Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

This week we really did end up with a heatwave, perhaps the warmest week of the year so far. It got off to a faltering start: Friday’s roam was warm enough that we all agreed to walk on the shady side of the street, which is unusual enough; on Saturday we were trying to stay ahead of the fog and wind in the sunniest corner of the city. On my Sunday ride, it was pleasant by the airport, but foggy and damp enough in Daly City that I decided not to ride home via Ocean Beach. We also had tentative plans to meet someone down at Crissy Field, but neither party liked the look of the weather, and in the end we didn’t venture much further than the couch for the rest of the day.

After that, it has been toasty all the way, and with the blessed and rare absence of wind. One evening we went and sat up at the Coit Tower for the last of the sunset.

Monday was a full teaching day for me: my morning Suzuki Roshi group; meeting with Zachary (I took Georgie down to Caffe Greco in her buggy as I knew it would be hard for her to walk all the way down the hill and back up again in the heat); the Dogen study group in the afternoon; and my student group coming to mine in the evening. In addition to that, I was doing my end-of-month recordings for Core, and getting my monthly Roaming Zen email written. Unsurprisingly, I was flagging a little during the afternoon, but the student group revived me in the evening. The next day, a couple of kind and sharp-eyed folk pointed out that the email hadn’t included the dates for the last two roams in October that I had written about; I had proof-read the email four or five times, but not spotted that.

Other than that, it has been a normal week; I enjoyed the Thursday evening sitting and discussion for Zen Center – I recorded what I said after the zazen as I thought it might be an interesting angle on things, and I will see if I can get it transcribed.

One last plug for my Dogen class which is due to start next weekend – I hear we are at the threshold of viability in terms of number, so if you have been thinking about attending but not signed up yet, please do so today if possible so that we can go ahead. I set aside my study this week in order to focus on more pressing things when I heard that, but I was looking forward to choosing the material to discuss.