Apologies

No dear readers, you did not miss an issue of NEO Sangham. I seem to have missed November! The month passed by too quickly, filled up with a bout of flu, some business travel and the holiday celebrations. This month we're getting back on track. For January, please be sure and e-mail me any news or announcements by January 10 or so. Publication on (or around) January 15.

Upcoming Local Events

Jewel Heart Cleveland welcomes Ganden Shartse monks for Mo-mo workshop and more

Jewel Heart Cleveland welcomes the Ganden Shartse monks for a series of events that will support their monastery in India. Ganden Shartse monks have released several CDs of sacred chants, including "Sacred Healing Chants of Tibet" (1992) and "Sacred Earth" (1993).

The monks are available for house or business blessings and personal interviews, schedule permitting. Call Bill or Susan at 330/722-7770.

Visit of the Ganden Schartse Monks December 16-21, 2003
Thursday, Dec. 18 7:00-9:00 pm	Lama Chopa Tsoh honoring Ganden Ngachu (Tibetan Festival of Lights) Chant the Lama Chopa along with the Gaden Shartse monks.	Jewel Heart Cleveland 2670 W14th St, Cleveland, OH 44113 216/687-1617
Friday, Dec. 19 7:30 PM	Lama Tsongkhapa Purification Ceremony Registration: Contact Cliff at 216/382-0592	Green Tara Yoga and Healing Arts Center 2450 Fairmount Blvd. Cleveland Heights, OH
Saturday, Dec. 20 3:00 PM	Mo-mo Workshop and Dinner Learn to make this Tibetan delicacy from masters of the art! Mo-mos, or Tibetan stuffed dumplings can be made with vegetable or meat fillings. Fee: $25 includes dinner with monks. Registration: Call Bill or Susan 330/722-7770	Jewel Heart Cleveland 2670 W14th St, Cleveland, OH 44113 216/687-1617
Sunday, Dec 21 3:00 PM	Daily Life in the Monastery Join the monks for a discussion of life in the monastery.	Ashtabula Wellness and Total Learning Center 15 W 30th St Ashtabula, OH 44004 (440) 997-5353

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CZG congratulates Dean Williams on ordination; looks forward to retreats in January and August

I know everyone will want to congratulate Cleveland Zen Group's Dean Williams on achieving full ordination as a Soto Zen priest.

Williams was ordained on December 7 by his teacher, Sojun Diane Martin at Martin's Udumbara Temple in suburban Chicago. Williams ordination is the result of more than seven years of study and practice.

Sojun Martin will visit Cleveland for a one-day retreat on Saturday, Jan. 17 for a ceremony to officially change the name of the Cleveland Zen Group to Jijuyu-ji Zen Center of Cleveland.

The subject of her Dharma talk for this occasion will be Dogen's "Jijuyu Zamma," which was Williams' inspiration for the name. After the ceremony, Martin will lead the group in a formal Oryoki meal. The event will be at the Cleveland Buddhist Temple. E-mail dwilliams@rwsu.com<.a> for more details.

Williams also recently announced that Taigen Dan Leighton will visit Cleveland is tentatively scheduled for the weekend of Aug. 20-22. Among his many accomplishments, Taigen founded the Mountain Source Sangha meditation groups in California in 1994. He received Dharma Transmission in 2000 from Reb Anderson, a direct student of San Francisco Zen Center's Suzuki Roshi. Details of Taigen's visit will be announced soon.

CZG will meet for the last time in 2003 on Thursday, DEC 18 at 7:00 PM at the Cleveland Buddhist Temple for its regular Thursday sitting and Soto chanting service. The group's every-other-Saturday series following Steve Hagen's lectures on the Noble Eightfold Path resumes on Dec. 27 at 9:00 AM. at CBT. The tape that Saturday begins Hagen's lectures on the disciplines of right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.

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CBT will hold New Year's Eve service

On Tuesday, December 31 at 8:00 PM, the Cleveland Buddhist Temple will observe the New Year's Eve (Jyoya-ye) service. The Temple will be open to the public afterward until 9:30 PM for Kansha, the offering of incense in gratitude for our well-being in 2003 and to ring in the New Year of 2004. Refreshments will be served in the social hall following the service.

