The Zen Way of Organic Farming: The Wisdom of Growing in Harmony with Nature

Text / Zhang Qian

Sunshine and life are bound together. In the city, whether the sky is sunny or cloudy only decides what clothes we wear when we go out; when the weather is bad we even feel annoyed. Do you know how I feel about rain now? It is this: wonderful, it has finally rained! People live by the grace of heaven. When it rains, no matter how muddy the ground is, we accept it willingly, because thanks to the rain the plants grow and are nourished. Only when we look anew at sunshine and rain, sun, moon and stars, mountains, stones and thunder, only when we look anew at these natural phenomena, do we realize that they are intimately bound up with life.

We who have long lived in the city have built our understanding of life on the buying and selling that happens in a supermarket, and that is not real. I think the city is very fragile. When you truly take part in farming, you can let go of discriminating mind; you will feel that the soil is especially lovely, because it can give birth to life; when fertilizer is spread on the soil, many entrepreneurs who come to the farm hold the fertilizer directly in their hands, and at such a moment no one thinks it is dirty; when watering, they press the seeds into the mud, and some people who at first poked with a twig simply end up using their hands. At such a moment we do not feel that cow dung, chicken manure or soil is dirty, because it is the same as every cell of our life." -- Ms. Jia Haizhen

Farming Experience and Self-Cultivation of Body, Mind and Spirit

Zhang Qian: Has Lehe Xiangu already found the best way to spread, carry and educate everyone?

Jia Haizhen: We are trying and exploring. We share our resources with everyone. One of our ideas is to make Lehe Xiangu into everyone's home, so that everyone can bring their family and children back at any time, take part in all kinds of farm work together, and treat this place as a base for life activities. You can go travelling, and you may feel that a particularly nice park is good, built with so much money, but if your heart is not fused with an activity, and you are still thinking about all sorts of things, with the scenery as scenery and you as you, then you have only relaxed a little, and when you come back you are still troubled. But when you connect with one thing, for example picking chestnuts, when you focus on one chestnut after another, the harvest is great.

Zhang Qian: Besides apples, do you share other things as well?

Jia Haizhen: We share everything; it is just that right now the volume of apples is relatively large. We have very beautiful gift boxes, for government bodies and organizations to buy in group purchases or use as gifts; those with cracks, scratches or spots cannot be packed into gift boxes, so we need more caring friends and organizations, such as kindergartens, schools and families, to buy them. Now I have also begun to face this sales problem. I hope to inspire more people to take part. The health of the earth determines the health of our bodies; if the earth is not healthy, people are not healthy either, and people complain more and more. I hope everyone will buy organic food and take this as a way of giving back to the land, rather than simply for the sake of "my" health. "My" wellbeing and the health of heaven and earth are one.

Zhang Qian: There are now more and more organic farms around Beijing. Have you been to see those places?

Jia Haizhen: No. I feel that just doing it is already very strong, and they are all stronger than I am. I simply put myself in there as a student, to live and to learn, and I do not regard myself as an entrepreneur; I am learning from heaven and earth. I used to run a business, and after the age of forty, as my study of traditional culture deepened, I began to have the ability to reflect, and I discovered that I had many habitual tendencies, that "resentment, hatred, anger, annoyance and vexation" were all present.

Zhang Qian: Some farms may engage in fraudulent practices for economic gain, working for profit rather than for the harmony of people's body and mind, which causes many people to distrust organic products. What is your view on this?

Jia Haizhen: Economic interests are something we must face. Whether to fake it or be genuine is one's own choice. We have not set out to promote organic products; we would rather inspire people to come and take part in person, and use such a link to cultivate their own truth. We do not comment on these matters; every participant's experience is a process in their own life, and the goal we want to achieve is to realize a harmonious and joyful way of living. In the future we hope to make this place into a true home of life, run it on a membership system, so that if you are a member here you can come back regularly to study, and we will also regularly offer study courses for adults and children. The courses for adults include the Huangdi Neijing, the Yijing and the Shennong Bencao Jing; the children will have life-growth experiences developed around the 24 solar terms, such as woodworking and food-education workshops, and we hope everyone will grasp the wisdom of the ancestors' classics through experience.

Zhang Qian: You are a person full of wisdom. I hope more people will be inspired by you and join the ranks of building a home of life. Thank you!