Springs Mountain Sangha, November 2024
This will be a good month to gather for meditation, study and community, and….
There’s a lot going on this month for SMS!
In addition to our ongoing gatherings,
Ancestors Retreat November 2
All-Sangha Meeting November 17
(and December 7, Bodhi Day Retreat)
All times listed below are Mountain Time
October Offerings
Monday, October 28; 6 PM, on Zoom & in person at Shove Chapel, Meditation and Dharma Talk with Sarah Bender, Roshi
Wednesday, October 30; 7:30-8:30 PM, on Zoom
Open Source Koan Series
November Offerings
Saturday, November 2; 9:30-noon in person and on Zoom
Ancestors retreat
Monday, November 4; 6 PM, on Zoom & in person at Shove Chapel, Meditation and Sutra Service
Wednesday, November 6; 7:30-8:30 PM, on Zoom
Open Source Koan Series
Monday, November 11; 6 PM, on Zoom & in person at Shove Chapel, Meditation and Dharma Talk with Sarah Bender, Roshi
Wednesday, November 13; 7:30-8:30 PM, on Zoom
Open Source Koan Series
Sunday, November 17; noon-3PM, on Zoom and in person at Creek Bend Zendo
All Sangha Meeting; This is our annual meeting to hear input from the sangha on what sustains us and how we dream this dream forward, there’s also a little business that needs our attention at this meeting
Monday, November 18; 6 PM, on Zoom & in person at Shove Chapel, Meditation and Community Night
Wednesday, November 20; 7:30-8:30 PM, on Zoom
Open Source Koan Series
Monday, November 25; 6 PM, on Zoom & in person at Shove Chapel, Koan Meditation with Sarah Bender, Roshi
And in December,
Saturday, December 7
Save this date, too! our annual Bodhi Day retreat.
At Creek Bend, hybrid
Candlelight Meditation
Every Sunday from 8 to 8:30 PM, you are invited to join candlelight meditation online. Simple and lovely.
Looking Ahead
SMS Ancestors Retreat
with Sarah Bender, Roshi and community
Saturday, November 2
Early AM optional (includes a brief ceremony welcoming ancestors)
then 9:30 AM-12:00 PM
At Creek Bend and in the zoom zendo
Registration now open
It’s a time to take a chunk of time, enjoy stillness together,
join in meditation and connect with ancestors,
offer thanks, understanding and blessings.
You might just see who shows up in your meditation, or you may have lost some dear ones during the past year and wish to thank them and wish them well. Collectively, we can offer thanks and blessings, open our hearts to those who have died or suffered deeply. And we can contemplate the mystery of our relationships, and how they change and continue through life and death.
If it happens that you are having a sense of some unfinished, somehow sticky relationship with someone who has died, or some part of your life or yourself that seems haunting, you might want to spend a little time in meditation with this sense over the days before the retreat.
For your interest: You can find talks on transforming ghosts into ancestors, here, both in audible and pdf form. Reading this is not required preparation for the retreat.
https://joansutherlanddharmaworks.org/images/links/538-Ghosts_into_Ancestors_1.mp3
https://joansutherlanddharmaworks.org/images/links/537-Ghosts_into_Ancestors_2.mp3
Registration is now open. Requested dana $40, please email Kelly McFarland at s.kelly.hls@gmail.com to register, or with questions.
Please do not let lack of funds keep you from attending the retreat.
You can pay via PayPal here:
http://www.smszen.org/supportsms/
Be sure to note that the donation is for this Nov 2nd retreat. Thank you!
Spring Retreat
April 7-12, 2025
It is time to start thinking about and planning our Spring retreat. The steering committee has done some initial work with possible places to host our retreat and it is ready to hand off to a planning committee which is now forming. If you would like to help plan this upcoming retreat, please contact Kelly McFarland at s.kelly.HLS@gmail.com
Fall Open Source Series
Trust in Mind
with Sarah Bender, Tenney Nathanson and Megan Rundel
Please join us for our Open Source fall online koan series
Oct 30, Nov 6, 13, 20; 7:30-8:30 Mountain Time
We’ll be keeping company with a poem from very early Chan,
usually attributed to the Third Ancestor, Sengcan (that c is pronounced like /ts/. We can hear it as “Trust in Heart-mind,” or “Verse on the Faith Mind,” or several different ways.
