For those of us in New England, the crocuses have come up, daffodils are starting to bloom, and many trees and shrubs are budding. For those in warmer climates, many more flowers are blooming and the trees have leaves again. A friend said that if Covid-19 had to come, this was the best time of the year for it to be peaking. For those of us privileged to live close to nature and to have or be close to gardens, we can almost get giddy with the bursting forth of life. Spring fever is one fever that is good to have!
Mindfulness and cultivating
So today I will focus on metaphors associated with gardening. The word that the Buddha commonly used for meditation was bhavana which means to cultivate. While there are many different meditation practices, the path is much more than meditation. “It’s about the possibility each of us has to bring forth goodness into the world with this human heart and mind. Bhavana is a cultivation of the heart.”
One of my teachers, a Buddhist scholar, told us that the Buddha chose the word bhavana for meditation because most of the people whom he taught farmed the land. Thus the word cultivate brought up important associations, for example, paying attention and patience.
Conditions that support the growth of the plants
Think of moving to a new house where the owners used to have a garden but had let it go. You know that the first year you plant vegetables, while you may get a decent yield, it will take time, patience, and careful attention to rebuild the soil. To have a bountiful crop of vegetables or a flower garden that blooms in the spring, summer and fall requires study and research, preparing the soil, planting, fertilizing, weeding, providing adequate water and sunshine, and more.
When we cultivate a garden, our efforts are on creating the conditions that support the plant’s growth. The seed will sprout and grow at its own rate. We cannot make it grow faster or higher than what it contains in its genetic makeup, unless we get into bioengineering, gene splicing and Frankenstein! We cannot plant a tulip and hope it has 5 blooms, or becomes 5 feet tall, or smells like a rose.
Conditions that support our growth and our hearts
So too with ourselves—we learn to keep our focus on the conditions that support our growth. As you read the list below, you might contemplate:
Which of these am I already cultivating?
Which need more attention?
What other conditions are important?
1. Leading a moral life
Each religion has its own formulations: the Judeo-Christian religions have 10 commandments. Buddhism has 5 precepts which Thich Nhat Hanh has phrased in very inspiring ways. For example, instead of ‘thou shalt not steal,’ he writes: "Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I am committed to practicing generosity in my thinking, speaking, and acting. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others; and I will share my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in need." In the tradition that I have been taught, these are aspirations, meant to inspire us.
2. We regularly acknowledge the privileges and pleasures of our life by cultivating gratitude.
a. Before meals:
I am grateful for this abundance of nutritious food.
I am grateful for all the hard work that was required by many to bring this food here. “
I vow to live in a way that promotes equity and justice for all beings.
b. Thanking people who have been kind to you, supported you, loved you.
3. Generosity to others and to ourselves: small acts every day
4. Practicing mindfulness on a daily basis
5. Regular contact with others who aspire to a more mindful life (they don’t have to be Buddhists or meditators!).
6. Taking care of our body—appropriate exercise, yoga, Pilates, dancing, walking, etc.
7. Reading material that supports and inspires you: books, poems, biographies, memoirs.
8. More of your own practices.
Two more metaphors
Turning garbage into compost
We have many images for our own garbage: baggage, old stories, bad habits. Most of us have been trained to try to get rid of the garbage. Thich Nhat Hanh advocated a different paradigm, one that resonates with Internal Family Systems: transforming those parts of us that we don’t like from garbage to compost.
Many dedicated gardeners have learned the value of good composting which is an art and a science in itself. You place most of your food garbage into the compost bin, and with care and time you have compost that is so beneficial for your plants.
Reclaiming the desert
I once read a story about how people in Israel, China, and other countries are reclaiming land that had become desert. At the edge of the desert, they cultivate hardy shrubs, sand grasses and trees, plants with long roots that are sustainable in these conditions. They also have developed various practices like drip irrigation, that use minimal amounts of water.
What parts of ourselves have been neglected and dried up?
What helps to restore them to health?
So, to borrow from the poet Mary Oliver, what will you do with this precious day, with this precious life?