A TREELEAF PROJECT with EVERYONE’S PARTICIPATION REQUESTED: “LAH” (Lend A Hand)

[Banto]

This is wonderful. I love the idea of motivation each other too look for LAH opportunities. <3
Perhaps to balance the concerns Kotei mentioned we could ALSO from time to time share stories when we are recipients of LAH actions, inspiring gratitude.

For instance, my fam was recently on vacation and while away our house sitter who volunteered to watch the house and pets also did many extra unexpected things while we were gone. We've found things cleaned, extra care given to things here and there like plants, even welcome home balloons and funny notes to find upon our return. She blessed us with extra loving care.


SatToday/LAH and RAH (received)

[Eishuu]

What a great idea.

Gassho
Lucy
Sat today/LAH

[Entai]

I love the idea. I try doing little things when I can. I think it will be a wonderful practice to do it daily. Our local grocery store is selling brown bags of food that get donated to a food pantry. We bought a couple.

Gassho, Entai
ST/LAH

[Meitou]

I'm so grateful for this suggestion as an extra motivation because I have to admit that sometimes I can be a bit arbitrary with daily kindness. For instance, there's an African refugee guy who sells small items outside my local supermarket and I often buy him something while I'm doing my shopping. Today when I got to the checkout I realised I had forgotten, but because the queue was so long behind me, I didn't want to leave it and start queueing again. Selfish me! Tomorrow with LAH in mind, I'll be back there buying him a treat

Gassho
Sat with you all this morning

[Joyo]

A lot of folks like Joyo are already so focused on caring ... for family, kids, friends, those who they love and love them. They give all day and sometimes ask little for themselves.

Still, we even ask them to give one inch more each day for this. Just one minute more, one comforting look more, just one nice word more, for this on top of all they do. There is always room for one inch more.

(But don't forget to be kind, and take some time and nurturing for yourself too. Even the Buddha would take a break from Buddhaing each day).

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

Thank you, Jundo. You made me cry. That is very touching.

Yes, I can give one more inch, to myself and others.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today/lah

[Zenmei]

This is a beautiful exercise. It's making me realize how much time I spend wrapped up in my own problems. When you're not actively looking for ways to help, it's so easy to miss the moments when you can do something good.

Gassho, Zenmei
#sat/lah

[Jundo]

Hi Guys,

Yes, just to emphasize that it is an experiment and we will assess how it went, based on the actual experience, in a couple of months.

It is voluntary, but I hope folks will give it a try and join in the great experiment. I bet that most folks will find it beneficial to those around them, to their society, as a contribution to Sangha ... to their own Practice, to themselves. Thank you thank you thank you.

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

[Mp]

Hi Guys,

Yes, just to emphasize that it is an experiment and we will assess how it went, based on the actual experience, in a couple of months.

It is voluntary, but I hope folks will give it a try and join in the great experiment. I bet that most folks will find it beneficial to those around them, to their society, as a contribution to Sangha ... to their own Practice, to themselves. Thank you thank you thank you.

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

Thank you Jundo ... Looking forward to see what it cultivates. =)

Gassho
Shingen

SatToday/LAH

[Jika]

I've only today read this and I don't want to participate, please.

Upon reading, my mind started racing what good deeds I have done during the last week, and what I could do in future.

The strange thing is, once it is a task for the sangha, it is distant from me.

I notice that on days when my health is better, my practice allows me to be more friendly and outgoing (like talking to a refugee, mother of three, on the bus, which I usually would not do. But yesterday I thought it a good idea and she liked it.)
On other days I try to limit being an assh... I know inside it is hard work, but does it qualify for LAH??

What you are asking is (to me) like asking a flower to blossom when there is no sun, no don't be an ordinary flower, you have a mission!
Push yourself! Grow that extra bud!

If this is a bodhisattva's vow, to have target numbers and continually improving statistics, like a salesman, I'm happy to be neither.

With respectful bows,
Jika
#sattoday

[Jundo]

I've only today read this and I don't want to participate, please.

Upon reading, my mind started racing what good deeds I have done during the last week, and what I could do in future.

The strange thing is, once it is a task for the sangha, it is distant from me.

I notice that on days when my health is better, my practice allows me to be more friendly and outgoing (like talking to a refugee, mother of three, on the bus, which I usually would not do. But yesterday I thought it a good idea and she liked it.)
On other days I try to limit being an assh... I know inside it is hard work, but does it qualify for LAH??

What you are asking is (to me) like asking a flower to blossom when there is no sun, no don't be an ordinary flower, you have a mission!
Push yourself! Grow that extra bud!

If this is a bodhisattva's vow, to have target numbers and continually improving statistics, like a salesman, I'm happy to be neither.

With respectful bows,
Jika
#sattoday

Hi Jika,

There is no demand and, certainly, no statistics.

Just do what you can, or don't do what you feel unable. Yes, being gentler than you would otherwise be on a certain day would certainly qualify if that is what you can manage.

