Having recently planted my garden, I’m reminded of one of nature’s miracles: the seed.  The metaphor of a seed is irresistible: the tiny seed can produce greatness and beauty that we can’t begin to imagine from the mere outer appearance of the seed.  Their lesson for us: greatness, at least in potential form, is present, even now, within humanity.  Like the seed, humanity only needs the right conditions to continue growing until it blossoms into something powerfully beautiful.

We can bear this truth in mind despite the fear-based hatred and propensity for violence within humanity that are highlighted on nearly every news channel.  Continuing with the garden analogy, perhaps the negative qualities in the world may be compared to the weeds relentlessly cropping up in our otherwise-beautiful gardens.  We must remember that all members of humanity, except for the fully enlightened few, have some combination of weeds and beautiful plants within the “garden” of their minds and hearts, and this includes ourselves.  It’s only the ratio of weeds that differs in each of us.

Buddhist teacher Ayya Khema shared this advice on dealing with weeds that refuse to go down without a fight:

“It’s like weeds: when we do nothing in the garden the weeds smother all the beautiful plants.  Weeds rob the other plants of nourishment, or rain and sun, and if we can’t eradicate them because their roots are too deep and powerful, we can at least cut them back so that they get smaller and weaker.  And that’s exactly what happens through the meditative absorptions.  We don’t uproot the hindrances, but we make them smaller.”

Thich Nhat-Hanh used a seed analogy to remind us that the time to work on our “garden” is now:

“When we practice, our effort is to water positive seeds and let the negative seeds remain dormant.  We don’t say, ‘Until I’ve gotten rid of all my bad seeds, I can’t practice.’  If you get rid of all your unwholesome seeds, you won’t have anything to practice.  We need to practice now with all the unwholesome seeds in us.  If we don’t, the negative seeds will grow and cause a great deal of suffering.”

Gradually, our spiritual practices help tip the balance and reduce the ratio of weeds to beautiful plants in our psychological gardens.  As we persevere in our practice, we cannot avoid becoming ever more effective channels of peace in the world.

Wishing you positive seeds and blossoming peace,

Kathy Gann