Dear Friends, From this morning’s meditation, Out beyond the pink geraniums, Bare branches in morning sun Sky innocent as a baby’s belly. How to let in this grace? How…
December 2021 Newsletter
Category: Monthly Newsletter
Monthly Newletters
November 2021 Newsletter
Dear Friends, Our Sitting Alone, Together retreat concluded just Sunday afternoon (the anniversary of our Refuge Retreat of last year!), and for me, it continued into packing, pulling the little blue kayak up into the house, washed and ready for…
October 2021 Newsletter
Dear Friends, It’s a stormy morning in Voglers Cove. White capped waves even here in the cove, the small boats bouncing on their moorings, the high tide pushing seaweed into bumper-shaped mounds; and the huge elms across the street rattling…
September 2021 Newsletter
Dear Friends, This image from inside a dandelion blossom ready to go, but not yet gone–still there, catching droplets–reminds me of this time, and of this koan about the Pang Family, our early ancestors in the Zen tradition. The Layman was…
August 2021 Newsletter
Dear Friends, I’ve been thinking about twirling, and refuge. When I was a little girl I loved to twirl, and I loved to swing on the wooden seated swing under the tall tall tree in the woods behind the house. …
July 2021 Newsletter
Dear Friends, Here comes July! Creek Bend is cooler than many parts of the Springs, but even here, peas and strawberries are ripe for the picking, and the sunflowers ringing the terrace are hip high. The beautiful perennials Debbie Stavish…
June 2021 Newsletter
Dear Sangha and Friends, This morning I attended a monthly Repentance Ceremony at the Dharma Rain Buddhist Temple, where our friend Rev. Pho Khai is Abbot. It’s a very beautiful service, with chanting in Vietnamese and 108 bows. The chants…
May 2021 Newsletter
Dear Sangha and Friends, Here we are, at the end of our two month practice period, which seems such an odd transition, given that many of us have laid down during this time patterns of practice that we’ve found supporting us…
April 2021 Newsletter
Dear Friends, Perhaps those words, from China long ago, are the simplest expression I’ve met of what it is to create sacred space. You don’t have to know what bird, what song. This evening, with such hard news of deaths…
March 2021 Newsletter
Dear Friends, I woke up this morning gratefully warm under my covers (and a cat), and looked out on a world also under its soft white blanket. Feeling rooted, and grateful for the roots underground and in our Zen tradition,…