Springs Mountain Sangha, October 2025
All times listed below are Mountain Time
October Offerings
Thursday, October 2; 6 PM, on Zoom, Precepts Group with Sarah Bender, Roshi
Monday, October 6; 6 PM, on Zoom & in person at Shove Chapel, Meditation, Sutra Service, and conversation
Thursday, October 9; 6:30 PM, on Zoom, Great Matter Series with Sarah Bender, Roshi
Monday, October 13 through Saturday October 18; Open Source Golden Wind Retreat, Jemez Springs, NM
Monday, October 13; 6 PM, on Zoom & in person at Shove Chapel, Ancestor Talk Recording by Joan Sutherland, Roshi
Monday, October 20; 6 PM, on Zoom & in person at Shove Chapel, Community night, Precepts recitation and conversation about all-sangha meeting
Tuesday, October 21; 6:30 PM, on Zoom, Steering Committee Meeting, all are welcome
Thursday, October 23; 6 PM, on Zoom, Precepts Group with Sarah Bender, Roshi
Saturday, October 25; 5PM, Sangha meal at Rico’s; if the weather is nice, we will sit outside and share some time in conversation with each other; everyone welcome – including families. It is helpful to know who will be there, so if you plan to come, please email Frank Actis at frank.actis@gmail.com
Monday, October 27; 6 PM, on Zoom & in person at Shove Chapel, Meditation and Dharma Talk by Sarah Bender, Roshi
Thursday, October 30; 6:30 PM, on Zoom, Great Matter Series with Sarah Bender, Roshi
Save the dates for Autumn Koan Series
at Creek Bend and online
Sunday afternoons in November, 3 PM
Watch for details about our all-sangha meeting happening in November
Candlelight Meditation
Every Sunday from 8 to 8:30 PM, you are invited to join candlelight meditation online. Simple and lovely.
Refuge and Precepts study series:
Refuge in the Bodhisattva Way
Extends from June 2025, all the way
to March, 2026 at our Spring retreat, where we will hold
a Refuge Ceremony for any who are ready to formally
take refuge in the Bodhisattva Way.
We’ll be holding two meetings per month, as consistently as we can through the year. This month these will be October 2nd and 23rd at 6 PM Mountain Time.
Going forward, the Precepts group will meet on November 6th, November 20th and December 11th.
You are welcome to participate whether or not you are considering formally taking refuge. All of us long for refuge, and wish to offer refuge, and this process of deep inquiry into refuge itself, and vows, and ethical teachings is one we find most powerful when we take it up both individually and in community.
Questions? Feel free to contact Sarah at sembender@gmail.com.
And if you are considering taking refuge, please let her know this, especially if the times listed do not work in your schedule.
The Great Matter of Living and dying
a series of conversations with Sarah Bender
Going forward, the Great Matter group will meet on November 13th and December 4th and `8th.
Dana is appreciated but not required. Suggested dana $10-$15 per session can be sent to Sarah via check or paypal.
If you’d like to join the series and haven’t let Sarah know already please do so, to be added to the email list.
http://sembender@gmail.com
Saturday, October 25th, 5 PM, sangha meal Rico’s; if the weather is nice, we will sit outside and share some time in conversation with each other; everyone welcome – including families. It is helpful to know who will be there, so if you plan to come, please email Frank Actis at frank.actis@gmail.com
Golden Wind Open Source Retreat
with Megan Rundel, Sarah Bender and Tenney Nathanson
October 13-18th at Bodhi Manda Zen Center
Jemez Springs, New Mexico.
Open Source is excited to return to Bodhi Manda Zen Center, in the gorgeous Jemez River Valley.
Bodhi Manda has issued a warm invitation to us to return, and we are grateful for the opportunity to retreat in this wonderful place, dedicated to awakening.
This is our only long Open Source retreat of the year, a chance
to take a deep dive into meditation and dharma in community
with all of our Open Source cousins.
Recordings of dharma talks will be available following the retreat.
Ancestor’s retreat
November 2 full-day retreat, hybrid
Bodhi Day Retreat
December 7 hybrid
Ongoing Meditation Schedule
All available via Zoom; Monday Eves available in person as well
Weekly Meditations (all times MDT) on Zoom:
Weekdays from 6:30 to 7:30 AM. We sit for two periods and people come and go as they need to, and leave camera off. (Often a poem or koan will drop in at some point.)
Saturday we sit from 6:30 to 8:00 AM, then someone speaks for a bit about their practice to kick off a deep and lively discussion (til roughly 8:30) These Zen Threads talks are now alternating every other week with “mini-threads” group discussions of practice with multiple paths emerging and joining seamlessly. You can join the meditation at 6:30, 7:00, 7:30 or 8:00.
Sunday 8:00-8:30 PM Candlelight Meditation
Many Arms of Guanyin
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
Support for Springs Mountain Sangha
You can donate to Springs Mountain Sangha in person at Shove Chapel using the dana bowl at the entrance to the dharma hall. You can also donate through our PayPal account. You can get to the SMS PayPal link on the SMS web site at:
http://www.smszen.org/supportsms/
or by selecting the donate icon
Or you can mail a check 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
or by Paypal to sembender@gmail.com
Support for Cloud Dragon
The easiest way is to make a donation at the website, here:
https://joansutherlanddharmaworks.org/cgi-bin/dharma/page.cgi?g=Support%2FDonate%2Findex.html;d=1