"Simple Living" - Chapters 25 and 26

[Getchi]

#25 ; today as I was overcome with grief, I realised I was staring off into space.

I relaxed, closed my eyes and a small garden apeared in my minds-eye. IT was stones, shade and a simply bamboo.

Now this image is helping me again, as I #26 sit under this pine tree that reminds me of so much both kind and sad.

The garden sits with me, and im grateful for its company



GAssho,
-geoff.

SatToday
LaH

[Kyotai]

Jumping ahead a little, thank you for this lesson.

Gassho, Kyotai
ST

[Tairin]

I’ve been thinking about how to go about a little garden then I realized today that I have a big garden to spend time with. Although it is still Summer there is a very definite feeling that Autumn is near. It is time to start tearing down the gardens etc. I spent time with my garden today. I also talked to my wife about bringing in some of the garden to the indoors. Specially lemon grass which we use to make tea. I’ve no idea how well it will do inside but we’ll give it a shot.

My wife is participating with us and has made a little garden using fallen leaves and a sprig of a pine tree.

I like the idea of hugging a rock. I don’t have a Buddha and so I have used a stone in the place of the Buddha when a Buddha is required such as the Jukai ceremony. After all the stone is Buddha


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Amelia]

Lately, I have been sitting zazen outside to take advantage of the last of the good weather.

Gassho

Sat today, lah

[Onka]

I do most of my reading and at least 20 minutes zazen every day looking at a big Eucalypt tree with shade provided by a huge bunch of Clumping Bamboo which is home to Fairy Wrens and Finches. Bamboo rustling and birds chirping are a perfect backdrop to anything I reckon and where we live I can do this all year round.
Gassho

[Kiri]

There is a beautiful pine forest near my house where I like to walk sometimes. Yesterday, while passing by a pine tree I like, I figured it's a nice place to sit for zazen. And so I did!

Gassho
Sat

[Getchi]

My wife is in hospital. Today she found a small peartree branch, in bloom.

She now has a small garden that smiles with her.


Gassho,Geoff.

SaToday,
LaH.


Hugged a rock.

[Jundo]

My wife is in hospital. Today she found a small peartree branch, in bloom.

She now has a small garden that smiles with her.


Gassho,Geoff.

SaToday,
LaH.


Hugged a rock.

l will be sitting for your wife's health, Geoff, and you too.

Gassho, Jundo

STLah

[Jundo]

My wife is in hospital. Today she found a small peartree branch, in bloom.

She now has a small garden that smiles with her.


Gassho,Geoff.

SaToday,
LaH.


Hugged a rock.

l will be sitting for your wife's health, Geoff, and you too.

Gassho, Jundo

STLah

[Washin]

These two are wonderful practices. Thank you Jundo.

Metta to your wife and you, Getchi

Gassho
Washin
st-lah

[Seibu]

#25 done in my mind.
#26 I sat on a rock at the shore, I could hear the sound of the sea because it was quite windy.

Metta to your wife Getchi, I hope all is well.


Gassho,
Jack
Sattoday/lah

[Tai Do]

Use my flower of the desert (sorry, don't know the real English name, only translated the Portuguese one) as my personal garden and sat beside her this Sunday. A different zazen, outdoors, with a flower and a lot of sweat.
Thought about buying a bonsai in the small producers fair this Saturday, but the price was too high for me right now. Also planted a sweet potato in my garden.
Metta to you and your wife, Getchi. May she be healthy soon.
Gassho,
Mateus
Sat today/LAH

[Kendrick]

25 + 26: I spent a lot of time doing work outside with my plants and yard over the weekend. It was nice being outside for an extended period of time that I don't normally get during my workweek at my desk with no windows to even look out of. I had plenty of time to slow down and enjoy the work. More of a working meditation but it was quiet, slow paced, and focused while I trimmed/pruned, pulled weeds, cleaned up sidewalks, and watered newly planted trees and took care of one I am trying to bring back to health. Caring for the plants I'm reminded that they too are living things and I try to treat them right, even if sometimes it might be tough love or necessary (trimming down to prevent it from breaking under weight, or uprooting weeds).

Gassho
Kendrick
Sat/LAH

[Nenka]

I filled a very small dish with cactus soil and stuck in a few leaves that had fallen off one of my succulents. Hopefully new baby plants will emerge in the coming weeks. I'll put it in the window near where I sit.

Gassho

Nenka

ST

[Meian]

I am happy to see this, and glad I can just "jump in" on this. For a while I have wanted to set up a simple home altar or shrine in my home. I have a small space set aside for this purpose, facing East, but have not made much progress, as I've been thinking for some time on what i wanted to have on it.

I've been putting some items on as I've thought of them. A dear friend gave me some things to include (a shell, incense, stones, feathers), and I've added some items from my ancestors that I've saved that just feel right to me. Some old glass dishes, some things of my mother's, a few stones, and some candles.

The idea of a small garden is perfect. I wanted something of the elements, but the usual way of "representing" just never felt right to me (having a dish for each one felt too separate). For some reason, putting all together in a garden never occurred to me. I have a few small glass dishes that I put on the table, but did not know what I could use them for. This will go well, and I can change things by the season, and return all to the Earth.

This is just what was needed, and all the great ideas in this thread. Very simple.

Gassho
kim
st