Tree

Wisdom
Finding Yourself Through Nature

Photoshots and Compilation

by Tuck Loon

Clove&Clive Publication
 TreeHugger Project Agnieszka Gradzik and Wiktor Szostalo
T

www.treehuggerproject.com
And so she comes to dream herself the tree,
The wind possessing her, weaving her young veins,
Holding her to the sky and its quick blue,
Drowning the fever of her hands in sunlight.
Copyright © 2009 Clove&Clive
She has no memory, nor fear, nor hope
Photographs © Hor Tuck Loon
All rights reserved except for quotations. Beyond the grass and shadows at her feet.
Printed for free distribution
This printing—5000 copies (Oct 2009) —Hart Crane

Published by
Clove&Clive Sdn Bhd
F-2-02 Dataran Glomac, Jalan SS 6/5B, Pusat Bandar Kelana Jaya,
47301 Petaling Jaya, SELANGOR

tel: 017 2933 699 | 03 7803 6699

email: clovenclive@gmail.com
website: www.clovenclive.com

Layout, design & photos by Tuck Loon

Printed by Setiakawan, Selangor

Preface
A T
s I pen my thoughts for this preface, I am brought to mind a statement quoted
by a meditation teacher—everything is nature, including our own mindbody
processes. Since it is a viewpoint that was totally fresh to my consciousness, I
did not quite get what he meant in the beginning until “I got myself out of my way” one
day in a meditation sitting and took on a position of a silent observer.
It was a pretty intriguing experience to realize that there is “no me” in all the
thoughts and feelings that flows at each moment, except to understand the process as
a natural occurrence of the mind. Alas, this experience can be rather shortlived because
of the incessant behavioural pattern of involvement in it; thus “getting myself into my
way”, interrupting the flow of simply being. Being mindful is the key.
Mindfulness offers a new way of being, enabling me to see what Nature is offering
me in life rather than the “me” interfering Life. Living in this new way can be challenged
by the day to day involvement of life where the touch and go mentality of survival takes
precedent over appreciating what comes to my life. Paradoxically, to stay complex is
much easier than to stay simple.
To see everything as nature and take time off to be close to Nature reminds us all to
slow down, to live and let live. There are only two positions you have, either a conscious
living or an unconscious living. The former brings joy to life, and the latter deadness. As
Albert Einstein puts it “There are only two positions you can take, either you believe
that nothing is a miracle, or you believe that everything in life is a miracle.”
Dedicate time off to be with Mother Nature, to fully be present to the life given to
you, and to see each and every lesson that comes to you as a signpost of divine, of an
opportunity to see your own majesty.
Appreciation
his book would not have been made possible if I had gotten in my way,
disallowing Nature to flow through me. Within a period of three days this book
was created, I am at awe with the gift of flow Nature offers—perfection in the
midst of imperfection—when I stop perfecting myself in planning and fixing, except to
trust; this book came to fruition.
My appreciation goes to the wonderful people whose images appear in this work. I am
indebted to my beloved friends for their readiness in expressing their naturalness in tree
hugging, in a very mature garden of a mansion in Kuching, Sarawak, during a meditation
retreat in November 2008. My special thanks to Mdm Sim for her unconditional love
in offering her beautiful house for our practice. My gratefulness too to those whose
brilliant websites of quotations have allowed me to tap into the wonderful world of
quotes within the comfort of my home computer, thanks to the innovative technology
of the present time. To Geraldine and Sian Sit, who assisted in proofreading the work,
my humble appreciation. My gratitude and thanks too to my wife, Lai Fun, and to my
inner Nature, within which this work is born. And to Mother Nature and all the trees in
the world, my deepest respect.
And to all the readers, I appreciate your holding of this book as it invites you to hug
a tree, to feel the therapeutic effects of nature and to allow the flow of Nature to come
alive in your beingness. Be inspired.
In wilderness I sense the miracle of life,
and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia.
—Charles A. Lindbergh

