a Zen Breeze

Thursday, August 6
Cicadas are singing in the trees in my garden, and big white cumulonimbus are shining in the blue sky. Today is also a fine, tropical day, but it is too hot for us to work in the garden, weeding and cleaning.

Now I am also 68 and my wife is 62, so working in the temple garden becomes harder year by year, therefore sometimes I think of how we could lighten our work.

A few months ago, on Facebook, I had the luck to meet a master of weeding and cleaning the garden. His name is Ikegawa, I met him first more than 15 years ago in my Zen school. In those days he was the managing director of his father in law’s amusement company.
I guess that he was frustrated with his job and his father in law. Several years ago he left the company and became a master of weeding and cleaning the garden after practicing as an apprentice.

Of course, soon, I asked him to help us to weed and clean the garden. The day before yesterday, in the morning, he came to my temple with his young assistant. “Hello, Mukaisan! Nice to see you. How have you been?”
He said with a smiling, sunburnt face. He looked very happy and vigorous, I also felt happy to meet such a nice old friend.

It was a very hot and humid day, but they worked eagerly and carefully the whole day. Now my temple’s garden is well cleaned and beautiful.

In Dogen’s story Tenzo said, “Other people are not me”,

but, now I can say “Other people are me.”