Small World

Today my teacher gave me a senko-ire (a wooden stick incense case) that belonged to a woman priest named Jiho Sargent-roshi. She lived in Japan for something like 40 years, and was almost certainly one of the first Westerners to go and train there. A few years ago she became ill and had moved to Eugene because her daughter was living here. She died last week and her daughter donated many of her belongings to our temple.

It's an odd thing when you inherit the remnants of a person's life. Looking through her robes, books, calligraphy and old study notebooks feels strange. Not bad, but her belongings remind us, "This was a life and now..."

Jiho Sargent-roshi also wrote a book, called Asking About Zen: 108 Answers, which is quite a good introduction to zen and Buddhism in Japan. There is information in this book I haven't seen available in English anywhere else. A good reference to have on your shelf.

おやすみなさい。