We have finished a very successful weekend of events. Thanks to all!
Relive the weekend's activities on our YouTube channel, where recordings of the original livestreams are available.
Relive the weekend's activities on our YouTube channel, where recordings of the original livestreams are available.
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Weekend of June 23, 2023 recognized:
Sanshin's 20th anniversary celebration gave our community the chance to connect, greet old and new friends, reflect on twenty years of practice, and look ahead to Sanshin's future. Below was the schedule of events for the weekend and more information on the presenters and activities.
Platinum Celebration Event Schedule(All times were in US Eastern Standard Time.)
Friday, June 23
Friday - June 23, 2023 Location: First Christian Church on Kirkwood Location Website: https://www.fccbloomington.org/ 5 PM Platinum Celebration Welcome Reception 7 PM Concert Conversation with Yael Weiss See additional information on this page Saturday, June 24
Saturday - June 24, 2023 Location: First Christian Church on Kirkwood Location Website: https://www.fccbloomington.org/ 6 AM Zazen and morning service (robes welcome but not required) 7 AM Breakfast break: light food and beverages 9 AM Sanshin Past and Future -- A look back at our history and context, plus discussion of our five key strategies for the future. See additional information on this page. 11 AM Break 12 PM Lunch 1 PM Dogen Institute presentation and book launch - An update on the work of our Dogen Institute, plus readings and discussion of Adding Beauty to Brocade with three of the contributing authors 3 PM Break 430 PM Stepping Down Ceremony: Shohaku Okumura (virtual only) -- Online participant link posted soon 5 PM Platinum Celebration Reception in honor of Shohaku Okumura on the Sanshin Zen Community lawn Sunday, June 25
Sunday - June 25, 2023 Location: The FAR Center for Contemporary Arts 9 AM History and Future of Sanshin Style Kesa Sewing Practice with Yuko Okumura See more information on this page. 11 AM Stepping Up Ceremony: Hoko Karnegis (virtual only) -- Online participant link posted soon 12 PM Sanshin Community Celebration Special Friday Evening Kickoff Event
Sanshin was pleased to include a Concert Conversation with practitioner and world-renowned concert pianist Yael Weiss in its anniversary lineup. She discussed and demonstrated her international commissioning and performance project, 32 Bright Clouds: Beethoven Conversations Around the World.”
The project emerged from the practice and study of Zen Buddhism. The title, “Bright Clouds” comes from Dogen's Kyojukaimon,his comments on teaching and conferring the precepts. Dogen writes about the ninth precept, "Neither withdrawing nor setting forth, neither being real nor being void, there you will see the ocean of bright clouds, the ocean of magnificent clouds.”
The global music-commissioning, performing and recording project commissions a diverse group of composers from countries of conflict and unrest around the world, with all new works unified by a single “Peace motif” from Beethoven, where he added the inscription “A Call for Inward and Outward Peace” above the notes. Each new composition is connected to one of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas. 32 Bright Clouds aims to harness music’s great power for unity and peace. Recital program
Cage: 4’33 Beethoven: Sonata No. 32 in c minor, Op. 111 II Arietta: Adagio molto semplice e cantabile Adina Izarra (Venezuela, b. 1959): Arietta for the 150 (2018) Dedicated to the 150 young people whose lives were taken during the 2017 Peace demonstrations in Venezuela Ne Myo Aung (Myanmar, b. 1983): Moha (2020) May all people learn to overcome “Moha” (delusion in mind and soul) and work together to pursue our collective wisdom and well-being Beethoven: Sonata No. 21 in C Major, Op. 53 “Waldstein” I: Allegro con brio Usman Anees (Pakistan, b. 1986): Shades of Indus (2022) World Premiere Fluting down the valleys green, Nestled amid the mountain tops. Loud and clear through lush fields, Hear the Indus flowing down. As its waves echo with notes, Of this land’s mystic folk Beethoven: Sonata No. 6 in F major, Op. 10 No. 2 III: Presto www.32brightclouds.com Sanshin: Past and FutureSaturday morning was a look back at Sanshin's founding and its place in the development of Soto Zen in North America. Then a panel of current and former Sanshin leaders briefly presented the five strategic goals that now drive our development as a dharma community. Attendees had time for interaction following these brief presentations, and had the opportunity to answer questions about where Sanshin is headed over the next decade or two.
Sanshin Strategies and presenters
Intro/facilitation: General background on our grant-funded strategic planning project Gene Elias Goal I. Develop Sanshin into a regional dharma center while continuing to welcome people from all corners of the globe. Tonen O'Connor Goal II: Realign the Dōgen Institute’s structures and supports for Sanshin post-leadership transition David Thompson Goal III. Implement a residential practice whereupon residents are wholly integrated into Sanshin’s practice life Hoko Goal IV. Align Sanshin’s facilities to support its regional Zen community model Jeff Alberts Goal V. Create a new financial model for Sanshin Mark Fraley Sanshin Network's new collaborative book
Saturday afternoon's events included the introduction of our new book, Adding Beauty to Brocade, a series of essays by Sanshin Network authors in response to Dogen's Bodaisatta Shishobo. The discussion was facilitated by Dogen Institute Director David Thompson, the presentation included readings from three of the 18 authors.
