Thursday, July 12, 2012

First, thanks for letters, Mother, David, Laura, and Lewis, and for the care package, Laura. Mail takes 8-10 days and I plan to leave here at the end of the month so probably no more. Should be back on email by August 2.

We work much of the day. I've been cleaning the bathing area and sweeping the courtyard. Folks don't tend to litter in a monastery courtyard, so I sweep a few leaves but mostly decorate the dirt making straight lines with a rice straw broom, which the kitten continually attacks. I still ring the bonsho noon and night, and hit the mopan at meals. My new job is changing water in all the little metal bowls sitting around on altars. Ladies do the dishes at noon and in my free time I sometimes walk down to the entry and weed the old steps and moss gardens.

We had a 2 1/2 day silent sesshin - ten sits a day but never more than two in a row. It was wonderful for me and the whole group has been quieter ever since - a blessing.

We've also had a four day sewing sesshin. I was told to make another rakusu. I suppressed my groan. However, they use a simple pick stitch so it goes much faster than the first. I'm almost done.

We've had a second cooking class and another painting class. I really like the artist teacher monk's work but his teaching style is to hold up a picture and tell you to duplicate it. This time I sat in the front and requested a demo. I asked questions. I hope I didn't offend and others thanked me and I learned a lot. We painted irises.

After a recent evening zazen I walked up the road to the cemetery and waited, along with 10,000 mosquitoes, for the full moon to come over the mountain. I thought about my moon-viewing friends. Very beautiful.

Two new lay practitioners arrived recently. The first has a long time practice here so did not bump my end-of-the-table spot. He is a regular at Zen Mountain Monastery (ZMM), is fluent in Japanese, and his father graduated from Bridgeport High School in 1936. Now, a German woman (who also sits at ZMM) has come and I am second to last. I guess I can manage.

My Toshoji stay is 2/3 over. I'm not ready to leave but presumably I will be when the time comes.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Summer solstice, I'm guessing. Maybe five years ago I was in a canoe watching the sun rise with Sandy. A long time ago I was in bed listening to china clink as the kids checked out how much tea and cookies the fairies had consumed. For those not in the know, fairies dance on midsummer night and sometimes leave a tiny treat for those who lay out a treat for them.

I have been surprised at how well prepared I was for this experience. How to do Oryoki and formal tea; how to make green tea and save a takuan for bowl cleaning; and how to sit straight, walk straight, gassho when meeting others, and fix things. I hear ordained folks being instructed on some of these. Thank you, Rosan.

We have read "Soku Shin Ze Butsu" (Mind Here and Now is Buddha) and are now reading "Gyobutsu-yuigi" (The Dignified Behavior of Acting Buddha). I find both Shobogenzo readings helpful. We read a paragraph or two most mornings as part of formal tea. There is no discussion.

I have been back to Unsenji twice, once to put paper back on the Shoji doors and overnight for a series of 23rd year memorial services for the teacher's father. Old monk friends in cool garb plus a half dozen Japanese women to cook a lovely box lunch arrived.

I had been warned that Japanese women prefer Americans stay away. Our folks were busy with ceremonies and food serving and as a lay person, I was not part of that. The dirty dishes were stacking up so I slipped into the fray and began washing. I sensed some initial resentment but soon was handed things needing immediate cleaning and shown where to put clean dry things. In the midst of the chaos, I happened to look up and see the teacher watching me from across the room. He flashed me a big smile.

There seem to be 14-16 folks here most of the time. One teaching monk floats in just as the teacher leaves. Another from a nearby temple stays here most of the time. There are 4-6 younger Japanese males training to take over family temples. There is a recently retired Japanese gym teacher, a former Congolese government agriculture person, as well as someone from Argentina and three Australian women, although one is ethnically Japanese. The other lay practitioner is a man from Brazil.

One day many folks had tasks elsewhere and I was told to be tenzo (cook monk) for the eight of us left behind. I started chopping vegetables but as soon as the last car left the old gym teacher/new monk walked into the kitchen and said "Shurisan, Out! I cook tempura." (Shuri is my dharma name). Dashi (a tasty broth), fat udon noodles, and tempura floating on top. Yum. Since I didn't know how to make the Japanese curry they wanted for dinner, I got a cooking lesson.

My jobs include ringing the bonsho, the large bell in the tower. Yes, I think of you Morris! A palm log suspended horizontally by two ropes is rammed into the bell. I love sitting in the bell tower. I go early to be alone and enjoy the view. One day I saw what the dictionary translates as mink or otter on a bathroom roof. It lives in the Buddha Hall attic. When I ring the bonsho at night, sometimes there are bats. We leave a door open for the swallows nesting in the corridor outside the sitting area. Soto Zen Training Monastery and Luxury Wildlife Hotel!