Give time-off to hug a tree, to
feel the beauty of Nature—that
at any given moment of time
Nature too is unfolding in you.
Put yourself in nature as
much as possible, this is
so important, and listen
to nature and receive the
energies from the earth,
flowers and trees, stars
and bees… all creatures in
oneness and awareness of
each other in harmony and
peace.
Sense the magnitude of stillness the tree offers.
Allow the stillness to resonate in you, mindfully.
Nature does
not hurry,
yet everything is
accomplished.
—Lao Tzu
 There is lesson in nature as
she shows you the way of

He who living, surrendering to the

flow of life with trust.

plants
a tree,
plants
a hope.
—Lucy Larcom—
 The wonder
is that we
can see
these trees
As you willingly stay
with your process, you
and not
wonder
will be awed by the
wonderment of truth
emerging behind the

more.
fabric of illusion.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

 One touch
of nature
makes the
whole world
kin.
The order of Nature flows within
our mindbody processes and to —William Shakespeare
recognize this, is peace.
To give up the illusion
of control, and to take
the leap of trust and
surrendering, opens
up in you a new way
of living, where Nature
and you meet in
synchronicity.
Except during
the nine months
before he
draws his first
breath, no man
manages his
affairs as well as
a tree does.
—George Bernard Shaw
Feel the serenity and quietness of Nature.
 Great things
Take time to meditate,
heeding the call of Stillness
that is awaiting your
presence.
are done
when men and
mountains
meet. This is
not done by
jostling in the
street.
—William Blake
Just touching that old tree was truly moving
to me because when you touch these trees,
you have such a sense of the passage of
time, of history. It’s like you’re touching
the essence, the very substance of life.
—Kim Novak

Behind the façade of our day to day lives,

a passage of sacredness flows within us—
the very essence of our beingness.
Close to Nature, close to Heart.

Forget not that the

earth delights to feel
your bare feet and
the winds long to play
with your hair.
—Kahlil Gibran
To me a lush carpet
of pine needles
or spongy grass is
more welcome than
the most luxurious
Persian rug.
—Helen Keller
The trees
that are
slow to
grow
bear the
best fruit.
—Moliere The sweetness of Nature excels all sweetness.
 Be mindful of your inner needs to
stay connected to Mother Nature
versus your outer needs to control.
 Feel the pulsation of Life.
Feel the process of Nature.
The sun, with all Feel the silence Within.

those planets
revolving around it
and dependent on
it, can still ripen a
bunch of grapes as if
it had nothing else in
the universe to do.
—Galileo
Listen deeply to
your heart’s
longing
to be loved
and to be free.
The poetry of
the earth is
never dead.
—John Keats

Only in stillness is the world understood.

The miracle of mindfulness,
of being present, opens up
a new intimacy between you In wilderness I
and life.

sense the miracle

of life, and behind
it our scientific
accomplishments
fade to trivia.
—Charles A. Lindbergh
Never does
nature say
one thing and Often than not, our outer reality
does not truly reflect our inner
reality of life.

wisdom another. This seeming conflict arise when

we ignore the ongoing process
within us and instead project it out
to the world.

—Juvenal, Satires
 Look deep into
nature, and then
you will understand
everything better.
—Albert Einstein

When you journey into the process

of your heart, you will see a great
contrast of what is really occuring.
Trees are Earth’s endless effort to
speak to the listening heaven.
—Rabindranath Tagore

Listen and watch the

nature of the mind instead
of succumbing to it.
 Learn from Life.

