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

Mountains and Waters Alliance – Land Day with Clean River Partners – May 3

This is our first time to work with Clean River Partners, and we’re very excited about it. It looks like a beautiful day, and a good time for lots of people.

While the world goes on, land and earth do too. So we’re spending a day – making biochar, which is an amazing way to enrich the soil, capture carbon, and all the rest. And we’ll give the afternoon to supporting a part of the woods near the creek – mostly removing invasive plants, making space for natives.

Come for the day, or for part of it, as you like – and please register. Clean River Partners needs that, for things they’re helping with, and we do too. Don’t just phone! Make it real. Thank you. (Okay, bring along a friend at the last minute. But give us a chance to have tools and food for everybody.)

Everything else you want to know is on the event page. (Our next big land event is in June.)

Mountains and Waters Alliance – March 29, 2025 – Announcements

Upcoming events, and the book is ready for pre-order.

Local events:

Land: April 4, 3-7 pm, at the farm. We will dig and move some small pine trees, to a new location for privacy around the future outdoor zendo. If you want to take a tree home, should be easy. Please register.

Activism: Hands Off march, April 5, noon, at your state capitol or Washington DC. (I’ll be at the gathering in Northfield, MN.) For local information look here: https://indivisible.org/.

Land: Saturday, May 3, all day (9:30-3); rain date May 4, at the farm, cosponsored with Clean River Partners. More information and registration here:

In the morning we will make biochar – this involves playing with fire, and a lot of learning, led by Perry Post. After lunch we’ll work with removing invasive species from one area of land we want to restore. Register through Clean River Partners. Also email Shodo, so we can plan food and labor. There’s a chance of finding morels, which would involve staying after the work day. If interested, mention that in the email to Shodo.

Community retreat – Earth Apprentice – June 13-16

Retreats in June, July, and possibly August. Look here for a preview of the year.

Volunteering: Land care or otherwise, please get in touch about specific dates or topics. (We’re still gathering sap and cooking maple syrup.)

Online events:

Sunday March 30, dharma talk at Hokyoji. No registration, but information is here. also May 25, June 22, July 13.

The Book is available for pre-order.

Here’s the link from the publisher; you can pre-order now and receive it probably late August. When/if I see you, I’m happy to sign it. Pre-orders are said to be very important in helping the book get sold.

I’m planning a book tour this fall: Minnesota, Midwest, East Coast. I can give online talks or readings any time, and I’m collecting possibilities for next year – California, Southwest, wherever. Please contact me with any suggestions or requests, including dharma talks, retreats, workshops, bookstore readings, college presentations, churches, environmental and activist groups, and any other groups that might be interested. (I can provide a review copy as needed.)

There will be e-books; I’ll announce when they’re available. Probably September.

Open Reality: Meeting the Polycrisis together with all beings.

Only modern humans have imagined ourselves as gods… And come to the edge of destroying life on earth.

Open Reality speaks to the world behind and beneath our daily collective trauma. It opens practical possibilities for creating a shared, flexible culture that knows the natural world both as family and as a working partner. It invites the reader to a world of possibility. What if industrial civilization isn’t the best that humans can do? What if we weren’t alone in the world, but embedded in a universe of conscious, intentional, powerful beings?

Please remember to breathe, stay close to the ones you love, and let the earth embrace you.

Love,

Shodo

For Mountains and Waters Alliance

Mountains And Waters Alliance February 4, 2025 – Metamorphosis.

This morning I remembered the butterfly story.

Before becoming a butterfly, a being lives as a caterpillar for a few weeks,

then as a pupa for weeks or months, during which period it completely dissolves.

This is called metamorphosis.

It comes out completely new, and it can fly.

We could, very carefully, use this as an analogy.

Before, the caterpillar’s life is to eat, to consume, to grow itself. Our capitalist system has been doing that, to a point of threatening the natural world.

During the chrysalis stage, it self-destructs completely, as a result of things innate in the being from the start. In a nation built on imperialism, colonialism, racism, and capitalism, facing the inherent human nature as connected, loving, and creative, naturally the conflict would appear. (We have been taught to think of human nature as selfish and bad, but there are thousands of years of evidence showing otherwise.)

