Phone: 507-384-8541
Mountains and Waters Alliance
Mountains and Waters Alliance
  • Home
    • About Shodo Spring
    • Words From My Teacher
    • History of Mountains and Waters Alliance
    • MWA Board of Advisors
  • Zen
    • Heart Sutra Study Materials
  • The Farm
  • The Alliance
    • In detail
  • Support
    • Membership
    • Volunteer
    • Donate – Support
  • Blog
    • All News & Articles
  • Resources
    • Audio / Video Dharma
    • Links and Online Resources
    • Reference Essays / Links
    • Photo Galleries
      • Farm Gallery
      • General Images
      • Rock People & Waterfall Spirit
      • Compassionate Earth Walk
      • Activism
    • Compassionate Earth Walk
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Events Calendar
  • Contact
    • Visitor information

Articles and Posts

25
Mar

By: Shodo

Comments: 1

Journal, -  Mar 25, 2019

Braiding Sweetgrass

At the last potluck group, we listened to this talk by Robin Wall Kimmerer. It prompted deep and intimate talking, and I cannot remember much except how it satisfied some essential need for spiritual community.

Last night I was reading her book, Braiding Sweetgrass, and some of those feelings came up again. But what can I share to offer a taste? In the chapter called “The Honorable Harvest,” she writes about a group of men telling hunting stories. The one elder talks. “He says, ‘I must have seen ten deer that day, but I only took one shot.’ He tips his chair back and looks at the hill, remembering. The young men listen, looking intently at the porch floor. ‘The first one came crunching through the dry leaves, but was shielded by the brush as it wove down the hill. It never saw me sitting there. Then a young buck came moving upwind toward me and then stepped behind a boulder. I could have tracked it…but I knew it wasn’t the one.’ Deer by deer, he recounts the day’s encounters for which he never even raised his rifle: the doe by the water, the three-pointer concealed behind a basswood with only its rump showing. ‘I only take one bullet with me,’ he says.

“The young men in T-shirts lean forward on the bench across from him. ‘And then, without explanation, there’s one who walks right into the clearing and looks you in the eye. He knows full well that you’re there and what you’re doing. He turns his flank right toward you for a clear shot. I know he’s the one, and so does he. There’s a kind of nod exchanged. That’s why I only carry one shot. I wait for the one. He gave himself to me. That’s what I was taught: take only what is given, and then treat it with respect.'”

Kimmerer also writes of a young woman who came to one of her talks, when nobody else was listening, and told about her grandmother in Turkey. “I remember lying with her at night as she made us thank the rafters of her house and the wood blankets we slept in.”

Take only what is given. That is exactly the Second Precept of Buddhism, though the common translation is “not stealing.”

I didn’t grow up with teachings of gratitude for every thing, though we prayed over every meal, and one prayer was a prayer of thanks. I continue to be shocked at the waste everywhere in modern culture. I had thought it was because my parents grew up during the Depression and couldn’t afford to waste, but it’s pleasant to think perhaps they came from a culture that respected the sacred in material things.

That’s the way I want to live. It’s painful for me to be with people who live without respect for those material things – which means nearly everyone in modern America – but how else is it possible to live in closeness to our relatives the plants and animals, the soils and waters?

Sometimes I try to share this with others. The land care retreats are such a time – how can we live knowing everything as holy? There’s one on the May 17 weekend, and another in August. They’re offered in the old tradition of dana, generosity, with a requested fee for expenses and an option for work exchange. You would be welcome.

1 Comment
  1. Dwain Wilder

    What a wonderful dwelling on “Braiding Sweetgrass.” Your thoughts reminds me of Vachel Lindsay’s remark, “A well-considered poverty can be exquisite.”

    March 26, 2019

    Reply
Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Sidebar
Upcoming Events
  1. Spring Work/Practice Period

    March 1 - July 31
  2. Dharma Talk – online – March 28, 2021

    March 28 @ 9:00 am - 10:30 am
  3. Dharma Talk – online – April 11, 2021

    April 11 @ 9:30 am - 11:00 am
  4. 5-Day Sesshin at the Farm – June 17-22

    June 17 @ 8:00 pm - June 22 @ 3:00 pm
  5. 5-Day Sesshin at the Farm – September 16-21

    September 16 @ 8:00 pm - September 21 @ 3:00 pm

View All Events

Tags
activism ceremony climate change collapse cultural change Martin Prechtel potluck Vairochana Vairochana Farm wetiko
Mountains and Waters Alliance

The Alliance reaches out to the public through teaching, writing, and retreats, offering this vision of the human role in the community of life, grounded in the tangible reality of holding and caring for the shared land.

Mountains and Waters Alliance

16922 Cabot Ave

Faribault, MN 55021
507-384-8541
shodo.spring@gmail.com

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 79 other subscribers

Copyright © Mountains And Waters Alliance 2018. All rights reserved.

Development: North of the River Design