By: Phoebe Galt
Introduction
Drawing its community from the residents of Colorado Springs, Colorado and surrounding areas, the Springs Mountain Sangha defines itself as “a Zen Buddhist practice community: a group of people who study and practice the Zen way of awakening together” (Springs Mountain Sangha – A Zen Community). The sangha began in 1996, holding their first community retreat the next year in 1997, and by 1998 Joan Sutherland, Roshi was established as their teacher, and the name Springs Mountain Sangha (SMS) had stuck.
Today, SMS appears to be a mostly white community with women making up a large percentage of its members. The sangha makes it very clear that the community is a fluid notion, stating on their website that they “consider a member anyone who wishes to be considered a member. There are no membership dues or sign-up requirements” (Springs Mountain Sangha – A Zen Community). While the community depends entirely on donations, members who do not have the means to donate are not turned away, and financial assistance is even available to members who may need it to participate in sangha activities.
The community practices consist of tri-weekly meditation and dharma talks and semi-regular retreats, both led by a team of dedicated teachers. The weekly meetings are all held in the non-denominational Shove Chapel on the grounds of the private liberal arts college Colorado College in downtown Colorado Springs, CO (pictured at left). Greater meetings such as meals and retreats are held at various other locations around the greater Colorado Springs region. The sangha is guided in its planning and finances by an elected steering committee that meets monthly to decide the direction of and calendar for SMS.
Tradition
Springs Mountain Sangha traces their particular stream of Zen Buddhism through the Sanbo Kyodan, a lay Zen sect developed in Japan that draws from both the Soto and Rinzai Zen traditions. The Sanbo Kyodan was formed by Hakuun Yasutani, Roshi in 1954, and was further developed by American teachers through the Diamond Sangha. Today the Pacific Zen School furthers the Sanbo Kyodan lineage through its leaders John Tarrant and Joan Sutherland. The SMS website defines this lay lineage as characterized by “a teaching style rich with encouragement and wide in scope and by a dedication to embodying the dharma in 21st century America, welcoming insights from sources old and new, Eastern and Western” (Springs Mountain Sangha – A Zen Community).
Joan Sutherland (pictured at right), co-founder of the Pacific Zen School, founded The Open Source community of sanghas across the southwestern United States. This community consists of five sanghas: Awakened Life in Santa Fe, NM; Springs Mountain Sangha in Colorado Springs, CO; Wet Mountain Sangha in Pueblo, CO; Desert Rai Zen in Tucson, AZ; and Crimson Gate Meditation in Oakland, CA. The Open Source defines itself on its website as “an innovative Western koan school with roots in East Asian traditions” (Sutherland, “The Koan Way”), clearly defining itself as a uniquely American version of Zen Buddhism. Characteristics of Joan Sutherland’s Zen are the development of a body of Western koans, an honoring of the original Chinese and Japanese methods of koan teaching while also adapting them to a more contemporary context, emphasizing the integration of koan inquiry with contemporary lifestyles in the West, and an increased focus on the contributions of women to the koan tradition.
Teachers
Joan Sutherland, Roshi, has been retired from active teaching since 2014, but her work and lineage continue in today’s teachers at Springs Mountain Sangha. SMS furthers her work through new teachers Sarah Bender, Sensei; Andrew Palmer, Sensei; and David Weinstein, Roshi, using many of Joan Sutherland’s prolific writings, teachings, and lectures to guide their work and practice.
Andrew Palmer has been with SMS since 1999, and Sarah Bender since 2001. Both teachers live in Colorado Springs and also serve as holding teachers at Wet Mountain Sangha in Pueblo, CO, another sangha in The Open Source network. Interestingly, both Sarah and Andrew also have ties to the U.S. Air Force, a leading employer in Colorado Springs. From 2007-2013, Sarah served as Buddhist Program Leader for the United States Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel, with Andrew taking over the position in October 2013.
David Weinstein, Roshi spends most of his time with the Pacific Zen Institute where he lives in Oakland, California, supporting SMS from a distance, and leading the occasional retreat for the sangha.
Views
The Open Source network of sanghas stresses the importance of relationships and community in their Zen koan practice. They see koans as relational by nature, “[depicting] the moment when one person has a profound influence on another” (Sutherland, “The Koan Way”). The Open Source also stresses that koans are “a sort of shamanic description of the unconscious” (Sutherland, “The Koan Way”), and that their study thus allows students to examine elements deep within their personal psyche. Through these two tenets of The Open Source understanding of Zen koan practice, koans can be seen as a way for the practitioner to not only move along the bodhisattva path to enlightenment but to also better understand themselves and their relationship to others.
In fitting with this understanding of koans, Springs Mountain Sangha states on their website that “Zen practice doesn’t require abandoning other religious traditions. Rather it tends to deepen our understanding of religious traditions and practices; and the wisdom of other traditions enriches our practice of Zen” (Springs Mountain Sangha – A Zen Community). In this way we can see a blending of Zen Buddhist practices with Western religious concepts. Koans can be seen not only in a strictly Buddhist sense as ways to achieve moments of sudden enlightenment in advancing one along the bodhisattva path, but in fact can also be applied to other religious contexts. In an attempt to explain the utility of koans on her website, Joan Sutherland, Roshi writes that koans provide insight into the true meaning of reality, be that emptiness, God, or something altogether different. In this way does Springs Mountain Sangha use the koan practice of Zen Buddhism in a way that is adaptable to a larger lay audience.
