Words From the Teachers - April 2025

Dear sangha friends,

This is the season of cherry blossoms, the quintessential Japanese symbol of the transience of all things. Many in our sangha have experienced the loss of a loved one in the past few months. Our hearts are with you as you find your way forward in the great matter of life and death. May you be supported by buddha, dharma and sangha. 

We hope the spring flowers are providing moments uplift to everyone feeling the heaviness of these troubled times, and that you are able to plant some seeds and seedlings in whatever soil is available to you. It's so important to plant seeds of kindness, generosity and patience wherever we can these days, and to refuse to water and fertilize the sprouts of hatred, fear and grievance that are so rampant in our world today. 

We were fortunate to spend a week on the west coast of Vancouver Island recently, walking beaches and rocky shorelines, letting the wind and waves sweep clean the heavy-heartedness of recent weeks, exchanging simple friendliness with everyone we met. Then we travelled to Seattle for the weekend to help sangha friends at Seattle Soto Zen open their practice period and enter their shuso, Daiho Chris Middleman. He's chosen Norman Fischer's book, Training in Compassion, for their practice period theme, and we've been inspired to reprise it for the Wednesday evening dharma seminar. We have asked practice leaders to take turns presenting sections. It's good medicine for our times!

Americans have been apologizing to us lately--by email, Zoom, in-person--for their president and those who continue to support him. Even complete strangers apologized at the sight of our BC license plate as we charged our car in the Whole Foods parking lot in Bellingham. Not only Americans, but people all over the world, need us to stay upright and true to the values that make Canada so admired by many:  the willingness to centre collective well-being over personal liberty, and simple friendliness and decency. Let us be bodhisattvas without borders.

Warm bows,
Myoshin Kate and Shinmon Michael