Appropriate response – and some ordinary news

The United States is falling apart. Forgive me for not writing sooner.

A few months ago I started saying “This is what societal collapse looks like,” and I don’t see any reason to take that back. You can look at the list of symptoms if you need to be convinced, but otherwise don’t bother. The Supreme Court seems determined to disassemble every good thing that has happened in the past century or so.

I’m aware that I keep saying this. It continues to be true, and the emergency is escalating.

The question is what to do? The conversation is happening in a lot of places.

First thoughts:

• Elections:
  • Working on electing candidates is not enough, but you might find it necessary. In a year when the media has decided Trump wins Congress, and is reporting in a way that just about guarantees that, there are Senate races and House races. State governments are also very important for what actually happens. Hopelessness is not a good plan.
  • The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact changes the rules to bypass the Electoral College. It’s three-fourths of the way there.
  • Ranked Choice Voting is being used in more places, and it allows people to vote for the candidate they want without risking electing a monster.
  • In the ordinary world we have right now, there’s becoming an election judge (honest pollworkers matter), supporting a local candidate or a chosen one elsewhere, sending postcards with the Unitarians or an organization of your choice. Donating wisely, of course.
• Then what? Strikes and general strikes, sure. We just had a 3-day shopping strike in response to the cancellation of Roe; hastily planned; there will be more.
• Masses in the streets, sure; parades in front of SCOTUS buildings and homes, sure.
• Prepare for disaster by storing food, practicing kindness, getting to know your neighbors …

Looking for what might add to all of this:

The basic understanding of Mountains and Waters Alliance is that we are not the only ones here, and we are not the only ones with agency. By “we” I mean humans, especially industrial humans, especially members of the American capitalist economy, including those of us who consider ourselves progressive, radical, or better than others in any way. Thus these proposals:

• Ask for help from others.
  • World-wide prayer and meditation events. Humans everywhere can gather and send energy (prayer, loving-kindness, ceremony, every kind of healing and life-giving energy) to the whole world, to the centers of destruction in particular (the U.S., Canada, Europeans, every dictatorship and oppressor around the world) to open up and become human again. And to those who are being harmed (Western Sahara, Palestine, Ukraine, and the whole list of people affected by militarism or climate disaster or tyranny).
  • One form is going to a natural place close to you, a sacred place if there is one you recognize, and asking for help from that place, just as you would ask for help from a friend, because we are not the only ones here, nor the only ones conscious. You might bring an offering of some kind – incense, tobacco, food, water, candles, flowers, or chanting, dance, making yourself beautiful – approaching with respect and asking in sincerity.
• Accessing wholeness through meditations that invoke the deep nature of existence.
  • Allowing your awareness to settle into your own physical self, then expand to the area around you, then larger and larger, to city, state, country, continent, world, solar system, galaxy – all impartial, all neutral, just what is. From the largest place, there can be perspective on our fears, faults, and angers. They dissolve. And when you return to this embodied self, allow the wide perspective to come back with you. How small we are; how vast the universe; how vast our being which is the universe itself. (I can write and record this; today I simply propose it.)

Yes, I admit to still dreaming of escaping climate disaster and political catastrophe. But I only propose work that will help us regardless of what happens in the so-called outside world.

There will be a date for this work, or a series of dates, but meanwhile go ahead. I’m looking for people to help, or to co-create. Email me.

Ordinary life goes on.

Here’s a list of upcoming events. Please respond by email to anything that does not have a link.

Ongoing groups online:

• Sunday evenings, 7 pm Central Time, The Gift of Fearlessness. We are discussing current events, appropriate response, and effectiveness.
• Wednesday evenings, 6:30 pm Central Time, Zen study group. We are currently studying Zen Questions by Taigen Leighton. We’ll start a new topic at the beginning of September, for a 6-10 week session, and another in January.
• Monday morning zazen, 6 am Central Time. This will be re-evaluated at the end of August. We may start a group sitting at another time. You can come now using at the link on the front page, or express interest to be informed about changes.

Dharma talks (hybrid)

I will post links and titles on the website as soon as I have them.

• August 28, Sunday morning, talk at Hokyoji Zen Monastery in southern Minnesota.
• October 2, Sunday morning, talk at Northfield Buddhist Meditation Center
• November 27, Sunday morning, talk at Hokyoji.

Farm events:

• Workdays at the farm – unspecified, but possible dates include July 16, August 13 or 20, September 10.
• September 5, 1-4: open house at the farm. See progress on new construction, gardens, and paths, enjoy being in the country. Likely will include some music/poetry reading/open mic time. (Covid safety will be planned as appropriate to the time, with special arrangements for those who are vulnerable.)

Retreats:

• August 1, in Atlanta at Midtown Atlanta Zen, 9-5, one-day retreat.
• August 27, at the farm, Introductory retreat:
  • Saturday morning 9-12, formal instruction in zazen, style, and basic teachings, with time for questions and discussion.
  • Saturday afternoon 12-5, lunch, work practice, mindful engagement with plants and wild spaces, closing circle.
• September 23-27 (Thursday night to Tuesday noon) Sesshin at the farm: silent sitting and walking meditation, simple meals, residential option. Private meetings possible after sesshin.
• October 14-16 (Friday night to Sunday afternoon) land care retreat – combining zazen, dharma talk and conversation, private meetings, and engagement with the land; residential option.
• December 1-8 (Wednesday night to Thursday noon) Rohatsu sesshin at the farm, 7 days, as in September, honoring Buddha’s enlightenment.

There will be some reports later about progress on the farm and buildings – moving closer to sustainability, and more comfortable for both guests and multiple residents.

Emailing is always a good way to start. It’s also fine to register for an event that has registration set up.

Love and respect,

Shodo Spring

And a poem to finish.

Do not try to save the whole world
or do anything grandiose.
Instead, create a clearing in the dense forest of your life
and wait there patiently,
until the song that is your life
falls into your own cupped hands
and you recognize and greet it.
Only then will you know how to give yourself
to this world
so worthy of rescue.

—Martha Postlewaite

Farm/garden day May 21

Dear Friends,

Please forgive me for not commenting on the conditions of the world today. Sometimes writing is more than I can manage. But if you wish to send support to Ukraine, there is a Zen community in Poland that has taken on this work, and are known to people that I know. (You may have to use Google Translate.)
https://fundacjabadz.pl/wesprzyj-ukraine/

Saturday, May 21 – Farm/garden day

So this was “spring cleanup day” and now we know more.

The house renovation is not finished, so we can’t move furniture back, but visits will be offered. The big task will be planting tiny plants and generally putting in the garden. People who want to use carpentry skills or big muscles will be invited to do things like building the outhouse or moving dirt and wood. Plenty of choices.

The day: early people 9-1, lunch at 1, afternoon crew 1-5, and a leisurely supper and bonfire afterward – as we like. Lunch looks like nettle soup with cornbread and black bean salad; dinner is uncertain; there’s a dessert involving rhubarb. Potluck contributions are welcome but not required.

If you’d like to come, please let me know your plans so I can do food. If you want to come Friday or even another day, email me and we’ll see what we can do.

COVID: Things seem a little tenuous these days. Tell me if you are in one of these two groups:

• Unvaccinated
• Particularly vulnerable in any way, including being a caretaker or just concerned.

