Saturday, August 22, 2020

August 23, 2020

The other side of Microbes by Jim Little

A lot of difficulty these recent days could be attributed to our human response to a tiny little virus, but a lot of joy comes from our microbial friends as well.  At the beginning of the shelter-in-place process I was fascinated at what people were “stocking up on” at the stores.  I saw that flour and yeast was flying off the shelves, thinking “Wow, everyone is going to have time to make bread?”  I love bread, and homemade is the best, but I opted for another fermentation option: kombucha.  (The “pancakes” floating in the jar are called SCOBYs.  Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast.)

 

I have actually been making kombucha for a few years off and on.   It was pretty easy in Sacramento because I could manage the temperature having a two-story house.  But now in Salinas (well really in Castroville) the temps were much cooler here.  And some of you may know that we were without heat for most of the winter. Though my poor little SCOBYs went dormant in the cold, they did survive.  In the spring, they started to perk up again and now they seem to be doing great with the warmer weather.

 The SCOBYs (and COVID) remind me that in and of themselves they are neither benevolent nor malevolent.  I am grateful for the tea that they ferment and the “relationship” that causes me to reflect on life at the microscopic level and how it impacts this macroscopic being.

 


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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
  • M-F: 7-7:30am - zazen
  • Saturdays: 8:00-10:15am - zazen, short service, tea, discussion/study
  • For more information:  www.zenheartsangha.org) 
________________________________________________________________

Special bows for today: 
  • Please offer bows for evacuated sangha members and their families (Lidia, Kathleen, Kat, and Misha) and all others displaced by the CZU fires
  • Please offer bows for John Lewis, civil rights leader, who died on July 17th
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Phyllis Merrill, Misha's mother, who is dying
    • Ofelia Mendez, Jorge Luis Mendez, Lazara and her mother, relatives of Lilliana Mendez-Soto who have contracted COVID
    • Sherril Miller, Shannon's aunt, who has a broken humerus
    • Brent DeNardo, Aaron's brother, who has contracted COVID
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home undergoing chemotherapy
____________________________________________________________________________________

Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:
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August 22, 2020

 Excerpted from Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh


The Wheel and the Cross (watercolor/collage) by Misha Merrill


    Meditation is not to get out of society, to escape from society, but to prepare for a reentry into society. We call this "engaged Buddhism." When we go to a meditation center, we may have the impression that we leave everything behind-family, society, and all the complications involved with them-and come as an individual in order to practice and to search for peace. This is already an illusion, because in Buddhism there is no such thing as an individual. ...

     In the same way, the individual is made of non-individual elements. How do you expect to leave everything behind when you enter a meditation center? The kind of suffering that you carry in your heart, that is society itself. You bring that with you, you bring society with you. You bring all of us with you. When you meditate, it is not just for yourself, you do it for the whole society. You seek solutions to your problems not only for yourself, but for all of us. 

https://wtf.tw/ref/nhat_hanh_being_peace.pdf


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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) 
_____________________________________________________________

Special bows for today: 
  • Please offer bows for evacuated sangha members and their families (Lidia, Kathleen, Kat, and Misha)
  • Please offer bows for John Lewis, civil rights leader, who died on July 17th
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Phyllis Merrill, Misha's mother, who is dying
    • Ofelia Mendez, Jorge Luis Mendez, Lazara and her mother, relatives of Lilliana Mendez-Soto who have contracted COVID
    • Sherril Miller, Shannon's aunt, who has a broken humerus
    • Brent DeNardo, Aaron's brother, who has contracted COVID
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home undergoing chemotherapy
____________________________________________________________________________________

Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:
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Wednesday, August 19, 2020

August 19, 2020

 A Different Perspective by Shannon Bergman

 s a 30+ year veteran of high-tech – actually being in technology before the word hi-tech existed and when the Internet came into being, I am having a different experience than most during our time being sheltered in place. Most of my career has been in front of a computer screen, and for the last ten years, I have worked almost exclusively from home spending 6-10 hours a day working or in online meetings.

