• December 1-8: Rohatsu sesshin: sitting quietly in relationship with the whole world. If you don’t have meditation experience, please talk with me first.

Remember we are created by the whole universe. The stars, the grasses, the mosquitoes, even the crazy warring humans are part of the whole. It can help to keep breathing, put your feet on the ground or your hands in the earth, feel their support, and send loving-kindness everywhere.

Love,
Shodo
For Mountains and Waters Alliance

Quick request today

The President of the United States has the power to start a nuclear war. He can activate the codes with his voice alone.
He has threatened to start a war at 8 pm Eastern Time tonight, Tuesday April 7.
The latest news is still unclear: bombs, postponement, or other

The future is unknown. Now is the time to act.

PLEASE JOIN ME IN ASKING FOR HELP FROM EVERY SACRED BEING YOU KNOW. I’ll be asking the rivers, trees, bluffs, mountains, soils, eagles, grasses, all the sentient beings of my local home, plus probably some more. You may ask any divine being you know, or invent – that’s the power of your own mind. All religions are welcome here. We need everyone.

If we are successful, they will say “Trump always chickens out” or “It was never going to happen.” But there are people in leadership who are looking for a holy war, eager to create Armageddon, and they may be crazy enough to do it.

The future is unknown, we still have agency, let us act in whatever way we can.

With love,
Shodo

Mountains and Waters Alliance – personal note March 2 2026

Dear Friends,

Last fall I traveled to support the book Open Reality, then took some quiet time. I sent a few notes about that. After talking about the practice of asking the other-than-human beings to help us, I’m ready for a deep plunge into the practice myself. Don’t expect

For about three months, I’ll be living quietly here at the farm, sitting zazen for several hours per day, listening to the trees, bluffs, grasses, small animals and bugs, and this:

My response to the U.S. wars of aggression will be what I keep saying: I’ll ask for help from the beings that are beyond us, that we have ignored, whose powers are beyond our understanding. The crisis is clear; life on earth is at stake, along with thousands of human lives and our lived experience. If I believe this is the most powerful thing to do, it’s time to do it wholeheartedly.

If you feel so called, please join me in asking for help, for protection of humans, of all the beings of the earth and beyond. Practice where you are. You can sit quietly, and you can ask for help from the sky, stars, rain, and plants and animals right where you are. Or chant, sing, dance, send energy, pray – I have no prescriptions except that this is about asking for help from our relatives, from our other-selves.

In the tradition of forest hermits, I would welcome you to join me. I haven’t figured out how to do that without phone and internet. I can’t tell you where I’ll be at any moment: in the zendo, in the woods, in the garden, or on the rare errand? So if you know me, if you’re nearby, here’s what I can say: Just come to the land and practice here, whether or not you see me. (You could put a note on the front door if you come, if you like.) If you like, send an email; I’ll probably read them about once a week.

I recommend these two talks.

Introduction to sitting meditation: https://mountainsandwatersalliance.org/audio-dharma/ – at the bottom of “introductory talks.”

This talk tells a story about asking for help from all those beings. It might be my best talk on the subject. 40 minutes plus Q&A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej0Tdu0YymA

I’ll see you later. In June I expect to send out a calendar. There will be meditation retreats, land care, and other kinds of practice, as well as visits.

Love to all.

Shodo

The Buddhist Peace Monks walk

Today I share with you a film of the monks who walked to Washington, D.C. for peace. I’ve been following them, wishing I were there. Looking at the people tells us something about their impact. But really, they just walked in peace.

Mountains and Waters Alliance: Year-end review 2025

I have never seen such a year. May this be the beginning of the Great Turning.

2025 Report

Summary: found a publisher, got the book ready to publish, planned a book tour in east and Midwest (Minnesota to New England to Georgia and back home), gave lots of talks, had an amazing time visiting a few dozen Zen centers, being treated like an honored guest again and again. Came home in December and took a long rest.

Winter/spring focus was on the book: settling on Sea Crow Press as the publisher – then final editing, title, and getting the book to print by its official publication date, September 2. Through the summer I planned the book tour, made commitments for speaking and travel, began giving online talks, and more planning.

I’ve had a Wednesday night online class for years now. While I was away, Ananda Christopher Modec-Halverson, a class member and a priest in training with Rev. Tim Burkett, led the class and managed things, with my great thanks.

Traveling

People ask me where I went, so here’s the list:

In September I spent a weekend giving talks in Duluth (MN), more online talks, Minneapolis, Rochester Women’s Spirituality Conference – and packing. Then Madison, Wisconsin. Milwaukee. Chicago. Cleveland. Rochester, New York. Vermont – staying with a dear friend, plus a whole bunch of Zen places, plus Mercy Ecospirituality Center, plus two bookstore talks. Three days at Zen Center North Shore in Massachusetts, including talks, zazen together, potlucks, and Earth Apprentice workshops in a garden and in the woods. New York City. Philadelphia (a Quaker group), Reading, [insert a week retreat on Assateague Island, more on that later]. Staying at Dassanaya, speaking at All Beings Sangha (D.C. area), then Chapel Hill Zen Center, Great Tree in Asheville (just a visit), and Atlanta for a week of rest with family plus a bookstore and a workshop. Bloomington Indiana, old friends. Michigan, old friends and a bookstore and snowed in for a day. Chicago (new friends and mad talking), home, collapse.