We’ll keep these two groups separated. We’ll be outdoors, and we’ll have a contact tracing sign-in sheet.

Other upcoming events appear on the right of this post, so I won’t repeat them here.

I’ll be visiting Bloomington, Indiana a couple of times, and Atlanta in late July/early August. Feel free to reach out about either a visit or a ride share.

Warmly,

Shodo

Mountains and Waters – April announcements and notes

Events

On April 10, 2022, I’m pleased to invite you to a dharma talk online at Hokyoji Zen Monastery. Hokyoji is dear to my heart from early practice and also a year of individual retreat in the early days. They are now a thriving community, and because of internet they’re able to invite speakers. I’ll be talking about the well-known lines from the Genjo Koan: “To study the Buddha Way is to study the self.”

Here is information and a link: https://mountainsandwatersalliance.org/event/dharma-talk-sunday-april-10-2022-hokyoji/

There are some other schedule changes, mostly shown on the website.

Changes and uncertainties are for two reasons: I’m nearing the end of writing the book, and the house is under construction.

• May will have some opportunities to come to the farm and practice with the land, including the land care retreat May 20-22. Things are a little flexible because of the construction. Watch for further information, and if interested be sure to email me.
• In June, instead of a 5-day sesshin here at the farm, I will be leading sesshin at Sanshin Zen Community, my home temple, June 1-5. Information is here: https://www.sanshinji.org/sesshin.html. You can join online (no fee, donations welcome); in-person spots are limited due to covid cautions.
• There will probably be an event at the farm June 18-19. With luck, we might be celebrating both book and the new look of the place.
• Monday, August 1, is a one-day retreat at Midtown Atlanta Zen. Zazen, talk, private interviews, outdoor walking meditation – this is not on the website yet.
• The next 5-day sesshin here at the farm will be September 22-27, and then December 1-8, Rohatsu sesshin. May and November I will be at teaching retreats with my teacher, Shohaku Okumura.
• Email me for Wednesday online Zen group, Sunday online “Gift of Fearlessness” group, occasional local potlucks, and general volunteering – including gardening and heavy labor!

Notes

The war between Russia and Ukraine is still going on. The stories are heartbreaking, People around the world are mobilizing in amazing ways. A few people are pointing out that most of us have been complacent about tragedies in other places in the world – perpetrated by the U.S. or our allies, or against Black and brown people. It’s overwhelming. As is the change in the weather, the likelihood of widespread hunger in the coming year or soon after, the level of polarization within the U.S., and a lot more. My personal Facebook page tracks a lot of these things, and hopeful responses, if you care to follow. Here, I try to avoid distractions and encourage wholehearted engagement in each one’s life.

And last night, after a week of rain, I stepped out the door to a clear night sky with a last-quarter moon shining brilliantly above. Just a breath.

With love,

Shodo Spring

for Mountains and Waters Alliance

Even In War

About two days ago, a shooting war began between Russia and Ukraine. Everyone knows who is right and wrong, except me. People have sent essays and speeches, and I can add a few bits of information or links. Here is just one source of many: a talk by Vladimir Pozner. There are some common themes in these alternative voices: that Western powers promised that NATO wouldn’t expand eastward, and then it did; that Putin once wanted to join NATO and was turned down. I do not support Putin or the invasion, but the media has gotten into that cheerleading mode that I cannot join.

War is never good. Claims of innocence are always suspect, though innocence does exist in the world. What to do? Praying for peace is always a good thing; meditating for justice is also safe. That’s all I’m going to say. You’re invited to add a comment with your favorite information source.

Meanwhile, life goes on here, far from the war. It’s a little disconcerting, being aware that all our lives are in the balance and not quite sure what to do. But really, not so different from dealing with global warming, or violent racism, or most things: what can we do?  Joanna Macy describes three kinds of action: holding actions, building the new future, and spiritual work. I’m mostly involved in the latter two, living in a present and working for a future spiritually based and connected with all of life.

It would be great if people who are doing things add a link or a short comment – especially about these very immediate events including the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

News at Home:

A local reporter came to do a story, and did this beautiful and wise description of what we’re doing here:

Local group uses Buddhist practices to to seek understanding

There seems to be a paywall. They told me people could generally access the article once or twice before the paywall came up, but some people are having difficulty. I am trying to arrange access.

In response to this welcome, I will offer some introductory afternoons later this year, summer or fall.

Spring 2022 Events:

• This spring, we have a 5-day sesshin March 18-22: silent sitting and walking meditation, shared meals, very simple. (Register soon please)
• On March 26, a Saturday morning, I’m giving a dharma talk “Together With All Beings: Understanding the Self” online at Heartland Zen.
• April 10, a Sunday morning, I give a talk online at Hokyoji Zen Monastery, no title yet.
• May 5-9 I will be attending the Genzo-e (teaching retreat) at Sanshin Zen Community, with my teacher Shohaku Okumura, available online.
• June 5, a Sunday morning, I give a talk online and in person at Clouds in Water Zen Community, no title.
• June 17-21 is the summer 5-day sesshin.
• Online groups continue, and are coordinated by email, newcomers welcome:
  • The Gift of Fearlessness, Sundays 4:30-6 pm Central Time, weeks 1, 2, 4, and 5
  • Zen study group, Wednesdays 6:30-8 pm Central Time
  • Monday morning zazen – sitting meditation, Monday mornings 5:55-7 Central Time

We expect to have construction in April, dates unknown, and there will be a chance for volunteers to help – especially with moving furniture, possibly with painting and other work.

Poem

Last, I want to leave you with this poem by Wendell Berry. It’s from 1977; I can’t say it’s still true 45 years later. I still offer it.

A Vision

If we will have the wisdom to survive,
to stand like slow-growing trees
on a ruined place, renewing, enriching it,
if we will make our seasons welcome here,
asking not too much of earth or heaven,
then a long time after we are dead
the lives our lives prepare will live
here, their houses strongly placed
upon the valley sides, fields and gardens
rich in the windows. The river will run
clear, as we will never know it,
and over it, birdsong like a canopy.
On the levels of the hills will be
green meadows, stock bells in noon shade.
On the steeps where greed and ignorance cut down
the old forest, an old forest will stand,
its rich leaf-fall drifting on its roots.
The veins of forgotten springs will have opened.
Families will be singing in the fields.
In their voices they will hear a music
risen out of the ground. They will take
nothing from the ground they will not return,
whatever the grief at parting. Memory,
native to this valley, will spread over it
like a grove, and memory will grow
into legend, legend into song, song
into sacrament. The abundance of this place,
the songs of its people and its birds,
will be health and wisdom and indwelling
light. This is no paradisal dream.
Its hardship is its possibility.

Wendell Berry

Sending blessings to you. Inviting you to pray for peace, love, and joy, for justice and freedom. Inviting you to stop by the nearest old tree, or meadow, or creek, to greet them warmly, bring an offering of any kind (a song? A cookie?) and speak to them the same prayers, share with them, consider them as friends and allies.

Love,

Shodo

Dharma talk January 23: Thich Nhat Hanh and teachings on self.

I had promised to talk about the Buddhist understanding of Self. But the great Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh has just died. I’ll still talk about self, through his teachings. You can find information and access the talk at https://www.hokyoji.org/sunday-talks/ The talk begins at 9:30 am; sitting meditation is offered at 8:30 and 9:00.

