MWA Newsletter, Zen, -  Nov 27, 2023

Mountains and Waters Alliance – a poem and a class announcement

Gifts

Poems

Surrounded by the generosity of donors, I find myself wanting to offer gifts., which mostly means teaching, or inspiration. Here I offer two poems and a class announcement. First, I refer you to the beautiful words of my teacher Shohaku Okumura, found on the front page of the website.

And then a sweet thought from modern poet Antonio Machado:

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.

Teaching

Our first offering this year is an online Zen class studying the “Eihei Koso Hotsuganmon.” This remarkable document sets out the view of Dogen Zenji, founder of Soto Zen, which differed sharply from his contemporaries. “Buddhas and ancestors of old were as we. We in the future shall be Buddhas and ancestors.” We’ll explore the implications of this radical view for our lives and spiritual practice.

The class begins Wednesday, January 3, for 3 weeks. Each month will be a new class, addressing a different writing of Dogen. Here’s a link to the January class, asking you please to register in advance. By donation, as always.  https://mountainsandwatersalliance.org/event/january-zen-class-dogens-vow/

Donations

You probably know that we’re running a fundraiser, https://www.gofundme.com/f/qfwwbz-mountains-and-waters-alliance. At this point we have enough for more study and retreats, our own Zoom, and a start on freeing up my time for all we might do – like preparation and teaching. The dream is that I could spend most of my time in practice and teaching, rather than focusing on livelihood. If you would like to support MWA, please either donate what you can afford, or share this with people you know who might be interested. And while we’re looking for money, in the background is always the intention to gather more practitioners and members.