By the time you read this, I’ll have arrived at Great Vow Zen Monastery in Clatskanie, Oregon … a 90-minute drive to the north of Portland. I’ll have joined a gathering of Zen practitioners for a week-long silent retreat called sesshin in Japanese, 攝心 “gathering the heart and mind.”
Silence will mean no reading, writing, eye contact, and of course no Internet. Perhaps you’ll join us over the next days by setting aside a few moments in your busy life … to sit quietly, turning inwards, observing your breath through its natural rising and falling. In those rare moments we’ll be sitting together, individually and collectively, as one. Nothing special, and yet …
Japanese Zen Master Dogen Zenji (1200-1256): “Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself. Your body and mind will become clear and you will realize the unity of all things.”
p.s. back on the 30th
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