Some words from me:

On Friday the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh entered parinirvana, at 95 years of age. He wrote:

Instructions for the Continuation

“Please do not build a stupa for me. Please do not put my ashes in a vase, lock me inside, and limit who I am. I know this will be difficult for some of you. If you must build a stupa though, please make sure that you put a sign on it that says, ‘I am not in here.’ In addition, you can also put another sign that says, ‘I am not out there either,’ and a third sign that says, ‘If I am anywhere, it is in your mindful breathing and in your peaceful steps.’”

We think we have selves, and that they last, that they are more important than our bodies. This is a mistake. There is a self for each of us at every moment. It arises in the moment, given birth by our own karma from past actions, and by everything around us – everything in the world. Each self is instantaneous; they seem to last because the karma is similar and some of the surroundings are similar too. But a self is momentary.

The thought of speaking about self was triggered by reading this from Ivan Illich:

In oral cultures, one may retain an image of what has been …but the person exists only in the doing or the telling, as the suffix comes to life only when it modifies a verb. Like a candle, the “I” lights up only in the activity and is extinguished at other times. But not dead. With the retelling of the story, the candle comes to glow again. No pilot light gives continuity to the first person singular between one story and the next. The “I” can exist only in the act of speaking out loud – or to oneself.

The idea of a self that continues to glimmer in thought or memory, occasionally retrieved and examined in the light of day, cannot exist without the text. Where there is no alphabet, there can neither be a memory conceived as a storehouse nor the “I” as its appointed watchman.

We now live in a time and place that idolizes the self. A look at advertising will tell you that. We can’t imagine meeting each other except as selves. We worry about losing ourselves – and our protective actions create a suit of armor – heavy, exhausting, and inaccessible to the outside – inaccessible to life. We’re ready to fight to protect this self. Even if we know better, we imagine a lasting self.

Other things also seem to have selves: a family, a neighborhood, a group, a nation, a world. Imagining that they are permanent and thinking they can be annihilated, we arm ourselves and defend them. The idea of a lasting self causes suffering. Yet there is a self that arises and ceases, moment by moment, fresh and new. Here is an image of the way it goes with self, from writer Sharon Blackie:

We think that we imagine the land, but perhaps the land imagines us, and in its imaginings it shapes us. The exterior landscape interacts with our interior landscape, and in the resulting entanglements, we become something more than we otherwise could ever hope to be.

And my own story – I didn’t become a Buddhist, or receive the precepts or shave my head and become a priest. I didn’t walk for three months through the Great Plains. Something moved in the wholeness of things, and pushed this little personal self one way or the other, and I found myself in places I had never imagined. Doing things I can’t possibly do as a self.

Thich Nhat Hanh wrote this about losing his mother:

The day my mother died I wrote in my journal, “A serious misfortune of my life has arrived.” I suffered for more than one year after the passing away of my mother. But one night, in the highlands of Vietnam, I was sleeping in the hut in my hermitage. I dreamed of my mother. I saw myself sitting with her, and we were having a wonderful talk. She looked young and beautiful, her hair flowing down. It was so pleasant to sit there and talk to her as if she had never died. When I woke up it was about two in the morning, and I felt very strongly that I had never lost my mother. The impression that my mother was still with me was very clear. I understood then that the idea of having lost my mother was just an idea. It was obvious in that moment that my mother is always alive in me.

I opened the door and went outside. The entire hillside was bathed in moonlight. It was a hill covered with tea plants, and my hut was set behind the temple halfway up. Walking slowly in the moonlight through the rows of tea plants, I noticed my mother was still with me. She was the moonlight caressing me as she had done so often, very tender, very sweet… wonderful! Each time my feet touched the earth I knew my mother was there with me. I knew this body was not mine but a living continuation of my mother and my father and my grandparents and great-grandparents. Of all my ancestors. Those feet that I saw as “my” feet were actually “our” feet. Together my mother and I were leaving footprints in the damp soil.

From that moment on, the idea that I had lost my mother no longer existed. All I had to do was look at the palm of my hand, feel the breeze on my face or the earth under my feet to remember that my mother is always with me, available at any time.

These are very personal experiences, described by a great teacher who was once that young man whose mother died. So he gives us the same thought now: don’t think that I’m in the stupa, or outside of the stupa, but maybe think that I’m in your own mindful breathing and peaceful steps.

Don’t think that he is gone. He’s just moved on. Don’t think that you or I exist or can be destroyed. Think of yourself as lightly as a feather, a leaf on the wind, moved by something larger, carried by all beings, created every moment by Life itself.

This body is not me.

I am not limited by this body.

I am life without boundaries.

I have never been born,

and I shall never die.

Look at the ocean and the sky filled with stars,

manifestations from my wondrous true mind.

Since before time, I have been free.

Birth and death are only doors through which we pass,

sacred thresholds on our journey.

Birth and death are a game of hide-and-seek.

So laugh with me,

hold my hand,

let us say good-bye,

say good-bye, to meet again soon.

We meet today.

We will meet again tomorrow.

We will meet at the source every moment.

We meet each other in all forms of life.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

They remind us of the Buddha’s teaching on death:

One day the Buddha asked the monks to leave and find other places to stay during the monsoon….After the monks had left, Ananda could see that his master was ill. The Blessed One, in great pain, found comfort only in deep meditation. But with the strength of will, he overcame his illness.

Ananda was relieved but shaken. When I saw the Blessed One’s sickness my own body became weak, he said. Everything became dim to me, and my senses failed. Yet I still had some comfort in the thought that the Blessed One would not come to his final passing away until he had given some last instructions to his monks.

The Lord Buddha responded, What more does the community of monks expect from me, Ananda? I have taught the dharma openly and completely. I have held nothing back, and have nothing more to add to the teachings. A person who thought the sangha depended on him for leadership might have something to say. But, Ananda, the Tathagata has no such idea, that the sangha depends on him. So what instructions should he give?

Now I am frail, Ananda, old, aged, far gone in years. This is my eightieth year, and my life is spent. My body is like an old cart, barely held together.

Therefore, Ananda, be islands unto yourselves, refuges unto yourselves, seeking no other refuge; with the Dharma as your island, the Dharma as your refuge, seeking no other refuge.

At Kushinagara, where he died:

Then the Blessed One said to Ananda, Enough, Ananda! Do not grieve! Have I not taught from the very beginning that with all that is dear and beloved there must be change and separation? All that is born, comes into being, is compounded, and is subject to decay. How can one say: “May it not come to dissolution”? This cannot be.

He said a few more things, then:

All compounded things are subject to decay. Strive with diligence. Then, serenely, he passed into Parinirvana.

Thich Nhat Hanh had retired after his stroke, and gone to live quietly in his home of Vietnam, surrounded by students who loved him. The Buddha continued teaching to the last, and even gave teaching from his deathbed, to one last beginner. Both let their lives go lightly and peacefully.

We have this teaching from Thich Nhat Hanh.

There is no birth, there is no death;

there is no coming, there is no going;

there is no same, there is no different;

there is no permanent self, there is no annihilation.

We only think there is.

May we receive this teaching. May we allow our lives to be lived. May we recognize that myriad things come forth and experience the self.

Mountains and Waters – December 31, 2021

Let’s be quiet now, for a little bit – a few hours, or a few days or months or maybe a whole year. Anyway, just now, a little while.