I actually was the Director of Global Technical Operations for WebEx (a corporate Zoom if you will) back in the early 2,000’s when the technology for online meetings was first coming online and WebEx was leading the way. One of the things I am most proud of in my career was during 9/11, when my group was able to get AMEX (and other big companies) back to work and in critical meetings within three days of the attack as long as they had a dial tone.

For the most part, I haven’t felt disconnected from people during these times. And in fact, I feel that having our daily online zazen has deepened my practice at a rate that I would not have had if this had not happened. It has also brought people we wouldn’t be able to see from other geographies back into our daily lives. Our daily sittings and conversations included diverse opinions, the feeling of belonging, the sharing of the ups and downs of people’s lives and have all made me feel closer to individuals.

I do like human and animal companionship, but I get that from my loving husband and greyhounds. I get my exercise and connection with nature everyday when I walk my hounds three times. I especially love going out in the early morning before the world has woke up and I hear the respiration of nature herself and I witness the awe-striking beauty and promise of the sunrise.

I do like being with people in person and I do miss our time in the zendo and Monday evenings, but I DO feel connected to all of you – and I can hear things better online. I look forward to when we can meet in person again but hope we don’t throw the baby out with the bath water when we do. I hope we can integrate some of our online practices in the culture of our Sangha as we move into whatever “the new normal” becomes. 

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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) 
_____________________________________________________________

Special bows for today: 
  • Please offer bows for Phyllis Merrill, Misha's mother, who is dying
  • Please offer bows for Ofelia mendez, Jorge Luis Mendez, Lazara and her mother, relatives of Lilliana Mendez-Soto who have contracted COVID
  • Please offer bows for John Lewis, civil rights leader, who died on July 17th
  • Please offer bows for Gail Boreman Bird, Stephen' Boremans sister, who died on June 27th at age 75
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Sherril Miller, Shannon's aunt, who has a broken humerus
    • Brent DeNardo, Aaron's brother, who has contracted COVID
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home undergoing chemotherapy
____________________________________________________________________________________

Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:
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Monday, August 10, 2020

August 11, 2020

 

What is Sincere Practice?

...Dogen Zenji was a monk who wanted to be a sincere disciple of the Buddha.  That's all.  He already had given up the scholarly study of Buddhism, so his problem was how to be a good disciple from the bottom of his heart and mind.  To have this spirit if the most important point.  Since he was such a sincere student, he could not accept teachers who were not as sincere as he was...he wanted to meet a monk who was really practicing Zen in its true sense.  So when he saw Nyojo Zenji, he accepted him as a teacher, and when Nyojo Zenji saw him, he acknowledged Dogen's sincerity.

What is sincere practice?  When you are not so sincere it is difficult to know, but when you are sincere you cannot accept what is superficial.  Only when you become very sincere will you know what it is.

-Shunryu Suzuki Roshi from 'Not Always So'

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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) 
_____________________________________________________________

Special bows for today: 
  • Please offer bows for Ofelia mendez, Jorge Luis Mendez, Lazara and her mother, relatives of Lilliana Mendez-Soto who have contracted COVID
  • Please offer bows for John Lewis, civil rights leader, who died on July 17th
  • Please offer bows for Gail Boreman Bird, Stephen' Boremans sister, who died on June 27th at age 75
  • Please offer bows for Harada Sekkei Roshi who died on June 20th at age 93
  • Please offer bows for George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and others who have died from police brutality
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Sherril Miller, Shannon's aunt, who has a broken humerus
    • Brent DeNardo, Aaron's brother, who has contracted COVID
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home undergoing chemotherapy
____________________________________________________________________________________

Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:
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August 10, 2020

 The Buddhist Fifth Precept

Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I vow to cultivate good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming.  I vow to ingest only items that preserve peace, well-being, and joy in my body, in my consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family and society.
 

