the Speaking tree - Seeds and the Sacred
MARY ANN BURRIS
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In Native American spirituality, seeds are the circle of life.The Three Sisters of corn, squash and beans were a gift from the Divine Creator, to be cherished and nurtured generation to generation. When we nurture them, they nurture us. It is a circle.In Buddhist teachings, each of us has the same 51 seeds in our soil, in our store of consciousness. These seeds include faith, energy , humility , wisdom, zeal, mindfulness and peacefulness. They also include greed, craving, pride, sloth, gloom and selfishness.
These seeds are in all of us as potentialities. Our mental formations, our characters, are shaped by the seeds that are nurtured in our lives. We can consciously attend to our healthy seeds, those connected to love. We can water our unhealthy seeds, those connected to fear. Our surroundings influence the seeds that are strong in us, but it is our spirit, our consciousness, that shapes our lives, that helps us know that we are One and to live each day in that knowing.
Seeds are connection, fertility. To destroy them is not only to damage ourselves, but to diminish the planet's storehouse. It is to harm those who crawl, who fly , who swim, who run, whose roots are still.What is needed, instead, is to recognise our wild relations, to respect all our relations.
Our surroundings influence the seeds that are strong in us, but it is our spirit, our consciousness, that shapes our lives, that helps us know that we are One and to live each day in that knowing.
These seeds are in all of us as potentialities. Our mental formations, our characters, are shaped by the seeds that are nurtured in our lives. We can consciously attend to our healthy seeds, those connected to love. We can water our unhealthy seeds, those connected to fear. Our surroundings influence the seeds that are strong in us, but it is our spirit, our consciousness, that shapes our lives, that helps us know that we are One and to live each day in that knowing.
Seeds are connection, fertility. To destroy them is not only to damage ourselves, but to diminish the planet's storehouse. It is to harm those who crawl, who fly , who swim, who run, whose roots are still.What is needed, instead, is to recognise our wild relations, to respect all our relations.
Our surroundings influence the seeds that are strong in us, but it is our spirit, our consciousness, that shapes our lives, that helps us know that we are One and to live each day in that knowing.
