REGISTER

Two weeks ago, cyclone Ditwah formed in the northern Indian Ocean and rolled up the east coast of Sri Lanka, slamming that country with its most destructive storm in a century. The storm brought 29.5 inches of rain in just a few days, in some areas. The result was widespread flooding and mudslides that killed or sent missing over 800 people, and caused an estimated $6 billion in damage.

Yunmen said, “I’m not asking you about before the storm.
Come and say a word or  two about after the storm.” 
And he himself replied, “Every day is a good day.”

Hardest hit was the district of Kandy, where Pacific Zen members Ewen Arnold and his partner Claudia Gassner live and work for the Training, Empowerment,  Awareness (TEA) Project, which brings aid to children of tea plantation workers, the poorest of the poor in Sri Lanka. Ewen and Claudia also practice and teach at the nearby Nalambe Buddhist Meditation Center.

Ewen recently sent a field note to PZI Talk, which I’m sharing here:

Every day is a good day. Absolutely shattered. Overwhelmed. Empty.

Five days of collecting funds, buying food stuffs, receiving clothes, receiving blankets, sorting, packing, arranging transport, traveling through places where the roads are totally broken and there are landslides every 200 meters.

Every day is a good day. Every day is a good day.

Receiving deliveries in the middle of the night. Sleeping three hours and then getting up and starting again the next day. I’m 73 years old for God’s sake.

In the area near where I live, there are eleven schools which are full of people sheltering who have lost their homes, lost everything. And the sun is shining. And the birds are singing. And still this countryside is immensely beautiful, although scarred in places.

Every day is a good day.

People are so grateful, so incredibly grateful, it makes me cry. And crying is part of the good day. So much suffering alongside so much beauty. Still the kids play amongst the ruins of their house, and smile and laugh. They ask us our name, they ask us where we’re from. They’re amazed that I’m 73 years old. Their smiles go right through me and out the other side into the day.

Yesterday afternoon at home someone came to my door, holding the hand of a small boy, about five I’d guess. He started telling me a story in the Sinhala language about losing everything. I was so tired and empty I just wanted him to go away. But I did manage to put together a bag of food for him.

I dream at night of green hills and landslides, faces smiling and sad, hands giving and receiving, and the beautiful heartful people I’m working with. I have met and gotten to better know so many wonderful people in the last week. And it’s beautiful, doing it with my partner, even if we get frustrated with each other at times.

This too. This too. This too is a good day.

—Ewen Arnold

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Further notes from Ewen about the TEA Project:

We are working through a charity called the TEA Project, which Claudia, my partner, works for.  It is based not far from Kandy, Sri Lanka, on the other side of the hill from Nilambe, the place where I teach meditation. I have been involved with The TEA Project as a sponsor for years too.

Normally they are concerned with training and educating the children of the workers from the nearby tea estates.  These communities are very poor and are critically in need as a result of the cyclone. These families rely on daily wages, plucking tea barefoot on steep mountains, in both rain and scorching sun. Their living conditions were already harsh; now, many of their line houses and surrounding areas have been severely damaged or completely destroyed. Claudia and I and others on behalf of The TEA Project are currently distributing dry rations and will assess further needs.

Link to the TEA Project website: https://theteaproject.org/

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Jon Joseph Roshi, Director of San Mateo Zen Community