A Valley Full Of Leaves

As I know I have written about each time I have done it over the years, a day spent visiting Tassajara for the shuso ceremony is a long day. I was picked up at 5:45 am, and dropped off at 8:30 pm (which felt earlier than other times), and I was definitely feeling it the next day.

I was asked to drive one vehicle over the road, and another one back out, which I then had to drop off at the Carmel Valley garage. The road was thankfully in as good shape as it had been over the summer, so that part was not stressful (though I did not have the chance to take photographs of the beautiful sky as we left).

It was a very sociable day as well, with the conversation on the way down and back, and different company on the road – lots of catching up and news of other people in the sangha. When we got to Tassajara, from the sun-warmed parking lot to the much cooler central area, it was also nice to see everyone who had been in the practice period, including at least one person I had sat with in my second stint there from 2006-8.

Each shuso ceremony has its own flavour, and Hiro’s answers came after a pause for reflection, which was noted by some of the questioners – it should be pointed out that, like Andre, he was answering questions in a second language. I could feel whole-hearted presence in those pauses, which was wonderful.

Afterwards, I wrangled participants for the traditional photographs, then whizzed up to the bath house for a quick round, including a dip in the creek, which was pretty fresh. I could have stayed longer, as lunch was a little behind schedule, but I had time to take a few more photographs; it was also good to see some other folks before we drove off again with stomachs full of delicious lasagne and tiramisu.