Okay.
Welcome everybody.
I've been
I've been gone for a couple of weeks
then
it's gonna be back
with you all.
I was
I was on retreat
in monastery in British Columbia.
I've been up there a number of times
over the years for
retreat.
And so it's quite familiar and
very easy to just kind of get into
the routine and,
you know, remember what to do and when
to do it, and
it's very quiet. There's no,
no neighbors.
No nothing.
Done. Son, who's the avid up there. He
calls it a gently. He calls it a
a low sensory environment.
And I would say so.
Not a lot of distractions,
Nothing to do, Really, Nowhere to go.
And it's on, you know, some amount of
acreage, and there's a
sort of a
a marsh,
you know, not too far from the
from the building and so there's a little
bit of exploring that 1 can do some
trails.
There was a bear sighting
this time. Yeah, By the cars. Somebody probably
left or granola la bar or something, you
know, and their
glove box and the pair showed up for
it, but I never saw a pair.
And then I found out on the way
home that
1 of the monks also
spotted a moose.
A moose.
Jealous.
I sort scared to moose.
That's okay.
And I was funny
describing you're telling a friend about that yesterday
and I so, I can't believe there were
moose there move.
And she goes, isn't Canada, like, where moose
are.
Oh, yeah.
They're kinda known for moose. Right?
They're on, like flags and pictures and maps,
and yeah. Maple leaves on moose.
But, you know,
a lot of people,
medi and friends and family and
have very sweet and politely asked me. How
is your retreat? Yeah.
And that such a funny question. Like, a
rates right up there with how are you?
Like, wow, I'm mixed. Yeah
because that's the human experience.
How are you a
and I'm trying to
I've been trying to train myself to stop,
asking that question,
but it purse persists. It's a cultural zeitgeist.
How are you?
It's our way of saying I love you,
you know? Or I want to talk to
you or
we're in community.
That's how are you? You know, it's kind
of a
any answer is fine.
Like, a
the other day, somebody said to have a
great.
What was it?
Oh, great.
It wasn't a great birthday, but it was
something specific to me. And I was like,
you too.
Made no sense. You know, but I was
just
me being in community that's is what we
do Those are words that we use.
But, you know, I had to sort of
think about this. Like, how was my retreat?
From the from the... So I'll just reflect
on it a little bit.
Right. You know, from the outside, it doesn't
look like much. But you know what, It's
like, well, I walked a little bit back
and forth here,
my sat over there.
And then I didn't want sit over there,
so I sat over there.
And then I went back to the front,
like,
Yeah. It's just kind of like this fun.
Like, from the outside, it just really looks
like, not much at all.
I want, you know, after 3 days, I
left the building.
I'm sort of... I'm very easily distracted,
you know, and even in a low sensory
environment, no distractions, no neighbors, no noises.
Kind of place I stopped to stay inside.
I have to, like, I'm grounded.
The first several days of any retreat.
I just take off my shoes, and that's
it.
I stay home.
And so after a few days, I
I felt confident to walk to the marsh,
which is like, 2 minutes, you know, from
the front door
I was like,
Oh, why haven't I been hearing?
This is gorgeous.
And then I was like, oh, that's why.
Look at stop in all these creatures that
looks like a swimming spider beetle. And now
I'm scared, but also enchanted, and I'm gonna
go back and I'm gonna look at the
Pacific Northwest book, and I'm gonna figure that
1 out and
No. It doesn't take much
to get, like, way off track.
Of, you know, you're like me.
So nothing,
you know, nothing sort of un
or unto happened when I went to the
Marsh, but
you know, even like, bringing back some of
that sensory,
kind of information, especially,
fun stuff, or beautiful things or gorgeous sounds,
you know,
taste me right off. You know right into,
like
what I like, what I don't like?
I was sort of joking that I had
all these
Disney Princess moments, You know, there...
Because,
you know, like these mar
These mar
are on the land and they really love
the people. So then, you know, there's grass
from here to eternity, but they're eating like
the little new grass.
Like,
in the courtyard,
but they're really adorable yellow bell garments. Like,
they just they'll watch and you can watch
them. So we would have these, like,
And we just lost each other and then
a chip monk would run pass, and the
bird would fly over and then robin would
pop up, and I would just feel like
Know. I'm a safe princess in the woods
like they all love me.
