Big Rocks

I collect football-sized river rocks to line the path through my wildflower woodland. The excavation has unearthed a dozen of these plus a few small boulders--all left behind from the glacial wash-out of the last Ice Age.

Have you heard the story about the master who fills a large jar with fist-sized rocks and then asks the student, "Can i fit any more in here?"
The student says, "No."
The master then takes some gravel and shakes it into the spaces between the rocks. Then he asks the student, "Can i fit any more in here?"
The student says, "Well, i suppose so."
The master then uses sand, which sifts into the spaces between the gravel. Then he asks the student, "Can i fit any more in here?"
The student shakes his head doubtfully.
The master fills the jar with water. "Now," he asks, "what's the lesson here?"
"Well, you can always fit more in," the student sighs.
"No," says the master.  "Put the big rocks in first."

We live our lives as if we can always fit more in.
What are your "big rocks"?

Curtailing the Impulse to Buy, Buy, Buy

This spring, with so much construction happening and so much deconstruction of the herb garden, i'm renouncing buying plants. Well, let's say, i'm renouncing going overboard. So far, i have bought pansies, onion plants, grape cherry tomatoes, and 1 variegated impatiens.

I bring my small haul home and don't stop at the garden center again until i've planted what i have. This step-by-step method really slows down my purchasing. The fringe benefit is that it's good for my pocketbook.

Curtailing my impulse to buy, buy, buy feels like going against the grain. Desire wants to spring into sprig with all its hope and promise. Desire doesn't have our best interests at heart. My heart rests easier with less planting to do. My heart is happier with less.

The Wisdom of Solomon

The gardener dug out a clump of Solomon's seal so large that 30 visiting gardeners could take as much as they wanted. Some walked off with an armload of it. :) And i still have leftovers.

Solomon's seal is a wildflower that grows in dry shade, of which i have plenty. It took me years to find something that would grow under a pine tree or a maple tree. I am happy to give away my extras. Generosity is one aspect of wisdom.

Now it's time to skip into the woods and plant my leftovers.

Earth Shaking

The excavator arrived at 3:00 yesterday afternoon and pulled 12 stumps out of the ground. He was just shaking the dirt off the last one when Perennial Swappers arrived to tour my spring gardens at 6:00.

The gardener, Elisha, and i worked all day to prepare for this earth-shaking event--digging plants, transplanting them, moving delicious black soil out of the herb garden because it's about to buried.

When the earth shakes under our feet, we can hold on for dear life. In order to hold on, we grasp, we cling.

Or we can allow ourselves to be shaken to the core, allow ourselves to be shaken out of the comfortable delusions and the uncomfortable beliefs that bind us to the "great mandala" of samsara (stress).

Look up. Notice the wide open sky.

My Herb Garden Changes--and Vanishes

The local garden club is touring my spring garden this evening. Does my garden look good? Of course. It's spring! I have lots of spring-blooming flowers--leucojum (summer snowflake), lunaria (money plant), and phlox divercata (woodland phlox) accent the spaces between the narcissus and jonquils.

Do i feel ready for the garden tour? Of course not. My herb garden is half torn apart due to excavation, which will start tomorrow.

Everything i cherish will change and vanish. My dear herb garden is changing and vanishing. Next month, 2 trenches will be dug through it to connect utilities from the house to the little guest room attached to the garage. Tomorrow, a 4-foot pile of dirt will be piled on top of the back half of the herb garden. It will be a mess out there. Now, it's just a pre-mess.

Everything i cherish will change and vanish, including myself. These "little"changes are just preparing me for the big event.

Needing Support

Now that a dozen trees have been cut down, and the site for a new garage has been staked out, i see that one slender maple looks to be a bit close to the northwest corner. My forester neighbor tells me trees should be about 1/3 crown (i.e., branches & leaves), but this tree is about 1/6 crown.

As i looked up and up its tall trunk, i noticed that the tree was swaying, (There was no breeze.) while all its neighbors stood still. Formerly this maple was a woods tree; now it stands alone at the edge of the woods without the support of its neighbors.

Our meditation practice requires the support of good and upright people--people we admire, friends who keep us walking our walk, people who are "straight" with us.

Even if we don't have actual spiritual friends, chances are we rely on reading books or listening to talks as our spiritual supports.

Who and what supports you in your spiritual practice?

Sweet Hoya

My hoya plant is blooming, so, after dinner, when i'm yearning for something sweet, but not too sweet, i walk into my solarium and lick the hoya flowers.

Each waxy umbel has about 30 very small, star-shaped flowers, and each flower secretes 1 drop of nectar, which smells like perfume. That's 30 drops of sweetness :)

Bees drink nectar and produce honey. With the hoya, we humans can also go straight to the source.

The source for our spiritual practice is our sense of integrity. We feel more integral with all of life when we abide close to the 5 precepts:

Today i intend to:

do no harm to anyone,

take nothing that is not freely given,

use my sexual energy wisely,

speak truthfully and helpfully,

and keep my mind clear.

This ethical behavior sweetens our actions.