Empty Hand Zen Center

By Ken Valenti

Anyone who thinks of Zen as a quiet practice played out among sparse, earth-toned furnishings would have been surprised by the ringing, jangling sounds of the New Year’s Eve service and the brightly colored balloons and paper cranes, boxes and whales.

As the first hours of 2010 were drawing nearer, Empty Hand Zen Center served a warming station in New Rochelle’s “First Night” party. Some 45 visitors and sangha members filled the place with a lively but comfortable bustle during the busiest times during the celebration hours of 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

There was no doubt that this was an Empty Hand event – there was hot cider, after all. But what was with all that noise and the end?

This was how we closed out 2009 and welcomed the new year. After Susan led a short service, instruments were handed out mostly to the young people, some of whom sported fancifully colored cheeks and foreheads from face-painting at other First Night stops.

The ad hoc musicians banged, shook and struck their instruments following Susan’s lead. They played tambourines, mini-mokugyos, tiny maracas and sticks of wood. At first, each consecutive participant counted to 10 before sounding an instrument. But then the noises came faster, until the shakes, the bops and the wooden claps blended (sort of) into a happily undisciplined crescendo.

Some of the efforts at origami were not quite so successful. A few of us learned how to make the “crane,” the “whale” and the “box” (one of which was decorated as a die). But the “dog” turned out to be too much for the few who tried it. Or maybe we should look at the positive side: While attempting to create the “dog,” we succeeded, if inadvertently, in creating several other figures, including the “dancing porpoise,” the “stingray with a couple of extra fins” and the “large sheet of crumpled paper.”   

It’s likely that the place was as busy as it was because the weather was not as daunting as it could have been. Snow had been predicted for the afternoon and into the night, but it actually passed through in the morning. So, while it was cold and the ground was a bit slushy, the skies were pretty much clear from the start of the event until those who stopped by had gone on to await the new year either in the quiet of their homes or at other celebrations.

Still, even without snow, the center, with its tall ceiling, can get a little chilly inside. But that’s what the hot cider is for.