November 9, 2016
A Powerful Coming Together at Standing Rock Reservation

On November 3, members of the clergy from across the United States participated in a prayer circle in front of a bridge where demonstrators are facing off against police during a Dakota Access pipeline protest on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation near Cannonball, North Dakota.

Joining the prayer circle were Wendy Johnson, Joe Bobrow (teacher at Deep Streams Zen Institute in Santa Barbara, California), and Myōkyō (abbess of Enpuku-ji in Montreal, Quebec).

This groundswell of support has brought individuals worldwide to this remote location where they unite in the defense of Native American rights and against environmental hazards. As Suzuki Roshi said in his May 25, 1966 lecture on Genjokoan, “Moment after moment we exist in interdependency to past and future and other existence.”

For more photos and other details, see Episcopal News Service coverage and blog.

Arts & Culture, Features, News, Zen Practice

On Forgiveness

In this letter to the sangha, Central Abbot Tenzen David Zimmerman writes about forgiveness and repair in his own life, and how SFZC is working with former Abbot Richard Baker to reconcile a difficult past and move forward together.