Yard Zen

Zen Buddhism teaches that that life is permeated with suffering and caused by desire. Suffering ceases when desire ceases, and that enlightenment obtained through right conduct and wisdom and meditation releases one from desire and suffering and rebirth.

Should I try to be more Zen about the grass in the yard? Might I just cease from caring, let the desire for a nice lush yard die? Last summer I was assured by the Scott's rep that the grass out front was in hibernation because of the heat and lack of rain. He told me that it would go green again once we got some rain and the temps dropped. I let go. Well, the grass might have been hibernating for a spell, but then it died. In the early Fall, we were left with a hill of mostly bald dirt out front with some crabgrass combover. No rebirth or reincarnation here. Dead desire, dead yard.

Fundamentally, dying to all desire is anti-life. The Buddha throws out the baby with the bathwater. The Christian ethos instead is to desire right things both in terms of means and ends. Right desire is to be watered, while withholding the watering of wrong desire. No water for the grass at all means dead everything. I had to engage in a grueling reseeding and watering program both last Fall and this Spring for a month both times, to get things back to green (sort of). So much work because I didn't act preemptively last summer. Our spiritual lives too can become dead because of the lack of soul water.

This year, I water the grass out in the front (the showpiece turf for the property, and the one where the grass dies first and grows the worst). I head out for 15 minutes and water away. Apparently, better to water first thing before the heat of the day sets in. A lesson there for the devotional and meditative life. The other 80% of the yard, flatter and less crowded with trees, plants, and shrubs, tends to not need H2O intervention. If it goes brown, it does come back.

No, I am not Zen about the yard. But, I am at Peace in my heart and mind. Not the same thing.


And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.


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