May 2022 Newsletter – Springs Mountain Sangha

This dewdrop world–
Is a dewdrop world,
And yet, and yet …
-Kobayashi Issa

Dear Friends,

May Day! It has multiple resonances for many of us. Today, on the calendar, falls halfway between the Winter solstice and the Spring Equinox. Even the midst of historic drought in the American West, there are flowers! The energy of Spring is in full flow, seeming to hold all the richness, joy, sorrow, ineffable order and chaos of the time in our world and our lives. A dewdrop world, and yet…

Those words of Issa’s grieving poem, “And yet, and yet” bring up today a word we don’t use so often in Zen. Promise.

Someone recently brought into conversation a vivid experience of release from the dual burden of promises unfulfilled: the sense that one owes something to loved ones, to the world, and the sense that the world, and loved ones, owe something.

The conversation connected with a koan, Case 35 in the Gateless Gate: The True Ch’ien, or in David Hinton’s translation, Twain-Beauty’s Spirit Fled.

Here’s Hinton’s telling:

Master Fifth-Patriarch Mountain asked a monk, “Twain-Beauty’s sky-spirit fled to a life with her true love, leaving her earth-spirit to live on at home. Which was the actual Twain-Beauty?”

Energies of sky and earth, and the relationships that run through the courses of our lives—what are these like for you right now? Is there, for you, a sense of both dividedness and undividedness? What is it like, being you, right now?

We’ll spend some time this afternoon with this story, and these questions, in the last of my Spring koan series for this year. That’s at 3:00 MT, on the sangha Zoom.

Yours in the Dharma,
Sarah

In Person/Zoom hybrid meetings continue on Mondays, but will depend on current conditions. We will announce in our weekly newsletter on Sunday whether the Monday night meeting with be on Zoom or a In-Person/Zoom hybrid.

This Monday’s meeting, May 2, will be hybrid.

May

Sunday, May 1, 3-5 PM, Zoom: Spring Koan Series, Sarah Bender, Roshi
Monday, May 2, 6 PM: Meditation and Sutra Service
Tuesday, May 3, 6:15-8:15 PM, Zoom: Steering Committee Meeting
Wednesday, May 4, 7-8:30 PM, Zoom: Open Source Koan Series
Thursday, May 5, 7:30 PM, Zoom: Movie Night
Monday, May 9, 6 PM: Community Night: Meditation and Conversation
Wednesday, May 11, 7-8:30 PM, Zoom: Open Source Koan Series
Thursday, May 12, 6:00 PM, Zoom: Sangha dinner concluding practice period
Friday-Sunday, May 13-15: SMS Integrative Retreat
Monday, May 16, 6 PM: Meditation and Dharma Talk, Sarah Bender, Roshi
Monday, May 23, 6 PM: Koan exploration, Sarah Bender, Roshi
Monday, May 30, 6 PM: Wayfaring Mind Talk

July

Monday-Saturday, July 25-30, In Person: Open Source Maha Sangha Retreat

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

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.

SMS Movie Night
Thursday, May 5, 7 PM

SMS Community Dinner
Thursday, May 12, 7 PM

Join us on zoom for a meal together. Nothing formal, just a time to gather together as community and catch up with each other.

SMS Practice Period

Practice Period has begun and will continue through May 15th.
This is a time for us to renew and partner with our practice as a Sangha, and experience additional offerings. Here is a preview, more offerings to be announced:

Daily morning meditation (see ongoing meditation schedule above for details)
Wednesday Open Source Series continues through May 11th
Sarah’s Sunday Spring Koan Series, 3-5p MDT (online) April 3, 10, 17, 24th, and May 1st
Integrative Retreat online to conclude Practice Period with Sarah Bender
May 13th to May 15th (Friday evening through Sunday afternoon).

SMS Integrative Retreat
May 13-15, 2022

Announcing the Practice Period Integrative Retreat, May 13-15th,
Friday evening through Sunday morning
INSIDE THE DREAM, REUNION: The Tale of the Lindworm
A weekend online retreat with a koan and an old story
Please email Piper Leigh at piperleigh@icloud.com ASAP to let us know you’ll be attending.

Open Source In Person Retreat
July 25-30 In Person at Pueblo Mountain Park, CO

Registration is now open for
Open Source Mahasangha Retreat

A Midsummer Dream
Monday, July 25th through Saturday, July 30th, 2022
Pueblo Mountain Park, Beulah, CO

In-Person Meditation Retreat
With Open Source Teachers Sarah Bender, Roshi; Tenney Nathanson, Sensei; Andrew Palmer, Sensei; and Megan Rundel, Sensei

Taking part in the Gathering
Over pandemic time, Open Source Zen communities have become more interconnected than ever. This summer, we can finally gather in person again, streaming in from our different directions to dream a Dharma dream with the mountain pines of Colorado. Come and share koans, dreams, walks, conversations and the deep stillness of meditation under the starry skies and the new moon of mid-summer.

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.

Cost for full-time attendance starts at $650 for dorm-style accommodations

July 8, 2022 is the due-date for registration and full payment!

Vaccination and current boosters are mandatory for all participants

TO REGISTER:

Please choose one of the options below:

1. Click on this link and fill out the online registration form: online registration form
2. Click this link, download, print, fill out the registration form and mail it to the address below: registration form

TO PAY:

The registration and full payment deadline is July 8, 2022. The registrar must receive the registration form and full payment by the registration deadline. Payment may be submitted via PayPal through the “donate” button at www.smszen.org (please specify in the description that it is for the summer retreat).

Checks may be sent to Springs Mountain Sangha:

Springs Mountain Sangha
Attn: Regan Arntzen
PO Box 2613
Colorado Springs, CO 80903

The registrar for the retreat is Regan Arntzen. Please email any questions to rrarntzen@gmail.com
*Scholarships are available for the asking. Please do not let funds keep you from attending the retreat.

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.

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

Open Source Website
The Open Source is looking for help building content for a new website. Please email Megan Rundel at meganrundel@gmail.com if you are interested in joining this team.

July Open Source Retreat Planning Committee
The Open Source is planning an in person retreat July 25-30 and we need your help on the planning committee. If you are willing to join us in making this retreat happen, please email Kelly McFarland at s.Kelly.HLS@gmail.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

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.