The Best of All Possible Worlds

This one, ya know. 

Or maybe that’s just an almost-two-back-to-back-rohatsu-sesshin (Deep Spring in Pittsburgh and Boundless Way in Worcester) fleeting delusion. 

Or maybe my brain is rattled from so much patting myself on the back.

In any case, I got back in town last night and found that work is cancelled today on top of it all! “All” including 17 inches of fresh snow at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport and some really biting cold and wind too. 

So after 10 days on the road, I get to settle in at home with my sweetie and dog. Ahhhhh.

It was a wonderful trip. If you’re near either of these Zen Centers, I heartily recommend checking them out. 

Btw, the above was supposed to be a “Bodhidharma” shot. Clearly, Melissa Blacker, David Rynick and James Ford have yet to step into the body of that old boy. Or they set me up – again. Doh!

As for the bad news, for all my incisive spiritual depth (and not-so-subtle sarcasm), I only squeezed out an honorable mention and a finalist, close-but-not, over at the Blogisattva Awards. You’ll have to scroll way down for those. 

My only consolation is that James Ford’s Monkey Mind didn’t win either. Phew.

See below are a few more pictures, including some from the very lovely Deep Spring sesshin near Pittsburgh.

Above, the sitting form of a Zen priest in the zendo at Deep Spring.

Above, the working form of a Zen priest, dear Kyoki Roberts, teacher at Deep Spring.

Above, a bell at Deep Spring.

Above, the “group shot” from Boundless Way. The creature poking out of my rakusu is a “wild fox.” S/he appeared on my zafu the 4th morning of sesshin. The sesshin theme, unknown to me until I arrived, was the nasty wild fox koan, so the creature resonated on many levels. 

Above, James Ford, Mu, David Rynick, Melissa Blacker and some guy from what one of them said was the “state” of Minneapolis. Really. And no offense taken.