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fr uits of the WINTER RETREAT
Peace Is
Mandatory,
Plumbing Is
Optional
by Margaret Kirschner
photo by Emily Whittle
Visualize Deer Park during winter retreat. Imagine the logistics
needed to accommodate 250 monastics and approximately 250 lay
retreatants, up to 1,000 or so on Days of Mindfulness when the local
community visits. Picture the kitchens that prepare the food, the
dishes, pots, pans, and silverware that need to be washed after each
meal. Estimate the number of showers, hand washings, toilet flushings,
tooth brushing, tea making, and the amount of water needed to
keep the gardens alive and flourishing.
During the afternoon free time, a retreatant goes back to her
room, ready to take a shower. She turns the faucet. Nothing happens.
The water is off. She checks with neighbors. Theirs is off also. Next
with the kitchen, and the restrooms near the Meditation Hall. Solidity
Hamlet, Clarity Hamlet–all are without water. The pumps had stopped
working. Was there panic Was there grumbling and complaining
Was the water restored shortly thereafter No, no, and no. The aridness
of the desert enclosed the Deer Park retreatants.
Shortly after, the monastics announced a plan. They said the
kitchens had reserve tanks that allowed enough water for meal preparations
and cleanup. Large trucks would bring barrels of water, which
would be placed outside our dormitories, along with buckets so we
could bring in water to flush the toilets. We were asked to use the old
slogan, “If it’s yellow, it’s mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down.” Packets
of chlorinated wipes appeared here and there. Mindfulness practice
continued as if nothing troublesome had occurred. The water did not
come back on until the next day, at least eighteen hours later. But even
when it returned, only one pump was working, so we were asked to
continue to conserve as much as possible in the week to come.
What caused peace to pervade the difficulties created by this situation
Was it the calm manner of the monk who made the announcement
that solicited the acceptance of the water shortage Was it the
mindfulness practice of the participants Surely both contributed, but
the initial meeting of the monastics who were charged with responsibility
must have been a generating source. There had to have been
a committee of calm thinking ones, with an awareness that nothing
is permanent. There must have been trust in the skills of those who
were to do the repairs and an understanding that creative solutions
come from serene minds. I’d have loved to have been a mouse in the
corner watching the mindfulness that contributed to everything working
out so harmoniously.
And so it goes at our retreat, day by day. Each small activity,
imbued with mindfulness, builds further mindfulness and takes us
through life’s vexations with equanimity and joy. May we show our
gratitude by remembering this experience and by sharing this accepting
awareness with our families and communities.
Margaret Kirschner, True Silent Sound, lives in
Portland, Oregon and practices with the Portland
Community of Mindful Living. She was ordained into
the Order of Interbeing during the winter retreat.
the Mindfulness Bell 15