April 8, 2020

Happy Buddha's Birthday!

On-line sesshin/retreat for Buddha's Birthday, April 10-12th:  
Contact Misha or Jill if you wish to participate and receive a schedule.
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Special bows for today:

• Please continue to offer bows for the family of Alison Templeton, a Peninsula School parent, who died on April 1st after a long struggle with cancer
• Please continue to offer bows for Jeff Ghazarian and his family, friends of Lilliana Mendez-Soto’s nephew who died on March 19^th at the age of 34 from COVID-19
• Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
• Lisa McCrossen, Dainuri Rott’s niece, who is recovering from COVID-19
• Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home while undergoing chemotherapy
• Brendan, Kate Haimson’s son, who is recovering at home from surgery 
• Lilith Armitage, Shannon Bergman’s daughter who is recovering well at home from surgery
• Michael Tieri Ricaud, Dainuri Rott’s brother, who is suffering from MS

Our new ZHS on-line schedule (go to our website for more information: zenheartsangha.org):

• Mondays: 7-8:30pm - zazen, short service, lecture/discussion
• Tuesdays-Fridays: 5:30-6:10pm - zazen, offering of merit/bows
• Saturdays: 8:00-10:15am - zazen, short service, tea, discussion/study

Wonderful links shared by sangha and friends:

• New tab on Zen Heart Sangha website with resources about COVID-19 (zenheartsangha.org)
• From our dharma sister, Jill Kaplan:  Jack Kornfield's Bodhisattva Response to the Virus:  https://jackkornfield.com/the-bodhisattva-response-to-the-virus/
• From our dharma sister, Tova Green about a video from Houston Zen Center and its teacher, Gaelyn Godwin about taking care of each other in the time of COVID-19:  Here's the link.

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From our dharma sister, Lilliana Mendez-Soto on Sewing Practice: 

(photo of Lil in her homemade mask!)

Yesterday on my rainy Saturday, I engaged in a different kind of sewing practice--cloth masks using my mother's 160's Singer that had been sitting in my closet since I brought it back from Chicago in 1999. When I opened it, the smell hit me--that smell of old, familiar things, the scent of my mother's labor on that machine sewing me dresses, costumes, teaching me how to make very simple things like wrap around skirts and elastic pants, or hemming pants that were too long. I never did master complicated patterns, but instinctively, I remembered how to thread the machine.

My rakusu now waits. Having almost finished one so many years ago, just to begin again--now, sitting with the not knowing of even when we will be able to gather. I sat at the machine, re-threading after it snapped, or got caught on too many layers, breathing through frustration and success. I was able to focus on just that, get away from the onslaught of scary news in the world, and what the next few weeks may hold for me professionally. My job is a fairly safe one, but one where it's difficult to remain 6 ft apart, and now Kaiser is recommending "cover your cough" masks to be worn. So to save our precious masks we need to make sterile products, I am trying to sew. My husband bought all sorts of material a few weeks back, and it looks like we'll be at it, providing masks for coworkers, family and friends. We don't work too fast, but it's something.

Thinking of you all in the bay, and hope to see you online soon.

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Many thanks to those of you who are sending links and making comments…it is a gift beyond measure. Please know that you can either leave a comment on the blog itself, or send something directly to me and I will be happy to paste it in.  Here is a quick video on how to comment; it's from 2017, but should work:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T4RflO5Wgg

April 7, 2020

On-line sesshin/retreat for Buddha's Birthday, April 10-12th:  
Contact Misha or Jill if you wish to participate and receive a schedule.
________________________________________________________________________

Special bows for today:

• Please continue to offer bows for the family of Alison Templeton, a Peninsula School parent, who died on April 1st after a long struggle with cancer
• Please continue to offer bows for Jeff Ghazarian and his family, friends of Lilliana Mendez-Soto’s nephew who died on March 19^th at the age of 34 from COVID-19
• Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
• Jackie Little, Jim Little’s aunt, who is recovering well at home from COVID-19
• Lisa McCrossen, Dainuri Rott’s niece, who is recovering from COVID-19
• Carmen Ibanez, Lidia Luna’s mother, who is recovering well at home 
• Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home while undergoing chemotherapy
• Brendan, Kate Haimson’s son, who is recovering at home from surgery 
• Lilith Armitage, Shannon Bergman’s daughter who is recovering well at home from surgery
• Michael Tieri Ricaud, Dainuri Rott’s brother, who is suffering from MS