Everywhere, I was warmly received, well treated, hosted generously, met with fascinating people old and new, and given gifts. I still have to look through my notes and write to all my hosts and helpers.

The retreat

It was a time out of ordinary life, hard to describe, and important in a way I can’t name yet. I had a free week and I spent it camping on Assateague Island, with its long beaches and wild ponies. I was looking for a retreat and meditation time. I had my little tent, double sleeping bag, and a borrowed Coleman stove.

How can I speak of the beauty? I watched the sun rise every morning, watched the moon rise every evening, walked for hours along the beach and on the trails. I watched the wave, the birds, picked up horseshoe crab shells. They made me.

Mornings were cold (snow pants and down jacket) and cool the rest of the day. No bugs, but lots of blowing sand. My cell phone broke on the second day; I decided to live without it. No photos. Just walking, walking, walking. Long nights. Wind and blowing sand. On Wednesday night the sand was blowing into my tent, through the screen. Finally I gave up and moved into the car – which I hadn’t thought possible. It was crowded but I stayed there and was able to sleep.

It was too cold and windy and sandy to sit zazen, which had been the main plan for my six days. There were no shelters, except inside the car. (The shower stalls might have worked, but it didn’t feel right.)  I walked and walked, got tired. Barefoot on the sand, shoes on the paths, and on the longer walks. I didn’t know what time it was. I didn’t choose to try a cold shower. Did a couple of sponge baths. Didn’t care about food, except the most basic.

Nothing mattered: minimal food, water, shelter, warmth. Long nights, long sleep, and getting up into full winter gear. Just once I built a fire. Nights were long, but I did nothing with them except sleep and not-sleep.

I knew I’d talk about this, but it wasn’t clear while I recovered my energy and started to meet with people again. Today, six weeks later, what I think is that I made my offering to the ocean, the sky, the full moon, the birds and wildness, and they did something. I don’t yet know what.  I talk all the time about letting ourselves be witnessed, be created, about offering prayers and offering ourselves to those vast unspeakable beings. But in the moment, I didn’t recognize what was happening. I spent most of December recovering, seeking balance, and resting.

Ending thoughts

Every time I drove, I watched fall colors – not quite two months, they finally ended when I left Atlanta in late November. Coming into Michigan for Thanksgiving, I drove into the first winter storm, and then snow and cold were the world. The photos are from throughout the trip, and the large photo is my little car that went safely 5000 miles. All Beings Zen Sangha is inside the large apartment building.

The gifts, the treasures! I can’t name them all. The sweater that I wore it every day until finally needed to wash it. The best honey ever, the maple syrup, and the warm eyes, the enthusiasm and love, the kindnesses,, the rides, the conversations, so many small treasure.

There are many ways to be a Zen center, or a temple – and all beautiful. I’ve learned something, which can cook inside me during the three-week January intensive at Green Gulch, where I lived for a while 20+ years ago.

Next

Everything is overthrown. The path waits to be re-discovered. I can name these things now.

• While in the Bay area, after the intensive, I’ll make some visits and maybe even give some talks. Contact me if you’d like to see me.
• I’ll spend a little time in New Mexico, mostly to visit an old friend, but while I’m there I can do other things.
• I’ll continue Wednesday night classes, when I come home; they’re meeting without me now.
• I promised an April sewing retreat, and hope people will come to support, to sit zazen, and to sew their own robes or support the sewing. April is a bit cold, so garden work won’t be calling. There will be some other retreats, sesshins, Earth Apprentice Retreats – we’ll see. Definitely Rohatsu sesshin. I’ll post a schedule later, probably in spring.
• There are some more talks and visits related to the book, but no more long-distance trips after I get home from the Bay area and New Mexico. Enough driving for now.
•  I’ll be living alone again – my housemate of the past two years is moving on with friendship, and it didn’t work with the new person (cats!) After getting settled, I still would like to live in community, but after clarifying and settling.
• I’ve received some donations, but probably have to return to paying work – I didn’t have the energy for a serious fundraising effort, and who am I to think people should support me when so many are hungry?

Context

All this takes place in today’s United States, with ICE raids, criminalization of protest, destruction of social services, personal freedoms, and science. Vast sums of money taken from human services and sent to billionaires and dictators around the world. I did join the first local organizing group I could find, and spent the summer as one of the organizers of protests and vigils in Northfield. When I return to local action, it probably will be about the raids, and/or the data centers. I need to be careful with time and energy.

As I’ve been watching the open destruction of the semblance of democracy, simultaneous with genocidal assaults on Palestine, undeclared war on Venezuela and now Nigeria, and a clown being allowed to spend our tax money freely to enrich his friends, free criminals, and abuse immigrants legal or not – I’ve also watched people rise up, particularly protecting immigrants, and finally even a few arrests of ICE thugs. While media giants, universities, and law firms bend the knee. While the Presidency is still held by a man known to be a pedophile and rapist, suspected of trafficking children for exploitation. Suspicions that the disappeared victims of ICE may be trafficked too, though that has not emerged publicly.

