Dear zen friend

1)    October mini sesshin:     10/06,  10/07,  10/08.

       November mini sesshin:    11/10,  11/11,  11/12

2).   The summer 2023 will be remembered as the year with the longest rainy season. On the last day of September,  today,  it is still raining. 

During summer, working outdoor was disrupted by continual showers. Forecast of fine weather often turned to pouring water.  Firewood split on August 12 still remain unstacked. Cold winter is nearing quietly. 

3).    In June I stayed at a hotel in Kyoto for a week. Breakfast was served at an adjacent restaurant. There the same menu was served at the same time every morning. It was rice, miso soup, egg, a piece of salmon, some vegetables, pickles, and tea. 

As a tourist I was unconsciously looked for something new, something special. The breakfast was not new, not special. It was  daily dish at common Japanese families. If the same breakfast were served for 10 years, however, it would become a tradition. 

Kyoto was the capital for one thousand years. It is the place in which best kimonos are sewn and shown, best lacquered bowls are made and sold, countless potters are found and traded. Sightseers are looking for tradition there.  And you can find refined beauty in  temples, shrines, incense stores,  and tea rooms. Those who looking for something traditional would be satisfied there. 

In fact, making a  kimono requires many tedious jobs. One kimono is a product completed with a maker of cloth, a graphic designer, a dyer, a sewer, and an inspector for quality. People engaged with the process work for the same thing over and over again. Without tradition, a new kimono is not made. The same words are  mentioned about a lacquered bowl. 

If new items like cheesecake,  beef, or chowder were added to the breakfast, tradition would be broken. Replacement with something new would mean the destruction of tradition. Once a tradition were disappeared, regaining or recovering the same thing is difficult.   Serving the same breakfast makes sense.  

An essayist said that there is nothing new in human world. He criticized people who were chasing after new things. Movie and TV were existing before world war II. There were comedies and tragedies on stages in ancient Greece. Some looks for a beautiful kimono, which existed one thousand years ago. Many, many  things are not new but really traditional.    

Regards.

Eishin Ikeda

Valley Zendo