Rohatsu

This past long weekend we celebrated Rohatsu or Bodhi Day, the 8th of December, the traditional East Asian marker of the Buddha’s great awakening with an intensive Zen retreat. With twenty-nine participants it was Boundless Way’s largest sesshin (Zen retreat) so far. We even had, for the first time, particpants who flew in from far away places. We pretty much maxed out the space available, so in addition to the many hours of meditation and the various supporting activities ranging from meals to liturgy, we were a tight crowd.

Traditionally in our community at the end of sesshin the retreat is given a name by the head of practice. She designated this as the Great Ox Tail Retreat. An early Dharma talk was dedicated to the 38th Case of the Koan classic the Wumenguan, “An Ox Passes Through the Window.” It was a question asked by Master Wuzu, “It is like an ox that passes through a latticed window. Its head, horns, and four legs all pass through. Why can’t it’s tail pass through?” And this question certainly became a theme of the retreat.

The metaphor turns on our awakening to our boundless nature, the fact that each of us is a bottom without bottom has a catch. And that catch is even with our deepest realization here we are, still, just as we are. That tail is you and me in our particularity. And that particularity is all mixed up with sadness and illness and longing and hurt, together with joy and happiness and love. A very mixed up thing, no doubt, this tail that wags through out lives. As this retreat was particularly marked by illness and death which has touched a fair number of our participants this image of that tail was very real for most of us.

So, as you might imagine, this retreat was a fairly juicy affair.

I’m so grateful.