The meeting began just after 7pm, squash soup, bread, cheese and apple sauce were offered and enjoyed. Present were: Basia, Tanya, Gineen, Volker, Margi/Teido, Maia, Maria, Catherine/Anraku.

The proposed agenda was introduced and approved. We then went around and checked in. Gratitude was expressed to having a consistant sitting place, it was reminded to all that the zendo was always open for zazen to those who had keys, and for the general public whenever The Life Center was open as well as regular sitting times. Desire to deepen our practice by introducing workshops, sangha activities and guest teachers this next year was expressed.

The current schedule of Monday through Friday mornings 6 to 7 am and Wednesday evenings from 5:30 to 6:45 pm and Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 7:45 pm seemed to work well. Beginning Zazen Instruction would be on Wednesdays at 5pm. Zazenkais on the first Saturday of the month also worked for those present and were scheduled for October 5, November 2, December 7, and January 10 (2nd Sat).

The people in charge of opening the zendo are as follows:

• Monday morning: Flora and Rachel
• Tuesday morning: Maia
• Wednesday morning: Maria
• Thursday morning: Peter
• Friday morning: Gineen
• Wednesday evening: Catherine Anraku
• Thursday evening: Volker

If you cannot cover your day to open, please call Catherine Anraku at 527-4849 home or 586-8222 at work.

In addition the following people have a set of keys: Basia, Verlee, Curtis, Margi, Jerry? (If you no longer are using your keys, please return to Catherine Anraku.)

Volker will put together an updated contact list.

Other events discussed were: Sangha Fall Foliage Walk(date not set), Halloween/Segaki Ceremony, Bodhi Day Zazenkai, Winter Solstice Party.

Possible workshops might include: Intro to Zen, Talks and or Zazenkais with guest teachers: Enkyo Sensei, Issho Sensei, Peter Gregory on Sutra Study, Joshin Sensei on Intro to Inner Disarmament, Eve Sensei on Council Practice, Elehiu Sensei for weekend retreat. Invitations and dates to be decided on dependent upon availability, etc. It was also suggested that if we did an event in which we needed a larger space, we could look into the Florence Community Center and the Healing Arts Center on Hawley St. in Northampton.

Financial Report: Fundraising letter by Curtis, brought an increase in donations so that we exceeded our rent (400) for the first time this month. The increase was due to a couple of large donors. It was thought that some new visitors may not be aware of the dana bowl so that it would be mentioned ie: "Donations are not required for practice, we gladly accept all donations to help pay our expenses", or something like that. The idea of "Inner Fundraising" was introduced. The idea was that members could put aside (for example) one Latte a week and donate the $ saved to the zendo.

Introducing Services during the weekly sits was approved. We will begin with Wednesday evening service at 5:30pm and Friday morning at 6:50am. We will begin chanting the Heart Sutra, alternating between English one week and Japanese the next. Consensus was that it was important to allow people to understand what they were chanting while at the same time there are those sangha members who just love the Japanese. There will be a rehearsal on Wed Oct 9th after zazen from 6:45 until 7:30 for all those who would like to learn the service positions. There may be other rehearsal times as well. Let us know if you are interested and can not make the 9th. (call 586-8222)

It was also suggested that we begin to learn and practice oryoki. Discussion followed as to what we would need to put together oryoki sets. Tanya and Gineen seemed interested in helping to get this project going.

Discussions of Affiliate Status with Village Zendo and Zen Peacemaker Order as well as discussion of our Mission Statement were tabled until our next meeting.

Our next Sangha meeting was scheduled for October 16 at 7pm following zazen. Gineen will facilitate. Please let us know if you would like to come to a sangha meeting but need a different time to be able to attend.

Other Community events were announced, the Letter writing Campaign (here) etc.

The meeting came to a close with a couple of minutes of zazen.

Respectfully submitted,

Catherine Anraku Hondorp

September 28, 2002