Yesterday we had a sangha work day in the garden. Now that we have visible signage in front of the building it's time to bring some unity to the front landscaping, and so yesterday we lifted bulbs and removed a goodly amount of the wild ginger and galium to better locations. We also committed the scraggly bushes at the foot of the front porch to their rebirth as yard compost.
What a picture we were! I managed to break the handles on two shovels in the space of about 10 minutes. (The one had done meritorious duty lifting all the bamboo last year, so it was just a matter of time; I don't know what was up with the other.) One of our oldest members forswore garden gloves and dug right in with his bare hands, making sure to get the bulbs out and not just end up pulling the leaves off. Another member brought about 10 new plants for the beds, and still another brought black raspberry canes from her yard and two large containers of worm castings.
I find it so singularly gratifying to work with plants and dirt and water and shovels and wheelbarrows and people. There's life in the whole enterprise, from the life of the soil to the life of the plants and fungi to the life of the insects to the life of the birds now watching for worms to the life of the humans.
All together. All intertwined. This body of the earth, this body of ourselves, this body of Buddha.
What a picture we were! I managed to break the handles on two shovels in the space of about 10 minutes. (The one had done meritorious duty lifting all the bamboo last year, so it was just a matter of time; I don't know what was up with the other.) One of our oldest members forswore garden gloves and dug right in with his bare hands, making sure to get the bulbs out and not just end up pulling the leaves off. Another member brought about 10 new plants for the beds, and still another brought black raspberry canes from her yard and two large containers of worm castings.
I find it so singularly gratifying to work with plants and dirt and water and shovels and wheelbarrows and people. There's life in the whole enterprise, from the life of the soil to the life of the plants and fungi to the life of the insects to the life of the birds now watching for worms to the life of the humans.
All together. All intertwined. This body of the earth, this body of ourselves, this body of Buddha.
That’s it, I’m leaving your blog right now to go outside and work in the garden with my kids. Maybe it wasn’t your intent to inspire people to leave your blog after reading one post, but there you have it. (I’ll be back) Tallis
ReplyDelete