what an enjoyable, exhilerating evening! a few weeks back, i extended an offer to hyon gak sunim to come to finlandia and experience what our coop was like- dinner and everything. last nite he came. the house got super-excited and cleaned! well, at least as much as is possible when you are dealing with a coop. john and i made veggie pad thai. well, that was all we were going to make until we looked outside the kitchen at 6:50 and saw 30 some odd people (many new faces) who heard about the monks and were excited to hear them speak! so, we all rushed and threw together some couscous and tofu and veggies and whatnot… all was good.
the monks came (hyun gak sunim and hyon moon) and seemed delighted by our atmosphere (and we were excited to have them there!) everyone ate lots of food (to the point where tummies were overfull). questions went both ways- housemates asked about zen, monks asked about house, both groups discussed zen and philosophy. hyon gak sunim entertained everyone with stories of how many buddhist/zen people got involved thru illicit drugs and how they got their master to explore it (his only thoughts were: same as always, nothing different even after 4.5 hits of acid). the coop was rolling on the floor. both monks told stories for hours and the coop responded with joy!

then there was zephyr. we have this 6 month old mut of a dog who is precious. zephyr is always around and is the most friendly of all dogs alive. the monks loved him and he loved the monks. they were so overjoyed by showing his zen nature to others and playing with him, wishing the zen center could have a dog.

after the meal, we gave the monks a tour of the house and hyon gak sunim and i discussed the possibility of a zen cooperative. they were impressed with the similarities between their atmosphere and ours and we were impressed just talking with them. the final laughter of the evening was when hyon moon (who is not fully comfortable with english) blurted out “what are pot heads?” after seeing the wall. we lost it and hyon gak sunim had to explain…

the nite went so well. i walked out of the house afterwards with such a large smile on my face. shu and i went on to fire and water where i was just at peace with myself. i went to bed smiling….