Our new ZHS on-line schedule (go to our website for more information: zenheartsangha.org):

• Mondays: 7-8:30pm - zazen, short service, lecture/discussion
• Tuesdays-Fridays: 5:30-6:10pm - zazen, offering of merit/bows
• Saturdays: 8:00-10:15am - zazen, short service, tea, discussion/study

Wonderful links shared by sangha and friends:

• New from Zen Heart Sangha: a new tab on our website with resources about COVID-19 
• From our dharma sister, Jill Kaplan:  Jack Kornfield's Bodhisattva Response to the Virus:  https://jackkornfield.com/the-bodhisattva-response-to-the-virus/
• From our dharma sister, Diane Comey: a tour of Hakone Gardens during cherry blossom time https://youtu.be/cJ09GLc-cek
• From our dharma brother, Brian Dipert, in Colorado about faith in troubled times:  https://www.denverpost.com/2020/04/05/colorado-coronavirus-religion-faith/  

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From Misha's lecture on Monday evening: Iris Mind in COVID Time

(This lecture is based on one Misha gave on April 3, 1991 when she was the Head Monk for a practice period at Kannon Do with her teacher, Rev. Les Kaye; photo by Shannon Bergman)

On a Monday near the end of the practice period, I had gone into the Kannon Do garden at the old zendo on College Avenua and cut some irises to put behind my seat near the altar.  The only iris that was actually blooming was the very tallest one on which there were many buds.  I picked one other stalk that looked like it might open in a couple of days and then put them in a vase and set them behind me on a low table.

It was a very quiet night that Monday.  There weren't many people sitting in the zendo and the neighborhood was also unusually quiet.  After weeks of sitting, my mind was also finally growing quiet.  And in that stillness during the first sitting, all of a sudden I heard a little cluck.  As it was completely silent, I noticed it and thought, "What was that?" The sound was very close, but I just went back to zazen.  About three minutes later: cluck.  Now I really began listening (which, by the way, is different from 'hearing'--listening is hearing with attention.) About every three to five minutes there would be a little cluck.  It was the sound of something pushing against something crinkly, like rice paper.  I couldn't figure out what it could possibly be as there was no rice paper or shoji screen near me.  When that period of zazen was over and I stood up and turned around to plump up my cushion, I noticed that the iris bud was beginning to fully open--what I had been hearing was the iris blooming and the little papery sheath at its base had been crinkling as the bud opened up!

The entire rest of the evening I sat there amazed...who would have thought you could hear a flower bloom? I had probably heard this sound in the garden before, but was never silent or slow enough to be aware of it.  What a magnificent gift!  For three periods of zazen that night, I had 'iris mind'.  I began to feel its energy pushing; I was inside of it and it was inside of me. The teaching of emptiness--no separation and inter-dependence--manifested itself in that single iris bloom and then extended itself to everything--people, robes, candles, tatami, and the cat yowling on the street.  

For instance, if you look at my brown robe, it may just look like a large (and sometimes cumbersome!) piece of material.  But if you look closely you will see that the cloth is made of thousands of threads, each made from spun cotton that came from the cotton plant boll.  That plant grew from a seed in the ground, nurtured by the sun, fed by the rain, and worked into the ground by the farmer.  If you look carefully at this robe, it isn't just a robe anymore because of interdependence--it's the cotton harvesters, the mill workers, the truck drivers, the textile workers; it's the clouds in the sky, the worms in the earth, and the sun beating down.  In short, this robe contains everything when we look with the mind of practice, just as the iris contains everything when we take the time to listen and pay attention.  If this is true of a piece of cloth or an iris, how much more so is it true of all of us? By paying attention--listening, observing, seeing with our Buddha Mind--we begin to see that none of us exists without everything else, but that like the iris, we can bloom very naturally and slowly but with great energy--that is how we find our place in the world, by finding the world in us.

