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 <[email protected]> wrote: > A little Zen for little ones… > > > http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/07/27/dropping-ashes-on-the-buddha-death/ > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org/md/archives.html > -- "finite players play within boundaries. Infinite players play *with* boundaries." Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