We’re watching the destruction of what we had thought was us, but was just a stage.

Don’t think I am casting Trump and Musk as intentional carriers of a new age. For the purposes of this story, they are the last gasp of the old way. We carry the new, and we must embody it as well as we can.

This thought is just a few hours old in me. It’s too new to elaborate, to give details, to defend itself. I share it as a question. What if this disaster, this coup, might be a natural process? This idea doesn’t mean the lives of those deported, killed, or exploited are any less valuable or that the pain is any less. It does call for us to be ready to give up everything so something can be born. And it requires us to drop all our expectations of how that new way manifests. Except that it be more kind.

Personally

I took a 10-day media fast after the US Inauguration, finally ended with regret because things need to be done. There was an idea that as a Zen teacher I should be a source of calm for others. I didn’t notice I was frozen. But last Saturday, listening to a song, the tears burst loose. Then for two days I read too much news, posted madly on Facebook, and began referring to February 1 as “the coup” because that’s when Musk’s people took over the U.S. Treasury. I won’t continue the story here; it keeps moving, and there is some resistance.

It would be great to have so little attachment to my life that I could just stay calm. But I’m in the middle of it, looking for ways to be useful and calm.I find the new story helpful.

Please continue your life.

Get sleep, go outdoors, exercise, eat sensibly, avoid intoxicants. See the people you love, continue spiritual practices, play, be kind, enjoy the children and youth, appreciate the joys in life as much as you can. The reality of our lives is the core of the solution.

Watch less news, and avoid hysterical analyses.

Know whether you, your family, or your loved ones are likely at risk, and take appropriate steps. National Center for Immigrant Rights has practical information for safety.  Or this Youtube: There are many, many organizations doing the same for various groups.

If you are not at immediate risk, consider how to resist the attempt at dictatorship. I’m choosing not to make a list here, but feel free to ask me. This is a time of showing what we will accept – and not. And the slaughter continues in the Middle East; we are in crisis but it’s not only us.

Sanity Resources

I am getting ready to make two supportive offerings, one online and one local, and will post here when they’re ready. Online, I imagine offering guided visualizations offering grounding and support in the natural world, including our ancestors and our own bodies, followed by brief discussion. In Northfield, it would be an in-person support/discussion group with some of the same resourcing plus more discussion time. I’m seeking co-leaders.

At home, life continues with the earth and sky. Soon we’ll tap maple trees, start the garden, sit in meditation, and appeal to the trees, waters, and stars for support through this transition.

Another resource is an hour online Monday evenings, by Patrice Koelsch, a Buddhist and a psychotherapist. She writes,

“The format is 15 minutes of a lightly guided mindfulness meditation so that we can all arrive and settle in. Then I make some remarks related to integrating Lovingkindess and the other Brahma Viharas of Compassion, Appreciative Joy, and Equanimity and invite responses. We finish with a formal Lovingkindness practice. And it is always perfectly fine to join the Zoom room whenever you arrive during the hour. If someone wants to practice generosity, I encourage them to donate to a cause that is in alignment with their highest aspiration.”

6 pm Central Time, 12 Mondays into April, passcode metta.

Practical

We have a new mailing address, particularly for donations but everything else too. We’ll check mail at least once a week.

Mountains and Waters Alliance, 204 7th St. West, PMB 147, Northfield, MN 55057.

I’ll be updating events regularly, for a preview see this page. A few changes: informal retreat/land work time; February 23. June 13-16 community retreat is now open. Online dharma talks are not yet posted, but the first is March 1.

Closing Thoughts

These words from Ram Dass, Nov 23, 2024:

“Whether this is the first day of the Apocalypse or the first day of the Golden Age,

the work remains the same… love each other and ease as much suffering as possible.”

With love,

Shodo

MWA – Return of the Light

Writing just after winter solstice, I’m aware of the winter light slowly growing – and I call to the light on every level. There’s an image of a crust breaking open as the life inside grows and grows. May it be so with each of us, and with all of us.

Zen teaching and practice:

I begin by offering two gifts.

