On the Progression of Improvement

After every awakening advance (what others might call a “retreat”), we emerge from the long Noble Silence with a gratitude breakfast. Each participant, including the teacher, has a chance to share gratitude, appreciations and memories from the prior week. The kitchen crew makes some special treats we don’t usually have, such as pancakes or vegan ice cream, so the meal requires more cooks. More often than not, they’d start preparing before the official cooking time.

During this gratitude breakfast in May 2024, Manuel said, as part of his share: "You might have noticed I was sitting close to the door in the zendo. In the beginning, I was really scared because the door handle was at eye level."

This brought on much delightful laughter from the group, because many had been in that position before. He continued cheerfully, “I always saw it coming close. I was bumped four times, but most of the time, it was fine. And I just want to give a big thank-you to every single one of you who was mindful of the door, and made sure I felt comfortable staying there.”

After more laughter and a pause following Manuel's remarks, Soryu stated solemnly, "Three would've been better.”

“Or zero,” I added quietly.

There was a pause again. Soryu continued, still solemn, “Two would’ve been better than three.”

Some people laughed. He continued, as serious as before, “One would’ve been better than two.”

More laughter followed. He asked, “What was that, Kyōshin?”

“Zero?” I offered, bringing forth a new wave of laughter. He finally chuckled a little, not saying anything more.

The following week, he made the head monk add a door stop to be used until we were mindful enough to bump people zero times.