Posted inDharma, Dogen, Valerie's Messages

Message from Valerie: Covering the Earth

March 21, 2023

The earth is covered with nourishing moisture,
penetrating a thousand and soaking ten thousand.

Eihei Dogen, New Year Blossoms 

On this first day of spring, the mountains surrounding Mountain Cloud are covered in the nourishing moisture of snow. The calendar opens to the spring equinox – night and day in balance, the sun shining equally on both hemispheres – as we make the turn towards spring sesshin. 

Four days of shared practice: penetrating a thousand and soaking ten thousand. 

The Japanese word, ‘sesshin,’ is sometimes translated ‘encounter of the heart.’ It can also be rendered ‘gathering the [powers of the] heart together’ or ‘governing the heart-mind (shin).’ 

This in-gathering is a function of zazen. It begins with one’s own heart, but also extends to the heart-mind of everyone present, and to the one boundless heart. As Dogen puts it – covering the earth.

Join us for this shared immersive practice and let spring blossom in its own time exactly where you are. 

Image by Mark Paul Petrick

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