Hello fellow Sangha Members,
we have been using g+ hangouts as our zendo for more than a year, but the procedure of finding treeleaf, adding and "adding back" to circles was not too convenient. Google recently introduced the "Community", which much simplifies the process, so we will move from the use of the "Circles" to the "Community". Everyone who was in Treeleafs circle just got an invitation to the community at g+, just accept it and you are done. Everyone who not got an invitation or not even is at Google+ yet, just read on.

Below is the Guide for using the Community as our Zendo, please everyone read it once, as it also contains infos about Silence in the zendo, usage of the Community and how to find fellow sitters (aka the Calendar):

Treeleaf Google+ Zendo Guide

Account

If you have no Google account yet, you need to create one:
- Go to http://accounts.google.com
- Click on the “Create an account” link next to the Sign In button and follow the instructions.
If unsure on some of the options, just go with the default, it can be altered later on.

Connect

Log into your Google account and go to the community page at

https://plus.google.com/communities/...70299605274399

- Bookmark this page, its your entry point to connect with your fellow sitters
- Click the "Ask to join" button
- Go to your treeleaf message box

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/private.php?do=newpm

and send a private message to either "Dosho" or "Myoku" so we can be sure its a treeleaf member asking to join.
You will be notified when you became a member of the community.
Please dont post anything in the community, its reserved for zazen!

Hangouts

Go to the community page to join an active hangout or to create a new one yourself. The "hangouts" area is on the right. For special events like the zazenkai, wait for the moderator to start the hangout. By starting a hangout from the community page you automatically invite all community members to join you.
Please always mute your microphone (button on the top right of the hangout window)!

Calendar

To publish your sitting time or look up other sangha members sitting time, please check the treeleaf calendar at

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/calendar.php

To add your sitting time, click "Add New Event" at the tope right, choose the "Ranged Event" for a single sit or "Reccuring Event" for regular sits and enter "Zazen Your Name" as title and your intended time in "Start Date" and "End Date".

Email Notifications

To control emails you get for each hangout from the Community go to the settings at
https://www.google.com/settings/plus
The important part is the "Receive notifications" section, it controls what results in an email being sent to you. When you not want to get an email or sms whenever a hangout starts, set the option "Invites me to a hangout" to Off.
You may also want to switch off the options in the "Manage subscriptions" area.