{"id":5900,"date":"2012-12-10T11:04:42","date_gmt":"2012-12-10T16:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?p=5900"},"modified":"2012-12-10T11:05:03","modified_gmt":"2012-12-10T16:05:03","slug":"there-and-back-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2012\/12\/there-and-back-again.html","title":{"rendered":"There And Back Again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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\nFive days of sesshin, literally \u201cto touch the heart and mind,\u201d an intensive Zen meditation retreat. I think there is one spot, perhaps a quarter of an inch square on my left knee that isn\u2019t sore. And of course the physical demands of a Zen retreat are nothing compared to facing the workings of one\u2019s mind. The worst of times. And, absolutely, the best of times. Deep spaces. Profound silences. Intimate moments, one after another. Old, old friends, and some new ones, sitting together and sitting together with the larger community of practice around the country, around the globe, all of us honoring Rohatsu, the eighth day of the twelfth month \u2013 the time we honor that morning of our dream time when Gautama Siddhartha, having lived in opulence, and rejected it, having lived in privation and self torture, and rejected it, sat silently, attentively, and in the morning looking at Venus rising, woke up\u2026<\/p>\n

Ah\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

I see\u2026<\/p>\n

The whole world and I\u2026<\/p>\n

We awake <\/p>\n

Together.<\/p>\n

And, now, I\u2019m back.<\/p>\n

A flurry of meetings, and cancellations to turn my attention to a death within the congregation, and a memorial, and the celebration and mourning of another life.<\/p>\n

All one\u2026<\/p>\n