When I talk with a friend or relative with brown skin, I check in on whether they’re okay. The last such person had a close call – he was stopped, but the crowd of witnesses filming and blowing whistles scared off the ICE thugs. That is way too close. I read all the stories that come to me. And Palestine and Ukraine – and Venezuela, Nigeria, and who next? – they’re in my heart and my prayers. (Actually I chant for them, in a Buddhist way.) Finally I see a little resistance from state governments, from Congress, more from judges, and pray to avoid the chaos, or decades of fascism. Personally, I do some preparation for collapse, but not enough.

Asking

First and most important, please do chanting, prayers, and ceremony of whatever sort you do: For the peacemakers, for the heroes, for the victims, and for the return to sanity of the thieves and abusers and thugs. (I use this chant, page 3, as part of morning service, but please do whatever you like.)

Second, if you would like me to fully continue this work (which includes Zen practice and engaged practice) money is helpful. There isn’t a detailed budget here, but $30,000 would certainly cover this year and allow me to stay full time. If you know grant-making organizations or people who would like to support this work, please help. Part-time or temporary work gigs might also be helpful.

Third, in spring or summer I expect to be welcoming people to practice here. There are some words about that on the website, so I won’t say much now.

May you be happy. May you be free from suffering. May you know the joy of your own true nature.

Love and deep peace to you in 2026 and always. With the peace of giving what you can as the times ask.

Shodo

For Mountains and Waters Alliance

Your donations make everything possible

Dear Friends of Mountains and Waters Alliance,

I write you at the end of the book tour, satisfied and tired. I visited 11 states, 18 dharma centers, 4 bookstores and 6 other groups and had myriad conversations with supporters and friends. I’m ready to settle down and do more of the writing and outreach from home. And I’m enthusiastic about the people who responded to the intention I offered.

To make the tour possible, I quit my outside job and also waived my stipend for the 5 months of tour and preparation, living on savings and on the generosity of my hosts. That’s not a long-term strategy, but a gamble. The human response was strong, the energy was strong. I don’t think we broke even financially, but that was expected.

The question now is whether I will be able to continue responding to people, making resources available, and doing the training and retreat time to replenish my energy. I’d like to continue doing this full time. If you agree, keep reading.

I’m asking for $41,000 for this year.

Here’s what that’s for:

• $24,000 – new annual stipend, which can allow me to work full time for MWA (including time for Zen study and teaching). (Yes, this is low. I’m happy to explain how I can get by on so little.)
• $5,000 – reimburse the five months I worked without pay, August to December 2025
• $2600 – office, zendo supplies, facilities and miscellaneous – routine and not extravagant.
• $2000 – website and related improvements that really should be done.
• $7000 – retreats, conferences, and travel. (This is making up for years without retreat time. I plan about a month of retreat time, and there will be a little more. I prefer to travel by train; Greyhound is cheaper but hard on the body. I’ve done enough long car driving for the rest of my life.)

Open Reality

The book is a vehicle for offering and teaching, helping me bring my voice to new places and new groups. And, for all the people who have read the book and said “Yes!” I’d like to offer the full energy of this body and life to the work that has been given me. Which is part of the great movement arising in this time, what Joanna Macy called The Great Turning. I see it happening.

In addition to more talks and more connections, it would help to create a study guide to support groups who may want to work with the book, and to offer the book to more publications and online publications. I’d like to upgrade the audio offerings, including both editing and excerpting. All this takes time (or skilled volunteers.)

How

If you want this work to continue, please consider what you would like to give to help it.

We have a no-cost donation platform (U.S. only), on the website, and an ordinary donation platform too. I can arrange donations directly through our fiscal sponsor, if that’s what works for you. If you have an employer who matches donations, I’m happy to work with that. And there’s iGive. All of this is on our donation page.

Love and blessings,

Shodo Spring

Mountains and Waters Alliance: Coming Home

I drove from summer into fall, from Minnesota to New England and beyond, through two months of dazzling fall colors, losing and finding them again as I headed south, or headed down. Sunday I started north and into late fall. Tuesday I drove into a winter storm and arrived safely at friends in Michigan. I’ll be home in a few days – depending on the winter storms.

This poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay traveled with me:

O world, I cannot hold thee close enough!   Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!   Thy mists, that roll and rise!    Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag    And all but cry with colour!   That gaunt crag   To crush!   To lift the lean of that black bluff!   World, World, I cannot get thee close enough!

Long have I known a glory in it all,     But never knew I this;  Here such a passion is    As stretcheth me apart,—Lord, I do fear   Thou’st made the world too beautiful this year;  My soul is all but out of me,— let fall  No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.

I memorized that in high school, 60 years ago, and remembered the whole thing with only two mistakes.

Thanksgiving:

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, also known as the National Day of Mourning, honored by indigenous peoples across the United States.  I’m having difficulty finding words about anything else.Here are just a few words about the public realm. We’re slowly watching public resistance to imperial cruelty, kidnappings, theft from the public, and wars around the world. Sometimes I call Trump “Caligula” after the mad emperor of Rome. His replacements could well be worse. Yet mostly I think we just need to survive to the midterms.

