Pulling Weeds
February 1, 2010
I pulled some weeds today.
How unremarkable that should be. But I think back to many Zen stories, where a monk was simply pulling weeds or chopping bamboo and enlightenment came. And another Zen passage that said we should pull the weeds and then bury them nearby to nourish the plants again. (No enlightenment came to me today, so I guess I need to bury my weeds again.)
And I think of feng shui, which holds that even minor blockages can affect you. One such feng shui injunction, for example, is to avoid vines, because they will “choke off your prosperity.” What this really means is that vines that go unattended can eventually ruin the wall that they cling to.
Sometimes, if you can’t do big things, then do the small things. Take Hexagram 38, Estrangement, for example. “In small matters: fortune.” Sometimes only the small is open to you, but do them anyway. It will always pay off in the long-run. Maybe in time, the buried weeds will nourish the plant to bloom.
