The Working Week

As Jordan was doing the dedication for nenju before lunch today, I was having a flashback to standing on the engawa at Tassajara, the doors to the zendo open, and the kokyo chanting the same words, past the leader of the practice period, who would be standing on the other side of the threshold, into the empty zendo. As I have undoubtedly written before, nenju marks the end of the practice week - here more clearly than at Tassajara, where there is still an evening and a morning of sitting before the personal day begins - and is a way for everyone to offer gratitude to each other for their support in our practice.
I had just one more thing to do, sit at the newcomers' table, which was, as ever, a wonderful way to meet people. Today's conversations were quite inspiring and moving, how people's lives are unfolding and how events have brought them here today, how Mark's talk this morning spoke to people in their difficult situations.
This week has been a fairly tranquil one for me, especially after the busy-ness of last week, and compared to how it will be in a couple of weeks with Lou's funeral, which we are already planning seriously for. There were no ceremonies, no special events, though of course I went to the zendo every morning and every afternoon, and noon service every day. I had a chance to really take care of some things in the ino realm that required some focused attention, which is not always afforded me in the working day: I spent a whole morning doing the accounting for the big order of incense, breaking down the costs and apportioning them to the different areas; I managed to put eight or nine talks online, including a batch from the first sesshin of the current practice period at Tassajara; I wrote out a proposal for new sound equipment for the Buddha Hall and dining room to take into account our greater need for flexibility with events and formats, and to be able to incorporate the livestream more easily, and having taken care of those things, I feel a certain amount of relief that they are not hanging over me.
And now, since the forecast snow does not seem to be materialising, I am going to go out and enjoy myself.