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This Month's Feature Story: "Living at Great Vow"

Thursday, January 30, 2025 5:50 PM | Program Administrator (Administrator)

Great Vow Monastery is a residential community of lay and ordained people engaged in around-the-clock Zen Buddhist practice. The practice heritage of Great Vow is the White Plum Soto/Rinzai lineage of Taizan Maezumi Roshi, and the guiding teachers there are Jan Chozen Bays and Hogen Bays Roshi, co-abbots. 

Desiree interviewed Seishin Mitsuzan and Aidan Fay for this story, both of whom have immersed themselves in the monastic training at Great Vow.

Desiree: To begin our interview, please give me a time frame for when you were each at Great Vow--Seishin?  Aidan?

Seishin: My first time at Great Vow was way back in 2017--and I was just entering a practice of Zen at that time.  I initially did 3 weeks at Great Vow, then 3 weeks at Tahoma One Drop Monastery on Whidbey Island, then went back to Great Vow another 2 months! I returned for another 2-month period in 2019; returning after for some 2 weeks to a month.  I'll be back there for 2 weeks in March also.

Aidan: I was recently there from November 5th-December 15th--the second half of Ango (intense period of monastic training). I want to return for a long weekend soon...what I noticed right away as I merged this monastic practice is that I couldn't decide if it was "easy?" or "hard?!"...Usually I can discriminate easily; for instant at a 9-5 job, "oh, this is easy or oh, this is hard..." But! At Great Vow, I was working really hard and for long hours, and realistically I was really doing hard training, but it didn't seem like that--it just seemed very natural and spontaneous... 

Seishin: Those earlier times were very chaotic times in my life and one thing I've noticed is--especially for young people, it is a great container to get started--more consistency in practice--great to really buckle down and do a lot of practice in a short amount of time...(harder to do in lay life...)

Aidan: I wouldn't ever say that people need to practice with people their own age, but there is, in a young person, a certain neurotic energy that is interesting to experience...When you're practicing with a lot of elders/ experienced practitioners, it's different. I think there is this "neurotic drive" that is based on suffering, as a young person, the searching of a young person which is good to see reflected.

Seishin: There's also a cultural difference in generations--and sometimes more difficult as a newer person to the sangha to feel that connection grounding in practice with very different ages, culturally...

Desiree: I know you were relating to me some offerings there that you really enjoyed--one was informal talks coming from everyone--

Aidan: They did this thing called Zen X where they had people give these 15 minute talks--not on Dharma--but just on any topic--it was so cool because everyone was working on their attention and awareness, there was such an engagement--one priest talked about their trip to Greece--with a slideshow...normally, that could have been so boring!-- but, with the heightened attention to detail and willingness to listen--it was totally amazing!

Seishin: Just an aside, but I'm thinking it would be great for Red Cedar to do something like this--sometimes, instead of a Dharma talk, we could do like, 3 mini-talks from different people and give more of a chance for getting-to-know each other more intimately...

Aidan: One thing that was very impactful, was that Chozan Roshi did a circle dance with everyone--kind of an "old time hippy dance feel" and even one with feathers--but it didn't feel "hippy"--very sincere and authentic...priceless experience of bonding--

Desiree: [remembered doing The Elm Dance that Joanna Macy brought back--beautiful and emotional--]

Desiree: Thinking about questions now around letting go of ego--anything that stands out?

Seishin: I remember going from "normal" life, to giving up so many of these "normal things"--like talking, touching, and remembering struggling with giving up these--thinking about how we are compelled to conform there and having to give up the doing things "our way."

Aidan: A big thing that really affected me was that we started doing   "gratitude journals" and it was during the time of the election results coming in as Trump was re-elected.  I remember feeling very anxious about it all morning, same anxiety from 4 years before, that, at that time, was prolonged.  But I did the gratitude journal at lunchtime--and the feeling disappeared--forever--it never returned for the entire time I was there.  It was a very powerful experience because it showed me very clearly how important that practice of gratitude is. Also, at breakfast one morning, they talked about how Maezumi Roshi said that incense is an offering for the ancestors--food for the ancestors--since they no longer can eat physical food.  Having this thought attached to lighting incense gives it a sense of purpose--that isn't just about us--same with the Oriyoki meals--really started hitting me more--showing appreciation and gratitude.

Question from Seishin: [for Aidan] How was sleep deprivation for you?

Aidan: I had so much energy actually--Hogan Roshi reminded us not to have preconceived notions--don't think "oh I'm going to be sooo tired..." Although I was so tired on the last day!

Seishin: How was the body thing?

Aidan: Oh! Man!--terrible! I was obsessively stretching and I think it was telling my mind that I was in more pain than I really was!

Seishin: Take away for me: there is no escape from the body pain at longer retreats--no matter what you do--but when sesshin ends--it just instantly goes away...?? Huh?--where did it go?! In terms of sleep deprivation I think it was a struggle early on--I would especially get sleepy in the morning, but I've learned that despite that, I'm not really tired...I can tap into that energy and the more I do, the more it serves me in life in general. I did some all-night stints just to really sleep deprive myself and experiment with this, not really sure why I did it now--not sure if it was really healthy to do...

Seishin: I will be going to Tassajara for practice period in October, and back to Great Vow and more retreats in the future.  Part of why I chose to become a nurse, is that it is SO flexible--I can do these 3 month stints either by quitting a job (easy to find another) or by taking a leave of absence...People think sometimes there is a way to "ease into these retreats" (which by the way are really essential to practice) but I think it's best to just dive in.  There is a habit of thinking, "oh, I want to sit more, oh, I want to go on longer retreats, etc." but when we really just do it, we're forced to figure out how to move through all of it...

Desiree: Anything else?

Seishin: I think it is so helpful for everyone to experience studying under different teachers and experience different forms, different lineages...

Aidan: It is so cool to be part of different ways of doing things--like shouting at gut level, the ShoSaiMyo KiChiJo Dharani!!

Seishin: Would be so interesting to invite some of these different lineages to lead short retreats at Sansui-ji.

Aidan: Also, great to have so many opportunities online!

Desiree: Well! Thank you both for offering these great observations about your experiences and your practice!!  Deep bows!

Seishin Mitsuzan is on the path of priesthood and will be entering Tassajara Monastery's fall practice period for 3 months, in October of this year

Aidan Fay will be attending our annual Precepts Study class, sewing a Rakusu and taking Jukai (Bodhisattva vows) this year.

Seishin Mitsuzan

 

Aiden Fay

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