One of the gifts of Buddhism is an understanding that discomfort, inconvenience, and even pain are part of life – and that it’s possible to be at peace anyway.

The last few years of our shared life have seemed like one crisis after another, with little personal moments of sweetness mixed in. Here’s one of mine: In the first months of the pandemic, my youngest grandchild would get together with her best friend and spend the day playing together in a park a long walk away. Like my own childhood summers. The way childhood should be, in my mind.

I won’t list the hard things that have happened; we all know. We’re in the Age of Consequences. Things are falling apart. Even understanding they need to change, it’s uncomfortable to the luckiest of us, painful to most, deadly to some. We don’t know what’s next. Renewal, a way of being together full of life, harmony and spirituality and blessing? Dictators? Slow death by climate change? Don’t ask to know, just work toward the well-being of all life.

Inner peace does not come by positive thinking or by hope, though they may help us mobilize. We are called both to complete acceptance and to wholehearted engagement. (Meditation and prayer are forms of engagement, as are farming, civil disobedience, and so much more.)

With Ram Dass:

We’re all just walking each other home.

Looking Back, 2021:

This year’s work has been focused mainly on writing the book. The subject was climate change and consciousness, but it grew to include everything. How did we become the people who insist on consuming the earth, at the expense of animals and plants, indigenous people, and our own grandchildren? That was in aid of the real question: “How do we become the kind of people who bless the earth instead of destroying it? That is not an individual inquiry; if the Kochs and Bezoses, the Enbridges and Peabody Coals and Nestles and Lithium Americas of the world continue to devour the earth, our personal actions will be like a teaspoon of salt in the ocean. Political/cultural/economic/spiritual change is needed. I’d like to think the book will help that movement.

I have a working title rather than a final one: Alliance: becoming the people who can bless the earth.  The book is with the editor right now, then revisions, then finding a publisher.

There have been three long silent retreats, with two or three people each, as well as a land care retreat outdoors, a few workdays, and the online groups. The Zen group started early 2020 has settled into a steady community and my home base. The Gift of Fearlessness group is a creative space and also community; we’ll open it up after a bit of clarification. Monday morning zazen moves steadily along with two or three of us each week.

This has been the year of action for water protection/pipeline resistance at Line 3 in northern Minnesota. I’ve felt my absence keenly. In early spring I offered quarantine space to a group that had been doing active resistance and then needed a place to go. In summer Sawyer and I went to the Treaty People Gathering as part of Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light, and of course there was support with letters, calls, donations, and the like – but I wished I could go up to the action, and I couldn’t.

Looking forward, 2022:

We’ll have four long silent retreats – March, June, September, December – and some kind of retreat or offering on the third weekend of the other months: land care retreats, Introduction to Zen, solo retreats. The online offerings will continue.

Visiting remains an option, and I’m still open to discussions about residence here. There’s also a possibility of Zen training periods here (3-6 months) in the future, coordinated with my teacher’s temple.

Construction is planned to renovate the house to create community living space, early spring this year.

We made a Covid policy for the farm, beginning January, linked here. It will change as needed. The main point is that people can feel safe coming here, so it’s a conservative policy.

Personal notes:

Working on the book, I spent much time at the computer and not as much outside as I would like, but the richness of reading and research and the challenge of making words has been a joy. I’ve had medical difficulties, and am seeing a doctor and an acupuncturist in addition to my homeopath. Trying to upgrade a lifestyle I’d always thought was healthy. In 2022 I look forward to more time outdoors, more sitting meditation and formal Zen study, less news, less facebook, more social time, slowing down. From time to time I talk with someone who might move here and start community with me.

My children and their spouses are delightful adults, my grandchildren moving through their teens with grace.

This life is so precious and beautiful. I can’t believe my good fortune, to live where I can see the stars and listen to the birds, greet violets in spring and milkweed in summer, blazing colors in fall – and to have safe food and water and enough of them, warmth, shelter, physical safety, a body and mind that work well, and love. And a calling, a path, a work to do. That last would serve, if I lost the rest.

With love,

Shodo

a gentle reminder in giving season

It’s donation day here in Minnesota, a little noisy, but we’re staying calm and quiet. This note is simply to ask that, as you consider where to give your support dollars, remember Mountains and Waters Alliance as a possibility.

During the pandemic, we’ve offered classes, groups, and sitting meditation online, had a few small retreats in person, and worked writing a book.  Next year we expect to do more.

In the Buddhist world we speak of dana, giving, as a spiritual practice. Most of our activities are offered as gifts, or at-cost; we gratefully receive gifts of time, work, and money. Our next intentions for money are to add to guest space and to begin financial support for the teaching work.

Who we are:

Mountains and Waters Alliance exists to heal the deep cause of the climate emergency in the rift between the dominant human culture and the whole of life on earth. Together with all beings, we protect and restore the living earth.
We create and nourish communities, rooted in meditation and ceremony, that practice farming as activism and defend land, water, and life as healing work; we learn, teach, and invite others to join us.

With love and encouragement,

Shodo Spring, founder

Land event this weekend, and a recorded talk

Dear Ones,

If you would like to come and spend some time with the land this weekend (Oct 9 and/or 10) here is the information and registration link. It’s a work weekend and there is no charge; the schedule is loose and you can come for part of it.

The real reason for this note is to share a beautiful interview with Tenzin Palmo, about practice and emptiness. She is the nun who spent 12 years in a cave in Tibetan Buddhist practice; she is also an absolute delight to meet. She is talking (at this moment) about the importance of foundational practice, which would be calming or mindfulness practice. And about practice in daily life as well.

I recommend this interview very highly. It’s about an hour, and you could listen to it in small pieces if you like.

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo: Emptiness, Dzogchen, and Women in Buddhism (#126)

With love,

Shodo

Ordinary life – Mountains and Waters Alliance, fall 2021

“When the crowded Vietnamese refugee boats met with storms or pirates, if everyone panicked all would be lost.

But if even one person on the boat remained calm and centered, it was enough. It showed the way for everyone to survive.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

Rather than talking about any of the kinds of fear people are feeling these days, I’m going to invite you to spend some quiet and calm time with us, in the crisp cool days and nights, glorious fall colors, harvesting, transplanting, bonfire, good conversation…as much or as little of the weekend as you like.

Work weekend: Saturday and Sunday, October 9 and 10, with more information and registration here.

That’s my invitation right now – ordinary life and community.

The next official event after that is Rohatsu sesshin, seven days of silent sitting meditation beginning the evening of November 30. Mostly it’s serious Zen people who like this – but talk with me if you’re tempted, everybody has a first time.

For both events, we’ll take care of Covid safety as appropriate to the time.

We have a couple of photos: a new altar cloth, hand woven by Kathleen Quinn (in the picture). And I started bringing in firewood for the winter – though to heat with wood throughout would take a lot more labor power than I have alone.

There is still space for extra people who want to live here. Reading the website gives you an idea. A couple of interested people are coming for the work weekend, which is a great time to get the feel of things.

Last – if you would like to support us:

At no cost to you, iGive.com gives a percentage of your online shopping to us. You go here, fill out the forms, put a button on the gadget you most use for shopping, and name Mountains and Waters Alliance. The rest of it is basically automatic. If you do this by November 15 and actually buy something by December 1, we get an extra $5. But mostly, it’s a steady trickle, with a burst of cash for big shopping events or plane tickets etc. Lots of stores are on it – just go to their website as you would otherwise. (Don’t ever stop supporting your locally owned stores!)

