September 2022 Newsletter – Springs Mountain Sangha

Dear Ones,

I’m fitting words into the interstices of today, keenly aware that it’s been a while, and you can see why!

Winter here in New Zealand, the wettest ever (sigh) which of course is okay with this foreigner from a dry, dry place. From our house perched on a hillside, looking out across the valley of Tawa (a suburb of Wellington) and on to the high hills on the other side, we watch the clouds droop and lift, the rain sweep in and sweep out, the sunrise from the kitchen! Lila will be three years old next week. We open the drapes to check out the dawn, pink? Or the clouds, purple? “Color” and “colorful” seem to be Lila’s favorite words. She’s a keen observer. Details are noted, studied (What’s a gap, and what’s a crack, and what happens if you force your spoon down into the crack in the dining table? What’s it like when you poke your finger right into the middle of the pear slice? What is this spice like if you have a tiny taste from the palm of your hand?) and often become a song or a story. “This bumply grey ball needs to make poo, and this little container is its potty!”) We two are developing our own rituals in the midst of the family. Dogdog can get some socks on his paws after you have some socks on your own, and then gumboots and jacket and we’ll go outside and make our walk around the little circle at the top of the hill, finding something new before Kathryn and 3 toddlers in her big car come to pick Lila up for the day. Meanwhile….I’ve already spent some early time getting little Harriet back to sleep after her third nurse of the night. Sleep a little, walk a little, sing a little song…..nights are like that.

So there’s a small sample of the rhythm of my days here, completely filled with the wonder and the doing. A new person….truly, “The way things are is mysterious and hard to see.” And “does a newborn infant have the sixth consciousness?” A laugh bubbles up from my heart. “Like tossing a ball on swiftly flowing water!…..Moment by moment, it never stops flowing.” Big eyes looking up, arms and legs akimbo, eyes fluttering shut, tiny tummy doing the hard work of learning digestion, poos coming out mustard yellow with flecks (great from the adult’s view) or green and thin (not so great), and laundry, so much laundry….so the rhythm of washing and hanging up, trash and meals and washing up and tidying and messing….

It’s so ordinary, and so extraordinary, to be dropped into the lives of my daughter, her husband Reuben, Lila and Harriet. Of course, all of us have stuff coming up, and so the eyes of my heart look to past and future, and especially in the night there are the voices of my own demons to be heard, and it’s a shift of practice to be noticing and allowing and respecting all of that in myself and my loved ones, and just including it along with the delights of being together., which are many. These emotions come in waves. Waves on a very large sea. Just realized that the word emotion seems to carry the wave quality of them. Motion coming out. Out of what, out of where? Seems just as mysterious, and not very different than the changes on the face of new little Harriet.

I miss being with you all in meditation and conversation, and I’m so looking forward to being with you after I arrive in Colorado on Sept. 9! I’m so glad you are having the rich experience of Megan Rundel in the meantime, and look forward to being with you for her session while I’m home.

With love,

Sarah

September

Monday, September 5, 6 PM, Zoom: Meditation and Sutra Service
Tuesday, September 6, 6:15-8:15 PM, Zoom: Steering Committee Meeting
Monday, September 12, 6 PM, Zoom: Meditation and Close Reading with Megan Rundel, Sensei
Saturday, September 17: Catamount hike with Brandy Lancaster
Monday, September 19, 6 PM, Zoom: Community Night: Meditation and Precepts Conversation
Thursday, September 22, 7:30 AM, Zoom: Autumn Equinox with Sarah Bender, Roshi
Saturday, September 24, 9:30 AM – 1 PM: Simple Sit with Sarah Bender, Roshi at Creek Bend Zendo
Monday, September 26, 6 PM, Zoom: Meditation and Close Reading with Megan Rundel, Sensei

A SPECIAL OFFERING DURING OUR MONDAY EVENING MEETINGS
SECOND AND FOURTH MONDAYS OF AUGUST, SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER:

THROUGH FORESTS TOGETHER: AN INTIMATE JOURNEY

CLOSE READING SERIES
with Megan Rundel Sensei

Continuing Monday September 12th and 26th, 6 PM MDT/ 5 PM PDT

The evenings will open with a period of meditation, followed by the study group at 6:30.

All are welcome for all sessions, whether or not you have attended before.

An invitation from Megan Rundel:

Please join us for an intimate study group to explore Joan Sutherland’s extraordinary book, Through Forests of Every Color: Awakening with Koans. In this group, we will do a close reading of Joan’s book and our own personal, spiritual, and creative experiences with koans. We will take up the ways koans make us permeable to the joys and sorrows of the world, and to glimpse the great mystery that interweaves it all.

Please have a copy of the book on hand for the group, and read at least the first four chapters (through page 45) for our first meeting.

~ Megan

Sign on with the Springs Mountain Sangha Zoom link (see top of newsletter)

Book available for purchase on the Shambhala website, or Amazon
https://www.shambhala.com/through-forests-of-every-color.html

OPPORTUNITIES TO HEAR CONVERSATIONS WITH JOAN SUTHERLAND

CONVERSATION WITH MEGAN RUNDEL, SENSEI JULY 27
https://youtu.be/YJq7r693TOY

AND, COMING IN SEPTEMBER:

FROM PZI, Monday September 19:
“Through Forests of Every Color”, a Zen Luminaries Series
with guest Joan Sutherland and Jon Joseph.
Register Here.https://sanmateozen.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6e105cb0441c66efacd696ff0&id=c696b898aa&e=ccc529fa1b

To support Joan’s continuing work, you can make a tax-deductible contribution to Cloud Dragon: The Joan Sutherland Dharma Works. Here’s a link to the donation page. The site is also a treasure trove of Joan’s teachings–online texts as well as numerous recordings of her dharma talks.

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

Work in the Room
Sarah Bender, Roshi will be back in Colorado Springs for two weeks in September and is available for Work in the Room appointments either in person or via zoom. If you’d like to meet with Sarah between September 11th and September 24th please email her at sembender@gmail.com to set up a time.

Catamount Hike
Saturday, September 17

Brandy Lancaster will be leading a Hike for the sangha at Catamount on the morning of September 17th. This is a great opportunity to spend some timei together outdoors in a beautiful location. Please email Brandy at BDL0824@gmail.com for details about the meetup location and time.

Autumn Equinox
Thursday, September 22, 7:30 AM

Please join us on zoom on Thursday, September 22 for morning meditation starting at 6:30 AM. Following the morning sit, at 7:30, Sarah Bender, Roshi will honor the Autumn Equinox with a ceremony to mark the beginning of fall. All are welcome.

Simple Sit at Creek Bend Zendo
Saturday, September 24 9:30 AM to 1 PM

Springs Mountain Sangha will host a simple sit at Creek Bend Zendo on Saturday, September 24th while Sarah is in town for a short spell. We will gather at 9:30 for meditation until noon. Then we will share lunch together and visit. Please bring your own bag lunch. If you need directions or are willing to help Sarah set up for this simple sit by showing up an hour early, please email Kelly McFarland at s.kelly.hls@gmail.com

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

Pikes Peak Interfaith Coalition September Gathering
Presents it’s September Dialogue:
Religious Celebrations, Holy Days and Observances in the Pikes Peak Region
featuring guest speakers Rabbi Jay Sherwood and Rabbi Ian Pillsbury

All are invited to attend, Sunday, September 11th from 2-5pm at the Colorado Spring Police Department Community Room (see flier) Register on Event Bright at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/religious-celebrations-holy-days-and-observances-in-the-pikes-peak-region-registration-405686227427

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.