Unexpected Comfort

I was unexpectedly comforted last night. One after another, people ‘arrived’ for our not-so-usual evening Zen meditation session*. They arrived onto the screen of the laptop in the mostly empty meditation hall here at the Temple. Melissa and I and Corwyn (technical, ritual and moral support) were all delighted as the familiar faces began to appear in neat little boxes on the screen—like the Brady Bunch or Hollywood Squares.

Ray and Celia from across town showed up first. Then Jenny from Pittsburgh. Then Susan from the Isle of Wight in the UK and Sebastion from Bogata, Colombia. Eventually we filled the screen with sixteen boxes and nineteen Zen practitioners. From around the region and around the world, we gathered virtually to continue this ancient practice of slowing down and paying attention.

After chatting and checking in, we chanted, walked, sat silently, listened to the Dharma talk that I offered, then had a brief chance for a Dharma dialogue. All familiar practices for our community.

I spoke last night about the practice of taking refuge. As Zen Buddhist practitioners, we vow to take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. These vows are our way of orienting our lives toward what is most essential. We remind ourselves that even in the midst of the confusion and fears of life, we can turn to find ourselves right where we are. Taking refuge is not so much affirming a sectarian position but rather practicing these necessary human reminders that have been expressed in many forms in many traditions.

Taking refuge in Buddha (awakening) means sheltering in the mysterious heart of life—the Life that comes before words and thoughts. The source of life that has sustained us since our first breath and continues even in this moment. We find this refuge in the stillness and silence of right where we are.

Taking refuge in Dharma (teachings) is turning toward the teachings that resonate in our hearts. We are so often distracted by the thousand issues of life (and sometimes the one big issue) that we forget the words and stories of wisdom that are imprinted on our hearts. These ‘words’ of wisdom also, of course, appear in the sprouting daffodil greens and the faces of those we see and in the smell of dinner cooking on the stove.

Taking refuge in the Sangha (community) points us to each other—the community of practitioners, the community of humans and the community of all life. Many of us humans suffer greatly from the mistaken idea that we are somehow separate and alone. Taking refuge in Sangha encourages us to raise our heads and look around. We are all part of a vast and impossibly intricate network of support and connection. As we see and remember this, we can allow ourselves to breathe a little easier and move a little more calmly, right in the midst of whatever situation we find ourselves.

So we continue into this new day of the familiar and the new. If you’re up for another homework assignment: Do something today that you might not always do – something that nourishes for your deepest heart and perhaps even the hearts of us all.

May we all to use these extraordinary times to deepen the practices that remind us what is most essential and move us toward the sacred, however we define that.

• Next Meditations – Tuesday 3/17 at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.  Zoom Link at Boundless Way Temple Web site