Temple Rain

Welcome to temple rain. It's a cool rainy evening here, at the end of the pine tree growth. The Abbot is away this evening. And although I know him to be a man of boundless kindness, he is a stickler for tradition. However, it is a beautiful night and I think if he were here, even he would insist that we relax and enjoy it. 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, I think it's nice to start with a little wind down. Tonight's wind down is a visualization. So, no matter what's been going on today whether it's been a busy day or a calm one, this is an opportunity to put everything down. To let go of any inner chatter and find a place of rest in both the body and the mind. So first, get yourself comfortable in bed just taking a moment to pause and be still. And when you're ready, taking a big, deep breath breathing in, through the nose and out through the mouth. And as you breathe out, allowing the body to sink down into your bed, feeling the weight of the body allowing thoughts to come and go. Now imagining, a steady flow of warm sunlight, flowing down through the body, dissolving any tension, any discomfort, as it begins to fill the body, starting with the toes. Moving up through the feet and the legs being filled with the sunlight, the qualities of warmth, space and ease, as it continues to travel up through the body. Up past the waist, to the back and the stomach. It says though it washes away any discomfort. It continues up through the chest and the back into the shoulders and down the arms all the way down to the hands and fingers. A sense of relief in the body and stillness in the mind. As it continues to travel up through the neck and the throat into the head and the face, all the way to the very top of the body, until there's nothing other than the sense of stillness remaining. And now just gently bringing the attention back to the body. Along either side of the long path that leads from the temple gates to the temple doors are many small statues. Each one, about 12 inches high. It's said that they represent people who, sometimes quite suddenly, other times through months and years of meditation, attained enlightenment. You might notice something strange about these little statues. Each one has a little pink hat, almost like a beret. And some of them also have pink bibs. These statues are known as (speaking in foreign language), and they are considered the guardians of travelers and of children. The hats and bibs are offered to bring luck. And originally they are...