Grass Hut - 7 - Here with the Weeds

[Jundo]

Dear All,

We move on to all of Chapter 4 this week (still caught in the weeds ) ... Here with the Weeds ...

To just meet each thing without deciding whether it is worthy or not, and yet ... while the universe may have no conception of "weeds", we must pull the weeds, battle the cancers, fight the pests we must. (Mr. K, our Treeleaf member who is staying this Spring at Antaiji, said that once in awhile they will grab the rifle and shoot a wild boar that threatens the garden, all followed by suitable chanting for the creature).

I rather agree that a life stripped of all the weeds, all the ups and down, all the rainy days, would not be life. I do not think I would want a totally tranquil state that robbed life of the hard times ... only comedy with no drama, only happy and predictable endings. Perhaps it is better to have a way to see through the weeds, the rain, the ups and downs, not caught be each ... even as we fully live and are intimate with the weeds.

How do you feel about that?

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Jishin]

. Perhaps it is better to have a way to see through the weeds, the rain, the ups and downs, not caught be each ... even as we fully live and are intimate with the weeds.

How do you feel about that?

We are the way.

Gassho, Jishin

[ForestDweller]

Seems like many of us still insist on making the "weeds" negative. Sure, bad times create anxiety, fear, depression, and the like, but these times, like better times, pass. Seems like our discussion is getting somewhat stuck in the duality of weeds-not weeds, good-bad, happy-sad. Perhaps an alternative is to accept the rolling waves of emotion just as we strive to simply observe-and-let-go the thoughts that arise and recede in zazen. Then the "weeds" can be just as brilliantly colored, waving in the wind, as are the flower ornaments of the garlands we so eagerly place around our necks. -- CatherineS - ^^ST in Forest^^

[Myosha]

"A weed is a plant whose virtues have not been discovered."

Ralph Waldo Emerson


Gassho
Myosha sat today

[Tai Shi]

I tend to personalize my weed patch--when all along the weeds are flowers. I see the negatives now as positives--comes with being 63, and still, I wear my age with dignity. My negatives are now wisdom, a perspective in life's learning. My pain will never go away, but it can become a positive.

Elgwyn
sat today
Gassho _/\_

[RichardH]

This is the only life, there isn't a non-samsaric version. So even when dukkha is no longer dukkha-ish, that off-kilterness is there, and is the becoming of things. It means there are always loose ends to tie, flies in the ointment, and best laid plans. Yet it also means the wonder of walking with legs (or rolling with wheels), enjoying fresh breezes, seeing things grow, and living the whole beautiful thing.

Gassho
Daizan

sat today

[Byrne]

Culture is quite a weed to weed through. It grows and no one notices until someone from afar shows up, tries to pluck it, and people go, "What the hell are you doing?!"

Gassho

Sat Today

[Meishin]

Hi,

To a two-year-old a Bluebonnet is just a weed and a weed is just a Bluebonnet.

Bluebonnets.jpg

Gassho
Meishin
Sat today

[Kyotai]

I've always enjoyed this little cartoon of the samurai dealing with weeds. In this case, a fly Turning it into a flower.
Engaging with the ups and downs, the weeds while not attaching to them is a wonderful practice. Just sitting.

Gassho, Kyotai
Sat today

http://youtu.be/_Cecq4pUMD4

[Joyo]

Dear All,

We move on to all of Chapter 4 this week (still caught in the weeds ) ... Here with the Weeds ...

To just meet each thing without deciding whether it is worthy or not, and yet ... while the universe may have no conception of "weeds", we must pull the weeds, battle the cancers, fight the pests we must. (Mr. K, our Treeleaf member who is staying this Spring at Antaiji, said that once in awhile they will grab the rifle and shoot a wild boar that threatens the garden, all followed by suitable chanting for the creature).

I rather agree that a life stripped of all the weeds, all the ups and down, all the rainy days, would not be life. I do not think I would want a totally tranquil state that robbed life of the hard times ... only comedy with no drama, only happy and predictable endings. Perhaps it is better to have a way to see through the weeds, the rain, the ups and downs, not caught be each ... even as we fully live and are intimate with the weeds.

How do you feel about that?

Gassho, J

SatToday

I think the ups and downs of life give character, they give life, they build an entire human experience. Years ago I was part of a Christian tradition that militantly taught that all "weeds" are bad and we must pray, fight, believe them away....in a very aggressive style. This caused me much stress. There was always a spiritual battle to be fought in such a dualistic world. How can there ever be peace with such a mindset? I don't think there ever is.

In the rainy/snowy days, there are lessons to be learned, many, many lessons. Letting go is probably the biggest. Finding that equanimity in the storm, it builds character, it creates a human experience.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

[Joyo]

"The lotus flower blooms most beautifully from the deepest and thickest mud" ---Buddhist Proverb

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

[Troy]

I've always enjoyed this little cartoon of the samurai dealing with weeds. In this case, a fly Turning it into a flower.
Engaging with the ups and downs, the weeds while not attaching to them is a wonderful practice. Just sitting.

Gassho, Kyotai
Sat today




http://youtu.be/_Cecq4pUMD4

I like that video. Thank you


..sat2day•

[Theophan]

I think the ups and downs (weeds) are the yin and yang of life.
It is the weeds that enhance our ups, and it is our ups that soften our downs.

Gassho
Theophan
Sat Today

[Kyonin]

Hi guys.

My life has weeds growing all over all the time. Some are bigger and uglier and I am in a constant battle against them. I cut them off and take steps to cover up the holes where they are, but they come back.

But the weeds are part of who I am. I am the sum of my weeds and I am at peace with that. There is no point in resisting them and no point in hating them.

I just sit, observe them, know they are there and then I take care of them one at a time.

I am here with the weeds too.

Gassho,

Kyonin
#SatToday

[Joyo]

All I can think of to say is this chapter is so wise, and I have to read it again and again to really let it all sink in. Beautiful book!

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today