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Our Annual New Year’s Sitting with Japanese noodle snack, 108 strikes on the peace bell and fire ceremony, from 8:00 pm on December 31 until 12:30 am on January 1, took place again last Sunday/Monday.
The photo shows us after the toast with sparkling apple juice and sending off all the items we had decided to let go of into the fire:
Eli, Helen, Bob, Charlie, Michelle, Susan, Reirin, and Jonathan (in the selfie).
Onto the next year with lots of practice opportunities! HAPPY 2024!
ROHATSU Sesshin is an annual event when Zen students emulate the Buddha’s Enlightenment by sitting in silence for seven days. This year we spent these days (December 1 - 8) at Ryumonji Zen Monastery in Iowa with Abbot Shoken Winecoff. On the last day the Enlightenment Ceremony was combined with a Lay Entrustment and a Jukai.
On December 8th (rohatsu in Japanese), we celebrate the Buddha’s Enlightenment with joyful chanting and a circumambulation of the altar. Flowers rain from the sky and the Earth rejoices. (This year it happened on December 10th in Milwaukee.)
Four of our sangha members received the Bodhisattva Precepts, a Rakusu and a Dharma Name in a JUKAI CEREMONY on November 19. They became members of the Shunryu Suzuki lineage of Soto Zen.
Congratulations, great congratulations!
GREG YORK Soshin Anku - Ancestor Mind, Pecaeful Sky
KELLETT KOCH Endo Daikan - Circle of the Earth, Great Joy
HELEN NORRIS Yugen Seigetsu - Deep Mystery, Clear Moon
DEVIN DROBKA Chusan Koho - Loyal Mountain, Vast Treasure
Afterwards, a joyful reception brought families and friends together.
DAIJIN FRANK FISCHER was shuso / head monk for the Fall 2023 Practice Intensive. He gave his talk on the koan Yunmen’s Great Compassion on November 5th https://mkzen.org/sangha-members-talks, and the culminating ceremony happened on November 11 (video below). Thank you, Frank, for showing up every day and patiently leading our sangha!
The title of this series reference the painting “Excavation” by William DeKooning at the Art Institute of Chicago. These larger paintings include overlaid images that develop into dense pattern-field textures. Their scale and complexity invites the reading of associations and narrative implications. (from Michael’s website)
The pieces in this exhibit are the product of many years of intense work. They are magnificent and need to be seen many times for all the details to sink in.
A large number of Buddhist friends came to the Gallery Night Opening on October 20. We enjoyed great works of art, excellent food and especially the company of many who we had not seen in a while or even in a long time! It felt like a family gathering. Thank you, Michael, for bringing us all together for this special event!
On Saturday, September 30, we held our sangha work day. The most pressing job was planting the area in the backyard that had been prepared with a new retaining wall and fresh soil. A skilled and strong group of sangha members showed up and got a lot accomplished. At the same time, we did some overall cleaning of yard and front porch, as the squirrels had left mountains of nut shells from a large neighborhood tree.
Thank you all who came to enjoy working (and eating!) together.
From September 18th until 21st, over sixty practitioners in the Shunryu Suzuki lineage, from various sanghas in North America, met at Villa Maria del Mar, a retreat center in Santa Cruz, California, in order to exchange experiences and share friendship under the theme TRANSITIONS. We realized that we had all undergone various transitions, including losses of beloved teachers through death or retirement, and many other changes that had been happening during the year.
We met in a new open space format, foregoing a keynote speaker and allowing all participants to choose topics for small group meetings in several time slots. This proved to be highly appreciated, as many found their voices who would otherwise have been silent.
There were also evenings of entertainment, with a former poet laureate of Santa Cruz, and a hilarious No-Talent Show.
Our hosts, the Sisters of the Many Holy Names, an order that is financially independent from the Catholic Church, did a fantastic job, looking after us with loving care. The vegetarian and vegan food was phenomenal and plentiful, what cannot always be expected in this kind of place.
