New Year's Greetings

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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

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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