The author moved from creating an organic garden in the lush Willamette Valley, with abundant rainfall and fertile earth, to a place in Arizona where limited rainfall and scarcity of nutrients made a garden a target for insects and animals.
To protect a garden in such an arid climate, how is the concept of no killing resolved? Or can it be?
By looking at each pest and guest with a calm mind, the author developed a deeper appreciation of how to avoid just being reactive. Right View leads her to Right Action.
To replace a ‘Fix it Now!’ mentality with a calm ‘how does this action reflect the wheel of life?’ That guides her to a deeper understanding that the order of life and death also leads to renewal and rebirth.
Her individual chapters on dealing with specific guests and pests ranges from the deeply insightful to the playfully charming.
In one chapter, after cleaning and sterilizing a kitchen counter, she notices a lone ant. Instead of reacting by using a newspaper to transplant the ant outside (and likely causing its death by separation from its colony). contemplation gives her the insight that the ant is a scout, and if left alone to return to its colony, it will relay the message, no food on this counter.
The author goes from reacting to skunks with great fear and foot stomping to speaking to them with a calm voice that they respect. And she learns that they are great protection for the garden at night.
From calm reflection she discovers that some bees love to frolic in a cool spray.
Her garden helps her to develop a compassion and a mindfulness of life.
Buddha in the Garden in an ideal companion for those who would like to deepen their appreciation of life in all its forms. It is a treasure trove for anyone seeking to garden in a mindful, peaceful way.
Available as a soft paperback on Amazon.
A glossary includes reading and viewing recommendations on YouTube.
No comments:
Post a Comment