Some encouragement. Judges are doing well, governors and police less well, and the criminal thugs called ICE are doing their best to terrorize people.

AI may be the biggest threat, to the economy and to human community. Here is a long and detailed discussion about AI and why to worry. Again, there’s so much resistance that I’m encouraged.

This was a book trip, meant both for promoting my new book Open Reality and for making connections, with people and with places. I hadn’t imagined that it would be either so satisfying or so exhausting. Now I settle down for a bit, give some local talks, reach out to publications, and edit the recordings for posting. I’ll make a study guide for discussion groups, and share it freely.

If you liked Open Reality, you can support it in any of these ways:

• Ask your library to buy it.
• Ask your local bookstore to stock it.
• Send a review to any publication you subscribe to.
• Very helpful: Suggest it to your local book group, study group, library or church or organization as a book to use. (Ask me for the study guide.) Use it in a college or high school or community education class.
• If you have skills to volunteer with editing, social media, or administration, please contact me.

Money helps.

Shortly I’ll send out next year’s budget and a fundraising request for Giving Tuesday. We accept tax-deductible donations.

There’s a special drive on at iGive, a free fundraising tool that will send us a small percentage of money spent at participating stores. New members who join today through November 30 can get an extra $15 donation for Mountains and Waters Alliance if they make their first purchase within 30 days. https://www.iGive.com/5wQfQw This is pretty easy, if you accept the “button” on whatever device you use for online shopping. (It’s secure, never had a problem.)

I liked this song, somehow feels connected with Thanksgiving: https://www.davidrovics.com/songbook/i-was-a-stranger/

Blessings to you as we move into winter.

Love,

Shodo

 Mountains and Waters Alliance: Travel notes and upcoming events

Dear Friends,

I’m having an amazing time traveling with the book tour. Thought I would share it with you all. At the end are some plans. (I didn’t include last names except public figures, just because this is public.)

The book tour is being amazing.

• I started late September in Rochester, MN, with the Women and Spirituality Conference, led an outdoor ritual with a rather small group, and they loved it. I sold a bunch of books, became friends with the woman who shared a sales table with me, and figured out that sitting all day in a crowded room with fragrances is not a good plan. Next year I will tentatively plan to just do a presentation, and not have sales. And I met lovely humans, and was encouraged by community.
• Madison, WI, Zen center, was a lovely time, I gave a good talk, people bought books, and I have friends there now.
• Milwaukee, WI, party at the home of Zen friend Devin, because Milwaukee Zen Center was busy hosting a big conference the week before. Bunch of people, great conversation, etc. Reirin Gumbel, teacher at Zen Center, came, and invited me to give a talk on Saturday, and I was thinking about changing my plans to do it. But after spending the night there, my incense-free sleeping space was not, and I left to recover, leaving in good relations.
• Chicago, 3 days with Wendy and her husband/partner, in an amazingly tiny apartment, mostly rest and meeting fascinating people. Then a talk at Zen Life & Meditation, where I learned we were very much in accord (Robert Althouse, Bernie Glassman lineage, if anyone recognizes this stuff).
• Cleveland, OH – my sister, and a permaculture new connection, and lunch with someone mentioned in Milwaukee, who tells me he can actually produce an event – for next time.
• Rochester, NY – my niece, and my brother. Just good family connections.
• Vermont: I can’t even keep track. Two bookstore readings; the second was supposed to be a big deal but there were only four of us. The staff person is totally enthusiastic, and my friend Doug from the Compassionate Earth Walk drove me around, treated me to meals, and made my life easier.  Before that: Bread Loaf Mountain Zen – they work with homeless people – a great afternoon conversation, a few books sold, a comfortable place to stay. Barre Zen Center, a talk that included a short video and more good conversation, and gifts. There have been multiple gifts along the way, but the big quartz crystal is like a gift of magic, and a fisherman’s sweater that I’ve wished for since I had one 20 years ago. I’m feeling so well cared for. Brattleboro Zen Center, beautiful hosts, great Zen group, etc.
• I think this is when I stopped being totally fatigued and on the verge of falling asleep driving. Whether it was some internal change, or the result of being away from fragrance and incense for so long, I don’t know. It’s pretty much stayed okay – but today I want a nap pretty seriously. But it’s warm and sunny out with fall colors.
• Massachusetts – Wenham, Zen Center North Shore, my friend Joan Amaral, and three days. Mostly I joined their schedule, but gave a couple of talks, we worked in the garden of my hosts (Jim and Billy), went for a walk in a beautiful wild place and did singing and community things – and collapsed. That was after an hour at the local No Kings rally, where lots of people came up and talked to us, and the energy was loud and enthusiastic. I was treated so much, I felt like royalty.
  • Friday evening after the potluck was designated a book reading. I asked other people to also read parts they liked. A few people did, and I read, and it was magical. Now I want to read the book, at least in sections, and send it to Resilience and maybe some other places.
• Amherst, MA, my old friend Jerry from 45 years ago, we just hung out and we took a beautiful walk.
• Then my old friend Luca’s place for a few days. Beautiful space, dharma conversation, more fall colors.
• Village Zendo in NYC found a place for me to stay, I took a bus in and out of town and learned a tiny bit of subway. I would NOT want to be disabled in NYC, it was hard enough. The sangha was a blessing. Sunday morning talk, will be on their website.
• Now I have a 3-day break in the most beautiful place in the world. Well, maybe not, comparisons fail. But fall colors are flaming and the red bushes have just started.

