Dear Friends,
This morning I watched the coy moon climbing through the pine boughs, as sunlight crept up from behind the farther treeline, light meeting light across the darkness of dawn, and was grateful for this daily ritual, in the midst of so much uncertainty and challenge. It seems good to linger here as much as possible, allowing the energy of a new year to appear as and where it does, not pushing or pulling at it. Saturday morning we’ll greet the new calendar year, and already the evenings are a bit longer. In this newsletter you’ll find a number of ways to connect with Dharma companions in meditation and explorations this January, and beyond. We look forward to seeing you soon! It’s a beautiful time to be together.
Yours in the Dharma,
Sarah
For our ongoing schedule please see our website at smszen.org
We have moved many of our gatherings to the zoom zendo for now, but….stay tuned! We are hoping to have some in person opportunities soon.
All SMS gatherings will use the same SMS Zoom link
All times listed below are Mountain Time
January
Saturday, January 1, 6:30-8:30 AM, Zoom: Meditation and 108 bells
Monday, January 3, 6:00 PM, Zoom: Meditation and Sutra Service
Tuesday, January 4, 6:15 PM, Zoom: Steering Committee Meeting
Saturday, January 8, 10-noon, Zoom: Winter Study Series, Sarah Bender, Roshi
Monday, January 10, 6:00 PM, Zoom: Community Night: Meditation and Conversation
Saturday, January 15, 10-noon, Zoom: Winter Study Series, Sarah Bender, Roshi
Monday, January 17, 6:00 PM, Zoom: Meditation and Dharma Talk in honor of Martin Luther King Day, Sarah Bender, Roshi
Wednesday, January 19, 7-8:30 PM, Zoom: Open Source Koan Series
Saturday, January 22, 10-noon, Zoom: Winter Study Series, Sarah Bender, Roshi
Monday, January 24, 6:00 PM, Zoom: Koan exploration, Sarah Bender, Roshi
Wednesday, January 26, 7-8:30 PM, Zoom: Open Source Koan Series
Saturday, January 29, 10-noon, Zoom: Winter Study Series, Sarah Bender, Roshi
Monday, January 31, 6:00 PM, Zoom: Wayfaring Mind Talk, Shane Nelson
February
Wednesday, February 2, 7-8:30 PM, Zoom: Open Source Koan Series
Saturday, February 5, 10-noon, Zoom: Winter Study Series, Sarah Bender, Roshi
Monday, February 7, 6:00 PM, Zoom: Meditation and Sutra Service
Wednesday, February 9, 7-8:30 PM, Zoom: Open Source Koan Series
Thursday, February 10, 7 PM, Zoom: Foundations of Zen Practice, Sarah Bender, Roshi and Kelly McFarland
Saturday, February 12,10-noon, Zoom: Winter Study Series, Sarah Bender, RoshiMonday, February 14, 6:10 PM, Zoom: Community Night: Meditation and Conversation
Wednesday, February 16, 7-8:30 PM, Zoom: Open Source Koan Series
Thursday, February 17, 7 PM, Zoom: Foundations of Zen Practice, Sarah Bender, Roshi and Kelly McFarland
Monday, February 21, 6:00 PM, Zoom: Meditation and Dharma Talk, Sarah Bender, Roshi
Wednesday, February 23, 7-8:30 PM, Zoom: Open Source Koan Series
Thursday, February 24, 7 PM, Zoom: Foundations of Zen Practice, Sarah Bender, Roshi and Kelly McFarland
Saturday-Sunday, February 26-27, Zoom: Meditation Retreat
Monday, February 28, 6:00 PM, Zoom: Koan exploration, Sarah Bender, Roshi
Ongoing Meditation Schedule
Sundays: Candlelight Meditation 8 to 8:30 PM
Mondays: Meditation and evening starting at 6:00 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
2022 Springs Mountain Sangha Calendar
Here’s your opportunity to look at our 2022 calendar! Please take note of retreat dates and mark them in your calendar.
