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

[Jakuden]

Am currently living in a Nursing home, and have aides and Nurses as caretakers.
I am not in a position to go out into the community to do " good deeds ".
Most of the time my good deeds are to be pleasant with the people who take care of me instead of
getting to the point of raising my voice and making things worse. The seed practice is useful here,
As it enables me to not water the seed of anger, even though I feel justified in doing so.

Richard Carlsen

Thank you for your practice Richard, it is in no way less meaningful or significant than anyone else’s. We practice right where we are with what we’ve got, and it sounds like you have plenty of opportunity for that. Deep bows [emoji120]
Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH


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[Mp]

Howdy Richard,

Your being nice to those around you is a good thing to do. You have a positive affect on them and that is good

Gassho
Doshin
St.

Lovely! =)

Gassho
Shingen

Sat/LAH

[Ippo]

I was wondering what LAH was and was going to inquire but luckily I found this thread! I have to say I am so touched and surprised at what it means! It's great to see the encouragement for kindness and compassion active in the forums. I am grateful for the future recipients of any good deeds. I am grateful for the opportunity to post future LAH's. I am grateful for Zen.

Thanks Jundo

Gassho,

SatToday

[Tai Shi]

I have had to give up volunteering with the Senior Center in Sioux Falls. Too far for my wife to drive. I still cry when I think of your gift of my rakusu. I tell you I care for you all very much.
Tai Shi
Gassho/ LAH
sat

[Tai Shi]

I was poor as a kid, and we had the wrong types of food, sometimes less food than others. From my heart, thank you cosmiceye! I appreciate you.
Gassho
st/ lah
Tai Shi

[Jakuden]

Some little examples of recent LAH activity here: I received a receipt for my donation to the political party I feel best supports the causes I believe in.

My husband and I gathered and recycled some items around the house.

I helped some folks, outside of work who have messaged me with pet issues the past several days.

I am putting in extra horse care duty for my daughter who is studying for college exams.

In recent weeks we have heard from members who have run races for charity, purchased from local small businesses to help support them (yay, thank you! There are real people like me, my staff and my family behind those doors trying to make a living!) and streamed the ingestion of a reaper [emoji892] for sick children. Let’s keep ‘em coming everybody! We can bypass the debate and the Bompu Zen and go right to the practice of saving all beings.

Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH




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[Shokai]

[Jeff Naylor]

Good idea! Will do. Thanks.
Gassho, Jeff
St, Lah

[Seikan]

This year has certainly brought about some unique challenges and opportunities for lending a hand. I generally prefer to keep my LAH activities anonymous, but in case they provide others with ideas, here are just a couple to share:

Like Jakuden above, we have been working to reduce our household waste on a daily basis, and we now recycle about 2-3 times as much waste as we send to landfill. This year, we've also started composting again to further minimize waste while also contributing to our annual garden. Going forward, I want to do even more to engage with meaningful environmental groups/causes, but the current restrictions are making it difficult to gather. Therefore, I figure we can do more at our personal level for now and expand next year as restrictions (hopefully) ease.

Additionally, within my means, I've been trying to tip more generously when picking up take-out (even just from a coffee shop) as our food service workers are bearing a disproportionately large amount of the financial burden from the pandemic.

Lastly, without the ability to smile at strangers (due to mandatory mask wearing), I have been working hard to find other ways to express a sense of friendliness through other small actions and have even trying to "smile with my eyes" more. There is enough fear and uncertainty these days, and every little gesture we make can go a long way toward making others (especially complete strangers) feel just a bit more at ease in their day. I'm finding that, even here in America, some folks respond well to a very slight bow/head tilt as a sign of thanks or friendly acknowledgement.

I look forward to learning of new ideas from others, especially with regard to what folks are doing to LAH during these unusual times.

Gassho,
Rob

-stlah-

[Onka]

I stopped writing LAH because it felt weird. I am legally my partner's fulltime carer although the roles have been reversed this year. I don't care to notice when lending a hand, I am just me and do what feels right. Today for example I went to check on the older bloke I used to walk daily with. We had a yarn about how he's travellin' and organised to start walking daily again. Is this LAH? Absolutely, but I feel uncomfortable thinking of it in this way. I prefer to frame it (if I have to) as my intrinsic personal politics and my Practice in practice without the need to label it as anarchy in action as I once would've.
Gassho
Sat today

[Jakuden]

There are many others that feel as you do, Onka, it has surprised me greatly to hear how many people find it so difficult to post about their engaged activities. As if boasting about them will destroy their fragile karma. It makes me sad too though; in the business world, so many people have no reservations whatsoever about expressing their greed and desire as the normal way to be that I always felt like a fish out of water. I wonder if the accepted normal topic was LAH, putting others welfare first, instead of “me, I feel like and think that and want you to give me this”—maybe we wouldn’t be inundated by so much anger and greed all the time. If we want to make it the norm, we gotta blab about it and make it cooler than the quite accepted selfishness, greed and delusion.

Sorry to blab on so much.
Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH


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[Jundo]

There are many others that feel as you do, Onka, it has surprised me greatly to hear how many people find it so difficult to post about their engaged activities. As if boasting about them will destroy their fragile karma. It makes me sad too though; in the business world, so many people have no reservations whatsoever about expressing their greed and desire as the normal way to be that I always felt like a fish out of water. I wonder if the accepted normal topic was LAH, putting others welfare first, instead of “me, I feel like and think that and want you to give me this”—maybe we wouldn’t be inundated by so much anger and greed all the time. If we want to make it the norm, we gotta blab about it and make it cooler than the quite accepted selfishness, greed and delusion.

Sorry to blab on so much.
Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH


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The only reason to put "LAH" (Lent A Hand) at the end of posts is to encourage/stimulate others to do the same through group spirit ... --NOT-- to brag about ourselves and our acts.

That's one reason that we don't say what we did, big or small.

Gassho, Jundo

STLah

[GrasshopperMan17]

well now i feel sheepish lol. ive posted a couple of times now without using these or even knowing what these abbreviations meant. its alright tho im sure, and i am absolutely on board with this! this is great motivation for me to do good in my family and community. thank you for this motivation, Jundo!

Gassho, John
ST/LAH

[Andrew1978]

ST & conciously LAH today
Gassho

[Tai Shi]

Kyousui, have I misspelled your name anywhere? I have not attended the sit you lead, and this is not on purpose. I gladly acknowledge your gifts of Buddhism to me. I miss, I do come to meet you, and as you say, maybe we will resume our face to face meetings. For you, a phone call is learning, and we learn from each other. Thank you for being a dear friend and for being my equal, and often my teacher.
Gassho
sat/ lah
Tai Shi