I am determined not to use alcohol or any other intoxicant or to ingest foods or other items that contain toxins, such as certain TV programs, magazines, books, films, and conversations.  I am aware that to damage my body or my consciousness with these poisons is to betray my ancestors, my parents, my society, and future generations.

I will work to transform violence, fear, anger, and confusion in myself and in society by practicing a diet for myself and for society.  I understand that a proper diet is crucial for self-transformation and for the transformation of society. 
- from Thich Nhat Hanh
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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) 
_____________________________________________________________

Special bows for today: 
  • Please offer bows for Ofelia mendez, Jorge Luis Mendez, Lazara and her mother, relatives of Lilliana Mendez-Soto who have contracted COVID
  • Please offer bows for John Lewis, civil rights leader, who died on July 17th
  • Please offer bows for Gail Boreman Bird, Stephen' Boremans sister, who died on June 27th at age 75
  • Please offer bows for Harada Sekkei Roshi who died on June 20th at age 93
  • Please offer bows for George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and others who have died from police brutality
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Sherril Miller, Shannon's aunt, who has a broken humerus
    • Brent DeNardo, Aaron's brother, who has contracted COVID
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home undergoing chemotherapy
____________________________________________________________________________________

Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:
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Sunday, August 9, 2020

August 9, 2020

 The Buddhist Fourth Precept

Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech 
and the inability to listen to others,
I vow to cultivate loving speech and deep listening 
in order to bring joy and happiness 
to others and relieve others of their suffering.  
Knowing that words can create happiness 
of suffering, I vow to learn to speak truthfully, 
with words that inspire self-confidence, joy, and hope. 
I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be certain 
and not to criticize or condemn things of which I am not sure. 
I will refrain from uttering words that can cause division or discord, 
or that can cause the family or the community to break.  
I will make all efforts to reconcile and 
resolve all conflicts, however small. 
 
_________________________________________________________________

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) 
_________________________________________________________________

Special bows for today: 
  • Please offer bows for Ofelia mendez, Jorge Luis Mendez, Lazara and her mother, relatives of Lilliana Mendez-Soto who have contracted COVID
  • Please offer bows for John Lewis, civil rights leader, who died on July 17th
  • Please offer bows for Gail Boreman Bird, Stephen' Boremans sister, who died on June 27th at age 75
  • Please offer bows for Harada Sekkei Roshi who died on June 20th at age 93
  • Please offer bows for George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and others who have died from police brutality
  • Please offer bows for Dottie Kelly, Misha's family member, who died of lung disease on May 20th
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Sherril Miller, Shannon's aunt, who has a broken humerus
    • Brent DeNardo, Aaron's brother, who has contracted COVID
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home undergoing chemotherapy
____________________________________________________________________________________

Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:
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August 8, 2020

 

The Buddhist Third Precept

Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I vow to cultivate responsibility and learn ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society.  
I am determined not to engage in sexual long-term commitment to preserve the 
happiness of myself and others, I am determined to respect my commitments and the commitments of others.
 I will do everything in 
my power to protect children from 
sexual abuse and to prevent couples 
and families from being broken 
by sexual misconduct.  

_________________________________________________________________

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) 
_________________________________________________________________

Special bows for today: 
  • Please offer bows for Ofelia mendez, Jorge Luis Mendez, Lazara and her mother, relatives of Lilliana Mendez-Soto who have contracted COVID
  • Please offer bows for John Lewis, civil rights leader, who died on July 17th
  • Please offer bows for Gail Boreman Bird, Stephen' Boremans sister, who died on June 27th at age 75
  • Please offer bows for Harada Sekkei Roshi who died on June 20th at age 93
  • Please offer bows for George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and others who have died from police brutality
  • Please offer bows for Dottie Kelly, Misha's family member, who died of lung disease on May 20th
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Sherril Miller, Shannon's aunt, who has a broken humerus
    • Brent DeNardo, Aaron's brother, who has contracted COVID
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home undergoing chemotherapy
____________________________________________________________________________________

Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:



Posted by at No comments:
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