Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

The city was red all over this past weekend, what with the lunar New Year and the 49ers in the Super Bowl; but then the 49ers lost, and we were spared a lot of fireworks on Sunday evening. We had taken advantage of the sunny afternoon on Sunday to go out and roam around the magnolias, magenta, pink, and white, with camellias and rhododendrons of every colour as well.

Then the rain came back, as it continues to do still. There was a death in the Zen Center community, which cast a pall on the week; Kim had already planned to speak about the Five Remembrances, and the news added extra poignancy to what she said. I had planned to talk about change and community myself next Wednesday, and as I continue to absorb and digest this death, I will see how my talk comes out.

On a more personal level, I had some unwelcome news this week as well, as my student who has been running his own biotech company for the past seven yearss has had to pull the plug on it – I heard that news as I was travelling down to offer my weekly meditation session, which turned out to be the last one. Having already lost a chunk of my income last year due to various budget crunches, now I am going to have to scramble to make ends meet again until something new comes along…