Happy Earth Day, Everyone!
Buddhas and Ancestors realize the vast sky and the great earth. When they appear in their noble body, their vastness has no inside or outside. When they appear in their true body, there is not even a bit of earth on the ground.
Eihei Dogen, comment on the precept:
I vow not to praise myself at the expense of others
This Earth Day, the earth itself feels fresh here in Colorado, the green things reaching for sun, a breeze cleansing air under a lively sky. Life on Earth is facing challenges as never before. And life is stunningly persistent.
Tomorrow, here in the garden at Creek Bend, we will be planting a new sangha member: a Serviceberry tree! Its blossoms will greet us in the Spring and nourish pollinators; robins will feast on the berries, and the leaves will be brilliant in the Fall. And the name! She’ll be our teacher. A generous gift of Deb’s Gardening.
On Friday, Arbor Day, we’ll join together at a distance for meditation and a Tree Blessing Ceremony:
Those who can are welcome to join Andrew Palmer’s meditation time at 9 AM. (contact Andrew at alpalmer128@gmail.com for the Zoom invitation).
At 10:30 AM, we’ll have a brief ceremony to bless and dedicate the tree, also via Zoom.
Please contact Sarah Bender for that invitation at sembender@gmail.com. There will be time for some sharing of our hearts on Arbor Day after the ceremony.
Then what?
From here, our practice period continues for two weeks, through the first full moon of May, May 7, observed in many streams of Buddhism as Buddha’s Birthday.
We’ll be offering a one-day retreat via Zoom on Saturday, May 9 (more on that soon, but meanwhile, save the day: 10 AM to 3 PM)
In the meantime, this seems a very good time to root ourselves in the strength of Earth, and know ourselves as the vastness of sky. We can let these two weeks be a time of deep inquiry and a time to rest in the vibrancy of life itself, even in the presence of all that shakes like that early thunder we heard this week. Thunder announces spring, raises energy, shakes things and renews them. We are shaken. And in us is that which can be renewed, discovered, nourished to meet a new time. There is no need to find fault.