Planting Zen in Siskiyou Square
Even though the Sodo is “finished,” and we are pausing to sit still and enjoy the beauty of the building and grounds, there are still some pieces being worked on. One of those pieces is the three folding doors that will help divide our spaces and reduce the sound spillover from kitchen and dining room into the zendo. After they arrived, they needed to be uncrated and then moved into the Sodo (and they are heavy!). They aren’t fully installed yet, but they are up, and we are getting used to the look of them. With the Sodo open every day during the month of May, staff is also getting used to different ways of working and different schedules. For example, Gyokuko is back in the kitchen doing a couple of meals a week.
Also, yesterday the new street trees for Siskiyou Street were delivered. Friends of Trees will be out on Friday to put them into the ground.
Sewing Workshop May 10
We are enjoying a large variety of Dharma events, at least one each day. Hearing guest speakers and taking advantage of workshops from guests we don’t usually have access to is a treasure. Here, people come up to touch and ask questions after the Ikebana workshop last Sunday afternoon. Earlier that morning, guest speaker Larry Christenson gave a wonderful talk on Buddha Nature: Tathagatagarbha, which you can listen to here.
Wednesday work parties are suspended during the month of May because of the May Sit. Do feel free to join us for morning programs and silent sitting all day.