Sensei Bob’s brush art workshop at Washington Ethical Society was a great success. We had a big group of people who tried their hand at traditional ensos, Japanese characters, or art inspired by nature. Bob brought ink and a few large calligraphy brushes and we all took turns at the table.
We are grateful to WES for inviting us to share this aspect of Zen practice with them. Hopefully we will have the opportunity to offer additional workshops in the future.
Congratulations to Gabe SatsuGen, Mark MuJū, and Grace YūSen on receiving the Zen precepts during our October Jukai. They are pictured with our teachers, Sensei Bruce ShiHo Lindsay, Sensei Bob JinGen Ertman, and our guiding teacher Sensei Rebecca Museidō Hawes.
Gabe, Grace, and Mark have working steadily over the past year to prepare for Jukai. They have been studying the Zen precepts with Sensei Rebecca, sewing their rakusus, learning service roles in the zendo, and making their lineage charts and personal lineage projects.
Jukai is a way of deepening Zen practice by taking up the Zen Precepts. The precepts are guidelines for harmonious living. We follow them to ease our suffering and live a more compassionate life. Our sangha also works with the three tenets of the Zen Peacemakers. The tenets remind us to set aside our fixed ideas so that we can see more clearly and choose our actions from a broader perspective.
From Rebecca Museidō Hawes
To my Sangha I bow in gratitude for your support and love as I pass through another gateless Dharma Entrance Gate. As a new Unsui (novice priest) in the White Plum Asanga, I bow to my ordaining teacher Rev. Roshi Ed Sangetsu, Oshō. As a Sensei, I continue to bow to my transmitting teacher, Bob Jingen, Sensei. To my family, my dharma siblings, my friends, the stream of ancestors and the numberless creations – I bow.
While the ceremony Shukke Tokudo traditionally means “home leaving,” I remind everyone that you are still stuck with me at One Heart Sangha. I am neither arriving nor going anywhere.
The priest name 恵門,（Emon）[é-mon], was chosen for me by Rev. Roshi Ed Sangetsu, Oshō and Rev. Sensei Jon Seichō (清調) McCollum, Oshō. In the ceremony Sangetsu Roshi explained that the name is meant, “…to honor the thread of listening and service that has woven through her life from its earliest moments. It means, “the gate through which grace enters the world.” Even as a two-year-old dreaming of becoming a “flying nun,” she carried an impulse to be helpful to others—a drive that later expressed itself in social work, research, and countless acts of care. Zen practice allowed her to recognize that the Bodhisattva vows were not distant ideals but the very path she had been living all along, guided by Avalokitesvara’s example of responding to the cries of the world. Over time, Museidō came to understand that she could never have enough “heads or arms” to hear and save all beings, yet that realization did not lessen her practice; rather, it revealed that hearing and doing are not personal achievements, but boundless gifts arising in each moment. 恵 (grace) reflects this sense of receiving and giving without self-aggrandizement, while 門 (gate) honors her openness, deep attentiveness, the quality that has shaped her life, her Zen practice, and her aspiration to serve as an unsui and, ultimately, as an interfaith chaplain.”
Joyful Mind Zendo, our sister sangha, is hosting their annual potluck and movie screening. They are graciously inviting sister sanghas in the area to join them.
To learn more and register visit their website.
The event is on June 14 Sunday, June 14th – 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM at Rockville United Church at 355 Linthicum Street, Rockville, MD
Omnivore, vegan, and vegetarian dishes are all welcome. All items should be labeled due to dietary restrictions like nut allergies, gluten free, vegan, etc.
They will be screening the 2017 documentary, Walk With Me. Narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch, Walk With Me takes us deep inside the world-famous monastery of Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh.
WES is hosting an interfaith, social justice oriented Seder on April 4th from 6pm to 8pm. OHS and other communities are invited.
From Rev. KC: “It will be a less traditional Seder, and we’d really love to have you or any folks from One Heart who are interested join us.”
Here’s a link for individuals to let us know if they plan to join: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScyny5AkIz2P0PBsJdUEgpIwZvfANBCT-05nssJZ5mtHfoo_w/viewform
Join the Zen Peacemakers for a Bearing Witness retreat this April. They will be visiting Selma and Montgomery, Alabama to bear witness the events African Americans faced there. Please spread the word to anyone you know who might be interested. ZPO Bearing Witness retreats take place in places where deep human trauma occurred and where healing is endlessly needed. With retreats they intend to contribute to this healing.
Visit their website to read more or Click to register.
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