Joining the 7-day Sesshin (November 6 – 13)
Our customary announcement: the regular schedule for morning and evening Zoom sittings is suspended during sesshin. However, even if you’re not attending sesshin, you’re welcome to join any block of sitting (though without dokusan). If you do, please log on before a block begins or during a kinhin to minimize distraction. Likewise, if you cannot stay for an entire block, exit Zoom during one of the kinhins whenever possible. Here is the schedule so you know what times to enter and join (the rounds are 35 minutes long with a 7-minute kinhin in between). Note: We will stream Sensei’s teishos on Mixlr (where the sound is a bit better) as well as on Zoom. The regular schedule of Zoom sittings will resume Monday morning, November 15.
In-person sittings will continue in the Arnold Park zendo during sesshin. Check the Zen Center’s calendar if you’re in doubt about any sitting, in-person or online.
Sesshin Acceptances: Need to Know Ahead of Time?
Before the pandemic, the sesshin application deadline was always three weeks in advance of the start date. For online sesshins during the pandemic, however, the deadline was moved up to just one week, since everything was on Zoom. Now that we’ve resumed sesshin with both in-person and online zendos (what we’re now calling “hybrid sesshin”) the new deadline will be two weeks ahead. As usual, acceptances are emailed the day after the deadline.
If you need to know whether you’ve been accepted to sesshin ahead of the two-week deadline – to make a flight reservation for instance – send an email to Trueman to ask for an early confirmation. He’ll consult with Roshi or Sensei and get back to you as soon as possible.
The Center Is Seeking iPhones 8 or Higher
Do you have an iPhone 8 or higher that you can donate to the Center? We’re seeking an upgrade to our Zoom iPhone webcams, which we use for the regular sittings in the Arnold Park zendo and sesshins in the Chapin Mill zendo.
Calling All Sangha Bakers
The Center is also seeking one or more volunteers who can bake cookies for the opening ceremonies of 7-day sesshins. The kitchen will provide the recipe. We’re hoping that the volunteer(s) can bake them on a regular basis during the week leading up to the start of sesshin.
Trustees’ Meeting Highlights
As mentioned previously, the Center’s Board of Trustees met during the weekend of October 23-24. We’d like to share with you a few exciting developments, each unanimously supported by the Board and to be included in the forthcoming meeting minutes that will be shared with the Sangha.
- In an effort to work toward greater gender inclusivity, we’re now using “they” as a generic singular pronoun (rather than “he or she” or “she or he”) for meeting minutes and other forms of communication. For the benefit of newer members who might not be aware of it, we also installed an all-gender changing room at Arnold Park in 2019.
- Local Sangha will soon see a Black Lives Matter flag flying outside the Center. Proposed by Uprooting Racism, it’s a way for us to acknowledge and condemn racially-motivated violence against Black people.
- Given the limitations of the size and layout of the dining room at Arnold Park, we’re going to conduct an architectural feasibility study on expanding it, along with the kitchen. We’re also going to purchase some chairs and round tables as a way of making the current space more accessible and functional for Sangha social activities.
If you have any questions about the above, you can contact Donna Kowal or Dené Redding. Regarding Board matters, feel free to contact the Board’s Chair, Jonathan Hager.
Fall Back This Weekend
Daylight Saving Time ends at 2 am tomorrow morning, Sunday, November 7. We get back the hour that we lost when we sprang forward in the spring.