Zazen with a supervisor

5:40am. Bell, bow, sit. Facing the wall, eyes half open, breath going wherever breath goes.

At 5:43 Miso, my cat, sits directly between me and the wall, fully in my field of vision, and stares. Not cute staring. Supervisor staring.

Old me would have counted that as a ruined sit. These days I think Miso is the sit. Here is a thing appearing. Here is my mind wanting it to be different. Here is breath, still going.

By 5:50 she was asleep against my knee. By 6:00 so was my foot. Both counted.