Bodhi
Sensei officially retired in January 2015, and has spent the last five years living in the Sakura Intermediate Care Facility. He has Parkinson’s disease but has otherwise been in excellent health. In October he moved to a full-care nursing home where he doesn’t have to walk to meals. We called him often to check in on him and let him know what to expect, and he was excited to hear the Dodgers won the World Series “finally”. He now has 2 roommates but says he has “no disturbances”. We were able to visit him in the parking lot through all the COVID protocols, and he was happy to get outside and see us.
He has been practicing relinquishment over these years. In explaining relinquishment to us, he refers to “our life is not our business” which he wrote about previously, and explains that no matter what happens he is not disturbed, that he is OK. He recently said that this is (generally) the end of his life, and that all is OK because he has no expectation. He reminded me that Nature is best and that really nothing is needed.
with metta,
Bodhi
PS: I discovered today that the Sakura Facility may be demolished. Please sign the petition to keep it open, as it has been so very good for Sensei while he was there and is so much better than any other nursing home I’ve been to anywhere.
http://chng.it/nr5NpMxRqY
I called and spoke with Sensei 3/16/21, when he said everything is ok, “same thing (circumstances)”, and reaffirmed “Meditation is (the) real important thing.”
PS: There’s a new petition to save Sakura ICF here.