Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

Having had three amazing trips from early June to early July, I must admit I have been feeling a bit flat since getting back from Tassajara, and finding myself back in the usual run of things. Thankfully I do have a weekend away planned for each of August, September, and October, so I can look forward to those. In the meantime, I have been royally entertained by the Tour de France – both the men’s and women’s edition – and the women’s World Cup.

While the corporate meditation world has continued to feel slow (I have lost about a quarter of my income since the beginning of the year, and while that is okay, I hope I don’t lose any more), I have had more time and energy for roaming, and planning roams. The extreme heat that has been impacting the rest of the US – and other parts of the world – has not really made itself felt in San Francisco, although it has probably been sunnier on balance that we might expect in July; warm sun has been balanced by periods of fog, and tempered by cool winds. We have had sunny outings in different parts of the city, and I even scouted out a loop of San Bruno Mountain the other day. It is strange to have ridden my bike somewhere so often, but never to have hiked it, and I enjoyed seeing familiar spots from different angles. There was a section of the descent that I looked at that felt way too steep and precarious to bring other people on (though other people, even a couple of little kids, were going up that path). Look for that on the schedule for the end of the month.

This past weekend I led a roam around various Julia Morgan buildings as a fundraiser for Zen Center. I knew about half the people who came, at least a little, and it was a very sweet gathering, with several of the participants sharing their knowledge about different aspects of architecture, geography, and history as we went around. The sweetest moment, perhaps because it was the most unexpected, was when we passed Sokoji in Japantown, which I had merely intended to point out: they were having a temple cleaning day, and a number of the priests came out to greet us and welcome us in. It felt like heart-warming community.