The garden metaphor

A discussion on all aspects of Theravāda Buddhism
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BlackBird
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Joined: Fri Apr 17, 2009 12:07 pm

The garden metaphor

Post by BlackBird »

Hello friends and Venerable Sirs.

I am working with the garden metaphor.

(Planting seeds, tending to seeds, chipping away at the giant trees, weeding the garden of undesirable plants, planting the right seeds - just for starters)

Does anyone else here use this metaphor in evaluation? Can you share your experience if this is so.

Metta
Jack.
"For a disciple who has conviction in the Teacher's message & lives to penetrate it, what accords with the Dhamma is this:
'The Blessed One is the Teacher, I am a disciple. He is the one who knows, not I." - MN. 70 Kitagiri Sutta

Path Press - Ñāṇavīra Thera Dhamma Page - Ajahn Nyanamoli's Dhamma talks
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cooran
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Re: The garden metaphor

Post by cooran »

Hello BlackBird, all,

You may enjoy this teaching by Ayya Khema on The Meditative Mind which uses an extended garden metaphor.
http://www.vipassana.com/meditation/khe ... e_mind.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

metta
Chris
---The trouble is that you think you have time---
---Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe---
---It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---
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retrofuturist
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Re: The garden metaphor

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings,

See also...

AN 3.33: Nidana Sutta
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Metta,
Retro. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
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Jechbi
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Re: The garden metaphor

Post by Jechbi »

Off-topic, but here's another famous garden analogy: The Invisible Gardener. Shades of anatta?
Rain soddens what is kept wrapped up,
But never soddens what is open;
Uncover, then, what is concealed,
Lest it be soddened by the rain.
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Dhammanando
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Re: The garden metaphor

Post by Dhammanando »

  • "Therefore, bhikkhus, abandon what is unwholesome and devote yourselves to wholesome states, for that is how you will come to growth, increase, and fulfilment in this Dhamma and Discipline. Suppose there were a big sala-tree grove near a village or town, and it was choked with castor-oil weeds, and some man would appear desiring its good, welfare, and protection. He would cut down and throw out the crooked saplings that robbed the sap, and he would clean up the interior of the grove and tend the straight well-formed saplings, so that the sala-tree grove later on would come to growth, increase, and fulfilment. So too, bhikkhus, abandon what is unwholesome and devote yourselves to wholesome states, for that is how you will come to growth, increase, and fulfilment in this Dhamma and Discipline."
    (MN. 21)
Yena yena hi maññanti,
tato taṃ hoti aññathā.


In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
(Sn. 588)
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