Here’s an old friend, the opening of the poem:
“The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.”
We’ll use Joan Sutherland’s Xinxinming series of four talks as a starting point. If you aren’t already a subscriber to Joan’s talks, you can do that here:
https://joansutherlanddharmaworks.org/Support/Subscribe/index.html
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83134916713?pwd=UmZYM291YlVNMlhqS2NTL0s0bjhyQT09
Meeting ID: 831 3491 6713
Passcode: 031742
Upcoming Retreats
Save the dates – more information coming
Ancestors Retreat
November 2 at Creek Bend and on Zoom
To Register please email Kelly McFarland at s.kelly.HLS@gmail.com
Bodhi Day Retreat
December 7 hybrid
Ongoing Meditation Schedule, All available
via Zoom; Monday Eves available in person as well
Weekly Meditations (all times MDT) on Zoom:
- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday are 6:30 to 7:30 AM. We sit for two periods and people come and go as they need to, and leave camera off. (Often a poem or koan will drop in at some point.)
- Saturday we sit from 6:30 to 8:00 AM, then someone speaks for a bit about their practice to kick off a deep and lively discussion (til roughly 8:30) These Zen Threads talks are now alternating every other week with “mini-threads” group discussions of practice with multiple paths emerging and joining seamlessly. You can join the meditation at 6:30, 7:00, 7:30 or 8:00.
- Sunday 8:00-8:30 PM Candlelight Meditation
Many Arms of Guanyin
BodhiMind Center of Colorado Springs is again hosting the visit of Tibetan Buddhist monks (previously at the FAC in 2018) from India to make a Sand Mandala dedicated to peace. It will take place at the Manitou Arts Center. See the schedule below, and contact Rick Meinig (rickmeinig@gmail.com) for more details. All events are free and open to the public, with donations accepted for the monks, who run an orphanage in India (ngarifoundation.org). We plan to place any updates on our website at bodhimindcenter.org.
EVENT SCHEDULE
Monday, Nov. 4, 6-8 pm: Prof. David Gardiner, Colorado College, talk on “The Art, Cultural, and Religious Significance of the Mandala.” At our usual Hammond Law Center, 2955 Professional Plaza, Suite 101, Colorado Springs.
Tuesday, Nov. 5, 6-8 pm: Setup for Medicine Buddha Mandala. Manitou Art Center, 513 Manitou Avenue.
Wednesday, Nov. 6 (daytime hours to be announced): Opening ceremony for creation of Medicine Buddha Mandala. Manitou Art Center.
Wednesday, Nov. 6 (evening hour to be announced): Medicine Buddha Empowerment rite. A ceremony to invoke the blessing of Medicine Buddha for general body/mind healing.
Thursday, Nov. 7: Sand Mandala Creation (daytime hours to be announced). Attendance is welcome! Manitou Art Center.
Thursday, Nov. 7: Talk and demonstration of Tibetan Buddhist Art (evening, to be announced), by Chelsea Beach, Founder and Director of the local Himalayan School of Art
Friday, Nov. 8: Sand Mandala Creation (daytime hours to be announced). Attendance is welcome!. Manitou Art Center.
Saturday, Nov. 9: Sand Mandala Completion and Dissolution (times to be announced). Manitou Art Center.
Sunday, Nov. 10, 10am – 12 noon): Meditation and Tea. Tibetan Meditation Center, 3470 S Carefree Circle, Colorado Springs.
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
Support for Springs Mountain Sangha
You can donate to Springs Mountain Sangha in person at Shove Chapel using the dana bowl at the entrance to the dharma hall. You can also donate through our PayPal account. You can get to the SMS PayPal link on the SMS web site at:
http://www.smszen.org/supportsms/
Or you can mail a check 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
or by Paypal to sembender@gmail.com
Support for Cloud Dragon
The easiest way is to make a donation at the website, here:
https://joansutherlanddharmaworks.org/cgi-bin/dharma/page.cgi?g=Support%2FDonate%2Findex.html;d=1