Love you all.

Shodo

Personal Action: response to the IPCC Climate Report

The IPCC climate report triggered a lot of thoughts about how to get to action.

1: Getting to Political Will

Given the scale of the problem – climate change is being driven by enormous corporate, military, and government offenses, while our personal consumption has very little effect – why bother changing your own life?

This is why: so you can be ready to live without the destructiveness of fossil fuels and much more.

• If I drive a car to work and do not have another way to get there, driving that car becomes a: “need” rather than a want. This makes me an ally of fossil fuels (or lithium mining, if my car is electric) rather than an ally of the planet.
• If my children or grandchildren live thousands of miles away and I want to see them, this makes me “need” airplanes, trains, or at least cars. This makes me an ally of fossil fuels rather than an ally of the planet.
• If I heat my home with fossil fuels, without them I will freeze in winter. This makes me an ally of fossil fuels rather than an ally of the planet.
• If I heat my home with firewood cut with a chainsaw and split with a power splitter, and don’t have a backup plan for cutting and splitting, I will freeze without whatever powers them. This makes me an ally of fossil fuels (or lithium mining, if my tools are electric) rather than an ally of the planet.
• If my water comes from the city, or from a well on an electric pump, when that system fails I will have no water for drinking or bathing. Without water people die. This makes me an ally of centralized electricity systems even if they come from mining or fossil fuels that devastate the planet.

That’s enough examples. If our lives depend directly on use of fossil fuels, lithium mining, or the like, nearly all of us will protect our lives first. And our children’s immediate lives, even if we are sacrificing their futures to do it. We need to get off that dependence – every one of us – or we will not be free to interfere with the system that is plunging us into climate disaster.

That’s about it on personal lifestyle – and it’s a lot to do. Every single person who claims to be worried about climate change needs to get rid of this dependence, or they will be an enemy at crucial moments.

There is more.

2: Material Disruption

Roger Hallam, a founder of Extinction Rebellion, gave an in-your-face talk about what it takes to make change. First, effective strategy involves material disruption of the machine – political or industrial machine, that is. Protests and marches raise energy, feel good, help with networking – but they don’t interrupt the machine. Interrupting the machine actually does interrupt the machine. Like that well-known tactic of the strike. Like the Valve Turners who safely shut down the pipelines bringing Canadian oil into the U.S. Like every person who has ever blocked a road or locked themselves to a drilling rig.

When you begin resisting, the authorities call you ridiculous, terrorists, and your demands unthinkable. If you’re effective, they arrest you. At some point, they quietly begin negotiations.

Hallam suggests that 500 people in jail or 3000 arrests is what it would take (for the UK); he gave historical examples including the US Civil Rights Movement. He points out the difference between a protest and actual disruption: it’s disruption that works.

Right now in Minnesota at Line 3 (StopLine3.org) people are showing up, disrupting the drilling of the pipeline under the rivers. They’re also filing court actions, publicizing the leaks, pointing out the disastrous social consequences of man camps, pointing out the many ways the drilling is illegal, petitioning any public official who has clout, pressuring the banks that fund these projects and the insurance companies that protect them – materially interfering with the pipeline construction in every possible way.

People specialize in things they can do. Some people physically block the machinery, which gets them arrested and often abused. For each such person there are five or six support people. Some people write letters or phone their legislators.Some send money, or raise money. And everything you can imagine in between. Look at your options – and get ready to live without fossil fuel. Stop thinking electric cars will save our way of life: they won’t.

If we’re going to stop fossil fuels, we have to want to actually stop them. That means some of us have to be doing the other work, securing food, transportation, health care, education, community, shelter, and safety for after we succeed.

Hallam observes that, just like in military strategy, it works to focus on one target at a time, and be overwhelming there. Line 3 is happening now, the team is strong, and although Minnesota’s official actions are closer to its worst stereotypes than its best, it’s far from the worst place to be in jail. (Maybe it’s not possible, maybe we are strong enough to overwhelm them in multiple places at once – the point is to think strategically and work together.)

Finally, Hallam says there are practically no excuses for not getting out there.

I’ll  say, about this other work, that the only people excused are the ones at the front lines or those working 80 hours a week (yes, they do that) on legal, lobbying, fundraising, and the like. The rest of us – well, do we want to be allies of the earth or allies of fossil fuels? Let’s get to work on that sustainable infrastructure called food, shelter, transportation, health care. And community.

Covid update on MWA Events

Dear Friends,

This is an update on the events calendar I sent out last month. It seems like a good idea to be more careful with the unknowns on the new Covid variants. The uncertainty of life is requiring us to pay attention.

When you register for any event, please let me know whether you are vaccinated, which seems to give considerable protection. Also let me know if you are especially vulnerable or live with vulnerable people. We did this safely twice last year, before vaccines, adjusting precautions as we went.

Online:

Wednesday evening study group continues,

currently working with Taigen Leighton’s Zen Questions. If you’d like to join, email me. More details here.

Gift of Fearlessness

specifically designed as a space to care for ourselves and each other around the challenges in today’s world. We will resume in September. Email me if you’re considering joining. We’ve been meeting Sunday evenings. Details here.

Monday morning Zazen

Mondays, 6 am Central Time, details here.

At the Farm

Workday August 14.

11-5, lunch and snacks offered. We have garden projects and building projects. I have been out of state (returned August 3), so consider what feels safe to you. Probably entirely outdoors. Details here.

Land Care Retreat: moved from August 13-16 to August 20-23:

Combines sitting meditation with outdoor work as sacred ceremony. Garden, land care, and possibly some building. Free to past volunteers. Please register – we’ll go ahead if there are three registrations by the 15th. Details and registration here.

Sesshin September 17-21

(Thursday night to Tuesday afternoon): Sitting silently together, in the zendo or outdoors. Probably cancelled, but let me know if you plan to come. We may just wait for December. Registration required; fee or work exchange. Details and registration here.

October 9, 11-5: Transplanting day

We have raspberries to prune and move, rhubarb to divide and plant, possibly hazelnut bushes, strawberries, and who knows what else.

All the workdays are Saturday but could be extended on request. All come with a great lunch, free camping and so forth for those who stay extra – and probably veggies or plants if you would like some to take home.

December 1-8: Rohatsu Sesshin:

This will definitely happen, but possibly online.

Seven days of silent meditation, honoring the enlightenment of Dogen (founder of Soto Zen). A very quiet kind of adventure. Requires registration plus fee or work exchange. If you have not done sesshin here, we’ll need to talk first.

And in the world:

The construction, the protests, and the arrests continue at Line 3 in northern Minnesota. A central information source is http://stopline3.org. They are asking people to come now, but there’s plenty of other support to offer, especially contacting your legislators, the governor, and the President.
I don’t need to tell you about wildfires, floods, heat waves, disasters, and deaths continuing. We live in difficult times. Please take heart. (Note The Gift of Fearlessness group as a space to hold this .)

With love,

Shodo

Work/Party Day at Mountains and Waters Farm July 10

You’re invited to a beautiful day in the country, with some good work and a feast at the end. The weather forecast is cool (low 70’s) with showers tapering off around 11 am – perfect for the weeding projects.

