BULLETIN
October 2024

Photo by Taylor Plimpton
“How marvelous the Creator is! What is he going to make out of you next? Where is he going to send you? Will he make you into a rat’s liver? Will he make you into a bug’s arm?”
—Chuang Tzu
Dear Sangha,
For a while there, it seemed like summer would last forever. The days were golden and long and warm, the trees green and full, the sky that endless, infinite blue—and you could sort of pretend like life was like that, too: infinite, never-gonna-end. Then, just a few days ago, my wife plucked a single, perfect leaf from the pavement—a sudden blaze of orange and red and yellow—and showed it to me. “Look,” she said.
Our Zen practice asks us to look, too—and to look more often and more closely than we might like. It’s funny, glancing through our Village Zendo calendar below, how much of our practice relates to great matter of death—most obviously, the upcoming Life and Death workshop and the ongoing Grace and Grit Support Group on aging. One might almost assume we were a morose group, we Zen practitioners, bent on the dark side of things, a grim and gloomy lot. (Of course, the opposite is true, and as Jisei and Jimon remind us in their reflection below, these workshops face the gravest of these matters not just with grace and grit but “with as much humor and kindness as we can muster.”)
Besides, let’s not forget the main reason we pay such close attention to death: so that we don’t lose sight of how important it is to truly live—how unlikely and fleeting this opportunity, how precious. And there are events on our calendar that directly reflect this wisdom, too: In the face of death, we arrange flowers, we make music, we chant, we sing.
You could say that’s what the trees are doing right now, too—in the face of winter coming, they are singing. You can hear it in the color, the defiant flame of it—a great, beautiful rush of protest and celebration: We are alive, we are alive, we are alive…
With appreciation,
Taylor Plimpton
Editor
OCTOBER CALENDAR
Thursday, October 3: Zazen and Dharma Talk by Musho Hoshi, 5:30 pm
Sunday, October 6: Online: Practice and Inquiry with Joshin Roshi, 9:30 am
In-Person: Body, Breath, and Mind, Intro to Zen, 9:30 am
Thursday, October 10: Zazen and Dharma Talk by Myoko Roshi, 5:30 pm
Newcomers’ Meeting: 6:40 pm
Saturday, October 12: Zazenkai and Dharma Talk by Jyakuen, 8:30 am
Sunday, October 13: Zazen and Dharma Talk by Yugetsu, 9:30 am
Conversation with Peace Activists, 1 pm
Music Improvisation, 4 pm
Thursday, October 17: Zazen and Dharma Talk by Ryotan Roshi, 5:30 pm
Saturday, October 19: Life and Death Workshop, 2 pm
Sunday, October 20: Zazen and Dharma Talk by HonGō, 9:30 am
Path of Expression, 1:30 pm
Thursday, October 24: Fusatsu with Precepts Talk by Bokushu Sensei, 5:30 pm
Sunday, October 27: Zazen and Dharma Talk by Fusho Sensei, 9:30 am
Thursday, October 31: Zazen and Dharma Talk by Mukei, 5:30 pm
________________________________________________________
Ongoing Groups:
The Bolivian Sitting Group meets online Saturdays: 8 am.
Bolivia Zoom Meeting ID: 297 525 8394; Password: 1234
The People of Color Sitting Group meets online Saturdays: 10:30 am
How to Meditate meets Monday evenings online: 6:30 pm
Sorting Out Your Stuff meets online Tuesdays: 10 am
Liturgy Training: In-Person,
1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month: 6 pm
Grace and Grit meets online, first Thursday of each month at 2 pm
Grace and Grit
A Reflection from Jisei and Jimon about the Grace and Grit Support Group,
which will meet again this Thursday, October 3 at 2 pm.

The Grace and Grit Support Group first met in January of this year. That means we have three more of our monthly meetings until our first birthday! For us, (Jisei and Jimon, the co-facilitators) it’s been an incredible year of learning and discovery. Our group takes on the challenge of directly facing old age, sickness and death with grace and grit (plus as much humor and kindness as we can muster.)
We start each meeting with a few minutes of sitting. Then we have a go-around, where each participant is invited to share, directly from the heart, “what’s going on.” At times, things can be quite intense for some, either personally or as a result of caretaking for another. While the group is not able to give advice, we find that speaking openly and honestly to an attentive and supportive group is often incredibly helpful all by itself.
Jisei and I have come up with several exercises for the group to explore different aspects of Grace and Grit. One example:
Write a letter to your "younger self” from your older self (i.e., who you are right now.) Pick an age. Remember who you were then and the challenges of that time. What compassion, what message can you send to that younger self?
After the writing (and perhaps a short break) we go into breakout rooms, which are becoming a favorite of some regular participants. The sharing can be quite deep and intimate. We then reconvene in the larger group to share again, and then bid each adieu until the next time.
We do understand that our meeting time (first Thursday of each month, from 2-4 pm) is not available for everyone who might wish to attend. But if you are able to come, you'll be very welcome.
Our next meeting will be on Thursday, October 3rd at 2 pm. We meet in the online zendo.
To find out more, go to our page on the Village Zendo website:
https://villagezendo.org/events/grace-and-grit-support-group/
Sunday, October 13th, 1:00 – 3:00 pm
A Conversation with Peace Activists

“We are for humanity. No one will be free
if the others live under occupation.
No one will be safe unless everyone is safe.”
The devastating escalation of violence in Israel and Palestine has left many feeling powerless, angry, and hopeless. But Rotem and Osama believe in a different reality and in the possibility of a shared future of security, equality, and justice for all people.
We invite you to hear their perspectives, vision, and experiences having worked and collaborated with different peace organizations such as the Nobel Peace Prize-nominated organization Combatants for Peace. They will share their personal stories of transformation, lessons of joint work, and the vastly different realities they face in the same land.
Osama and Rotem are living examples that understanding and co-resistance is possible.
Join us as they share their transformative journeys of trying to change the reality in Palestine and Israel, embracing humanity in times of dehumanization and war, and courageously expressing their hope publicly.

