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BZC T-Shirt

The Development Committee has created a 50th Anniversary T-shirt, very limited edition. These shirts will be available for $20 each beginning in July (on sale after the Saturday program). All profits will be donated to the Let’s Party Fund, in support of our upcoming anniversary party in September. The shirt front has the BZC logo with “Berkeley Zen Center, Fifty Years.” The back reads: “Accomplishing nothing since 1967.”

Reminiscences of BZC

As part of BZC’s 50th Anniversary celebration, we are working on a 50-years-of-memories book and would appreciate participation of as many people as possible. Do you have a story or some reflections to share about the various aspects of practice at BZC during any of those years? If you’ve been thinking about writing something but haven’t quite gotten around to it, perhaps you’d prefer to have a conversation instead? If so, shoot an email to Andrea Thach at andrea.thach@gmail.com or give her a call and she’ll arrange something for you.

The theme of our 50th Anniversary is “Lighting Up Our World.” So we’d also like to hear how your practice at BZC has lit up, or is lighting up, the path of your life. Please send a few lines or paragraphs to share as a part of the celebration to Andrea (see email above) or to Mary Duryee (maduryee@earthlink.net).

Four-Day Mountains and Rivers Sesshin

Our annual Mountains and Rivers Sesshin will take place Thursday through Sunday, July 27‒30, at Point Reyes.
Seiwa Leslie Bartholic will be joining us as the doshi. She will be leading our daily discussions of Dogen’s “Mountains and Rivers Sutra,” and will also be available for one-on-one practice discussion during our free-time periods on Friday and Saturday afternoons.
The sesshin will begin with an orientation meeting Wednesday evening, July 26, at 6 p.m. in the Community Room. Thursday morning we will carpool to Point Reyes, then hike from the Bear Valley Visitors’ Center to Coast Camp, moving at a moderate pace with frequent rest stops and lunch along the way. We will get back to Berkeley around 5 p.m. Sunday. All meals are provided and camping experience is not required. Everyone is encouraged to do the full four days, but provision will also be made for those who may have to arrive late.
The sign-up sheet will be posted on the BZC bulletin board as of July 7. Your spot will be reserved after you submit all the logistical information requested on the sign-up sheet. Sign-up deadline is Thursday, July 20. The fee is $75. If you have any questions, please contact Zosie Calame at zosiec@zoho.com.

Nominations for the BZC Board

Every year the sangha elects three of six members-at-large to terms of two years to the BZC Board. There is a two-term limit. Elections take place in October and the new term starts in January 2018. The Board will present its three nominees at the all-sangha meeting on Tuesday evening, September 12. Other nominations can be made by sangha members at that time from the floor. Two current members-at-large who are currently serving their first term, Katy Guimond and Mary Beth Lamb, have agreed to be Board nominees for a second term. Laurie Senauke, another current member-at-large, has been appointed by the Board and Sojun to be the BZC treasurer, so her seat is open. The Board will thus be considering whom to nominate to fill the one vacant member-at-large position. We would like to receive suggestions from BZC members. Among the skills which a nominee might add to the Board are: oral and written communication, organization, information technology, money management, fundraising, engineering, building maintenance, and non-profit law. Board members attend monthly Sunday morning meetings and an all-day retreat in January, and they serve on at least one working Board committee: finance, buildings, development, electronic communication, and recruitment/nomination for elections. If you have a suggested candidate or are yourself interested in being nominated, please contact the Broad Recruitment and Elections Committee chair, Stan Dewey, at standewey@comcast.net by July 12. Please include any relevant information about why you think the person you mention would be a good BZC Board member.

One-Day Sesshin:

Denkei Raul Moncayo will be leading a one-day sesshin on Saturday, August 5, from 5:00 am to 9:00 pm We encourage old and new sangha members to participate. Please sign up on the patio bulletin board by Wednesday morning, August 2, after zazen. If this is your first sesshin at BZC, we recommend that you first participate in a full Saturday program and also speak with the sesshin director. The fee is $35 and should be paid in advance (a discounted fee is possible for those in need; please speak to the director). Leave checks marked “August sesshin” in the mail slot in the courtyard laundry room door or mail to the BZC Office Manager at 1931 Russell St., Berkeley, CA 94703. Those attending for the first time will need to fill out a Sesshin Information Sheet to let us know of food allergies or other health or physical concerns requiring accommodation. Please request this by contacting the sesshin director, Peter Overton, at sesshindirectorbzc@gmail.com or (510) 325-2342 .

