Jizo Prayer Flags for Orange Shirt Day

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You are invited to make Jizo prayer flags and images to honour and remember the indigenous children who died in residential schools, and those who survived. Materials are provided in the Wall St. zendo entry hall. 

Jizo bodhisattva is beloved in Japanese culture as the protector of women, children and travelers, particularly children who have died. Jizo is often depicted as a childlike image wearing a red bib (or rakusu) and a red cap/toque.

For Orange Shirt Day (National Day for Truth and  Reconciliation ) we are making prayer flags of Jizo images with orange bibs/rakusu. Materials are available in the zendo entry hall. Kakuko Kaye has kindly prepared the flags for us so that they can displayed like Tibetan prayer flags. You are welcome to make a Jizo prayer flag before or after any regular practice time. We will collect these flags on Saturday, September 30. We will hang the Jizo images in the zendo entry hall and we will also offer them to our upstairs neighbours at Aboriginal Mothers Society.

You are also encouraged to join in one of the various community events for Orange Shirt Day, as you reflect on the history and legacy of colonization, and the deep commitment to healing that indigenous communities are asking of themselves and all inhabitants of this precious land.

New Year's Greetings

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Dear sangha friends,

We hope your holiday season was nourishing, with time for quiet reflection, as well as good food, and good company. In these challenging times we need to make space and time for renewal, and the turning of the season from darkness to light is a good time for that. 

We were grateful to be able to ring in the New Year at the zendo for the first time since 2019, joined by both the in-person and Zoom sangha. As we enter this year, what better practices could we affirm and strengthen than wisdom and compassion, the two wings of our practice. Without both in balance we do not have the freedom to respond to the world around us with open, supple mind and warm heart. Michael's calligraphy for the New Year (above) shows the characters for compassion (jihi in Japanese) and the Zen enso, expressing the wisdom of boundless interconnection and impermanence. You can download a PDF to print: click here. 

There are some important changes in store this year for our practice community. Please see the posting below about our new sesshin/retreat venue, Brew Creek Centre.  Stay tuned for more developments in the weeks and months to come.

We want to thank you for your support of Mountain Rain this past year and for your practice--it makes a difference to you and to all beings. 

With warm bows and wishes  for peace, joy, and well-being in 2023,
Myoshin Kate and Shinmon Michael