What’s coming next

(Somehow I put the full schedule in here, even though it’s also on the page referenced)

• On Wednesday Oct 29 in Philadelphia, a talk for a Quaker environmental group, https://mountainsandwatersalliance.org/book-travels-teachings-2025/
• then to Reading where I we’re doing a Halloween ritual, October 31, evening – details still in process.
• My time off at Assateague Island – I finally have campsites confirmed for the entire time, believe I won’t actually freeze – I’ll be there for the full moon and a little beyond. The campground is amazingly full. I’d thought there was no hurry, but other  people have RVs and such, so I have to move a couple of times.
• Washington DC, staying at Dassanaya, another break time for quiet and meditation,  then giving a talk Nov 13 at All Beings Zen Sangha, https://www.allbeingszen.org/frequently-used-chants/all-beings-zen-sangha-2025-fall-practice-period/ (scroll down)
• Nov 15-16: Chapel Hill Zen Center, NC – some informal events plus a talk and booksigning Sunday morning. https://chzc.org/
• Nov 17-23, Atlanta, GA – Friday evening at Charis Books; Saturday morning 9-1 workshop at Red Clay Sangha. Plus two online events (college class and Zen Peacemakers) and relax and rest.
• Maybe Berea KY, maybe not. Definitely Bloomington, IN, old friends from when I lived there.
• 11/26-11/30: Thanksgiving with my permaculture friends Peter and Keith in Montague, MI, and a talk at The Book Nook, 2 pm.Saturday afternoon.
• Home as fast as possible. Probably a couple of visits in Chicago or Rochester MN, trying to get there about Dec 1. Then I have a talk Dec 7 in Rochester, an online talk Dec 14 in Michigan, and we’ll see. Family visits Cleveland late December, hopefully Green Gulch Farm in January, and I don’t know.

I don’t know what comes next. There are possibilities in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the Southwest. I’m not eager to drive across the country again, so I’ll have to sort that out.

The conversations are amazing, and occasionally I find people who completely resonate with what I’m offering.

Notes

Meanwhile the U.S. slides into fascism, more open every day. A few people in government resist, including judges, including lots of state officials. Millions of ordinary Americans resist, creating public theater at protests, protecting immigrant neighbors, now figuring out how to find food as SNAP benefits are cut by the man who has plenty for Argentina, for genocide in Israel, for a ridiculous ballroom – and is a front for a dangerous cabal that is actually intelligent without a shred of morality. As Malcolm X said, “The chickens are coming home to roost.” The U.S. was founded on land theft, genocide, and slavery; we’ve had some times, and some decades, of doing better, but consequences are arising.

May this be the time of chrysalis, as the caterpillar is reborn as a butterfly by going through internal dissolution. And even though I don’t want my family and friends to be destroyed in that process, I can’t accept that it’s being borne by the people who did not create it – immigrant workers, children in Gaza, journalists and those who speak for justice, all of that.

If you have an election next week, please vote. Turnout will decide those results (especially if the votes are counted honestly). There are places to donate if you can – California’s Prop 50  (Please note that it only goes into effect if Texas and other states succeed in their corrupt and open gerrymandering to rig elections for MAGA victory) , David Hogg’s Leaders We Deserve PAC. Whoever you can and will.

And please nourish yourself, stay calm. Do what you can. It’s still a marathon, even though right now it’s also a sprint.

Love, Shodo

A few pictures here.

Mountains and Waters Alliance event notices Oct 15 2025

Mountains and Waters Alliance: updates, and a news rant 9/11/2025

Dear Friends,

Here are some more upcoming events plus a rant (and some sane thoughts) on the recent news.

Rant:

Today is the 24th anniversary of 9-11, the day when some people flew planes into the World Trade Center and a couple of other places, and when hating Muslims became a thing. (A few people preferred to blame it on Jews.)  All my grandchildren have grown up in the world created by that event and the violent, racist response of waging war on countries that didn’t even have anything to do with it.

About a week ago, a lone shooter killed children praying at a Catholic grade school – which the shooter had attended. That became an excuse to blame trans people for acts of violence – while the overwhelming majority of shooters are still straight white men.

A shooter wounded four people at Evergreen High School in Colorado. A shooter killed Charlie Kirk as he was making a speech – the slanders and the stories are going wild, with no basis in fact. Anyone who points out that he was a source of hate, racism, or misogyny is corrected for unkind speech – heard it twice on public radio – while the right wing openly encourages the same hate that Kirk preached.

There’s also the matter of Russia sending drones to Poland, denying it, and Poland calling for help from NATO allies – just to have a meeting, a very small step. Less drama, but this direction could lead to war.

Many more questions. One thing I wonder is how long people will keep thinking that orange man is the source of the problem rather than its symptom. When will we actually take a good look at our culture and ourselves?

