It is our great pleasure to invite Joan Stamm from the Seattle area for this wondering program, "The Language of Flowers"

Joan travelled and lived in Japan in the early 90s. She also received Saga Goryu Shihan level from Kyoto HQ

Here is her website Joan D. Stamm (joandstamm.com) to learn more about her.

Please see the following zoom link for the program.

You have to register by the link in advance to come to this meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUrceihrT0qE9c6vDKOrG2n5Nt5I1MYJ7MR

Joan Diane Stamm grew up in a rural community of wheat farmers in North Dakota. Nothing in her upbringing foretold of a later interest in Japan and Japanese culture. During college years an interest in Eastern philosophy developed, but not until 1991, when she moved to Japan to teach English would she participate in her first Zen experience at a training temple in Kobe. An interest in Buddhism deepened during her time in Japan, and further developed upon her return home two years later. She would continue a life-long study and practice of Zen and Tibetan Buddhism, as well as ikebana (the art of Japanese flower design), which would lead to her first book HEAVEN AND EARTH ARE FLOWERS: REFLECTIONS ON IKEBANA AND BUDDHISM.

After many trips to Japan to study ikebana, and many years studying and practicing Buddhism, the idea of a Buddhist pilgrimage was born. In 2012, along with her sister, she embarked on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage of 33 Temples; that same year she co-founded Cold Mountain Hermitage, a Buddhist study and practice group. Her second book, A PILGRIMAGE IN JAPAN: THE 33 TEMPLES OF KANNON recounts this amazing pilgrimage route.

During the 2020 pandemic THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS IN THE TIME OF COVID: REFLECTIONS ON ZEN, NATURE AND IKEBANA was born. After a cancelled trip to Japan to research a flower temple pilgrimage route, Joan explores "flowers as little Buddhas." The Language of Flowers carries us through the seasons of nature, the pandemic and the many political and climate upheavals of that same year.