Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

I notice to my chagrin, especially when I wake up at five rather than six, that the mornings are getting light later; with the weather, it has been tempting to put on more layers of clothes. We had been doing pretty well for sunshine in the last few weeks, but the fog has more or less rolled in with a vengeance now. We got lucky with the roam on Sunday; starting in Sunnyside where it was sunny, and climbing up to the top of Mount Davidson where views appeared and disappeared as the fog swirled through. One of the participants chided me for not being clear in my description about the amount of climbing involved, but the blurb did mention that we would be going to the highest point in San Francisco. In any case, they managed it.

It felt like a quiet week – after the end of the Euros and the Tour de France, there were suddenly long hours when I wasn’t watching sport. I know the Olympics are on, and while there are some things I might have wanted to catch, I can’t get as excited about most of the coverage. I have been trying to make a dent in the backlog of New Yorkers that have been piling up since June got busy, but have not made much headway.

My week at Tassajara is starting to loom, and I was delighted to receive an invitation to speak in the zendo while I am there, something I haven’t done since the last summer I spent there in 2015; at the same time, Tim asked if I would give the talk on the last Wednesday of August at Zen Center, so I will have consecutive talks. Thankfully there will be probably no overlap in the audience. I have thought of one or two things I want to speak about, and will probably remix or enhance a little for the second talk.