Every year Shao Shan Temple, in the tradition of Buddhist Monasteries, creates and sends New Year’s Greetings. And each year, Shao Shan Temple selects a different message for the upcoming year. This year the message is NURTURING GROUND.
The second character, 地 , means “ground,” or earth.
The New Year’s message can always be
understood in multiple ways. Often
people keep the greeting displayed in their home and they find that the meaning
of the message or the way in which it manifests in their life changes over the
course of the year.
The inspiration for this year’s message
was gratitude for the nurturing ground of practice that Rev. Taihaku
established here at Shao Shan: the temple building, Shao Shan traditions, her
care, and her teachings. The lower part of the “nurture” character means
“eat” or “food.” Certainly Rev. Taihaku fed the Shao Shan community in so many
ways, both with food from the garden and with Dharma teachings. She supported and fed both temple
practitioners’ bodies and minds/spirits, while encouraging us not to split the
two apart, her immense caring forming
and creating this place of practice.
Here at Shao Shan Temple, also the
physical ground/land of Shao Shan nurtures our practice. The temple extends beyond the boundary of the
physical building, encompassing the fields and hills, the brooks and wetlands,
the running, crawling, flying, and swimming critters. The raven that joins in with “JI HO SAN SHI” or
the deer that stands at the meadow edge waiting for the morning bell or the
otters that come running up to greet the food offering procession. When Dochosan (Rev. Taihaku’s teacher) came
to Shao Shan for her Mountain Seat Ceremony in 2013, he exclaimed with
surprise, “It’s all laughing here! The
trees and the grass, they’re all laughing!”
So many people, things, and experiences
contribute to form the ground of our practice.
Great teacher Thich Nhat Hahn passed away recently; he was a deep
influence of peace and mindfulness for many throughout the world and many in
our sangha. As we recognize and acknowledge
with gratitude all that has contributed to form the ground/basis for our
practice, we turn also in the other direction, asking how can we nurture, take care, and acknowledge the
ground and land of Shao Shan Temple?
This past summer many community members stepped forward to help with the
temple grounds maintenance and with the vegetable garden, mindfully weeding the
moss gardens, or picking up sticks in the woods. Every year we have a “Nature Pilgrimage”
chanting and walking to the different places on the land to acknowledge the way
in which the land supports our practice, asking how can we nurture the ground
of the planet - of the entire earth?
Also asking how can we nurture and take care of the ground, the
basis of our practice? Perhaps first
with recognizing how our practice is
a ground, is fundamental, giving us a solid basis from which to engage our
experience. There is the oft cited
metaphor of “walking on the bottom of the ocean while swimming on the surface.”
We can have a grounded centered core,
even as we experience and swim in all the waves of activity in our lives. Lately, I have often been recommending to
people to put their attention on the soles of their feet at various times
throughout the day, shifting attention from our head and thoughts down to our
feet touching the earth. Simply feet on
the earth.
2013 – Promise Blossoming
2014 – Season to Ripen
2017 – Buddha Seed
2022 – Nurturing Ground
The full life cycle. We may think of the ground being the end of
the cycle, but of course it is also the beginning. In the early spring, Taihaku would be out in
the vegetable garden when the snow had just barely melted or maybe not even
completely melted. She’d rototill in the
compost and all the beds would be the deep rich earth and she’d be so
excited. She would point to the empty
garden beds and exclaim enthusiastically, “Look at the beautiful garden!”
May our practice also form the
nurturing ground for future generations.
( For
photos of the New Year’s Greeting creation process, see http://shaoshantemple.blogspot.com/2021/12/2022-new-years-greeting-cards.html )
If you did not receive a New Year’s
Greeting and would like one, please speak with us next time you are at the
Temple!
