Grass Hut - 7 - Here with the Weeds

[BrianW]

Lots of weeds as of late...and it can be exhausting. So I'll start from the a quote from the book "Covered by weeds!" Nevertheless, I'll sit in the weed patch for a bit.
Gassho,
Jisen/BrianW

[pinoybuddhist]

For the past few days every time a feeling of irritation came up (e.g. at the kids, at the traffic, etc.) I think, here are the weeds. But the weeds will always be there growing on the grass hut. Sometimes needing pulling out, sometimes just need to let weeds be weeds. This "I" might sometimes wish for a weedless life, but then again this "I" is a weed too, after all.

Gassho,
Sat among the weeds today

[michaeljc]

'Weeds' are what drive my practice, through which they are - at moments in time - no longer weeds

m

sat 2-day

[orangedice]

I've been mulling over this chapter for a few days. I'm not sure I like it because it explains a simple truth: that those weeds never go away. :P I wish they did, but they don't. No matter how hard I'd like them to, or how hard I try to whack them, they will always be there. Its very hard to accept, and also VERY exhausting to keep whacking at them. Hopefully I can learn to accept them so I can lie peacefully in them one day.

Gassho,
June
#SatToday

[Risho]

I love this book! This chapter is just about practice (hahahah, "just"). Meeting someone difficult we still offer metta. There's just so much density here. Whether we want them or not, weeds are here. They will always be because it is human to have desire. But to have desire and not to be caught by it. To live with weeds or things we do want, and not to be caught be them. That's tricky, and that's why I practice. Life always changes, there's no way to master it.. just have to live the best, in the best way, the least harmful and most helpful way we can.

Gassho,

Risho
-sattoday

[Troy]

This section of the book reminded me of a poem Taigu wrote a year or two ago. I try to find the poem on the forum but I had no luck. However, I did find a post by Taigu regrading the Grass Hut poem from 6 years ago, If anyone is interested I have posted the link here.

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?6474-Your-song&highlight=Taigu+poem

..sat2day•

[Jika]

Would I prefer a life free of suffering?
Whithout all the war and ecological catastrophes and hatred in the world, a life where everyone died in their sleep at an old age after good health?
Yes, I would.

Is that why I'm here?
No. I'm here because there's a little place beneath the the weeds sometimes, all of the heap I call my life.

Gassho,
Danny
#duckedtoday

[Ed]

When you own your life nothing is extra.
Aspire to give a masterly performance with your karmic self, in you karmic world, moment by moment allowing the depth of your life to manifest.
Practice practice/enlightenment; how can a rose be a violet? Who else can drive your life? Who else can give the master performance, be mature?
A group of such people is a society of buddhas.
That is the Buddha Way. That is my hope.
Weeds? I don't know no stinking weeds.

I paraphraced Uchiyama roshi's commentary on DOGEN'S GENJOKOAN

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

[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

[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

[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•

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

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

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

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