You know
and then I go back inside. Care.
I'm just kinda like these funny moments of
moving between, like, this real delight, you know,
and kind of
this hard work,
this hard work of settling
the mind,
settling the body.
And taking care of the heart
and being in silence.
But I know
You know, I know myself. I've been doing
this song enough to know that I'm. You
know, I'm easily distracted.
Sure.
But I also am
settled
with some joy. You know, I have to
bring up joy. Joy is
It's an enlightenment factor.
No. We have to step through joy.
To get
to the end of suffering. We have to
walk through it.
And so finding ways to bring up joy
in a really whole sum
way
is part of that kind of low sensory
kind of retreat experience for me. Like,
It can't just be a flop.
Get up sit down. Get up sit down.
Get up sit down. That's a misery.
And
I know the power of Wholesome joy,
and the Buddha talked about it. You know,
it's part of the path.
So, you know,
making sure that there's is wholesome joy
infused and every day,
every
more than every day.
Just kind of soaking it in.
And I've never done a retreat, like a
meditation retreat that wasn't.
I'm an acid retreat. So I've only been
on retreats with monks.
Monks.
So,
you know, it's very quiet. There's... It's total
silence, except multi t time. There's questions and
some conversation sometimes.
And there's no dinner, you know, you're done
eating it, noon
noon 15.
Alright? So the rest of the
evening is really about
just practice.
You know, you don't... You're done. Like,
You eat. It's the highlight of the day.
And then you're done. And then you're fat,
you know, then you're like, you know, you've
got this open kind of
period to
sort of sit and log and reflect and
read a bed if you like,
acting, you know, move your body,
But
it is it's very, as a very strong
container for practice.
Get up early, do P, you know, kind
of a sit together in the mornings sit
together at night, and then these 2 periods
of really open practice time,
lunch delicious lunch.
And then everybody gets a job. You know,
you have some kind of chore. Like, if
you ever been on retreat, you know, Like,
so ever to gets the chore and
my chore. They call a yogi job, but
it's a chore. You it's something you would
do at home and like.
That's go that's gonna be
the definition of a yogi job. Like, something
you would do at just at home and
dislike,
but on retreat, it sort of
becomes your world in a way, you know,
like, I had to. They had this new
chin downstairs, and
and my job was to load the dishwasher
twice a day,
unload at once.
And kind of sweep and wipe things down
and stuff I was this sort of this
kitchen
steward
dishes person.
And at first, I was like, well, that's
too much.
I
I to do dishes.
Twice a day?
I know.
What?
Why?
But, you know, within a few days,
Oh, man.
Come in my kitchen and fill the wrath.
Like,
this my domain.
This is I'm doing this
a dear sweet,
fellow retreat and tried to
sweep my floor. Like
on the first day,
like out
This is a 5 minutes
of my day that I'm not sitting or
walking or, you know,
be gone, you know? So that was the
end of that. I took care of that
right away. Yeah.
But my dad... You know, I told my
parents a years ago, I went on a
retreat. Down in California with a
and
and I told my parents a story about
how somebody
sort of had this job and somebody sort
of took it right away. They just started
doing it because it seemed like it was
part of their job It made sense, but
you're not allowed to talk.
So then this was like,
oh, you can really do this link.
Cringe and blink, you know, and like
deal with it internally. And if you're really,
really, really upset you can leave a note
for the, you know, like, the person the
what the steward. Right? But that's
not classy.
You can.
Such and somebody took my job.
That's not classy. You know? Plus you have
1 less job.
But, you know, in this low sensory environment,
it's
interesting
to see.
What we cling to?
You know, how can I fill up the
time? How can I
you know,
enjoy this or how can I
get get what I want or at least
cube what I have, you know,
And, you know, at this point after this
many retreats this many years, it's very low?
There's not a lot of suffering for me
and and, you know, this...
Because I'm
thrilled. You know, I'm thrilled to be there
and
at the end, 1 of the monks that
I. I noticed you spent a lot of
time in the solo. That was great good.
You know, it so it's lovely to see
people putting in in in the effort, and
I,
you know, my my response was
yeah. Well, this is a gift from everybody
in my life.
