Dear Friends,
During March, time will change, Winter will change its tune with signs already arriving: Magpies building their nests, owls conversing, geese in formation overhead, buds slowly fattening. Spring will arrive! It’s cheering to have daffodils indoors so eagerly popping open, and the variety of small birds at the feeder growing. And yet, and still, the times are hard and we so much wish we knew more about how to help, how to contribute, even as we feel the weight of fatigue and sadness. Many joys, many sadnesses….being alive.
It’s wonderful that we are able to practice together so much, to dip into the vastness together and there to open to the particulars, the poignant and gorgeous particulars.
Together, in community, we are able to do this often! See below. And soon, we’ll have more chances to be outdoors together, hooray!
Yours in the Dharma,
Sarah
We have moved many of our gatherings to the zoom zendo for now, but… stay tuned! We are hoping to have some in person opportunities soon.
All times listed below are mountain time (MST).
February
Wednesday, February 23, 7-8:30 PM, Zoom: Open Source Koan Series
Monday, February 28, 6 PM, Zoom: Koan exploration, Sarah Bender, Roshi
March
Tuesday, March 1, 6:15-8:15 PM, Zoom: Steering Committee Meeting
Wednesday, March 2, 7-8:30 PM, Zoom: Open Source Koan Series
Monday, March 7, 6 PM, Zoom: Meditation and Sutra Service
Wednesday, March 9: NO Open Source Koan Series
Monday, March 14, 6 PM, Zoom: Community Night: Meditation and Conversation
Wednesday, March 16, 7-8:30 PM, Zoom: Open Source Koan Series
Saturday, March 19, 6:30-8:30 AM, Zoom: Spring Equinox Ceremony
Monday, March 21, 6 PM, Zoom: Meditation and Dharma Talk, Sarah Bender, Roshi
Wednesday, March 23, 7-8:30 PM, Zoom: Open Source Koan Series
Thursday–Sunday, March 24-27, Zoom: Springs Mountain Sangha Branches of Light Retreat
Monday, March 28, 6 PM, Zoom: Koan exploration, Sarah Bender, Roshi
Wednesday, March 30, 7-8:30 PM, Zoom: Open Source Koan Series
Ongoing Meditation Schedule
Sundays: Candlelight Meditation 8 to 8:30 PM
Mondays: Meditation and evening starting at 6:00 PM
On Mondays you can also join at 6:25 or 6:55
Wednesdays: Morning meditation 6:30-7:30 AM
Saturdays: Morning Meditation 6:30-8:00 AM, discussion 8-8:30 AM
Most Saturday mornings, a sangha member will kick off a discussion with a brief talk, pertaining to their own experience of practice right now. These conversations are rich and real!
Additional Early Morning Meditations
A simple, early morning sit is offered on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, 6:30-7:30 AM. There will be no designated leader, but the Zoom Zendo will be open and available for those who would like to join. Please leave your camera off while the meditation is in progress.
Upcoming Events
Upcoming Events
Steering Committee Meeting
Tuesday, January 3; 6:15 PM on Zoom
The Springs Mountain Sangha Steering Committee meets once a month for approximately 2 hours on the first Tuesday of the month. All are welcome to attend. We plan to continue discussions about the upcoming calendar for 2023.
Open Source Koan Series
One Wild Word, Many Enlightening Encounters
Wednesdays 7 PM Mountain Time starting January 19
With Open Source Teachers
Andrew Palmer, Megan Rundel,
Sarah Bender and Tenney Nathanson
Koans are gateways to awakening, words for wordless transmission of the Way.
So how does that work? We’ll explore the different ways koans can come to meet us, and we can come to meet them.
This Series will continue through May 11.
Springs Mountain Sangha
Branches of Light
Online Meditation Retreat
With Sarah Bender Roshi
March 24-27, 2022
The mysterious source of the bright is clear and unstained;
branches of light stream from that dark.
Taking part in the Gathering
We and everything we perceive
are interwoven and not interwoven,
and this interweaving continues on and on
while each thing stands in its own place.
from Shitou Xiqian, “Taking Part in the Gathering”
Dark, and Light—Just a few days after the Spring Equinox, as Earth all interwoven dreams its way into a time of new life and growth, each particular thing in its own way—we do, too.
In community, in the Temple we make with our individual practices linked by our images on screens—our rooms creating the sacred space of our joined ordinary lives: In this way we enact the discovery that our ancestor Shitou Xiqian expresses.
Weaving ourselves in and out of meditation and conversation, day mind and night mind, dark and light, we’ll give ourselves and each other the great gift of time in silence, untrammeled time.
A koan says, “Abiding nowhere, deeply, the heart mind comes forth.”
This is the essence of sesshin, the Zen meditation retreat.
Come and take part in the gathering!
Retreat begins at 6:30 PM MDT on Thursday,March 24, and ends at 4:00 PM MDT on Sunday, March 27
Daily retreat schedule includes periods of sitting and walking, Dharma talks and discussion, individual meetings with the teacher, ample time for meals, rest and walks outside.
Suggested donation for the full retreat is $140.
Part time is available for $35/day or partial day
(Please let us know which day(s) you plan on attending)
Evening talks are open to everyone, retreat participants or not.
You can pay via PayPal here:
Or, you may send a check payable to Springs Mountain Sangha
Mail to:
Kelly and Susan Rogers
910 J St
Unit F8
Salida, CO 81201
Scholarships are available for the asking. Please do not let funds keep you from attending the retreat.
