{"id":71,"date":"2008-10-07T18:43:26","date_gmt":"2008-10-08T02:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zenjones.bravoecho.net\/?p=71"},"modified":"2008-10-07T18:43:26","modified_gmt":"2008-10-08T02:43:26","slug":"a-sesshin-of-silver-and-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenjones.bravoecho.net\/?p=71","title":{"rendered":"A Sesshin of Silver and Gold"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/zenjones.canyonlink.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/coyote.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-76\" title=\"coyote\" src=\"http:\/\/zenjones.canyonlink.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/coyote.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"170\" height=\"114\" \/><\/a>Oh, yes, I am floating on the post-sesshin pink cloud. But this one was really special, really something else.<\/p>\n<p>A southwestern fable sort of sesshin, with coyotes and snakes and roadrunners, with starlit morning walks to the dawn sitting. Not to mention the very helpful houseflies that brought me back to earth when I thought I was in heaven.That then became the teacher of how to remain in heaven. Oh, that housefly. I was so grateful to him for teaching me that feeling him walk on me was a gift.<\/p>\n<p>Gratitude was the theme of this retreat. One of our <a title=\"Thanks, by W.S. Merwyn\" href=\"http:\/\/www.yesmagazine.org\/article.asp?ID=1983\" target=\"_blank\">readings<\/a> was by W.S. Merwyn on saying thank you to those things we most want to turn away from. And Elizabeth closed the sesshin with a lovely statement: This is the most grateful day of my life.<\/p>\n<p>What else can I tell you? About the new sesshinistas who kept smiling at me, who reminded me of my first sesshins when I positively yearned for someone to smile back. And the Questhaven literature that made me smirk with superiority until I noticed how like our practice it was: the value of silence, the primacy of awareness. We are not so different, as much as our similarities scare me.<\/p>\n<p>And our lovely teachers, struggling with their pains, their difficulties, their own suffering. How do they choose us? Oh, so grateful.<\/p>\n<p>I remember one minute, feeling good, sitting strong, the afternoon light pouring in on the carpet, the stone floor, my fellow sitters glowing in the golden sunlight, and the delectable breeze, thinking, &#8220;I never want this to end.&#8221; And then, not five minutes later, &#8220;When the heck is this going to be over?&#8221; The wonder and glory and goofiness of being human.<\/p>\n<p>It stays with you in such a magical sort of way. As we flew, we walked, we drove homeward, we laughed and shrieked like teenagers. And then, when the 18-wheeler chose not to run us over, Susan remarked on how nice he was, how good all people&#8217;s intentions were.<\/p>\n<p>Still giddy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oh, yes, I am floating on the post-sesshin pink cloud. But this one was really special, really something else. A southwestern fable sort of sesshin, with coyotes and snakes and roadrunners, with starlit morning walks to the dawn sitting. Not to mention the very helpful houseflies that brought me back to earth when I thought [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenjones.bravoecho.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenjones.bravoecho.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenjones.bravoecho.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenjones.bravoecho.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenjones.bravoecho.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zenjones.bravoecho.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenjones.bravoecho.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenjones.bravoecho.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenjones.bravoecho.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}