One of the signal honors I’ve had in my life has been to be appointed to the governing board of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association. The SZBA is far and away the largest gathering of priests in the Japanese derived Soto Zen lineages in North America. It sees its mission as supporting the work of Soto Zen as it sinks its roots into our lovely if sometimes rocky North American soil.
In a few hours I’ll be joining the Board in its annual face to face meeting. My colleagues have insisted that due to my family situation, with my auntie who has lived with us for the past twenty-three years in hospice, and it seems nearing the end, that I join them via Skype. I am grateful for their generosity with my situation, as well as their, our commitment to supporting this great project.
Not always easy. We have many visions. We come out of many variations on our traditions of formation. Some treasure the monastic inheritance as critical, others hold for the way of many retreats, while still others have delved deeply into the way of koan introspection as brought to us by the Soto reforming priest Daiun Sogaku Harada.
But our commitment to each other and the way runs deep.
And I have great hope.
Many bows to the three treasures.
Many bows to the ancestors.
Many bows to the co-workers in the vineyard, or, for us, perhaps in the garden.
And many bows to those for whom we are preparing the way.
Please forgive us our shortcomings and failures. We are giving it our all…
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