I have been asked many times by people why I love bonsai so much. The truth is it calms me and makes me feel at one with the world and everything in it. I look at the bonsai hobby as my penicillin. Why would I say this? It's actually quite simple - because I'm stress-free and happy! I haven't had a cold or any other sickness other than the sniffles for the past 35 years and I feel great!
Here are the two questions I get asked most often about starting the bonsai hobby:
What is a bonsai?
Bonsai is a plant in a pot. That's the standard definition. Most people attribute this definition to the hobby of bonsai. But there is a deeper meaning that few are aware of. Bonsai is a metaphor for life and a method of meditation and gives us clues to our true nature and purpose in life. Now I am not intending to be far out and fanciful when I say this, so please don't take it this way. Understand that in Japan everything has layered meaning. They have rituals for pouring tea - tea ceremonies. It's not just about pouring tea. Bonsai is the same way. Bonsai is not just a way to grow trees in small pots.
This is the main problem with the Western world, we tend to take the physical thing and throw the beauty and the joy, the true power and gift, beside the road and allow it to wither and rot.
A bonsai is a teacher; A tree, or plant, in a pot that we try to exert our control over. Through the years of taking care of it, we learn a thing or two about what "control" really is. We learn how to work with nature and we learn how to equate the lessons of the bonsai into our own lives. We learn how to be flexible. We learn how much we can bend without breaking and we learn how to stay in balance and beautiful.
Why grow bonsai?
The answer to this question has as many answers as there are bonsai enthusiasts. At some point in their time tending bonsai the true bonsai master comes to know the intimate beauty of all things. How we are all connected and how life is simple, yet we make it complex.
There are only 4 or 5 things you really need to know to grow beautiful bonsai. The beauty is in the simplicity. But to be able to grow a bonsai beautifully, you must be simple as well. This is not a negative. This is a positive. In fact the simplest things are the most beautiful and the most balanced. In a world where everyone is go, go, go, it's necessary to have something that can slow us down and get us back on track - thinking about what we want from life, what we have learned, and where we are headed.
That's why you should grow bonsai. Bonsai is a stress reducer, and a pain reliever. When you care for something else and enjoy the beauty of it for its present and potential beauty, it's a way to clear and balance the mind. Then, after a season or two, you may start to look at yourself kindly and see the present and potential beauty in yourself. Once you do, your whole world changes.
Bonsai is more than a method of growing trees in pots. It's quite possibly a method of spiritual development, and definitely a stress reliever. If you find that you need to find yourself and come back into balance, then growing and caring for bonsai just might be the tonic that saves you.
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