My venerable teacher the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh says, “No mud. No lotus. Lotus won’t grow on marble. Only in mud.” And that’s the lesson of life garbage becoming compost. Compost has potential as long as we look at it that way and not a trash heap of metaphorical egg shells, orange peels and coffee grounds. We can transform the garbage of our lives into something beautiful. I know. I’ve been there. I’m still at it.
How do we embrace the garbage?
The rose is on its way to being garbage
But garbage is on its way to being rose
If one sees clearly one can see the garbage in the rose
And the rose in the garbage
Garbage (or compost) gives life to rose
And life gives way to death
If the gardener can see the rose from garbage she won’t run from it
And will let go of her fear of garbage and death
Photo by Vivek Doshi on Unsplash