Osama Iliwat: Osama’s family is originally from East Jerusalem and was displaced like so many Palestinians around the world after the war of 67. He grew up in Jericho. He has been in the peace world for more than 15 years and co-founded ‘visit Palestine’ (NGO). Osama is active internationally and on the ground, where he helps his community of Jericho and other communities in the West Bank, supporting them to stay on their land and rebuilding homes, parks, and educating. He also offers political educational tours in the West Bank and goes to schools to talk with Palestinians and Israelis about, amongst other things, non-violent resistance and communication. Osama taught himself Hebrew in order to connect on the land. He also does trauma and healing work to support people on the land.
Osama was a speaker for TED Jaffa at the beginning of his peace journey and was featured in many television interviews.

Rotem Levin: After his military service, Rotem participated in a transformational intensive dialogue program in Germany where he got to know Palestinians on a personal and intimate level. He began organizing similar programs in Aqaba, Jordan where he offered the experience to other post-military Israelis and for Palestinian and Israeli medical workers.
Now a committed activist and doctor by profession, he travels giving conferences. In 2020, Rotem moved to Beit Jala, a Palestinian village to improve his Arabic and understand better the Palestinian experience, living under military occupation. When Rotem is not giving conferences for peace internationally, he invests time creating healing spaces for Israelis and Palestinians.
In Person: The Village Zendo is at 260 West Broadway (entrance in the rear of the building on St. John’s Lane). Information HERE
Joining online? Use the button below:
Sunday, October 13, from 4 to 6 pm
Music Improv

4:00–4:30 pm: Instructional session
Learn simple, fun techniques for freeing up your sound.
4:30–6:00 pm: Music Improv
How do you translate Beginner’s Mind into sound? Easy. By listening. Harmonizing. Allowing space.
We are all musicians whether we practice an instrument or not. This is a musical improvisation that welcomes all, from beginners to professionals.
Based on Music for People techniques and led by Todd Rogers, a generous and trained facilitator, this open kind of improvisation is inspiring and fun for performers, singers, teachers, dancers, and amateur musicians. No experience needed!
“A highpoint of the month for me,” says Joshin Roshi.
“A superb practice in not knowing.”
Donation: $10
This is an in-person event.
Saturday, October 19, 2 pm – 3:45 pm
The Great Matter of Life and Death
A Series of Workshops
With Ryoshin Hoshi and Jisei Reigeluth

Photo by A. Jesse Jiryu Davis
Let me respectfully remind you
Life and Death are of supreme importance
Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost
Each of us should strive to awaken…
Awaken…
Take heed!
Do not squander your life.
Workshop 2: One Year to Live
This is the second workshop in the workshop series on this Great Matter of Life and Death. In the first workshop, we examined the truth of impermanence, noticing what is arising and falling away in our own lives.
In this workshop, we contemplate our own impermanence, and work with the idea that we have just one year to live. We ask questions: whether we have unfinished business, what and who is most important in our lives, and how we want to spend the precious time we have left.
The third workshop, on November 16, introduces the Japanese tradition of writing a death poem. We will engage in this centuries old tradition through examining the form, reading death poems by Zen monastics and poets, and finally writing our own.
In the fourth and final workshop, on December 14, life comes forward as we look at how we live our lives fully in the complete awareness of our own impermanence. We examine Case 63 in the Book of Serenity, Joshu Asks about Death, and reflect on what it means to live in “daylight.” What does it mean to live life intimately?
The workshop series will be led by Ryoshin Hoshi and Senior Student Jisei Reigeluth.
You can register for all four workshops or each workshop individually. The cost for each workshop is $30 (members) or $45 (non-members). There is a $20 discount if you sign up for all four workshops.
The workshop involves small group discussion. It will not be recorded.
REGISTER HERE
REFLECTIONS
An excerpt from “Ollie and the Great Insect Hunt”
By Taylor Plimpton
It is October now. The great season of the bugs is at an end. You can still hear them singing, though. In the long, quiet light of the afternoons, you can hear their hum.
For a while there, it seemed all the butterflies had already left. But these last few days, I’ve seen an occasional lone monarch, weaving through the sky, almost as if lost—or as if somehow it had been left behind—all the others gone south already, this one unwilling to depart, still seeking something, its journey here not yet complete.
The last monarch I see—actually, my young son, Ollie, my wife, Lizzy, and I, we all spot it together—it flutters over the fence into our backyard, and then lifts up and over the house. I can see it is missing part of one of its wings, but that doesn’t stop it, or even really seem to slow it down. It’s still so beautiful, too, and it’s going exactly where it wants to—up into the sky.
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

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