Deer Park Monastery, Escondido, CA
Another week begun. A day of ups and downs.

I put a special effort into re-constituting my practice by using time to my mindful advantage, but not letting it rule me. There’s plenty of time at the monastery to have a set schedule for disciplinary purposes, but enough flexibility to not feel pressured by it.

As a long-term guest, I take on responsibilities related to laypeople as time goes on and as appropriate. On Tuesday mornings, there is a DVD Dharma Talk by Thich Nhat Hanh for laypeople down in Clarity Hamlet. At first, they asked me if I could do it, and now I’ve gladly taken the responsibility for receiving the DVD from the A/V department during the morning, and then running the DVD. I also make sure any new guests know where the viewing room is, making sure the DVD player is set up, and setting up cushions and chairs. Oh, and my responsibilities also include getting there in time to do all that, a bit of challenge when fitting in morning coffee after breakfast, but the responsibility is emphasized with my re-constituted practice.

So this responsibility has been taking form over the past several weeks without me being very mindful of it. It struck me during the Dharma Talk this morning that it was a responsibility, and I realized that to cap off the responsibility, I should be inviting the convening and dispersing bells (we don’t “ring” bells, we “invite” them, got it? I’m not gonna explain that again). I hadn’t rung, er, invited the bell to start the DVD, but it wasn’t too late for the end. So at the end of the talk, there were three rings, er, invitings of the bell on the DVD to mark the end of the talk at Plum Village where it was recorded, and then I took the initiative of inviting the bell to end our gathering here.

Inviting the bell at the monastery is a pretty big deal, and I think it did make a difference. Instead of the DVD ending, and then people just randomly getting up and shuffling out and chatting with scattered energy, the bell at the end brought our collective energy together, and then when the bell ended, the energy released like a collective exhalation. An older Vietnamese woman, a guest from Pennsylvania, told me afterwards that I was doing a great job in my practice, and she was surprised that I had only been to Deer Park for five weeks. I think she was hinting that I seemed very natural in it.

So those are some ups. Most of my downs are related to feeling pulled away from my practice by being a layperson/guest. Stuff along those lines. And there’s a cute Vietnamese female guest staying down at Clarity who is causing me great suffering. In my pants. Just kidding, that’s a joke! Laugh, kids! After not having gone out with anyone for six years, she had all the qualities I’m looking for in a woman: she’s breathing. Hooha! I'm just full of them today. What's a monk without a sense of humor? A layperson! Hahaha.

5:25 – woke up
5:52 – morning sitting/Touching the Earth
7:00 – morning exercise: fast walking around the Meditation Hall
7:30 – walking meditation
8:10 – breakfast
9:30 – Laypeople Dharma Talk DVD in Clarity Hamlet.
11:00 – prepared a guestroom for two (biological) brothers of a monk
12:30 – lunch
2:30 – prepared for a layperson tea gathering in Clarity
3:00 – tea gathering
5:00 – personal walking meditation; mentor not available for meeting
6:00 – dinner
7:40 – personal sitting in my room