[MD] Zen

John Carl ridgecoyote at gmail.com
Mon Jul 27 19:15:46 PDT 2015


from your link:

"What is great faith? Great faith means that at all times you keep the
mind which decided to practice, no matter what. It is like a hen
sitting on her eggs. She sits on them constantly, caring for them and
giving them warmth, so that they will hatch. If she becomes careless
or negligent, the eggs will not hatch and become chicks. So Zen mind
means always and everywhere believing in myself…"

We had a hen like that.  She sat faithfully, last march, on her eggs.
It's called "going broody" and it's not greatly encouraged in layers.
They get cantankerous and peck you when you try and pluck the eggs
from under them.  We did the best we could and just bought store eggs
for a while, hoping she'd give up.  She didn't give up.  A couple of
weeks ago, its the middle of July, and this god-forsaken hen is
brooding over eggs that will never hatch.  Why won't they hatch?
Because roosters are a pain in the ass, and we've gotten rid of ours,
long ago.

But that damn hen, keeps sitting.  Or setting, I think it's termed.

Finally, we decided to put an end to it.  We got her some chicks.
Only a day old, unsexed (more roosters!) and stuck them under her and
waited to see if the mothering instinct would kick in.  It did.  And
now she's the best mom, hovering over her little brood.  She hasn't
lost a single one and they are growing fast, learning the ways of the
farm and the family.

So the question is, what is the moral of the story?  Which came first?
 The urge of the chicken or the urge for the egg?   Was the hen
foolish?  She was setting on unfertilized eggs, that certainly seems
foolish.  But on the other hand, we had to acquiesce in the end to her
stubborness and provide her with the family that she so obviously
demanded.  She's happy, we're happy and everything works out great,
especially with the rise in egg prices these days
(http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/worst-bird-flu-outbreak-u-s-history-spreads-egg-prices-begin-skyrocket/)-

a whole new brood of layers is a good thing for self-sufficiency.

The really interesting thing tho, is that one of my hens died.  I
don't know why, she just got really sick and wouldn't get up and
started to smell bad, so I dispatched her and after that, Blackie the
mom, went all broody.  Something about the witnessing of death,
triggered the mind of the chicken to bring more life into the world.
I can't explain it, but

it's a beautiful thing.


On 7/27/15, David Morey <davidint at blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> A little Zen for little ones…
>
>
> http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/07/27/dropping-ashes-on-the-buddha-death/
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-- 
"finite players
play within boundaries.
Infinite players
play *with* boundaries."



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