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The Wet Mountain Sangha is affiliated with Joan Sutherland's Open Source Project.

The trademarks of this school include an emphasis on lay practice, and an openness to ideas from surrounding cultural contexts.

Zen practice doesn't require abandoning other religious traditions but rather tends to deepen spriritual insights.

The Wet Mountain Sangha is affiliated with Joan Sutherland's Open Source Project, a network of Zen practitioners throughout the Western United States who are working with Joan. The name is taken from open source software, available to all users to benefit from, add to, modify, and pass along for the benefit of all. Joan's unique and vibrant Zen teaching is built around several primary principles:

• An integration of ancient Zen teachings with western wisdom traditions;
• An intensive exploration and re-imaging of the koan tradition;
• The creation of new liturgical forms for Zen practice; and
• The use of mythopoetics as part of a practice of imaginative inquiry.

The Open Source network of Zen practitioners and sanghas in California, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico has grown and adapted to various new settings over the decade of its existence since 1997. The backbone of the network is Joan's teachings. These teachings include her essays and talks, as well as an evolving common liturgy, with practice forms, retreat practices, and the sutra service. The meditation retreat has been a primary vehicle for transmission of Joan's talks and essays, the Open Source liturgy, and the other commonalities of this tradition. Retreats in the Open Source tradition have been held throughout the western United States.

The Wet Mountain Sangha practices in the Open Source tradition, which emanates from the Pacific Zen Institute, the Diamond Sangha, and Yasutani Roshi's Sambo Kyodan tradition in Japan. The lineage includes elements of both Rinzai and Soto Zen practice. The trademarks of this school are the integration of Soto and Rinzai Schools of Zen, an emphasis on lay practice, and an openness to vital infusions of new ideas from surrounding cultural contexts. Our practice draws heavily from the rich chinese Chan Koan tradition.

Zen practice doesn't, however, require abandoning other religious traditions. Rather, it tends to deepen our understanding of religious traditions and practices.

Our practice has the power to reveal a Zen that is not bound to another time and a different place, a Zen that is native to us; we begin to recognize the ineffable in the images and metaphors of this time and place, arising out of our landscapes, our ancestral spirits, our poetries, our psyches, and our songs.

--Joan Sutherland, 2004

 

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Joan Sutherland, Roshi, is a senior teacher of Zen Buddhism and the holding teacher for Wet Mountain Sangha in Pueblo. She is deeply interested in what becomes possible when ways of meditation and inquiry developed over thousands of years are brought into contemporary American lives. In her teaching she integrates these ancient ways with western wisdom traditions, including literature, psychology, and recent scientific discoveries about mind and consciousness. She is involved in an intensive exploration and re-imagining of the koan tradition and the use of mythopoetics in a practice of imaginative inquiry. She lives in Sonoma County, Northern California and teaches through The Open Source Project; she was the co-founder of Pacific Zen Institute, where she is now senior teacher emerita. Find more information about Joan at http://www.joansutherland.net/

Sarah Bender Sensei is resident teacher for Springs Mountain Sangha in Colorado Springs, and a teacher for the Wet Mountain Sangha and the Open Source Project. Sarah began Zen practice with Honolulu Diamond Sangha in 1979, as a student of Robert Aitken. She moved to Colorado Springs in 1984, and sat with one or two people for some years after that. She attended retreats with Father Pat Hawk and with Thich Nhat Hanh in the 1990s, and has studied with Joan Sutherland and David Weinstein since 1997. In 2001, Joan invited her to serve as meditation instructor for SMS. Then, in 2006, Sarah officially became a teacher for the Open Source Project. Sarah is a learning disability specialist in private practice in Colorado Springs.

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Wet Mountain Sangha is a Colorado Non-profit Corporation. The sangha steering committee (SC) includes the officers of the sangha, practice leaders and interested sangha members. Jan Meserve is the 2008 seat for the Steering Committee! The SC is made up of "streams" that manage the activities of the sangha: Program (Merrilee Barnett); Zendo (Darryl Murphy); Dorcy Center Programs (Doug Messner); Finance (Linda Stone); and Communications (Wendy Shinn). The SC also coordinates with our teachers concerning activities and direction for the sangha. Anyone associated with the sangha is welcome to attend SC meetings, which are posted in the Schedule portion of the website. SC members in 2008 include the stream coordinators and Tracy Foltz (recorder), Donna Mack, Leticia Thurman, Kate Barrett, and David Cockrell.

The sangha is entirely dependent on contributions (dana) from members and friends for the financial health of the community. All contributions are devoted entirely to the sangha's operating expenses, which include primarily rent, supplies, and periodic capital investments in durable equipment to support our shared meditation and dharma study practice. All contributions are welcome and may be sent to the sangha treasurer, Linda Stone, 2216 7th Ave., #B201, Pueblo, CO 81003.

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