Category Archives: News

Board Changes

As the new year approaches, the Board constituency changes. We offer a farewell and many bows of gratitude to our Vice-President Hannah Meara, our long-term Treasurer Laurie Senauke, and our member-at-large Luminous Heart Penelope Thompson. All three have contributed greatly to our sangha. Hannah has researched and initiated green energy practices; Laurie has handled and reported on our budget, overseen the Office Manager, and participated on the Finance Committee for many years; and Luminous Heart has offered her discernment and communication skills to the benefit of all.
      We are happy to welcome Rob Lyons, our current Sesshin Director and former Buildings and Grounds Manager, as incoming Vice-President. Erna Andre will be bringing her unique skills to be our new Treasurer; and former Recording Secretary Jonathan Koltz will be a new member-at-large. We are glad to welcome Simone Brumis as our incoming Recording Secretary.
      And finally, much gratitude to Dan Jackson and Ellen Webb, who will begin their second two-year terms as at-large members.

New Year’s Eve at BZC

As in the past, BZC will host a New Year’s Eve celebration consisting of an evening of zazen followed by a bonfire and refreshments on the patio. Details will be finalized closer to the event, but we anticipate zazen in both the zendo and the online zendo. Late in the evening those present can take turns ringing the densho bell for a total of 108 times. At midnight we will chant the Heart Sutra and then gather outside to read and place in the bonfire the names of those who have died this year. Refreshments will be served and good wishes shared all around.
      If you wish to add names to the list, please contact Zendo Manager Preston Evers at prestonevers13@gmail.com.

Sojun Roshi’s New Book

Sojun Roshi’s new book—Seeing One Thing Through: The Zen Life and Teachings of Sojun Mel Weitsman—is scheduled for publication by Counterpoint Press on December 12. The book, lovingly assembled over the last several years by Sojun with editorial support by Ron Nestor, Kika Hellein, Raghav Bandla, Ryushin Andrea Thach, and other sangha members, features a memoir and a rich collection of edited dharma talks.
      Advance reviews have been very positive. To quote from just one, Joie Szu-Chiao Chen in Buddhadharma writes:

“. . . remarkable wisdom of a humble life of practice. Weitsman’s remembrances are full of charm and told without pretension, and his teachings, too, are without frills, going straight to the point and to the heart.”

Though we won’t have copies of the book here at BZC until December, when they will become available in stores, you can place advance orders at one of the online booksellers. (See the book cover and ordering information on the next page.)
                           

Order from Amazon.com:

https://www.amazon.com/Seeing-One-Thing-Through-Teachings/dp/1640096191/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2OSZAXACCU11C&keywords=seeing+one+thing+through&qid=1697472386&sprefix=seeing+one+thing+through%2Caps%2C198&sr=8-1

 

Order from Bookshop.org:

https://bookshop.org/p/books/seeing-one-thing-through-the-zen-life-and-teachings-of-sojun-mel-weitsman-mel-weitzman/19866570?ean=9781640096196

 

 

One-Day Sesshin November 11

We invite you to join us for a One-Day Sesshin at Berkeley Zen Center, Saturday, November 11, from 6:00 AM to 5:30 PM. (Please note the time change:  we will begin at 6:00 AM, and will include both breakfast and lunch). This sesshin will be led by Carol Paul, and will close our Fall Aspects of Practice Period.
1.  Deadline to sign up is Noon on Thursday, November 9.  In-person attendance will be limited to 33 people.  Those who sign up after we reach the 33-person limit will be placed on a waiting list.
SIGN UP BY CLICKING HERE:
2. The sesshin will also be offered online; sign up using the same link.

3. For all sesshin attendees, proof of vaccination and booster shots are required to participate.  Indoor masking is now optional, but social distancing protocols will still be observed.

4. Breakfast and Lunch will be served in the zendo using the traditional oryoki form.  To purchase a set of oryoki bowls, check our website for a link. An oryoki refresher class will occur during the second period of zazen.  For further information please contact Ellen Webb at elweb@sbcglobal.net.

