BULLETIN
December 2023

Rohatsu—i mage by Taylor Plimpton
Dear Sangha,
As we’re coming up on the holiday season, I’ve had shepherds on my mind. As both metaphor—and vocation—shepherds hold a prominent place in almost every religion. Some of the great figures in the bible were, of course, shepherds—Abraham, Moses, little David who would one day become king. Muhammad, himself a shepherd in his youth, once said, “There was no prophet who was not a shepherd.”
So it is in Zen, though of course, instead of shepherds, we talk about bodhisattvas—but it’s sort of the same thing. To take the bodhisattva vow of saving all sentient beings, this is to be a shepherd to all of life—to your own life—to guard this precious universe and everything in it with great tenderness and love.
Life would be so different if we were all there for each other in this way—not in any sort of annoying in your face kind of way—just there for each other. (Shepherds aren’t all up in their sheep’s business either, when you think about it—they watch over them quietly, their simple, alert presence enough to keep them safe.) Interestingly, I believe that in some senses, we are all already doing this. I always think of how, on the subway, when the train lurches and a fellow passenger stumbles, our hands shoot out so naturally, so effortlessly, to steady them. This is our natural state, to be there for each other, and if you need further proof of it, you need look no further than our own little VZ community. The gatherings, the groups, the support, even if electronic, that we offer each other every day. The way our teachers are there for us, and the way they encourage us to be there for ourselves, and for each other.
To be a bodhisattva—a shepherd to all sentient beings, leading them to the light—one does not need to have it all figured out, I don’t think. You do not need to wait to act, to offer yourself to your fellow human beings, your shoulders to the world to hold it up. In fact, here we are all, thoroughly unenlightened as far as we know, and yet here we are all for each other, thoroughly enlightened nevertheless.
To take the weight of the world upon your shoulders may seem a great burden, but perhaps to turn away from this duty is a motion that invites an even greater weight. To do what we were all put on this earth to do—to be here for each other, and the world—well, to dedicate ourselves to finally and fully doing this would be such a sweet relief. After all, to carry the world there must be lightness in your heart, which there is already—only now you are finally using it, now you are finally who you were always meant to be.
With love and light,
Taylor Plimpton
Editor
CALENDAR
Sunday, December 3: Online: Practice and Inquiry Circle
with Joshin Roshi, 9:30 am
In Person: Body, Breath, and Mind
Intro to Zen, 9:30 am
Thursday, December 7: Rohatsu, all night sit: 9 pm to 7 am
Sunday, December 10: Zazen, with Dharma Talk by Kansho
Music Jam, 4 pm
Thursday, December 14: Zazen, with Dharma Talk
by Shinryu Roshi, 5:30 pm
Newcomers’ Meeting, 6:40 pm
Sunday, December 17: Zazen, with Dharma Talk
by Fusho Hoshi, 9:30 am
Book Discussion: A Free Man of Color, 5 pm
Thursday, December 21: Zazen, with Dharma Talk by HonGo
December 24 – January 6: Zendo Closed
December 26 – January 1: Winter Ango Retreat at Garrison
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Ongoing Groups:
The Bolivian Sitting Group meets Saturday mornings, 7 am
Bolivia Zoom Meeting ID: 297 525 8394; Password: 1234
The People of Color Sitting Group meets Saturday mornings, 10:30 am
How to Meditate meets Monday evenings (except holidays) at 6:30 pm
Sorting Out Your Stuff meets Tuesdays at 10 am
Liturgy Training: 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month at 6 pm
On Rohatsu we commemorate the Buddha’s enlightenment by doing as he did, sitting zazen all night. This year our Rohatsu all-night sitting will take place for the first time in person and on Zoom, starting at 9 pm on Thursday, December 7th, and continuing until 7 am on Friday, December 8th morning.
There will be a Dharma Talk by Mukei Smith.
The rest of the night we will sit in 35-minute periods with kinhin for in-person participants and breaks for online participants in between. For those attending in person, refreshments will be served. Also, the opportunity for interview will be available for in-person participants. Participants are encouraged to continue throughout the night, take their own breaks, and come and go as they need. At 6:30 am there will be short service including the Verse of the Kesa and the Work Gatha.
This will be a hybrid event. Registration is required. Suggested donation of $10.00.
Please join us for any part of Rohatsu to help celebrate this important date on the Buddhist calendar.
Let’s embody Shakyamuni’s awakening and make the utmost endeavor!
REGISTER FOR ONLINE ROHATSU
REGISTER FOR IN-PERSON ROHATSU
Sunday, December 17
Join us for The Village Zendo Book Discussion of
A Free Man of Color
By Barbara Hambly
The Village Zendo book discussion series continues with Barbara Hambly’s A Free Man of Color. Kim Kimu Sorvig, our Summer Ango Shuso, will lead the discussion. He describes this book as follows:
The novel vividly captures the complexity and human costs of the “peculiar institution” of slavery in New Orleans 1833—three decades after the Louisiana Purchase caused a collision between French and Anglo attitudes on race, and almost that long before the Civil War.
Born a slave, the protagonist Benjamin January was bought free by a wealthy man who fancied the boy’s mother as a mistress, but who also paid for Ben’s education. Such situations were common in the French Americas and complicate our present understanding of racism and enslavement. Trained as a doctor and a talented musician, Ben has access to both the high society and the low, to lawyers and policemen as well as Voodoo adepts, access which he uses to solve mysteries that officialdom won’t touch, usually involving white-on-black crime.
Hambly’s research is meticulous, and her humane understanding of her characters is moving; in particular, she gives even the poorest enslaved people a degree of agency and human dignity that today is often forgotten. I have found the series of which this book is the first volume a mind-opening avenue into the complexities of race in the US. I hope VZ readers will find it equally thought-provoking.
The book is widely available, including on Amazon; I believe it is available in Kindle format, and is relatively easy to find used. There are 20 books in this series, so be sure to get the first of them.
Join the online discussion on December 17th at 5 pm.
COMING IN JANUARY
Thursday, January 11, 2024
(Subsequent meetings will be the first Thursday of each month)
A New Ongoing Group in January
Grace and Grit Support Group

