Ten participants gathered at Tahoma One Drop Monastery on Whidbey Island, Washington for the Zen and Chado summer retreat. The schedule was rigorous rising early in morning for chanting , zazen and walking meditation. Meals were vegetarian and were taken in the dining hall using the nested bowls. Everyone partipcated in kitchen clean up or nitten soji on the grounds.
While there were many insights and awakenings during the retreat, real change begins when we do the work. It comes down to the do, gaku, jitsu. The heart, the head, the hands. In my view, change begins in the head, with knowledge of oneself and where you have come from. This is insight and awareness. But insight alone does not often lead to change. It is the beginning and shows us where we have work to do. Behavior has to change.
The hands have to practice the new behavior. Not big behavior change. Start with small changes and do the work consistently. Like wiping the tatami 6 times a day, not because they are dirty, but building in your body habits that change behavior. Tea teaches us to do things consistently. Not once or twice, not for 30 days, but doing it consistently as the new way of doing things. When these habits become ingrained something shifts and it is the normal thing to do, you become a person who cleans tatami 6 times a day. This is shugyo, training not for skill acquisition or development, but training for transformation. That is when the change is the do. The heart, the way of being, in your whole heart, body and mind you have now become the change.
“The Institute for Human Psychology approaches insight in this way. Not as an endpoint, but as an entry point. Not as a solution, but as a signal. Insight tells us where work might occur. Capacity determines whether it can.
This reframing is uncomfortable for many people. It disrupts the idea that understanding oneself deeply should be enough. It challenges the expectation of efficiency in psychological growth. It asks for patience in a culture that rewards clarity and speed.”
This is what tea teaches us. Every week we come to keiko. We sift the tea every class. we clean before and after every class, we prepare every class, week in and week out. The tasks are the same, until it becomes ingrained into our way of being. We can apply it to every day life: sitting meditation, getting in shape, eating healthy, an uncluttered home. All of these things take consistency until they become ingrained into our way of being.
