mountains talking SUMMER 2016 Heart of Compassion Karin Ryuku Kempe Heart of Compassion In this issue... Karin Ryuku Kempe This morning I want to ent parts of an elephant. One way to see it is like light- Heart of Compassion Karin Ryuku Kempe 1 explore something that has ning striking a tree in the forest, an impersonal force of been percolating for me a nature, but it seems to be closer to the bone to say that A Grass Hut on Blue Mountain 2 while and came to the fore- really its like lightning reaching in to strike each of us front recently with the events simultaneously – that intimate. Leonard Cohen says: Ten Ways of Looking at the West Jacqueline St. Joan 4 in Orlando, Florida, where a hundred people either lost Ring the bells that still can ring Kinhin John Steele 5 their lives or were seriously Forget your perfect offering injured, and many others, There is a crack in everything Summer Zazenkai 6 family, friends, community, found their world changed That’s how the light gets in. forever. This event was followed by what has unfortu- Talking with you this morning, I know this offering Rohatsu Sesshin 2016 7 nately become the usual and customary public reaction is inadequate and incomplete … but as another Zen guy to a mass shooting on the part of our leaders – more once wrote, “You have to say something.” So I am not Jukai 8 talk, words of grief and handwringing, but great difficul- speaking in any capacity of authority today; my hope ty in moving towards any meaningful formal action and is that you will let the crack stay open, that you will let Ascending the Mountain: Rafe Martin 8 a wide difference between our two political parties in be- yourself be disturbed, uncomfortable and challenged, liefs about the underlying causes, and therefore what to that we may start to build a less arrogant and more re- Rochester Zen Center 50th Reunion 9 do. Grief and gridlock. Then last weekend there followed spectful society. Also I am not talking about the specifics even larger horrific attacks, in Istanbul, Bangladesh, and or politics of these events, about gun control legislation, Baghdad. And just this Friday, I added yet another set about radicalization, about fathers and sons, about the Haiku Ken Tetsuzan Morgareidge 12 of shootings, now in Louisiana, Minnesota and Dallas, marginalization of minority groups, although I have my supplanting concerns abroad. Zen Center Notes 13 opinions, just as you do. I am talking about just the raw How does our tradition see such events? What is issues of suffering, of hatred, of heart and compassion and spiritual practice. Front and Back Covers: Geoff Keeton required from us? Is anything required from us, other than the usual respectful special dedication for the week’s But first a word about language. For many years, chanting? What is the role of compassion, of heart-wis- most of the translations used in going from Japanese or dom in our tradition? How does it function and what do Chinese to English, have translated the kanji for shin we do with it? Often we come to Zen desiring a sense of as mind, and we use it a lot in talking about insight or stability in an often dangerous world, peace of mind, but wisdom, in phrases like this very famous one by Master Mountains Talking is the quarterly newsletter of the Zen Center of Denver, a Buddhist then we also wonder about the cost of a detached sereni- Huang Po: “There is nothing but the One Mind, besides sangha offering authentic Zen practice and training. For more information, contact: ty. Does Zen lack heart? Is it too “cool”? which nothing else exists. This Mind which is without Actually it’s not long after starting to practice that beginning is unborn and indestructible.” Zen Center of Denver we learn that the spiritual life is not a journey away but The problem is that in English, this word “mind” P.O. Box 101013 a journey towards, that we learn the skill of equanimity Denver, CO 80250 often refers to our intellect, our thinking capacity, that by going right into the heart of darkness and difficulty. somewhat detached capacity to see clearly. But the kanji In other words, we don’t escape suffering; we turn in, for mind in Japanese, in Chinese, also means ‘heart,” 303-455-1500 engage it, and our experience becomes transformed by a [email protected] so really shin means the heart-mind, a phrase which vastly enlarged context and a dramatic shift in perspec- includes that broader awareness that our fortunes are tive. Find us on the web at www.zencenterofdenver.org linked and our welfare interdependent. The heart-mind And on Facebook at