Northeast Ohio Sangham
An E-Newsletter for the Buddhist community in and around Northeast Ohio
Vol. 4, Issue 8, October 2006

Quick Scan - This Month's Headlines

Local Events

Local News

Regional News

International News

Looking for a Buddhist meditation group to sit with? Check out this list of
Regularly Scheduled Buddhist meditation sittings in Northeast Ohio

Local Events

CBT and Jijujyu-ji present meditation music on Sat., Oct. 14

At 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14, the Cleveland Buddhist Temple and the Jijuyu-ji Zen Group will present multicultural meditation music by Mike Hovancsek and Joe Culley. Hovancsek combines instruments and tunings from many different cultures. Culley is a percussionist with the jazz group Osmosis who has studied the Indian tabla for the past even years. The program will begin with a 15 minute period of meditation. The requested donation is $10.00.

The Cleveland Buddhist Temple is located at 1573 E. 214th St. (corner of E. 214th St. and Euclid Ave.), Euclid, OH (Directions). For more information, contact Peter Junger.


Insight Meditation of Cleveland holds Vipassana retreat Oct. 20-22

Insight Meditation of Cleveland will hold a three-day Vipassana silent meditation retreat Oct. 20-22 at the Jesuit Retreat House in Parma. The retreat will be led by Amy Schmidt and will consist of alternating periods of sitting and walking meditation. Schmidt is a resident teacher at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA. She co-founded Southwest Sangha, a self-retreat center and Buddhist community in southern New Mexico. The retreat fee is $180; $50 at the time of registration, balance due by Sept. 15. Scholarships are available.
Insight Meditation of Cleveland meets on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 7:00 pm at the First Unitarian Church of Cleveland, 21600 Shaker Blvd, Shaker Heights. On the first and third Tuesdays of each month, IM's Brecksville Sangha meets at the Brecksville Library at 7:00 pm
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CBT's Rev. Siebuhr holds memorial service on Sunday, Oct. 22

On Sunday, October 22 at 10:30 a.m., the Cleveland Buddhist Temple's supervising minister, Rev. Siebuhr, will lead the monthly memorial and sangha service for October. CBT's Dharma School for children will meet at 10:00 a.m.

A regular feature at CBT: the Zen Shin Sangha, a group founded by Sensei Ogui, is one of the oldest Zen groups in the region. It is led by senior students of Rev. Ogui and meets on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings from 7:00 pm to 9:00 p.m. On Tuesdays, the group provides training for beginners and practice includes two 12-minute periods of sitting meditation, walking meditation and listening to a Dharma talk. The Wednesday sittings are designed for practitioners who have been introduced to the basics covered on Tuesdays. The start time and format is the same, although the periods of sitting and chanting are longer.

The Cleveland Buddhist Temple is located at 1573 E. 214th St. (corner of E. 214th St. and Euclid Ave.), Euclid, OH (Directions). For more information, contact Peter Junger.


Maia Duerr, executive director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship's national office, visits Cleveland this month

Maia Duerr, executive director of the national office of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, will visit Cleveland for two days, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. The evening of Tuesday, Oct. 31, BPF's Cleveland Chapter will host a potluck dinner at a members' home, followed by a discussion of the local group's future plans. Everyone in the Buddhist community is welcome to attend.

On Wednesday, Nov. 1, at 7:00 p.m., Duerr will present a free public talk on "Being Peace in a Time of War" at the Cleveland Buddhist Temple. People of all faiths are cordially invited to participate. A free will donation will be collected to help defray Duerr's travel expenses. The Cleveland Buddhist Temple is located at 1573 E. 214th St. (corner of E. 214th St. and Euclid Ave.), Euclid, OH (Directions). For more information, contact Lynne Brakeman.


First Unitarian holds interfaith cultural diversity workshop on Nov. 4

The Racial Harmony Group of the First Unitarian Church of Cleveland presents a free Cultural Diversity Workshop: Blending the Sounds of Spirituality. The workshop will focus on music of Sikhism, Unitarian Universalism, Islam and Yoruba. There will be activities for children aged 5-12 and childcare for children under 5. The workshop is free and includes a free continental breakfast and lunch, but advanced registration required by Oct. 27. The workshop celebrates the memory of Jeanette Avery. The First Unitarian Church of Cleveland is located at 21600 Shaker Blvd. in Shaker Heights. For more information and a registration form, e-mail William Avery or call 216/561-3548.


