Welcome to the Orlando Zen Center Newsletter!
UPCOMING PRACTICE
VIDEO OF THE MONTH
Our teaching video of the month selection is Difference Between Don’t Know Mind And Not Knowing by Jason Quinn JDPSN.
TEACHING LIBRARY SELECTION OF THE MONTH
Our Teaching Library selection of the month is Four Circumstances For Practice by our guiding teacher, Zen Master Jok Um.
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 or by simply replying to this email. This month, Sangha-member Alden shared a particularly striking poem by Thich Nhat Hanh titled “Please Call me by My True Names”.
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 continued to volunteer with the Farmworker Association of Florida at the Hope CommUnity Center in Apopka, helping revitalize their community garden. There are multiple opportunities to volunteer at the garden on Saturdays from 8:00am to 12:00pm in the coming weeks. You do not have to join the entire time; any help is greatly appreciated. Plus you may be able to take home some fresh veggies or herbs straight from the garden! If interested, please reply to this email with your availability.
We also volunteered at a cleanup event in Downtown Orlando with Keep Orlando Beautiful, helping to beautify a portion of the Urban Trail!
There is a summer cleanup opportunity with Keep Orlando Beautiful and Rep. Anna Eskamani / United Against Poverty on Thursday, July 16, from 6:00pm to 7:30pm.
If you are interested in joining, please click here to visit the signup page. When signing up, specify that you heard about the opportunity from the Orlando Zen Center. We hope to see you there!
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 reading 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 7/13. If you would like to assist with creating the newsletter, please contact us via our website .