The general plan: 11-5 followed by supper. (snack breaks and creek visits as needed)

Please tell me what hours you’d like to come. If you want to arrive before 11 or leave before 5, just tell me. To come just for supper, see below. Also see Covid safety notes at bottom.

Registering:

Send me an email  with this information: Your name, of course. __________________
bringing friends? (names) ________________
bringing kids? (names and ages) __________________
Planned arrival time ______. Planned ending time ______ . Staying for supper? ________

Which area of interest/skill? (details below)

• ___Heavy lifting (A half hour will help us move the window)
• ___carpentry
• ___plants
• ___miscellaneous ______________________________
• ___ anything needed
• ___want to make ice cream (this will only happen if there are interested folks)

Special stuff: check any of these boxes on food: ___Vegan ___ Need meat ___ Other restrictions ___________

And any other needs (allergies, physical limits, etc)? _________________________________________

If you are not vaccinated, or have special concerns about Covid, please check here ___. I’ll contact you so we can work it out with everybody who cares.

Party only? 4 or 5 pm

Some people have put many hours of love into this place (or into the Alliance): just come. But tell me so we can organize food.

If you’re new here and not up for work yet, you’re still welcome to come – and it would be nice if you can bring a potluck dish.

Covid:

• We’ll be mostly outdoors and it’s easy to do physical distancing. Most people are vaccinated.
• Still: Some people can’t be vaccinated for medical reasons; some people live with vulnerable people. Some people are just not vaccinated by their own reasons. Whatever.
• If you have any of these particular situations, please tell me at registration and we’ll make a decision. And if you have symptoms, are exposed to Covid, or have been on a plane or train in the past two weeks, please talk to me so we can figure out what’s safe.

I have no idea how many people will come; I’m pretty sure of at least two. Any number is fine.

I’ll send another email with directions, parking, “what to bring” information, and the rest.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

You don’t have to read the project list, but maybe you’d like to.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

The big project: move the picture window out of the truck! Probably wants 3 strong people to do it; took 2 skilled people to put it in the truck…

Everything else is a wonderful bonus. Leading options:

Carpentry:

There are three doors to install. I need at least one person with skills equal to or better than mine. Two such people, and/or a real carpenter, would be greatly appreciated.
We could put up the outhouse, if we got really enthusiastic. (composting toilet is ready)

Move heavy things:

Once the truck is empty, there’s a lot of firewood to haul, left from tornado damage 3 years ago.
There’s a firepit to build, all the stones are close by and it’s half done. Creativity involved.

Plant things: (your choice)

Weeding: There’s a garden. There are always weeds, maybe harvesting, or feel free to harvest the weeds, some are great food.
Pruning raspberries – an adventure: I set out to prune the raspberries and came away with quarts of ripe black berries – and there’s more. I can provide the armor, tools, and the plan.
Foraging: wild raspberries, nettles for pesto and soup, milkweed for freezing and canning, daylilies for freezing and pickling, herbs.
Fruit trees: They’ve gotten lost in the grasses and flowers – find them and see if they need anything. We can have a tour after.

Miscellaneous:

• Food: Take over the kitchen, organize snacks and supper from the things we have here.
• Sharpen tools – an extremely valuable task.
• Fixing tools (just the wood splitter, really)

Too much to ask:

• Organizing the workshop.
• Mowing, chain saw stuff, weed-whacking
• Indoor projects include painting, drywall, cleaning/organizing…
• Various projects in the wood, including buckthorn and its friends.
  This list goes on forever, like on any farm. Do not be intimidated.
• You are invited to take home harvested food, and also plants – raspberries, wildflowers, strawberries, walking onions, and various herbs… though midsummer might not be the best time.

Party only? 4 or 5 pm

Some people have put many hours of love into this place (or into the Alliance): just come. But tell me so we can organize food.

If you’re new here and not up for work yet, you’re still welcome to come – and it would be nice if you can bring a potluck dish.

Covid:

We’ll be mostly outdoors and it’s easy to do physical distancing. Most people are vaccinated.
Still: Some people can’t be vaccinated for medical reasons or aren’t vaccinated for their own reasons; some people live with vulnerable people; some people are just concerned. Whatever. If you have any of these situations, please tell me at registration and we’ll make a decision so everyone can feel safe. And if you have symptoms, are exposed to Covid, or have been on a plane or train in the past two weeks, please talk to me so we can figure it out.
I have no idea how many people will come; I’m pretty sure of two, which is enough. Limit is probably 20.

I’ll send another email with directions, “what to bring” information, and the rest.

Warmly,

Shodo

Action from a distance

I’m reaching out to ask for chanting and prayers for the protection of northern Minnesota.

Here’s the story: I went outside to visit the Central Altar – a magnificent rock face at the creek, with dozens of faces that sometimes show themselves. What offering to make? Sometimes I chant the Dai Hi Shin Dharani; the rock people seem to like it.

And then this thought: I could chant and ask the rock people here to send the blessing all the way up to Line 3, where waters and rice beds and Lake Superior and the Mississippi River are in danger, where humans are in danger from man camp workers and from toxicity, where treaty rights need to be enforced, where urgently needed water is diverted from living things to be used for drilling, where water protectors are locking themselves to drilling equipment as Enbridge moves forward with consent of both governor and President – I asked them to send the blessing, and I chanted, and the energy was strong.

You are invited to do this too:

• Go to your local holy place. Ask consent from the local spirits, to channel energy to the Line 3 region (or to an endangered place that’s in your heart).
• Chant, pray, do ceremony. (I like the Dai Hi Shin Dharani, but anything is good)

DAI HI SHIN DHARANI

namu kara tan no tora ya ya namu ori ya boryo ki chi shifu ra ya

fuji sato bo ya moko sato bo ya

mo ko kya runi kya ya en sa hara ha e shu tan no ton sha

namu shiki ri

toi mo ori ya boryo ki chi shifu ra

rin to bo na mu no ra kin ji ki ri mo ko ho do sha mi sa bo o to jo shu ben

o shu in sa bo sa to no mo bo gya mo ha te cho to ji to en

o bo ryo ki ru gya chi kya ra chi i kiri mo ko fuji

sa to sa bo sa bo mo ra mo ra mo ki mo ki ri to in

ku ryo ku ryo ke mo to ryo to ryo ho ja ya chi mo ko ho ja ya chi

to ra to ra chiri ni shifu ra ya sha ro sha ro mo mo ha mo ra ho chi ri

yu ki yu ki shi no shi no ora san fura sha ri

ha za ha zan fura sha ya ku ryo ku ryo mo ra ku ryo ku ryo ki ri

sha ro sha ro shi ri shi ri su ryo su ryo

fuji ya fuji ya fudo ya fudo ya mi chiri ya nora kin ji

chiri shuni no hoya mono somo ko

shido ya somo ko

moko shido ya somo ko

shido yu ki shifu ra ya somo ko nora kin ji somo ko

mo ra no ra somo ko shira su omo gya ya somo ko

sobo moko shido ya somo ko shaki ra oshi do ya somo ko

hodo mogya shido ya

somo ko nora kin ji ha gyara ya somo ko mo hori shin gyara ya

somo ko namu kara tan no tora ya ya

namu ori ya boryo ki chi shifu ra ya

somo ko shite do modo ra ho do ya so mo ko.

