Lovely June evening in Paris, just finished dinner of roast chicken, salad, strawberries in the garden with friends.

Thinking, too, about the start of our Retreat in the Heart of Life tomorrow. And of the news of the day, including the boat full of migrants, Aquarius, that was finally allowed to land in Spain today. That story inspired the photo I posted here, which is a painting that I saw in a shop window in the chic 6th arrondissement of Paris recently. « For those in great danger on the high seas, » it says.

Also thinking of the Zen patriarch Dogen, who in the 13th century wrote a letter to a lay disciple that became the text we now know as Genjokoan. The word genjokoan means, basically, that everything in a person’s life is the living, breathing, manifested way (of the Buddha or of Zen). Which is exactly what we will be looking to experience this week!

So, here we are. « Here is the place; here the way unfolds, » Dogen wrote.

If you haven’t sent me your vow, please do. If you haven’t signed up for the retreat, it’s not too late. In any case, I wish you a fine week, whatever you do, wherever you.