On the first bell, sit down, feel the earth beneath you, give yourself to her. Take a breath and expand within, filling your whole body with fresh energy. On the exhale, expand into the space around you. Occupy that space.
And now on the second bell, like Avalokitesvara in her posture of royal ease, with that one knee up and her foot on the ground, rise up and share your heart with the world, that heart of yours that burns for justice, and peace.
Just to do this continuously is called the host within the host.
—Chan master Dongshan
Courage has nothing to do with our determination to be great. It has to do with what we decide in that moment when we are called upon to be more. —US poet Rita Dove
WEDNESDAY 4/24/19 10:30 PM NAIROBI: OPERATION BRING JOHN HOME, DAY 1
I’m in a very comfortable queen bed with fresh pillows, sheets, and a comforter. It’s got mosquito netting all around. Outside, dogs barking, the chirping of something—frogs? Esther’s brother Jack owns this place.
Dr. Esther Ngotho is a public health nurse, US citizen, a Kenyan immigrant from the Kikuyu tribe, and my friend. A tireless advocate for vulnerable people, she will eventually become a board member of my sangha, Zen Center North Shore, and will run for mayor of Beverly, Massachusetts, in 2021, her campaign opening up our city in ways never seen before. Esther and I have a pact: to fully actualize our respective Black experience and white privilege in the service of getting shit done. In the midst of social injustice and racial prejudice, we will not be victims of our
