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Every year, in december, our community gathers to remember the enlightenment of Shakyamuni Buddha. A way to stop and recognize that the awakening that the Buddha accomplished continues to live on in our practice., in every step, in every moment of our daily lives. This celebration does not attempt to reconstruct a historical episode or idealize spiritual heroism.. What we do is something simpler, We look inward and recognize that the Buddha's experience was not the destiny reserved for an exceptional being., but the purest expression of the original nature that we share with all beings. Enlightenment is not understood as an extraordinary phenomenon, but as the natural emergence of a mind that becomes still, settles and opens to that which had always been there.
That's why, During the first week of December we celebrate the Rohatsu retreat, a deepening retreat, which although it is one of the most intense and demanding for the practitioner, at the same time it is one of the most significant moments of our community. Throughout those days, the teachings revolve around the enlightenment of the Buddha, exploring its different dimensions: the abandonment of extremes, the absolute confidence that sustained your determination, the clarity that manifested itself when he stopped searching outside for what already lived inside him. Each teisho, every meeting, Each shared silence becomes a way of approaching that awakening as a real possibility in each person..
The retreat culminates in a particularly solemn night. The vigil of intense practice that we carry out throughout the night. In it we join the memory of the vigils that the Buddha himself held under the Bodhi tree, when he resolved not to get up until he understood the root of suffering and opened himself to reality as it is. During this night of continuous practice, The room becomes an extension of that ancestral space. We do not try to imitate the experience of the Buddha, but it does resonate with your deep determination, with the serene confidence that sustained him on his last night of searching. We do not seek extraordinary experiences or special states; we simply allow the practice to pass through the night in the same way that, centuries ago, the Buddha's determination pierced his. It is a way to honor your awakening and, at the same time, to open a space for our own awakening here and now.
The figure of the Buddha under the Bodhi tree continues to move us not because of what he achieved, but because of how he achieved it. After years of extreme discipline and insatiable searches, he just sat down. He decided to stop running away and stop fighting. He surrendered to reality as it is, without frills or expectations, without negotiating with your fears or rejecting your shadows. That determination, that gesture of absolute trust, It is the heart of our celebration. It reminds us that awakening does not come from forcing anything, but to settle into what we already are, of allowing the mind to become clear and life to become transparent.
In this sense, December is for the people who practice in the CSZCM a chance to renew inner resolve. We practice zazen like someone returning home after a long trip. We cultivate presence like someone opening a window to let in fresh light. We remember that each person who sits in zazen in the meditation room he is holding the same profound vow of Sakyamuni Buddha, live clearly, with compassion, with a natural responsibility towards all beings. Buddha's enlightenment is not an individual triumph, but the confirmation that our life is intertwined with the life of the world.
With this celebration we are not evoking a distant past, we are updating a present that has never gone extinct. Celebrating the enlightenment of the Buddha is, In fact, celebrate the real possibility of awakening in this same body, in this very moment, in the midst of our doubts, tasks, daily affections and responsibilities. Retiring together is a recognition that we do not walk alone. The sangha is that space where practicing people support each other., where the presence of each one feeds the trust of the others. In this sense, The enlightenment of the Buddha is also the enlightenment of all beings who, over centuries, They have kept this path alive, teachers, anonymous practitioners, generations of people who have found in this practice a way to embody freedom and compassion.
The celebration culminates with a brief ritual act honoring the enlightenment of the Buddha. In the Soto Zen Camino Medio Community, This date is lived as an opportunity to remember our original nature. The essential thing is the internal layout, return to practice, return to clarity, return to trust. We celebrate the enlightenment of the Buddha as we celebrate life itself, waking up is opening ourselves, live in the world with a broader view and a more available heart.