Dear Sangha,
Here on the mountain, we are immersed in the multitude of greens that reveal themselves as summer peaks. Yet, there are already some hints that the season has started to wane – evening darkness creeps in a little earlier and, every so often, we catch a breeze that contains the breath of fall. It’s coming! Along with this seasonal change, we look ahead to our fall Ango training period. My teacher, Shugen Roshi, has asked me to serve as the chief disciple for the upcoming Ango. It is a genuine honor to serve you, my dear sangha, in this way.
It is an honor and it feels like standing at the threshold of something big and unknown. A couple of years ago, I made an art project that had me standing at a literal threshold, awaiting my cue to enter a performance space and present a movement, sound, and video piece. It was far outside the usual realm of my art practice. I recall standing there, legs shaking like a cartoon character, wondering how in the world I ended up in that position. This feels a bit like that. In that moment before the art piece began, I made a vow to myself that, no matter what happened, I would do it with my whole heart; the only mistake would be to hold back. This is my vow now, as well. You have my permission to remind me of this when I falter.
Our theme for the Ango will be Buddha Nature – yours, mine and that of all beings. It is a fitting topic as we continue to evolve and emerge from the tumult of the past seven months as a sangha. It grounds us in the very heart of our practice and reminds us of a foundational truth: we are all perfect, whole, and complete, lacking nothing. All the suffering we experience (or perpetrate) comes from forgetting this simple but profound reality. It feels right to spend the next 90 days remembering, over and over, that this is who we are as we take our next best steps together.
As I write this, I am also reminded of something Shugen Roshi wrote not long after I became his student. He closed out an email with the words, “Please take good care of everything.” At the time, I thought it was a lot to ask of a freshly minted student. Everything? Really? But now, I hear it differently. Rooted in sincere practice, may my efforts – our efforts – to realize our true nature allow us to find the strength to be honest, not gloss over difficult things, and to do what’s needed to change. In other words, to take good care of everything.
Thank you so much for being on this path with me. Let’s have a no-holds-barred, joyous and sincere Ango and may we realize our Buddha Way together.
In gassho,
Robyn Ikyo Love first arrived at Fire Lotus Temple for a Sunday program in 2004. She became Shugen Roshi’s student in 2010 and received jukai in 2013. She has two grown children and is a visual artist and yoga therapist living and working in Newfoundland, Canada. Ikyo is one of the co-creators of the Tenkozan dye studio and occasionally offers yoga workshops at the Temple. She began a year of residency at the Monastery last August and will continue on through the end of 2026.
