Repost of Jerry's Zen Garden Story

[Guest guest]

Hi Jerry!! I save ALL the goodies....:)

Gloria

 

-

<GCWein1111

< >

Wednesday, March 01, 2000 5:21 PM

Re: Re: The List

 

 

GCWein1111

 

 

Dear Harsha (and all)

Geez, l was embarrassed to see my message to you (about

unsubscrbing) get posted to the list, as l thought l was just sending it to

you, ha ha -- not sure how that happened. Anyway, l do appreciate your

response, as well as that of Jill and TeeGee. l don't mind for myself that

it appeared -- l just hope that neither you nor anyone else was offended by

my remarks. l feel even sillier about TeeGee asking me to share my zen

garden story --are you sure about this, TeeGee? Well, l assume you are, so

here goes:

l used to go to Asia every year, especially to lndia, but had

never been to Bali. So in Aug 92 l scheduled a trip there. lt's such a long

flight l decided at the last minute to do a stop-over in Japan for 5 days to

break up the trip. Before l left l told my caretaker to get rid of all the

weeds in my back yard, which was quite a mess. Upon arriving in Japan l

immediately went to Kyoto, which l knew to be a spiritual center with alot of

zen temples. lt was then that l found myself in another world, sensing at

once that destiny had guided me there. l'd been doing vipassana meditation

pretty intensely for several months and was starting to feel the increased

concentration and depth from this practice. ln addition, l've always had a

passionately aesthetic nature. So, l think it was a combination of these

things that led to not only the temples, but particularly the zen gardens

being probably the most wonderful moment of discovery l've ever known. There

were many moments of melting in tears of joy, and many others of profound

meditative stillness, induced by the sense conveyed of almost perfect

harmony with nature.

lt was with great

reluctance that l left Kyoto for Bali, which, although it has its charms,

proved to be an afterthought. Then, after flying home and pulling up in my

driveway, l had the sense of being someplace else. My caretaker, instead of

being content to get rid of weeds, had also cut down every tree in my back

yard, making it unrecognizable. My upstairs tennant, a staunch

environmentalist, was angry at me and ready to move out. The neighbors were

furious. l called my caretaker and asked how he'd managed to so misunderstand

me and do something so unthinkable as this? He had always been a thoughtful

and responsible person, and curiously, appeared to have no idea himself.

 

My first reaction, since l now had a bare yard, was to arrange to have a

bunch of trees planted. But somewhere within me the Kyoto experience

resonated enough to lead me to postpone doing anything for awhile. The idea

of having my own zen garden had an allure -- the problem was l was bogged

down full time in my law practice and had never even planted a tree or done

any gardening in my life. So the notion of my doing anything was totally

impractical. My hope was that, hey, maybe something will just evolve or

manifest itself out of my meditation practice.

 

Less than 2 weeks after my return home my kundalini

process began, with energy shooting out of my brow chakra and remaining there

on a permanent basis (as well as elsewhere). There were 6 months of powerful

but mostly pleasant energy sensations -- interestingly, every time l looked

at a tree my brow chakra would go crazy. Then certain breathing practices led

to a long period of continuous headaches and other problems, making any

meditation impossible. So much for the idea of a zen garden -- that was the

least of my concerns. So my yard just deteriorated more and more as first

months, then years went by. lt became the junkyard of the neighborhood as

weeds, beverage cans and dog crap became its main constituents. My neighbors

were beyond being upset -- l told one of them that someday it was going to be

a zen garden, which drew a mixture of disbelief and ridicule.

 

My kundalini hit bottom

in late 95, a time when physically l felt like l was going to die. l

separated from my teacher and also began winding down my law practice. lt was

then that l turned all my attention to my yard. l just stood out there, day

after day, getting the feel of it and recycling ideas through my system. And

so began a process that lasted for over 4 years. First, l did a formal zen

sitting garden in the back, with a large area of raked, fine gravel and a

meditation platform -- enclosed by a fence and bordered by trees, a groove of

bamboo, and a small Buddha statue in the rear corner. l often asked myself,

why am l doing this? l can't even meditate and may never be able to again. l

just seemed to be driven to do it. What surprised me was that it worked --

the effect was magical -- friends started comming over to meditate there.

 

Once the back was finished l figured

that was it. But 2 years later l decided to expand the garden from the back

to include the side area. Once again l was completely stumped at first, but l

eventually came up with a moss garden with a water feature, boulders,

japanese maples and connifers, enclosed by a bamboo fence. And again, l was

amazed at the end result. Then last year l decided to go all the way and do

the front yard also. l was just as clueless as before, and again spent day

after day in front of my house, as my neighbors nervously looked on. l

completely redid my front yard, enclosing it with a bamboo fence on top of a

low dry stone wall. l brought in several huge boulders (which required months

to select) which l arranged in various combinations surrounded by raked

gravel and trees. l also tore up the straight cement walkway from the street

and created a curving stone path that leads to the front door and also winds

completely throughout the entire garden.

 

So, if anyone's still with me here ( ha

ha), l now have a completely enclosed zen garden which covers my entire

property and consists of 3 distinct areas. At the risk of sounding

egotistical, l am pretty amazed by the physical transformation that's

occurred. Several landscape architects have wandered in and have been stunned

by it. Local garden associations have pestered me to take tours through here,

but l've resisted that so far -- just doesn't feel right. And my dear

neighbors have become humble admirers.

Of course, there's a

downside too -- l could write a book about all the problems l've encountered.

And maintaining it is no small thing. But l think being able to do the garden

has been wonderful for my energy process, both in terms of strengthening my

connectedness to the earth and in providing an opportunity to be creative in

such a fulfilling way. For all this, l can be thankful that for some

mysterious reason my caretaker decided to cut down all my trees. ln recent

weeks l've found that after nearly 7 yrs, my headachiness is finally getting

better, and the energy is flowing more freely again. Maybe this summer l'll

get to meditate in my garden.

love,

jerry

 

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[Guest guest]

Wow, that's a great one! Thanks for writing it Jerry and re-posting it,

Gloria!

 

Love,

 

--Greg

 

At 06:08 PM 8/9/00 -0400, Gloria Lee wrote:

>>>>

Hi Jerry!! I save ALL the goodies....:)

Gloria

 

-

<GCWein1111

< >

Wednesday, March 01, 2000 5:21 PM

Re: Re: The List

 

 

GCWein1111

 

 

Dear Harsha (and all)

Geez, l was embarrassed to see my message to you (about

unsubscrbing) get posted to the list, as l thought l was just sending it to

you, ha ha -- not sure how that happened. Anyway, l do appreciate your

response, as well as that of Jill and TeeGee. l don't mind for myself that

it appeared -- l just hope that neither you nor anyone else was offended by

my remarks. l feel even sillier about TeeGee asking me to share my zen

garden story --are you sure about this, TeeGee? Well, l assume you are, so

here goes:

 

.....

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 8/9/00 3:08:38 PM Pacific Daylight Time, glee

writes:

 

<<

Hi Jerry!! I save ALL the goodies....:)

Gloria >>

 

Thank you, Gloria. l initially felt embarrassed at the notion of

reposting this, but seeing that even a couple members liked it tells me it

was worthwhile ( to be honest, l enjoyed reading it again myself :)

 

jerrysan