Some Summer Heat

At Wilbur last weekend, I was reminiscing a little about other times I had been there mid-summer, and especially, about pictures I had taken with the evening sun pouring down the creek. It turns out it was this eventful visit exactly four years ago.

It was relatively quiet there this past weekend, though thankfully we were free of smoke (unlike other parts of North America), and the turn-out for the meditation sessions was high considering the overall numbers. And why did I happen across that post? Well, the deer flies, gnats and other biting insects were worse than I can ever remember them being. In the afternoon session on Saturday, especially, the participants were waving hands, brushing and swatting throughout. I tried to remain as equanimous as possible – the bugs were not biting like horse flies do, with a real sting – and afterwords gave a few words about how to deal with flies, and our instinctive reactivity generally (and I retold the two differing stories about mosquitoes, which brought me also to the link above). As it happens, though, by late Sunday my limbs covered in welts, and it was hard to sleep. The itchiness persisted for several days, so my attempt to be unmoved had consequences.

Frankly, it was a small price to pay for another long weekend away – since I was able to stay until early Monday morning – with little to do, and bright sunshine with temperatures up to the nineties. I wandered around first thing on Saturday and Sunday mornings, watching the sun come up and enjoying the peace and beauty of the landscape; I had some sweet conversations with staff and guests; I had time also to reflect on my upcoming dharma talk, listening to the recording from the weekend before, and assembling various portions which I will try to slot together today before giving the talk tomorrow.

My great fortune is to be able to go away again next week, the third of my summer adventures, though not the last. This time I will be at Tassajara; I will report on that when I return.