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Today's sitting is DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF CHARLOTTE JOKO BECK, who left our visible world this week, and whose ways (and books such as 'Everyday Zen' and 'Nothing Special' ... the titles say it all) have been so important to so many of us.

A couple of quotes:

"Life always gives us
exactly the teacher we need
at every moment.
This includes every mosquito,
every misfortune,
every red light,
every traffic jam,
every obnoxious supervisor (or employee),
every illness, every loss,
every moment of joy or depression,
every addiction,
every piece of garbage,
every breath.
Every moment is the guru."

Zen practice isn’t about a special place or a special peace, or something other than being with our life just as it is. It’s one of the hardest things for people to get: that my very difficulties in this very moment are the perfection...When we are attached to the.way we think we should be or the way we think anyone else should be, we can have very little appreciation of life as it is...whether or not we commit physical suicide, if our attachment to our dream remains unquestioned and untouched, we are killing ourselves, because our true life goes by almost unnoticed.

Today’s Sit-A-Long video follows at this link. Remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells; a sitting time of 15 to 35 minutes is recommended.

[youtube] [/youtube]
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