Those who donated to our crowdfunding Indiegogo campaign last fall are getting daily e-mails this month as a thank-you and part of the May Sit. We wanted to share these with everyone, though they are a day or so later. This was the May 25 offering.

The first text in italics is from Cultivating the Empty Field by Zen Master Hongzhi, translated by Taigen Daniel Leighton with Yi Wu. The commentary following it is from one of the teachers at Dharma Rain Zen Center.

Travelling around in completion without center or edges, cutting away corners, the circle revolves leaving no residue in the empty cave. In the clear sky of autumn the moon is cold, its radiance bathing the night. The perfect weather of spring is embroidered clouds and elegant flowers. The gateway is open and can be passed through. The wheel of energetic attention turns back to the particulars. All this is the affair that patch-robed monks accept as their own function.

Accepting our own function graciously allows us to realize the benevolence that surrounds us. This function is closer than activities, accomplishments, ideas, preferences, personality. This function may be expressed through such modes, but its essence is both more intimate and more pervasive. We return to harmony with this functioning by noticing what is immediate. When we do, we can feel this travelling around in completion that Hongzhi recommends – nothing extra is carried along, needed, or sought after. Only having this moment, there is a layer of peace, clarity and acceptance that refreshes. Keep coming back here and this harmony spreads, aligning our life.