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Thread: Grass Hut - 7 - Here with the Weeds

  1. #1

    Grass Hut - 7 - Here with the Weeds

    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
    Last edited by Jundo; 04-19-2015 at 01:26 AM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  2. #2
    Quote Originally Posted by Jundo View Post
    . 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?
    We are the way.

    Gassho, Jishin
    Last edited by Jundo; 04-19-2015 at 01:25 AM.

  3. #3
    Member ForestDweller's Avatar
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    Seems like many of us still insist on making the "weeds" negative. Sure, bad times create anxiety, fear, depression, and the like, but these times, like better times, pass. Seems like our discussion is getting somewhat stuck in the duality of weeds-not weeds, good-bad, happy-sad. Perhaps an alternative is to accept the rolling waves of emotion just as we strive to simply observe-and-let-go the thoughts that arise and recede in zazen. Then the "weeds" can be just as brilliantly colored, waving in the wind, as are the flower ornaments of the garlands we so eagerly place around our necks. -- CatherineS - ^^ST in Forest^^

  4. #4
    "A weed is a plant whose virtues have not been discovered."

    Ralph Waldo Emerson


    Gassho
    Myosha sat today
    "Recognize suffering, remove suffering." - Shakyamuni Buddha when asked, "Uhm . . .what?"

  5. #5
    I tend to personalize my weed patch--when all along the weeds are flowers. I see the negatives now as positives--comes with being 63, and still, I wear my age with dignity. My negatives are now wisdom, a perspective in life's learning. My pain will never go away, but it can become a positive.

    Elgwyn
    sat today
    Gassho _/\_

  6. #6
    This is the only life, there isn't a non-samsaric version. So even when dukkha is no longer dukkha-ish, that off-kilterness is there, and is the becoming of things. It means there are always loose ends to tie, flies in the ointment, and best laid plans. Yet it also means the wonder of walking with legs (or rolling with wheels), enjoying fresh breezes, seeing things grow, and living the whole beautiful thing.

    Gassho
    Daizan

    sat today
    Last edited by RichardH; 04-20-2015 at 01:29 AM.

  7. #7
    Culture is quite a weed to weed through. It grows and no one notices until someone from afar shows up, tries to pluck it, and people go, "What the hell are you doing?!"

    Gassho

    Sat Today
    Last edited by Byrne; 04-20-2015 at 08:36 PM.

  8. #8
    Hi,

    To a two-year-old a Bluebonnet is just a weed and a weed is just a Bluebonnet.

    Bluebonnets.jpg

    Gassho
    Meishin
    Sat today

  9. #9
    Kyotai
    Guest
    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





  10. #10
    Joyo
    Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Jundo View Post
    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

  11. #11
    Joyo
    Guest
    "The lotus flower blooms most beautifully from the deepest and thickest mud" ---Buddhist Proverb

    Gassho,
    Joyo
    sat today

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Kyotai View Post
    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




    I like that video. Thank you


    ..sat2day•

  13. #13
    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

  14. #14
    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
    Hondō Kyōnin
    奔道 協忍

  15. #15
    Joyo
    Guest
    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

  16. #16
    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
    Last edited by Ed; 04-23-2015 at 07:07 PM.
    "Know that the practice of zazen is the complete path of buddha-dharma and nothing can be compared to it....it is not the practice of one or two buddhas but all the buddha ancestors practice this way."
    Dogen zenji in Bendowa






  17. #17
    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

  18. #18
    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/showt...ght=Taigu+poem


    ..sat2day•

  19. #19
    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

  20. #20
    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

  21. #21
    'Weeds' are what drive my practice, through which they are - at moments in time - no longer weeds

    m

    sat 2-day

  22. #22
    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
    Last edited by pinoybuddhist; 04-26-2015 at 08:48 AM.

  23. #23
    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

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