High Five!

[Shohei]

A digital High Five! (shown as ^5 in gamer geek sp33kz) to All the live sitters who just finished up and a future on to all those finishing up or sitting at a later date!

Special thankyous to David and Jundo - - You did a wonderful job!

I will post some thoughts eventually!
must go sleep now... im 13 hours ahead jetlagged :S and i nver left the ground

Deep Gassho and A Rocking Rohatsu to you all!
Dirk

PS still giggling my butt off @ the chant/dance

[Yugen]

Re: High Five!

Dirk,
I second that! I joined for the second half of Saturday and sat through most of the overnight.... I have to make up the first half day and last five hours - I will do that this coming week. I have not used the "sitting room" much, so I felt very connected to all of you... more so than usual!

Thank you to Jundo and David for leading us... this required a lot of work and preparation...

I am curious as to how Bob is making out in the desert - he is with is in spirit but without connectivity!

Gassho,
Alex

[Undo]

Re: High Five!

Hi fives from me too.
It was a pleasure sitting with you all.
Fantastically well done Jundo each section linked without a problem and was very simple to follow.
There was some lovely literature in there too, very much appreciated.
Also thanks to my lovely wife for helping spare the time to do it

I think I need lots of work on my speed eating though. Our dog Frida is being blamed for the aftermath as I type. Sorry Frida ops:
( I will do the honest thing and own up in a minute )

Anyway sleep and thought of what has happened is in order.

Deep thanks again

Philip

[Dosho]

Re: High Five!

Hey Dirk (and everyone!),

Just got up from a brief few hours of sleep to see this thread and your kind words on the other one that I missed by just a few minutes. Many thanks.

I know what you mean about feeling jetlagged and what Philip said about needing some time to think about what's happened. I have many thoughts, but I think that leaving them to simmer for a day or so is the right thing.

I will say that the preparation Jundo put into the retreat and the work he and David did during was orchestrated and performed beyond what I could have expected. I guess I still have the music dharma talk on the brain! I'd have to disagree with Jundo's self assessment of being tone deaf though since there were many moments, at least for me, of perfect pitch.

Thank you...all of you.

Gassho,
Scott

[BrianP]

Re: High Five!

Hi Scott,
Glad to hear your wife is doing ok.

I joined the retreat late as I only managed to fix my computer problem Saturday morning (UK time) so missed the live sessions up to then. What a fantastic experience! When the last session closed I was almost to tears. What a debt of gratitude we owe to our dear friend Jundo. Many thanks to David too.

Deep bows to Jundo and best wishes to all,

Yours in the Dharma,

Brian.

[Shindo]

Re: High Five!

Dear all - high five indeed !!

just finished (using all recorded versions in accordance with the schedule) - what a tremendous experience - filled with highs & lows, wonderful dharma talks (especially the last one) & great oryoki & samu (our loo is spotless )

A very big thank you to Jundo (& David too), the last two days have been flawless.

I look forward to discussing our experiences properly over the next few days, but now I have to:

- kiss the children good night
- get ready for work
- say hello & thank you to my wife
- put my knees in a bucket of water as they are about to spontaneously combust!

Deepest gassho to all

Jools

[Borsuk]

Re: High Five!

Hello everyone!

I don't know where to start! So I won't!

For now I just want to express my deep thanks to all sitters of this retreat; those who sat and those who will sit. We all made it together and it's a a truly wonderful thing

But of course triple deep thanks to our teacher Jundo. Thank you for your hard work, drive, commitment, passion, compassion, presence, and peace.

On a personal note, I don't know how to quite express with these clumsy words my gratitude for your taking me into your home and making me feel so welcome and part of the retreat. Thank you also for your understanding, and for giving me a kick up the arse when I needed it!!

Nine bows, friends,

David

[Hans]

Re: High Five!

High Five from the barren wasteland that is Germany


Gassho,

Hans

[Tb]

Re: High Five!

Hi.
I'm one of the "latesitters" as i sat today, and tomorrow.
I have to train my speed eating, and remember to get a cushion for my "seizabench"...
Other than that, not much to say than thank you.