Gassho, Jundo

SatTodayLAH

[Jishin]

I've only today read this and I don't want to participate, please.

Upon reading, my mind started racing what good deeds I have done during the last week, and what I could do in future.

The strange thing is, once it is a task for the sangha, it is distant from me.

I notice that on days when my health is better, my practice allows me to be more friendly and outgoing (like talking to a refugee, mother of three, on the bus, which I usually would not do. But yesterday I thought it a good idea and she liked it.)
On other days I try to limit being an assh... I know inside it is hard work, but does it qualify for LAH??

What you are asking is (to me) like asking a flower to blossom when there is no sun, no don't be an ordinary flower, you have a mission!
Push yourself! Grow that extra bud!

If this is a bodhisattva's vow, to have target numbers and continually improving statistics, like a salesman, I'm happy to be neither.

With respectful bows,
Jika
#sattoday

IMG_0077.JPG

I don't think you can not not participate.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Enjaku]

I'm not sure about this one - it's certainly an interesting idea. Good to hear others are already finding it helpful.

I think I'm in agreement with Jika. When I sit with emptiness and impermanence, compassion blooms (or doesn't) without effort. For me, deciding whether my post warrants the LAH tag would feel like a daily self-assessment, or a form of self-improvement. For me personally, this kind of reflection can sustain the notion that there is a faulty self that requires perfection.

As I drop thoughts of self-improvement and sit with the messiness, I'm naturally becoming more compassionate. I'll continue to reflect on this but I'll respectfully choose not to participate for now.

Gassho,
Enjaku
Sat

[Jundo]

I'm not sure about this one - it's certainly an interesting idea. Good to hear others are already finding it helpful.

I think I'm in agreement with Jika. When I sit with emptiness and impermanence, compassion blooms (or doesn't) without effort. For me, deciding whether my post warrants the LAH tag would feel like a daily self-assessment, or a form of self-improvement. For me personally, this kind of reflection can sustain the notion that there is a faulty self that requires perfection.

As I drop thoughts of self-improvement and sit with the messiness, I'm naturally becoming more compassionate. I'll continue to reflect on this but I'll respectfully choose not to participate for now.

Gassho,
Enjaku
Sat

I would say that there is no "you" that requires self-improvement, but yet there is. This is one of the great Koans of our way: If there is nobody in need of improving, and all is just as there is ... then why nonetheless do we need to Practice and improve? There is a self which requires improvement, and it is beyond all fault. Compassion naturally arises, and yet it must be nurtured too.

In Shobogenzo Bodaisatta-Shishobo (The Bodhisattva’s Four Embracing Actions), Dogen spelled out a very wide definition of "good deeds" and charity (for example, he included gifts to nature, to one's family and even sometimes to oneself], yet he made the benefits quite clear:

Even if we give something humble—a single penny or a stalk of grass—it will plant a root of goodness in this and other ages. Dharma can be a material treasure, and a material treasure can be Dharma. This depends entirely upon the giver’s vow and wish. Offering his beard, a Chinese emperor harmonized his minister’s mind. Offering sand, a child gained the throne. [NOTE: During the T’ang dynasty, when an officer in the court of Emperor T’ai-tsung fell ill and needed the ashes from a beard for medicine, the emperor burnt his own beard and offered the ashes to the officer. Once when the Buddha was on an alms round, a child who was playing in the sand put a few grains in the Buddha’s alms bowl as an offering, and, due to this act, the child was later reborn as King Ashoka. ] These people did not covet rewards from others. They simply shared what they had according to their ability. To launch a boat or build a bridge is the practice of dana paramita [the Virtue of Giving]. ... Not only should we urge ourselves to make offerings, but we must not overlook any opportunity to practice dana. Because we are blessed with the virtue of offering, we have received our present lives.

... The mind of a sentient being is difficult to change. We begin to transform the mind of living beings by offering material things, and we resolve to continue to transform them until they attain the Way. From the beginning we should make use of offering. This is the reason why the first of the six paramitas is dana paramita. The vastness or narrowness of mind can not be measured, and the greatness or smallness of material things can not be weighed. But there are times when our mind turns things, and there is offering, in which things turn our mind.
https://terebess.hu/zen/dogen/KS-Bodaisatta.html

Participation is purely optional and voluntary, of course, but I sure do think most of us will benefit ... and our towns and the people we help in big and small ways will benefit.

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

[Enjaku]

Participation is purely optional and voluntary, of course, but I sure do think most of us will benefit ... and our towns and the people we help in big and small ways will benefit.

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

I hope many benefit and I appreciate the permission to opt out until I decide how I feel about it
Just to be clear, I'm opting out of LAH, not cultivating compassion and generosity!

Gassho,
Enjaku
Sat

[Rich]

Thanks Jundo. Great idea. When you give your presence and attention to someone , the lights go on. Opportunities to help and receive help appear.

SAT today LAH

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