Not long ago we hatched a plan with Mat to see if folks in the Ottawa area might be interested in giving Shingon practice a try. As luck would have it both fantastic folks and a very conducive place were discovered for us to have our first Shingon practice seminar in this fantastic part of Canada.
So we packed up...
...and headed out.
An additional stoke of luck allowed us to scoop up one of Ajari's senior most students, Pete-san. With over 21 years of practice and study under his belt we were happy to have his experience to share with these new students in this new place. He also made us laugh for almost the entire six hour trip.
We arrived without event at Mat's home in a quaint Quebec suburb of Ottawa. His home was not only inviting but we were greeted by his two daughters who could not have been any more cute. Relaxing, we had a nice snack and eased back after the long drive.
Not long after we had to say goodbye to the girls and get ready to go see the city. Another friend who was traveling with us asked Mat to tell his daughters that we were happy to meet them and that they were beautiful. As they only speak French, Mat relayed the message and no sooner was it deliver than they turned to us and in unison said, "Merci" in the sweetest little girl voices you could ever imagine. Utterly fantastic...
And with that we were off to tour Ottawa....
Ottawa is beautiful, set on the convergence of three rivers and filled with history. We walked Parliament Hill, saw where the various ambassadors to Canada had their residences, strolled downtown a bit, saw some stone lions Mat's ancestors helped carve and ended at an Irish pub. It was a great outing.
Strangely enough we connected with another Mandala Vermont student of Ajari Tanaka's (Jamie-san) who happened to be in Ottawa for a professional seminar. We not only convinced him to join us for our dinner that night, but to stay for our meditation seminar on Sunday. We were not only happy to run into our old friend but stoked to enlist another experienced student to help share the practice with the new folks Mat had assembled. So now we had four sangha members to help establish the new northern frontier of Shingon. That run of good luck signaled that it was time for sushi...
Lots and lots of sushi, and sashimi, and crazy appetizers and as you might notice in the foreground, very tall Asahi's. After more than we probably needed we headed back to Mat's house to rest up for the the next day's events. The trip up and the day spent with old and new friends in this amazing Canadian city could not have been better.
Up early the next morning, we had a good and bumpy drive through fantastic Quebec scenery to our practice place. Our dojo for the day was a place called "Chez Alice" in the very cool town of Wakefield Quebec. Wakefield is a super funky artist's enclave and remote vacation destination. Very small and wonderfully cozy, Wakefield sits right on the Gatineau River. The town is just a sliver of civilization on the southern side of the river which is broad and surrounded by rugged land - rocky outcrops, steep hillsides with deep patches of evergreens. Chez Alice is primarily and artist's studio, but doubles as a Karate Dojo among other things. Today it is our Pure Land.
Ten people came to Chez Alice for the morning session. Without hesitation,we dove right in. Over the course of our morning we sampled and shared a selection of meditations, sutra recitation, mantra and mudra. The morning flew by and folks shared their great attention and energy for our practice. At the end of this first session there was a palpably happy feeling in the room.
And nothing signals its time for lunch like a bunch of happy people...
For lunch, the local fare was yummy and the conversation was even better. The more we got to know the folks Mat had gathered the more we both felt at home and a real, growing connection to the people and place. But before long, completely due to having to much lunch fun and ordering dessert, we were late for our afternoon start time.
So we bolted back to Alice's place and started up.
Two folks from the morning couldn't stay for the afternoon, but two new folks joined our practice so we were again at ten practitioners. The afternoon went by in a blur of instruction, meditation, mudra, visualization and recitations. Everyone was both wonderfully receptive and made a fantastic effort in the practice. But, before we all knew it, our time together was at its end.
In our closing comments to the group, Mat offered to make group practice available for local folks who were interested. The travelers from Mandala Vermont committed to coming back anytime our new friends in Shingon's northern most outpost want to practice together again. We are so grateful to both Mat and all the folks we met on this trip for making us feel so welcome and sharing their spirit with us.
Totally can't wait to go back...
P.S. - a group practice lead by our local student (Mat-san) has happened recently inspired by local interest - oh yeah...
Yay, yay, yay...
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