Dharma Heart Zen
April Sangha News
Pacific Bleeding Heart
Dicentra formosa
Announcements
Dharma Heart Zen Bag Lunch
Thursday, May 1
At Ellen Sherron's house at 12:00pm. All are welcome to celebrate Spring.
More Information
Dharma Heart Zen Study and Practice Focus
The Two Wings of Awakening:
Compassion and Wisdom
Resources:
The Noble Eightfold Path: Way to the End of Suffering, by Bhikkhu Bodhi (online source)
Brothers in the Beloved Community:
The Friendship of Thich Nhat Hanh and Martin Luther King Jr., by Marc Andrus
The Eightfold Path - A Buddhist teaching anthology offered by Soto Zen Women, edited by Jikyo Cheryl Wolfer, Introduction by Byakuren Judith Ragir (online source)
The Wings of the Bodhisattva article by Joanna Macy
from the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies (online source)
For general information about weekly sittings and other offerings,
see Dharma Heart Zen Offerings
Engaged Buddhism
Practicing in the World
Responding with Clarity and Compassion
Dharma Heart Zen is curating a list of resources and engaged actions to help us respond with bodhisattva hearts and minds to the suffering and chaos that is unfolding in our government and in the world
Please visit the Engaged Buddhism page and join in as you can.
It is updated regularly. You can also look for the dharma wheel symbol on the Dharma Heart Zen homepage to access the Engaged Buddhism page.
Last fall, DHZ offered a Council of All Beings during sangha, based on the model by the Work that Reconnects.
The offering below is an opportunity to experience the Council of All Beings with a focus on water…Council of Water Beings: Honoring the Voices of Water
A Work that Reconnects Network WebinarApril 19, 2025
10:00 am - 12:00 pm PDT
I Am Gabriel/Soy Gabriel
“Fraire, that’s a different name,”
she said, squinted, then added,
“Where does it come from?”
My father, I said
to myself
knowing full well she was really asking,
Why is your skin dark?
But before I could answer,
she asked?
“What are you?”
What am I?
I am human.
“No really, what are you?”
So I told her.I am Gabriel
Soy Gabriel
I am an American
of Mexican descent
“Funny, you don’t look like a spic.”
I am a Mexican-American
“Oh, a wet-back.”
I was born in this country
my parents were born in this country
my grandparents came from Mexico
more than 100 years ago
yet/still
I am a hyphenated-American
due of the color of my skin
because in America
only White people can be
full fledged Americans
The rest of us are hyphenated-Americans
I am a Mexican-American
Yet, I’m neither Mexican nor American
too brown for the Whites
too white for the Browns
I don’t speak Spanish
my English is poor
I play football with my feet
and my handsThe government calls me Hispanic
What is a spanic?
Are there Herspanics?As a young man I was a Chicano
this worried my parents
my father saying to my mother
“It’s like Black Panthers for Mexicans”I come from a big family
but only have two children
by choice
I love my beans and rice
but burgers are my comfort food
I drink tequila with a Budweiser chaser
I dance to corridos
but my roots are rock an’ roll
my car is subdued
until I jack that mother upI will answer to Latino
but never, beaner, greaser,
illegal or
alienWhat am I?
I am Gabriel
Soy Gabriel—Gabriel A. Fraire – February 20, 2014
from RSJD , Racial and Social Justice as Dharma , co- facilitated by Chris
~ Offered by Shelly Hughes/Soto & Sage on Instagram