RECOMMENDED DAILY Nurturing Seeds PRACTICE

[Theophan]

Jundo
Thank You. I will add this to my practice.
Gassho
Theophan
Sat Today

[alkds1989]

I just wanted to say that what was said in this post got me over a rough couple of weeks. I found myself in a financial bind due to bills and car issues. Instead of freaking out ,and having another panic attack, I remembered this thread and replaced the "anxiety" seeds with "calm" seeds. Don't get me wrong, I'm still on my anxiety medication, but this helped a lot.

Gassho,

josh

sattoday

[Jundo]

Glad to hear that Josh. It is called "Practice", so keep with it and it does begin to sink in.

Gassho, J

[Luciana]

Is there an opposing seed for the seed of Despair?

Thank you.

L. _/\_

sat2day

[Jundo]

Is there an opposing seed for the seed of Despair?

Thank you.

L. _/\_

sat2day

Joy

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Luciana]

Opera!

L. _/\_

[Chiko]

Greed - Contentment, Generosity
Anger - Tolerance, Contentment, Loving Kindness
Fear - Courage, Equanimity
Discontent - Serenity, Contentment
Sloth - Energy, Joyful Effort
Jealousy - Respect
Sadness - Joy, Acceptance
Egotism - Modesty, Humility
Frustration - Acceptance, Contentment

I put this practice into action this morning, and had such a great day with my family, despite waking up in a sour mood. Any moment can be transformed. Imagine someone who embodied these characteristics all the time...they'd practically be a buddha!

_/\_
Matt sat today!

[Jakuden]

Maybe look at Jundo's sit-a-long series on Dogen's "Instructions for the Cook." Sounds like the teachings would apply very well to wool-washing!

Gassho,
Sierra
SatToday

[Meian]

Thank you for this. For a long time I carried a little card in my wallet with this printed on it:
Greed - Contentment, Generosity
Anger - Tolerance, Contentment, Loving Kindness
Fear - Courage, Equanimity
Discontent - Serenity, Contentment
Sloth - Energy, Joyful Effort
Jealousy - Respect
Sadness - Joy, Acceptance
Egotism - Modesty, Humility
Frustration - Acceptance, Contentment

It was a helpful reminder and I think I'll start doing that again.

I am copying this one and think I will do the same, good antidotes.

[Ryudo]

Thank you for this.
For me it is a challenge that may be applied in many fields, mostly in little things that might seem only unimportant details.

Gassho
Marcus

SatToday

[Nengei]

Reading this thread--for which I am filled with appreciation and gratitude--and then the one on daily liturgy and gatha, I find myself thinking about using gatha practice as a ground for nurturing seeds practice, and wonder if others are aware of anything published about this, or perhaps a list of gatha directed toward negative-to-positive emotional responses.

I notice the seed of anger in myself.
Seeing anger, I choose instead to nurture the seed of compassion.
Through compassion, I act with loving-kindness.
With loving kindness, I heal my being.

I feel the seed of fear sprouting.
Instead of fear, I turn to courage-awareness.
In courage, I find the essence of well-being.
Joy and peace fill my heart.

This seems like a logical, practice-based way to short-circuit the growth of negative response seeds and turn attention toward positive responses.

Just my late-night thinking.

Gassho,
Joseph

sat today - lah

[Rob H]

I'm glad that I found this post again!
In the last few days, things have been emotionally tough at home and I have been fortunate enough to just be starting out in my noticing of negative feelings arising and being very conscious of it. I will do my best to stick to the three steps listed above.

Gassho

ST/Lah

[Tai Shi]

Old and new friends, hello! And, this corner has been a long time coming. Apparently I posted here when I was new in the Sangha, and for more than a year, I was Elgwyn in our Sangha. I have come to revere and even love the people here. Even through my conversion to Christianity, our Treeleaf Sangha has been here for me, listening, advising, and even admonishing as I nearly had to leave in personal disgrace. In my home, anger has often "got" the best of me, and this sensitive poet loses his temper. I am truly ashamed of some of my behavior toward those I love. I have recently actually begun to listen to my wife of 37+ years who I love with all my heart. In the past I often turned on her, spent money our family did not have, behaved recklessly toward my lovely wife and brilliant daughter. Last week, I took steps to correct my credit behavior, largely because my wife has made sure my credit is in order. I refinanced large debt with my own disposable money. If I can pay off this loan, without spending even $10 on credit, then I will have saved more that $2200 and salvaged many feelings in my family. I can no longer find excuse, after excuse for my behavior, for at age 67, I vow to take hold of negative seeds in my Buddhist mind, in my own personal behavior. My positive seeds are now responsibility, equanimity, understanding, and acceptance. These anger seeds can be supplanted, and ask my Sangha to help me learn to pay my bill of about $163.00 a little less each month. I know that greed and control are the opposite of generosity, and surrender. Generosity and surrender are necessary for successful family, and Buddhist behavior. These and loyalty I wish to be my seeds of Buddhist behavior. I have come to believe Buddhism is my plan of life, not some esoteric philosophy. Please Sangha members, help me be responsible, and find actual peace and love before I die, Please allow me to fulfill my vows to die a gentle and sober man. With all the gratitude I can find. Thank you
Tai Shi
sat
Gassho

[Seishin]

Thank you for bringing this back to focus in the Genjokoan discussion. I've neglected this practice for a while now and allowed things to get on top of me, especially anger and frustration. So I have created a new list for my phone along with Nengei's gatha. I am sure I'll be using it a lot in the roll up to Brexit or whatever happens in the UK and the knock effect to UK folks living in the EU.

Deep Bows

Sat / lah

[Kyotai]

I once heard a zen talk focusing on a phrase something along the lines of "you give, you get."

Meaning, you put anxiety, negativity, pessimism and hate out into the world, that is exactly what you get back..many times over.

However, if you put kindness, Love, compassion and Peace into the world (in your job, your relationships, your day to day life) that is exactly what you get back..10 fold.

How true this is.

This works hand in hand with nurturing seeds practice. No time for negativity when your focus is, how can I make someones day a little better with each interaction.

I am someone who needs to pay close attention to my thoughts and reactions to those thoughts. I am prone to falling into the abyss and for me, sometimes zazen is not enough and we must engage with the world too.

Gassho Kyotai
ST

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk