Dear Friends,
From this morning’s meditation,
Out beyond the pink geraniums,
Bare branches in morning sun
Sky innocent as a baby’s belly.
How to let in this grace?
How to requite this love?
This moon-month, ushered in by a great white Beaver Moon with its mysterious occlusion, and to be ushered out by the Cold Moon of the Winter Solstice, seems infused with a heightened sense of light and dark, both sensory and spiritual. We celebrate the morning when Siddhartha Gautama lifted his eyes to the morning star and found the whole universe lit by its flame, already enlightened! And we celebrate the turning that brings the return of light to our winter days. In a time when it seems most essential to open ourselves to the teachings of the darkness, and find there inextinguishable light, we are fortunate to have community in which we ground the deepening intent of our practice lives.
Yours in the Dharma,
Sarah
We have moved many of our gatherings to the zoom zendo for now, but….stay tuned! We are hoping to have several in person opportunities soon.
All SMS gatherings will use the same SMS Zoom link
All times listed below are Mountain Time
November
Monday, November 22, 6:10 PM, Zoom: Koan exploration, Sarah Bender, Roshi
from Sarah:
The Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Joshu (our Zhaozhou) includes many exchanges on the general theme of “What is Buddha?” Tonight we will take some of these up together in meditation.
Someone asked, “What is Buddha?”
Zhaozhou said, “Aren’t you Buddha?”
Someone asked, “Where can a sangha member be of service?”
Zhaozhou said, “Where can you not be of service?”
Wednesday, Nov. 24, NO Open Source Koan Ancestors Series
Monday, November 29, 6:10 PM, Zoom: Wayfaring Mind talk with Martha Abatuno
December
Wednesday, December 1, 7-8:30 PM, Zoom: Open Source Koan Ancestors Series
Sunday, December 5: Bodhi Day – One Day Retreat
Monday, December 6, 6:10 PM, Zoom: Meditation and Sutra Service
Tuesday, December 7, 6:15 PM, Zoom: Steering Committee Meeting
Wednesday, December 8, 7-8:30 PM, Zoom: Open Source Koan Ancestors Series
Monday, December 13, 6:10 PM, Zoom: Community Night: Meditation and Conversation
Monday, December 20, 6:10 PM, Zoom: Open Source Winter Solstice Ceremony
Monday, December 27, 6:10 PM, Zoom: Koan exploration, Sarah Bender, Roshi
Ongoing Meditation Schedule
Sundays: Candlelight Meditation 8 to 8:30 PM
Mondays: Meditation and evening starting at 6:10 PM
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
New 2022 Calendar
Here’s your opportunity to look at our 2022 calendar! Please take note of retreat dates and mark them in your calendar.
Koan Ancestor Series
Wednesdays 7 PM Mountain Time
With Open Source Teachers
Andrew Palmer, Megan Rundel,
Sarah Bender and Tenney Nathanson
Note: we will not have a Koan Ancestors gathering on Wednesday, November 24.
This will be a series of presentations and koan explorations, running through December 8, where we will focus on the lives and teachings of a number of our ancestors in Ch’an and Zen, spending more than one session on each so that we can really get a taste. All are welcome.
To make a donation, please go to https://www.desertrainzen.org/residential-retreats.html . You’ll see a way to donate for this series. Donations will go to all four teachers.
Please note – for this series we are using a different Zoom link. That link is below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84468205285?pwd=TnM4VC84YUdxWHdyNTFSb3ZhNk9Vdz09
Meeting ID: 844 6820 5285
Passcode: 540935
Dial by Phone: 669 900 6833
Meeting ID: 844 6820 5285
Passcode: 540935
Morning Star Lights the World Retreat
Springs Mountain Sangha Bodhi Day
Sunday December 5th, 2021
In recent times, it seems that something internally has come to a stop, and we as individuals and a culture are witnessing the dissolving of our old understandings of things as we sit in the dark, in the bare and various nature of life itself.
So it’s perfect that on December 5 we can commemorate, with our meditation, a time when it might have been like this for Siddhartha Gautama. Letting go, letting go, completely letting go. And then a star.
Suggested donation $75. You can pay via PayPal here:
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=ncJ7GPeD8GYgWOshmnCPfRp6FTff93YsqgbeGHR4d0n47DBEh40CmE9HUnoP_jatfZ0azB8q3LBSMv5R
Scholarships are available for the asking. Please do not let funds keep you from attending the retreat.
Please email Kelly McFarland if you plan to attend the retreat. An email to s.kelly.HLS@gmail.com is all you need to do to register.
The schedule is in mountain time and looks like this:
Sunday
5:25 am Morning Tea
5:30 Optional Meditation
7:00 Breakfast Break
9:00 Meditation
9:30 Dharma talk
11:00 Outdoor walk or Movement Meditation
12:00 pm Lunch Break
2:00 pm Tea and afternoon reading
2:30 Meditation
3:00 Outside walk
3:30 Meditation
4:00 Dharma talk and conversation
5:00 Closing
Steering Committee Meeting
Tuesday, December 7, 6:15 PM
All are welcome to join us at our monthly steering committee meeting if you would like to share thoughts with the steering committee or take a more active role in the business side of the sangha. No commitment is required, feel free to drop in. We typically meet the first Tuesday of the month, but at times this changes due to steering committee members’ schedules. Please email Kelly McFarland, s.kelly.HLS@gmail.com, if you plan to attend; she will let you know if there have been changes to the dates of the meeting.
Open Source Winter Solstice Ceremony
with Sarah Bender, Roshi, Andrew Palmer, Sensei, Megan Rundel, Sensei and Tenney Nathanson, Sensei
Monday, December 20, 6 PM Mountain Time
The Winter Solstice Ceremony is a time where we embrace the darkness as well as the return of the light as daylight lengthens. We will meet on zoom at Monday during Springs Mountain Sangha’s Monday evening meditation, starting at 6 PM Mountain Time. We will use the regular SMS Zoom link listed above for this gathering.
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
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.
Newsletter Additions
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
Open Source Ecodharma Group
A note from Jen Sellers –
Hi, everyone,
The Open Source Ecodharma group meets Tuesday, November 23 at 5:00 p.m. Mountain (includes Arizona; all others adjust for your time zone) at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87435206671?pwd=MFkwVDZnMmliTS9CS1dXRmcycEZmdz09 (or use Meeting ID: 874 3520 6671 and Passcode: 520753).
Come as you are; come if you can!
Jen
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
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
An easy way to support Cloud Dragon, the Joan Sutherland Dharma WorksAmazon shoppers, sign in at smile.amazon.com and choose Cloud Dragon Dharma Works as the charity you would like 0.5% of your purchases to go to. It costs you nothing extra. We’re grateful for your generosity.
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.