5. We will have a short work period, so please bring work clothes you can change into.
6. Dokusan will be offered by Carol Paul, and practice discussion by Sue Oehser – both in person and online.
7. The sesshin fee is $35 for in-person attendees (or whatever you can afford).  You may pay online, or you can send a check to BZC at:
Berkeley Zen Center
1931 Russell Street
Berkeley, CA 94703
Attention:  Office Manager, Helen Cheng
Additional donations may be made at https://berkeleyzencenter.org/support-bzc/.
If you have questions, please contact the Sesshin Director, Rob Lyons at robertlyons2305@gmail.com

Aspects of Practice Class

The class for our Aspects of Practice Period will be on Dōgen Zenji’s Genjōkōan – Actualizing the Fundamental Point.  This seminal fascicle is Dogen’s instructions about how to bring the spirit of our practice to our everyday lives.  It was written for a lay student in 1233.
The class will be offered on 4 Thursdays, October 19 and 26, November 2 and 9, 7:15 to 8:45, and will be led by 4 teams of Practice Leaders (see below for the Aspects Calendar with details about the leaders).  The class will be hybrid – both in person and online.  Please register using the link below (in addition to registering for Aspects).
Aspects Calendar

Special Guest Speaker from Japan September 22

Welcoming Rev. Kosai Ikeda

Friday, 22 September at 5:45

In person in the zendo and in the BZC Online Zendo 

BZC welcomes Rev. Kosai Ikeda offering a dharma talk on “Practicing the Buddha Way Wherever and Whenever.” Rev. Ikeda comes to us as a “special dispensation teacher” from Soto Zen headquarters in Japan. He graduated from College of San Mateo, trained at Eiheiji, and is currently abbot of Kenryu-ji temple in Yamagata prefecture.

For the last fifteen years he has been serving as a Buddhist chaplain of the local correctional facility, helping inmates with their rehabilitation and re-entry programs. Rev. Ikeda has also been teaching kendo, the way of the sword, to high school students in his region. He writes:

It is a great honor for me to visit temples overseas for the first time on behalf of the head priest of Soto Zen school in Japan. I hope you will kindly accept me as a sangha friend who shares the same aspiration. I will certainly do my very best to share my talk in English but, admittedly, it would take our mutual effort, patience, imagination, open mind, and kindness to share the deep meaning of the talk. I hope we can make the most of this opportunity as a practice opportunity for each other and learn from each other.

Please join us on this special occasion.

What is a Good Life?

On three Thursday evenings—September 21, 28 and October 5 at 7:15pm—Berkeley Zen Center is pleased to host Shaykh Yassir Chadly in dialogue with Hozan about “a good life” in our respective Sufi and Zen traditions.

Please register at https://forms.gle/WTS5VK9PFNo9PeSz5

Yassir is a Sufi imam, born in Morocco, ministering to Bay Area Islamic communities for many years. From 2002 to 2017 he taught Islamic and Sufi studies at U.C. Berkeley’s Graduate Theological Union. Yassir and Hozan have been good friends since the 90s, sharing the music and wisdom of our spiritual paths. Yassir has visited and lectured at BZC several times. His warm-hearted presence is uplifting.

We can accommodate up to 35 people in the zendo itself (vaccination card required), and we will be live-streaming on Zoom as well. The suggested class fee is $30 (or whatever you can afford). For further information, contact class coordinator Ryushin Andrea Thach andrea.thach@gmail.com.

 

 

Beginners’ Sesshin October 1

Please join us for a special sitting that comes around only twice a year. This is an opportunity for new and old practitioners alike to become intimate with beginner’s mind. The sesshin will be led by Laurie Senauke and Susan Marvin. The focus will be on the basics of Suzuki Roshi’s practice: zazen, kinhin, and bowing. New students will receive clear explanations of our sometimes challenging forms, while more experienced students will have a chance to fine-tune their practice.

Here is the link to register (please be sure to read the details below):

https://forms.gle/uC7hnTD6p2GfmAtq8

The sesshin will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 1. It will be offered in-person only (no online participation). The rhythm of the day will be similar to our regular sesshins, with shorter periods of zazen and some on-the-spot instructions. Please bring your own bag lunch (or you can purchase a lunch nearby).

The fee for this day is $15, or whatever you can afford.

