“The heart believes in tomorrow’s cherry blossoms. The storm comes at night and blows them away.”

Everything is subject to change. We all experience loss. Can this inevitability spark in us an urgency to practice diligently and to live our lives fully?        
 

In this recent dharma talk from Summer Sesshin, Chodo Sensei settles in, offers perceptive, and remembers his first sesshin. He speaks of his restlessness, discomfort, and, eventually, his resolve to stay with it. The challenge of sesshin means facing the discomfort of practice. This is a remarkable opportunity. Chodo invites us to notice what is pulling us away from this moment. What are we avoiding?  In our discomfort can we also experience opportunities to settle the mind and open the heart? From Chodo’s openness he hears and shares stories of tragic loss and the mysteriousness of his beloved cats. All of life is inviting us to see what is here, to know that everything will change and die. For as long as we are alive, can we cultivate the capacity to see beauty throughout? Like the flowers in ikebana, can we appreciate how even their fading from freshness can move and delight. With Chodo this talk, perhaps like everything, begins and ends with poetry.      

Chodo Campbell Sensei is a Zen teacher, bereavement specialist, grief counselor and a recognized leader for those suffering with the complexities of death & dying, aging, and sobriety.  The educational non-profit he co-founded, the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, touches thousands of lives every year through its numerous educational programs, contemplative retreats, and Soto Zen Buddhist practices. Chodo has been featured in the New York Times, PBS, CBS Sunday Morning and other media outlets. 

Heart Sutra by Kanho Yakushiji –  Buddhist priest and musician of the Rinzai sect and Imaji temple in Imabari, Japan. In 2003, he formed “KISSAQUO”, a songwriting duo based in Kyoto.

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