Sane Responses

I want to refer to this beautiful essay, “Reflections on the Death of Charlie Kirk,” in which Qasim Rashid considered why have empathy for someone who had none. How to stay human. How to be connected to our values rather than pushed into knee-jerk retaliation.

In Dispatches from a Collapsing State: “Opportunity in Crisis,” Jared Yates Sexton points out some very uncomfortable things. Read at your own risk; it’s a bit like taking the red pill in The Matrix.

I don’t remember who pointed out that we need to think long term, and getting caught up in revenge doesn’t do that.

What are our values? How large is our embrace? Can we include the whole world in our hearts? And are we willing to act?

Events

Several new recordings are posted on the website, from a 10-minute radio interview to a 2-hour workshop.

Online events coming up (details on this page):

• September 14, Lake Superior Interfaith Community Church, Duluth MN
• September 21, Minnesota Zen Center, morning talk.

Other events (same page):

• This weekend, 9/12-14, in Duluth, MN.
• Next weekend, 9/20-21, Saturday in Red Wing at Fair Trade Books, Sunday at Minnesota Zen Center.

You can see my itinerary after that. I’ll post details for local events, and will send a blog post to update online events.

Please take heart. We are not alone, and the world is still with us. Please love and defend each other. 

Love,

Shodo

Mountains and Waters Alliance: Coming events September 6 and 7, and a blessing

Mountains and Waters Alliance – quick thoughts and August events

Announcements:

Here are a few upcoming events.

August 12 and following Wednesdays, online, 6:30 Central Time:

Zen study group resumes this Wednesday, and continues weekly through September when I leave for the book tour. It will probably continue into the fall, led by senior students, or a new topic may be chosen. Topic is a philosophical text, the Samdhinirmocana, considered a precursor of Yogacara Buddhism. (You don’t have to understand that to join the class.)

Let me add that studying this text was extremely helpful to me in forming what I teach now.

To enroll or to ask questions, email me at shodo@mountainsandwatersalliance.org.

August 17: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northfield, 10 am Central Time. I’ll be one of three authors giving brief presentations for the Sunday service, which is in Northfield, Minnesota. For local people.

August 17: online interview about the book, 5 pm Central Time, at https://prn.live/. Recording will be available later at https://resistanceradioprn.podbean.com/. Resistance Radio is a weekly show with Derrick Jensen, sometimes known as the poet-philosopher of the environmental movement. He asked great questions, as he always does.

Thoughts: “We understand that these are our last days.”

Remembering Anas Al Sharif, a well-known journalist with Al-Jazeera. I want to note that he is accused of being part of Hamas. I thought this was false; the answer may be more complicated. Taking a deep breath, I offer you his final letter, regardless of his alliance. The letter speaks for itself, of love and faith.

This is my will and my final message. If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice. First, peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings.

Allah knows I gave every effort and all my strength to be a support and a voice for my people, ever since I opened my eyes to life in the alleys and streets of the Jabalia refugee camp. My hope was that Allah would extend my life so I could return with my family and loved ones to our original town of occupied Asqalan (Al-Majdal). But Allah’s will came first, and His decree is final. I have lived through pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification—so that Allah may bear witness against those who stayed silent, those who accepted our killing, those who choked our breath, and whose hearts were unmoved by the scattered remains of our children and women, doing nothing to stop the massacre that our people have faced for more than a year and a half.

I entrust you with Palestine—the jewel in the crown of the Muslim world, the heartbeat of every free person in this world. I entrust you with its people, with its wronged and innocent children who never had the time to dream or live in safety and peace. Their pure bodies were crushed under thousands of tons of Israeli bombs and missiles, torn apart and scattered across the walls.

I urge you not to let chains silence you, nor borders restrain you. Be bridges toward the liberation of the land and its people, until the sun of dignity and freedom rises over our stolen homeland. I entrust you to take care of my family. I entrust you with my beloved daughter Sham, the light of my eyes, whom I never got the chance to watch grow up as I had dreamed.

I entrust you with my dear son Salah, whom I had wished to support and accompany through life until he grew strong enough to carry my burden and continue the mission.

I entrust you with my beloved mother, whose blessed prayers brought me to where I am, whose supplications were my fortress and whose light guided my path. I pray that Allah grants her strength and rewards her on my behalf with the best of rewards.

I also entrust you with my lifelong companion, my beloved wife, Umm Salah (Bayan), from whom the war separated me for many long days and months. Yet she remained faithful to our bond, steadfast as the trunk of an olive tree that does not bend—patient, trusting in Allah, and carrying the responsibility in my absence with all her strength and faith.

I urge you to stand by them, to be their support after Allah Almighty. If I die, I die steadfast upon my principles. I testify before Allah that I am content with His decree, certain of meeting Him, and assured that what is with Allah is better and everlasting.

O Allah, accept me among the martyrs, forgive my past and future sins, and make my blood a light that illuminates the path of freedom for my people and my family. Forgive me if I have fallen short, and pray for me with mercy, for I kept my promise and never changed or betrayed it.

Do not forget Gaza… And do not forget me in your sincere prayers for forgiveness and acceptance.

Anas Jamal Al-Sharif

I only wish to honor his faith and courage. I will chant for him, in the 49 days of my own tradition.

