Empty Hand Zen Center

It was a Thursday evening, November 12^th to be exact, and I was busily packing up all the plastic shoeboxes – one for each altar – for our weekend Sesshin at Garrison when the phone rings.  “Is this Buddhist Temple?”  asked an Asian accented female voice. “We have a Buddha to give to you;   tonight or tomorrow.” I replied that it can only be tonight because tomorrow morning we leave early for a Weekend Retreat.  I knew at that moment there was nothing to do but to accept this Buddha that was being offered. Wondering, with some trepidation, what was going to arrive at our door. I then asked, is this Buddha small or large?  “Very big” she said.  I questioned further whether this would go indoors or outdoors, and she said she thought outdoors. I suggested she look on our website for driving directions from NYC and she said they would be there by 9 pm.  Putting down the phone, I knew there was no choice here.  A gift was on its way to us, a new Buddha coming to us by car.

It was close to 9:20 when I saw the lights on a large SUV coming up the driveway. I went outside and they pulled up behind my car.  All backseats were folded down, and lying there was a very large “Hotei”, a laughing Buddha, looking up at the SUV interior roof. Inner reaction was immediate, thoughts flashed something like this: “Oh no,”   “Oh dear,”  “this is not my favorite kind of Buddha,”  “I am not at all drawn to this kind of Buddha” “It reminds me of a Chinese Restaurant Buddha where you rub his tummy for good luck and long life.”

Then there appeared a most attractive young couple, he with a strong Israeli accent, she a petite young Japanese woman.  He explained that he recently bought a house in Ossining and then found this Buddha in the garden. Being an observant Jew he could not move in with a Buddha image in the garden.  His girlfriend, being from a Buddhist family, did not want it thrown out as trash, so she started calling Buddhist temples in Manhattan, but nobody answered as it was after 6 pm.  We were the only place who answered the telephone.  She said she hoped this Buddha would bring us joy and good fortune.  And then he asked if we had a hand truck?  Is there a tarp?  Is there somebody else here?  After answering “no” to all the above questions, they backed the SUV to the garden gate and somehow the two of them managed to lift him out onto the asphalt just inside our garden.  I invited them inside, and they really like our place, asking if they could come meditate here!  I said, well there is a Buddha here, pointing to our main altar, and the fellow said, “ It’s that I can’t have an image in my home, in my own garden.”  We parted with warmth, and I watched them turn around and head back to Lawton St.

Of course, I peered out the window as soon as they were gone.  There was this big belly reaching up to the night sky. What an unexpected happening the night before Sesshin!  The next morning, back to the window first thing to see our newcomer in the light of day – there he was, flat on his back, smiling at the sky, arms upraised in joy.   Oh.. oh… something started shifting right then. 

On Sunday noon, at the closing circle at the end of Sesshin, I told the story of this gift which was not my preference, of how this gift forced me to see attachment to my aesthetic sensibility, to my taste, to what I like, and I found myself throwing up my arms to the sky laughing at myself. 

Eager to say hello to our new Buddha on our return, quickly a perfect spot in our garden seemed to beckon, and I was looking forward to have a work-practice group on the following Sunday to move him. Before sitting on Monday night, I heard some voices in the garden, I figured that some Sesshin attendees were checking out our new Buddha.  After zazen, I told this whole story because many of those sitting that evening had not been at Sesshin.  One member said, just look out the window, you can see him clearly tonight, or something like that.  I stood, bowed to the altar, side stepped and looked out the window and there he was, huge smile, looking back to me, eye-to eye.  Like a mirror – I was seeing myself.  Everyone took a turn and we laughed hard and long.

Two of the “big guys” in our Sangha had raised him to his feet, so he was outside looking in.  I was so delighted at their humor, playing a trick on me, on us.  I was so grateful that this Buddha had a chance to check us out before he was planted the in the perfect corner, framed by two homegrown curly willow trees.  His smile is contagious, his joy is catching, his wide and high flung arms embrace us all. What a gift!