Taking Part in the Gathering (Term 2)

Words from the Roshi:

Dear Sangha, and all past and present Gatherers:

Why  does this feel so exactly like the right moment for spending time with  the ethos of the Way?  Could it be the highly fragile-feeling state of  the ethos of our world?

Sila is  the Sanskrit name for the paramita (Skt ‘Perfection’) of your  heart-mind awake to the moral and ethical implications of actions,  thoughts, and feelings.  The old word, ‘virtue’, originates in the  meaning of 'strong’, able and willing to take a share of the weight of  things, including our own contribution to making that world the way it  is. Willing and able to take part in consciously sharing the good of what is…

Just as with Dana, the first of the six great signs of an awake heart-mind, we will undoubtedly find there are many facets to Sila -- and many fascinating questions that Sila fully intends to raise.

Dana  depends on our aliveness to the gift of this life, this moment, a sense  of being indebted to something of great value. Sila more consciously  invites the setting of intentions into the midst of (socalled) ordinary  life… In other words, vows to cleave to whatever avoids harm, enriches  life. We’ll probably begin by looking closely into ‘vow’, and especially  the implications of the Bodhisattva “Great Vows’ that we commit to on  every possible occasion, and how closely they enact the call of the  three ‘Pure Precepts’ that form the gateway to the Precepts.

So,  in the name of helping the world shift a little closer to saving and  enhancing all that you hold most dear – please join us for this  pilgrimage through the second Paramita.  As usual, we’ll find plenty to  laugh and cry about in the stories we share, and many sharp koans to  prick our heels.

Unfortunately, that’s the guarantee.