When we picked the stories that would best represent our twenty-year history in our 20th anniversary e-book—a free download for Tricycle Community Supporting and Sustaining Members—we kept returning to the feeling of gratitude to all the people who helped Tricycle make it though thick and thin for two decades. We decided to ask some of those poeple to share their own thoughts about gratitude with us. So far we’ve shared responses from Reverend Danny Fisher, Kenneth Kraft, Dairyu Michael Wenger, and Mark Matousek. We thank them all for their generous contributions.

Today we share with you thoughts from Jules Shuzen Harris Sensei of the Soji Zen Center in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania:

GRATITUDE

I have deep gratitude for the Buddha’s teachings, for our ancestors and for my teacher; All of these have enabled me to renew my life. I am ever grateful to my paternal grandmother who taught me discipline and the meaning of hard work. I am filled with deep admiration for my father who became wiser as I grew older. I still hear his voice saying, “Watch what people do, not what they say.” His homily informs me daily that Zen is a verb. I am grateful to my students who have given me their trust and who are my continuing practice.

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