Every year, we have practitioners preparing for their lay ordination, by sewing a rakusu, the mini version of the Buddha’s robe. This year, there are four in our sangha: Greg York, Kellett Koch, Helen and Devin Drobka. In addition, Chris Kolon is sewing his priest robe and Mary Bernau-Eigen is preparing for lay entrustment.
Anne Johnson is our beloved and worthy sewing teacher, who has already taught and supported many of our students in their pursuit of the Bodhisattva Path.
Anne at the ironing board
Susan and I took part in a silent rally in Waukesha, supporting free speech and Melissa Tempel, the first grade teacher, who was put on leave in April and finally terminated by the school board after yesterday’s public hearing for a tweet in protest about the cancellation of a song by Dolly Parton.
Many media outlets were present; here is a link to the article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (with nice photos!): https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/education/2023/07/12/what-to-know-about-the-events-leading-to-melissa-tempels-firing/70249191007/
On Monday, June 12, 2023, Susan and I joined several MICAH members and many others to witness a Common Council meeting at Milwaukee City Hall, the Judiciary and Legislation Committee Meeting about the cancelation of a popular program that supported especially marginalized people.
The following letter which was signed by a large number of local organizations, including Milwaukee Buddhist Peace Fellowship, states clearly what was at stake:
Dear Mayor Johnson and Common Council,
We are writing to urge the City of Milwaukee to save JusticePoint’s Municipal Court Alternatives Program (“MCAP”)—a program that has done incredible work for the City of Milwaukee for the last 40 years. It is shocking that Milwaukee Municipal Court would suddenly cancel the contract for such an invaluable program. The contract was cancelled without cause and was described as a “termination for convenience”, with an effective date of July 11, 2023. The Court has provided no explanation for what is to happen to the hundreds of individuals currently being served by JusticePoint.
MCAP benefits defendants, the court, and the community at large. Many people experiencing poverty, homelessness, mental health crises, disability, and substance use issues have received excellent services from MCAP to resolve issues in the municipal court and help to stabilize those individuals in the community. Vulnerable people, such as those with intellectual disabilities, struggle to navigate the court system on their own and benefit from the expertise of JusticePoint’s social workers and case managers to connect them to resources. Defendants with complex unmet needs require services and resources, not punishment that they are unable to comply with (and then further court sanctions as a result). Milwaukee Municipal Court has statutory and constitutional obligations to these defendants—JusticePoint helps the municipal court comply with the law.[1]
JusticePoint’s MCAP program has served nearly 62,000 people over the last twenty years alone—essentially all people from historically marginalized groups. For example:
· People of color, and especially Black people, experience disproportionate police contact and are therefore subjected to legal punishment systems and court debt at a higher rate. As a result, 80% of the individuals served by MCAP have been Black;
· Many people served by MCAP are experiencing homelessness because unhoused people have a high level of needs and are exposed to police contact at greater frequency. JusticePoint staff are skilled in connecting people experiencing housing instability to appropriate services, including helping to remove barriers to transitional housing;
· For defendants who are unable to pay their court debt, MCAP facilitates connections to nonprofits so the defendants can do volunteer work to show accountability and provide a benefit to the community. Over the last two decades, MCAP has facilitated nearly 150,000 hours of volunteer work at nonprofit organizations to resolve court debt the defendants were unable to pay.
These services are essential.
We respectfully urge you to take immediate action so that these services don’t come to an abrupt halt on July 11th. Additionally, we urge you to take action to ensure Milwaukee Municipal Court does not compromise the success of the program in the future.
Thank you for your consideration.
Signed,
Coalition to Save JusticePoint’s Municipal Court Alternatives Program
National Lawyers Guild (NLG), Milwaukee Chapter
Wisconsin Justice Initiative (WJI)
American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin (ACLU)
Milwaukee Freedom Fund
LOTUS Legal Clinic
Peace Action Wisconsin
Wisconsin Community Services (WCS)
Milwaukee Turners
Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee
Community Advocates
Equal Justice Under Law
Praise Cathedral Church of God in Christ
Meta House, Inc.
