Grass Hut - 2 - Living Lightly On The Land

[RichardH]

..as I've posted somewhere else here I just lost my house to foreclosure and it has been wonderful. We are released from the money, lawyer, bank hassle.
We moved to a smaller house we rent disposing of a lot of furniture, clothes. I wanted to give away everything...except my t-shirts.
I found that my book collection and t-shirts were my most priced possessions.....our cars are old, we live from paycheck to paycheck and we are the happiest we have been in a long while...calm and at peace.
It ain't the possessions. It's the illusion.
It's the illusion of solidity we give ourself and the stuff we grab, be it a BMW or a small apartment, or a lovely, wild garden; even a grass hut or our practice. That illusion is what we have to let go.
The Middle Way.
It's all about the MW.
And balance.

Gassho.

Glad to hear you have landed on your feet, Ed.




Daizan

sat today

[Jika]

Sorry for being off beat (again), but the first lines caught me more than the necesseties (which is, of course, an interesting topic too, and certainly the main part of the chapter).
If I understand it right, the first lines are about what we are destroying, taking, changing by building a more permanent building.
We are leaving traces that will live longer than us, maybe even longer than what we built.

Also, if we have very rigid thoughts, we are not living lightly, but we are grasping learned ideas, grasping to feelings.
And the heavier this "carry-around-me" is, the deeper are our footsteps on the "land".
"Land" being a metaphor for everyone/thing we get in contact with.

Maybe most of us have had a talk with someone when emotions ran high, and afterwards - wouldn't it be great if the grass simply grew back?
No real harm done?
Maybe you see what my point is.

Of course, I agree that thinking about what we consume and what traces this leaves in nature and our fellow beings is important too.
One is not separate from the other.

Gassho,
Danny
#sattoday

[Stacy]

We just need shelter, food, water, and means to keep it. But I know I have more than that and likely won't shrink down to that level.

I do think some people get carried away, and there are people who do get very sucked into things, but as it's been said, everybody has to figure out their own way. Our culture pushes very hard to make it less of our own thoughts on the matter. Use your head and your heart, and surely you'll find the right answer for you.

I love computers. I love what I can create and do. I like solving their puzzles and coming up with something new. Any imagined grass hut adventure involves me taking a small laptop running Bodhi Linux. Would I die without it? No. But I'd like to keep at my talents and sharing them with others.


Gassho,
Stacy

#SatToday

[Joyo]

I just finished watching a documentary called Living One One Dollar. It is on Netflix. I would highly recommend that everyone watch it. It definitely is eye-opening on how we can all make a difference.

I am struck by what Willow said "the common sense to know when enough is enough" I think part of this practice is being mindful of that moment (or moments), and perhaps even challenging ourselves to the point where we become uncomfortable with giving, whether it's money, or our time. And also, as she said, know when it's enough already. Do I need 5 pairs of sandals, numerous pairs of pants etc. etc. No, I do not, but without practicing it is so easy to get sucked into the greedy mentality of always wanting more.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

[Kyonin]

Hi guys.

Lots to say about this, but I won't until I have fully read this chapter and sat with it for a couple of days.

I can only say that now that my most expensive thing is a simple computer, I have never been happier.

Gassho,

Kyonin
#SatToday

[Jundo]

I am not going to take a particular political or policy stance on this now (Please know that I sure have my views), but will toss this out just as food for non-thought ... everyone should watch and consider ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM

Gassho, J

[Jishin]

Nice video Jundo. I don't think that the human race has enough restraint to keep from self destructing by using up planet earth. Doesn't mean we should not try though.

Gassho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Ed]

It has been a wild ride, but keeping composure and consistent practice has help a lot.

Thanks Kojito.

[Josan]

Thank you Jundo,
Gassho, David
sattoday

[RichardH]

Just got the book, and will come up to speed.

Gassho
Daizan

Sat today

[Byrne]

With all the mining and abusive labor practices that goes into making the technology that connects us all as a sangha, it might be fair to say that none of us are truly living lightly on the land.

Gassho

Sat Today

[Rich]

What's really amazing is that 7B people are alive on earth. She has some great ideas but if the population keeps accelerating its going to put even more pressure on producing goods, services and food. Also she didn't mention that a lot of resources are renewable and everyone wants to pay the lowest price for the stuff they need.

SAT today

[Risho]

However there is a common mistake in our western views.

It's not just western. Greed is common to humanity, not just the corrupt, western, capitalist pigs. lol

Jishin, I agree with you.

I have a lot. Most of what I own are luxuries. But it's all relative. I have a nice laptop, an iPhone, a nice entertainment setup, etc. But do I need it? No. I really only need food and shelter. It's not desire that's necessarily bad. Desire is to be human. It's being controlled by the desire is where it gets wonky.

Hell, depending on the time, refrigeration is a luxury. But would I want to live without electricity, etc? Absolutely not. I don't think the answer is to give that up. I think the answer is to be fully human, to engineer better solutions that are less and less impactful on the environment. That's what it is to be human, to innovate. It's what excites us.

But it doesn't mean owning a boatload of crap in an effort to be happy; that just causes more suffering. You can be happy right here. And it also doesn't mean to only take, take, take. Giving is important. Receiving and giving. If one is focused on too much, the whole thing gets out of whack.

Gassho,

Risho
-sattoday

PS but yeah I struggle with this one a lot, and if my stuff was stolen it would cause suffering.

[Kyonin]

Hi guys.

I have been reading once and again this chapter and it resonates with me in many levels.

Once upon a time I lived the corporate dream. For Mexico I did pretty well. I had a nice family, a nice house, lots and lots of expensive clutter and collectibles, a Mercedes and I was friends with a lot of powerful people in the media and government. Buddhism was a part of my life, but only in books and nice Buddha quotes. I sat zazen from time to time, but it was never a serious thing for me. I was too busy being the king of the world and focused in buying stuff.

Then disaster came. I took several decisions that put everything at risk and I started my own company... which crashed and burn faster than I could handle. Everything started to fail!

So one day I woke up and I had no job, no home, no family, no money, no food and I owned only the clothes I had in me. Oh and some change. I had lost it all. I was lucky that my sister offered me her home, so I wasn't left out in the streets.

The first few days of this new reality were super hard. I cried, I screamed and I hated every second of it all. The universe became a horrible place for me.

At the third or fourth day I remembered how I enjoyed sitting zazen, so I began sitting again. Since I had a lot of time in my hands, I resumed reading about the dharma.

The more I sat, the more I felt at home and at peace.

And then it hit me. In the worst days of my life, when I had lost it all, when I was nothing, just when I had hit the bottom... I was free. For the first time in my life I was free of stuff and I was living just with what I needed for the day.

In the worst days of my life I was happier than I had ever been.

This was a revelation, of course. It resonated fully with the dharma I had been reading.

There's a lot more the story. But the important thing is that I discovered (the hard way) that owning anything and keeping life super simple worked for me. That's what I had always wanted.

How do I live now? Well I still keep things super simple. So much that now that my small business is painfully dieing, I find myself again owning pretty much just what I need for the day.

I don't have a home, I live in a bankrupt country that only tends to the rich and corrupt and my most expensive thing is this PC I'm typing from.

And again, these are the happiest days of my life. I am at peace and working for the people I can help.

So yes, minimalism and zen might not work for many. But in this side of things, I am home.

Here's to Master Shitou and his beautiful hut.

Gassho,

Kyonin
#SatToday

[Joyo]

Kyonin, thank you for sharing.

Deep bows to you,

Joyo
sat today