First is a new talk introducing the practice of zazen, also known as sitting meditation. This talk begins with my understanding of what zazen is, in connection with my understanding of the Buddhist teaching of the way we belong to the earth. The first six or seven minutes are about this, and then the talk moves into practical matters of posture, breath, and mental awareness.

Second, I’m asking what Buddha offers to us in a difficult time. This talk begins with some current thoughts, includes readings from the Sutta Nipata, and concludes with an amazing discussion with the people online. They have given permission to include them in this post. (The talk begins a few minutes in, lasts about half an hour, and is followed by discussion.)

Upcoming study opportunities

Our Wednesday evening online study group will be focusing on the sixteen Zen precepts during the next few months. If you would like to join us, please do. More information is at the link, and you will want to email me to make sure you have all details. You can also make an appointment to talk, and I can share useful recordings from the past.

I will be offering the precepts to a few people after our basic study is complete. If you have interest in this, you can talk with me about it. (If you don’t know what this phrase means, wait until you’re more familiar with Zen.)

Calendar:

Here is a link to the 2025 calendar. It offers a general sense of what we do here, plus some specific dates. Things always evolve.

Consulting the Oracle:

This is a personal note. A year ago I threw all my energy into a fundraising campaign, and you responded beyond my wildest dreams. For the first time I received a stipend from MWA, and I began to dream of doing this work full time. Then shoulder surgery took more out of me than I could have imagined. I cancelled events to focus on recovery, and wondered what I was doing. I kept the basics going. And I finished editing the manuscript of The Shape of Reality Is Open: Walking Together Through the Polycrisis. It’s now at several publishers, and early responses have been encouraging. Meanwhile, I’ve been living what you might call a “normal” life. I’m starting to recover from the medical exhaustion, getting in touch with my meditation practice, exercising, and relaxing a bit.

I’ve come to look at these last few months as consulting an oracle. I wrote a thoughtful fundraising letter and sent it to as many people as I could, but didn’t start a GoFundMe or vigorously pursue possible donors as I did last year. It felt like putting a question out to the universe, and seeing what answer came back. The answer was “Don’t quit your day job.” I’ve accepted new therapy clients, and let go of my wish to retire, to go on long retreats, and so forth.

Sending the book to publishers is like that too: I make my offering, of six years’ work and struggle, and wait for the response. Will it be welcome? Of course, the answer to that will come in stages: first, finding a publisher, second, book sales, third, whether it becomes a vehicle for my teaching.

Last, I’m allowing my health (kidney issues) to rely on my own knowledge rather than doctors, even alternative ones. I can change course if needed, based on lab tests; intuition says I’ll be fine.

So here we are, going into a new year with a great many unknowns, some of them frightening. That’s why I gave the talk above, about the Buddha and difficult times. I’m watching too much news but mostly calm. This is a time for steady practice – including meditation, exercise, good social relationships, and remembering that we are in the care of the universe at all times.

Love and blessings,

Shodo

Mountains and Waters Alliance year-end report and donation request

Dear Friends,

I write to you after a year of growth and transformation supported by your love and care for Mountains and Waters Alliance. 

Also, let me mention two events. In December we’ll outline the full calendar.

• The Wednesday evening online Zen class will be focusing on the precepts for a while. If you’re interested in studying with us, this would be a good time to begin, December 11.
• Locally, we’re hosting a winter solstice celebration on December 21.

Last year, in addition to long-time supporters and volunteers, people responded to our fundraiser in an amazing way, creating a quiet revolution. Even though I named this work, dreamed it and poured my heart into it, you let me know that it was bigger than I imagined. I’ve been digging the roots in deeply, and need to follow through.

The Roots: 2024 in Review

Here’s a brief summary of what we did this year.

