Sesshin Begins

Retreat began last night yet the Temple is empty this morning. It’s never been like this before.

Forty-one of us gathering on Zoom from around the northeast and with a few brave souls from the UK and Europe for whom the retreat began at 1 a.m.

Coming together to practice—to look into the great matter of life-and-death—to support each other as we swim upstream toward the source world. Not a small intention. Not an easy task.

I wake up conscious of my breath. In and out. In and out. On retreat again. This new retreat. This new moment. The ‘home practice assignment’ was to be conscious of the preciousness of being human. To be alert in the middle of the familiar. This is not what you think it is. Everything you encounter is your life.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

The window is slightly open. The birds began singing an hour ago—in the deepest dark they greet the day that has already come.

Now a unfamiliar song joins the chorus. A sustained trilling sound arises, then falls back into the joyous cacophony of hooting and calling. And again it rises. I listen eagerly and dream of frogs gracing the Temple pond.