First Day of Spring

By the time you read this, spring will already have sprung--at 5:37 a.m. Eastern. Good-bye winter. 

Dare i start waving good-bye to the pandemic? 26% of the people in our state have received at least their first shot.

The Buddha frames the teaching of the 4 Ennobling Tasks as a doctor might.

Dx--our diagnosis--Suffering (dissatisfaction, discontent, lack) exists.

Hx--the history--Craving causes suffering.

Px--our prognosis--Cessation: suffering can come to an end.

Rx--our remedy--the 8-fold Ennobling Path

The diagnosis of COVID on our planet can come to an end if we take the remedy--one or two jabs of a vaccine.

Welcome Spring!

Snow While the Sun is Shining

Yesterday it snowed while the sun was shining. Small snowflakes danced in the air, and dusted the frozen grass.

Sometimes, a person is the picture of perfect health and received a surprising diagnosis. Suddenly, the end is within sight. The winter of life has begun, and the sun is still shining.

Heal-All

Heal-all is blooming in my yard. This common 2-4 inch tall plant looks like a weed, but i once saw it in an English garden in the Cotswolds standing about 10 inches tall and looking quite beautiful.

Heal-all is an herb that actually does heal chronic illness. The young herb is edible and can be used in soups and salads.

The Dharma is a heal-all for the mind. Once we diagnose our dis-ease: that suffering exists and that we can never be comfortable in our own skin as long as we are looking for happiness outside of ourselves. Even happiness of the moment has a shadow side, if we will but look.

The remedy for the discontent of our minds is following the Noble 8-fold path.

I walk into my pathless lawn, and there i find it: heal-all.

Garlic for Colds

Garlic Scapes

My home remedy for colds is to eat a lot of garlic. Sometimes i dice up the cloves. If the clove is small, i swallow it whole, like a pill. I really do believe garlic shortens the life of a cold.

Although i have plenty of garlic heads stored in the basement, this cold has knocked the energy out of me. It is much easier to grab some garlic scape pesto from the freezer. When i say "pesto," i mean a "paste" made with olive oil. Garlic scape pesto is simply garlic scapes that i ran through the food processor last June with enough olive oil added to make it a paste.

I froze 2 quarts of the stuff in half-pint containers. Today i'm using one batch to make pesto pasta. Straight garlic that is way too strong for my sweetie, but I think i could acquire a taste for it. It's probably a good thing i'm not seeing anyone today, not even my morning meditation group.

Buddhist teachings sometimes come across as strong medicine. Medicine that is counter-intuitive, or that we don't want to take because it "tastes" bad.

Dr. Buddha diagnoses our existential dis-ease with the First Noble Truth:
"Stress exists."
He tells us the etiology of our dis-ease with the Second Noble Truth:
"Craving"
He gives us the prognosis for our dis-ease with the Third Noble Truth:
"Cessation" of craving
And he prescribes the remedy for our dis-ease with the Fourth Noble Truth:
"The 8-fold Noble Path"

We may not like the sound of this diagnosis and prescription. Hey, i don't like the sound of my cold. But i'll do what's good for me.

Photos from purplemaizefarm.blogspot.com and kalynskitchen.com