On Service

I’m reflecting tonight on service following a conversation with a young man at work today who told me about his difficulty with his parents who have abandoned him, his lack of role models, and about his depression and hopelessness – all with unusual openness and sensitivity. I listened and was touched by his words but my words didn’t seem to find him.  I’m left wondering how I could have connected, what could have helped.

Meanwhile, in my Zen life, sesshin starts tomorrow night here for our small group of practitioners. It has seemed to me for a lot of years that sesshin is the most important service I can offer, sharing the Zen style through which wondrous formless form can be discovered in the utterly most mundane elements – the sound of a car, the taste of the oatmeal.

Yet, at this moment, I’m not sure if it really is as important as anything else, like helping a young man in distress.