In reverence of objects

Holding each thing as if it were my own child, my own hand. An encounter, a meeting, an intimacy with a bowl, a cup, a knife, a bell. My own feet. A caring synonymous with carrying. Bowing to the cushion. Bowing to the bell. Ringing the large bell under the gibbous moon at 5 o’clock in the morning. Counting the ringing of the bell 18 times, once every 50 seconds. Long reverberation through the woods waking up. An object becoming a part of the posture, branching out from our own spine. Straightening our bodies to be closer to the present. Deepening the breath automatically. To walk the narrow way which is a point, an axis, the meeting place of the moment. Really in the body. The object also my body. The object my body. Our whole collective body. So much to tend to. So much to respect. Not trying to get from A to B; but from A, to A, to A.

A Pairing of Ravens

kika, trey, neill & i
have each befriended the ravens,
one large & one small,
who have taken up residence
here at Green Dragon Temple

trey keeps a pocketful of seeds
to feed them when they pass by
or when the ravens knock
at his window

neill follows trey’s lead

i share pieces of my crust
from spencer’s handmade seed bread
when they find me on my breaks,
or when i walk through the Zen center,
whistling for them

the ravens have mated for life,
embracing each other’s beaks

kika walks past the dining hall,
flapping her wings

So much of reading this book was “Wait, what?” then “Oh, yes,” then “Wait, what?” again. A compilation of lectures from the founder of the San Francisco Zen Center, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, Not Always So has some practical meditation instructions in the Soto Zen tradition, and Buddhist concepts and teachings that I had to chew very slowly on, that didn’t always make sense to me. And then he’ll say something so simple, so profound, so perfect and deeply resonant. Mostly it seems I need to keep sitting and finding out for myself.