By Ann
Where is the ordinary? The extraordinary? Can they be here simultaneously, but only one seen? A few minutes ago this space where we are now seated, was empty…no chairs, no students, no bells. It was ordinarily beautiful and then it was made into the extraordinary….by and with chairs, students, sound of bells. But might this scene, too, be of the ordinary?
My hope for each of you is to learn to see beyond what we label ordinary…that you can begin to see beyond that which seems obvious ….to see what makes up your life and the value you bring to it in really seeing both the ordinary and the extraordinary.
I am going to read a poem by a woman named Gayle Brandeis. In some ways, it may seem like a complete disconnect from this talk and the celebration of this morning.
The plum you’re going to eat next summer
doesn’t exist yet; its potential
lives inside a tree you’ll never see
in an orchard you’ll never see, will be touched
by a certain number of water droplets
before it reaches you, by certain angles
of light, by a finite amount of bugs
and dust motes and hands
you’ll never know. The plum you are
going to eat next summer will gather
sugar, gather mass, will harden
at its center so it can soften toward
your mouth. The plum
you’re going to eat next
summer doesn’t know
you exist. The plum you are
going to eat next summer
is growing just for you.GAYLE BRANDEIS
Hakone Zendo 