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Many thanks to those of you who are sending links and making comments…it is a gift beyond measure. Please know that you can either leave a comment on the blog itself, or send something directly to me and I will be happy to paste it in.  Here is a quick video on how to comment; it's from 2017, but should work:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T4RflO5Wgg

April 6, 2020

On-line sesshin/retreat for Buddha's Birthday, April 10-12th:  
Look for schedule details here and on our website soon!
________________________________________________________________________

Special bows for today:

• Please continue to offer bows for the family of Alison Templeton, a Peninsula School parent, who died on April 1st after a long struggle with cancer
• Please continue to offer bows for Jeff Ghazarian and his family, friends of Lilliana Mendez-Soto’s nephew who died on March 19^th at the age of 34 from COVID-19
• Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
• Jackie Little, Jim Little’s aunt, who is currently in hospital after testing positive for COVID-19
• Lisa McCrossen, Dainuri Rott’s niece, who is recovering from COVID-19
• Carmen Ibanez, Lidia Luna’s mother, who is recovering from surgery for sciatica
• Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is undergoing chemotherapy for bladder cancer
• Brendan, Kate Haimson’s son, who is recovering from surgery for a brain aneurism
• Lilith Armitage, Shannon Bergman’s daughter who is recovering from knee surgery
• Michael Tieri Ricaud, Dainuri Rott’s brother, who is suffering from MS

Our new ZHS on-line schedule (go to our website for more information: zenheartsangha.org):

• Mondays: 7-8:30pm - zazen, short service, lecture/discussion
• Tuesdays-Fridays: 5:30-6:10pm - zazen, offering of merit/bows
• Saturdays: 8:00-10:15am - zazen, short service, tea, discussion/study

Wonderful links shared by sangha and friends:

• New from Zen Heart Sangha: a new tab on our website with resources about COVID-19 
• From our dharma sister, Jill Kaplan:  Jack Kornfield's Bodhisattva Response to the Virus:  https://jackkornfield.com/the-bodhisattva-response-to-the-virus/
• From our dharma sister, Diane Comey: a tour of Hakone Gardens during cherry blossom time https://youtu.be/cJ09GLc-cek
• And if you need to remember how to laugh, from our dharma sister, Alisa Tu: https://pvcycling.wordpress.com/2020/04/01/groundhog-day/ 
• From our dharma brother, Brian Dipert, in Colorado about faith in troubled times:  https://www.denverpost.com/2020/04/05/colorado-coronavirus-religion-faith/

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From our ZHS sangha teacher, Jill Kaplan: 

Dear Dharma Friends,

I’ve been thinking a lot about resilience in the past few weeks. In the days of my training as a psychotherapist, I worked in a program in schools as a “resiliency consultant” and it was always a mystery to me what I was meant to do. Resiliency is related to many factors, such as temperament, significant others who believe in you, life circumstances. It’s almost seemed to me a little like grace, in that two people can go through the same difficulties, even be raised in the same dysfunctional family, and one weathers it well and one does not. Resilience is also what zazen develops in us, as we sit with ourselves moment after moment and surrender to what is. I find myself hugely grateful for the day I found Zen practice, because sitting alone with my wild mind has encouraged and supported my own resilience. I hope yours as well.

I’ve had several conversations this week with colleagues and students, and want to share with everyone what I have gleaned about developing resilience and shoring up our resources during this time of enforced isolation. Many of us are alone, or with one or two others, and the only other human contact we’re getting is over the phone, on Zoom, passing people with many feet of distance, avoiding people if we’re still going out to the grocery store. As humans, as social animals, we need human contact, human touch, and it’s denied to us by this tiny virus, who cares nothing about us, only cares about reproducing itself. Which it does, ironically, through human touch and contact.

So, as one person recommended to me today, we have to identify for ourselves our resources, know when we are thin, know when we’re spiralling down with anxiety or depression. We need to name these resources to ourselves before we get there, so I am encouraging myself and everyone to make a list, mental or even written down, of what to do and where to go at the first signs of stress. How do I know the signs of this spiral? For me it’s a pain in my gut, a feeling of dread, crankiness, restlessness. And what are my resources, what do I go to when I notice? - taking a walk, digging in the dirt, calling a friend, zazen (of course!), reading a novel, journaling, creating or calling upon an image, practicing gratitude - these are my best companions at those times. 

A friend observed that he is noticing that all our habits have to change, and it is a time of discernment about what works, and what doesn’t. Running out to the store cannot serve as a distraction, it’s too risky. Getting together with friends is not an option. Going swimming or to the gym are not options. We are so close now to the teachings we’ve been studying, some of us for decades: impermanence, no separation, suffering of course.

Shantideva writes: “If you can find a solution, what’s the point of being upset? And if you can’t find a solution, what’s the point of being upset?” 

