Every summer, without fail, I would get lots of requests: Can we plant more flowers? Look at how lovely the wild flowers are! I realized that looking at flowers puts most people in a better mood. I started wondering “Should I plant more flowers for everyone?”

Currently, the supply of food in the world has dropped by one-third. There are lots of people who are food insecure. I had heard that one of the reasons was a huge reduction in honey bees. I thought “I am but one person, however, I can still do something for this world. If I plant more flowers, the honey bees will have more nectar to collect. If the world had more honey bees, food supply would increase and many people would not have to go hungry. 

In May, we did not mow down the wildflowers in the monastery, hoping that once summer arrived, the honey bees would have enough nectar.  

Starting 2023, our monastery started planting sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos etc. When the sunflowers bloomed in September, a galore of honey bees came to collect nectar. Looking at the honey bees busily collecting nectar, with two small pollen balls hanging from their two legs, I was extremely happy. I hoped that they would have lots of food to bring back to their hives everyday. Sunflowers usually have a lot of pollen, especially sprinkled over their leaves. But the leaves of the sunflowers in our flower fields are usually spotless because all the pollen has been collected by the honey bees, with nothing left at all!

With winter around the corner, I discovered that these flowers not only fed the honey bees, they also fed the birds. Everyday, many birds would gather to eat the sunflower seeds. Perhaps slightly over ten! Most of them were sparrows, but there were a few blue jays as well. Whenever we collect sunflower seeds, the birds would fly and perch on electric lines or trees nearby to wait for us. They would chirp non-stop, as if asking us “Are you already done? I want to continue eating my sunflower seeds!” The moment we leave, the birds would immediately fly back to the flower fields, to continue their big feast. After some time, we realized that all the sunflower seeds had been eaten!

We also planted dahlias, tulips, lilies, peonies etc.

Most of the flower bulbs were given to us by local suppliers. Every June, these suppliers would donate their unsold flower bulbs to charities, including our monastery. We are extremely grateful to all these suppliers for giving us so many flower bulbs. These flowers are really beautiful and we are thankful to Islanders for taking care of us.

Now, I no longer feel that planting flowers is pointless. Planting flowers is how I practice Buddhism. Through it, I can take care of many lives, cultivate my compassion and bring happiness to lots of people. I am really happy that I have this chance to be of service to others.