Kyōsei Kempinsky, Rev.

In the winter of 2016 I arrived in the US and stayed with the Shasta Abbey community for nine months. During my stay I was offered the opportunity to spend some time at one of the hermitages, to explore and reflect on living amongst the wild life there: bears, rattlesnakes, mountain lions, deer, coyote, squirrels and with the nearest neighbours living some distance away.

When we are willing to let thoughts and emotions surface without trying to change how they appear in our mind and to let them pass through, we are not driven by our fabricated stories; this is to sit still without being moved by them. Emotions of being worried or concerned, fearful or uneasy and so forth can drive us when we follow our old tendencies – or we can discover how to work with them without avoiding or being engulfed by our conditioning.

Issue: only available as part of Journal, Summer 2018 pdf to download

Published as part of the Journal of the OBC. Please ask permission to reprint. OBC Copyright Policy