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My Dear Friends, I Want to Welcome You to This Experiment of Online

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My Dear Friends, I Want to Welcome You to This Experiment of Online My dear friends, I want to welcome you to this experiment of online sesshin. I never imagined that we would ever be doing a virtual sesshin, but here we are. This pandemic has closed many doors for all of us, and, as well, others have opened. May this experience be a dharma door for us, both individually and as a community of practice. I am also deeply grateful that Hoshis Kozan Palevsky and Noah Kigaku Rossetter will be holding the sesshin's container at Upaya and virtually as well. I look forward to hearing their teachings and sharing virtual space with them and with you. And Upaya's residents will be in Upaya's physical temple rooting the practice in a space that many of you know well. It seems so fitting that we are anchoring the sesshin with Zen Master Dogen's Genjokoan. Probably you have read these words of Dogen's many times: "To study the way of enlightenment is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of enlightenment remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly." In this time of covid, racist violence, climate meltdown, and political turmoil, as well as loss and collective grief, being actualized by the myriad things is essential. But what might this mean? I recall my own teacher Bernie Glassman's admonition to live the Three Tenets of Not Knowing, Bearing Witness, Compassionate Action. Compassionate Action always is based in Not Knowing and Bearing Witness... in other words not separating ourselves from the myriad things but being actualized by the myriad things. Compassion arises when the small self finally drops away through the openness of Not Knowing and the intimacy of Bearing Witness. Thus compassion arises from non- separation, from selflessness, from tracelessness. Can we discover this? I hope so. This is actualizing the fundamental point, or Genjokoan. I hope our sesshin provides a skillful means for you to study and forget the self and that we can be brought home to this tracelessness, this non-separation by the myriad things, and realize this selfless compassion in a world that is so fraught. Setting time aside for the sesshin, creating a physical space for practice, we will sit together, as we are able, listen to teachings focussed on the Genjokoan, share questions, meet in interviews, and give ourselves this time for Not Knowing and Bearing Witness by letting body and mind drop away. I am so grateful to have this time with you. As many of you know. I am in my mountain hermitage in deep quarantine. Walking meditation will be on the path near my cabin or on my deck. Sitting will be inside this little place or outside facing the mountains. I will be mostly alone here in the wilds during these days, except for the elk, deer, and hummingbirds that, like little green diamonds, cut and zip noisily through the air in the daylight hours. To prepare, please go to the Resource page for the sesshin and access the materials there. And below I send along one of Kaz's translations of the Fascicle for your study. And if you wish, here I am reading the fascicle so you can reflect by hearing. Finally, as you know, Upaya closed its physical doors on March 9. We have experienced a total loss of our livelihood. Your donations to Upaya and for this program make an enormous difference in what we can offer others at this time of the pandemic. Here is a link for donations for the sesshin. If you have already given dana, I thank you with all my heart. If you wish to give or give again, here is the link to donate. I am happy that Kozan, Kigaku and I will meet you on Wednesday evening, and that we all will sit deeply in these days of special practice. Bowing, Rev. Joan Jiko Halifax .
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