Mountain Wind: April 2021

Friday, April 30, 2021

Join Us Online | Saturday, May 1st | One-Day Sitting Online

Saturday, May 1st

“Entering the Gate”

One-Day Sitting Online

Deepen your practice and join us from 6:30 am to 12 pm. An introductory retreat for both beginners and experienced sitters to plunge into the heart of Zen practice. We invite newcomers to join us!

Open to all. Please donate to register

($20 suggested).

No Meditation Instruction on May1

No Saturday Community on May1

6:00 a.m. Wake up

6:23 a.m. Bonsho

6:30 a.m. Zazen

7:10 a.m. Break

7:20 a.m. Zazen

8:00 a.m. Soji (cleaning at home)

8:20 a.m. Zazen

8:30 a.m. Break (silent meal at home)

9:20 a.m. Zazen

10:00 a.m. Break

10:10 a.m. Zazen

10:50 a.m. Break

11:00 a.m. Zazen

11:50 a.m. Recite Four Vows

12:00 p.m. Closing Circle Ceremony

Donate to Register

Saturday Community talk replays are available on our Facebook and YouTube. Please like us, write us your comment and share with your friends and family!

The study group has become crucial for experiencing connection to sangha over the past year. I appreciate that the group gives me the motivation to stick with readings that I would otherwise find too challenging to tackle on my own. There's something very relaxing about the contrast between the profundity of the subject matter and the unpretentiousness of the discussion. I love hearing everyone's thoughts, and I always come away with unexpected insights. Gasho!

— Brion Butsuden (佛田) Baer, Santa Rosa, CA
SMZC Sangha Member since 2017

Morning Zazen Reflection

What is the sound of the temple bell?

Starting my morning with the experiential ringing of the Sonoma Mountain Zen Center Bonsho connects my Zazen home sitting with the Temple and Sangha. I received Jukai in 1999 in the Rinzai tradition practicing at Cho Bo Ji Temple in Seattle and began training at Sonoma Mountain Zen Center in 2008.

Sitting virtually with Kwong-roshi, Nyoze, Kashin and other Sangha members deepens my practice and daily Zazen.I am very grateful for this opportunity resulting from their efforts to make available the virtual experience.

—Michael Daizan (大山) Lyons

Kirkland, Washington

SMZC Sangha Member since 2008

Daily Meditation Schedule

6:30 a.m. – 7:00 a.m. Morning Zazen

7:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Evening Zazen

Please enter the virtual zendo a few minutes early to get settled (seated and logged in before the starting bell).

We invite newcomers to join us!

Sit with Us Online

at this (strange) time – for Ryōkan

at this (strange) time

bodhisattvas disguised as

healthcare workers, grocery

clerks, migrant workers in the

fields, delivery workers—

all labor, risk their lives to save

ours, protecting lives, keeping

food supply chains open,

getting sick, dying.

at home, alone in my tiny

post-modern hut, locked down in

forced isolation, social

distancing—burn incense, make

offerings of gratitude, prayer.

—Ronald L. Boyer

SMZC Sangha Member since 2021

Photo by Russ Jakushin(寂心) Flynn

SMZC Sangha Treasure

Thank you, Ryokan Kwong in Santa Rosa, CA for providing countless volunteer hours, bookkeeping and budgeting for several years. Ryokan has been an honorary member since 2015.

Photo by Fred Setsuzan (雪山) Jacobs

SMZC Sangha Member since 2008

Become A SMZC Member

Online Programs Are Open to All. Thank you for your support!

Our temple gates are always open to those who wish to practice Zen.

In order to continue to offer these programs and ensure the future of SMZC, we are asking for your support. Your donation is tax deductible. Sonoma Mountain Zen Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Tax ID #23-7304793

DONATE ONLINE

We welcome submissions of your zazen reflections, Zen-related poetry, prose, photo, and art.

Let us know how we are doing. Your comments, suggestions or feedback are always welcome!

6367 Sonoma Mountain Road, Santa Rosa, CA, 95404

(707) 545-8105

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www.smzc.org

Friday, April 23, 2021

Join Us Online | Saturday, April 24th | Saturday Community Online

Saturday Community, April 24

10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Zazen

11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Dharma Talk

Dharma Talk by Nyoze Kwong, Vice Abbot of Sonoma Mountain Zen Center

DONATE to Saturday Community
To sustain SMZC and its program offerings, please donate for the Saturday Community online program ($10 suggested for non-members).

Saturday Zoom Link

Saturday Community talk replays are available on our Facebook and YouTube. Please like us, write us your comment and share with your friends and family!

I highly recommend participating in the Tuesday study group. It’s a great opportunity to have discussions and ask questions with Roshi, Nyoze, Kashin and other senior priests and students. It’s a necessary part of our practice to ensure our understanding of the teachings are aligned. I have had many instances where I read and understood something one way, had different experiences or understandings from the group conversation, and pointed me closer to the truth.

—Kevin Shindo (心土) Souza, Berkeley, CA

Morning Zazen Reflection

Living in Nairobi, Kenya, I'm incredibly grateful to practice with Sonoma Mountain Zen Center's online sangha as my morning meditation on East Africa Time coincides with SMZC's evening meditations held on Pacific Time. Although we're on opposite sides of the globe, I still feel a great sense of community while watching the sun go down on those with whom I am able to sit with every morning while the sun rises for me. My local Theravada temple (Nairobi Buddhist Temple) was unfortunately closed in March 2020 due to the pandemic, and we unfortunately have not had equitable digital infrastructure across our Sangha here to continue meeting virtually.

That being said, I would like to thank everyone reading this for welcoming me into SMZC's daily online sangha. The routine of stillness I've been able to keep with you all has given me such peace with the groundlessness I've experienced over the past many months. Thank you all, and I look forward to greeting your California sunsets with my East Africa sunrise again tomorrow.

—Zach Kolp, Nairobi, Kenya

SMZC Sangha Member since 2021

When someone brings me a flower,

I vow with all beings

to renew my practice of Dana,

the gift, the way to begin.

—The Dragon Who Never Sleeps
Robert Aitken

Photo by Russ Jakushin(寂心) Flynn

Sit with Us Online

Ordinary Beauty with Kashin Kwong: Enjoy the replay of Ordinary Beauty Online and thank you for for those who participated. See you next time in July!