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Thread: "Simple Living" - Chapters 25 and 26

  1. #1

    "Simple Living" - Chapters 25 and 26

    Just jump in if joining, no "catch up" ... just today is today ...

    Chapter 25 - Get In Touch With Nature - Make a little miniature garden in a shoe box with just some dirt, pebbles, twigs and fallen leaves. Or take a minute or two to just make one in one's mind. Or just encounter a single stone, or leaf or flower this week, really stop to hold it, smell it, look for a moment. Nothing to think about it, nothing to change, a jewel as it is.

    Chapter 26 - Create A Small Garden - Sit a little Zazen on a big rock or under a tree, or next to your shoe box garden, or in your mind garden, or next to that single stone, leaf or flower.

    Gassho, J

    STLah
    Last edited by Jundo; 10-11-2019 at 12:50 AM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  2. #2
    Mp
    Guest
    Thank you Jundo. =)

    Gassho
    Shingen

    Sat/LAH

  3. #3
    Thank you.
    This basic, everyday things (small as #25 or large as #26) are indeed so wonderful and special. Good to pay some attention from time to time.
    Gassho,
    Kotei sat/lah today.

    義道 冴庭 / Gidō Kotei.
    Being a novice priest doesn't mean my writing about the Dharma is more substantial than yours. Actually, it might well be the other way round.

  4. #4
    Thank you Jundo!

    Gassho,

    Junkyo
    SAT

    Sent from my SM-G955W using Tapatalk

  5. #5
    Today.. I'm joining..
    Thank you

    Gassho
    Ishin
    Sat Today/lah
    Grateful for your practice

  6. #6
    _()_

    gassho
    doyu sattoday
    Visiting unsui: use salt

  7. #7
    I imagine it is no problem, but these exercises are #27 and #28 in my book.

    Gassho
    Kokuu
    -sattoday/lah-

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Kokuu View Post
    I imagine it is no problem, but these exercises are #27 and #28 in my book.

    Gassho
    Kokuu
    -sattoday/lah-
    Ha, Oh yes. I will adjust them. It is actually 25 and 27.

    New 26 is : - Sit a little Zazen on a big rock or under a tree, or next to your shoe box garden, or in your mind garden, or next to that single stone, leaf or flower.

    Gassho, Jundo
    Last edited by Jundo; 09-11-2019 at 02:30 PM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  9. #9
    Treeleaf Unsui Nengei's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Location
    Minnesota's Driftless Area


    Gassho,
    然芸 Nengei
    Sat today. LAH.

    You deserve to be happy.
    You deserve to be loved.

  10. #10


    Tairin
    Sat today and lah
    泰林 - Tai Rin - Peaceful Woods

  11. #11


    Tokan, sattdy

  12. #12



    thank you
    krissy
    st
    Thank you for teaching me.

    I am very much a beginner and appreciate any words you may give me.

  13. #13
    Sat today next to a little bamboo plant in my office that is actually not very pretty,not growing well, not well liked by me. That is why I chose it.
    Gassho
    Ishin
    Sat/lah
    Grateful for your practice

  14. #14
    "Every plant is the good plant"

    said doyu, looking nervously over at the poison oak

    gassho
    doyu sat/lah today
    Visiting unsui: use salt

  15. #15
    Treeleaf Priest / Engineer Sekishi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Virginia, USA
    Quote Originally Posted by Doyū View Post
    "Every plant is the good plant"

    said doyu, looking nervously over at the poison oak
    Indeed!

    I don’t want to go too far off on a tangent, but this really struck me.

    “Good” and “evil” can be such sticky concepts with lots of baggage attached. Can we remember the “innocence” of so many conditions that may harm us?

    When I find myself yet again chasing thoughts of worry or sadness, I find it helpful not to get frustrated with them as “bad”. They arise in innocence- gifts of culture and ancestors and evolution.

    The poison oak is indeed a good plant. It is innocently utilizing the gift of its ancestors to protect itself. Let us leave it be!

    Thank you for this Doyu.

    Deep bows,
    Sekishi
    #sat #itchy



    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
    Sekishi | 石志 | He/him | Better with a grain of salt, but best ignored entirely.

  16. #16
    Member Getchi's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    Between Sea and Sky, Australia.
    #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
    Nothing to do? Why not Sit?

  17. #17
    Kyotai
    Guest
    Jumping ahead a little, thank you for this lesson.

    Gassho, Kyotai
    ST

  18. #18
    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
    泰林 - Tai Rin - Peaceful Woods

  19. #19
    Lately, I have been sitting zazen outside to take advantage of the last of the good weather.

    Gassho

    Sat today, lah
    求道芸化 Kyūdō Geika
    I am just a priest-in-training, please do not take anything I say as a teaching.

  20. #20
    Member Onka's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Location
    Rural Queensland, so-called Australia
    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
    穏 On (Calm)
    火 Ka (Fires)
    They/She.

  21. #21
    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
    Last edited by Kiri; 09-15-2019 at 06:27 AM.
    希 rare
    理 principle
    (Nikolas)

  22. #22
    Member Getchi's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    Between Sea and Sky, Australia.
    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.
    Nothing to do? Why not Sit?

  23. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by Getchi View Post
    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
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  24. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Getchi View Post
    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
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  25. #25
    These two are wonderful practices. Thank you Jundo.

    Metta to your wife and you, Getchi

    Gassho
    Washin
    st-lah
    Kaidō (皆道) Every Way
    Washin (和信) Harmony Trust
    ----
    I am a novice priest-in-training. Anything that I say must not be considered as teaching
    and should be taken with a 'grain of salt'.

  26. #26
    #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

  27. #27
    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
    怠努 (Tai Do) - Lazy Effort
    (also known as Mateus )

    禅戒一如 (Zen Kai Ichi Nyo) - Zazen and the Precepts are One!

  28. #28
    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

  29. #29
    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

  30. #30
    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

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