Teaching and Discussion:   weekly online Zen class with 4-6 people, plus individual meetings with students. “The Gift of Fearlessness” group continues to meet twice a month online, now five of us, supporting each other in dealing with events of the world. Newcomers are welcome.
“Earth Apprenticeship” – weekend retreats on becoming an apprentice to the earth – listening, learning, acting – was born in fall 2023. A grant proposal for a two-week program almost got funded. ZCNS plans to visit for an Earth Apprentice Retreat in June 2025.
Retreats: We had four retreats here at the farm, plus some volunteer days and community events.
Guest teaching: Leading Zen retreats in Duluth, MN, and in Atlanta, GA, dharma talks at various Zen communities, and co-teaching an 8-week class at Zen Center North Shore (Massachusetts).
Study and retreat time is essential for doing this work. In 2024, I attended two online ten-day study intensives with my teacher, and a 4-day retreat at Hokyoji (southern Minnesota) plus some solo retreats here.
Networking and building community: This includes participating with other groups, speaking at conferences, informal events at the farm such as the winter solstice bonfire, and lots of phone and email conversations, hosting visitors, and the like. The direction includes strong organizational relationships plus a small residential community and a strong group of people for whom this is a spiritual home.
Administration:  Thanks to generous donations in 2023-24, we were able to pay for some website upgrades and administrative help.

The book: The Shape of Reality is Open: Walking Together Through the Polycrisis

For the last six years, I have been writing the essence of Mountains and Waters Alliance. Originally, I imagined a book about asking for help from beyond-human beings, to address climate change in a different way. As I was writing, the covid epidemic began, and then extensive tumult culturally and politically. Studying and writing, I became engrossed in learning who humans are and how we can play our part in the universe – and am profoundly encouraged by what I’ve learned. The book is now out for consideration by likely publishers. If you’d like to read a short excerpt plus some endorsements, look at: https://mountainsandwatersalliance.org/the-shape-of-reality-is-open/. 

Future Unfolding: Visions for 2025-6

Building community here at home. After ten years here, the time is ripe. People know us. Our small farm hosts MWA activities. I could fruitfully spend a third of my time on active local outreach including community education, schools and colleges, churches and civic groups, and news resources, plus welcoming volunteers, offering more workshops and retreats, and personal connections. We’re also ready to add two or three more residents to the current two.

Reach out nationally and internationally, using the book launch as a vehicle for education and inspiration on the ideals that MWA was founded on. We hope for publication next fall/winter including a book tour. (Note: If your group would like a presentation as part of the book launch, please email me.)

Administration and maintenance: It’s time for both a website overhaul and a truly functional communication system so we can take better care of our people. We have found the (free) software and know what to do; we just need time for a one-time push consolidating everything, with easier upkeep later.

Requesting your financial support

In order to continue the momentum we have achieved this year, we need to execute on the plan above full-time. Applying a frugal approach, including money on hand plus anticipated income for a $35,000 budget, this year’s fundraising goal is $20,000.

Please consider making a tax-deductible donation through this link, or mailing a check to Mountains and Waters Alliance, 16922 Cabot Avenue, Faribault, MN 55021, or learn how to get us free support through online shopping that you were already doing.  If your employer has a charity program, you might ask them to match your donation.

If you gave either money or time in 2024, thank you so much. 

Questions?

I’m happy to send additional information, including a tentative 2025 calendar, more numbers, a more detailed report on 2024, and personal thoughts, if you would like. Email me here.

With love and commitment,

Shodo Spring

For Mountains and Waters Alliance

This day called Thanskgiving

Dear Friends,

This is a harvest festival. Around the world, societies celebrate a year of enough food and safety and well-being.

Here in the United States, since Abraham Lincoln set the date, it’s been a Thursday in late November. Most of our stories remember 1621, when settlers from Europe celebrated the gifts of the earth, after a winter in which half of them survived, and that only because of the kindness of the Wampanoag people. Meanwhile, some Native people, especially in New England, call it a National Day of Mourning, because it symbolizes how settlers drove them out of their homes and killed them. They remind us of the Thanksgiving declared in 1637 by Governor John Winthrop, in thanks for their successful massacre of the Pequot people. In those days settlers often called such days for harvest and for victory in war – however immoral the war.

So it’s with sobriety that I will gather with family for this day.

Prayer

Usually I share the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving address.  It helps us to come into right relationship with the earth. Yet today it feels lazy, like stealing, and I take responsibility for offering my own words.