If you would like to offer something to his people, here are some suggestions:

1. Leonard Education Organization.  education is resistance.  LE.O supports mostly underserved Palestinians in their journey for higher education, wherever they can be placed.  The organization provides basic needs rather than scholarships. LE.O students have attended several colleges in Minnesota, and elsewhere, not only in the U.S.
2. These are all well-known and reliable. I’m trusting you can find them: Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), Anera, UNRWA, World Central Kitchen, HEAL Palestine, Gaza Soup Kitchen. The most famous of them are not short on money, but on ability to reach the people in need without being killed themselves.

I also share this essay, which proposes that what is happening in Gaza is not very different from what is likely to happen to the rest of us, if we do not stop it. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/killing-witness-gaza

I have to go. Love and peace to you all.

Shodo

for Mountains and Waters Alliance

Mountains & Waters Alliance July 26, 2025: The time for half-measures is over.

In the world:

These Palestinian journalists are on hunger strike until children in Gaza have food. They ask us to join them. I am joining them today, for one day, because I can do that. If you join them, let me know and tell your friends. There must be a way to tell them too, I’ll learn. (U.S. tax dollars are freely available to fund the genocide – and to kidnap immigrants and activists, drive ordinary Americans into poverty, and enrich the richest – while Israel blocks food deliveries and the U.S. burns food. The last bits of democracy are holding on by a thread.

Like most of us, I feel pretty helpless in the face of an obstinate government. I found this possible action (besides protest and lobbying, of course), and share it with you. My friend Kritee Kanko, Zen teacher and activist, writes:

This is my birthday week and like last year, I am inviting your contributions to beloved sangha member Sarah Habib’s mutual aid effort for sending life affirming food supplies to Gaz@n mothers and children. In spite of the blockade, her friend in Gaz@ has been bringing love and hope to many families. You can see updates on this page.  Last year we sent around $3000 through Sarah to G@za. We have already raised over $2600 this year. You can donate to me directly through this link and I will send the money to Sarah. Please mention “KK Birthday fundraiser” when you send me money. Also you can add your name/initials to this list so that every bit of money feels accounted for.

P.S. World Central Kitchen is functioning again.

Meanwhile, I will pray. That’s what I best know how to do. I will call on the river and the trees, the rocks and grasses, the white pines and cedars, the bald eagle and the pocket gopher, the earth under my feet and the stars and clouds, and every deity I know – I will ask them all for help, during this day of fasting, and after.

Mountains and Waters Alliance

We are at a change time – not exactly matching the enormous transition in the world. In one week, I’ll end my job to give my whole energy to this work. The book tour starts in September. The launch party is Sunday afternoon, September 7, at the farm. People seem to be agreeing with me about the potential of the book; we’ll find out. Online talks will be posted when they’re ready. In the book page, you can read excerpts and endorsements, pre-order the book, ask me to come offer an event or an online talk – whatever fits.  The publisher has discounts for book groups, churches, and several other categories. Email me and I’ll connect you.

There’s a dream, described in the book, of people gathering together in local centers or ritual action and community, in solidarity with earth and all beings. Study groups could evolve into that. And I would support you in any way I can.

Money

We have enough money to do the book tour, if I suspend my stipend for the duration. With the support of the Advisory Council, I’m doing that. I have a safety net that will last several months or cover one disaster. And generosity is coming toward me from people along the way.

The donation button works now. If you’d like to support the trip, or MWA in general, please use it. (If it breaks again, the backup plan is Zelle, which sends money straight into the MWA account.) It’s still possible to support MWA through iGive, which sends a trickle of money to us when you shop online.

The Book Page

The book page tells you where I’ll be, and how to invite me for speaking, teaching, leading – gathering together in ritual and prayer – deep political discussions – whatever fits. I’m going east this fall, west in 2026, and then we’ll see.

Zen Study Group

Zen study group will meet Wednesday evening, August 6, 6:30 pm Central Time. We may have an altered schedule while I’m traveling. If you are interested in joining, please email me now, and I’ll send details.

I welcome your prayers for this work, with all beings.

Love and solidarity,

Shodo

Mountains and Waters Alliance – summer events 2025

Dear Friends,

I’m not writing about the news right now, but I’m paying attention and participating as I can. Right now I just want to get you an update on events that MWA is doing or I’m doing.

Summer events

June 13-15 was planned as an Earth Apprentice retreat. Instead, we’ll be attending the local No Kings rally in Northfield, MN. If you would like to spend some time outdoors with the land, email me and we can have an informal gathering late Saturday afternoon, or Sunday.

Thursday evening June 19, 5:30-7 pm Central Time:  Online Dharma talk based on the book, at Sanshin Zen Community, my home temple. https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/r/day/2025/6/19 

Sunday morning June 22: Online Dharma talk at Hokyoji Zen Community, a country practice place I’ve known and loved for a long time. https://mountainsandwatersalliance.org/event/june-22-hokyoji/

Sunday morning July 13, Online Dharma talk at Hokyoji. https://mountainsandwatersalliance.org/event/july-13-hokyoji/

July 18-20, Friday night to Sunday, Sesshin at the farm.

