Dear Ones,
We've entered unprecedented times with the recent election, both as a country and within each of us. Unprecedented times are what the koan way is made for. It's a Dharma of courage and fierce steadiness, creative generosity and kindness - and it will help us navigate whatever comes.
Now more than ever, the Open Source tradition has a singular place in the landscape of Zen in the West, and in the world. Joan Sutherland, Roshi's teachings are at the heart of our tradition; her unique expression of the Dharma has inspired and benefited each of us over the years and remains vivid and fresh in our heart-minds today. From working with Joan directly, many of us know her rare gift for bringing complex and intricate ancestral teachings to life.
We continue to discover the power of Joan's teachings through Cloud Dragon : The Joan Sutherland Dharma Works, which makes these teachings, the essence of our Way, available not just to us, but to a wider world that will truly benefit from them.
This year we expanded the archive on the Cloud Dragon website, created the
podcast Radiance of the Dark, produced a collection of videos called Small Dreams,
and inaugurated Pilgrim's Bundle, a series of handbooks that begins with
Vimalakirti & the Awakened Heart, available at the end of November.
Your contributions have supported these projects, but now we're at a crossroads.
Without your renewed support, we'll have to close Cloud Dragon's doors at the
turn of the year.
Joan's teachings and our Way matter tremendously. Your continued donations to Cloud Dragon Dharma Works matter tremendously. If we come through with strong support, this Dharma - which frees Zen from the confines of the box it is often put in - will flourish and be widely known. If we don't, it may never attain its full power for the Way.
With deep gratitude and love,
Sarah Bender, Sensei
Tenney Nathanson, Sensei
Andrew Palmer, Sensei
Megan Rundel, Sensei
For Joan's suggestions on how we begin to navigate these unprecedented
