Samurai

'drone zone' on SOMA FM  www.somafm.com

bonsai is not about picking up something form the natural workd and trying to make it better. its foremost in honring the natural world by taking on the role of mother naure- taking a seedling into your life and nurturing it as you would a small child. as the tree grows.. a scene from the natural world is selected for the emotions it evokes.. a scene like a tree growing from the cleft-rocks of a hill, or a group of trees growing alongside a small pond. once a scene is established- the bonsai keeper painstakingly mimics this perfect emotional movement of nature in his tiny bonsai pot. nature worship; complete understanding through practice of the delicate and powerful subtle movements of the natural world... a humbling experience in life, growth, death and regeneration. we all have stuff we nurture and protect like the bonsai keeper does his chinese juniper. the questoin comes when we have to step back and decide if this is beneficial or not for where we are on our journey. the samurai tell a story about this... there was once a samurai warrior who took great care in the sharpness of his mond and his sword- and in the raising of prized bonsai. he was able to create bonsai in a quality which no one had ever seen before. one winter, as the samurai was in his hut, a revered shogun master came to teach and visit him. the samurai was out of dry pitch and wood to keep a fire- so he sacrificed his remaning two bonsai to warm the shogun master.
(there are shitloads of artistic renditions of this scene.. try google or japanese tradi art..its intense.)

i think the gist of the story is- that no matter what we hold inesteem or prize, there is always something more valuable to which it can easily be sacrificed. in the example of the samurai- the old bonsai treeswere sacrificed in the name of love and honor.
i think theres a part of this, where the samurai had to remove the trees from his abode to make room for the shogin (energetic/esoterically speaking)... thats how it speaks to me anyway. like people who want a new relationship or more money but have not cleaned 'house' - that is they have not removed the old issues to make room for new blessings.
you have to haul out old furniture before you can fit the new stuff in.. and if we are wanting to be on some progressive life journey- there will be lots of moves, lots of challenges, lots of blessings and lots of new furniture.

"your willingness to give blessings determines your ability to recieve them" -Lao-Tzu


J