Cleveland Shambhala holds Ikebana workshop Sun., Nov. 12

The Cleveland Shambhala Meditation Group will host Mrs. Shoko Morten, for an Ikebana workshop on Sunday, Nov. 12 from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. Morten is a practitioner of the Sogetsu School and a member of Ikebana International's Cleveland Chapter. The workshop fee is $45 which includes floral material. Students should bring their own tools, in particular a "kenzan" or pin holder. Senior and student discounts are available. The class is limited to nine students. CSMG meets at the Tyler Building, 3615 Superior Ave. near downtown Cleveland (Directions). For more information or to register, contact Karen Jewell-Kettat, 440/376-9579; or Ann Driscoll, 216/221-2632.


CloudWater Zendo schedules December Buddha's Enlightenment Retreat

December 7-10 are the dates for Cloudwater Zendo's annual Buddha's Enlightenment Retreat. It will be held at the Sunset Shores retreat house in Vermilion. Members of the Nien-Fo Ch'an Order and lay students will participate in periods of sitting walking and chanting meditation, personal interviews and Dharma discourses by Abbott Ven. Shih Ying-Fa.

The cost is $100 for the entire three and a half day retreat;, $80 for participants who join on Friday evening. Registration and a nonrefundable $50 deposit are due by December 5. CloudWater Zendo is located at 14436 Puritas Ave. on Cleveland's West Side. Call 216/889-1393 or e-mail yingfa@cloudwater.org for more information.


Local News

Buddhist precepts study group continues in Lakewood

One Saturday a month from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm, Lynne Brakeman will host a study group on the Buddhist precepts This year we are reading from Being Upright: Zen Meditation and the Buddhist Precepts by Tenshin Reb Anderson Roshi. The next study dates are October 14 and November 11. The class will usually be on the second Saturday of each month. E-mail lbrakeman@cox.net for details and directions.


Northeast Ohio Soto Zen Group moves to West Shore Unitarian

In October, the NEO Soto Zen Group changed the day, time and location of its regular zazen sittings. The group now meets every other Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. in Classroom 11 at the West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church on Hilliard Blvd. in Rocky River. Directions and the dates for sittings through the end of the year are available on the group's Web site. The group is an affiliate of the San Francisco Zen Center and practices under the guidance of Tenshin Reb Anderson Roshi. Everyone is welcome.

Since zazen begins promptly at 7:00 pm, visitors who are new to the group are requested to arrive early for a quick introduction to the forms. For more information, e-mail lbrakeman@cox.net.

West Shore UU also hosts another Soto sitting group, the Rocky River Zen Group led by Rev. Wayne Arnuson. It meets on Friday mornings at 8:00 a.m. E-mail Rev. Arnuson for more information.


Regional News

The Living Lotus Sangha blooms in Mansfield

Congratulations to the former Mansfield Zen Sangha which has rechristened itself the Living Lotus Sangha. The group meets for zazen every Monday evening at 6:30 p.m. at All Soul's Unitarian Church, 25 Church St. in Bellefield. Twice a month, Dean Williams of Cleveland's Jijuyu-ji Zen Group leads the sitting. Living Lotus Sangha is an affiliate of the Udumbara Zen Center in Chicago and four of its members obtained lay ordination there from Sojun Diane Martin last month. For more information, contact Jackie Moore.


Claude Anshin Thomas visits Port Huron this weekend; Ann Arbor, Oct. 17

Claude AnShin Thomas, a Zen priest in the lineages of Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh and Bernard Glassman Roshi, will visit Port Huron, MI, October 13-14. He is the founder of the Zaltho Foundation in Concord, MA and the author of At Hell's Gate: A Soldier's Journey from War to Peace.

On Friday, Oct. 13, his public talk will be at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 3201 Gratiot Ave. on the north side of Port Huron. The talk is cosponsored by the Bluewater Community of Mindful Living and the Season for Non-Violence. Suggested donation $5 plus a donation for the teacher's

On Sunday, Oct. 15, the Bluewater Community of Mindful Living is sponsoring a one-day meditation retreat with AnShin Thomas, at the Lake Huron Retreat Center, 8794 Lakeshore Drive (M-25), Lakeport, MI. Space is limited and advance registration is required. Suggested donation $20 and a donation for the teacher. For more information, and to register contact Sam Ewalt, ewalt@glis.net.

