July Annual Board Retreat (July 17 - 19) summary
from Neil Schmitzer-Torbert, Chair of Sanshin's Board of Directors
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Last month, the board of directors met for our annual retreat on July 17-18. Our work was facilitated by Norma Fogelberg, a former board director, current member of the Development Committee, and longtime supporter of Sanshin. With a number of new board members, an important focus for our work was to welcome and orient new directors to board functions, and then to turn to planning for the long-range vision for Sanshin. For the latter discussion, we were joined on Saturday by local sangha members Will Mruzek and Owen Miller. Our conversations about strategies to support the flourishing of Sanshin focused on updating the primary strategies that the board will focus on, and having each director take responsibility for one of these areas.
 
The current long-range plan is still in revision, but will focus on continuing to develop our regional sangha (led by Clark Kinney), to develop and offer practice resources to support the practice vision (led by Alex Fine), to develop and offer residential practice as an integral part of the practice vision and in alignment with Okumura Roshi’s original intention for Sanshin (led by Kanzan John Slattery), to create and maintain our physical facilities (also led by Clark Kinney), to create a new financial model to fully support our practice vision (led by Seth Zimmerman and Gene Elias), and to develop the sources of support needed to support the mission and realize Sanshin’s vision (led by Jeff Alberts). The board is already at work to advance each of these areas, and anyone interested in contributing is encouraged to reach out to the board president (Neil Schmitzer-Torbert) or any of the board directors.

At the regular business meeting, the board approved the slate of officers (Neil Schmitzer-Torbert, President; Alex Fine, Vice President and Secretary; Seth Zimmerman, Treasurer). The board also approved updated mission and vision statements for Sanshin:
 
Sanshin Zen Community Mission Statement: Sanshin Zen Community enables and encourages the practice of authentically transmitted Soto Zen Buddhism as handed down by our 20th century ancestors: Kodo Sawaki, Kosho Uchiyama and Shohaku Okumura.  We do this by offering zazen, work, study and ritual in the context of community.
 
Sanshin Zen Community Vision Statement: Sanshin aspires to offer sustainable intensive Soto Zen practice to both residential and non-residential practitioners.  We will remain firmly grounded in the authentic Soto Zen tradition as stewarded by the denomination and deeply value our connection with the larger Soto Zen community in Japan and around the world.  At the same time, we will take a clear and realistic view of what it means to bring the dharma we've inherited from our 20th century ancestors to modern and midwestern North America with these bodies and minds and in this culture.

​3-day September sesshin
Thurs, Sep 3 - Sun, Sep 6 - Register by Aug 27

Sesshin at Sanshin is an opportunity to practice zazen intensively in a refined, shared practice container.  We set aside the usual activities – or entertainments – of temple life, like work periods, meetings with teachers, liturgy and dharma talks, and approach the whole sesshin as one seamless period of zazen, inclusive of the basic practical tasks and ritual forms necessary for functioning together without trouble. Learn more & register.

3-day retreat with Hoko: Ten Major Themes of Dogen
Thurs, Oct 1 - Sun, Oct 4 -- Register by Sep 24

​When we're familiar with and can recognize the major themes of Dogen's teaching, his writings become a little less opaque, and their relationship to our ordinary day to day practice becomes clearer. As well as having a basic understanding of each individual teaching, it's important to see how they're completely interpenetrated and represent one coherent worldview. Each one builds on the others and points out some specific aspect of reality; we’re just looking at the same reality through multiple windows.

Join Hoko and fellow practitioners for an introduction to these themes within an immersive communal retreat structure including zazen, formal meals, and lectures with Q & A sessions. The aim is to give participants a framework and resources for their continuing dharma study beyond the retreat. Learn more & register for the full retreat or for lectures-only (virtually or in-person).

At the meeting, recently appointed director Seth Zimmerman was elected as Treasurer.  We are glad to welcome Seth to the board and appreciate his willingness to take on this important role. We are also very grateful to Gene Elias, who is completing his second term as Treasurer.

