Updates

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Guest Speaker (Zoom Sangha): Sat. 11/28 – Rev. Heather Shoren Iarusso

Rev. Heather Shoren Iarusso first moved to Tassajara in June 2008 thinking she’d stay for six months. Her spiritual sabbatical morphed into a way of life, residing amid the peace and beauty of the monastic valley for seven years aggregate. Heather was ordained as a Zen Priest in October 2015 by Teah Strozer, who served as the guiding teacher for Brooklyn Zen Center (BZC) for many years. Heather worked at BZC for two years as the Ino (Head of Meditation Hall), program director, communications coordinator, and the interim executive director.

Heather has served in various practice roles at Tassajara including the Ino, Tenzo (Head Cook), Shika (Guest Manager), and the Shuso (Head Student) with their Senior Dharma Teacher Paul Haller. She’s completed twelve, 90-day practice periods at Tassajara and has also participated in meditation intensives with Pema Chodron, Tenshin Reb Anderson Roshi, Shohaku Okumura Roshi, and Shodo Harada Roshi. Heather holds master’s degrees in communications, creative writing, and English literature.

Saturday mornings we offer a Zoom web conferencing for video and/or audio presence for the scheduled events. 9:25 zazen (you can log into the conference starting at 9am to socialize) and a Dharma talk at ~9:45am, followed by Q&A as well as an opportunity to check in and see how you are doing. Please click here to be routed to our Zoom gathering.

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Guest Speaker (Zoom Sangha): Sat. 11/21 –Rev. Gengyoko, Tim Wicks

Please join us for a Dharma talk by Rev. Tim, priest-ordained in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki-rōshi, and who is a longtime leader in the Bay Area Recovery community, as well as a skilled instructor in the practice of sewing Buddhist Dharma robes. Born in Utah and raised in London, Gengyoko Tim Wicks studied fine art at San Francisco State University and received his MFA with distinction from California College of Arts and Crafts. He studied for four years with Spirit Rock teacher Eugene Cash and was a steering committee member of the Insight Meditation Community of San Francisco.

Saturday mornings we offer a Zoom web conferencing for video and/or audio presence for the scheduled events. 9:25 zazen (you can log into the conference starting at 9am to socialize) and a Dharma talk at ~9:45am, followed by Q&A as well as an opportunity to check in and see how you are doing. Please click here to be routed to our Zoom gathering.

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Guest Speaker (Zoom Sangha): Sat. 11/14 – Rev. Koshin, Steven Tierney

Please join us for a Dharma talk by Rev. Steven, priest-ordained by Rev. Dairyu Michael Wenger, and who is a psychotherapist, clinical supervisor and frequent consultant to mental health and recovery programs, as well as group facilitator for our Issan-ji Sangha (community of practitioners). We’ll have zazen (seated meditation) as usual at 9:25, with the talk to follow at 9:45. Everyone is welcome!

Steven has been a long term guiding light for the HSZC Sangha Council to discuss temple activities, status and the community at large.

Saturday mornings we offer a Zoom web conferencing for video and/or audio presence for the scheduled events. 9:25 zazen (you can log into the conference starting at 9am to socialize) and a Dharma talk at ~9:45am, followed by Q&A as well as an opportunity to check in and see how you are doing. Please click here to be routed to our Zoom gathering.

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Guest Speaker (Zoom Sangha): Sat. 11/07 –Rev. Ryuei, Michael McCormick

Please join us this Saturday morning for a Dharma talk by Rev. Ryuei, Michael McCormick, who was ordained to the Nichiren-shū (Lotus Sutra School) ministry in 2001 by Rev. Ryusho Matsuda, of the San Jose Nichiren Temple.

Rev. McCormick is also a long-time practitioner of zazen (seated meditation) and a student of the writings of Dōgen-zenji.

Saturday mornings we offer a Zoom web conferencing for video and/or audio presence for the scheduled events. 9:25 zazen (you can log into the conference starting at 9am to socialize) and a Dharma talk at ~9:45am, followed by Q&A as well as an opportunity to check in and see how you are doing. Please click here to be routed to our Zoom gathering.

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Guest Speaker (Zoom Sangha): Sat. 10/24 –Rev. Hobu, Beata Chapman

Hobu Beata Chapman has practiced Zen with chronic nerve pain and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for 23 years. She studied with Katherine Thanas at Santa Cruz Zen Center and with Darlene Cohen until her untimely death, and received Dharma transmission from Tony Patchell in 2013. Beata also helped Hartford Street Zen Center with its’ council process for several years and is a great friend of Issan-ji Temple.

Beata continues the Suffering & Delight groups for people with chronic pain that Darlene founded around 15 years ago, and teaches an online S&D group she began for people not able to attend in person. For more information about Beata’s work with chronic pain, you can see sufferinganddelight.net. Beata is an organizational consultant currently doing corporate leadership training and assisting health care organizations to develop compliance systems. She recently started a zazen group in San Mateo (PenZen.net).

Saturday mornings we offer a Zoom web conferencing for video and/or audio presence for the scheduled events. 9:25 zazen (you can log into the conference starting at 9am to socialize) and a Dharma talk at ~9:45am, followed by Q&A as well as an opportunity to check in and see how you are doing. Please click here to be routed to our Zoom gathering.

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Guest Speaker (Zoom Sangha): Sat. 10/10 – Rev. Kokyo Henkel ~9:45am

Kokyo currently residing in Crestone, Colorado has served as Head Teacher at Santa Cruz Zen Center. He has been practicing zen since 1990 in residence at Tassajara, Green Gulch Farm, No Abode Hermitage in Mill Valley, and Bukkokuji Monastery in Japan. He was ordained a priest in 1994 by Tenshin Anderson Roshi and received Dharma Transmission from him in 2010.

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Kokyo’s interests include looking at how the classic original teachings of Buddha-Dharma from ancient India, China, and Japan are still very much alive and useful in present-day America to bring peace and harmony to this troubled world.

You may join the Zoom meeting for meditation any time starting at 9 a.m. for socializing and to check-in on how you are doing. Zazen begins at 9:25 a.m. followed by the Dharma talk at ~ 9:45am, followed by Q&A as well as an another opportunity to check in and see how you are doing. Please click here to be routed to our Zoom gathering.