Hello to all those visiting this post!

I have gone from being a regular visitor/poster to being a less regular visitor/poster to being a less regular visitor and an infrequent poster to being an infrequent visitor and less than infrequent poster.

It is a progression of sorts...

I am taking on responsibilities with the Chan group I sit with. I am not formally saying 'goodbye' because I may pop up in a less than infrequent manner---I don't know and can't say at this time.

At any rate, I went looking to know more about Sleeps/Greg among the members list and got the message 'the requested user does not exist.'
It was a sobering thought, this phrasing. It could have said: "membership withdrawn," or some such, but it didn''t.
So there I was: What does exist? What is it to exist? And what is this existence?
Exit and Exist are so closely spelled....are they somehow connected at some root word?

Entrances and exits happen all the time here, and on the stage called 'All the World.'
I have been visiting a co-worker/friend whose lungs are shot. He has been using oxygen tanks for years, recently hospitalized and sent to a care facility, he will be heading home with hospice. The evening I spent with him, a lovely one while we are able to still spend time together in this way, in this fleeting way.
Many of the posts of late have been about illnesses, calamities, disasters, and such misfortunes; these too enter and exit all the time.


The message on the Han (wooden striking board at zen temples): came to mind

Wake up!
Life is transient
Time is swiftly passing
There is the Great Matter of life and death before us
Do not waste time


(even 'wasting time' is not a waste of time ....; and 'not wasting time' can be a BIG time waster!)

so coming here, I am not wasting time and not being here on a more frequent basis does not mean I am wasting or not wasting my time.

There are times I do waste time.
This is not one of them.

With appreciation to Treeleaf: teachers, Jundo and Taigu, to teachers-in-training Fugen, Hans, Sohei, to members past, present and future, to frequent and infrequent visitors: thank you!