with Subhana Barzaghi Roshi
and Aladdin Jones Sensei
After sitting through the night, as the morning star appeared, Shakyamuni Buddha was suddenly enlightened. His first lion’s roar was, ‘I was, am and will be enlightened, together with the whole great earth and all beings, simultaneously.”’
The wisdom light of this profound awakening is already here within us. It is our inherent true nature, available for us to see, touch and know directly for ourselves. If we sit with sincerity, focused attention, stillness and inner silence, we can discover a bright clear awareness and luminosity that opens to a boundless field that emerges from our very own heart. We gather together at sesshin, a time of dedicated practice, to support each other to clear away our confusion, doubts, hindrances and negative habits of mind that obscure our original face. We are then intimately confirmed by the morning star, the great earth and all beings.
Tangen Harada Roshi, encourages us to practice with his heartfelt words: ‘Please never forsake the limitless treasure which is you yourself. Be in touch, simply do not look away. Grasp nothing, hold nothing. There is just now, here, fresh, new, alive. Now. Just do your practice with all good grace.’