Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘As stars, a fault of vision, as a lamp,
A mock show, dew drops or a bubble,
A dream, a lightning flash, or cloud,
So should one view what is conditioned’

I was asked to be doshi for morning service. It was lovely to walk down Page Street, still dark with the new moon above the street, Mercury above that. I enjoyed, as always, carrying the kotsu and coming face to face with the Gandhara Buddha in the Buddha Hall. It got light as we recited from the Diamond Sutra, but I found myself unable to read the print; having become accustomed to reading with glasses over the summer, now my eyes struggle without them – though I discovered later that the overhead chandelier was not fully illuminated. By the time I took off my okesa after the small service to Suzuki Roshi in the kaisando, the sun was rising over the rooftops and pouring into the building.