Have Faith

I finally got a chance to get a clipping of a persimmon tree from my friend, Donald’s backyard. I hadn’t been there for almost a month when it was just done bearing fruits. Now the tree was completely bare. Surprisingly, the branches were so high that I could barely reach one to clip. Donald moved out a few weeks ago, and there was no objects I can stand on. I figured I’d just take one to see if I can get it propagated, which I’m not so confident about as I don’t consider myself to have a green thumb.

Thanks to my friend, Regina, who sent me a link to an instruction how to propagate a persimmon tree, I followed the steps (except it said to do it in the fall.) Voila, it is now on my balcony sitting next to the Buddha statue, which I was just gifted from the late Feng Shui master and my dear friend, Janet’s family.

This Buddha, as you may notice, has one of his hands reaching down. This signifies the story when Buddha was meditating under the Boddhi tree, he was visited by all types of hindrances. The last hindrance that engulfed him was doubt: Doubt if his practice meant anything, if it was really leading to the liberation. Story has it that when he reached down to touch the earth, he was enlightened. Touching the earth gave him the confidence he needed. I love this story, and I get inspired to have faith in my practice.

I am giving this little persimmon tree branch a chance to live so it can keep the lineage for Donald’s family. By sitting next to this Buddha, hopefully, it will get inspired to have faith in the process. Actually, I guess it is more for me to have faith in my practice and the process.