Coming And Going

This is a typical time of transition at City Center - a number of residents are away visiting family, though the building does not feel so quiet as we have a handful of people up from Tassajara for their interim between Practice Periods. It is always nice to see how people are doing, to catch a little of the glow that always emanates from those who have just spent three quiet months in the mountains, and as always it brings out the little voice that says - you should go down again and do some intense practice. Actually I did receive a card from friends at Tassajara a couple of weeks ago who had heard that I might be coming down to take over as ino there - Zen Center is a great place for the circulation of the unsubstantiated...
Well the last few weeks have felt intense enough up here; there was already a certain level of activity with the practice period here, and then since Thanksgiving it has been really non-stop, with Rohatsu, Buddha's Enlightenment, the Coming of Age program, Jerome's death, plus all the other ceremonies and meetings, live-streaming and getting talks online, and of course just keeping the zendo running.
The doanryo has been somewhat improvised this week - last night we were missing the doshi, jiko, doan and kokyo, but luckily we had some of the 'old faithful' non-resident doans to fill the gaps. This morning I think only the shoten and the light-up chiden were in their regular slots, everyone else was substituting for someone who was away or sick - and everyone did a fine job too. This evening, no doshi, jiko, fukudo or doorwatch. We managed with a combination of subs - one resident who was unfortunate enough to be leaving her room on the Holy Hallway just as I was thinking I needed to address our doan shortage; a Tassajara priest who was in the small kitchen and could tell I was after something before I even put on what I call my 'ino's voice', which is when I address someone by name with a particular questioning tone so they know I am about to ask them to do something; finally one of the 'old faithfuls' again, who was one of the first people through the door as I was standing there, and who offered before I could even ask.
In the end we had four priests at evening service - a guest visit from my esteemed predecessor, also up from Tassajara, plus our visiting Japanese priest - which is more than we have had at some morning services recently. Another fine job.