Practice Period Week of April 11 |
| Welcome to the sixth week of Practice Period! See bottom of flyer for SMS *Zoom link for appropriate events All times are MDT Heron Dreams: words from Roshi Sarah  Dear Friends, Here on the south coast of Nova Scotia, the best surfing is in Autumn and Winter, when big storms sail past in the North Atlantic and send their energy ashore in the form of powerful waves. Surf. While living here for this Covid year with his wife and new baby girl, working remotely, my son Joe has also fallen in love with surfing. This week we checked out a new wave off a beautiful, rocky point. Joe was trying out new fins that he had just fitted onto his board, while Samara, Vivian (in backpack) and I walked the beach. It was perfect. A couple of mornings later, early, Joe went back to ride that wave again. The tide was lower, and going down as he surfed. As he made his way to shore, not realizing how close the rocks were, he heard a dreaded crunch. The middle fin had hit a rock, hard, and was off. Gone. The fin, though small, is fiberglass, and heavy. And almost exactly the color of those rocks. It was not to be found. Today has been cool, breezy, and sunny, and the tide was low in late afternoon. Just because why not, we went back out there, the four of us. We waded across the stream, climbed over a point and walked the large expanse of rocks uncovered at low tide. We fanned out. We walked. Joe had a pretty good sense where he had come out, but of course all those rocks had been covered with ocean before. We walked. I decided, just for the heck of it, to walk as if that fin was there in the rocks somewhere and we were going to find it. But the baby was getting pretty cold and overdue for her nap. We walked. I just kept looking around. And then, there it was! I had watched Joe fit the fin to the board, so I recognized it, and….there it was! The funny thing was that there wasn’t a heavy load on the event. Even if the fin hadn’t been found by us it would have been found in the rocks, in some important sense. The whole event immediately brought up for me the verse for our koan of last week, with “when idle concerns don’t hang in your mind, that is your best season.” Early Spring, North Atlantic beach, looking for a lost fin. My best season. Not hard to find. Sarah Bender, Roshi, currently has availability for WITR times during practice period. Appointments are for 20 min. meetings. Please email to schedule with Sarah: sembender@gmail.com Saturday, March 27 6:30-8:00 AM Wednesday, Mar. 31 noon to 2 PM Wednesday, April 14 6-8 PM Sunday, April 25 9-11 AM People can still schedule with her outside of the the above times. Please email Sarah: sembender@gmail.com Spring Koan Meditation series with Roshi Sarah Saturday 4:00-6PM Mar. 20,27, Apr. 3, 10, 17, 24 In the SMS *Zoomdo To be on list contact Sarah: sembender@gmail.com Koan for this week: The coin that’s lost in the river is found in the river. And this as a partner. Both of them seem to connect in an interesting way to the koans we took up last week. Untitled Oceans traditional Inuit Song And I thought over again my small adventures as with a shore wind I drifted out in my kayak and thought I was in danger. My fears these small ones that I thought so big for all the vital things I had to get and reach And yet there is only one great thing the only thing to live to see in huts and in journeys the great day that dawns and the light that fills the world.  Early morning meditation via *Zoom 6:30am-7:30, This is a simple sit led by volunteers. Enter as you are, your video off. Join at any point, sink in…Vows at end. Early morning meditations this week are Mon,Tue, Wed (the regular SMS meditation), Thur, Fri, Sat (the regular SMS meditation), Sun. |
 Earth Walk Thur. April 15th. 5:30pm – Palmer Park. Join us for a socially distanced 30 minute meditative saunter as we move our feet with the rhythm of our earth. We will meet at the Palmer Park trailhead on west side of park. It’s at Chelton and Paseo. Look for the little parking lot on the north side. If weather is below 45, we won’t meet. Please email Debbie with any questions: gardenmail@msn.com Text Deb when you get there if you can’t find us 719-209-2260 |
  Art Gallery facilitated by Fox Love A place for sangha to gather works that inspire and are inspired by practice. This may be anything you make or that you find, in any medium. Please include artist, title, and date if it’s relevant. Please do not include commentary. Art functions best if it’s allowed to speak for itself.  Contact: foxloveart@gmail.com to submit your piece.Click on rockcycleceramics.com to peruse the gallery.  lotus 3 susan rogers watercolor  Praying mantis photo Mary Montoya SANTIAGO The road seen, then not seen, the hillside hiding then revealing the way you should take, the road dropping away from you as if leaving you to walk on thin air, then catching you, holding you up, when you thought you would fall, and the way forward always in the end the way that you followed, the way that carried you into your future, that brought you to this place, no matter that it sometimes took your promise from you, no matter that it had to break your heart along the way … Above work submitted by Regan Arntzen  Jeweled Naga, Laotian River Snake Days without traction, I slip on dream’s blackened glaze. Nights I lie awake, keep watch for the dragon, hear a woman’s call, It’s coming. Stones lodge in my chest, I fight to keep afloat, my right arm aches to know. Vigilance can wear thin. In the dawn I find patterned skin cast off in the bed clothes. An old woman refuses my coins, instead offers her blessing, nudges me to the water’s edge. Stepping into a blue boat, emerald scales slide against my ankle, thread the surface, dive to the mud bottom. Piper Leigh |
A Zen Community
