This is the fourth installment on a seven-part essay about the Buddha families.

The next family is the ratna family. Have you ever known someone who can turn anything into something wonderful? People who predominantly dwell in ratna energy have a natural ability to create abundance in their lives. Ratna means “jewel” and refers to the wish-fulfilling jewel of Tibetan mythology. Those who hold this jewel can have abundance wherever they are, for it is not a magic jewel that changes the world; it is a magic jewel that changes the jewel holder’s mind. When that happens, abundance is no longer dependent on external objects — abundance is just another perception.

In my article on the padma family I took a pot shot at our federal and provincial leaders. This week I’m coming closer to home. I believe my own major family orientation is to the ratna family. I have a great deal of abundance these days: I have a large fenced farm garden filled with tomatoes, corn and squash to mulch and water, a city garden to weed, water and trim, and spinach and chard to process for the freezer.

This week I realized that my Zen practice is the root of all my abundance. Zazen (sitting meditation) and samu (working meditation) have turned the work of spreading hay, weeding, cleaning and blanching spinach into highly pleasurable activities. A feeling of abundance is usually associated with the sustained experience of pleasure that exists in what Zen masters have called, “a bright mind,” the mind that dwells in gratitude for limitless abundance. This bright mind arises from ratna wisdom.

But of course, like all the families, the ratna family has a neurotic side, and, as might be expected, this neurotic side has to do with the development of puffed up pride and greedy territoriality. I saw this working in myself this week. I had been out at the Zen centre’s lake hermitage, meditating four times a day, studying the teachings of Dogen, a 13th century Zen master, and doing work meditation for two and a half hours each morning by planting and tending a nearby farm garden. By the time the garden produced lettuce, spinach and broccoli, I had developed a mighty sense of pride and ownership, so much so that when it came time to harvest the broccoli, I complained and whined about the limited amount of broccoli remaining and its quality. Without my noticing, pride and territoriality had turned my sense of abundance into an experience of deprivation. I had lost my bright mind. Boo hoo. Not enough broccoli. Poor me.

I must have been insufferable last week — so puffed up with pride in my Zen practice and its results. I might still be that way if it weren’t for a consistent sitting practice that trains my mind to notice my mistakes earlier and earlier. Imagine: I might have lived my whole life without knowing that I was acting out of the neurotic side of the ratna family. As it is, I can recognize mistakes and correct them by applying my ratna wisdom — that is, the wisdom of equanimity, seeing all situations as equally imbued with abundance and then acting out of generosity that will activate my wish fulfilling jewel and restore my bright mind.

Kuya Minogue is the resident teacher at Creston’s ZenWords Zen Centre. For more information, she can be reached at 250-428-3390.