Temple Rain

Good evening, and welcome to our temple. It's a cool, rainy evening here at the end of the pine tree grove. You can make yourself comfortable on the veranda however you like. Pull up a cushion, or cushions, and stretch out. The Abbott is a way this evening. And although I know him to be a man of boundless kindness, he is a stickler for tradition, as you might expect of one who has spent his life in the observance of ceremony. But I do think that on an evening like this one even he would have to forgive us for sitting out here and enjoying the view. In our tradition, we emphasize hospitality and I would like you, our guests, to feel at home. This place is so familiar to me I could describe each thing in it with my eyes closed. I'll try to bring it to life as vividly to you as it lives for me in my mind's eye. Before we begin, let's just do a little wind down exercise. Tonight's exercise is a really simple breathing exercise. So when you're ready, let's begin. Just bringing the attention to the breath, noticing where you feel it in the nose, the throat, the chest, the diaphragm. You're nice and relaxed. We're going to be taking a deep breath in for four, holding it for four, and then breathing out for six. So, are you ready? Let's begin. In for four, two, three, four. Hold it for four, two, three, four. Now breathing out for six, two, three, four, five, six. In for four, two, three, four. Holding for four, two, three, four. Out for six, two, three, four, five, six. In for four, two, three, four. Holding for four, two, three, four. Out for six, two, three, four, five, six. In for four, two, three, four. Holding for four, two, three, four. Out for six, two, three, four, five, six. Great. Now, returning the breath to normal. In the middle of the mossy courtyard, between the meditation hall and the monks quarters, there is a small, carefully pruned tree. Its limbs are elegant like the arms of a child and its bark is silver and each one of its branches culminates in a cluster of leaves shaped something like an elongated cloud. The tree is very old and has been tended by more than one generation of monks. For me, it signifies patience, enduring, and growing very slowly under the hands of many keepers. Sometimes a Blackbird comes to perch in its branches and sing. According to the older monks, this has always been the case, even beyond the lifespan of a single Blackbird. So either this tree presents itself as an especially auspicious place to sing if you happen to be a Blackbird or the Blackbirds have their own tradition to come and sing to the silent monks of temple rain. Along either side of the long path that leads from the temple gates to the...