Organizations |
Eggplant ZenEggplant Zen Most of the time, I have problems writing an article each month because of the lack of ideas. This month is one of those rare situations where I have been having problems deciding what to write about because of too many ideas. I think I have two good ideas, one about my vegetable garden and the other about some of our donating and giving traditions that should be worthwhile to explain and have to decide which is more timely and appropriate. After much thought and because of the season, I came to the conclusion that the garden is a timelier topic and I will save the donation discussion until next month. In working in my garden, I have been able to get insights into customs that developed over the years in agrarian societies that we might consider cruel or barbaric today. When you consider the common practices of pruning and thinning crops, you can see how practices such as euthanasia and the abandonment of older people to die began. For the overall health and strength of a tree or plant, it is not unusual to trim and prune away branches that are not well, old and starting to wither or are overly intrusive to other branches. People do not think twice about snipping away dead or dying branches or leaves to make it so that fruit can receive more sunlight and be able to grow larger and ripen more fully and quickly. We thin away a number of small fruit to make it possible for one to grow larger and ripen more quickly. The strength of the whole and/or a more productive plant is made possible by these acts. If it works for the plant, why would it not work in human society? However, when this type of thinking is extended to human beings, it becomes much more complicated. Individual personalities and relationships come into play and it is not possible to make decisions that are based solely on rationale. Emotions and attachments come into play and we want to make exceptions for people close to us or with whom we have deep attachments. In observing nature, there is much we can learn, but we cannot make a direct correlation with human life in many cases. At the same time, we can learn much from plants about ourselves as individuals. One that comes to mind right now is the way flowers grow on the nasu, or Japanese eggplant. The plant has a pretty, purple flower, but the way it grows reminds me of the birth story of Siddartha, the Prince who became the Sakyamuni Buddha. The flower first blooms facing up, proudly, showing off its beauty and splendor to the world. However, as it starts lowering its head, it starts to become more useful and productive. When flower faces directly down is when the fruit starts to form and we get the eggplant to form and develop. In a similar manner, the baby taking seven steps and proclaiming that, under the heavens and on the earth, he was the honored one is exactly like the flower on the eggplant. It may be beautiful and forebode a productive future, but it has not done anything yet. Only after lowering its head in humility does the eggplant actually start doing anything. The same can be said about Siddartha. Only after beginning to learn humility, does he start to learn and grow so that he was able to find enlightenment and become the Sakyamuni Buddha. If the flower stays facing up, even if the fruit should grow, it would snap the stem or cause other problems. If Siddartha had stayed proud and egocentric, would enlightenment have been possible? Would he have quit or gone on another path? Would we be where we are today? We need to extend this to ourselves as well. Are we going to be like the flower with its head up, showing off to the world? Or, are we going to learn humility and become able to contribute even more to the world around us? |