Please email Kelly and Susan Rogers at kelnsus@gmail.com if you plan to attend.
Include in your reply: Name
Phone number
Emergency Contact and phone number
Days you plan to attend
Times you are not available for Work in the Room
Is this your first retreat or first Zoom retreat?
Any questions you might have.
Your email and payment will serve as your registration
Registration is due by March 10, 2022
(Please let us know as soon as you can which will help in planning the retreat)
Retreat daily schedule can be found here.
SMS Integrative Retreat
May 13-15, 2022
Integrative retreats are a time where we share retreat together, with a bit more conversation than a meditation retreat. Practice period will close with an integrative retreat on May 13 – 15th. Mark the date in your calendar and plan to join us. If you are interested in ensuring this retreat happens by volunteering to help coordinate it, please contact Kelly McFarland at s.kelly.HLS@gmail.com. More details coming soon.
Open Source Email List
If you’d like to join the info/discussion group for Open Source (which is a place for you to offer your insights, spark discussions, etc. as well as receiving notices) just email the address below with your name and email address.
opensourcezen+subscribe@groups.io
AND, LOOKING AHEAD
Movie Night, Thursday, February 23 on Zoom, 7 PM
Have a movie you’d like to propose? We watch them beforehand at our leisure, and then meet to discuss.
Work in the Room
Work in the Room by telephone or Zoom can be arranged with Andrew Palmer, Sensei at alpalmer128@gmail.com or with Sarah Bender, Roshi at sembender@gmail.com. Work in the Room is a close encounter of the sacred/ordinary kind—an encounter among you, a teacher, and the great matter that is most deeply real for you right now—and what clearly matters because it shows up in a conversation about the Way, whether, on the face of it, it seems sacred or ordinary. No special undertaking is required.
Newsletter Additions
Do you have artwork, a poem or a volunteer story to share in our newsletter? If so, please send them to Kelly McFarland at s.Kelly.HLS@gmail.com.
Many Arms of Guanyin
Many Arms of Guanyin
Open Source Ecodharma Group
Hello, all,
The Open Source Ecodharma group meets tomorrow (Twosday, 2/22/22) on Zoom at 5:30 p.m. Mountain (adjust for your time zone). Doors open at 5:20, and we will complete by 6:20 Mountain. No meeting on March 8, so after tomorrow, the next meeting will be March 22.
Last time we decided to keep the same two actions for this time, and as before, there’s no need to prepare. In case you want to know in advance, we’re looking at:
- Taking the “Banking on Our Future” pledge through Third Act at https://thirdact.org/what-we-do/banking-on-our-future/
- Writing a “Bug the Banks” letter to your local bank’s branch IF it is one that lends heavily to fossil fuel companies. Sample letters are at https://thirdact.org/what-we-do/bug-the-banks/
Here are the general repeating plans:
- Meet second and fourth Tuesday of each month (No meeting March 8 due to Desert Rain Zen Zoom retreat)
- Zoom room opens at 5:20 p.m. Mountain, begin in earnest at 5:30 Mountain, and end by 6:20 Mountain
- General, flexible structure:
- ~10 minutes – I will lead a guided meditation to ground us in practice
- ~30 minutes – We all take action together
- I will make sure we have at least one thing to work on
- You can bring something you’re interested in (BYOA – bring your own action)
- You can research something you’re interested in
- We can use break-out rooms as desired
- ~10 minutes – We say whatever we’d like to say to be complete
- Attend as many or as few meetings as you would like. Come when you can; come as you are!
If you have thoughts about this or anything else related to the Open Source Ecodharma group, let me know.
Hope to see you soon!
Jennifer
Jennifer Sellers
jen@inspiredmastery.com
Volunteer with SMS
Are you interested in volunteering to help with a specific project within the sangha? Do you have a particular skill or enthusiasm for something that might be helpful? Would you like to help out, but not sure how? SMS truly values and depends on the many efforts given freely by the sangha to the sangha. This is dana and is so much appreciated. If you have questions or want to help, please contact Kelly McFarland S.Kelly.HLS@gmail.com.
About Dana
During these times when we cannot meet in person, you can donate to Springs Mountain Sangha through our PayPal account. You can get to the SMS PayPal link on the SMS web site at:
https://www.smszen.org/supportsms/
You can also mail donations to Springs Mountain Sangha, P.O. Box 2613, Colorado Springs, CO 80903.
We depend on the generosity of our members to support the work of our sangha.If you want to make a donation to Sarah Bender specifically, for example, dana for classes, group meetings or work on the phone (suggested donations for these are $10 per class, or $20 for a 20 min. individual meeting) you can do this by sending a check directly to her.
Sarah Bender
7528 Jenkin Place
Colorado Springs, CO 80919
Support for Cloud Dragon
An easy way to support Cloud Dragon, the Joan Sutherland Dharma WorksAmazon shoppers, sign in at smile.amazon.com and choose Cloud Dragon Dharma Works as the charity you would like 0.5% of your purchases to go to. It costs you nothing extra. We’re grateful for your generosity.
See also Joan Sutherland’s Patreon site,
https://www.patreon.com/posts/do-you-trust-yr-31567633
This is another good way to support Joan’s work and receive fresh teachings from her.