This is an intensive retreat experience, described here. Registration is required, and you’re invited to talk with me in advance if you haven’t done this before. https://mountainsandwatersalliance.org/event/sesshin-at-farm/

Late summer and fall:

My new book, Open Reality: Meeting the Polycrisis Together With All Beings, will be published September 2.

I’ll be doing a book tour, and event information will be on the book page at www.shodospring.com. Meanwhile, I welcome your invitations to

• give a talk, retreat, or workshop at your sangha or other group,
•  offer a reading at your local bookstore,
• talk to a college class, a study group, an activist group, a church – or
• just take a day off with friends. Or a mini-retreat in the land you call home.

The general plan:

September will include various locations in Minnesota, including Northfield, a retreat in Duluth, a talk at Minnesota Zen Center, and a reading at Fair Trade Books in Red Wing. Plus some online events. Information will be on the book page.

September 26 I go on the road, beginning with a talk and a book table at the Women & Spirituality Conference in Rochester, MN, then going east through Chicago, Cleveland, etc, to New England where I have a few events including a 3-day retreat with Zen Center North Shore, Wenham, Massachusetts.

I’ll travel down the East Coast through New York City, Washington DC, and then head for Atlanta where I have a workshop commitment. There are a lot of places I might stop either before or after Atlanta; afterward I hope to visit Bloomington IN, Columbus OH, and some folks in Michigan and Wisconsin.

If you’re on or near that path, conversation is welcome and a place to stay much appreciated.

If you’re not near that path, there’s always online. Or 2026; I’ve been asked to see some folks in the West and Southwest then.

I had a dream

of small groups of people gathering to call in the spirits and the support of the natural world, each in their own place and their own way. After deciding to do this trip, I realized that this in an opportunity to do that – meet with people and do ceremony, prayer, ritual, everywhere I go. As the Compassionate Earth Walk was a blessing and an embodied prayer, this may be the same. I would rather walk, but I know how long that takes and it won’t happen this fall.

If you would like to send financial support

for this journey, please make a tax-deductible donation to Mountains and Waters Alliance. We appreciate all sorts of support including chanting and prayers.

With love,

Shodo

Mountains and Waters Alliance – Announcements, book news, and gifts

May 3 workday:

Workday at the farm in the magnificent sun and spring blossoms. We have 8 volunteers, welcome more. I know it’s the last minute. Come any time 9:30-3:30. Here’s a description. You can register online or at the farm.

Book:

Resilience.org published my excerpts from the new book. They’re good. And I forgot to include a link for pre-orders. You can read here, and pre-order here. Here are a few words from the excerpts:

All Living Things Speak Us Into Existence
Our bodies are water, moving with the ocean tides. Our bodies are matter, hungering for the feel of the earth underfoot. Each is a cousin of the microbes in the soil and a relative of the burr oaks up the hill.

This body belongs here. The winds blow through, the tides move, the earth holds, and some spark of awareness makes its home in this one body called mine, in these bodies we call ours.

Seeing each other, we create each other. We are no more separate than left hand from right.

Consciousness is who we are and what we are. Everything is mind – not “everything is imagination” but “everything is consciousness. This is about giving up the fight for control and for permanence. When we lose that fight, we can be alive. We are throwing our open and luminous stillness into the creation of everything.

I’m planning a fall book tour, looking for places to connect with people, give readings, have conversations, and do the shared spiritual work I propose in the book. September will be in Minnesota, then Upper Midwest, New England, eastern seaboard, and the middle – Ohio, Michigan, etc.)

Upcoming:

• At the farm, there’s always a welcome for volunteers – but there won’t be a lot of organizing, so call or email.
• Wednesday night study group continues, and will probably be affected by the book tour. To join, email me.
• Sunday evening Fearlessness group continues, likely also affected. We communicate by email.

Retreats:

• June 13-16: “Earth Apprentice Retreat:
• July 18-20: sesshin – silent meditation retreat.
• Fall activities will be on the book page. (It’s not ready yet, on May 2. Soon.)

Gifts:

I’m sharing two half-hour videos offering core teachings.

• Zazen instruction   About this, I will say that the first 5-10 minutes give the core of my teaching.
• Zen Introduction: How To Live.

Begging bowl:

On August 1 I will quit my job, to spend full time working for Mountains and Waters Alliance, beginning with the book tour and other promotion.  Maybe the trip will support itself through book sales and speaking fees. Maybe it won’t. I’m investing 3-4 months and risking all the money I have in this world.

If you would like to support me in this leap of faith:

• Free: Use iGive.com to generate small donations when you shop online. Explanation here.
• Ask your library to buy the book; tell your friends about it; pre-order it (should arrive September 2); share it around; invite me to give a paid talk somewhere, or lead a retreat or workshop. This would be a great book for a discussion group. If you’re in a book club, or if you teach a college class, talk with me about getting a review copy. And I’m available online for talks and such.
• Send money, tax-deductible if that helps.
• Send good thoughts. Include me, include this work in your prayers or chants.
• If you feel called to this way of life, let me know. Sometimes people come here to train; sometimes we work together at a distance.

If the universe says no, I can go back to work; I still have my social work license. My hope, here, is to move into the full force of my vow to free all beings.

Thanks, as always.

Love and commitment,

Shodo