August 2022 Newsletter – Springs Mountain Sangha

August

Monday, August 1, 6 PM, Zoom: Meditation and Sutra Service
Tuesday, August 2, 6:15-8:15 PM, Zoom: Steering Committee Meeting
Saturday, August 6, 10 AM to noon, Zoom: Women’s Ways… Ordinary and Sacred Series, Sarah Bender, Roshi and Piper Leigh
Monday, August 8, 6 PM, Zoom: Meditation and first of our study series with Megan Rundel, Sensei (see below)
Sunday, August 14: Habitat Build Day (see below)
Monday, August, 15, 6 PM: Community Night: Meditation and Precepts Conversation
Thursday, August 18, 7:30 PM: Movie Night: “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Monday, August 22, 6 PM: Meditation and Close Reading with Megan Rundel, Sensei
Monday, August 29, 6 PM: Meditation and Wayfaring Mind talk with Brandy Lancaster

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

Begins Monday August 8th, 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

Women’s Ways… Ordinary and Sacred

Women’s Ways… Ordinary and Sacred series completes this Saturday
August 6th with Sarah Bender Roshi, and Piper Leigh
*must have registered for the series and received Zoom link

Habitat for Humanity Interfaith Build for Unity Volunteer Day

Sunday, June 12th
If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Regan at rrarntzen@gmail.com
We are looking for a total of 10 volunteers:
– 5 morning slots (8:30am-12:00pm)
– 5 afternoon slots (12:30pm-4:30pm)

Springs Mountain Sangha members are participating in this wonderful opportunity to show our inner bodhiciatta in a demonstrable way to our community in need. The expectations of Habitat for Humanity is that volunteers work and work hard. It is not necessary to have exceptional construction skills, but it is imperative you are willing to give your full effort for the time you volunteer.

SMS Movie Night
Thursday, August 18, 7:30 PM

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Please watch the movie ahead of time and join us on Aug 18th for a discussion. The movie may still be available in some theaters and is available to rent on Amazon, iTunes, with an HBO Max subscription or other digital platforms.

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

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.