Blog
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Hair On, Hair Off
Tomorrow is a pretty big day for me. There are only so many milestones in a Zen career, or at least ones that are visible on the horizon from where I stand, and tomorrow I will reach a pretty...
September 18, 2010 | Comments: 1 -
Mr. Miyagi
Today is the first full day of regular schedule training period. 5:00am wake up, zazen, service, breakfast, work, lunch, work, zazen, dinner, zazen, bed. In that order. With a bit of a break after...
September 16, 2010 | Comments: 1 -
The Power of Coffee
Someone's got the right idea!
Day 5. That is what popped into my head at 4:30am this morning as my alarm went off. Often during sesshin, before the day starts to flow and...
September 10, 2010 | Comments: 0 -
Stink Bugs and Sesshin
We are now in sesshin. I don't feel so much like writing as there is not a lot to report. As anyone who has sat a sesshin will know, although there may be a bunch of internal goings on, there is...
September 08, 2010 | Comments: 5 -
Deep Yoga and Deep Cleaning
I think we are ready. Tomorrow morning is the opening of the Fall Training Period and tomorrow night is the start of the first seven day sesshin. The Buddha Hall, entrance way and study hall are...
September 05, 2010 | Comments: 0 -
Ask and You Shall Receive
Stone Walls don't build themselves.
This week the residents get a break, working from 8:45am to 5:30pm with optional zazen in the evenings and mornings. Zazen is not...
September 03, 2010 | Comments: 0 -
Humming Birds and Four-Wheel Drive
We have recently been lucky with volunteers coming up, especially at the weekends, and today was no exception. Craig Zenkei Courtright came up to clean windows. Anne Riley did some laundry and...
August 29, 2010 | Comments: 1 -
Fire Suppression and Fly Oppression
Yesterday we received a visit from Steve, a contractor for the local fire prevention service. Following our annual camp inspection by environmental health, we were told that our kitchen needed...
August 26, 2010 | Comments: 1 -
Echoes in the Valley
The tractor and backhoe have been reunited in the way that only a tractor and backhoe can be: with very heavy gauge bolts. Shinko Sensei, Tenshin Roshi's successor, who lived here at Yokoji for...
August 23, 2010 | Comments: 0 -
Blogging and Backhoes
Blogging can be a somewhat cynical enterprise. This is a new realization for me, as a novice in the already-crowded universe of the blogger. Having created just a few posts so far, my inclination...
August 20, 2010 | Comments: 4