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Winter Retreat - The Big in the Small - The Corn Seed Has It All
The winter retreat is a precious opportunity for the sangha to live warmly together as a family, continuing the tradition of rains retreat that has lasted for 2,600 years. Living in the sangha offers the chance to “shine light on each other” through sessions of sitting and looking deeply, generating insight, love, and acceptance—sometimes even more than sitting meditation. This practice is not only for monastics but can also extend to the families of lay friends, helping to maintain harmony in precepts and harmony in dwelling together.
The interbeing relationship between teacher and student, and between father and child, is illustrated by the image of two circles connecting past and future:
- The corn seed contains the entire young corn plant, leaves, flowers, fruit, and hundreds of new seeds—a symbol of past, present, and future in something very small.
- The story of Sudhana meeting Lady Maya in meditation, thereby meeting the Buddha and learning how to embrace both suffering and happiness.
Having disciples or spiritual descendants is to fulfill the mission of continuing the lineage—not only giving birth to blood descendants but also to countless disciples, bringing happiness far greater than any suffering or sorrow.