Leaves and Moss

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Dhammanando
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Leaves and Moss

Post by Dhammanando »

Taken from the Ordination with Ajahn Brahm thread:
Luca123 wrote:As for Ajahn Brahm "wise" words
Let me ask you what you find as wise in this passage

Buddhist temples in japan are renowned for their gardens. Many years ago, there was one temple that was said to have the most beautiful garden of all.

[...]
Ajahn Brahm's story in his Truckload of Dung book appears to be a liberal adaptation of an anecdote that the late Trevor Leggett would often tell when talking about his Zen training at Eiheiji. It's not a very satisfactory re-telling however. Compared with the original, Ajahn Brahm's version suffers a complete loss of verisimilitude and concludes a bit feebly and obscurely.

This is how the original goes (or rather one of the originals, for Trevor used to tell the story a lot) ...
  • LEAVES and MOSS

    In some Japanese Temples, moss is cultivated as a symbol of inner realization. Its progress cannot be forced, and the cultivation in fact amounts to removing the obstacles to the natural growth. If they are patiently and continuously got rid of, however, it makes a surprisingly rapid advance. Moss, like realization, has a great inner strength against even extremes of change in the environment; under very warm or very dry conditions, mosses can become dormant, and quickly revive and grow again when conditions improve. If they feel like it, some of them can keep on growing even on hot, dry and exposed rocks.

    Most of them, however, grow best in shady and moist environments, and so in the temple gardens where they are cultivated, small trees are planted which shed their leaves at different times of year, thus providing a certain amount of shade almost all the time. A huge training temple like Eiheiji of the Soto Zen sect has a good number of courtyards covered with moss, and one of the daily jobs is to do some weeding out of competitors, and then to sweep the moss clear of fallen leaves. This is done with a light broom of twigs, and there is quite an art to it: if the strokes are too heavy, the surface of the moss is damaged, but if the strokes are not strong enough, the leaves are not taken up. So it has to be done just right, and then the piles of leaves are put into sacks and burnt to help heat the bath. After the sweeping is over, the unbroken lines of the undulating green carpet are a rewarding sight.

    The job, however, may involve little irritations. When one is sweeping a courtyard, and the part that has been done is taking on its pristine appearance, a breeze dislodges a few more leaves. One goes back and picks them up, only to see a couple more redly blotting the ground somewhere else.

    When I was first given a courtyard to sweep, I thought to myself (as foreigners tend to do): ‘Well, I may not be so good as some of these professionals at sitting in meditation, and perhaps I don’t always understand ‘what’s said to me, but this I can do, and I’ll do it perfectly ‑ absolutely perfectly‑”

    To me that meant sweeping every last leaf from the moss, as I had been asked to do. It was surprising, and then infuriating, to find that it seemed impossible to get the desired result; the first day I left the place spotless, having made a last quick circuit picking up the few newly fallen ones, but as I took the sack and turned to go, I saw a few more come down. There was no time to go back yet again.

    I evolved a strategy, which I tried out the next day. Before beginning to sweep, I visited each tree in turn and shook it furiously, in both senses of the word. I was then still fairly strong, and knew how to use my strength. Every leaf that was even beginning to weaken its hold on the tree came down in the shower with all the others. Then I happily swept them all up into piles, and the piles into the sack. No leaves remained to defile the perfect carpet of the place. As I moved off triumphantly, I noticed a monk watching me. He said: “Leggett San, don’t you think that was a bit extreme?” I replied. shortly: ‘Well, it got all the leaves up.” “Yes,” he said, “Yes, it did. But you know, we sweep these places everyday. If a few leaves come down after we’ve finished, we shall take them up the next day. And just a few of them might make an attractive pattern, don’t you think?” I remembered a Chinese poem: “One spot of red in a sea of green.” I don’t know if he was referring to that; anyway, I suddenly felt a bit uncivilized.

    So I stopped fighting the trees. Years afterwards I came across a Japanese poem by a great Japanese master named Mamiya, written early this century. The experience I had in mind helped me to appreciate it:

    We sweep up the fallen leaves in the garden,
    But we don’t hate the trees for dropping them.


    It doesn’t apply only to leaves.