In thanks for living upon this earth,

gratitude for the four directions and the center, for earth, air, fire, water, and spirit,

gladly receiving the gifts of community and family, of youth and age and the middle, of generative well-being and wondering beginning and quieting age,

finding our place among every living thing on, above, and within the earth, the grasses, the soils, trees, waters, sky, sun and moon and stars, every animal that has its own being and its own life, every plant and every microbe, every cell in this body

and among the humans, two-leggeds, wise or foolish, blessing or harming, joyful or suffering,

with enormous gratitude for those who have sacrificed so that we can live, with humility for receiving what has been stolen too often,

I take my place, we take our places, no more or less than any others a part of the whole,

and give thanks for being here, thanks for not being all-powerful or the lords of creating, thanks for being small and light as a feather,

carried through every day and every season by the great working of the universe.

And I offer my own bit of life for the sustenance of every other, in the great chorus of all being.

Blessings to you.

Shodo

Committed – Mountains and Waters Alliance Nov 2, 2024

Beloveds,

The United States has an election in just a few days, and we don’t know what will happen. Predictions are everywhere, but it is impossible to know. People are afraid.

We cling to the hope that our way of life will continue.

If you’re Buddhist, you may know that clinging is part of the causal chain that leads to suffering. If not, pay close attention and you can see it working.

Everything changes.

We do not know the future. Our actions have results, yet we can’t guarantee what those will be. This means that both despair and hubris are foolish wastes of energy. The future is unknown, and thus we can move into it with full hearts.

As I write today, November 2, 2024, the new moon has just passed and grows again. The turning known as Halloween, Samhain, All Souls’ Day, Day of the Dead, and other names throughout the world, honors the entry into dark and cold, fallow time, a rest for minds as well as farms. This year, storms and floods ravage places people thought were safe, climate change is undeniable, autumn finally turns cold. War rages, genocide expands, hate and fear flourish in the public realm. Night is like that, sometimes.

People have lived through such times before. Sometimes they return and thrive, sometimes they go forward reduced. As gently as I can, let me mention that our future must consume less than our present, yet every year we increase. (The alternative energy produced is simply being added to the supply demanded by our ravenous society for AI, internet, advertising, self-driving cars and other absurdities.) I encourage you to live in such a way that your well-being does not require increasing mining, child slaves, endless war, and the extermination of the wild. Please be ready to thrive without the gadgets. People have done so, everywhere before modern industrial society with its billionaires and without its soul.

There’s a political edge to all of this.

I’ve been reading and now listening to Timothy Snyder, who has studied authoritarian regimes for years, who wrote On Tyranny and now On Freedom. He’s both more worried and more hopeful than one might imagine. I recommend listening to this short talk now, before voting if you haven’t.

He says

“I lived in eastern Europe when memories of communism were fresh…. I have spent decades reading testimonies of people who lived under Nazi or Stalinist rule.  I have seen death pits, some old, some freshly dug. And I have friends who have lived under authoritarian regimes, including political prisoners and survivors of torture. Some of the people I trusted most have been assassinated.”

There are many voices of encouragement, and of sanity. I can’t post them all.

Please vote.

Remember to research issues and local candidates, before you find yourself without a local library, or with a school that censors original thinking. If you can find time to volunteer for someone who speaks your mind, please do it.

I’ll be working the polls on election day, and gathering with others for calm and support afterward. If there is violence after the election, know that there are people preparing for a strong and nonviolent action afterward, and if that’s needed, I’ll pass along what I know for those who want to help.

A few more things:

In the face of the Uncommitted Movement, which refused to vote for genocide and now seems to risk of electing a dictator – I propose a Committed Movement. These folks would promise to show up on Inauguration Day to pressure the new President Harris to stop funding genocide. Walking a fine line: (and it’s illegal for me to recommend a candidate anyway.) The whole thing doesn’t end with the election, it begins here. We can’t disappear.  Guess I’d better plan for a trip in January.

