New Year's Greetings

Dear sangha friends,

We hope your holiday season was nourishing, with time for quiet reflection, as well as good food, and good company. In these challenging times we need to make space and time for renewal, and the turning of the season from darkness to light is a good time for that. 

We were grateful to be able to ring in the New Year at the zendo for the first time since 2019, joined by both the in-person and Zoom sangha. As we enter this year, what better practices could we affirm and strengthen than wisdom and compassion, the two wings of our practice. Without both in balance we do not have the freedom to respond to the world around us with open, supple mind and warm heart. Michael's calligraphy for the New Year (above) shows the characters for compassion (jihi in Japanese) and the Zen enso, expressing the wisdom of boundless interconnection and impermanence. You can download a PDF to print: click here. 

There are some important changes in store this year for our practice community. Please see the posting below about our new sesshin/retreat venue, Brew Creek Centre.  Stay tuned for more developments in the weeks and months to come.

We want to thank you for your support of Mountain Rain this past year and for your practice--it makes a difference to you and to all beings. 

With warm bows and wishes  for peace, joy, and well-being in 2023,
Myoshin Kate and Shinmon Michael

New Year's Greetings

Hanatsu Releast, let go!

Dear sangha friends,

The last year was challenging in so many ways: Covid morphed into new forms, the climate crisis manifested in forest fires, heat domes, and flooding from atmospheric rivers. Divisiveness and animosity grew. During all last year our practice continued on Zoom and for six months in person at the Wall Street Zendo with precautionary measures. We have been very moved by your steady practice over these challenging months, and deeply appreciative of your generous support of Mountain Rain Zen.

In Japan there is the tradition of purifying the home, body, and mind to prepare for the New Year. A few days before the New Year, people make an effort to pay off all debts and to mend broken relationships so the New Year can be welcomed without burden. The house is cleaned from top to bottom and on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day one takes a bath.  After all this, is the first visit to the local Shinto shrine to express gratitude and wishes for the New Year. These purification practices lay the foundation for spiritual life.

Here in the West, we often see New Year’s as time to clean up our act. We resolve to exercise more, eat healthier food, take a class or spend more time with family and friends. This year, you might also consider what you can let go of, how you can be content with having, being, and doing just enough.  Michael brushed a calligraphy just before the end of 2021. The character is pronounced hanatsu and the meaning is release.  What can you let go of this year that will allow for more ease and kindness in your life?  Our zazen practice is really a practice of release—we let go of our turbulent thoughts and emotions with each breath, opening to the next moment.

According to the Chinese zodiac, this is the year of the tiger.  As a spiritual animal the tiger represents willpower, courage, personal strength, and a strong sense of justice. Doubtless, these are some of the attributes we will need as we face 2022. Let us foster these qualities in ourselves along with compassion and wisdom as we meet this new year.

Warm New Year’s wishes for peace and well-being to you and all beings,
Myoshin Kate and Shinmon Michael

Download PDF of Hanatsu calligraphy: Click here

New Year's Greetings

Fudoshin Steadfastness by Shinmon

Dai-i Great Healing by Shinmon

Dear sangha friends,

What a year this has been! We certainly never imagined a year ago when the Mountain Rain Zendo was packed with meditators from local sanghas on New Year's Eve, that the zendo would sit empty for most of 2020. But last night, an intrepid band of Zoom practitioners bravely chanted the Metta Sutta from their home places, and rang in the New Year on a motley array of bells, each in their turn. We have been so moved by your practice over these pandemic months, uplifted when downcast by the latest news, and grateful for your generous support of Mountain Rain Zen. (This includes those who have not been so visible on Zoom--it doesn't work for everyone--we know you're out there practicing with us, just as you know we're sitting with you.)

In Japan there is a tradition of kakizome, brushing a calligraphy that expresses one’s hopes for the New Year. The custom is to write it on New Year’s Day or the day after, but Michael brushed a calligraphy several days before the end of 2020. He wrote the word fudoshin, which consists of three characters, not-moving-heart/mind and then added an enso, or brushed circle with a stylized ox head as part of it since 2021 is the year of the ox according to the Chinese calendar. Fudoshin means steadfastness or patience, a quality we needed so much in 2020 and one we will need to continue to cultivate to meet the difficulties we will face in 2021. In talking with Kate, she agreed that steadfast practice has been deeply sustaining through these pandemic months, but something more would be needed in the months to come, healing. So, next Michael wrote a calligraphy with the word dai-i*, great healing, with the wish that 2021 be a time of deep healing for all. He added a blue enso, the traditional colour for healing in the Buddhist tradition.

Our sincere hope for 2021 is that all of us will remain steadfast in the face of any challenges that arise, as we turn our hearts and efforts towards healing ourselves, our relationships and the world around us.

Warm bows and wishes for peace and well-being to you and all beings,
Myoshin Kate and Shinmon Michael

p.s. If you would like to download a PDF copy of these kakizome to print on a colour printer, please click here: Fudoshin Dai-i

* Not coincidentally, the dharma name of sangha leader Dai-i Flo Rublee!