This final Sunday in August, 2025, hopefully brings an end to the extreme heat in Los Angeles, County. I've been exchanging thermometer readings with friends along the Pacific coast, from Portland to San Diego. The heat has been difficult, but we've adapted. Here in L.A. County there has been quick responses to erupting fires, and welcomed evening cool-downs. The Public service announcements remind us: "Stay cool, stay hydrated, stay informed." Staying cool can be a reminder that navigating heat, traffic, and other people involves patience and care for others; staying hydrated, includes being aware that water is necessary for your cognitive functioning and awareness of what is happening around you and others. Staying informed, is more than the weather report--we live in complex times, high heat is a call to simplify your movements for the day. It means adapting your day to our shifting environment. To me, "informed" also means following the inner directive and a spiritual perspective. While the West Coast is in a heat wave, the East Coast faces flooding, brooding storms, and the need for similar vigilance.
This week, someone sent me a brief story of the "Charred Sutra." Sutras are ancient and medieval Indian texts revered in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. These condensed "truths" open to deeper interpretation and meaning. I don't know the original source; there are many stories of Sutras lost, or partially burned in fires. In this tale, it was dawn when a novice monk found the sutra fragment; the rest had burned in the night's fire. As he lifted the burnt page, ashes fell everywhere. "Master," he pleaded, "how do I save this wisdom?" The master blew at the fragment, watching it as it scattered and dissolved in the garden. "Now," he said, "read it in the cucumbers growing through the soot."
This struck me as an ancient tale of living teachings in the midst of changing times--of fires, floods, and seasons, of Nature's return, and what we consider sacred. After January's destructive Eaton fire, we were warned not eat anything from the backyard garden for a year, except for the thick-rind citrus fruits. Chemical analysis had shown the ash contained potentially harmful chemicals, and it would be safer to wait for next year's crop. The charred sutra tale felt particularly significant in 2025, a time of changing climate. We can't eat the cucumbers this year, but they will return.
As I mulled over the story, I met layers of meaning. Is an ancient sutra as wondrous as a living garden bringing forth food? Well, it depends. I considered the times when I am seeking some spiritual understanding or guidance. I might flip through my books--that could include the Bible, or other religious texts, or poetry, and an idea, an answers, a spark, grabs me. Sacred Sutras are sparks of ancient wisdom and insight that can ignite us thousands of years later. But they also, like all religious teachings, can crystalize, become rote and empty ritual, and even blind us from seeing what Life offers us now. There is another kind of ancient wisdom in every garden. And not only the way of cultivation--the way of food, clothing, shelter, companionship, and creativity can be found in contemplating the living, natural world. Read it all, "in the cucumbers [in the whole of Nature's story], growing through the soot." Consider this week, that Life is urging You to adapt. Life is urging You, to recover awareness and sensitivity of this Natural world as it shifts. Yes, it is a collective task, but we begin with ourselves. (Susan Nettleton)
for poetry: https://spiritoftrees.org/poetry/woods
https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/R/RilkeRainerM/Silentfriend/index.html