You’re Just An Ordinary Person

In my first year of training at MAPLE, I attended 2 awakening weeks, which is how MAPLE referred to its meditation retreats, as a guest, and then 2 more as an apprentice. These were my first experiences working with a spiritual teacher in person. I began these training experiences with hesitancy and uncertainty as to how to relate to a teacher. Before I had trained at MAPLE, I didn’t think spiritual teachers could be accessible to a beginner like myself, and I imagined they would generally be high and mighty in some way. As my training went on, I found that I could connect with MAPLE’s head teacher Soryu easily, and that he never treated me as unimportant or even different from him.

After my apprenticeship, I left and began a period of trying to integrate my practice into life, and integrate the teachings I had received at MAPLE. I found that joy was very accessible for me in the months after I left, and that I was filled with faith that I could walk this path. After a few months I realized I wanted to go back for another awakening week. I returned for the June retreat.

In one of my interviews during that week, I burst into the room with an overflowing joy and shared my realization: “You’re just an ordinary person, with an ordinary mind! Even though you do extraordinary things, you do it with an ordinary mind.”

Soryu lit up with huge smiling energy and replied enthusiastically, “That’s right!”