Dig In The Dirt

                                                                Listen to the Audio Song:  

                                                                        https://bit.ly/dig-in-the-dirt

 

Now here’s the situation I left my home

By the invitation of Roshi Joan

I packed my bags to go across the world

My prayer flags completely unfurled

 

Gonna get enlightened so found my way 

To become a Upayan in Santa Fe

I would get a koan and learn how to be

And is what Roshi said to me

 

Pull some weeds then pick up a broom

It’s gonna lead you to the sun and the moon

And the sky above gonna heal your hurt

You wanna know love ya gotta dig in the dirt

Planting native seeds with Roshi Joan Halifax

 

Plant some seeds put some compost down

All you’ll ever need is found in the ground

Be here now and do this work

Humbly bow and dig in the dirt

 

I was a little frustrated I will have to admit

To become consecrated I thought I would just sit

I thought I would get so I would transcend no

I did not expect to the clean the bathroom in the Zendo

 

But I swept a walk though there was nothin’ there

And we did not talk but I became aware

But there came a day I began to understand

It’s easier to pray when you got dirty hands

 

Then I pulled pulled some weeds then picked up a broom

And let myself be with the sun and the moon

And the sky above gonna heal my  hurts

You wanna find love ya gotta dig in the dirt

 

Plant some seeds put some compost down

All you’ll ever need is found in the ground 

Be here now and do this work

Humbly bow and dig in the dirt

 

 --Written by Denny Caraher as a farewell song for Vipul 

June2023

To Listen to the Audio Song:  

https://bit.ly/dig-in-the-dirt

To read more more about my spiritual pilgrimage to America and  'The Way of the Zen':  

https://vipulshaha.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-way-of-zen.html

 

With my room-mate and a great musician Denny at Upaya Zen Center, NM