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| November 2023 sesshin |
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| January 2024 sesshin |
Since I last wrote in this blog, Boundless Way Zen Temple has hosted three sesshins, in November and December, 2023 and in January 2024. All three were wonderful in their own ways, as usual. November and January were entirely on Zoom, which continues to be a platform for deep practice in two dimensions. Our December sesshin was in person at the Temple, and for the first time since the pandemic began, we suspended our requirement for negative covid tests before arrival. Sadly, we couldn't have predicted the rise in covid cases beginning in early December, and so we had to end the sesshin a little early when one participant tested positive for covid and we had to send them home. We ended the sesshin early, although most people stayed at the Temple to help with clean-up and care for the Temple before leaving. Around a third of our participants came down with covid within 10 days of leaving (including me). Naturally, we will reinstate the testing policy for our next sesshin, scheduled to be a hybrid, with in person and Zoom options, in early February. We decided not to take a photo on the last day, as we usually do.
I have been reflecting on the Five Remembrances quite a bit while recovering from covid -- it's really true that we are all of the nature to have ill health, as if I needed a reminder. Resting, canceling appointments, missing Christmas and New Year's with our children and grandchildren, rescheduling our December precepts ceremony have been some of the karmic consequences of being in a human body. While it's all unavoidable, I did have the delusion that I wouldn't contract covid, having indeed avoided it for the first four years of the pandemic. All unfolds as it unfolds, and I'm glad for all the learning. May all of you who read this blog have the best health that is possible for you, as one version of the lovingkindness instructions say.
Happy New Year!
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