May the force be with you
Tb

[Gregor]

Re: High Five!

High Five from the frozen hills of Vermont . . . .

Ran the whole range from peacefull and profound, to difficult at times, even more than a few laughs during the netcasts -- thanks so much to everyone envolved.

[Dojin]

Re: High Five!

Another high five from israel...
thank you, Jundo And David for giving us this wonderful gift.
thank you, to everyone who sat and will sit together even though not together.

it was wonderfully difficult, exciting and pretty much everything.
it was harder yet easier than i thought it would be.

thank you students
thank you teachers
thank you everyone

Gassho, Daniel.

[roky]

Re: High Five!

you guys definitely have my admiration -- i never could've done those overnight hours without a serious dose of amphetamine, and i decided that the amount of green tea i was doing was already too much, for this guy who is prone to caffeine addiction

i started on friday evening, and came out yesterday evening -- about 10 miles out in the desert from here -- as always, i find that being physically alone on a retreat is difficult for me, and i prefer to do my retreats at a retreat center, for that reason -- but thanks, jundo, the schedule, and the chant book at least gave me some sense of connection to the "bigger picture", which i think helped me stick it out -- and i defintely would have liked to have even the prerecorded retreat, but then the car battery would've not started the car at the "end", and so i'd still be out there now :!:

it was the quietest retreat i've done - not even trees for the wind -- found out that not only do my ears ring, as i knew, but there were other "hums", at different levels -- either that, or i was hallucinating

and my knee is getting worse, so had to adjust my position, even doing seiza position -- i ate rice and soymilk for oriyoki, worked out well both in simple preparation and as a simple object of mediation

samu was to do archeological surveying -- i discovered an ancient trail, complete with artifacts, which we will now take steps to protect from damage

thank you all -- and thanks to my companion, louie the mutt -- he never broke silence, except to warn off the pack of coyotes, and he was there as my protector -- that is his samu -- he is so intelligent, peaceful, affectionate, yet ferocious

scott, may you and your family stay well -- take care of the lake for me, it certainly needs all the help it can get

gassho, bob

[Juko]

Re: High Five!

I also would like to add my high fives and deep appreciation to Jundo & David and everyone. I retreated to a loft in our home where I also slept, so I also am very grateful to my spouse for agreeing to honor noble silence & taking care of our abundant animal family (which included giving laxatives to an overweight cat for two days). I also found I was moved to tears by the end; after so many years of being a solo Buddhist practitioner, I have nothing but gratitude for the presence we each brought to this retreat and the deep sense of Sangha we create here.

Gassho,
Tina

[KellyRok]

Re: High Five!

Hello all,

High fives from rural West Virginia! I started my retreat early Monday and finished up late on Tuesday. As others have already stated...I too was moved to tears when all was completed. This was my first, but definitely not my last, intensive retreat!

It was hard in the beginning, but once I got over myself, it turned out to be one of the most beautiful and moving experiences I've ever encountered (second only to the birth of my kids). Even though I sat with the recorded version, I truly felt like I was sitting with all of you, and it felt so warm and comfortable. I too have a very clean bathroom and all of my husband's work clothes are ironed for like two weeks :lol: (those, I did for samu).

Jundo - thank you for comforting humor along with the deeply cotemplative and intensive talks. Was that your stomach I heard growling at one point? It made me laugh because during the retreat I was just thinking how hungry I was when I heard a belly grumble and I thought it was mine.

I needed a few days to get some perspective and let things really set in. I will share more with you all, I guess when we are all ready.

Many thanks and bows to all you beautiful people of Treeleaf,
Kelly Rok

[chessie]

Re: High Five!

I am so proud of all of you with the retreat and rakusus! I had to drop out early on for personal reasons, but have followed closely your progress and thoughts. It has been a huge blessing (okay--put whatever Buddhist appropriate word works there) and encouragement for me to 'follow along'.

Deep gassho times 3 to all and each of you, and to Jundo for making this all possible!

Ann