New Year's Greetings

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Fudoshin Steadfastness by Shinmon

Fudoshin Steadfastness by Shinmon

Dai-i Great Healing 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!

Songs of Humans--Art by Michael Drebert

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photo and art by Michael Drebert

photo and art by Michael Drebert

Much gratitude to Michael Drebert for hanging his work in the zendo entry hall during the pandemic. Only those who have attended in-person have been able to enjoy it. So here is this photo for the rest of you, as well as Michael’s artist’s statement below.

Songs of Humans, 2020

India ink on canvas, 4’x4’

This work is part of a larger body of ink drawings responding to life-lived near the Pacific

Ocean.

In particular, for Songs, the inspiration was a result of reading a book, which contains examples

of Ainu epic folklore. The book’s title is, Songs of Gods, Songs of Humans, written by Donald

L. Philippi, originally published in 1979.

The book itself, as an object, is beautiful — a striking Ainu design printed on cloth covered

hardback. It seems to almost smell of the North Pacific’s salted air, somewhere along the

Hokkaido coastline.

But also, inside the book’s cover, is an incredible exploration of Ainu epic folklore, “[t]his

collection and English translation by Donald Philippi contains thirty-three representative

selections from a number of epic genres including mythic epics, culture hero epics, women’s

epics, and heroic epics. This is the first time, outside of Japan, that the Ainu epic folklore has

been treated in a comprehensive manner.”1

I was enchanted by the book, and responded by making this drawing. I call these works

‘drawings’ as I propose that the texts hold the possibility of acting as a kind of picture. Or,

perhaps more suitably, Songs of Humans might be a kind of ‘calligraphic’ work — one, which

attempts to tell a story or give an impression through both a literal ‘reading,’ but also through the

way that it is rendered on the canvas. Regardless, it’s my hope that the work, in some way

reaches back, and across the Pacific Ocean to a time and place of unique human experience.

With respect to this intent, I sensed something ‘universal’ in these mythic epics. Something to do

with the experience of hearing the human voice as it sings, and being borne away without

necessarily understanding the songs’ literal, or applied meaning(s). I wonder if it is no different

from, say, hearing the Three Refuges chanted in Pali, at the end of a Zen sesshin — where a

transmission of intention through tone, form, consonance, dissonance, can leave attendants

overcome with wonder at its sensual offering.

Songs of Humans, then, acts as an homage to the history of human voice as it relays a ‘gift’ of

intention to the human community.

1 Princeton University Press. (n.d.). Songs of Gods, Songs of Humans: The Epic Tradition of the Ainu

Practicing with Covid-19: Zendo closure

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Dear sangha friends,

After much deliberation, having consulted the best information sources possible, we have decided to close the zendo for public events, starting immediately. The next few weeks will be crucial in preventing further community spread of the Covid-19 virus, and we want to do our part as a sangha to minimize risk, particularly to those who are most vulnerable. Closure will include our regular Wednesday and Sunday practice sessions, the half-day retreat Sunday, March 15, ZenYU on Monday evenings, Wednesday and Friday morning zazen, as well as the book group and engaged Buddhist practice group meetings. 

We're sorry to say we will also have to cancel the March 28-29 weekend retreat and jukai ceremony. Those who have registered will receive a separate email from the registrar and a full refund. We want everyone who wishes to be able to attend the retreat and celebrate the jukai without anxiety. We hope to be able to reschedule the retreat in the near future. 

Over the next few days we will work to create ways to support sangha practice through electronic media. We're hoping to livestream Wednesday dharma seminars, and Sunday dharma talks, so that you can join us from your home. We will reopen the zendo as soon as we assess it to be safe and practicable. Please stay tuned for further announcements.

In these precarious and uncertain times we are fortunate to have our practice of the Buddha Way to support us to meet what comes day by day, with wise and compassionate presence. 

Practicing together, with our wishes for your well-being and appreciation for your support.

Mountain Rain teachers, council and practice committee