Our lives have changed completely. Time has changed for me in very interesting ways, maybe for you too. This new time feels more intimately REAL than ever before, so close to the edge. It is calling on our practice, our creativity, our imagination of what is and of what might be. We are thrown upon ourselves as never before, and the gift can be found in calling upon our inner resources, developing more deeply our compassion and love for ourselves, which we can return and dedicate to all beings. 

Many bows of gratitude, Jill Kakushin 

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Many thanks to those of you who are sending links and making comments…it is a gift beyond measure. Please know that you can either leave a comment on the blog itself, or send something directly to me and I will be happy to paste it in.  Here is a quick video on how to comment; it's from 2017, but should work:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T4RflO5Wgg

April 5, 2020

Special bows for today:

• Please continue to offer bows for the family of Alison Templeton, a Peninsula School parent, who died on April 1st after a long struggle with cancer
• Please continue to offer bows for Jeff Ghazarian and his family, friends of Lilliana Mendez-Soto’s nephew who died on March 19^th at the age of 34 from COVID-19
• Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
• Jackie Little, Jim Little’s aunt, who is currently in hospital after testing positive for COVID-19
• Lisa McCrossen, Dainuri Rott’s niece, who is recovering from COVID-19
• Carmen Ibanez, Lidia Luna’s mother, who is recovering from surgery for sciatica
• Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is undergoing chemotherapy for bladder cancer
• Brendan, Kate Haimson’s son, who is recovering from surgery for a brain aneurism
• Lilith Armitage, Shannon Bergman’s daughter who is recovering from knee surgery
• Michael Tieri Ricaud, Dainuri Rott’s brother, who is suffering from MS

Our new ZHS on-line schedule (go to our website for more information: zenheartsangha.org):

• Mondays: 7-8:30pm - zazen, short service, lecture/discussion
• Tuesdays-Fridays: 5:30-6:10pm - zazen, offering of merit/bows
• Saturdays: 8:00-10:15am - zazen, short service, tea, discussion/study

 Wonderful links shared by sangha and friends:

• New from Zen Heart Sangha: a new tab on our website with resources about COVID-19 including shopping links for hard-to-find items from Takashi Nagata: zenheartsangha.org
• From our dharma sister, Diane Comey: a tour of Hakone Gardens during cherry blossom time https://youtu.be/cJ09GLc-cek
• From a friend of Misha’s for sheer joy, music, and amazing birds: 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMXD4h5w8D8
• And if you need to remember how to laugh, from our dharma sister, Alisa Tu: https://pvcycling.wordpress.com/2020/04/01/groundhog-day/ 

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From our dharma sister and tea friend, Inja Vitero:

Three haiku by Natsume Sōseki 

(translated by Sōiku Shigematsu):

Under the plum tree,

Meeting and passing each other,

Exchanging no words. 

Plum blossoms far and near:

My routine these days

Is strolling under them. 

Plum flower temple:

Voices rise

From the foothills. 

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Many thanks to those of you who are sending links and making comments…it is a gift beyond measure. Please know that you can either leave a comment on the blog itself, or send something directly to me and I will be happy to paste it in.  Here is a quick video on how to comment; it's from 2017, but should work:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T4RflO5Wgg

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April 4, 2020

 Special bows for today:

• Please continue to offer bows for the family of Alison Templeton, a Peninsula School parent, who died on April 1st after a long struggle with cancer
• Please continue to offer bows for Jeff Ghazarian and his family, friends of Lilliana Mendez-Soto’s nephew who died on March 19^th at the age of 34 from COVID-19
• Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
• Jackie Little, Jim Little’s aunt, who is currently in hospital after testing positive for COVID-19
• Lisa McCrossen, Dainuri Rott’s niece, who is recovering from COVID-19
• Carmen Ibanez, Lidia Luna’s mother, who is recovering from surgery for sciatica
• Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is undergoing chemotherapy for bladder cancer
• Brendan, Kate Haimson’s son, who is recovering from surgery for a brain aneurism
• Lilith Armitage, Shannon Bergman’s daughter who is recovering from knee surgery
• Michael Tieri Ricaud, Dainuri Rott’s brother, who is suffering from MS

Our new ZHS on-line schedule (go to our website for more information: zenheartsangha.org):

• Mondays: 7-8:30pm - zazen, short service, lecture/discussion
• Tuesdays-Fridays: 5:30-6:10pm - zazen, offering of merit/bows
• Saturdays: 8:00-10:15am - zazen, short service, tea, discussion/study

 Wonderful links shared by sangha and friends:

