Soaking up Some Shin: Gardening from a Higher Perspective
So
psyched! Starting a 6-month intensive (5 months coursework and one retreat) on
Buddhist studies this summer at the New
England Institute for Buddhist Studies in Middletown (http://bffct.org/bff/dharmaquest).
The course will cover all studies from the life of Siddhartha Gautama to
the core of Shin Buddhist spirituality. The course books are great and I’ll be
happy to add them to my library: No Fear, No Death by Thich Nhat Hanh; Start
Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living by Pema Chodron; Call of the
Infinite by John Paraskevopoulos; The Beginner’s Guide to Walking the Buddha’s
Eightfold Path by Jean Smith (parts 1 and 2),
and; Be Free Where You Are by Thich Nhat Hanh.
More than anything, I hope to incorporate Buddhist doctrine
on compassion to all creatures with my work as a master gardener. Bringing
together the philosophy of ‘no harm’ with necessary food production is an area of
virtue that draws me in. Call it ‘gardening from a higher perspective’.
And although I’ve been a Buddhist for 9 years now, this study
program, while a basic one, will fill in some gaps for me. I’m so blessed.
Namaste!
