May 2026 news
Founder’s Day celebration - June 21
This summer marks the third anniversary of our temple’s opening, and we’ll be hosting our annual Founder’s Day ceremony and celebration on Sunday, June 21, at 11:30 am to 1:30 pm.
Join us online or at Sensouji for a ceremony, followed by a potluck lunch. Please sign up if you plan to come (and if you’ll be there in person, let us know what you can bring for lunch).
A note about online practice
When you sit with us, whether in-person or online, you’re entering Sensouji, and you’re connected with everyone else who has entered that same space. I’ve been talking with the Remote Committee and the Board about how to better facilitate and deepen that connection. Much of that conversation circles around our new website—when it goes up, it will include more detailed instructions about how to enter the space, what we’re doing there, and what to expect. My hope is that people new to the community will find those resources and then feel more confident about logging in for the first time.
But while the website is still being built, we want to share a couple guidelines for how we can all show up for (and with) each other:
- When joining us for any activity, whether zazen or a discussion group, please turn your camera on (at an angle for zazen, directly for discussions). There might be reasons (for example, a bad internet connection) why that’s hard on a given day; if that’s the case, maybe just let us know in the chat what’s going on.
- Please let us know who you are. So, on Zoom, please use your name, your dharma name, or both (and if you want to add where you are geographically, that’s fun information for everyone else). Please don’t use aliases or initials. We want to welcome you as you.
Also, starting in the next few days, we’ll move to requiring “authentication” on Zoom, which simply means you’ll need to be logged into your own Zoom account in order to log into THZ’s activities. I understand that may feel like an inconvenience at first, but it will allow us to better understand who is practicing with us and to reach out to individuals if needed.
This is an ongoing conversation; I’m sure we will keep tweaking how we do these things far into the future. If you have other ideas about how to be more present online, or how to make that presence more felt, please let us know.
Thank you.
Gassho,
-koun
Chanting for Peace with Cedar Rapids Zen Center
The Cedar Rapids Zen Center is meeting on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 8:30 pm Atlantic Time (7:30 Eastern, 6:30 Central) to chant for peace. They’ll chant the Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo 108 times. Following chanting, participants have the opportunity to dedicate merit to those who have died or who are suffering.
Zoom meeting ID: 846 5816 3627
Passcode: 268184
Sangha leadership learning
Board president Ko-e Archer is attending the Emerging Sangha Leaders Training at Dharma Rain Zen Center this month. We’re grateful to Ko-e for representing us there, and we’re looking forward to hearing what she’s learned about how we can grow and evolve as a community.
Schedule updates
Zen Mind, Neurodiverse Mind - cancelled
The Zen Mind, Neurodiverse Mind group, which was meeting on Thursday evenings, is cancelled because the hosts are no longer available. If you’d be interested in hosting this group, or if you have an idea for another practice or discussion group, let us know at [email protected].
Nagarjuna study group - time change
This group, discussing Nagarjuna’s teachings on emptiness, is now meeting on Saturdays at noon Atlantic Time (11 am Eastern).
If you have any questions, you can email Matt MacDonald at [email protected]. You may also want to check out this presentation from the first session.