The Grace and Grit support group will meet on the first Thursday of each month from 2-4 pm.
This monthly group will be co-facilitated by two members of the Grace/Grit team and is open to the entire Village Zendo sangha. This is a drop-in group, so no commitment or registration is needed to attend; just use the online link to enter.
A $10 donation is requested if you attend.
We will create a safe space where we all can discuss issues around aging. This may be for people who are aging themselves, which is really all of us. Or perhaps you have aging parents or friends you care for and need support around a difficult topic. The "issues" can be anything: physical problems, personal emotional reactions to aging, concerns about legal forms, philosophical/spiritual questions.
The group will be present for whatever comes up, actively listening and emotionally supporting all who speak.
Please note: The group will not be a place where advice or direct referrals are given. But the Grace/Grit team has cultivated (and keeps adding to) an excellent list of general resources that will always be available.
Please join us to explore these important issues we all may face, no matter our current age.
For further information, contact Jimon: dk@davidkunin.com
Village Zendo Winter Ango
Annual Retreat
December 26, 2023 — January 1, 2024

Time Outside of Time
The Village Zendo’s year-end retreat is a chance to step out of ordinary life and enjoy deep silence and contemplation at the turning of the year. Our schedule is serious (with plenty of zazen meditation) but also spacious, with time to enjoy the beautiful grounds and nearby trails. Dharma Talks are given daily, and there is opportunity to meet individually with teachers. Delicious vegetarian meals are offered buffet-style. If you have put off doing a residential retreat, or felt intimidated to try one, this is a wonderful retreat to attend. Come and join the Village Zendo Sangha as we greet the new year with clear minds and open hearts.
We’re already in planning mode for our Year End Retreat at Garrison Dec 26 — Jan 1. If you would like to be considered for a service position and/or be part of the liturgy team, please sign up soon. If you would like to help out in other ways, please contact the Retreat Coordinator Fusho: travenrice@mac.com
STUDY TEXT: THE TIME BEING BY EIHEI DOGEN ZENJI
"BEING TIME" — 1990 FILM BY ROSHI PAT ENKYO O'HARA
REGISTER HERE
REFLECTIONS

“On Giving”
Excerpted from Appreciate Your Life, by Taizan Maezumi
Dana, the first paramita, is the unsurpassable giving, the very best giving… Dana is not limited to giving something to someone. It’s giving yourself away! The Japanese word is kisha, “willing to abandon” or “cast away.” That’s giving.
Our standard for unsurpassable giving is: the three wheels are empty. In other words, when the giver, receiver, and things given are empty and peaceful, there is unconditional giving. When the giver, receiver, and things given are empty, then we don’t have any ideas attached to them; in fact, we don’t know who is the giver, who is the receiver, and what are the things given. Unconditional means that all these things are in their so-called empty nature, there is no gain or loss, energy just flows in a natural way. Giving is at its unsurpassable best when done in this way.
We communicate in three places online:
our email list, a Facebook page, and a Groups.io list
where we share events and information among the whole
Sangha. Explore these various ways of staying connected and
up to date here: https://villagezendo.org/connect-with-us/
Editor: Taylor Plimpton
Editor Emeritus: Nina Shuka Klippel
Managing Editor/Design & Production: Howard Thoresen

DONATE HERE
In these trying times, the Village Zendo still relies on your support.
If you are able, please make a donation.
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