And off he goes...

So I leave for the Lakes tomorrow to start my four week training period as shuso or 'head trainee'. Can't quite believe it's come round so quickly.

I've no idea what will arise for me over the next month, but have known for a while now that my challenge will be to totally throw myself into it, to fully stand in my own footprint for the whole duration. Just as I was finishing up some work I needed to do, I came across this quote from the late Master Sheng Yen:

Just as when you sit in meditation you just sit, when you sleep, be aware of the totality of your whole being going to sleep. When walking, you just walk. When you eat, you are right there just eating. Plunge your whole life into what you are doing at that very moment and live that way. So we train ourselves to engage our whole being in what we are doing. Whether sitting or eating, you are not engaged in discursive, wandering, or deluded thoughts. All of you—environment, body, and mind—is right there. Whatever you do, whatever the task at hand, your whole life is there at that moment.  

Some people may interpret plunging your whole being into the practice or into the task at hand as a very tense approach. This is incorrect. By putting your whole being into whatever you are doing, you are also being relieved from doing anything else at that moment. Therefore, when you are doing that one thing, that is all you have to care about, and you can do it in a very relaxed manner and attitude. In this light, you will better understand the meaning of engaging your whole being in the present task. This is the relaxed and reposed attitude to practice.
         — From The Method of No-Method: The Chan Practice of Silent Illumination

"Plunge your whole life into what you are doing!" This makes me ring like a bell... can I do it? For a month? I don't know. Try, and fail. Try again.

Have a wonderful August!

Butterwick, nr Penrith - Location of StoneWater Zendo, Lake District
https://osmaps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/54.56868,-2.75464,16