Like, I have kids at home.
I have
this all this, I don't wanna be away
from and, you know, it's money and it's
time and
you know, seeing these these opportunities as a
precious gift
from everyone in your life, you know that,
It does light that fire of
I wanna practice.
You know. I wanna sit. I wanna walk.
I wanna work.
Wanna do dishes.
Yeah.
I don't have a dishwasher at home, so
it's actually kinda fun.
They got a dishwasher nap. So out that
exciting stuff.
And
I'm just feeling really grateful
for this
time
to do
what looks like nothing
to other people.
But in here it's really something. There's really
something going on.
And
you know, toward the end.
Or at the end when we were allowed
to talk again, which is just a
hysterical. Like, the first
day we were allowed to talk a bunch
of us relate to Putin. Okay. It's just
that fast to, like, mindfulness is like offering
out the window way. You know.
But I did ask, you know, 1 of
my fellow treatments had it how did it
go when they said
Oh, I felt like I was
this is 1 of those retreats Said I
felt like I was watering the tree.
It's kind of this like,
oh, I couldn't see the results
during the retreat. I felt like I was
watering the tree.
And
I thought, you know, I can really relate
to that. I felt like I was watering
the tree a lot
last week or when I at a couple
weeks ago.
I was excited. I was, you know, I'd
walk past the saw and I'd really be
drawn toward it, and I'd sit down, and
then I felt like I was watering the
tree.
But when I got home,
I realized the tree had really been watered.
I could see... I couldn't see the difference
in the low sensory environment, you know,
in my mind in my reaction time in
my this space around my heart. I couldn't
see it. There.
Because there's tons of time and
space and, you know,
support
But when I got home,
in his family and work and
kids and busy and noise,
I really felt like a watered
tree.
I was I was felt very calm,
very gentle.
Very open to
being with things the way that they were.
And
so it was kind of a sweet like,
delayed
gratification. You know.
Oh, yeah.
I'm well watered,
and I watered myself.
So
you know, those are just some some thoughts
on,
taking time and the buddha said,
you know, seeks sol,
seeks seclusion.
Actually,
delight in it.
Delight
in
secluded.
So I I think that I
I tried to do that over that week.
Just delighted in seclusion.
And let a lot of things fall away
and watered the tree, and
you, now I can
Now I can feel the benefits of that.
Alright. So just some thoughts for this morning.
Thank you.
School Would you like to
add in anything or say a few words?
Very nice Dom. Thank you very much.
The only thing that came to mind for
me was
I'd like to introduce you all to the
incoming spiritual director Princess.
Yes, he could. Swanson.
Sketch you a little crown.
Hey, Gotta be careful for you say around
him.
Reminds me of
I was listening to talk this morning by
Adam Su add when he was set.
Ama for, you know, the
aj
tomatoes nineties birthday in Bay socket.
And, hey, you know, a hundred and 40
hundred 40 monastic
have gathered in England this last month.
For,
Aj Tomato. He's a most senior western monk
in our lineage
for his birthday and
for
Just a huge amount of people, You know,
in a number of them. And tomatoes has
been in reps for 58 years.
And a good number of them had...
Were in ropes much longer than that. Actually,
and they were actually there at Aj Cha,
monastery,
when Aj Sam tomato went to or ordained,
and they had a number of these tie
monks. There
had come to celebrate
in England and,
like, I listened to pos on and he
said,
He said, yeah. I've been in rope 50
year. He just celebrated our commemorate at 50
years. I've been rob's 50 years, and I
was like, eleventh in line
because they sit.
According to, you know, according to how long
they've been in ropes. This is kind of
a
a chronological line
and then Aj
Was saying,
he was like, yeah, It showed up, and
then, you know, I keep... Every time somebody
else comes, I get further and further and
further down the line he goes, pretty soon
I'm gonna be doing dishes.
And he goes, that's okay.
And then what he said next was because
when you wanna
be somebody,
be nobody and when he wanna be nobody
be somebody.
And that was a really sweet
piss kind of
takeaway from. Was like, I wish I listened
to this 2 weeks ago. Anyway, when you
wanna be somebody be nobody when you wanna
be nobody be somebody.
So
I was a Disney princess, but now I'm
back to nobody.