    ___________________________________
Better still, listen to the man himself, who was a masterful raconteur...

https://www.tlayt.org/yoga-and-zen-say- ... ss-beauty/

(A slightly different telling of it from the version I quoted)
Rūpehi bhikkhave arūpā santatarā.
Arūpehi nirodho santataro ti.


“Bhikkhus, the formless is more peaceful than the form realms.
Cessation is more peaceful than the formless realms.”
(Santatarasutta, Iti 73)
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BasementBuddhist
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Re: Leaves and Moss

Post by BasementBuddhist »

It's a beautiful and meaningful story! ^_^
SarathW
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Re: Leaves and Moss

Post by SarathW »

And just a few of them might make an attractive pattern, don’t you think?”
Thank you, Bhante it is a beautiful story.
I have been to Japan few times and I love their gardens.
Buddha asked us to see the ugly in the beauty and the beauty in the ugly.

========
When I was in Japan I could not see any beggar in Japan.
One day when I was coming out of the train station, I saw a man with dirty cloth sitting under a table.
I looked at him thinking to give some money. He also looked at me with his glittering eyes.
Then I had a second thought whether he is a beggar and did not approach him. (this is another story for trying to give money to a person who was not a beggar)
I thought about him for few weeks after I was returned from Japan thinking why somebody could not help that one man.
I was thinking about him last night as well.

So this story gave me the answer.
Last edited by SarathW on Thu Jun 01, 2017 9:42 pm, edited 3 times in total.
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
Meezer77
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Re: Leaves and Moss

Post by Meezer77 »

Thank you for sharing that version of the story. Forgive me, I'm really curious- What's it like to live in a cemetery?
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Lucas Oliveira
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Re: Leaves and Moss

Post by Lucas Oliveira »

FALLING LEAVES

Our lives are like the breath, like the leaves that grow and fall.
When we really understand about growing and falling leaves,
we can then sweep the paths every day dan have great happiness
in our lives on this ever changing earth.

(Ajahn Chah, from the book A Tree in A Forest)

Image

:anjali:
I participate in this forum using Google Translator. http://translate.google.com.br

http://www.acessoaoinsight.net/
SarathW
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Re: Leaves and Moss

Post by SarathW »

This is why we offer flowers to Buddha as a reminder.
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
binocular
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Re: Leaves and Moss

Post by binocular »

Dhammanando wrote: /.../
So I stopped fighting the trees. Years afterwards I came across a Japanese poem by a great Japanese master named Mamiya, written early this century. The experience I had in mind helped me to appreciate it:

We sweep up the fallen leaves in the garden,
But we don’t hate the trees for dropping them.


It doesn’t apply only to leaves.
I don't understand -- what is supposed to be the point of the story?

I actually maintain a garden. I don't fret about leaves falling down, or there being weeds. It's a garden, so such things are normal there.
I really don't see the point of the story.
Hic Rhodus, hic salta!
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Sam Vara
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Re: Leaves and Moss

Post by Sam Vara »

binocular wrote: I actually maintain a garden. I don't fret about leaves falling down, or there being weeds. It's a garden, so such things are normal there.
I really don't see the point of the story.
I actually visit an on-line forum. I don't fret about things not making sense, or people having views that I think are wrong or incoherent, or posting stories that I can't see the point of. It's an on-line forum, so such things are normal there...
narhwal90
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Re: Leaves and Moss

Post by narhwal90 »

I maintain a garden too. When the deer arrive they will mow it nearly to the ground. I could get annoyed, use traps and guns and get worked up over protecting the garden. Or I can build a screen fence- even a thin fence will work if its high enough so they won't try to jump and the base is strong enough they can't break it down. Sometimes they get in anyway but mostly the garden prospers.
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Khalil Bodhi
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Re: Leaves and Moss

Post by Khalil Bodhi »

Thank you Bhante.
To avoid all evil, to cultivate good, and to cleanse one's mind — this is the teaching of the Buddhas.
-Dhp. 183

The Stoic Buddhist: https://www.quora.com/q/dwxmcndlgmobmeu ... pOR2p0uAdH
My Practice Blog:
http://khalilbodhi.wordpress.com
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