my eagle peak friends

It's been a long time since I've been able to devote the kind of time to my practice (at least activities) that I was used to a few years ago. In truth, I needed to take a step back to in order to see some things for myself.  But even if we never get to spend the kind of time we used to, in those glorious early morning tosos and eating at Au Bon Pan before they shut down the one by the Culture Center, I will always remember those days as a time of growth for me.

Every morning that I plied myself out of bed at 6:30 on a Sunday, it was partly about my Human Revolution, but largely about seeing my eagle peak friends-- Chucky, Jeremy, Emily, Eddie, Mariko and all my youth division comrades.

I'm especially thinking of Chucky these days. The Joffees and the Hortons are like these Lion Buddhist families. Three kids in each family,  matching perfectly in age. And we lost Mr. Horton this year. And while I'm sending my daimoku to both families, I know it's not enough.

I wish I could have one of those "lifetime" conversations with Chucky like we used to have before he moved to LA and I drifted into my reconciling faith with reality phase. I wish we could walk up 5th Ave, it barely being light outside, while I smack Chucky & tell him to stop smoking.

But even though we can't get the time back, this song will always remind me of Chucky and those days of music in Union Square, traveling to Staten Island to see members, being challenged by them to not shut down when things got hard. Somehow it all seemed like a breeze, even though it wasn't. But this song just sounds like the reminder that once, with great pillars around me & a lot of prayer, everything was a New York summer day, stretching out into infinity. And all you had to do was be there for each other.

And of balancing the unrelenting progress (through discipline) we saw for our lives with some of  the most fun we've ever had. Just walking through the streets as Boddhisatvas of the Earth.

I'll be sending D's from Scotland, my Lion-like comrades.