For this month’s yearlong retreat focus on Receiving, a line in the session write-up reads “[…]we are ‘receiving stations’ of Life energy, but conditioning clouds reception.”
With the invitation to write the garden article this month, attention turned to how the garden models a receiving unimpeded by conditioning. I picked up the recorder and went for a walk around the garden to look for receiving, to practice receiving the garden’s receiving, with all the senses.*
Here are examples of some of the unimpeded, pure receiving I saw in the garden:
The water tank, provided by the generosity of Sangha, a ready receiving point for the rain water collected during storms
The garden ready to receive the water
The solar panels that power the Monastery, receiving openly the sunlight falling on them
A deeply pink rose, a perfect receiving station for the light and water that feed it
The potatoes receiving the support of the hilling technique we’re using, where we’ve been building up the soil in wooden frames around the plants as they grow, to support the stems to be strong and encourage the potatoes to grow
Trellises receiving the wildly abundant snap peas that are finding support on them, and the snap peas receiving the support of the trellises
Flowers receiving bees, bees receiving pollen
A thermometer hanging by a tree, receiving information about the temperature of the air
Tall artichokes, their leaves perfectly, spikily calibrated receiving stations for the light and moisture they need
Tall hollyhocks, differently and also perfectly calibrated receiving stations, their pink flowers radiating out to receive every last drop of light
In gasshō,
anna l
*As I walked through the garden talking into the recorder, I started to feel like a receiving station among all the receiving stations of the plants, flowers and trees. I was appreciating how the recorder is a physical, technological receiving station that helps us be the receiving stations that we are by getting attention out of the conversation in the head and onto Awareness.