• New from Zen Heart Sangha: a new tab on our website with resources about COVID-19: zenheartsangha.org
• From our dharma sister, Diane Comey: a tour of Hakone Gardens during cherry blossom time https://youtu.be/cJ09GLc-cek
• From a friend of Misha’s for sheer joy, music, and amazing birds: 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMXD4h5w8D8
• From our dharma brother, Takashi Nagata: shopping links for hard-to-find items: 
• https://www.shoplet.com/Toilet_Tissues/1485/product_type/Tissues-Bath+Regular+Roll/products_per_page/36/dcsv  
• https://www.shoplet.com/Towels%20Wipes/2853/product_type/Bathroom+Tissue/products_per_page/36/dcsv
• https://www.shoplet.com/disinfectant+spray/products_per_page/36/usrch

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From our dharma sister in New York, Patty Pecoraro: 

Hi everyone!  Growing up in a small apartment in Queens, NY in the 1950s, what does a well-respected Sicilian-American girl do? She cooks and cleans, of course. So most of you must know where this is going. In times of stress, my go-to is cooking and cleaning, not necessarily in that order.  So my first line of attack was washing curtains that haven’t been done in at least five years, with a promise made annually during our zendo winter break and the usual refrain, “tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow...”.  So as you can see from the first picture, where are the curtains? At that very moment on that naked window...I could hear the hum of the washing machine washing those curtains clean. I went down to check the rinse water which looked much more than dirty grey. I will leave it at that. So here we are today, curtains back up, clean and sweet smelling. Ah, such a simple delight. This has moved me to attack, attack, attack other curtains in the house just begging to be clean. I don’t have the pandemic blues; I clean! 

Many thanks to those of you who are sending links and making comments…it is a gift beyond measure. Please know that you can either leave a comment on the blog itself, or send something directly to me and I will be happy to paste it in.  Here is a quick video on how to comment; it's from 2017, but should work:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T4RflO5Wgg

April 3, 2020

Special bows for today:

• Please offer bows for the family of Alison Templeton, a Peninsula School parent, who died today after a long struggle with cancer
• Please continue to offer bows for Jeff Ghazarian and his family, friends of Lilliana Mendez-Soto’s nephew who died on March 19^th at the age of 34 from COVID-19
• Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
• Jackie Little, Jim Little’s aunt, who is currently in hospital after testing positive for COVID-19
• Lisa McCrossen, Dainuri Rott’s niece, who is recovering from COVID-19
• Carmen Ibanez, Lidia Luna’s mother, who is recovering from surgery for sciatica
• Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is undergoing chemotherapy for bladder cancer
• Brendan, Kate Haimson’s son, who is recovering from surgery for a brain aneurism
• Lilith Armitage, Shannon Bergman’s daughter who is recovering from knee surgery
• Michael Tieri Ricaud, Dainuri Rott’s brother, who is suffering from MS

Our new ZHS on-line schedule (go to our website for more information: zenheartsangha.org):

• Mondays: 7-8:30pm - zazen, short service, lecture/discussion
• Tuesdays-Fridays: 5:30-6:10pm - zazen, offering of merit/bows
• Saturdays: 8:00-10:15am - zazen, short service, tea, discussion/study

Wonderful links shared by sangha and friends:

• New from Zen Heart Sangha: a new tab on our website with resources about COVID-19: zenheartsangha.org
• From our dharma sister, Diane Comey: a tour of Hakone Gardens during cherry blossom time https://youtu.be/cJ09GLc-cek
• From a friend of Misha’s for sheer joy, music, and birds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMXD4h5w8D8
• From our dharma brother, Takashi Nagata: shopping links for hard-to-find items: 
• https://www.shoplet.com/Toilet_Tissues/1485/product_type/Tissues-Bath+Regular+Roll/products_per_page/36/dcsv  
• https://www.shoplet.com/Towels%20Wipes/2853/product_type/Bathroom+Tissue/products_per_page/36/dcsv
• https://www.shoplet.com/disinfectant+spray/products_per_page/36/usrch

_
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From our dharma sister, George Hosein:

To keep sane, I have been keeping a daily journal and recording my experience during this time. It helps me to think that someday in the future, journals like mine could be used to help create a narrative of what it was like to live in this historical moment. It also helps me stay connected with the world because when I write, I think about all the other people who are journaling and drawing their experiences. We are all living in this moment together, and something as simple as taking note of what is happening can be grounding. I encourage all of you to keep journals in any medium, whether it be through writing, drawing, or photography.

