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Dear Sangha, dear friends! After nearly three years of Furnace Mountain Zen Center being closed because of the pandemic we are very happy to share that in October we hosted a small week-long retreat for the Zen group of one of our teachers. We tested our Covid protocols and reacquainted ourselves to Furnace Mountain Zen Center hosting guests and visitors. So after what feels like an eternity, we are in the process of offering in-person retreats again and we hope to see you soon for one of them! Due to Covid precautions and our limited housing capacity any future in-person retreats will be smaller and likely there'll be waiting lists. So please register early. Participation is possible if you are vaccinated & boostered and willing to test daily. Our Covid-guidelines will be posted on the website shortly. ........ The only good thing about the pandemic is that we have grown as a Sangha in ways we'd never expected. Both during the longer online retreats but also daily at our morning-practice gathering we now have friends joining from all over the US, and Sangha members coming from as far away as Canada, Germany, Australia and Korea. To ensure that we stay connected as a Sangha we are currently testing & working on a hybrid retreat format, where a number of people practice in our meditation hall and we broadcast from there. Being in a very rural area this poses some technical difficulties which we need to resolve first. Keep your fingers crossed. ........ The resident community invites experienced practitioners to an In-House Retreat November 11 - 13. This is a bit more of a casual format, but still a deep dive into silence & stillness. Spaces are limited and given away at a first come-first-serve basis. For more info & to register, please contact our office. ........ If you'd like to visit Furnace Mountain Zen Center please make sure to contact our office and coordinate a date & time. Covid precautions apply, so you'll have to mask up in all buildings and when meeting with residents. ........ Zen Master Chong Sae Do from Rockville, MD will be offering a free online class about the Four Great Vows. The class starts November 5th. The Four Great Vows describe the Way of the Bodhisattva. In this class you will learn how to write the original version of these vows in traditional Chinese characters. For more information and to register, please go to his website. ........ As I so often do, I invite you to please consider a small donation to our Zen Center. These are challenging times for most of us, our center & practice community included, and we depend on your generous and kindhearted financial support to keep this place up and going. We hope to see you in person soon! May all beings attain freedom from suffering! Yours in the Dharma, Muhanshim, Vice Abbess FMZC 
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