Kinship Community Food Center
Street Angels
Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT)
Rid Racism Milwaukee
Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice
Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH)
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Southeast Wisconsin
WISDOM
Buddhist Peace Fellowship of Milwaukee
Center for Veterans Issues (CVI)
Benedict Center
Thank you to everyone who made Buddha’s Birthday Celebration on April 30, 2023, such an enjoyable event! Around 50 people showed up, many lined up to bathe the Baby Buddha, and some shared poems and musical performances with us. There were food donations, including some amazing Buddha cookies. Even though the weather was not what we had hoped for, it was a memorable community gathering.
Here are some photos:
This video was made for an initiative of Faith Voices for Justice in Wisconsin to counteract the attempts for suppressing the truth and not teach children the American past. Thank you, Noah, for your effort!
WISCONSIN PRISON ART EXHIBITION at MIAD, 273 E. Erie Street, Milwaukee
January 19 through March 11, 2023
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
FREE Admission
Tom Tolan, Kinho Bokushu, a member of the MZC Sangha, has been shuso (head monk) for the Winter ango at Ryumonji in Iowa. Several of us went there for a weekend sesshin and the shuso ceremony on the first weekend in March. It was a great experience for all of us, and Tom gave perfect answers,
Congratulations, great congratulations, Tom!
The Warehouse Art Museum at 1635 W St. Paul Avenue in Milwaukee is currently (January 13 - March 31, 2023) showing an exhibit:
Rediscovering RUTH GROTHENRATH (American 1912-1988): All Things Belong to This Earth, the first solo museum retrospective of this Milwaukee artist. Featuring never-before-seen artworks alongside award-winning paintings and prints that cover the artists career of over 50 years.
https://www.wuwm.com/2023-02-02/influential-milwaukee-artist-ruth-grotenrath-honored-in-new-exhibition
Since Ruth Grotenrath was highly influenced by Japanese art, traveled to Japan several times and considered herself a lay Buddhist, I was asked to give a presentation of Zen practice at the museum.
Here are some pictures:
Zhenbao Jin, who lives in China, gave a wonderful presentation on Tuesday, February 7, on the power of healing through “Qi”, as it is known in Taoism. Since Zen has traditionally a strong relationship with Chinese culture and philosophies, much of what Zhenbao talked about sounded familiar.
Dr. Zhenbao Jin has a PhD degree in the philosophy of law. He had been a lawyer and a law lecturer in China. Due to the diagnosis of non-hodgkin's lymphoma in 2012, he started to practice meditation for the purpose of healing. His approach is based on an integrative understanding of Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, philosophy and science and emphasizes the role of Qi, or life energy in the development of consciousness and physical and mental health. Dr. Jin has fully recovered from the lymphoma as well as the other problems he has had, including atrophic gastritis, prostatitis and ankylosing spondylitis simply through meditation and sports. Dr. Jin now lives in Shenzhen, China and is a teacher of healing meditation as well as a researcher on meditation, spiritual traditions and their relationship with philosophy and science. More information about Dr. Jin can be found at Zhenbao Jin | Process & Faith (processandfaith.org) and his Wordpress blog:meditationtaoist.
Taoist Meditation for Healing and Transformation
According to our annual tradition, we celebrated the transition into the New Year with zazen, Japanese noodles, 108 strikes on the peace bell and a fire ceremony, burning off old karma.
Winter Solstice is a time for deep reflection on the impermanent nature of reality, the constant (ex)change of dark and light, growth and decay. On December 21, we celebrated with zazen, a special service, words of the season and a potluck. Here are some photos:
Two of our sangha members, Frank Fischer and Jonathan Elmergreen, were ordained in the Soto Zen lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. They received the 16 Bodhisattva precepts, a Dharma name, a rakusu (mini Buddhist robe), which they had sewn themselves and which was inscribed by their teacher Reirin, and the lineage papers with the bloodline from Shakyamuni Buddha through all the ancestors, down to them, and back to the Buddha.
Frank’s Dharma name is Daijin Angyo - Great Virtue, Peaceful Practice
Jonathan’s Dharma name is Kosan Mumon - Old Mountain, No Gate
