Overview of the pilgrimage to Texas

I am writing this while riding on a charter bus, returning from a three day pilgrimage to the Houston Zen Center and to the new Chung Tai International Retreat Center in Shepard Texas. The Grand Master of Chung Tai Monastery, the venerable Wei Chueh, came to Texas to perform the opening purification and consecration ceremony for the dedication of the new pagoda at the retreat center. The pagoda was the first construction project to be completed at the retreat center.

The trip stated early Friday morning when we departed from Buddha Mind in Oklahoma City. After a ten hour bus ride, Friday evening was spent at the Houston Zen Center. We had dinner with Grand Master, followed by a three refuge and five precept ceremony.

Saturday started with an early wake up call then a bus ride to the International Retreat center for the ceremony. After the ceremony we had a tour of the pagoda and grounds, helped with the tear-down and cleanup, then another bus ride back to Houston. There we had dinner and entertainment. It was past my bedtime when we finally made it back to the motel.

That brings us to today. Check out from the motel the a bus ride to the Houston Zen Center. Breakfast was followed by a martial arts demonstration performed by the monk who was head of the Chung Tai martial arts. Now we are on the bus, heading north back to Oklahoma. The bus has wi-fi which is allowing me to make this blog post. The bumpy road makes it hard to type though. I have enough trouble typing at a stationary desk.

Sounds of Silence

One constant through out the duration of the seven-day retreat was the requirement to remain silent. There no talking, no cell phones, no radio, TV, email, newspapers, books, writing in a journal, or making blog posts. This rule was in effect for the duration of the retreat, even in the break rooms or at night in the dormitory. Other than the morning, evening, and mealtime chants, the only sound uttered by the participants was some nighttime snoring. One of the benefits of Zen meditation is achieving a better understanding of the self. Minimizing the external distractions aids in turning inward to deal with the internal distractions – the monkey mind. An example of the extent that I had turned inward and shut out external distractions came to light on my fourth day at the retreat. During one of the breaks between sessions I was walking around the building when I noticed a car with a California license plate. Then I noticed the next car and the one after that also had California license plates. My first thought was wondering haw far they drove to come to the retreat. Then I realized that I was in California. It was not that I did not know that I was in California, it was that this fact had not entered into my thinking until then. Being or not being in California had played no part in the retreat. The journey inward was far more important than the journey from Oklahoma to California.

7 Day Zen Retreat

Returned last night from the 7 day Zen retreat at the Chung Tai Zen Center of Sunnyvale. Even though it was a seven day retreat, the weather and mechanical problems delayed my arrival in Sunnyvale. I was scheduled fly out of Oklahoma City early Christmas morning and arrive in San Jose at 9:35 am. Plenty of time for the start of the first day activities. The day before my scheduled departure Oklahoma City was hit with the worst snow storm in history. The airport had the most snow in one day ever recorded. Not only did the airport close, but the entire city pretty much shut down. There were so many flights canceled that the earliest flight out I could get was for Sunday morning. I was going to miss the first two days and most of the third day, but would be able to participate in the evening sessions of day three. That was the plan until the plane out of OKC broke. All the passengers were on board and waiting to leave when mechanical problems caused yet another delay. We had to wait for a part to be flown in from Dallas. This forced a reschedule of my flight from Dallas to San Jose. By the time I finally got to Zen center in Sunnyvale I was too late for the final 9:00 pm session. Even with the late start I still had forty-five meditation sessions, nine formal Zen meals, and listened to many Dharma talks from Master Jian Hu, abbot of Chung Tai Zen Center of Sunnyvale. Jumping in several days late to the retreat added some challenges. Shifu Jian Lu of Buddha Mind had given those of us attending the retreat some lessons in monastery etiquette and formal Zen meals. Those lessons were invaluable to me and greatly assisted in getting through the first few (for me) days.