• Dedicate the positive energy of your spiritual practice to that endangered place.

(Here is my very long dedication from today; I included everything, of course you will change it:)

May all awakened beings manifest through the three treasures their luminous mirror wisdom. Having chanted the Dharani of Great Compassion, we dedicate its merit and virtue to:

The original teacher Shakyamuni Buddha, the first woman ancestor Mahapajapati, the first master in China Bodhidharma, the eminent ancestor Dogen, the great ancestor Keizan, and all ancestors who have transmitted the Way,

to all dharma-protecting devas, to the dharma-protecting saints, to the protectors of the whole earth, to the earth spirit of this place, and to the monastery-protecting spirits,

to mountains, oceans, and soils, to forests, meadows, and prairies, to land, water, and sky, to the whole earth and all her peoples.

We pray for peace in the land, harmony among nations, protection from natural disaster, prosperity and longevity for donors, tranquility within the sangha, and ample sustenance for the community.

In particular we offer this energy to the safety and well-being of the lands in northern Minnesota where the pipeline threatens everything; to the encouragement, safety, and well-being of the human beings protecting those lands, to the structures of treaties, international agreements, and laws that offer protection, to Sheriff Darin Halverson, may his example be followed by other local police, to the governmental powers who could honor those treaties, agreements, and laws, including President Joseph Biden, Governor Tim Walz, and Attorney General Keith Ellison, to the pipeline workers that they may quit their jobs and become water defenders themselves, and finally to the hearts and minds of the owners of Enbridge, that they may wake up and abandon doing harm.

All Buddhas throughout space and time, All honored ones, bodhisattva-mahasattvas, wisdom beyond wisdom, maha-prajnaparamita.

Do you ever feel like your chanting is answered, your offering received? That’s how it felt today. I’ll be doing it again. Indoors or out. Would love to hear if you do it too.

Notes from the Treaty People Gathering

Over 2000 people gathered in northern Minnesota June 5-8 to protect land, water, and treaty rights against Enbridge Energy’s Line 3. Over 200 of us were arrested in the process, and hundreds stayed at Camp Fire Light, at the place where Enbridge plans to drill under the Mississippi River near its very beginning. Now the center of action is at Red Lake Treaty Camp, where drilling seems imminent.

The most important thing I have to offer here is comments on the importance of treaty rights, a paradigm-changing teaching from attorneys Frank Bibeau and Joe Plumer. I’ll follow that with a brief outline from the Treaty People Gathering, action steps, a personal report from a friend who risked arrest, and a million links if you want to go farther. For background information, you can read the first two paragraphs on each of these: https://www.stopline3.org/issues/ and https://www.stopline3.org/chronicles

We are all treaty people

It’s important to understand treaty rights and what they mean. The bold comments are direct statements from Frank and Joe in the Sunday morning training.

We have to understand current events in terms of the treaties.

They said it so clearly that I finally understood.

Those treaties were made between the ancestors of indigenous people and the ancestors of the white people.

Even though my personal ancestors arrived much later, I too am a treaty person.

We are all governed by the many treaties made on this land, by our mutual ancestors. This is a shared history, white and indigenous, and it binds us together.

The whites did not understand the indigenous relationship with the land. They assumed that tribes owned land, and could sign it over.

Right off this tells you something was wrong with them. Owning land? Well, they also thought they could own people. Now they pretend not to own people, and they are very confused when we talk about land as a being with its own rights, its own existence, as everyone used to know.

Whites also did not seem to understand the meaning of a treaty. In a treaty, the two parties are separate and remain separate. Neither acquires the right to dominate the other. Another problem is the white understanding that the only thing reliable is what’s on paper, even though they were making agreements with people who had no history of writing and sometimes did not speak English. One such treaty is expressed in a wampum belt, showing two bands extending side by side, never crossing over, separate and equal. This is how treaties are.

For many decades, whites didn’t even honor their own version of the treaties, reneging on promises such as food and supplies, leading to disputes such as the Dakota War of 1862. The current dis-honoring involves the right to hunt, fish, and gather – what good are those rights if the waters are poisoned, the fish dead, the forests paved? No tribe agreed to have its lands destroyed.

Treaties are the supreme law of the land, above the Constitution. They cannot be changed without agreement of both parties.

If a bully can make an agreement and ignore it, there is no international law, no community of respect, and no protection against the force of the strongest weapon in the hands of the most brutal invader. Respecting treaties is essential.

For those who want to go deeper, this link has a detailed discussion of treaties in the Great Lakes area, rights, history, and common misunderstandings: http://glifwc.org/publications/pdf/2018TreatyRights.pdf

As I listen to the attorneys talk about treaty rights, I sense something going on that I can’t quite name. It feels like being on the edge of a cliff, needing just a slight push to go over. After – the right to mine, drill, and destroy ends, and the power of bullies gives way to the power of relationship. Human communities and inter-species communities are able to make our way.

Frank Bibeau says, “Every time Line 3 gets closer to happening, it pushes our treaty rights closer to the front, and now we’ve gotten to that place with the litigation starting with the Corps of Engineers.” (https://grist.org/food/line-3-pipeline-protests-enbridge-wild-rice-treaty-rights/ )

The matter of indigenous people being arrested for trespassing – on land that was stolen from their ancestors historically, that is supposed to be public land, and that was turned over to a private corporation with only token concern for the damage they will do – it shows how everything is wrong-side-up. The matter of using helicopter and sonic booms (can cause permanent physical and mental damage)

We stand at a turning point in history. And the whole world is watching. (The international press was visibly present.)

And now some stories from that weekend and after.

The gathering

Most of us arrived Saturday, either at the main camp or the MNIPL camp (Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light). The main camp had a welcoming ceremony Saturday afternoon, while at the MNIPL camp a dozen people were making signs and others helped us all find our cabins or tent spots. After a Gandhi Mahal dinner we (MNIPL) gathered on the beach for talks, prayer circle, and an end-the-Sabbath ceremony.

Sunday was a long day of training at the main camp – and was hot, dry, and more hot.

We were divided into three groups: red, yellow, and green. Red meant you planned to get arrested. Yellow meant willing to be arrested. Green meant staying as safe as possible, understanding there are no guarantees. After the morning speakers, each group received its own training.

The action:

Very early on Monday, about half of us went to the pumping station. That’s described in Ann’s report below. MNIPL hosted a prayer circle at a different location, then most of us went on to the bridge – the main action spot, a road crossing of the tiny Mississippi. The red group headed for the planned pipeline crossing (near Mississipi headwaters) and stayed there. The yellow group chalked on the bridge: “President Biden, Honor the Treaties, Stop Line 3.” The green group marched, chanted, listened to speakers, chanted some more, and waited for news. It was hot. Teams brought water and snacks.

Mid-afternoon the leaders announced that we had no arrests here, and that work was stopped at the pumping station for a whole day. The red group began building Camp Fire Light. The rest of us dispersed – many to take a dip in the Mississippi Headwaters at Lake Itasca. Back at camp, we relaxed, recovered, heard of the first hundred arrests, and eventually had a closing circle. Night brought the gift of a cooling thunderstorm.

