Annual Council Retreat

On Saturday November 18, close to twenty sangha members actively engaged in the MRZC annual retreat & review of strategic deliverables!

Capably led by Moe Zakzouk, we gained skills as negotiators and listeners. We sat in circle together, laughed together and learned together.

We reflected on our aspirations for Mountain Rain, and specifically what our motivations were for the retreat. We discussed what is working well, what needs to change, what is missing.

New songs, composed by Trudy Grienauer, were sung and the bodhisattvas invited to eat. Potluck lunch and tea-time were when exciting ideas bubbled to the surface to be shared, as can be seen in this photo.

Then, in breakout groups, each of MRZC’s priorities (Sustainable Governance, Financial Sustainability, Capacity Building, Diversity and Inclusion, Practice Leadership) was explored and some helpful suggestions were discussed.

We look forward to moving ahead with our strengthened community and clarified vision!

Words from the Teachers - November

Deep bows of gratitude to everyone who contributed in so many ways to the practice period opening retreat and the ordination ceremony for Myosen River Shannon and Yuki David Burke. We hope you were as moved as we were to see their shining faces (and newly shaved heads), dressed for the first time in Buddha's robes. A monk's initial training consists largely in learning how to get dressed--as those of you who attended the ceremony witnessed. Please support these two new priestlings, as they grow in their support of the sangha. 

What does it mean to ordain as a Zen priest here in Canada in the context of a lay practice community? The answer is a work-in-progress. It's evolving, and is very different from being a priest in a Japanese temple. The Soto Zen Buddhist Association has been working for years to build consensus on standards for full members as dharma transmitted teachers. Opinions vary!

But when we were ordained by our teacher Zoketsu Norman Fischer, he asked us to take up three practices: not-knowing, humility, and seeing all beings as buddha. Then he added bearing witness, and quipped that Bernie Glassman of the Zen Peacemaker's Order, had already claimed that one. We cannot think of a better foundation for our new priests than those practices. And they are not only for priests, but for any of you who set out on the bodhisattva path. You will be in good company.

In closing, we want to say we share the deep concern many of you have expressed about the terrible violence of the latest war on this earth, and the anguish of the Israeli and Palestinian people. May a cease-fire come soon, and may all nations support building an enduring peace, however impossible that may seem. The Buddha taught: Hatred never ceases by hatred; by love alone it is healed. That may sound simplistic in our cynical world, but it is deeply true.

Warm bows,
Myoshin Kate and Shinmon Michael

Suggested Reading for the 2023 Mountain Rain Practice Period

The Book of Serenity, translated by Thomas Cleary (For an online copy google: Book of Serenity Thomas Cleary PDF. It will appear on a strange website called Terebess, with both the Chinese and the English translation.)

The Book of Equanimity: Illuminating Classic Zen Koans. Translated by Jerry Shishin Wick. Newer translation with commentary by a contemporary American Zen teacher.

The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen’s Three Hundred Koans. Translation and commentary by John Daido Loori. This is a collection of koans made by Dogen without commentary. Loori provides his own commentary and verses, as well as very useful appendix showing which of Dogen’s koans appear in the Blue Cliff Record, The Book of Serenity, the Gateless Gate, and Dogen’s other writings, the Shobogenzo and Eihei koroku. For those who want to explore Dogen’s way of engaging with the classic koans.

Further reading:

There are many other books on koans, both earlier commentaries and more academic studies, but these are the most accessible.

Sitting with Koans: Essential Writings on the Practice of Zen Koan Introspection. Ed. John Daiko Loori   Recommended anthology.

Nothing is Hidden: The Psychology of Zen Koans. Barry Magid. A psychological perspective by a contemporary American Zen teacher.

Two Arrows Meeting in Mid-air: The Zen Koan. John Daido Loori

Introduction to Zen Koans: Learning the Language of Dragons. James Ishmael Ford. Accessible introduction by a contemporary American Zen teacher.

Our Place of Practice has a name! Kōryūji / Bright Stream Temple

Aren't names curious? We humans probably began naming each other and the things around us very early in our development of language. It's how we distinguish one thing from another when communicating across distance. Names give cause for endless precision and confusion. Like everything, they are provisional, subject to change. 

So how to refer to our new practice location on Sherbrooke St. has not been an easy question. Is it a temple, even though it doesn't look like one from outside? Can we call it a temple not knowing if it will be sustainable? Our founding teacher Zoketsu Norman Fischer advised that it's not appropriate to call a rented storefront a temple, but when we asked about the new house, he said sure, it can be a temple. Somehow having stewardship of the actual land and house makes a difference. 

What to call it? The street it's on was most likely named after a former Governor General of what was then called British North America after the War of 1812. He had a distinguished military and very colonial career. You might be interested to learn how disproportionately white, male and colonial Vancouver city street names are.  Though 38 are named after trees and plants, there is no Red-cedar St. or Salal St. (CBC The origins of all 651 street names in Vancouver). Onsen Colleen looked up the etymology of the name Sherbrooke and learned that the name in Old English means either brook/stream of the shire, or bright stream.

Bright Stream - it resonates with the Branching Streams network of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi sanghas, named after the line in the poem by Shitou Harmony of Difference and Equality, "branching streams flow on in the darkness". Our sangha is one branching stream of many, and each of us a tributary. Last week in Santa Cruz we felt this strongly when attending a conference of Branching Streams sanghas, small, medium and large. Maybe in adopting this name we can return the name Sherbrooke to its origins, a bright stream flowing through a valley, a village, on its way to the sea. 

Recently, the Mountain Rain council moved to formally adopt the name Bright Stream Temple (Kōryūji in Japanese). We hope you will like it. You can refer to the space by those names or simply the Sherbrooke St. zendo or practice house. Just as the City Center of San Francisco Zen Center is often just called City Center, and more formally Beginner's Mind Temple, or Shoshinji, remember that all names are provisional and subject to change. 

Warm bows,
Myoshin Kate and Shinmon Michael (Words from the Teachers October 2023)

Jizo Prayer Flags for Orange Shirt Day

You are invited to make Jizo prayer flags and images to honour and remember the indigenous children who died in residential schools, and those who survived. Materials are provided in the Wall St. zendo entry hall. 

Jizo bodhisattva is beloved in Japanese culture as the protector of women, children and travelers, particularly children who have died. Jizo is often depicted as a childlike image wearing a red bib (or rakusu) and a red cap/toque.

For Orange Shirt Day (National Day for Truth and  Reconciliation ) we are making prayer flags of Jizo images with orange bibs/rakusu. Materials are available in the zendo entry hall. Kakuko Kaye has kindly prepared the flags for us so that they can displayed like Tibetan prayer flags. You are welcome to make a Jizo prayer flag before or after any regular practice time. We will collect these flags on Saturday, September 30. We will hang the Jizo images in the zendo entry hall and we will also offer them to our upstairs neighbours at Aboriginal Mothers Society.

You are also encouraged to join in one of the various community events for Orange Shirt Day, as you reflect on the history and legacy of colonization, and the deep commitment to healing that indigenous communities are asking of themselves and all inhabitants of this precious land.