​The board also approved the charter for the Building and Campus Committee (which replaces the Facilities Committee), which reads:
 
“The Building and Campus Committee provides strategic management of the building(s), structures, and grounds to support implementing the mission and vision of Sanshin Zen Community. This includes creating, updating, and maintaining a 3-5 year plan for development, construction, maintenance, repairs, and upgrades. The committee manages major projects together with the facilities and operations managers at the direction of the board of directors.”
 
This committee will have an important role in managing our maintenance of our current facilities, and helping with our strategic thinking about how to continue to support the practice vision into the future.  Board member Clark Kinney is chairing the committee, which also includes directors Jeff Alberts and Kanzan John Slattery, and also Hosshin Shoaf, Doju Layton.  Hoko Karnegis (Senior Dharma Teacher) and I serve ex officio.

Looking ahead, our annual board of directors retreat will be held in Bloomington this week (Friday and Saturday, July 17 and 18). With several new board directors, much of our work will be centered on board development, and also on revisiting our strategic plan, with a focus on our goals for the rest of 2026 and looking ahead to 2027. Local and virtual sangha who would be interested in practicing with board directors this week are invited to join regular morning practice on Friday, as well as a special morning practice and service Saturday morning beginning at 7 am. We will also hold a 30 minute zazen period on Friday and Saturday evenings at 5pm. Some board directors will also be able to stay through Sunday, to join in practice activities with the local sangha. In-person and virtual participation is welcome; please see the Schedules and Calendars page for details.

​Two new directors, and a departure: Last month, Doshin Johnson stepped down from our board of directors, in the midst of other responsibilities. We thank her for her work, care and attention on the board over the past year and a half, wish her well in her ongoing dharma endeavors, and look forward to continuing to practice together.

During their May meeting, the board appointed two new directors: Seth Zimmerman and Kanzan Slattery. Beginning in July, Seth will take over the role of Treasurer (following a second fruitful term from Gene Elias), and Kanzan will serve in our out-of-lineage clergy seat.  Seth is a stay-at-home dad in Bluffton, IN whose professional background is in banking and economics.  He'll be taking precepts with Hoko in July.  Professionally, Kanzan is an architectural designer and consultant specializing in Building Information Modeling (BIM).  Based in Alameda, CA, he is actively involved with the Oakland Zen Center - Kojin An Zendo and the Tenpyozan Monastery project.

5-day precepts retreat -- register by June 23rd
June 30 - July 5
Public Jukai-e ceremony on Sunday, July 5, 10 am, followed by potluck lunch 

Registration is now open for our annual precepts retreat, focusing on the study of the sixteen bodhisattva precepts that we receive as guidelines for living a life of practice in the Soto Zen tradition.  The daily schedule includes zazen, presentations from the preceptor and ensuing group discussions, work periods, and silent formal meals. ​A precepts ceremony (jukai-e) is held during the last day of the retreat, during which those receiving the precepts will make their vows and receive a dharma name and a rakusu, or small robe, which they will have sewn beforehand. 

This year, Hoko's lectures and the ensuing discussions will address the nature of ethics and morality in general, of which the precepts are specific manifestations. 

Practitioners who are not taking precepts this year are also very welcome and encouraged to register to participate in-person for all or a selection of days. Virtual participation in scheduled zazen and discussion periods is also available. Learn more & register by June 23rd.

These five core precepts are aimed at helping the practitioner to develop self-control, cultivate mindfulness, and prevent wrong actions. These are the first steps in establishing a regular practice and becoming spiritually mature, with a high degree of compassion and wisdom. In the Abhisanda Sutta, the Buddha sets out these five precepts, “original, long-standing, traditional, ancient, unadulterated, unadulterated from the beginning—that are not open to suspicion, will never be open to suspicion, and are unfaulted by knowledgeable contemplatives and brahmans.” He explains that by keeping these precepts, practitioners not only free limitless other beings from danger, animosity and oppression, they also free themselves. READ MORE.

