Coming in First! Might mean “winning a foot race.”
Coming in, first; might mean “arriving before the mob.”
Who knows what lesson might appear in the early hours?
As a young player, I came to the dojo early one day and found the door ajar. Up the flight of stairs, I turned the corner onto the practice floor and found Master kneeling in front of a low platform at the front of the room, apparently dusting and re-arranging items. A few minutes later, I emerged from the changing room and encountered him again, in the process of unrolling a scroll. Responding to his quiet gesture, I assisted as he un-mounted the earlier item, and hung the new scroll in its place. He had a flower, which took its place on display. I was detailed the job of rolling the first scroll, and placing it in its storage container for safe keeping.
As I was engaged, I asked, “What's this all about?” He said, “In our culture, we place an ‘altar’ in our practice space (maybe at home as well...) which is a special location, where we display things of importance to keep them ‘in the center’ of our lives and practice. Perhaps a picture of an elder teacher, a calligraphy scroll with an important lesson, a singing bowl, a bell, a candle, a book, etc. Maybe we also burn incense, to recognize this special time.”
I realized that the altar, and Master’s humble maintenance, was a labor of love and a signal of his dedication. Coming in first revealed an aspect of our practice that had been obscured by my rushed and unconscious comings and goings. He invited me to help after that, and in those special hours, I found the path and began my journey to the center of the art.