You may pay online, or you can send a check to BZC at:
Berkeley Zen Center
1931 Russell Street
Berkeley, CA 94703
Attention:  Office Manager, Helen Cheng
If you have questions, please contact the day’s directors, Susan Marvin (lai_hang@yahoo.com) and Laurie Senauke (lauriesenauke@gmail.com).

One-Day Study Sesshin September 23

We invite you to join us for a One-Day Study Sesshin at Berkeley Zen Center, Saturday, September 23, from 7:50 AM to 5:30 PM. This study sesshin will be led by Hozan Alan Senauke, and will focus on Dogen’s Tenzo Kyokun/ Instructions to the Cook.
1.  Deadline to sign up is Noon on Thursday, September 21.  In-person attendance will be limited to 33 people.  Those who sign up after we reach the 33-person limit will be placed on a waiting list.
SIGN UP BY CLICKING HERE:
PLEASE NOTE: THIS SESSHIN WILL NOT BE OFFERED ONLINE.
For all sesshin attendees, proof of vaccination and booster shots are required to participate.  Indoor masking is now optional, but social distancing protocols will still be observed.
Lunch will be served outdoors at tables in the courtyard, using a modified oryoki form.  There will be an instruction in eating oryoki during the 2nd period of zazen that day; a set of oryoki bowls to purchase will be available at that time.
We will have a short work period, so please bring work clothes you can change into.
Neither dokusan nor practice discussion will be offered during this study sesshin.
The sesshin fee is $25 for in-person attendees (or whatever you can afford).  You may pay online, or you can send a check to BZC at:

 

Berkeley Zen Center
1931 Russell Street
Berkeley, CA 94703
Attention:  Office Manager, Helen Cheng
Additional donations may be made at https://berkeleyzencenter.org/support-bzc/.
If you have questions, please contact the Sesshin Director, Rob Lyons at dharmawork@yahoo.com.

Interview with Paul Discoe

In a short Zoom chat on August 15, I asked Zengyu Paul Discoe if he had further comments to make after his BZC lecture ten days earlier. During that lecture Paul talked about his work as a temple and gate builder and his work in Japanese carpentry, as well as how he came to BZC and how he is doing in his retirement. His book Zen Architecture: The Building Process as Practice is available at our book table on Saturdays.
      In our chat Paul reviewed some of his life and work. When BZC started out on Dwight Way, Paul ran the center during Sojun’s time as shuso at Tassajara. His family had three industrial acres in Oakland. Paul housed a sangha of his own on that land, but eventually had to sell the acreage due to lack of money and energy.
      He lives with his wife Brenda in Oakland near Mills College, where they have a large vegetable garden. He also teaches via Zoom at Taigen Leighton’s Ancient Dragon Zen Gate center in Chicago.
      Paul’s teacher is Tenshin Reb Anderson at Green Gulch Farm. He is invigorated by his attendance in an ongoing class on The Flower Ornament Sutra. Paul has fatigue and mobility problems and asked Tenshin what he should do in retirement. Tenshin told him to sit by the road and talk to people. Not so many people

walk by his garden in Oakland, and BZC looks like a good place to sit and practice. We are delighted to have him with us.
      I asked Paul what he thought would be important to carry Buddhism forward. He has studied the precepts most intently the last few years and thinks they are the main thing Buddhism has to contribute to society. Precepts shape society and are an asset to society—the Eightfold Path, including right livelihood, addresses racial discrimination as well as social and economic injustice. He believes that Buddhist precepts offer a new paradigm beyond socialism and capitalism. They allow us to be one with our neighbors, and are more relevant than the focus on being as safe as possible or making the most money. Paul pondered the question of enforcing the precepts in society. If precepts or laws are broken in our society, someone might lose money. In Russia, someone might be shot. What enforces precepts in a Buddha Land?
      Paul mentioned Case 86 in the Blue Cliff Record: “The Temple Gate, the Kitchen, and Light,” which he says is most beautiful to him. The Gate is our entry to practice. The Gate focuses our attention and helps us carry out our vow to practice. If we stay for a while we have to eat as well as breathe. So the Kitchen is the power house. The Tenzo’s role is most basic. To breathe, to sit, to practice, it is necessary to eat.
      And that reminded him that it was time to cook dinner, so we stopped the discussion there.
                                                          —Sue Oehser