• ​ finding an authentic teaching style
• providing training opportunities for monks and nuns in training (both in Japan and in Europe)
•  interreligious dialogue
•  The visibility of Sanshin Zen Community within the European Zen scene
•  financial issues and the balance between dharma and business
•  handing over responsibilities to sangha members and successors
•  how to establish and keep contact with Japanese temples
•  Is it okay to also offer non-Zen courses and practices at our centers, like guided meditation, Qigong, and so on? And if yes, how can we make sure not​ to mix these practices?
•  The importance of rituals and how we can train people even if our groups are small and it’s hard to learn rituals by simply copying
• How to prepare for one’s first ango
• How to smartly use websites and social media to gain visibility
• How to teach respect within the sangha in a way that is understandable for Western people

Fortunately, our weekend did not only consist of hard work! We enjoyed a sight-seeing trip to the old city center, a visit to a traditional coffee house (lots of cake included), a piano concert at the famous Musikverein concert hall and, last but not least, a late-night sausage snack with cold beers on a street corner. Special thanks go to Sangha member Sue for providing us with stew and even more cake during the conference, and to Ewald who continued to offer zazen practice on Zoom.

The meeting was concluded with a memorial ceremony for a recently deceased sangha member from Germany.

These meetings might be short, but they keep nourishing us for a long time. To take the time and effort to meet in person, practice zazen together, and realize that on some level, we all face the same challenges and can support one another, is well worth it.

The next meeting will take place in March 2027 in Rome (Italy), hosted by Centro Zen Anshin.

By itself, 伽 is pronounced togi and it means nursing or attending, but when it’s given its Chinese pronunciation, ga or gya, it means a large temple. It’s likely that these words were used for transliteration simply because they sound similar to the original Sanskrit, but nonetheless, it’s clear that we’re talking about a collection of people doing something together rather than individuals doing something on their own.

​In fact, the original technical meaning of sangha was a group of more than three monks, but throughout the tradition, sometimes it refers only to ordained people and sometimes it includes laypeople, particularly those who have taken the precepts. Here at Sanshin, we consider anyone practicing with us to be part of the sangha since we all come together in the common effort of practicing shikantaza and realizing awakening. Read more.

Nirvana Day 2026: The sangha held its annual observance of Shakyamuni Buddha's death and parinirvana on Sunday, February 15th. Following zazen and Hoko's dharma talk, we carried out a ceremony that included chanting the Heart Sutra and the Verse of Homage to Buddha's Relics. After the chanting, each practitioner offered incense, lit a candle with the altar-candle's flame, and blew it out in unison, symbolizing the Buddha's passing and "nirvana-without-remainder." Study resources related to Nirvana Day (Nehan-e) are being gathered here.

I am happy everything went pretty well and we had a nice celebration after the ceremonies. ​

Shinko's senmon sodo report: Shinko Hagn, an ordained student of Hoko and founder of Daijihi in Vienna, Austria, recently spent some time living and practicing at Kotaiji, a Soto Zen training temple in Nagasaki, as part of his clergy credentialing process. He offers some photos and reflections below:

New committee and working group: Also during the board's busy January meeting, board and sangha members were appointed to two work teams which will have an important impact on Sanshin's healthy functioning in the near and longer term. An ad hoc working group was formed to review the goals of the long-range plan in relation to Sanshin activities and priorities in 2026; members are Michael Komyo Melfi, Neil Schmitzer-Torbert, Hoko Karnegis, and Jeff Alberts. A building committee was formed to identify building needs to meet the Sanshin mission and vision; members are Doju Layton, Hosshin Shoaf, Clark, Kinney, Jeff Alberts, and Doshin Johnson.

