I arrived a day early for this retreat to unpack, get my bearings, and begin to settle my mind and heart after weeks of anxiety building news, dire warnings, and wonderful energizing rallies. A handful of people arrived yesterday, a few more this morning and the bulk of the retreatants will descend this afternoon. It has been a lovely peaceful morning getting to know a few of the early arrivers before we go into silence this evening. We all feel the peacefulness of the place seeping into our bones. Thousands of meditators have sat and walked here and at the two related retreat centers up the hill and down road since the late 70’s. It reminds me of going into churches in Europe and feeling the power of hundreds of thousands of people over the centuries praying and lifting their hearts for solace.
And yet, it’s completely different - open, spacious, with lawns, meadows, gardens, many varieties of daffodils and flowering trees, and a huge stone stupa - a round stone structure about 20 feet high that houses relics of Buddhism - built by the founding director with his bare hands. The first time he built it, he didn’t use cement. It eventually fell down. So he built it again using cement.
Just like practice. We begin and then we continue. Something happens and we fall away. We wake up and begin again. The patience needed for stupa building and practice is the same.
As I write this, I am filled with gratitude - gratitude for this place and this opportunity to engage in intensive practice, gratitude to the support staff here who feed and house us, to the teachers who guide us, to the sangha who gather here from far and wide to practice together in community, to all the people at home who watch over my fish, the birds, the plants, the house, to my family and friends who support me with their well wishes...and especially, to all of you who have given me the gift of your presence, your attention, your interest, your feedback over the years.
I was reflecting while telling a fellow retreatant about our sangha how you have all grown in your interest and understanding of mindfulness meditation and the Buddha’s related teachings, how each of you has reached out to make the teachings relevant to you, have practiced, have read, and have begun to share your journey with others. Some of you have related how you and your families have noticed a difference in you, a lightness, more openness. Some of you have tried retreat life that has enriched and deepened your practice and your contemplations. Some of you have moved into teaching in a more formal way.
I am moved and deeply grateful to have been a part of your journey and to see how the teachings I have been given have moved through me to you to enrich your journey on this earth as they have enriched mine.