In this teisho Gilly explores death – three months had passed since my life partner, Tony, died. I was grieving deeply and Thich Nhat Hanh’s ocean metaphor helped ease the burden. He begins:  ‘When we look at the ocean, we see that each wave has a beginning and an end. A wave can be compared with other waves but if we look more deeply, we see that a wave is made of water. When the waves touch their true nature – which is water – they think, ’Some day I will have to die. This period of time is my life span and when I arrive at the shore, I will return to non-being.’ Once the waves arrive at the shore, it’s not as if they return to the ocean – they have never left.” Realising the ocean of essential nature, form is no other than emptiness, emptiness no other than form. 

This teisho was given at Spring sesshin 2022