I miss Hawaii. Not for the obvious reason as I look out my window onto a wooded hillside covered in six inches of snow. But because I miss sitting with friends as we talk story. Yes, I have friends here in Spring Green; and yes, we talk; and yes, there are stories told. Still it is not quite the same. Why not?

I think the biggest reason is the feeling I remember from times sitting on the engawa at Chozen-ji, or sitting cross-legged outside Roy’s garage on a hand-built bench/ shelter, or getting a plate lunch from a food truck near the medical school and talking with Ray as we look out over the waters. There wasn’t a point to these conversations, or a purpose. It was just the simple pleasure of being with someone, no purpose other than maybe getting to know them a little better.

In Hawaii this feeling is honored and respected. Here, not so readily. Texting, emailing, is quicker, more convenient. You don’t have to listen carefully before responding.

I’m thinking about these things because I like the way in which Anita has built this “Voices” section into the Chosei Zen website. And I’d like to do what I can to help it create some of those same feelings of being at ease, hanging out with someone, and just seeing where the conversation goes. She has the right photograph as headliner: a fire burning in a fire pit with a few hickory logs turned on end as seats.

We’ve got that fire pit out here at Spring Green Dojo – that’s one place we can talk story. And Scott is planning for a wood-burning stove to be part of the common room at Daikozen-ji – that’s another place. But let’s see what we can do with this section of our website to see what’s possible as well. In my imagination, it can be a place for questions, suggestions, requests for help with problems. Nothing fancy. When you train in Zen long enough, nothing you are thinking of or talking about is not Zen. So, let’s see if we can get to know each other a little better, here in “Voices” as well as any place we can sit down together and talk story.