Holiday Greetings

Holiday Greetings and Happy Winter Solstice,I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. I know many of you will be traveling this year to wonderful places like Hawail and Italy, just to name two I know of, and I certainly hope everything goes smoothly. We will not be sitting here Christmas morning, but we will be here the rest of the week.Our New Year’s Eve sitting begins at 9:00 p.m. with music and socializing followed by zazen at 11:00 taking us into the New Year. About 12:15 we’ll share a potluck of whatever strikes your fancy to bring if you can join us. If you can’t be here with us in person,I highly recommend meditating through the midnight hour. It’s been a tradition of mine for almost forty years and I can think of no other way better to start off the New Year. Our beginning of the year sesshin starts January 2 and will finish with a Jukai ceremony January 6. The ceremony will start at 10:30 a.m. after our regular 9:00 a.m. Sunday morning zazen practice. Linda, Steve, and David will be taking Jukai and I invite you all to join us.If you are planning on attending New Year’s Eve, any part of the sesshin, or the Jukai ceremony, would you please contact me and let me know of your specific plans.I’ve asked Linda, as part of her practice, to help me out by sending me a couple of quotes each week that I might use. When you see her mentioned as the source of the quotes she is doing so to help me and to help deepen her understanding. Any one of you may send a quote at any time and I will very likely use it. It’s a great practice and will take you into areas of study you do not expect. If you are interested in this as a personal practice, please let me know and we’ll make it happen.Today’s quote from Linda:From The Diamond Sutra translation by Red Pine, in the commentaries“In our thoughts, the moon may be full or new, bright or dim, present or not present, but the moon itself has none of these characteristics. The moon is just the moon.”May your holiday season be filled with joy, Jake