Saturday, January 1, 2022
Ring in the New Year with your early morning companions!
We’ll sit for three periods starting at 6:30 AM and then ring 108 times to welcome the openness of a clear new year.
Then grab your cup of tea and we’ll have conversation. You might bring a koan or a poem for the occasion!
Steering Committee Meeting
Tuesday, January 4, 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.
Winter Study Series with Sarah Bender
Saturdays beginning January 8, 10-noon Sarah Bender will be offering a series of Saturday gatherings exploring expressions of female perspectives both within and outside our lineage, and the power they bring to our practice of the Way. Both reading and koan meditation will be incorporated in our exploration.
We’ll meet Saturday mornings at 10 AM, to noon: January 8, 15, 22, 29 and Feb. 5, 12. To join the email list for this series, please email Sarah Bender at sembender@gmail.com
Martin Luther King Day Dharma Talk
Monday, January 17, 6:00 PM Mountain Time – Sarah Bender, Roshi On Martin Luther King Day, Monday January 17, Sarah Bender will give a dharma talk in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The evening will start with a period of meditation, short walking meditation and then the dharma talk. There will be time for conversation and reflections following Sarah’s talk. Please note we will start at 6 PM for this evening.
Open Source Koan Series
One Wild Word, Many Enlightening Encounters
Wednesdays 7 PM Mountain Time starting January 19
With Open Source Teachers
Andrew Palmer, Megan Rundel,
Sarah Bender and Tenney Nathanson
Koans are gateways to awakening, words for wordless transmission of the Way.
So how does that work? We’ll explore the different ways koans can come to meet us, and we can come to meet them.
Wayfairing Mind Talk
Monday, January 31, 6:00 PM with Shane Nelson Wayfaring Mind talks are occasions where a sangha member shares what is present in their heart mind. There will be a chance for questions and discussion following the talk. This month, Shane Nelson be talking about the vow not to kill, and how that plays out in his experience in forestry, farming, and restoration of ecosystems.
Foundations of Zen Practice
A place to begin or a place to revisit beginning
with Sarah Bender, Roshi and Kelly McFarland
Thursdays, February 10, 17, 24 and March 3, 7 PM Mountain Time
Sarah Bender and Kelly McFarland will be offering a series of four Foundations of Zen Practice sessions starting in February. This is an opportunity to experience our Zen Tradition and ask questions in a relaxed atmosphere. All are welcome to join us for these gatherings.
Meditation Retreat Save the Date
Saturday, February 26 through Sunday, February 27th
Save the date for our Springs Mountain Sangha winter meditation retreat on Saturday, February 26 from 6:30 – 9 PM and Sunday, February 27 from 5:30 AM to noon Mountain Time. We are looking for someone to help coordinate this retreat. If you are interested in this dana, please contact Sarah Bender at sembender@gmail.com.
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
Refugee and Asylee Volunteer Program through Lutheran Family Services, Rocky Mountains
As we, in our collective and individual ways, enter a new year (which feels like an ongoing infolding and unfolding, from solstice on through the new calendar year), we may also be feeling keenly the suffering of others in our world right now….and once again and always, wondering how to help. What are the eyes of my hands seeing right now? What sounds of the world are catching my ear?
In our newsletter, we like to highlight opportunities that our members find. Here’s one. Lutheran Family Services in the Springs has developed a sophisticated program for supporting and assisting refugees. Right now, especially refugees from Afghanistan. There are many needs and many levels of engagement. Here’s where to get started finding a place for you to enter, if you are called to do so.
Anyone like to put together an SMS team for this? Or just maybe find a buddy with whom to navigate the process of getting engaged?
https://smszen.us4.list-manage.com/track/clicku=bbc7215f79587650dd5f75ed6&id=a8c0daa87d&e=8441108089
To donate, click here: https://www.lfsrm.org/give/donate/
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/ or by selecting the donate icon:
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.