More on Adding Beauty to Brocade
The authors of this book are all first or second generation dharma descendants of Sanshin’s founder, Shohaku Okumura, and our chapters all respond in some way to his opening teachings about the four embracing actions: giving, loving speech, beneficial action and identity action. Some of us live the lives of householders and are holding down jobs and raising families in addition to carrying out our dharma teaching. Others are engaged in some form of residential practice, living in a temple and spending all day every day facilitating the practice of our sanghas and ourselves. We come from South America, North America, Europe and Japan and speak a variety of languages… In this volume we offer our various perspectives on the teachings found in the Bodaisatta Shishobo (Four Embracing Actions of the Bodhisattva) fascicle of Dōgen Zenji’s Shobogenzo….Our writing comes from our day-to-day experiences of practice and speaks to readers as they also navigate this one unified reality moment by moment. Hoko Karnegis – from the preface. The official publication date of Adding Beauty to Brocade was Saturday, June 24 to coincide with our Platinum Celebration. The book will be available for distribution through the below channels after that date. Print copies will be available for sale on-site during the Platinum event. The print copy of this book may also be ordered through online resellers, such as Bookshop.org. Your local bookseller may also be willing to special order copies of the book for you. Print copies retail for $20.00 USD. An e-book version will be available on the Dōgen Institute’s podia site. The e-book version is provided as a non-printable PDF, and retails for $16.99 USD. History and Future of Sanshin Style Kesa Sewing Practice with Yuko Okumura Yuko Okumura
Since the Buddha established hand sewn robes as a uniform for his sangha in ancient India, the hand sewing tradition of the Buddha’s robe (nyoho-e) was handed down for many generations and is still practiced in modern Japan. In the 1970s this practice was transmitted to practitioners in the US, Europe and South America. People in both Japan and the West continue to sew their okesa and rakusu for their lay precepts ceremonies or ordinations as novices.
Yuko Okumra was given an opportunity to learn nyoho-e sewing at Antaiji in Japan for one year in 1983. Antaiji is where Sanshin founder Shohaku Okumura practiced with his teacher, and its practice style serves as the model for much of what happens at Sanshin. Yuko has assisted in okesa and rakusu sewing at Sanshinji for the past 20 years, continuing to embody this practice style and transmit it to our family. During her presentation, she reflected on the history of the Buddha’s robe sewing at Sanshin and discussed the future of Sanshin sewing practice, aiming to help us explore and deepen our understanding of nyoho-e and of Dogen Zenji and Sawaki Roshi’s teaching of ehō ichinyo: the kesa and the dharma are one. The art gallery venue gave us the perfect opportunity to see and appreciate several examples of the sewing tradition Yuko discussed. Presentation topics
History of okesa, the Buddha’s robe The hand-sewn okesa in our lineage is called nyoho-e, the robe made in accordance with the Buddha's teaching. There are stories in the Vinaya ( the collection of Buddha’s teaching for monastic conduct) about how King Bimbisara asked the Buddha to make a distinguishable robe for his disciples, and how the Buddha asked Ananda to make the robe depicting rice fields. Sanshin’s okesa sewing Since 1995, Okumura roshi has given lay precepts to more than 180 people in the US, South America and Europe, and he has ordained 29 novices. Following the tradition of the Sawaki roshi lineage, each person sewed his or her lay rakusu or novice and trasmission okesa and rakusu. Sawaki roshi and nyoho-e Kodo Sawaki roshi first encountered nyoho-e when he began serving as jisha for Ryoun Fueoka roshi in 1890. The okesa Fueoka roshi was wearing, a linen mokuran-color nyoho-e made with the fair hand stitch, gave Sawaki roshi, then a young monk of twenty one, a lasting impression without his really knowing anything about it. It made him wish that someday he too could wear an okesa that looked so noble. About 10 years later he met two nuns from the Shingon Viyana School who were wearing the same kind of okesa as that of Fueoka roshi. This was the beginning of his exploration and study of the old tradition. The nuns were from the lineage of Jiun Onko, a scholar monk of Vinaya and Sanskrit who revived the old tradition of the Buddha’s robe in 18th century Japan. It was those two nuns’ keen wish to study the old texts on okesa and their request for lectures gave Sawaki roshi a reason to study them extensively, while the nuns showed him the actual sewing instructions to make the nyoho-e style okesa. In 1964 the first okesa sewing group, which Sawaki roshi named Fukudenkai (The Field of Merit Sewing Group), was started. Since then, many lay and ordained peoplehave sewed okesa and rakusu in Japan. After two nuns, Eshun Yoshida roshi and Joshin Kasai, traveled to San Fransisco Zen Center and taught nyoho-e sewing in the 1970s, the hand sewing tradition was transmitted and widely spread in the US. |
Platinum Celebration Recordings & Event Feedback
Click Here or on the picture above to access Platinum 20 Celebration Event Activity videos.
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On this page:
Venues for our Platinum Celebration activitiesFriday and Saturday: First Christian Church at 205 E. Kirkwood Ave
812-332-4459 https://www.fccbloomington.org/ 
Sunday: The FAR Center for Contemporary Arts at 202 S Rogers St
812-336-0000 https://www.thefar.org/ 
Drawing for art piece by Mayumi Oda
As part of the Platinum 20 Celebration, Sanshin held a drawing for a signed and numbered print by zazen practitioner and celebrated artist Mayumi Oda. From 1969 to the present, Mayumi has presented in multitudinous solo and group shows internationally and her work is in numerous private and permanent collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the U.S. Library of Congress and many more. She donated the 13.5" by 38.5" piece, part of her series on the Heart Sutra, to Sanshin, and values it at $2000. Tickets for the drawing were available for and participants to purchase. The drawing itself took take place Sunday morning at The FAR Center for Contemporary Arts. All proceeds from the drawing went go to support Sanshin Zen Community.
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