Welcome to the Orlando Zen Center Newsletter!
UPCOMING PRACTICE
VIDEO OF THE MONTH
Our teaching video of the month selection is Why do we chant the Great Dharani? by Kathy Park JDPSN.
TEACHING LIBRARY SELECTION OF THE MONTH
Our Teaching Library selection of the month is Ko Bong’s Try Mind by our school’s founder, Zen Master Seung Sahn.
SANGHA SUBMISSIONS
We encourage all our Sangha members to share Buddhism-related pieces of wisdom with us. If you have anything you’d like to share in our monthly newsletters, please contact us via our website.
This month, Sangha-member Alden shared a poem by Yang Jian titled “Expressing the Heart”:
When there’s no more subject to preach about,
people will come live here,
even though they have no idea how to place
the various trees, flowers,
various grasses, and birds safely.
People have so many treasures,
but don’t have the bottles to hold them.
Everything here
is a refraction of his heart.
If any one of these different trees, flowers,
different grasses, and birds
is not part of his heart,
he’ll be isolated,
he’ll sink for a long time
in dreams…
When there’s no more subject to preach about,
people will come live here,
all with a forlornness of losing
the center wharf in their heart.
And the lake is peaceful,
as if it were refracting its thoughts
after having just been violated,
refracting without a slightest wave.
From now on,
swift water birds,
blend in the firmament of light,
transform into distant bell chimes,
calming down gradually,
like you, sitting by my side,
like me, sitting by your side…
SANGHA VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
We are always on the lookout for ways to give back to the community. If you know of any local group volunteer opportunities, please contact us via our website.
Last month, members of our Sangha joined the Orlando Death Collective for an event at Greenwood Cemetery. Together we trekked from section to section while members of the collective shared stories of various people laid to rest there. It was a good time sharing our ideas of mortality in a judgement-free group of open-minded folks!
If you are interested in volunteering for certain jobs during in-person practice, please contact us as well. The jobs include opening the altar at the start of practice, performing the Evening Bell Chant, and signaling the start/end of meditation with the chugpi (wooden clapper).
DID YOU KNOW?
Orlando Zen Center is an affiliate of the Kwan Um School of Zen, an international organization of more than a hundred centers and groups. 
MEMBERSHIP
By becoming a dues-paying member of Orlando Zen Center, you help support its ongoing practice and programs. You’ll also automatically become a member of the international Kwan Um School of Zen, and part of its effort to bring this teaching to new students and to other parts of the world. The practice is always free, but if you aren’t ready/able to become a dues-paying member, donations are always appreciated and help support our center.
IN CLOSING
Thank you again for signing up to receive this newsletter. We hope to grow it each month with more current opportunities to connect with our Orlando Sangha both in and outside of the Dharma room. We plan to send these newsletters out to subscribers every Monday of the week before Long Sit, so be on the lookout for our next edition on 9/14. If you would like to assist with creating the newsletter, please contact us via our website .