The Open Source Network, including SMS, engages with current political questions from a Zen Buddhist perspective. Joan Sutherland has a section on her website about the recent United States presidential election on November 8, 2016. Responding to the election results and writing near daily posts throughout the week following the election, Joan Sutherland uses teachings from the Pacific Zen School to understand and provide guidance for sangha members that are struggling with the election’s results. Her responses seem to place The Open Source network against the policies of President-Elect Donald Trump, beginning this section of her website by equating his election to the Soviet occupation of Poland. Writing about the aftermath of the election, Joan Sutherland discusses the importance of “calling one’s soul home” to focus on positivity moving forward and the “revenge of kindness”, choosing good and kindness every day over evil, among other topics (Sutherland, “Election 2016”). Her responses provide an important example of the adaption of Zen Buddhist philosophy and teachings to a politicized American context, demonstrating the true merging of east and west with the Zen Buddhism of the Pacific Zen School.
Practices
In keeping with the Pacific Zen School’s emphasis on meditation and shared inquiry, the Springs Mountain Sangha holds meetings three times weekly; offers classes, koan practice, and Buddhism study groups; invites members to meet individually with the sangha’s teachers; and holds single-day, weekend, and longer meditation retreats. New members are invited to join the group at any time, with brief orientation sessions offered once a month, and introductions to meditation offered at the request of any new member prior to any meditation session. During meetings, meditation cushions and chairs are provided to all and members are asked to wear comfortable, plain clothing, and to turn off anything that makes noise. Guidelines for practice, including everything from instructions on meditation poses to specifications on proper eating procedures, can be found on the SMS website here.
Springs Mountain Sangha holds meetings every Monday night from 6-8pm, every Wednesday morning from 6:30-7:30am, and every Saturday morning from 6:30-8:30am at the Shove Chapel on the campus of Colorado College. Mondays are generally spent on meditation and dharma talks, Wednesdays consist of two periods of meditation with walking meditation in between and vows at the end, and Saturdays consist of four sitting meditations with walking meditations in between. On the first Saturday of every month, the sangha holds a meeting called Zen Threads where to close out the meeting, a community member is invited to give a brief talk or presentation on something they have learned, experienced, or find interesting, and discussion follows from there until the close of the meeting half an hour later. Through this monthly Zen Threads practice, community members can come together to discuss issues of importance to the group. Saturday sessions are generally followed by a group breakfast, which serves to build further community beyond meeting sessions.
The Springs Mountain Sangha also hosts a number of retreats. Retreats range anywhere from a single day to a full week in length, and can cost attendees anywhere from $50-$450, with financial assistance available to those who wish to attend but do not have the means to afford it. SMS is very clear that they do not want financial concerns to be a hindrance to anyone’s ability to attend a retreat. This past June 2016 was the first-ever Open Source retreat, where members from all sanghas in the network were invited to a week-long retreat at the Catamount Center near Colorado Springs (pictured at left). The event’s online announcement advertised that “with a full week’s retreat, there will be plenty of time for silent meditation, community koan meditation, Dharma talks, individual and collective conversation, and hanging out on the sacred ground of this young, rocky mountain at the spine of our continent” (Bender, “Save the Date”). Shorter retreats last the length of a typical work day from 8am-4pm or 9am-5pm and are held roughly once a month.
Conclusion
The Springs Mountain Sangha in Colorado Springs, Colorado is a member of The Open Source network of Zen Buddhist sanghas that trace their lineage back to the lay Sanbo Kyodan Zen of Japan, a tradition that has evolved today in the southwestern United States into the Pacific Zen School. The uniquely Western and contemporary lay Zen practice that comes out of the Pacific Zen School guides the teachers of the Springs Mountain Sangha in their quest for meditation and shared inquiry as a community.
References
Bender, Sarah. “Save the Date: June 2016 MahaSangha Retreat.” Springs Mountain Sangha. 9 Dec. 2015. Web. 20 Nov. 2016. <http://www.smszen.org/save-the-date-june-2016-mahasangha-retreat/>.
Cloud Dragon: The Joan Sutherland Dharma Works. Cloud Dragon Dharma Works, 2015. Web. 20 Nov. 2016. <http://www.joansutherlanddharmaworks.org/>.
Pacific Zen Institute. Web. 20 Nov. 2016. <http://www.pacificzen.org>.
Springs Mountain Sangha – A Zen Community. Springs Mountain Sangha, 2016. Web. 21 Nov. 2016. <http://www.smszen.org/>.
Sutherland, Joan. “Basic Forms.” Springs Mountain Sangha – The Open Source (2014). Springs Mountain Sangha. The Open Source Project, 2014. Web. 20 Nov. 2016. <http://www.smszen.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Basic-SMS-Forms-2014.pdf>.
Sutherland, Joan. “Election 2016.” Cloud Dragon: The Joan Sutherland Dharma Works. Cloud Dragon Dharma Works, Nov. 2016. Web. 21 Nov. 2016. <http://joansutherlanddharmaworks.org//ELECTION_2016/index.html>.
Sutherland, Joan. “The Koan Way.” The Open Source Zen Network. Web. 20 Nov. 2016. <http://www.opensourcekoanzen.com/our-tradition.html>.