Bowing to the Seasons and Sangha
A Year in Reflection
Photo by Keying Yang
Dear Jikoji Sangha,
As the year turns to winter, with the light growing softer, we could say even a bit kinder, with welcoming eyes we consider these quiet days. Mornings linger a little longer over a cup of warm tea, afternoons stretch into evening stillness, and darkness arrives early, inviting a blanket as we wait for the fire to take form in the old woodstove. The changing season does not rush in, nor does it rush us. Instead, we are reminded that each moment is in constant movement, and that the constancy of impermanence itself can be a source of comfort.
I imagine you, too, may be watching the change. Here at Jikoji, the leaves destined to fall have lost their grip. Two Moon Pond is high and Peter’s Creek is flowing steadily onward. We look up from our desks, our computers, the news on our phones and tablets—from our self-making minds—and suddenly notice the world in its seasonal bloom, meeting us. A wise Buddha named Angie Boissevain, the first Director of Jikoji, once told me, “That’s right, get your chin off the pavement!” When we do—when we truly look up at the world—oh, what a glorious mess, and what joy!
The earth’s cycles of growth, rest, and release are not apart from us. Nothing is forced; nothing resists. Each of us is held within these moving seasons, defined and precious precisely because we are not apart from them. Leaves fall, bodies change, and we look up from a screen and blink at a new world—taking it all in, with an appreciative smile perhaps. This one, whoever she is now, finds herself bowing.
In these turnings, I bow to you, the Jikoji sangha. Yes—if you are reading this, you are sangha. When you arrive to practice – to meet yourself, to stop pointing out – you offer deep and nourishing support for the whole world. Our sangha is alive as a thriving web of care. Some of you are nearby, some across oceans. Some are newly discovering Jikoji; others, long familiar, are finding new connections. Our gift to one another is to keep our hearts propped open, engaging this fleeting assemblage we call I, and all the other I’s, with gentle attention to projections, expectations, and shared humanity. This attention is compassion and it makes a difference, one moment at a time.
Each expression of compassion is felt and deeply appreciated at Jikoji. This is how compassion often arrives at Jikoji:
With a shovel
With a stethoscope when it was needed
With a determination to rid the grounds of invasive “Stinky Bob”!
With a mop and a broom and a big smile
With a willingness to fix whatever needs fixing
With months and months of clearing (10 tons!!) of debris from our grounds
With luggage as you move onsite for a practice term
With a pizza oven and fixings
With a needle and thread in Wisconsin
With a cup of ceremonial tea
With a cake or cookies to share at Sunday programs
With vegetables from your gardens
With joining us online again and again for morning practice
With taking care of the altars when you visit
With a deep silence as you commit to sit sesshin
With regular, sustaining financial donations.
Each and all of these acts of selfless giving ripple outward—in a vast unknowable lattice of interconnection.
Just as each act of compassion ripples outward, so too does the steady dedication of our Board, Officers, and elders shape the heart and future of Jikoji. This year, our Board and Officers have faced challenges and joys, struggles and ease: we have renewed our road, made extensive preparations for essential infrastructure improvements, and stewarded our temple with a deep intention to Jikoji’s long-term health and well-being. At each step, the Board and Officers have worked to engage creatively and skillfully with what asked for attention and response, guided by Dōgen’s reminder: “Even when the plum has wilted and winter has reached its deepest cold, do not let your body be numb or your mind absent.”
I am so very grateful for the dedication of my fellow Board members and Officers: Geoff Mitchell, Etsudo Judy Reyes, Sōkyō Mariko Braswell (who also gracefully served as Shika), Tetsuho Christopher Kolon, Shindo Ross Smith and Kanshū Hogan Martin. Together, we join our hands in gasshō and bow deeply to the deep and abiding support of elders Michael Newhall, Jim Mills, Cliff Isberg and Bryan Gaynor, who have guided Jikoji over decades with steady presence, wise guidance, endless generosity and total devotion. I personally have been blessed to have the kind support and wise reflections of: Vanja Palmers, Angie Boissevain, Carolyn Atkinson, Ian Forsberg and Jan Chozen Bays, among others.
As we look back over 2025, we notice not only where life asked us to meet difficulties, stretch and respond wisely, but also where it carried and sustained us. Jikoji has been held by so many kind hearts—and we acknowledge with tremendous gratitude the ordinary and extraordinary ways this arrives: in questions, doubts, laughter, and tears; with hands, hearts, and a willingness to care for this temple as an extension of your own being. With tender presence, and the commitment to ethical conduct – turning the light inward – so many have breathed life into Jikoji. Practice here is not abstract. We live it, share it and join together in the great circulation, offering ourselves as a Compassion Light Temple, shining out into the world.
This year we celebrated several joyful milestones:
The transmission of Kinho Bokushu Tom Tolan
The transmission—truly, the re-transmission into our lineage family—of Misha Koun Merrill.
Both Bokushu and Misha are longtime and dear friends of Jikoji.
We were also blessed by many lay and priest ordinations and the Shuso practice period of Tetsuho’s offering; each milestone shone a new facet and a fresh expression of vow.
Throughout the year, we enjoyed the frequent warm and intelligent presence of beloved and esteemed Guiding Teacher, Oshin Sensei. Our dharma brother from the Midwest, Hokyo Chuck Hutchcraft, takes the seat year after year to lead Tanjo-e Sesshin. Senseis Oshin, Bokushu, Hokyo, and Koun have enthusiastically graced our daily practice, sesshins, Sundays, and residential community, bringing their deep caring hearts to each moment of our shared lives.
We have also been nourished by visits from our sisters and brothers of Felsentor Temple and others dear to our practice family. These transmissions, teachings, and encounters strengthen the living lineage flowing through Jikoji—connecting us to our founder, Kobun Chino Otogawa, through him to Shakyamuni Buddha, and in all directions to all Buddhas across time and space.
In the coming year, we look forward to their return, and yours, and to welcoming more family—including Hakuryu Ian Forsberg, who will lead a Phoenix Heart sesshin in late May. Old friends return, old rhythms continue—our four annual sesshins, weekly Sunday programs, Kobun’s Memorial Sesshin, Gerow’s treasured calligraphy workshops, Seisho Emily Bording’s inspiring poetry workshops—and new practitioners and rhythms arise.
Through it all, the pulse of practice beats strongly at Jikoji. With each thump-thump, we are offered the chance to meet ourselves—as ourselves, and as all beings. As another old Buddha, Jikoji’s Emeritus Director Shoho Michael Newhall once said, “Whatever it is you seek in someone else, it is that you are requesting from yourself.” Practice brings us back to this simple, steady truth again and again—until it is no longer an idea, but something we recognize in each breath in and each breath out.
From this recognition, standing on the ridge above Jikoji in the winter light, the day finishes on its own. Wherever we stand or sit, we understand that nothing more is needed—only to show up with an open heart, take our turn, and join the dancing light.
As we approach the new year, in the midst of everything, may we step forward towards with generosity, openness, and joy. May we appreciate our great good fortune for the sangha that holds us, the earth that supports us, and the fleeting, luminous life we share.
Thank you—for your care, your commitment, and above all, your practice. As we move into the new year, we deeply appreciate your continued financial support, which helps Jikoji remain a thriving place of practice, teaching, and connection for all.
With deep gratitude,
Nenzen Pamela Brown
Abiding Teacher