MOUNTAIN
SILENCE
Issue 13: Spring
| Article
Pod
Practice |
| A number of years ago, when Dancing Mountains was a twinkle in everyone’s eye, Reb spoke at one of the Gaia House post-retreat meetings of the importance of sangha pods – local sitting groups around the country that would help to build the country’s Zen sangha while supporting local community practice and minimizing travel costs. At that time, I was new to the UK and quite idealistic if not a bit naive about what was possible as far as creating a nation-wide sangha and possible national Zen Centre, a dream since first visiting San Francisco Zen Center after meeting Reb in the UK ten years ago. I have found the geographical distances in the UK and costs of travel in terms of money and time more prohibitive than I anticipated (this coming from a Canadian!) and the prospect of sitting together with zen friends close by increasingly appealing. Others from “the East” joined the local band wagon and “Dancing Mountains East” (DMZE) was realized evolving into a wonderful group of sangha friends living in Cambridge, Stoke Ferry (Norfolk) and Bedford, and in time expanding to include Brighton. Catherine Gammon’s visit in August kick started DMZE’s more formal gatherings. She sat in the teacher’s seat and led five of us in a glorious 3.5 day residential retreat in a deconsecrated church in Stoke Ferry. Our schedule was fairly rigorous in the mornings and then the afternoons and evenings combined periods of silence with sharing circles, walks and stimulating and challenging writing exercises led by Catherine. The church turned out to be a magical retreat venue offering the austerity that helped support our small number with the services we did throughout the retreat. I admit to being pleasantly surprised at how much momentum was created by a small group of friends with the help of a resident teacher and how keeping the schedule and forms deeply nourished the non-silent discussion and writing exercises. We were also really fortunate to have beautiful meals cooked for us and each had our own bedroom. Then, in February six of us retreated for 2.5 days at Chris & Clare’s home in Bedford – another new experience as we were without a teacher in situ – Reb was present in the form of recorded talks that we listened to from the Green Gulch practice period I attended last January. We were relaxed and flexible with the schedule, taking care of one another in an easy way. We even watched a lovely Korean film one evening. We had dharma discussion and services and kept to a schedule even though it would have been easy to keep discussions going past mealtime. I think I can say for all of us that we found this aspect of the retreat very useful – watching the tendencies to carry on with stimulating discussion for just a little longer and then the value of stopping with the bell and going into silent sitting again. To me, this aspect offered more valuable real-life experience than being on a completely silent retreat might. We also enjoyed getting to know each other more and deepening our sangha friendship. The group in Brighton is gathering momentum as well, currently meeting for a day once every 6 weeks – the group includes a few members of the Brighton International Zen Association UK and I can see more collaboration between our two groups in the future. Our dear teacher, by not coming to the UK this year, has allowed us to step back and look deeply at how we engage with each other and with the practice. I feel that DMZE’s activity has slowly and steadily helped to make a difference to the confidence we have to practice and evolve the forms, share zen and zazen with non-zen folk and help to more fully express and develop a uniquely UK brand of zen practice. Importantly, too, it has also helped to minimize the ecological cost of travelling to practice. In the wake of the disaster in the country that is home to our root temple, taking care of each other seems the ultimate concern – Suzuki Roshi said, “I don’t pay any attention to whether you’re following the precepts or not. I just notice how you are with one another.” May our teachers and ancestors notice how we are with one another. Deep bows of gratitude, Back to front page |