So, Thursday afternoon we drove up to Friendly Crossways…
Friendly Crossways is a lovely little retreat center, and just about perfect for what settled into being forty people (seven canceled, a not unusual percentage in my experience at Zen retreats).
Jan and I had a nice little private room on the ground floor.
And Boundless Way’s Rohatsu sesshin was on.
Then the ice storm rolled through.
The power went out.
Fortunately the Crossways folk had a back up generator. The bad news was that it only provided limited restoration of power. We had light for the zendo, kitchen and dining room.
Although the generator had to be tended to constantly, and they didn’t get that fully under control until the next day.
It was cold. And it got quite cold, particularly at night when it got very, very cold.
Our small perq of a private room turned into an icebox. With about six inches of blankets, just tolerable, but no treat. (Last night where Jan and I touched, it was warm, but out to the edges, it was quite cold. An unlikely marriage enhancer…)
And when it was dark it was very dark.
It also meant no showers. For anyone…
But it didn’t stop the retreat. No siree… We’re serious zendoids. We just went forward.
Lots and lots of sitting. Lots of koan practice interviews. Some liturgy.
Some laughter.
A little crying.
Not enough sleep.
A lot of people opening their hearts and minds in a most radical way.
We had our closing ceremony around noon today. We cleaned up.
And, left for our various homes.
And, arriving here, getting a good long nap in a clean warm bed…
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