June 5, 2020

Suzuki Roshi Memorial at Tassajara

If you want to study Buddhism, you should, you know, enter the room.  You should not stay at the edge of the teaching.  Even though you enter our room, you will not have any restriction, you know.  You are quite free, but you should enter our teaching.  Don’t try to understand it just intellectually or by means of experience only.  Experience, of course, is important, but a more important thing is the confidence to believe in yourself.  And you should be faithful to what you feel and to what you think. You should not fool yourself, you know.  It is quite all right to say, "I cannot agree with you," or "I cannot accept the teaching."  That is all right.  That's how we make our understanding deeper and deeper.   
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi,  August 18, 1966

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Our ZHS on-line schedule:  

• Mondays: 7-8:30pm - zazen, short service, lecture/discussion
• Tuesdays-Fridays: 5:30-6:10pm - zazen, offering of merit/bows
• Saturdays: 8:00-10:15am - zazen, short service, tea, discussion/study
• For more information:  www.zenheartsangha.org)  

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Special bows for today: 

• Please offer bows for Dottie Kelly, Misha's family member, who died of lung disease on May 20th
• Please offer bows for Annette Merrill, Misha's cousin, who died on May 13th from lung cancer
• Please offer bows for Donald Kennedy, former president of Stanford University, who died from COVID-19
• Please continue to offer bows for Nick Battaglia, Camille Spar's father, who died Aprill 13th 
• Please continue to offer bows for the family of Alison Templeton, a PS parent, who died on April 1st 
• Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
• Beverly Klemme whose beloved horse Saphire died May 26th
• Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home undergoing chemotherapy

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Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:

• Zen Heart Sangha website: resources about COVID-19: www.zenheartsangha.org
• From our dharma sister, Camille: an important commentary on race, riots and society to help us understand from Trevor Noah https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4amCfVbA_c
• From our dharma brother, Stephen: Maui surfers paddling out to create a circle of aloha in support of George Floyd and his family: https://www.kitv.com/story/42197703/maui-surfers-hold-paddle-out-in-honor-of-george-floyd?fbclid=IwAR1BHWD5nekMFW4bXRQrOhx2vNgydZoXdv7zrz1TxCPOdEdLyfVh4mDF0rs
• From our dharma sister, Kathleen: Daily haiku from Cornell https://haiku.mannlib.cornell.edu/    
• From our dharma sister, Camille: https://www.boredpanda.com/stupid-funny-newspaper-headlines/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic 
• From our dharma sister, Camille: a modern fairy tale about the pandemic:  
• https://www.facebook.com/826415330774102/posts/2904759752939639/?vh=e&d=n
• From our dharma sister, Lucille, for a little humor on 'What You Should and Should Not Do:   https://youtu.be/wVs5AyjzwRM  
• Anti-racism resources for white people: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BRlF2_zhNe86SGgHa6-VlBO-QgirITwCTugSfKie5Fs/preview?pru=AAABco-l62s*wWgmhgauhStr-4WtSmpVLQ
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Many thanks to those of you who are sending me articles to share, links to helpful information, and for making comments…it is a gift beyond measure. Please know that you can either leave a comment on the blog itself, or send something directly to me and I will be happy to paste it in.