“Each in breath is bringing life into the body, and each out breath is a death. We never know if there'll be another inhale.”
On the third day of our recent Winter Sesshin (silent retreat), Chodo Sensei offers a profound teaching on the practice of bowing and the art of surrendering the constructed self.
Through the story of Gray Wolf and Zen Master Raven, he explores why true bowing leaves no self left to be humiliated; it is awakening expressing itself.
Chodo Sensei shares his own journey with body dysmorphia, addiction recovery, and the physical limitations that now prevent him from doing full prostrations.
With characteristic honesty and humor, he reminds us that sesshin is “not a spa weekend”, it's rigorous practice that asks us to surrender to the forms, the discomfort, and our resistance itself.
Drawing on Naomi Shihab Nye's poem “Kindness,” he invites us to consider: What stories are we holding onto? Can we surrender to this practice as it is, releasing our expectations of “huge awakenings” and bright lights, and instead bow to reality as it unfolds, moment by moment, breath by breath?
