11 Jun The wooden hammer

I take the wooden hammer from its support and strike it against the middle of the block that hangs in thick ropes before me. First in a slow rhythm with plenty of space between each blow, then faster and faster until the hammer bounces on the block. The sound echoes against the hills and the buildings. I hang up the hammer, take a deep breath, and shout loudly ‘samu’.

Samu means in the temple performing work for the community. Because it is the last day of the summer camp, only the permanent members are present, those who have stayed for all five weeks. We are going to clean and tidy up together.

Scrubbing
About 20 people of different ages, nationalities, and backgrounds gather in the shade of the trees along the square. First, I list everything we need to do: thoroughly clean the kitchen, scrub the dining room floor, dismantle the homemade awnings at the windows of the meditation room, and so on. Then I name each task one by one and how many people are needed for each. The group divides harmoniously over the tasks and gets to work. In Zen, it is not so much important what you do, although you can choose that yourself, but how you do it: namely fully. Jean from Canada goes to get the chainsaw. There is still a log in the creek. Francesc forms the kitchen team. The stoves, ovens, and cutting tables are scrubbed and cleaned. I myself join the cleaning group in one of the buildings.

Unwritten temple rules
Here in the summer camp, I have once again personally experienced how natural distribution of time is in the zen temple: it is determined by a natural mix of intuition, tasks that need to be done, and freedom of choice. It makes you naturally inclined to join a group or to raise your hand for a samu.

Workshop Stress-free Working with Time Surfing
The 7 instructions of Time Surfing originated from these unwritten temple rules. They are so universal that they can be applied to any activity. I also call it Stress-free Working but you could also call it Healthy Working or Effortless Acting, because everything comes up at the right time and flows smoothly. A workshop ‘Stress-free Working with Time Surfing’ is a gift of life to yourself: you will enjoy it for your entire life in everything you do. The workshops are pleasant to participate in and are excellently designed didactically. The applicability effect of the workshop is very high. This is also due to the good support and aftercare.

*This post has been automatically translated from Dutch