This week-end a number of people who train within this tradition converged on the village where I am staying. We all spent time walking/talking/sitting/eating and generally spending time training together. It has been good for me to get out and walk and thankfully the weather was increasingly good as the week-end progressed.

One woman who originates from Hong Kong gave me a credit card sized photograph of Xu Yun a renowned Chinese Zen Master. Turns out she had received the Precepts from one of his disciples. Xu Yun life spanned several major upheavals in China including the cultural revolution and was several times beaten and left for dead. He just kept on surviving against the odds. His autobiography, Empty Cloud is a roller coaster ride which, if you can get hold of a copy, is worth reading.

I’ve a copy of Empty Cloud beside me now. It is opened at page 95. I’d opened the book at random looking for material to talk about at a meditation group meeting tonight. The chapters title is The Jade Buddha and Xu Yun is now 77 years old (1916/17). He lived to reach the age of 120! So his life was only a little over half lived. What was his training at this time?

That’s the question. What is it good for me to do or not do? Apparently he was on a journey to bring a Jade Buddha from Burma I think. He refers to the South Seas. He visited Rangoon on the way and paid reverence at the Great Golden Pagoda (the Shwedagon) then expounded the sutras and took off for Singapore. Where things went bad. We were all held as detainees, tied up and beaten. We were then left out in the sun and not allowed to move; if we moved, we were beaten again. We were not allowed food or drink, nor were we allowed to relieve ourselves. This went on from six in the morning until eight at night. Eventually a disciple of his came to rescue the group of six monks so detained.

We all live unique lives. Xu Yun was a humble person regarding himself and his life as no big deal. He just got on with what his training was, as it presented there and then. What other choice do we have?

Yesterday. Sat up front in the hearse. Traveling a sedate 20 mph. Using the back roads to avoid traffic congestion. Narrow and twisty country lane, not the place to meet a hearse, if you are in a hurry. The vehicle was immaculate. The driver, serious and polite. Me? Grief bubbling in deep recesses I didn’t know were there. The drive a much appreciated space to compose and prepare.

Funeral people are a committed bunch. They derive deep satisfaction in their job. They are helping people who need their support at a difficult time. They have presence, sincerity, professionalism. What if you need to make an emergency stop? I asked. No worries he said, the coffin is secured to the bed of the hearse with a number of clamps. Thank goodness.

At a Chinese funeral, the driver told me, he was given a red ‘good luck’ envelope with a pound coin in it. Put it on the mantelpiece. It brought me good luck too, within a year. Got employed full time and then able to buy our house. I’m thinking, this chap has accumulated some spiritual merit along the way.

Yesterday, seems so far away now. In fact it is now the day before yesterday that I went to conduct the cremation ceremony for my late employers wife, who became a good friend. It will have to be another day before I have the chance to write more….

Deep bows to those of you who I met and who now come looking here. I have to say the ceremony was an unconventional adventure and one I will always, but always, remember.