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Ekyo's Blog Sharing form the heart
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Rohatsu Inspirations |
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December 12, 2007 Kesa making is in good progress… While taking a break from sewing I can sit down in front of my blog script to entertain a few ideas about the content. Perhaps I will split it into several posts… During Rohatsu sesshin I had two wonderful characters sitting on both sides of me: Zensho and Maiku. As I arrived to Dai Bosatsu zendo I was VERY happy to see that Zensho will be sitting next to me. He comes to Rohatsu sesshin from the time I started there. He sits late night in jaza and I thought that at least there will be two of us sitting late… In the past Zensho’s zendo sit was on opposite side and because of his dozing during zazen I could see Roshi and jikijitsu hitting him with kyosaku frequently. It will not happen in this sesshin, I thought, he will NOT sleep all the time… Shortly after sesshin started Zensho was in his usual dozing state. I was not sure if I should pinch him… Compassionate Fujin scolded him, but that did not help for long… One evening she met with a few people to share some “secret” knowledge about ways how to fight sleepiness during zazen. And Voila! Suddenly Zensho is sitting like a stone! Zensho! Thank you very much for your intimate presence… It seems that gentle compassionate sharing, and good advice is sometimes more effective than scolding or hitting… Maiku was on my left side, the last one of the line of Dharma Teachers… It has been a long time since I had a chance to speak to him. This time again, having to leave in hurry I missed this opportunity. During sesshin I was not sure if Maiku is next to me or not, no sign of movement or even sound of breath. I was worrying if he is alive. He was perfectly unmovable. Not responding even to jikijitsu’s remarque… But suddenly he insisted that I put the blue Chant Book in front of me. He IS alive… I was relieved… What a pleasure to sit between two guys like those… As I come to almost every sesshin to Dai Bosatsu for number of years I noticed that each sesshin has a particular feeling and different crowd of people. This time Rohatsu was very big and very strong Zen students came. There were also some Zen celebrities… but I did not see them doing extra zazen. Couple of years ago Genjo Osho from Seattle changed his sesshin schedule at Chobo-ji. He moved Rohatsu sesshin to January, so he and his students could come to one at Dai Bosatsu. Since then Seattle power is strongly felt. At this sesshin several Genjo’s students sat long time in jaza and other possible informal time. One particular person from Seattle Sangha inspired me the most. This was Seimu who was sitting across from me at meal table. For some reason before sesshin we were all asked to participate in instructions about the proper way to use Jihatsu bowls. I did notice that over years there were some changes in etiquette, and I myself belonging to old crowd I knew old way. Dealing with chopsticks and jihatsu bowls during meals is a challenge. Bowls are dropped from time to time or one makes extra noise. I can imagine how hard it may be for someone who has some deformities in hands, or missing fingers. Seimu with all her challenges was the most attentive and quiet with bowls. It is almost the rule, as I see that people who have some difficulties of this or another kind are often the most inspiring. Others seem to take things for granted. Seimu, thank you sitting across from me. Jaza is my favorite time to do zazen… Very quiet… no dokusan bells heard, no one is monitoring you; one can sit shorter or longer time. After the day is over I usually disappear to my room, and wait until all commotion stops and everyone goes sleep. Then I go back to zendo. Sometimes no one is there and I love it! Of cause I would prefer that everyone would sit, but this is just a dream. In this Rohatsu I was totally surprised. Without much encouragement from jikijitsu, as in previous years, every night there many people sitting long hours… half of zendo. Since there were six Polish people in sesshin I had company of my natives too. Two of them were kessei students. The younger one, Piotr was an inspiration to everyone at the Monastery. He also did a great job playing mokugyo. I was very touched to see how Tenrai would correct him or instruct during chanting service when the speed of mokugyo was wrong. It was like older brother is taking care of younger one, a lot of heart there… The more senior Polish kessei student unfortunately had to leave shortly after the Golden Wind sesshin, but she was Jokei during Rohatsu and my constant companion at Jaza zazen. Her beautiful presence is very inspiring. I would love to see more and more Polish people coming to sesshin…. From time to time there were magic moments, beyond words: Jokei playing hokku drum before teisho, or perfect sound of Fujin’s kyosaku. My Dharma brother, and Zen monk Seigan was tenzo. He had a good crew to help him. Several kessei students were tenzo assistants, since sesshin was so huge. The food was incredibly tasty this time. One felt that this was a labor of love. Rohatsu in kitchen was very strong too… The Jishas are always running taking care of everything and sacrificing their own zazen. Their effort is visible in zendo, while serving us tea, but most of it is invisible. Most of the resting time they are stuck in “Jisha room” working… Thank you Shikon and Steven. Gassho! Gassho! Gassho! Bodhisattvas!
Before sesshin someone told me that there will be a lot of students from Aikido group. To hear this I was a bit frightened. They are very serious people with fighting spirit. I will write separate chapter about them soon. This should be in the first line, but since I am planning to write another chapter about it, just want to mention that Roshi, as everyone else gave it all to sesshin. His endless dokusan was not only inspiration but contributed to good feeling and strength of the Rohatsu I never forget.
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