Sweet friends, please spend as much time in love and beauty as you possibly can. Join group prayer and meditation. Pray to whoever you like, or ground

yourself in the deep peace that sustains us all, or join me in asking for help from all our relatives whether forests or eagles, prairies or mice, even thunderstorms. There is an awakening happening. Don’t miss it by feeding the monster with fear or anger.

I’ll write again mid-November,

and that will include news, events and such. Right now I’ll just mention: Zen-style meditation on election day, online: November 15-17, work weekend here; December 1-8; December 21.  All the local events are described here. And there’s space for two residents, long-term or short-term.

Love and commitment,

Shodo

Mountains and Waters Alliance – October 2024 – Facing today’s world

I’m thinking about how we prepare spiritually for the U.S. election (if we’re involved) and all the rest of what’s happening – which changes every day, and has been painful even to watch.

Thoughts:

The election is just over two weeks away. I promised to work the polls, and have not yet done the training, but I will.

Unlike many people, I don’t know the answers about the election. I’m afraid of what Trump or Vance would do – and it breaks my heart to seem to approve the genocide in Gaza, Lebanon, and wherever else. I’ve made a decision for myself: I’m voting for the most workable opponent, and then doing the real work, all year, every year.  Still, elections have effects. Please consider all the races – Congress, state offices, judges, school boards, library boards, county soil & water – all of them. So many races that are officially nonpartisan have been filled with people who have strong partisan agendas, and if we don’t pay attention we may lose things we’ve taken for granted for entire lifetimes. Please pay attention and vote.

There’s a thing called hope, which is in short supply these days, and is criticized for misleading people into complacency. I want to talk about what hope means for me.

Hope means the future is not known. Hope means there is a chance, however tiny, that we may survive, may come to our senses collectively, listen to the warnings of hurricanes and floods, abandon our commitment to profit for the wealthy, turn toward providing clean air, water, food, shelter and safety for our children and grandchildren – and for the children of Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine, Syria, Western Sahara – I would have to name every country in the world to be complete. This aching wound that is the world right now!

The story of chrysalis comes into my mind. Caterpillars go into chrysalis and completely dissolve before becoming butterfly. I cringe a little. When my family and I are safe and well, and others are dying, I have no right to put on rose-colored glasses.  I have no idea what will be born from those who are going through the fire right now, those who survive fire and flood and genocide. But this, here, in this country called United States, this needs to disintegrate o rebirth can happen. And that needs us to be willing to fall apart, to be hungry, and to lend a hand just as we’re hearing from western North Carolina right now – and watching in Gaza and Lebanon – the commitment to all of us – even if that hand is just offered to a neighbor in a snowstorm, or a child with a hurt.

I found this poem. Adrienne Rich, 1978

My heart is moved by all I cannot save:
so much has been destroyed
I have to cast my lot with those
who age after age, perversely,
with no extraordinary power,
reconstitute the world.

-Adrienne Rich

Nearly fifty years ago, it looked like this. More is lost now than I ever imagined then, and still the power of life arises in us. This afternoon I helped my neighbors plant three hundred willow trees, to hold the bank by the creek, and felt the power of community. We continue to act. Please, whatever you expect, whether you think hope is real or a delusion, cast your lot with those who reconstitute the world.

I’m sending a separate post with fall events and our news.

Mountains and Waters Alliance – October 2024 – Fall events and news

Online study group

• Wednesday October 23, 6:30 pm Central Time, through Oct 30, Nov 6, 13, and 20. Focus will be on engaged Buddhism, based on a dharma talk “Trauma, Suffering, and Liberation” by Beth Kanji Goldring. I’ll send a copy of the talk to participants, and we’ll listen to it in class, piece by piece. Please register through the link above. If you have difficulty, email shodo@mountainsandwatersalliance.org.
• December 11 and 18 IF four people commit. Otherwise we will take a break for December.
• In 2025, study group will be January 8, 15, and 22 if four people commit.  Same for February 5, 12, and 19, March 5, 12, 19, and so forth. Topics and texts are not yet determined.

