Genjo-ji, Zen/Kyudo 09…day 2 – Ashibumi

It took me awhile to get fully functional on Thurs morning. I had a terrible time trying to sleep. I knew that would happen so it was not a surprise and just one of those things I had to deal with. My own little personal challenge for the day. I envied those that fell asleep quickly last night…sigh

Morning Zazen was now easier than last year. I knew what to expect and having my own sitting practice everyday now for a few years I am beyond leg pain for a 30 min sitting. Here we do sitting, walking meditation, then more sitting, chanting, bowing, more chanting. It is much more formal than my Shaolin Chan lay practice, which is the Japanese way. Anyway, as much as I dislike getting up a 4:45 am, the morning stillness, and Chi is great! Hearing the roosters crow and feeling the world wake up is very cool.

After morning Zazen and breakfast there is a short break before my work practice. The assignment for most of the group is to weed the lower parking lot.

Perfect that is where we are setup and it will make the place look nice for the closing demo on Sunday. Thankfully it is not beyond hot this year. People choose what tool they want to use. My weapon of choice was a shovel over a Hoe or rake. I used Shaolin principles with it use. Understanding what I wanted to do, and the nature of how it worked. Several others were using it like digging, with lots of back and arms. they use a lot of energy and dug up a lot of dirt for nothing. I saw it as a bladed weapon rather than used for digging, I used it for cutting. Not going deep just sliding across deep enough to cut or chop off the roots, but not waste effort on getting extra dirt.

I used my foot for power when needed on the hard stuff and arms as a guide. I thought I got more results with less energy. I noticed after a while several others started using the same method. The Shaolin way is not just about fighting it is about being in Harmony with what you do and your environment.

Kyudo practice officially started today. After a talk from Don the leader, Lucy the other senior instructor did a formal opening first shot.

Afterward the group started with Makiwara shooting. We did 2 sets of three shots each.

My corrections were, I was over drawing for the Ya I was using, tilting my head and needed to raise my right elbow more. Not to bad. However the tricky part came after the corrections, was not to think to much about them. Because that was causing me to go past my “balance” point, and lose the smoothness and power of my shot. So make the correction, then let it go,  and just shoot…very Zen. Easy to say ,  hard to do.

Lunch time, vegetarian lasagna. It was a bit salty but good!! Again I keep to the Ch’an way and did not over eat.

I was a bit more than 70%  but I did not over do it. After lunch a break were I wrote some note for this blog. I was falling asleep while writing but did not dare to take a nap otherwise another sleepless night!…yosh!

PM:

Zazen was difficult tonight. I could not get into it. My back was hurting, I kept nodding off ( falling asleep), Yuk. It was a struggle, but I made it through of course.

The fog is coming in and the wind had pickedup while we were in the Zendo. It was nice listening to the wind blowing through the Redwoods. I should be able to sleep to night I thought . It was getting colder so I turned on the heater in the Yurt, big change from last year when we wanted to just pass out in the refrigerator. Now it was turn on some heat and zip up the sleeping bag! I did not even try to stay up past lights out at 9:30 I went right to bed and slept pretty well. The late night restroom breaks are a drag, as there is no restroom in the Yurt…