...
... Nothing found or, better said, nothing found that is not right where we sit every day, right where you are now, all along.
I sat under the Bodhi Tree in Bodhgaya, where the Buddha awakened ... I sat on Vulture Peak, in Lumbini and Kushinagara, in the Deer Park and Jetta's Grove ...
... but we can awaken right here there and everywhere this Rohatsu ... for the ground where I sat is the same ground, and a moment of Zazen is a moment of Zazen.
Oh, I found sacred and wondrous places, filled with wisdom and special power ... but so is every step we take all through our day when our eyes are awake.
In India, I saw all the beauty and ugliness of Samsara (oh, so extreme there) ... yet the Buddha knew the Light which shines through all Samsara ... shining All Around.
I found priests and pilgrim's from many lands ... the ruins and relics of old temples and monasteries stretching back thousands of years ... but what are we all searching for that is hidden from us here and now? Where was Buddha born or enlightened but right where we sit?
As Master Dogen taught in Fukanzazengi ...
In general, in our world and others, in both India and China, all equally hold the buddha-seal. ...
Why leave behind the seat in your own home to wander in vain through the dusty realms of other lands?
If you make one misstep, you stumble past what is directly in front of you.
And if you do not have a Rohatsu Retreat to attend this week, or find that you cannot due to work, childcare and family needs, location and the like, consider to sit with our 'ALWAYS AT HOME' Two Day 'ALL ONLINE' ROHATSU RETREAT to be LIVE NETCAST for to you this upcoming weekend of Saturday & Sunday, December 10th and 11th, 2016. The retreat is designed to be sat in any time zone around the world, and one may still join the Retreat and sit-a-long at ANY AND ALL TIME after, by the real time recorded version (no different from the original!). The two days will include Zazen sitting, Kinhin, Chanting, Zazen sitting, Oryoki, Zazen sitting, Bowing, Talks, Zazen Sitting, 'Samu' Work Practice, and More Zazen Sitting, as in any Soto Zen Retreat, all in celebration of the Buddha's days of Zazen and Enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree.
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