To Sangha and Other Friends of Windhorse

[First Section]
This evening we begin the week of Rohatsu, Buddha’s Enlightenment Sesshin -- our last retreat of the year. Before diving in, we’re sending out this letter with photos to show what’s happening at Windhorse, and to ask for your support in completing the new residential space. 

Once we finish the building – and we’re not so far from our fundraising goal -- we can begin to use this beautiful place in the woods! It will provide much-needed rooming for more residents, sesshin participants and visitors, and will make possible a greater range of Zen-related workshops. Such programs should help us reach more people and be more financially resilient in the years to come.

Thanksgiving at Panther Branch

Thanksgiving 2004 (!)

With our fall ceremonies behind us, we're gearing up for this Thursday's big event: Thanksgiving -- the wonderful, unique, non-religious holiday centered around communal meals and gratitude. And we're going to have a vegetarian feast and PARTY over here at Windhorse! A rare community event, open to all who wish to take part.

Please let us know if you'd like to come, what dish you'd like to bring (we'll let you know what others are bringing if you wish), and please also bring any music you'd like to hear before or after the meal. Better yet, bring an instrument and play some music!
We're asking participants to help out with clean up, and if you can also lend a hand with set-up, great!

The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude. -- Nietzsche

The Ceremony of Gratitude

CEREMONY of GRATITUDE 

Rohatsu: Buddha's Enlightenment Sesshin

All throughout the world people sit in retreat during this special December time - this is one of the reasons why Rohatsu, or Buddha's Enlightenment Sesshin, tends to be particularly powerful and deep. This is a special time to sit, whether you’re in sesshin or not.

Our Windhorse Rohatsu begins Saturday early evening, Dec. 3, and ends the following Saturday afternoon, Dec. 10. The deadline for applying is Monday, Nov. 21st. 

If anyone’s available to come in to help on the week before sesshin, we’d love to hear from you!

Our Memorial Altar

The memorial altar, set up for our Day of the Dead zazenkai, is still in the Kannon room. Anyone who wishes to do so is welcome to bring in pictures of family members, friends or pets who have died, You may also find that you get to know the sangha a little better just by looking at this altar. So whether you bring in photos or not, be sure to glance into the Kannon room the next time you visit Windhorse.

 We're planning to keep the altar there at least through the Ceremony of Gratitude on Sunday, Nov. 20st. 

November-December Events at Windhorse

As nights lengthen and grow frosty, as the sap returns to the roots, many people feel a greater inward pull.  A fine time to sit more, and to connect with and strengthen – through ceremonies and sangha gatherings – deep energies that benefit not only ourselves but also the world as a whole.  Please join us for some or all of these special autumn events: Famine Relief Ceremony, Jukai (Receiving of the Precepts), our annual Ceremony of Gratitude, and the festive Panther Branch Thanksgiving Potluck & Party.  You’ll find more information on each of these events below.

Abbreviated Ancestral Line – part I

Vasubandhu

Although we chant it at least once a week, for most people the Abbreviated Ancestral Line is a pretty enigmatic chant – for newcomers not much different from a Dharani, actually. Even if you stick around for a few years you won’t necessarily know that Hakuun Ryoku is Roshi Yasutani, and Daiun Sogaku is Roshi Harada. However, if you make the effort of looking more deeply into the Ancestral Line and getting familiar with those mentioned in it, you may come to feel a real connection with and gratitude to those people who transmitted the Dharma to our times. This article is meant to help you do just this - make the history of our lineage a little more accessible.