Lay Entrustment Ceremony

Leslie Bartholic and Jake Van Akkeren will receive Lay Entrustment from Sojun Roshi on Monday morning, July 10. Sojun will present them with a green rakusu to acknowledge their position as lay teachers in our sangha. The ceremony will take place in the zendo at 5:40 a.m. All are invited to attend, with a reception to follow in the community room. There will be no Practice Committee meeting on this date.

BZC + Berkeley Men’s Shelter x 20 Years

Over the years, many BZC folks have lent their hands to the twice-monthly offering of dinner at the Men’s Shelter on the 2nd and 4th Fridays from 5:00-8:00 p.m. We don’t just bring the guys food, we bring them a message — that people care about them, that they matter, that we want to support them as they navigate their life’s path. This work does not preclude anything else we might do to address the conditions that contribute to homelessness (which is increasing rapidly on the West Coast due to housing shortages, among other causes).
We have a few people who come regularly, and we need a few more. Now don’t everyone read this and immediately sign up for the next offering! Head cooks Lance Shows (lanceshows@pacbell.net) and Laurie Senauke (lauriesenauke@kushiki.org) keep a short list of willing helpers; email us to add your name to that list. We usually check in with folks starting the Monday before the dinner to find out who is able to come. If we get more than we need, we can let some of the regulars off early. It’s also fine to use the sign-up sheet on the back porch of the community room.
This is love in action, active hope, medicine for despair. Please join us!

A Class on The Buddha’s Teachings on Social and Communal Harmony

Suzuki Roshi said: “When the whole cloth is woven completely in various colorful threads, what you see are not pieces of thread; what you see is one whole cloth.” The respected translator and editor Bhikkhu Bodhi recently published The Buddha’s Teachings on Social and Communal Harmony (Wisdom, 2016), a collection drawn entirely from the Pali suttas. Hozan Alan Senauke worked on this with Bhikkhu Bodhi, contributing a prologue and epilogue to the book.
In these difficult days, social and communal harmony have never been needed more. Hozan Sensei will lead a five-session class on selections from this book on Mondays from March 20 to April 17. The class will be held in the BZC community room, from 7:15 to 8:45 p.m. The class fee is $50. Materials will be available in advance and books will be available from the BZC book table.

Sojun Roshi’s Koan Class Series

Sojun Roshi will continue his koan class series from The Book of Serenity in January and February. The dates for his four classes are Monday evenings 7:15-8:45 on January 23, January 30, February 6, and February 13. Fee for the series is $40, payable at the first class, with discounts available as needed. A sign-up sheet will be posted on the patio bulletin board the first week of January and class material will be made available prior to the series as well as before each class.

Position Changes

With the turning of the year comes the proverbial turning of practice positions. It is no small thing to assume these roles and responsibilities, and to your no-gaining mind we thank all of you for saying YES!

  Peter Overton will assume the co-sesshin director role from Gary Artim, sharing this responsibility with Ken Powelson.

  Mark Copithorne will become our new co-zendo manager for well-being and memorial services. He will share the ZM position with Bruce Coughran, who will be responsible for ceremonies, taking over from Sue Oehser.

  Jed Appelman will tend to the Dokusan Hut, receiving the feather duster from Judy Fleischman, who has helped to maintain that space for our one-on-one talks with Sojun Roshi.

  With Jed’s stepping down as Head Dishwasher, John Lake has stepped up to lead the dishwashing after our oryoki meals.

  John Lake is also taking over the Work Leader position (for sesshins and work days) from Paul Ridgway.

  Troy DuFrene will be assuming Tenzo duties while Kiká Hellein is at Tassajara for the winter practice period.