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Cloudwater Zendo holds annual New Years Eve service

CloudWater Zendo will be on winter break from Wednesday, December 24th through Saturday, January 3rd except for the New Year's Eve service. Yoga and T'ai Chi classes will continue to be held on Saturdays during the break. Introduction to Ch'an Meditation will resume on Monday, January 5th. Meditation will resume on Tuesday, January 6th.

The Zendo's annual New Year's Eve service will take place on Wednesday, December 31st at 7:00 p.m. The service is an opportunity for to reflect on the past year and to prepare ourselves for the year 2004. Refreshments will be served following the service.

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Palyul Ohio welcomes its spiritual director for January series on "Discovering Buddhism"

Palyul Ohio welcomes its spiritual director, Ven. Khenpo Tsewang Gyatso Rinpoche for a series of events on the theme "Discovering Buddhism," to be held January 9 through 20.

The following events are free, but the organizers are trusting to the generosity of the Dharma community to help them defray the costs of the entire visit. Rinpoche will recognize donors of full program sponsorships ($200) and partial sponsorships ($108) with a gift at the closing event. Traditional Dana offerings will be gratefully accepted.

The organizers request attendees arrive and enter quietly at least 15 minutes prior to each program. For more information, call 440/247-9438.

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New NEO Soto Zen Group cosponsors Reb Anderson retreat in June at Cuyahoga Valley Center

The Dharma community welcomes a newly formed Soto Zen sangha to the region: the Northeast Ohio Soto Zen Group (NEO SZG).

The group formed in October by practitioners who attended Reb Anderson Tenshin Roshi's May 2003 retreat in Pittsburgh. Reb Anderson has agreed to be the group's teacher.

NEO SZG meets Sundays at 6:00 PM for zazen (sitting meditation) and kinhin (walking meditation). The location is Namaste Yoga Studio, 4183 Streetsboro Rd. (at the corner of Rt. 21 & Rt. 303). The group's Web site is a Yahoo community group, so you can sign up to receive e-mail messages from the group or just review previous messages. It's free but you have to register to post a message.

NEO SZG and Pittsburgh's Stillpoint Zen Practice Community are cosponsoring Reb Anderson's next visit to the region. Reb will lead a five-day Sesshin, Saturday, June 5 to Wednesday, June 9, 2004 at the Cuyahoga Valley Environmental Educational Center. The center is located at 3675 Oak Hill Road, Peninsula, OH.

Nancy Wolf (buddhagirl54@hotmail.com) and Jennie McMullen (Jennie@PeacefulWarriorYoga.com) are serving as coordinators for this retreat and are available to answer any questions. More details will be announced soon

Regional News

Stillpoint holds three-day retreat with Janet Jiryu Abels, Sensei Jan. 23-25

Stillpoint, a Soto Zen Practice Group in Pittsburgh, is holding a three-day retreat with Janet Jiryu Abels, Sensei, January 23-25, 2004. Abels is a Dharma successor of Roshi Robert Jinsen Kennedy, S.J.Ê She is the founder of Still Mind Zendo in New York City and has been its resident teacher since becoming Dharma Holder in 1998. Contact Neal Griebling 412/481-0971 or e-mail kakuju@bellatlantic.net for more information about the January retreat.

National News

Thich Nhat Hanh spends winter months holding retreats and public talks in Southern California

For the first time, Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh will spend January, February and March teaching in and around Escondido, CA, about 30 miles north of San Diego. For more information about all the events below, call 760/291-1003 or e-mail deerpark@plumvillage.org.

International News

Japanese Buddhists invent"virtual" pilgrimage options

Agence France Press reports that an enterprising Japanese Buddhist pilgrim now offers "virtual" pilgrimages devout worshippers who can't physically undertake a traditional, three-month, 900-mile pilgrimage to the 88 temples of Shikoku island.

