01/07/2026
Hey Everyone,
It is the beginning of the New Year, and I’m reminded of the opening sentence from T. S. Eliot’s poem “East Coker”: “In my beginning is my end.” It’s a small sentence that courses with suggestion. Perhaps to your relief, it is not my intention here to tease it all out.
Rather, I would like to offer a reading of it that is pertinent to a teaching in Buddhism: to step on the Buddhist Path is to complete it. Our intention to wake up, to be right here, right now, is not something we plan to do in the next moment or the moment after that. It is, instead, our determination to be aware here and now of here and now. In other words, the intention to wake up is its realization. Without that intention, there’s little chance of realization because otherwise even in the realization there’s no realization. It’s just busyness as usual. So is that realization?
Regardless, here and now something will catch our attention, and the next thing we know, we get caught up in this, that, and the other thing—our dreams, our desires, and all the other stuff that makes up this big, strange, beautiful world—so we lose our intention. But in losing it, in fact only in losing it, we find it again. To our surprise, we discover that it’s right here, where we want to be, where we cannot but be.
Truth be told, even that’s not quite right. As Eliot says in the last sentence of “East Coker”: “In my end is my beginning.” But that’s something else, and I’m having enough problems putting what I’m already writing about into words.
I bring all of this up at this time because in April we offer our annual Precepts Ceremony, when those who are interested in stepping on the Buddhist Path vow to live this way. “Vow” is a big word, and we’ll talk about it more as we approach the ceremony, but just know now that vow is an expression of our intention to wake up. It is the beginning and the end.
If you are interested in participating in the Precepts Ceremony, or you would like to learn more about the Buddhist Path and how it is lived out in daily life, I strongly recommend enrolling in our next two foundation classes: What the Buddha Taught: Knowing the True Nature of Reality, which begins January 6, and What the Buddha Taught: Living the Buddha Way in Daily Life, which begins February 24 and is required of those who will be participating in the Precepts Ceremony.
For more seasoned sangha members, especially those who have already vowed to live this way, you might want to think about deepening your vows by renewing your commitment to the Buddhist Way either by taking up lay or even priest ordination. See Steve Matuszak, Jed Larson, or Beau Elkington if you are interested or have questions.
We’ve got a lot going on at Dharma Field this month, especially in the first two weeks, so please check out the update below for information on all of that.
Until next month, take care and be well,
—Steve Matuszak, Dharma Field head teacher
