Letting Go of Body

I had the great fortune to attend a MAPLE Awakening Week as a guest around late spring, or early summer of 2023. These Awakening weeks are what most people would refer to as “meditation retreats.” They are periods of intense, focused meditation practice where the retreatant sets life aside to single pointedly practice meditation for a given period of time. These weeks have also been referred to as meditation “advances” or “assaults” around MAPLE as a more accurate description of what these weeks are like.

During Awakening weeks, Soryu gives 1.5 - 2 hour long exhortations during the evening portion of the schedule. These talks can be extremely intense physically, emotionally, and spiritually, but having Soryu’s presence as the leader, as the teacher helps.
During this particular retreat, Soryu came in with one of his hands held close to his chest. It wasn’t secured by any kind of harness, but it was also very clear some kind of injury had taken place, as he was avoiding its use. The entire Awakening Week passed and not once did Soryu mention his hand. Day by day he would teach, and day by day his hand was held close to his chest, immobile yet consciously held in this particular position.

At the end of the Awakening period, I learned that Soryu had broken his hand in an accident. Soryu had gone the entire week teaching as though nothing had happened, not a single sign of pain or distraction from a broken hand, all while giving hours of talks, guided meditations, interviews, and leading the entire week.