Dear Friends and Sangha Members,
We have now entered our Ango (peaceful dwelling) month-long practice period. Under the night sky, a crescent moon shines over the valley below beyond discrimination of light and dark. Wholeheartedly we aim at striking the head of zazen while returning to the freshness of Life itself moment by moment. Our awareness deepens and settles into this sitting posture. Inhaling and exhaling, we merge with the Great Calm of Sonoma Mountain. How wondrous!
Because of your dedicated effort and support for more than half a century, Sonoma
Mountain Zen Center has been able to provide a place of continuous practice and a
refuge for thousands of people around the world. Your support also gives life to our
affiliate centers—Natthagi Zen Center in Iceland, Kannon Zen Center in Poland,
Windsor Sitting Group in California, Del Ray Zen Community in Virginia and South Sound Zen in Washington. We are deeply grateful for all the people that have touched, maintained and sustained the heart of our temple over the years. At such a critical time in this unstable world, what can be more important than returning to a place of practice to recondition the conditioned mind and cultivate peace and harmony in our lives and into the world.
Remember everyone is welcome to join us for our daily meditation periods. Also,
bring your practice from the cushion into your life by joining us in Samu (Zen Work Practice)—temple cleaning, cultivating the garden, cooking or working our temple land or building. Just visit to get away from the business of the world, returning to the peacefulness of the moon, stars, sun, rivers and grasses. Through wholehearted active participation, we cannot help but find the dynamic working of the Universe appearing as our life itself. To study the self is to forget the self, and to forget the self is to be realized by 10,000 things. We are rejuvenated!
Your support is vital in sustaining Sonoma Mountain Zen Center’s ongoing meditation intensives, family programs, sangha events, Zen ceremonies, temple stays, study groups, workshops, operating costs and maintaining the Zen Center’s infrastructure and buildings. Dana Paramita is “the perfection of generosity” and the act of selfless giving. Any amount large or small is beyond comparison.
We are happy to announce the celebration of the 50th year of Sonoma Mountain Zen Center and the Shinsanshiki (Mountain Seat Ceremony) installing Nyoze Kwong as Sonoma Mountain Zen Center Genjoji’s new abbot in September. Like the Udumbara flower which blooms in fire once every 3,000 years, to come across the Buddhadharma is extremely rare in this lifetime. We invite you to embark on this wonderful journey to investigate the blossoming of THIS flower.
Yours in the Dharma,
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