Nothing Like a Good Bonfire

Following on from the success of the Virtual Dojo and its twice-daily zazen, we decided in early October to start a daily sit at a time more convenient for Chosei Zen students living in the UK and Europe. Small acorns grow into giant oak trees, and over the last couple of months, we have formed a small core of half a dozen or so dedicated daily sitters. We also created a WhatsApp group, called "ZaZoom," to enable getting to know each other outside of our early morning Zazen on Zoom.

On December 5-6, we took this up a notch and held our first UK & European-led zazenkai, celebrating Rohatsu, the anniversary of the Buddha's Enlightenment. While Cris Nakano and I co-led from Switzerland and England, respectively, it was thrilling that the attendance had such global reach: Brazil, Spain, Vietnam, England, Switzerland, and various time zones in the US.

In England, bonfires are a traditional part of the landscape during the dark days of winter, and I set about this all-night training with Shunryu Suzuki’s words in mind:

“When you do something, you should burn yourself up completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.” 

That’s how it felt sitting in my bedroom with the door shut and a Zoom Room full of 15 keen participants and 10 hours of intense overnight training to burn it up—much gratitude for the enthusiastic participation of all those who attended.