Phone: 507-384-8541
Mountains and Waters Alliance
Mountains and Waters Alliance
  • Home
    • About Shodo Spring
    • Words From My Teacher
    • History of Mountains and Waters Alliance
    • MWA Board of Advisors
  • Zen
    • Heart Sutra Study Materials
  • The Farm
  • The Alliance
    • In detail
  • Support
    • Membership
    • Volunteer
    • Donate – Support
  • Blog
    • All News & Articles
  • Resources
    • Audio / Video Dharma
    • Links and Online Resources
    • Reference Essays / Links
    • Photo Galleries
      • Farm Gallery
      • General Images
      • Rock People & Waterfall Spirit
      • Compassionate Earth Walk
      • Activism
    • Compassionate Earth Walk
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Events Calendar
  • Contact
    • Visitor information

Articles and Posts

21
Dec

By: Shodo

activism climate change collapse cultural change

Comments: 1

MWA Newsletter, -  Dec 21, 2016

Mountains and Waters Alliance – Winter Solstice greetings and report

2013-01-13 Cannon RiverAs the world changes, as despair threatens, the vision of Mountains and Waters Alliance is being deeply tested and clarified.

Climate change becomes increasingly obvious; violence, wars, and the war on the environment continue to escalate, and the incoming government is not a cause for encouragement. Refugees, wars, refusal of refugees, pictures of hurt and hungry children – these are our daily news. The human capacity to cause suffering is unavoidable. The arctic is sixty degrees above normal now; the summer saw unprecedented wildfires and droughts, and I was grateful to be in a place where climate change meant only fierce storms, fallen trees, raging rivers and floods, and ruined crops. The conflict between corporate greed and a culture based in the earth is playing itself out at Standing Rock, and still unfinished. In a small way I participated in that, first organizing prayer vigil support at home, then spending five days at the Standing Rock camps, joining in prayers and also sitting with other Buddhists. I expect to return when needed, and I do expect we will be needed again.
The plan of offering an example of community based in practice with the earth seems like it belongs to a gentler time, with slower change. The other side of the vision – allying with trees, mountains, and forces larger than human – becomes essential, and that is where most of my time has gone this 2016-08-01-14-57-51year. In July, a wilderness retreat with David Loy and Johann Robinson led to profoundly deepened understanding of communicating and allying with the nonhumans – especially mountains and alpine flowers. My following visit to the Black Hills was more of the same, and forging a conscious alliance. This is the work difficult to discuss, that gives Mountains and Waters Alliance its name. If there is any hope in this time, it lies in giving up the illusion that humans are separate, better, or in control, and in casting our lot with all sentient beings.
A brief report on activities:
The primary work has been learning and unlearning. Pulling out invasive plants, I see the mind of war inside myself. I’ve apprenticed myself to the land, to learn in body that which I’m called to teach about becoming part of the family of life. I seek another mind – parental mind or collegial mind – in my relationship with these difficult plants. In this, the land becomes a learning laboratory. This is what I intend to teach to others, but at this time I can only express it through Zen language.
In addition to this learning, daily sitting and retreats at the land, and the wilderness retreat mentioned above, I participated in a Bearing Witness retreat this fall with local Dakota leaders. My December retreat time went to Standing Rock, and was followed by lying in bed waiting for body and heart-mind to recover. It’s been a time of working underground, enriching the soil to be fruitful later. That deep work is still in process, changing me into someone who will be actually able to offer it fully.
On the farm, we’ve protected the orchard from deer and rodents, tended and harvested berries, continued woodland restoration, and repaired storm damage. The farm house now has wood heat and cooking, solar panels, additional space, and a year’s supply of firewood. The Advisory Council meets monthly, volunteers and other supporters have helped with many projects. Office organizing and accounting is improved, and appliction for tax status is on the to-do list. I’m looking for farmers to lease part of the land, and there are a couple of conversations in process.
I’ve taught and led retreats at the farm, had guest teachers, welcomed volunteers, and networked with other farmers as well as activists and Buddhists. I’ve also taught at Buddhist and other groups, and at the Soto Zen Buddhist Association. The sitting and study group in nearby Northfield has doubled in size. My essay “Right Action: The world is my body” was published in The Eightfold Path (ed. Jikyo Wolfer, Temple Ground Press 2016) And as mentioned, I’ve been involved in peaceful activism on environmental and indigenous issues.
I think a time will come when this farm is needed as a place of refuge and sanctuary. This, in addition to being a source of deep nourishment for the inner work, and a place for teaching, is a reason to keep it and cultivate it in spite of the expense.
The most important work has been nearly invisible. Thus I haven’t asked for money. Yet $1400 has come in unsolicited, much appreciated. For those who want to be quiet partners in this work, you are welcome to support it here. If you want to join in this practice, whether here, at your home or anywhere, please contact me.
Much warmth to you, as the dark of the year turns toward light again.
Love, Shodo – for Mountains and Waters Alliance
Here are two of the many writings that sustain me these days of difficulty. My own voice is still.
The Descent, by Thanissara. https://thanissaradharma.wordpress.com/2016/12/20/the-descent/

and this, from 1968:

When despair 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 for their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.                         

Wendell Berry, “The Peace of Wild Things”

1 Comment
  1. Ekyo Susan Nelson

    Beautiful. Thank you for sharing your heart and soul with us Shodo, and for doing what you do, dedicating your life and practice to this beautiful place where we live and to peace and justice for all beings.

    December 27, 2016

    Reply
Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Sidebar
Upcoming Events
  1. Spring Work/Practice Period

    April 1 - June 30
  2. 5-Day Sesshin at the Farm – June 17-22

    June 17 @ 8:00 pm - June 22 @ 3:00 pm
  3. 5-Day Sesshin at the Farm – September 16-21

    September 16 @ 8:00 pm - September 21 @ 3:00 pm
  4. Rohatsu Sesshin – Simplified Zen Meditation Retreat

    November 30 @ 7:00 pm - December 7 @ 5:00 pm

View All Events

Tags
activism ceremony climate change collapse cultural change Martin Prechtel potluck Vairochana Vairochana Farm wetiko
Mountains and Waters Alliance

The Alliance reaches out to the public through teaching, writing, and retreats, offering this vision of the human role in the community of life, grounded in the tangible reality of holding and caring for the shared land.

Mountains and Waters Alliance

16922 Cabot Ave

Faribault, MN 55021
507-384-8541
shodo.spring@gmail.com

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 81 other subscribers

Copyright © Mountains And Waters Alliance 2018. All rights reserved.

Development: North of the River Design