New Year Wishes from Master Wang-Genh

Ritualised moments of passage are always more intense and subtle than those that seem ordinary to us. They make us forget that each moment is a passage, but they allow us to remember that the years are passing.

At this precious moment, I wish you good health and all the best for you, your families and your loved ones.

May 2024, the 25th anniversary of the founding of Ryumonji, be beneficial for our entire Sangha and stimulating for our practice. It will be an important year with the inauguration of the new dojo, the "Senteï zendo, garden of the wise", on 25 and 26 May in the presence of Saikawa Roshi.

But above all, let's make a joint wish for the conflicts to subside! May this murderous madness, which we are witnessing live in several parts of the world, come to an end. May these barbarities of another age come to an end, and may humanity return to the wisdom and reason it claims for itself.

"When a human being sits in zazen, the universe calms down" says a Zen saying. It's not a slogan, but a reality: we can make it the core of our daily lives and play an active part, in our own way, in healing these unbearable wounds on our consciences.

In 2024, let's continue to offer places of healing, in the temple and in the cities; let's accompany this period of immense challenges, climatic and human, with the determination and perseverance of the Bodhisattva's vows:

"Countless are the sufferings of human beings, I vow to appease them, ALL of them! "

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2024!

Olivier Reïgen Wang-Genh

Abbot of Ryumonji.