On-site events:

November work weekend

will be November 15, 16, and/or 17. If interested in coming for any part of this, email Shodo for more information and to make arrangements. We have several small projects, outdoors or indoors, depending on weather. Average temperatures would be in the low 40’s, which suggests short outdoor work alternating with indoor work or rest. Outdoor possibilities include adding a railing to the stairs, creating a better landing for those stairs, other small repairs, and firewood in its many aspects.

Rohatsu sesshin, Dec 1-8,

silent long days of sitting meditation, minimal shared work, staying onsite encouraged. We’ll gather Saturday evening Nov 30, and close Sunday morning December 8, Buddha’s Enlightenment Day. Please register soon. Ask questions now, ask about partial participation and whatever you need to know.

Winter solstice gathering, Saturday December 21 –

three parts. Register by emailing Shodo. Mention plans, number of children and adults, and rides offered/needed.

• • • The shortest day: Come any time to join us in preparing food and fire. If you come at sunrise (7 am) or the night before, you can join us for meditation and breakfast.
    • Bonfire, and potluck, arrive about 4 (sunset is 4:34 pm), sharing circle around the fire, and potluck when we’re ready – probably indoors. (Moon rises 11:44 pm, but stars will be out.) In case of terrible weather, the fire will be indoors.
    • Longest night: If you love sitting meditation, please join us for an all-night sit or a sleepover and greet the morning together.  Indoors or out depending on weather.

Looking ahead in 2025:

Each month has a different kind of farm work, including tapping sugar maples, planting pines, garden prep, garden planting, foraging, and so forth through the season. Sesshins and retreats will be announced, beginning in early February in Atlanta.

2025 calendar will appear in November. Also, that will be an invitation to membership and fundraising appeal, with plenty of information.

Book tour:

In fall 2025, I expect to be doing a book tour. If you think your group might like me to offer a talk, a reading, or a workshop, in person or online, now would be a great time to talk with me about how to make that happen. Of course, you’ll wonder what the book is about. Working title is The Shape of Reality Is Open: Walking Together Through the Polycrisis.  I can send information.

And news:

We currently have room for two more residents. If you’re attracted to the thought of living collectively, shared work, spiritual community, good conversation, activism in its various forms – and stars, trees, grasses, creeks and rivers – we’re interested in talking with you. It’s a gradual process. We also accept short-term and long-term guests as interns or while considering residency.

The job posting:

We’ve hired someone part-time, and it’s looking good. If you know someone who has professional-level experience with a marketing program called Hubspot, who would be interested in a few hours per week, send them to me.

Mountains and Waters Alliance – September Updates and Job Posting

This is a brief update plus announcement of a part-time job opportunity with Mountains and Waters Alliance.

UPCOMING

The Zen study group is returning to Wednesday evenings, 6:30-8 Central Time. You are welcome to join or to visit. We are just finishing “Instructions for the Cook.” In late September or early October, we’ll start a new study topic. We’re planning to work with a recording; I won’t post it until  we actually have it. We meet the first, second, and third Wednesdays each month, except for holidays and such. There’s an email list for notices, sharing of class recordings, and so forth. When there is a fifth Wednesday, we decide by group consensus.

There is no wild rice trip as previously hoped.

October 19-20 Shodo leads a retreat in Atlanta.

Rohatsu sesshin will be December 1-8, here at the farm.

Work days or work weekends are not yet scheduled, but things happen along the way. Email Shodo to be in touch.

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT

Part time, flexible. Primary purpose is office support, so I can focus on other tasks. Up to $800 per month, depending on how things evolve.

• Monitor event postings on website and social media. Make sure everything is functional (e.g. registration pages) and that postings are timely and informative.
• Monitor human interactions and create records accessible to me, to help things run more smoothly. This includes using Hubspot (a marketing software) to store information.

Qualifications:

Well-organized, thinks clearly, creative, good at coordinating.

Comfortable with social media and able to do minor website updates.

Communicates well, verbally and in writing. Is willing to use email.

Ideal:

• already skilled with Hubspot.
• Local (southern Minnesota).
• Wants a long-term part-time job.
• Supports our ideals.

If interested, send an email telling me about yourself, including expected salary range, time availability, goals for working with us, and a resume or equivalent.

Thank you all.

With love,

Shodo Spring