Social Groups
OPEN HEART CIRCLE
The OPEN HEART CIRCLE is an intimate group that has heartfelt discussions about the many differences in our world and the way in which we can open our hearts to others. generally meets on the first Monday of each month at 7:00 PM CT. At the present time, this circle is only open to ZLMC Members and is online only. Stewards: Diane Bejcek and Jacquelyn Weiner-O’Shea.
For more information on this circle, please email Jacquelyn at jwomft@gmail.com.
POETRY CIRCLE
Join the POETRY CIRCLE to explore and share the wonders of poetry weekly. Fridays 8-9 AM CT.
Zoom Link Contact Group Steward: Mark Gelula at mgelula@gmail.com for more information.
WOMEN’S CIRCLE
The Women’s Circle is on hiatus. Contact Roshi June if interested June.tanoue@zlmc.org.
PEOPLE OF COLOR CIRCLE
The PEOPLE OF COLOR CIRCLE fosters a sense of community and comradery for those who identify as people of color.
We are meeting on the last Monday of the month from 12 - 1 pm. It’s Hybrid - in person and on zoom Zoom Link. Contact Circle Steward: Roshi June Tanoue at june.tanoue@zlmc.org for more information
INTERFAITH CIRCLE
The INTERFAITH CIRCLE will meet the third Thursday of each month at 7:00 PM. The group plans to explore the relationship between our Zen studies and our religion, faith and philosophy of birth, heritage, and choice . . .
Meetings are online only.
For more information, please contact the Circle Steward, Ken Hillman at ken.hillman@me.com
KINSHIP CIRCLE
Some of our current and previous activities include coordinating the Sunday Morning Kinship Hour and the Tuesday evening meditation, Bonfire Socials, movie nights, coordination of dinners for Venezuelan immigrants, holiday gift collection for Sarah’s Inn (domestic violence organization), and sending cards of care to sangha members experiencing illness or bereavement.
We welcome attendance to our meetings by any sangha member. If you’d like to be added to the email list for upcoming meetings, contact co-steward Chris DuSell or Kelly Good.
STUDY CIRCLE
The first gathering of the Study Circle will be Sunday, August 10 from 1-3 pm at 46 Lake St in Oak Park (In-person Only). BYO Dharma book! If you need inspiration, there is a library in the basement of the Zen center with a rich array of options to borrow. We'll spend most of the time actually reading our own selection. It'll be an opportunity to share focus together on what we care about.
Circle Steward: Skye Lavin- skyelavin@gmail.com
STITCHING SUTRA CIRCLE
Join the STITCHING SUTRA CIRCLE for our ‘crafting for a cause’ circle! Anyone interested in the fabric arts (knitting, sewing, crocheting) is welcome! No experience is necessary. We will work together to create beautiful handmade items for donation to good causes.
To start off the new year of 2025, Robin Sheerer and Vanessa Klugman donated 7 hand-knitted baby blankets to Sarah’s Inn. These blankets represent several years and countless hours of loving, enjoyable, joy-fill knitting. All this love and kindness from folks in our Stitching Sutra Circle.
In the first year of the Pandemic, inspired by the history of generations of women working with their hands, we invited anyone who wanted to knit, crochet, or sew to help us create a group. Although we had to meet primarily online at that time, in 2022 we were able to donate a beautiful knitted patchwork afghan to Housing Forward. In both 2022 and 2023 we also donated hand-knitted scarves for the annual ZLMC auction to help raise money. In 2023 we also donated another beautiful knitted afghan to Sarah’s Inn. It was a communal effort.
For more information and if you’re interested in joining us, please contact Robin Sheerer at: robinsheerer@gmail.com.
We meet on the fourth Monday of the month 7-8:30 PM CT in-person or online. Zoom Link
EARTH STEWARDS CIRCLE
The Earth Stewards Circle is committed to exploring and promoting ways for the sangha to combat global warming and protect our earth's precious resources.
Heads up: The circle meets the second Monday of each month @ 8:00 am. Click here for zoom link.
For more information on the circle, contact Circle Steward, Blair Barbour.
JUST PICK IT UP
Video “Just Pick it Up” by Marni Curtis, a ZLMC member and member of the Earth Stewards Circle. She describes here her practice of picking up plastic. The Earth Steward Circle also sponsors a plastic collection program that turns plastic into park benches which are donated to local non-profits.
In attachment blossoms fall, in aversion weeds spread. Dogen, Genjo Koan (1233 CE)
Smack in the middle of the back yard is a non-native, very short tree that, when I moved in, looked like a dwarf, would-be weeping willow. Scraggly, neglected, it stood just over five feet high, and its branches hung down to the ground all around. It took up a fair amount of space; of course nothing grew in its shade.
I did recognize it: a weeping cherry—not a naturally grown specimen of one of the beautiful Japanese varieties, but a “frankentree,” which, as Brian Funk of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden has written, “are the flowering cherries on sale at home improvement stores” that “look like mops, or umbrellas, or octopus trees.” They are created when “weeping cherry branches… are grafted onto a straight trunk that was cut off at five feet tall.” Well yes, exactly. Not only was it ungainly, but: what was the point of its existence, and what good would it do?