Let me respectfully remind you – (And me!)

I’m going back up to the Zen Mountain Center one last time for this training period. It ends this Sunday. The gang up there has been sitting hard for almost three months and I have enjoyed sitting with them once a month for the last two.

This weekend I will sit and then say good-by to my friends as they go off to new adventures. I will then drive back to Phoenix in time to see Apollo at Doc’s Place and say good-by as he heads out for his new Traveling Poet adventure. Monday I go back to work and say good-by to my seniors as they too move on to new adventures. With every hello comes good-by.

I called teachers troublemakers in a past post. Well, actually, Pema Chodron called them troublemakers. I borrowed her title and added my own two cents.

Not everyone liked the word troublemakers. Bad connotation I guess. How about the word instigator? A spiritual teacher drives us to strive harder and push further that we could on our own.

Ah, but there’s nowhere to go and nothing to gain.

True. . . .

NOW pick up that pen and write! Open that book and read! Go deeper into that Koan! SIT Stronger! Sew that rakasu! Build! Create! Help! Love! Smile! Shout!

STRIVE HARDER & PUSH FURTHER!

Yes, right now you are perfect and complete. But you’re not finished.
(And why would we want to be finished? To be finished is to be done.)

During training periods, like sesshins, there is a gatha (verse) that is spoken at the end of each day before we leave the zendo for sleep. It goes something like this:

Let me respectfully remind you -
Life and death are of supreme importance,
Time swiftly passes,
Opportunity is lost:
Awaken!
Awaken!
Take heed. Do not squander your life.

When I was up at ZMC in April it snowed and was quite cold for a little desert rat like myself. One afternoon I had a vivid dream. There was a break of a little over an hour after lunch. The sky was grey. I was cold, tired and decided to take a nap. I went back to my cubbyhole, set my alarm to give myself 25 minutes before the next sitting, and was out in seconds.

In my dream I was in the same room at the Zen Center, but it was down in the desert with palms trees out my window. I was a beautiful sunny day out so I opened my door and stood at the threshold taking in the sun. Then, literally out of the blue, Genpo Roshi walked up to me with a big smile on his face; arms outstretched, and hugged me warmly.

He said, “Dan! How are you?”

Still shocked by his surprise visit, I did not respond.

“And you say, ‘I am well. Good to see you Roshi. How are you?’”

I repeated what he told me to say. He pulled back with his hands on my shoulders, looked me in the eyes, and said a bit sarcastically but playfully, “There you go. Good.”

He let go of my shoulders, snapped into a serious look and said, “Oh and Hoen, WAKE UP!”

I sat up in my bed and saw that I had slept through my alarm. I had 8 minutes to get to the zendo. I swiftly put on my robes, ran over, and made it seconds before the first bell.

Thank you, Roshi, as always, for the push.

Hello. Good-by. Hello. Good-by. Hello. Good-by. Endless Practice.

Beautiful.