Two Streams Zen Greetings🌹🌻

Spring 2016 News from Two Streams Zen

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Dear Friends in the Dharma,

May these words find you and yours in good health, enjoying the warmth of late spring as the seasonal wheel turns toward summer.

In Remembrance

It has been over a year since I have communicated directly with you and this first sharing is a personal one: On Friday, May 13, Senior Dharma teacher Shunpo Zenkei (Spring Full Moon, Inconceivable Joy) Blanche Hartman Roshi died in San Francisco. Blanche Roshi is my original and principal Zen teacher. She was 90 years and 5 days old, having celebrated her last birthday on this earth on Sunday, May 8.

Many of you may remember meeting Blanche Sama when she visited Two Streams Zen exactly four years ago. The occasion of her visit was to officiate the Eye Opening Ceremony and Blessing of our home temple, Peaceful Dragon (AnRyuJi).

During her visit Blanche Sama honored both of Two Streams Zen's temples with her presence, guidance and teachings.
She spent an afternoon with Zen student Helen Caddie-Larcenia who was sewing a Rakusu (miniature Buddha’s robe) in preparation for receiving the Bodhisattva Precepts in a Lay Ordination on June 12.

Blanche Sama also practiced with us at Body-Mind Zen Temple (ShinJinJi) in Northampton, offering a Dharma talk and engaging with Sangha.

That my Venerable Teacher who traveled across the country, gave Two Streams Zen the opportunity of hosting her, is a gift of profound generosity. What great fortune!

I now prostrate to you, Inconceivable Joy, for whom what is still a mystery to us, it is no longer so for you,100,000 bows.
We continue to be blessed by Zenkei Roshi’s presence captured in a rare and intimate conversation with Reverend Kelly Gallagher at Two Streams Zen. View the conversation here.

Awakening…Fearless intimacy…World Peace

Some of you may already be aware that Two Streams Zen has brought Body-Mind Zen Temple (ShinJinJi) home—formerly housed in Northampton—to join Peaceful Dragon Zen Home Temple (AnRyūJi) in Westhampton as one rural practice space. Manifesting together as Two Streams Zen Farm, we continue to sow seeds of awakening, cultivate fearless intimacy and harvest world peace.

Our first practice event will be this Saturday, June 4th
New Moon Zazenkai (coming together for meditation) from 9 a.m. to Noon
We will sit Zazen and silently walk the grounds together.
Come, see and delight in the beautiful finishing touches in the Zendo
and completion of our Community space!
This work was accomplished through the dedicated labors of several friends of Two Streams Zen as well as donors' financial support.

Buddha's Child

Following the New Moon Zazenkai, we will hold our annual Sesshin (an intensive Zen retreat) from June 8 to June 14.

This particular Sesshin will be an auspicious occasion as it will include a Buddhist Lay Ordination Ceremony.

Sister Helen Caddie-Larcenia, a Sangha member who has studied with me for over a decade, will be receiving the Bodhisattva Precepts. Sister Helen is also the former President of Two Streams Zen Board of Directors and continues to serve on the current Board.

We invite you to attend the Ceremony
and join Two Streams Zen in celebrating this Dharma milestone in Sister Helen’s life.

The Ceremony will be Sunday, June 12 at 10 a.m. A reception will follow the Ceremony. Please arrive by 9:45 a.m. RSVPs appreciated to temples@twostreamszen.org

Fruition of Sabbatical

The reason for not having communicated with you directly for a while has been due to an eighteen month sabbatical from Two Streams Zen. A fruition of retreating from day to day responsibilities has been the spaciousness to open to what comes next in this life.

The first thing that came was being awarded a residential fellowship at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. The fellowship, hosted by Naropa and supported by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation, allowed me the opportunity to further develop my project, Contemplative Somatic Wellness, A Body-Mind Centered Movement for Spiritual Social Activism.

This living project, which represents my life’s work, is a trauma-informed modality arising out my lived experience, and societies’ profound need, to address the present global manifestations of social suffering. Social suffering caused by human disconnection, embedded structural inequities, embodied legacy of colonization, genocide and oppression, and misunderstood evolutionary processes.

The application of the Contemplative Somatic Wellness modality is a structured somatic immersion retreat for the training and mentorship of young adults who identify as social justice activists. Such retreat is modeled after a traditional Zen Ango, a three-month period of intense training for students lasting anywhere from 90 to 100 days.

Returning to the Market Place

What came next, with clarity of purpose, was to let go of early retirement and accept the invitation to formally join the Foundation for Human Enrichment (FHE), founded by Dr. Peter Levine, also in Boulder, Colorado. I have accepted because the timing of this invitation both aligns and is coherent with, my spiritual practice path.

FHE is the mother organization for the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute (SETI).
The Institute’s mission is dedicated to resolving trauma worldwide by providing state-of-the-art professional training and public education in Somatic Experiencing (SE).

In the role of Director of Global Training and Professional Development I will oversee all aspects of SETI’s worldwide trainings and outreach efforts, as well as the enrichment, development and supervision of the Institute’s international faculty.

Inviting All Gardeners

With the blessings of spring comes
the practice of caring for the gardens and grounds of Two Stream Zen Farm.

We need your help!

Gardeners of all levels of experience please join us at Work Practice Days (June 25, July 30 and August 13)

We work from 9 a.m. until Noon and enjoy a delicious Tea break in the middle!
To let us know you are coming please send quick message here.

Back at the Farm

Now back at farm and temple until mid October, I will lead next week’s Sesshin and together with Anraku Sensei, co-guide our fourth season of Dharma practice.

For more information on daily Zazen, weekend retreats, Death Café, and other community practice opportunities, see the Schedule here.

Practice, Practice, Practice!

Let us remember that we practice so that we may be of service to others and in doing so, alleviate the suffering of all beings--including the one in the mirror!

And through our wholehearted practice, may we be fortunate to embody this poem of Dogen Zenji:

In the stream,
Rushing past 
To the dusty world,
My fleeting form
 Casts no reflection.

Friends, I look forward to practicing with you this season.

Smiles and Bows,
Ryūmon Sensei

Copyright © *June 2016, Two Streams Zen*, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
Two Streams Zen Farm
263 Main Road-Route 66
Westhampton, MA 01027-9682
USA

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Two Streams Zen · 263 Main Road - Route 66 · Westhampton, MA 01027-9682 · USA