Eiichi Tabuchi, 50, has a Web site offering proxy pilgrimages to all 88 temples by car, which takes the agent about 20 days, for 148,000-328,000 yen per person. The charge differs depending on whether the client orders a book or scroll, or both, to collect red stamps from each of the temples as proof of his or her "pilgrimage".

AFP also reports that a division of Matsushita electronics recently launched the "Ohenro-san (Pilgrims) Game." Scenes of the 88 temples roll by on a television screen as you walk on a treadmill or push the buttons on a Nintendo GameCube console.

For more, see "Millennium-old Buddhist pilgrimage now possible by proxy," AFP, November 27, 2003.

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International Buddhist Conclave planned for Bodhgaya, India in February

Five hundred Buddhist delegates from 22 countries will meet at Bodhgaya,Bihar State, in northern India from February 28-29, 2004 for an International Buddhist Conclave. The conclave is being co-organised by Government of Bihar and MahaBodhi Temple Management Committee.

The conclave will consider three themes:

• Relevance of Buddhism and Buddhist Philosophy in the modern world
• Buddhist Pilgrimage to India : Issues and Prospects
• Promoting the Indian Buddhist Circuit

Visiting the MahaBodhi Temple Web site is worth taking a few minutes, even on a slow connection. Be patient and wait for the .swf file to load. It's pretty cool. To skip that and view information about the Temple, click here.

Culture

Tibetan monks make Grammy finals

The CD, Sacred Tibetan Chant: The Monks of Sherab Ling Monastery, is a finalist in the traditional world music category at this year's Grammy Awards which will be held February 8 in Los Angeles. Sherab Ling is the seat of Tai Situ Rinpoche of the Karma Kagyu sect. The CD features senior chanting masters Kalzang Yeshe, Norbu Gyaltsen and Tinley Gyurme and six other monks. More details: "Tibetan chant CD's Grammy hope," BBC Online, December 9, 2003.

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Rohatsu remembered: two masters share meaning and cherished memories of Buddha's enlightenment day

Rohatsu, the traditional remembrance of Buddha's enlightenment, was recently celebrated on December 8 by practitioners of many traditions. BeliefNet.com recently published an "enlightening" excerpt about Rohatsu by Shodo Harada Roshi, a Rinzai master who teaches at the One Drop Zendo in Seattle, WA.

The excerpt (from Morning Dewdrops of the Mind, North Atlantic Books) explains in clear and beautiful language the meaning and lore of Rohatsu. It's a lovely little nugget of information and reflection.

In another BeliefNet.com article about Rohatsu, Lama Surya Das recalls his first Rohatsu sesshin intensive in December 1974 at the Antai-ji Temple in Kyoto, Japan.

"We'd be awakened each morning in darkness at 3:30 or 4 by shrill bell ringing, and suddenly the zendo where two dozen of us outside visitors slept would be flooded with light, and there'd be a mad rush to extract ourselves from our sleeping bags or quilts before they were rolled up and stored in the closet," writes Lama Surya DAs

For more of Lama Surya DAs amusing memories of that particular sesshin, as well as his reflections on the imminence of enlightenment in all of us, click here.

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In search of: Buddhist calendar authority

NEO Sangham editor Lynne Brakeman is seeking an authoritative reference calendar of Buddhist holy days for the next two years or so. I received a couple good clues in October, but I'm still chasing an authoritative, comprehensive source. Preferably, the source would include sacred dates for all of the major Buddhist lineges (Theravdin, Tibetan, Pure Land, Soto, etc.) and, if possible, for different ethnic groups (eg. Thai, Korean). Important: the calendar should show the actual dates based on the western calendar (not just the lunar dates). Several evenings of exhaustive Internet search have produced very little result. Please e-mail me if you can point me in the right direction.

Cleveland Buddhist Temple

Cleveland Shambala Meditation Group

Cleveland Zen Group (Soto)

Palyul Changchub Dargyeling Ohio

NEO Soto Zen Group

CloudWater Zendo

Insight Meditation of Cleveland

Jewel Heart Cleveland

Wild Goose Pureland Sangha

Northeast Ohio Sangham, Copyright 2003 Lynne Brakeman, All Rights Reserved.
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