Weeding the Dhamma Garden

Cultivating Dhamma (the teachings of Buddha) and farming uses similar techniques. It is very important to prepare the ground before we start farming the land. Then we need to fertilize the ground. That is a reminiscent of practicing morality in our life. Similar to fertilizing the ground we need to prepares ourselves with morality or discipline ourselves. After preparing the ground and nurturing the soil we then plant the seeds. The type of seeds we chose to plant must be what we wish to harvest at the end. To give a simile, if we need to harvest corn as the end result we need to plant corn seeds, not soy or rice seeds. If we need soy as the harvest we should plant soy seeds, not corn or rice. In the same way if we need compassion we need to plant compassion, not hatred or something ells. If we need peace in our lives we need to plant the seeds of peace and not something ells. Here we need to mindfulness to identify what we need. When we talk about farming we need to know which plant is suitable for the kind of soil, the kind of weather, or perhaps the environment we have, which plant is more economical, and which will give more profit. Same way we need to select the seeds that we need. Therefore, one who practices Dhamma needs to select the seeds with extreme care, the type of harvest one likes to have are the type of seeds that one needs to grow. In our Dhamma practice we can categorize the seeds we need in to four groups - metta (benevolence), Karuna (compassion), Muditha (sympathetic - joy), and Uphekka (equanimity). These are the seeds for ones inner peace.

Ones when the farmer chooses the types of seeds they need, the farmer prepares the ground according to the type of plan/seed he/she has. The length one plow the soil, the height of the soil bed, the size of the soil clusters, what is the best time to do which activity, and so forth will be different for each crop. Inexperienced farmers may get advice from experienced farmers in farming. The one who needs to practice Dhamma has to make proper ground as well. Similarly, the inexperienced practitioner of Dhamma needs to find a person who has been successful in their practice to receive advice in how to prepare themselves to plant the seeds one would like to harvest. These “Dhamma Farmer” will find a teacher, a Monks, an experienced Sanga to learn and receive advice of this preparation. These experienced teachers will help “the Dhamma farmer” to understand the importance of self confidence, effort, self discipline, and many other things in the process of preparing oneself to plant the seeds.

After planting the seeds, the farmer needs to maintain environmental conditions that are appropriate for that particular crop. When the cultivation experiences certain challengers the farmer needs to find ways to overcome that. If it rains when it is should not, or more than the cultivation needs one should find a way to drain the extra water. If it rains less, if the cultivation needs more water one must find a way to water the plants as quick as possible, as needed. At this juncture we can say that if proper attention is not given the cultivation can be destroyed. Therefore we can say the most important thing in this process is the undivided attention and caring given to the cultivating land. Similarly, Dhamma farmers also need to follow the same strategy. No matter what comes up we need to maintain an undivided attention or awareness, which will help us to notice situational needs in our day to day practice. For an instance think that we felt slothful, sleepy, less motivated during our practice, we need to polish, dust off our skills in effort, and build self confidence and walk forward. Undivided attention has been thoroughly emphasized by Buddha as a skill we need to cultivate ourselves in finding our way to the ultimate goal.

Another most important function in cultivating and maintaining a farm land is weeding. After you make proper condition for plants to grow, naturally weeds will grow without any difficulty. A good farmer will usually notice this and will start weeding in order to protect the crop, and intending to have a successful harvest. In a similar situation it is extremely significant to take right action rather than to be frustrated. The farmer should have the knowledge to identify what is weed and what is not a weed, where with that understanding one should make a plan to pull the weeds out. The farmer needs to have enough effort and awareness to perform the action. “Dhamma farmers” should follow the same technique. When someone is practicing Dhamma in a properly prepared field full of confidence, sometimes with the absences of mindfulness, negative emotion such as anger, desire, etc. can arise. These emotions will bring pain at the end. Therefore, “the Dhamma farmer” should maintain awareness to notice these negative emotions. He/she should be able to pull these weeds out mindfully by not getting involved and by avoiding feeding these negative emotions. Constant attention is very important in maintaining the cultivated land by selective weeding. Think about a farmer who did weeding only ones and came back when it is harvesting time, what would they noticed. Weeds will probably cover the whole cultivation where the farmer may not be able to notice the crop been planted. No one will notice this as a farm, which this will become just another ground. Same will happen to the one who cultivated the Dhamma seeds without weeding. If the Dhamma farmer stops the regular practice those negative seeds will grow slowly, bit by bit and that will become a farm of weeds eventually. The Farmer might still remember what they planted but only will grow plants that bring pain and a negative harvest.

Buddha said,”Yadisam vapate beejam, tadisam harate palam”, translating in to – “the harvest one yields depends on the amount one plants”. To elaborate this further more – a farmer can’t expect a vast harvest by planting a little, a farmer can’t expect a good harvest by paying little attention to the farm. In a similar way one will gain results by following the path of Dhamma, according to the amount of preparation and the effort he/she puts in to it. If we know our neighboring farmer had a successful harvest, how does that benefit us? Unless our neighbor shares some of their harvest with us, what our neighboring farmer does with their cultivation do not affect us. If we need a certain type of harvest we need to cultivate that ourselves, no other can do it for us. Similarly in Dhamma practice, how others practice do not concern or benefit us. We need to do it for ourselves. If we need peace we need to cultivate the seeds of peace within us to be able to harvest the yield. If our goal is to be fully awakened we need to prepare a proper ground, select proper seeds, provide appropriate conditions and weed mindfully. This will be the true harvest. Therefore I would like to invite you, my noble friend, to become a successful “Dhamma Farmer”.