From the very first days of A Center for the Practice of Zen Buddhist Meditation (yep, that’s the official handle), we have recited the Daily Recollection and practiced formal sitting. A few years in we decided to purchase the 320 acres that grew into the Zen Monastery Peace Center. Those folks who have been around since those early days can remember when the work of “Going Beyond Self-Hate” became a focus, and with that an emphasis on “there’s nothing wrong.” As the Monastery moved toward being the center of practice, we released Regardless of What You Were Taught to Believe, There Is Nothing Wrong with You. Workshops and retreats followed.
Over the years those have continued to be our focus: formal monastic practice and the work of going beyond self-hate. Yes, lots of other practice supports have grown up along the way and each of them has been brought on board because they support Sangha in that formal practice, whether in a monastic setting or as a “householder.” The pandemic and the sale of the Monastery turned us all into householders with a virtual practice and Sangha.
Now we’re busily putting together a very sweet little spot for us to gather again. And, as we prepare to gather again it will be helpful to all of us to recognize clearly how different is this “incarnation” of our practice. At the Monastery we had resident monks who were devoting a period of their life to practicing awareness as a monastic. A formal schedule of sitting and working meditation, as well as individual and group guidance, was practiced between and during a full schedule of offering practice to Sangha. The schedule included shopping for groceries, cooking meals, cleaning up the kitchen, doing laundry, making beds, cleaning hermitages, tending the garden and 10,000 other tasks that went into maintaining the “Mothership.”
Here at our new little home, there are no resident monks, no one to cook and clean and keep things tidy and lovely for us. It’s just us. Just us Sangha. This is one of the first, big differences we can observe. For instance, there’s no kitchen. What we have is more like a hotel room—microwave, hot pots, hot plates, small fridge. (We’ll probably have a large fridge by the Summer of Sangha.) There will be only a few hermitages though they will be somewhat upscale from what people were used to at the ZMPC. Camping? In good weather, no doubt. Small space for sitting. In short: A small number of folks gathering at any one time.
Which brings us to the biggest difference, the one that is the point of this communication. Even before we had the original Zen Center in Mountain View, we practiced the Privileged Environment. The Privileged Environment has been the aspect of this practice that has set it apart from all others. We are not social. Period. For anyone who has been practicing within the Privileged Environment for a while, the statement “It’s how we can love one another unconditionally” is an expression of profound truth. We come together to practice. We don’t talk with one another; we don’t look at one another. We sit in meditation together, do working meditation together, eat side by side—in absolute respectful privacy. We are able to leave the personality at the gate, along with the cell phone, laptop, tablet, and all other modes of “communication.” We don’t have to “be anyone,” and it doesn’t take long for that to be seen as the greatest of all possible kindnesses.
Now we’re going to be together without any of the blot dots of a monastic structure. No monks in view to be sure we’re observing the Privileged Environment. No one to “enforce the guidelines.” Yikes. It’s just us. On our own!
But not really, right? If we were on our own, nothing would be a problem. We’d do whatever we want and the karma would be all our own. But we’re not on our own. We’re going to be here with Sangha. This will afford us our very best opportunity to practice “doing for the love of others what we would not be willing to do for our self.”
When we come through the gate, we arrive without cell phone or laptop or tablet. No one will invite us to turn them in. We simply don’t bring them. And, much as we desperately want to see who else is there with us, we won’t look to find out. We will realize there’s another person and we can make gasshō in their direction. Even if we have a question, we won’t ask them. We will protect their Privileged Environment as if it’s the most important thing in the world—which it is!
Now lest anyone decide to panic and cancel your trip to Sequim for the Summer of Sangha, we won’t be utterly on our own. We’ll be sure to have someone on hand who knows the ropes and can answer those questions. But that won’t change our opportunity. This summer we get to have the marvelous chance to practice being Bodhi, Dharma, and Sangha for our self and for one another.
We don’t have much to report in terms of progress on the property because the one very exciting project we’ve been devoted to we can’t tell you about. We just have to wait until you’re here so you can see it for yourself. Along those lines, going forward there will be more conversation about the design of the actual Center—we are now constructing temporary structures—and also discussions about just how we, as Sangha, will maintain a Mothership for ourselves without the care of resident monks. Very exciting!
As our projects move along we find ourselves in need of a couple of experts: a graphic designer and a sound engineer. If you know of someone you could recommend for us to contact, we’d be most grateful.
In gasshō,
ch
And with Spring, Starlink arrives….
---we have Internet!
…and we continue to work on the property as weather permits…
California poppies are being planted and protected from birds..
Someone’s donated plants are finding a home
The mash tent gets another coat of painting –posts and floor…
and the to-do list is tackled one step at a time…