​Sanshin Salon: Transmitting Tales

About twenty people came together in a sangha member's living room for our inaugural Sanshin Salon on Saturday, January 31st, an informal gathering of sangha fellowship, food and conversation, and dharma exploration in a broader social context. Between dinner and dessert, Hoko facilitated a panel discussion about storytelling in the Buddhist tradition and the human spiritual experience with two Bloomington community members, Ryo Uehara and Michael May, who have expertise in these areas, and Doju read aloud a few stories from Buddhism's vast vernacular storytelling tradition. See the recording below, and learn more about these Buddhist "tales-outside-the-sutras" here. We plan to hold another salon in early August, tentatively on the topic of "The Science of Zazen."

A developing Dōgen Study Library: The Dōgen Study Library is the audio-visual archive of the ongoing Lecture Series offered by the New York Zen Community for Dōgen Study under the guidance of Rev. Issan Koyama, a Dharma heir of Okumura Roshi. The Dōgen Study Library is a resource being developed for all students of Buddhism who wish to study the scriptures most treasured by our school at their own pace, with the support of guidance and commentaries.

​Serious students of Dōgen know that to understand Dōgen’s teachings, it is essential to become familiar with the vast number of Buddhist scriptures that influenced him and that he quotes extensively in his writings. Therefore, in addition to Dōgen's teachings, this library will also offer information on the fundamental teachings from Ancient Buddhism and Mahāyāna Buddhism, Kōans and other related materials. Explore the library here.

Are we reaching you?

Do we have the best and most current contact information for you?  If you've changed your e-mail address or moved to a new place of residence, or if we've never had complete information about how to reach you, it's time to update your record.  Please take a moment to go here to send us the contact information you'd like us to use.  We'll check it against your current record and update as needed.  Don't miss any of the upcoming communications from Sanshin -- update your info today!

​January work day: The sangha gathered for our monthly work day on a chilly Sunday, January 11th. Practitioners worked on trouble-shooting Okumura Roshi's office printer, developing a budget for Sanshin's technology needs, changing furnace filters, and re-organizing several temple storage spaces, sharing a warm meal of Indian food in the middle of the day. Thank you for your work practice!

Maintaining our place of practice: Approaching our end-of-year appeal goal!
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Sanshin Zen Community commemorated the Buddha's awakening by holding Rohatsu sesshin earlier this month (see below), alongside Buddhist practice communities around the world.

At Sanshin, we practice a refined style of sesshin created by our dharma grandfather, Kosho Uchiyama Roshi, and originally practiced by the sangha at Antaiji in Kyoto, which included our founder, Shohaku Okumura. During these "sesshin without toys," we let go of activities like dharma talks, chanting services, work periods, and meetings with teachers to focus wholeheartedly on zazen as our truest teacher, in community.

​Rohatsu sesshin & Buddha's awakening ceremony: Seven practitioners participated in most of our recent Rohatsu sesshin, Dec 3 - 8, with drop-in zazen participation and meals contributed by several others. The sesshin ended as always with a chant of the Heart Sutra to break silence at midnight on Monday, Dec 8th. The sangha publicly marked Shakyamuni's awakening on the following Sunday, Dec 14th, with a dharma talk by Doju, a Heart Sutra service, and a warm potluck lunch on a very cold and snowy day.

Upcoming holiday closures:​ In the midst of the busy winter holidays, Sanshin will be closed on December 24 - 26 (Wednesday - Friday) and January 1 - 3 (Thursday - Saturday). We encourage you to carry on your practice in ways appropriate for you during this time.

For full information on our regular practice schedule, visit our Schedules & Calendars page.

Are we reaching you?

Do we have the best and most current contact information for you?  If you've changed your e-mail address or moved to a new place of residence, or if we've never had complete information about how to reach you, it's time to update your record.  Please take a moment to go here to send us the contact information you'd like us to use.  We'll check it against your current record and update as needed.  Don't miss any of the upcoming communications from Sanshin -- update your info today!