Ewalt writes that Claude AnShin Thomas will also speak at the Zen Buddhist Temple in Ann Arbor, MI, on Tuesday, Oct. 17 at 7:30 p.m. The temple is located at 1214 Packard Rd.. For more info email: annarbor@zenbuddhisttemple.org; or call: 734/761-6520.


Columbus Zen holds November sesshin with Daniel Terragno

Columbus Zen's fall sesshin will be Tuesday, Nov. 7 through Sunday, Nov. 12. Daniel Terragno is the Dharma heir of John Tarrant Roshi of the Pacific Zen Institute. Terragno started his spiritual practice in 1967 studying the Gurdjieff Work with W.A. Nyland before taking up Zen. Terragno received authorization to teach Zen in 1995, and in 2001 received Dharma transmission from Tarrant Roshi. Unless otherwise noted,

Columbus Zen activities take place at the First Unitarian Universalist Church, Room 8, 93 W. Weisheimer, Columbus, OH (Directions). For more information, e-mail: flemingms@hotmail.com.


Pittsburgh's Stillpoint Zen Community welcomes noted Dogen scholar Rev. Shohaku Okumura, Nov. 10-12

The Pittsburgh-based Stillpoint Zen Community will host noted Soto Zen teacher Shohaku Okumura Roshi for a three-day sesshin November 10-12 at the Franciscan Spirit and Life Center in the South Hills.

Okumura Roshi founded the Sanshin Zen Community and currently resides with his family in Bloomington, IN. He has translated many important Zen texts from Japanese into English, most recently Dogen's Extensive Record : A Translation of the Eihei Koroku with Taigen Dan Leighton. Okumura Roshi will also visit Cleveland for a weekend event April 14-16.

The fee for this year's retreat is $260 for all three days (four nights). Space is limited to 22 students and November 1 is the registration deadline. The retreat information and registration materials are available on the home page of the Northeast Ohio Soto Zen group. For more information, contact Stillpoint's Don Orr, voice: 412/366-4268.


Buddhist Women's Conference slated for Feb. 24, 2007 in Chicago

The Buddhist Council of the Midwest will hold the 2007 Buddhist Women's Conference on Feb. 24, 2007 at DePaul University in Chicago. The keynote speaker will be Karma Leksay Tsomo, President of Sakyadhita, the International Buddhist Women's Organization.

The council is also encouraging other groups in the region to host "confluent events" between Feb. 17 and March 4, 2007. If your sangha is interested in participating in this festival contact info@dharmawomen.org.


International News

Thich Nhat Hahn challenges the world to adopt a Global No Car Day

On October 7, the Ven. Thich Nhat Hahn, founder of the Plum Village Lineage, challenged UNESCO to organize a Global No Car Day. People would be encouraged to refrain from using their cars except in emergencies. In September, the roshi sent out an e-mail that said, in part:

"UNESCO can promote this day around the world and use it as a means to educate and inspire collective awakening concerning the present environmental dangers facing all of us on planet Earth. I will suggest that UNESCO itself, from the director to ambassadors and other members, try to live in such a way that the message becomes a true message; not just a call for action, but action itself. In our daily lives, we should each try to drive a car that doesn't pollute the environment, or ride a bicycle more often, or use public transportation."

There is an online form you can use to send a message to UNESCO in support of the initiative. By October 5 they had gathered more than 3,000 signatures.


Buddhist Groups in Northeast Ohio
NEO Soto Zen Group
Palyul Changchub Dargyeling Ohio [Nyingmapa]
SouthCoast Meditation Group
Buddhist Peace Fellowship - Cleveland Chapter
Stillwater Sangha (Thich Nhat Hahn)
True Names Sangha (Thich Nhat Hahn)
 
Nearby Buddhist Groups
Kent Zendo (Soto)
Zen Society of Wooster (nontraditional Soto)
 
 

Northeast Ohio Sangham, Copyright 2006 Lynne Brakeman, All Rights Reserved.
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"Your work is to discover your work
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Dhammapada, trans. Thomas Byrom.