www.facebook.com/zencenterofdenver Before I left for our recent mountain retreat, our real not only knows, knows transcendently, intuitively, but also feels. estate broker asked what Zen has to say about events Continued p. 10 Editor: Joel Tagert such as the Orlando shooting – and each of us in the car had very different answers, like blind men feeling differ- 1 A Grass Hut on Blue Mountain A shining window below the green pines – Jade palaces and vermillion towers can’t compare with it. - Shih-t’ou, “The Grass Roof Hermitage” This June the ZCD held its 10th annual Blue Mountain sesshin at Becky Wethington’s property outside of Lyons, Colorado, twenty-one people joining to sit deep zazen in the beautiful straw-bale zendo (a real grass hut!). We were guided by our teachers Peggy Metta Sensei and Karin Ryuku Sen- sei, and by Shih-t’ou, whose poem “The Grass Roof Hermitage” we recited each day. Really, words cannot express the profundity of silence felt there on the mountain – a vast spacious- ness filled with the cries of nighthawks, the feathery buzz of hummingbirds’ winds, the whisper of wind and crack of thunder. Nor can they encompass the warm embrace of sangha or the dedication and insight of our teachers. Nine bows to all who made it possible! 2 3 Kinhin the walking stopped and stared in breathless fox samadhi not letting on she’d seen us there she walked alert from nose to tail all four feet Ten Ways of Looking at the West disappeared without a backward glance I VI I drive the canyons of the West In the face of the wide open something stayed behind Deliberately, Thighs of the West, to circle round The way I drag my finger between I am shy. until the final bell The shoulder blades of the cat. VII - John Steele II I see the snow-capped sea monster The earth fired this mountain In the bony Western spine Before it was the West, before Of a mountain range risen and resting. Weber or Madison or Curtis before Morrison or Mancos, VIII Dakota or Jurrasic. Sweetwater. Deer Lodge. III Steamboat Springs. Flaming Gorge , My tongue plays One gigantic rock The words of the West. Sliced red on the diagonal, Stacked from floor to IX The heaven of the West. All afternoon the crows Are calling, racing around IV The treetops of the West. Was it in the West that I loved you? Pre-Cambrian? Or before that? X Tonight I sleep at the edge of your canyon. Bring the Western sky inside you I listen to your starry wind. Peace is blue. V - Jacqueline St. Joan Golden light of autumn Wide, scattered rolls of hay Shades of lavender and horses, The sky and fences of the West. 4 5 Our 2016 sesshin will extend eight days, seven nights, Rohatsu Sesshin 2016 from Saturday to Saturday. The basic fee is $64.25 per The Zen Center of Denver’s Rohatsu sesshin will once person per day, which includes lodging in the seasonal more take place at Shambhala Mountain Center on dorm, three meals a day, and a facility fee, making a total December 3-10. Our three teachers, Karin Ryuku basic cost of $449.75 for members and $519.75 for non- Sensei, Ken Tetsuzan Sensei, and Peggy Metta Sensei, members. Lodging upgrades are available at additional will jointly conduct the sesshin. cost. Approved partial attendance through Wednesday afternoon will be pro-rated for four days. Participants’ responses to last year’s sesshin at Shambhala were overwhelmingly positive. Distancing ourselves Participants will note that this is an increase in cost from the hurry-scurry of our daily chores, routines and from last year, when the ZCD subsidized the cost for all obligations to this beautiful mountain retreat allowed us participants. This year the Board of Directors concluded to settle deeply into the Zen practice of Right Mind/ No that it would not be fiscally prudent to provide such Mind. Wind, cold and snow cleared away our thoughts. universal subsidies, as doing so would again result in The hills and the meadows, trees and rocks, ravens and a net loss to the Center of some thousands of dollars. deer held us in safe concentration. However, the Board has set aside money to assist members experiencing financial challenges that might Shambhala Mountain Center is a Buddhist retreat otherwise discourage attendance. Limited resources center located in the Front Range northwest of Fort should not be a hindrance to any member who wants Collins, about a two-hour drive from Denver. Because to go to sesshin. A request for a sesshin subsidy can be Shambhala is a Buddhist facility, our values and practices made confidentially to your teacher. were welcomed and shared. Shambhala staff attended the teishos.