Hello Dear Friends!
I hope this email finds you well. I want to share some news and an update on my Dharma Path in the past 12 months. A year has already passed since I left Upaya, (after living there for almost 9 years)! I feel gratitude towards Upaya and Roshi Joan, because I was able to meet and form a friendship with you! I don't like sending out lots of emails or bothering people with weekly newsletters, so my intention here is just to connect with you and share some of my recent life events.
Some of you may already have heard that 2015 was a wonderful year for me. It was a very new and wonderful experience to be like a traveling monk, sleeping on couches, and living life simply and easily. I felt so much appreciation and awe (we really don't know!), and tried to stay intimate with the experience and to meet other beings to share both suffering and happiness. I am very grateful for all that happened. It was more than I was expecting. I had the opportunity to travel to see new places in the US, Mexico and even Brazil, and to meet new people and make new friends as well as share the Dharma, and give some talks, workshops and retreats. Thanks to iBme (www.iBme.info) I had the chance to co-teach 3 teenager retreats, so I am still following my dream to help youth to develop better choices in their lives by planting the seeds of the Buddhadharma. My health is good and I continue to sit zazen-- so that too, is great!
I have created a website http://www.joseshinzanpalma.org/ where I am posting news and a calendar of activities. I am also posting recordings (bilingual!) of dharma talks, however, I don't edit them, so forgive me if you find them too noisy or low quality, but I do hope my words serve and that the dharma still comes through. Last year I was very busy, but this year I have fewer trips, because I realize that my gift is to be a “home base” teacher, not a traveling teacher. Last year was more like a sabbatical to explore what might unfold.
Recently, I spent 2 months in Mexico where I sat Rohatsu with Zoketsu Norman Fischer (and several Upaya friends) at Mar de Jade, It was fantastic to reconnect with my roots, and I am being invited to return and teach in different cities of Mexico. So the vision is to go back in the near future, but since I just applied for American citizenship, I need to be in the north for awhile (the next 6 months?) until it is finalized.
Last, but not least, is the news that my new home is in San Diego. I am living in an inner city Buddhist Temple, and teaching regularly, plus hoping to open the Dharma Gate in Spanish too, thanks to Jeff Zlotnik, who is the founder: www.thedharmabums.org
If one day you are around San Diego, I would be very happy to see, sit and have some coffee with you. :)
Thank you friends. I hope all is well, Be happy, healthy and peaceful.
if you have a chance, I would love to hear from you too, about how you have been,
Sending you a deep bow, much love, and Hugs!
Sincerely,
Shinzan
c/o Dharma Bum Temple
541 2nd Ave Suite A
San Diego, CA 92101
(P.S.) Thinking of you