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Many thanks to those of you who are sending links and making comments…it is a gift beyond measure. Please know that you can either leave a comment on the blog itself, or send something directly to me and I will be happy to paste it in.  Here is a quick video on how to comment; it's from 2017, but should work:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T4RflO5Wgg

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April 2, 2020

Special bows for today:

• Please offer bows for Jackie Little, Jim Little’s aunt, who is currently in hospital after testing positive for COVID-19
• Please continue to offer bows for Jeff Ghazarian and his family, friends of Lilliana Mendez-Soto’s nephew who died on March 19^th at the age of 34 from COVID-19
• Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:
• Lisa McCrossen, Dainuri Rott’s niece, who is recovering from COVID-19
• Carmen Ibanez, Lidia Luna’s mother, who is recovering from surgery for sciatica
• Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is undergoing chemotherapy for bladder cancer
• Brendan, Kate Haimson’s son, who is recovering from surgery for a brain aneurism
• Lilith Armitage, Shannon Bergman’s daughter who is recovering from knee surgery
• Michael Tieri Ricaud, Dainuri Rott’s brother, who is suffering from MS

Our new ZHS on-line schedule (go to our website for more information: zenheartsangha.org):

• Mondays: 7-8:30pm - zazen, short service, lecture/discussion
• Tuesdays-Fridays: 5:30-6:10pm - zazen, offering of merit/bows
• Saturdays: 8:00-10:15am - zazen, short service, tea, discussion/study

Wonderful links shared by sangha and friends:

• New from Zen Heart Sangha: a new tab on our website with resources about COVID-19: zenheartsangha.org
• From our dharma sister, Diane Comey: a tour of Hakone Gardens during cherry blossom time https://youtu.be/cJ09GLc-cek
• From a friend of Misha’s for sheer joy, music, and amazing birds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMXD4h5w8D
• From our dharma sister, Kat Haimson:  inspiring stories of women in their 70’s: 70candles.com

Many years ago at San Francisco Zen Center there was a wonderful and unusual gallery exhibition.  It was composed of dozens of photographed pages as well as complete books of Suzuki Roshi’s masterpiece, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.  Each book belonged to a Zen practitioner, each photographed page was taken from someone’s personal copy.  And in each book or page different sentences or paragraphs or whole pages were annotated in some way: underlined or highlighted, with turned down corners and handwritten notes in the margins.  It was a delightful exhibit for so many reasons--each book or photograph was labeled with the owner’s name so that you knew what had spoken to that particular person; you could read their notes which were mini-treatises on Zen practice (rather like commentary on the Torah); and the truly amazing thing was that some part of the entire book had been chosen by someone as being worthy of note. 

Only afterwards did I realize that my own original copy of this book, purchased almost 35 years ago, looked much the same…with underlines and exclamation points and ‘notes to self’.  I never dated my comments, so sometimes when I am leafing through the book (as I did tonight), I am surprised by what touched my Buddha mind in the past…and what touches it now.  This evening I wanted to see what Suzuki Roshi had to say about mistakes, so I went to the talk entitled ‘Mistakes in Practice’.  As usual, I found exactly the encouragement I needed right now as I seem to be making one mistake after another during this crazy crisis.  He wrote, “It is when your practice is rather greedy that you become discouraged with it.  So you should be grateful that you have a sign or warning signal [like being tired of sitting or feeling disgusted with your practice] to show you the weak point in your practice.  At that time, forgetting all about your mistake and renewing your way, you can resume your original practice.”  I realize that my discouragement with myself (and the mistakes I am unhappy about) are a sign that my practice needs a little strengthening right now and that perhaps my routine of zazen has not been as regular as it should be.

We are all going to make mistakes right now.  There are too many new things to know, too many new and unusual routines to which to adjust, too much isolation from the very thing that would give us comfort: each other’s arms.  So just decide right now: forgive yourself for the many mistakes you have already made or will be making in the next few months, and accept that, as Suzuki Roshi said, “Whether you have difficulties in your practice or not, as long as you continue it, you have pure practice in its true sense.  Even when you are not aware of it, you have it.”

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Many thanks to those of you who are sending links and making comments…it is a gift beyond measure. Please know that you can either leave a comment on the blog itself, or send something directly to me and I will be happy to paste it in.  Here is a quick video on how to comment; it's from 2017, but should work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T4RflO5Wgg

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