The next week:

From Monday to Monday was a long ceremony at Camp Fire Light. Then, Sheriff Darin Halverson came to carry out Enbridge’s eviction notice. After peaceful negotiations, the protestors left as a procession with drums and singing. Here’s a writing about that from Tuesday night:

from Neo Gabo Benais: “The right to have ceremony under the treaties protection was honored by a county sheriff… The Northern lights task force [coordinated police response to protests]… was quick to mobilize and try to take over the easement but the sheriff held them off for 3 days. …the sheriff honored our treaties and let us have ceremony and leave in peace with zero arrests…. we ended up with 50 people choosing citations to fight for our treaties as we demand to be seen in federal court. Now that’s how you fight the black snake, together. Everyone left this action energized and not traumatized. Everyone is waiting for the next one. Howah!!!! Miigwech!!!”

Also Monday, June 15, a court decided in favor of Enbridge continuing to build. The dissent from Judge Reyes was priceless:

‘This case is about substitution. Substituting supply for demand. Substituting ‘shippers’ for ‘refineries.’ Substituting ‘pipeline capacity’ for ‘crude oil.’ Substituting conclusory, unsupported demand assumptions for reviewable ‘long-range energy demand forecasts.’ And substituting an agency’s will for its judgment.’

What you can do:

from https://treatypeoplegathering.com/:

• Call President Biden: 888-724-8946. Say: “President Biden must honor the treaties and protect our climate by stopping the Line 3 tar sands pipeline now.”
• Donate to the bail fund for over 200 water protectors arrested last week: https://treatypeoplegathering.com/donate Help get them out of jail.
• Join. Now it’s Red Lake Treaty camp, drilling on the Red Lake River just started today. The State has authorized 5 million gallons of water for this, during a drought. Learn more at the Rise Coalition Facebook page where you can also ask for more information.

I’ll end this with a first-person account from the action at the pumping station. Ann Schulman writes about her own experience.

Water. Healing. Helicopters.

Dozens of people had been in the field all morning, dragging logs, dead trees, and rocks, onto the road and digging ditches. About eight of us, mostly Seniors, were sitting on a slab of concrete thirty yards away and drinking water in the shade of some metal structure. It was hot, over 90 degrees and none of us were inclined towards heavy lifting.

A helicopter, somebody said that it was ICE (probably so), had been flying over the area for a while and kicking up a lot of dust. After a time, people had trickled away from the field. Not everyone. Three people (that I could see) were still in it when the helicopter began a vertical decent directly onto their heads. I panicked. Didn’t the pilot see that there were people underneath him? How could he be landing? It wasn’t an empty field! I stood up and saw two figures run off to the right, somebody said that it was a woman and a girl. But a male figure disappeared in a cloud of dust beneath the helicopter. Where was he? I fought the sand and dirt blowing into my face to keep my eyes on the disappeared person. After three or four brutal seconds, a running figure darted from the haze with a helicopter a body length from the top of his head.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2021/06/08/helicopter-enbridge-pipeline-protesters-minnesota-orig-llr.cnn

As I watched this person run, I remembered an image from the movie The Fog of War. Only this wasn’t a war, or a war zone. It was a peaceful protest with over a thousand civilians at the Enbridge pump house site.

My friends shook their heads in disgust. They had had enough. Machines flying into human beings, who are protecting the water through peaceful protest was way more than they wanted to see. I was too frozen inside from what had happened to notice that it was time for me to go too. My eyes had become irritated and swollen and had begun to water. And water. And water.

The next day my friends drove my car the four hours back to St. Paul, while I scheduled an emergency appointment. The closest eye clinic that could see me on such short notice was another forty-five minutes away.

The doctor asked how the dust and sand had blown into my face. I said, “It was a helicopter.” She stared for a second, not quite comprehending. “You got too close to a helicopter?” she asked. “No,” I answered. “A helicopter got too close to me. “ I added. “It was a Line 3 protest.”

She remained silent, turned her back, and typed into the computer.

Maybe she knew how dirty tar sands are. Maybe she understood about Tribal Sovereignty and genocide and wild rice, maybe she knew that the modified pipeline would cross under the headlands of the Mississippi twice, under twenty two rivers, and over two hundred bodies of water on indigenous land before arriving on the shore of Lake Superior. Probably she understood that spills happen regularly from these pipelines and the Great Lakes and world might not recover. Maybe the silence that I found deafening was actually compliance with a clinic rule about not getting involved?

“Its irritation, not abrasion,” she said after the exam. “Use water drops four times a day.”

Water. Healing. Helicopters.

Mní wičhóni

Water is Life.

Spring, peace, welcome

Spring has burst forth in the past two weeks. Everything in me welcomes it. So today  just this, with Wendell Berry:

“The Peace of Wild Things”

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Activities and events

the Covid disclaimer:

We don’t know what will happen next, though things seem to be improving as more people are vaccinated. We discuss expectations at the beginning of each event (and in advance by email). Summer activities are mostly outdoors. We expect people to be responsible if they’ve been exposed, recently traveled, have vulnerable people to protect, and so forth. Expect standard safety protocols appropriate to the situation.

Gardening:

May 15, Saturday, we will be planting the garden, which has been prepped by several people on May 1 and other days. Tomatoes, potatoes, butternut squash, green peppers, canteloupe, and some herbs. Morning, afternoon, or both. Send an email to Shodo, and we’ll coordinate start and stop times, lunch, what you might need, directions, and carpooling. If we get everything in, there are a few other projects involving berries, fruit trees, and foraging.

Future dates to be arranged.

Construction:

We probably start in June, depending on the building permit. I’m gathering names of people, and their availability and skill levels. (Support staff is good too – for instance cooking.) Email me here, and I’ll keep you posted. We expect coming and going of people, with enough stability to help it flow smoothly.  Morning zazen is offered at 6 am, optional.

The project is opening up the main floor of the house, for added sun, more space, and an extra bedroom. The main point is to create a good south wall so we can attach a solar greenhouse and stop heating with fossil fuels. A second point is an additional nice bedroom for long-term guests or residents. Because the plan is still six residents.

Retreats:

June 17-22 is planned for a sesshin – an intensive meditation retreat in complete silence. This may be shortened or altered in some way if construction is still going on; advance registrations will make sure that it remains in full.

Land care retreat, August 13-16, sesshin September 16-21, sesshin November 30-December 8.

For all retreats: if interested, please either click above to register, or email for information.

Online:

Wednesday night study group, Sunday afternoon discussion group, and Monday morning zazen continue as usual.

Offerings:

I’ve had some lovely conversations about the world. Here are links to one talk, two four-way discussions, and one interview:

Dharma talk, Everything around me is my refuge

The “Dismantling Conquest” conversations, organized by Katherine Jordan: Part I and Part II (90 minutes each)

“Simple Sacred Solutions” is a series of dialogues from Green Yoga Project. Two interviews are posted each day May 1-7, and on their website afterward. Mine will be available Wednesday, May 5 (any time). Register here; you’ll receive an email with a link, to access the talks on the given day.

And if you are engaged in the struggle for justice and human rights; if you are embraced by soil and water and growing food; if you are deep in silent meditation; if you are disheartened by your own life or discouraged by the changes in the world; if you are filled with gratitude; if you are afraid; if you are angry – whoever you are and in whatever state, know that you are held.

If you would like us to chant on behalf of yourself or a loved one, someone in danger, sick, missing, in prison, passed over, or for a cause or a concern, please ask.

With love,

Shodo