This past weekend, the Rocks and Clouds Zendo community gathered to celebrate a momentous occasion: the birthday of Siddhartha Gautama, known to us as the Buddha. It was a day of warmth, connection, and deep reflection.

Terragno Roshi led the celebration with a profound talk, reminding us that this day honors not just the birth of the historical Buddha, but also our spiritual lineage, including revered figures like Robert Aitken Roshi. In a beautiful coincidence, it was also Terragno Roshi’s birthday. We celebrated him with a card, a gift and a cake.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Phil and Larry, who graciously opened their beautiful home to our Sangha for this special celebration. Their land, cultivated with the principles of permaculture, is a testament to their profound attention and care. It is a work of art, adorned with vibrant flowers and thoughtfully tended landscapes, reflecting the deep connection they have with the earth. Their generosity and the serene beauty of their home created a perfect setting for our gathering, enriching our celebration with the warmth of their hospitality and the harmony of their surroundings.

Terragno Roshi emphasized that “Buddha” literally means “awake.” This awakening is not a distant ideal but a present reality. Each of us is on a unique path, continually waking up to our true selves. As Aitken Roshi wrote, our practice is about being fully present, fully engaged in the moment, and through this engagement, we awaken to the reality of our lives.

This celebration was a reminder that our practice is about recognizing and actualizing our inherent Buddha nature, moment by moment. As Aitken Roshi often noted in his writings, bodhicitta, the wish to wake up, is the seed of our practice. It is the heartfelt desire to realize our true nature and to live from that realization.

We each are engaging our own bodhicitta, our wish to wake up. In this awakening, we are being Buddhas, actualizing Buddha. As we celebrate the Buddha’s birth, we also celebrate each of us. We honor our individual paths and the collective journey of our sangha. We recognize that awakening is not a solitary endeavor but a communal practice, a shared aspiration.

As we sat together in meditation, shared stories, and reflected on our journeys, the sense of community was palpable. We were not just celebrating a historical figure but our own ongoing paths of awakening. The day was a beautiful tapestry of past, present, and future, woven together by our shared commitment to the Dharma.

Aitken Roshi often spoke of the importance of seeing our own Buddha nature in the midst of everyday life. He said, each moment offers an opportunity to wake up. Each interaction, each challenge, each joy is a chance to realize and express our true nature.

In the spirit of the Buddha, let us continue to wake up to our lives, embracing each moment as an opportunity to realize our true selves. As we let our lives wake us up to our true self, we celebrate the continuous unfolding of our Buddha nature, moment by moment.