Offering Food to Obstructing Spirits

For the last few weeks I've been attending weekly Buddhist teachings. In one class, we learned about a method for purifying karma, called Offering Food to Obstructing Spirits. These spirits inhabit another realm, unperceived directly by us, but they know us, and interfere with us. They can cause emotional outbursts, illness, and other bad conditions. This might be out of jealousy, anger... Any reason why any living being might strike out against us. Many of them live in realms of suffering. The idea of offering food is to help alleviate their suffering. Maybe if you do something nice for them, they will back off for a while. The practice involves making a ritualized food offering, or leaving a portion of your meals in dedication to them.

As a farmer, I sometimes feel like I am offering food to the obstructing spirits on a pretty regular basis. I've come to think of many of market customers as spirit entities (which of course they are), some offering blessings and some challenges.

Since I started growing full time and have tried to make this my livelihood, I've become very attached to and possessive of my food. I have not always taken criticism well, and have craved acknowledgement. I whined to my partner, "No one understands how hard I work and how little I make and I want to be recognized!" This attitude was destroying the pleasure of growing and providing, and shadowing its importance to me.

So this season, I tried to ease up. One method I tried was to give small samples, instead of jealously withholding them. This was not always easy to do, as I don't have enough food and can't afford to do this with many things, but when I did, it almost felt magical.

I especially remember one older lady who came by with her walker. I often see her at the market, but not sure if she's ever bought from me. She always looks very grumpy. She came my way and I thought "Uh oh, here comes a grouch" and braced myself for a dose of nasty old lady attitude. She bought some baby green zucchini and I asked if she had tried other varieties, explaining that many have superior taste and cooking qualities. She seemed interested, yet would not put the few extra coins down to try, and seemed almost sad about it. "Here," I said, and handed her a couple. "Why don't you just take these and try them?" "Really?!" Her face lit up and she gratefully took them. She seemed so happy.

Giving is an opportunity to change a difficult situation into a positive one. Offering a little something really does seem to change the receivers' attitude. It opens them up a little. They are grateful. They treat you differently. And it is true for the giver too.

Happy Thanksgiving!