Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Sitting With Lou

It is thought that Lou is slipping away, and Blanche invited residents to come and sit with him across the road at Zen Hospice this morning; a few of us went after work meeting, cross-legged around the raised bed, with the purring and pulsing of the medical machinery; others were coming in as some of us left. I was glad to have the opportunity to be with him, and to support Blanche who has been at his bedside constantly for days.
City Center feels a bit depleted at the moment; many people are out with a flu-like sickness, including some senior people. We had just four of the regular six in our senior staff meeting this morning. I feel like I might be getting sick myself, which came on yesterday, so I am trying to take it easy today, in the hope that I won't succumb and have to leave organising the one-day sitting to someone else. I am also hoping to save my energy to be at the Full Moon Ceremony tonight.
The weather has been fine and clear these last few days, and the almost-full moon was out just before afternoon zazen yesterday; this was the view from my window:

2 comments:

Lee Nutter said...

Hey Shundo,

Thanks for the comments on my blog. Happy to share a link, I've been an RSS subscriber since I first found this site some time ago. I've never been to SFZC, but am a member of Sydney Zen Centre (SZC) and feel very close to the SFZC thanks to Suzuki Roshi's books, the podcast and of course your blog. Tova Green brought some incense out to put in with my Rakusu when I took Jukai last year, I still have them with me. An incredible honor. Tova is a friend of my teacher Gillian Coote.

Sorry to hear about Lou. He has been an incredible inspiration to my practice. I'll never forget his story about the rotten fruit, or his comments about looking back at his house and seeing how alone everyone was. I couldn't be without my teacher, but without the SFZC podcast, and people like Lou and Paul Haller, I might not ever have found my way to the Sydney Zen Center.

Love your work! Really appreciate your regular updates. They help me feel connected to a place I hope to one day spend some time, or at least visit and say hello!

Shundo said...

Hello Lee,

Thanks for introducing yourself, glad to hear all this, and to feel connected with sangha across the world. It's great that you got to meet Tova, and that you got to hear Lou's wonderful stories - I should try to link to some of his talks - and other talks.
How is the moon where you are today?