A bit of Roshi Sama's life history

A few days ago, the zen master at our temple officated over a disagreement some women are having about our shared living space. We are 8 women sharing a tatami mat room about 30' x 30' with 3 thin sliding dividers and curtains separating the shared space. There are 2 toilets outside and one shower down the hall past the central meditation room. Unfortunately, curtains do not keep mosquitoes out. One woman has a lung problem and needs air circulation and another woman is having trouble sleeping because of the mosquitoes. hmmmm...well, the master (Roshi Sama is his name) said ego ego ego is the problem of all of us. Practice Zazen, see the truth, we are all one. we are all one (his words for this phenomenon are actually: Everything myself. One truth. Heaven and Earth one root. Everything myself.).

Then he told a long story beginning with how his mother gave her life to give him birth. I cried from the her conviction and the tenderness of this sacrifice. His mother found out she had cancer 5 or 6 months into her term, and the doctors and her family begged her to have a surgery to save her life. They said this child would forgive her, but she would not listen. She waited to have the surgery till after she birthed him, her 4th child. It was too late for surgery and 3 months later she died.

As he was speaking, he realized it was the anniversary of her death (not the exact month, but the day of the month), so no wonder he wanted to speak about her. I was so touched.

He also shared about his teen years as a special forces agent in the Japanese army. He was a kamakazi pilot. 30 minutes before he was to fly his mission--bomb loaded on the plane, mind fixed on his purpose--the emperor announced that Japan had surrendered. They had lost the war.

He was devastated. All his seniors were dead. They had thrown their lives away and he was still alive. Grief. Agony. Despair. He was so intent on this goal, he had volunteered to join the special forces at 17, one year earlier than you are supposed to be allowed to enter. I thought of my grandfather in the marines at 17 at Pearl Harbor...

Shortly after this agony, Roshi Sama met his teacher, one of Japan's strictest zen masters at the time. This man told him True life is eternal. Birth and death are one. All things are one. This is the truth. Practice Zazen and see, so he did. He practiced exactly as the Roshi taught him and realized satori in about a year and a half, a very short time (and I have a month...right.). When he felt this one-ness, his fierce master cracked a small smile. Good, he said. Now the practice begins. yikes...sartori is where it begins!?!??

What a blessing to be here. Thank you thank you thank you to all who have supported me along the way.
I love you so much.
PS- I can come out from the temple on bath days, the days of the month that end in 4 or 9 (ie the 4th, 9th, 14th, 19th, 24th, and 29th), but I really want to practice a lot, so I may not always come to town.