Climb up on some hill

at sunrise. Everybody
needs perspective
Learn from Nature. once in a while, and
you’ll find it there.
—Robb Sagendorph
Stillness. Where man and nature meet in peace.
 Let Nature takes precedent.
Instead of getting in the way,
learn to observe what Nature
Let us permit
can truly offer you,
without your interference. nature to have
her way. She
understands her
business better
than we do.
—Michel de Montaigne
Have you ever noticed a tree
standing naked against
the sky,
How beautiful it is?
All its branches are outlined,
and in its nakedness
There is a poem, there is a song.
Every leaf is gone and it is
waiting for the spring.
When the spring comes, it
again fills the tree with
The music of many leaves, Through mindfulness, one develops the skill
of easing into the flow of life with acceptance
Which in due season fall and
and peace.
are blown away.
And this is the way of life.
—Krishnamurti
I go to nature to be
soothed and healed,
and to have my
senses put in order.
—John Burroughs

Once you know how to relax,

you become sensitive to your own needs.
In some mysterious way
woods have never seemed
to me to be static things.
In physical terms, I move
through them; yet in
metaphysical ones, they
seem to move through me.
—John Fowles
As you flow with Life, Life flows kindly with you.
If one way be
better than
another,
that you
may be sure
is Nature’s
way. Just as water eases to the shape of the receptacle,
so too with mindfulness and acceptance, one eases
—Aristotle into lifes’ challenges.
Our senses are naturally in touch with its object all the time.
Are we in touch with our senses?
 You will find
something more in
woods than in books.
Trees and stones will
teach you that which
you can never learn
from masters.
UNDERSTANDING
arises through self-enquiry. —St. Bernard
 Through intention the world is led.
Your intention results in your experience.

What did the tree

learn from the earth
to be able to talk
with the sky?
—Pablo Neruda
Expectations
further you
from Nature.
It is helpful to
remember the
Present is all
you have.
We have nothing to fear and
a great deal to learn from
trees, that vigorous and
pacific tribe which without
stint produces strengthening
essences for us, soothing
balms, and in whose gracious
company we spend so many
cool, silent and intimate
hours. With mindfulness you
will observe an intrinsic
balance of harmony
ongoing between you
—Marcel Proust and Nature.
 Good timber does not
grow with ease;
the stronger the wind,
the stronger the trees.
— J. Willard Marriott

Learn from Nature. Teach from Nature.

 Man’s heart
away from
nature
becomes
hard.
Distancing from Nature distances Life.
—Standing Bear
See how nature—
trees, flowers,
grass—grows in
silence; see the
stars, the moon and
the sun, how they
move in silence...
we need silence to
be able to touch
souls.
All you have is Now and Nature is found in it.
—Mother Theresa
Parents are often
so busy with the
physical rearing From Nature to nature.

of children
that they miss
the glory of
parenthood,
just as the
grandeur of the
trees is lost when
raking leaves.
—Marcelene Cox
NATURE—
Body
Consciousness
Feelings
Perceptions
Mental Formations
 It’s the little
things citizens
do. That’s
Each little insight adds on to the wiser you.
what will
make the
difference. My
little thing is
planting trees.
—Wangari Maathai
 As within,
Trees and plants so is without.
And thus,
always look like the the world,
your reflection.
people they live with,
somehow.
—Zora Neale Hurston
When you move yourself out of
your own way, Nature reveals
itself in you.
Character is like a
tree and reputation
like a shadow.
The shadow is what Beyond all forms, essence.

we think of it; the

tree is the real thing.
—Abraham Lincoln
Freedom is awaiting, calling us
to her fold except our oblivion
engagement to the dream of
The beauty of the trees,
thoughts. the softness of the air,
the fragrance of the grass,
speaks to me.
The summit of the mountain,
the thunder of the sky,
speaks to me.
The faintness of the stars,
the trail of the sun,
the strength of fire,
and the life that never goes away,
they speak to me.
And my heart soars.

—Chief Dan George—

Life come through us, yet we are not living.

I went to the woods because

I wished to live deliberately,
to front only the essential
facts of life,
and see if I could not learn
what it had to teach,
and not,
when I came to die,
discover that I had not lived.
—Henry David Thoreau, Walden
 Trees are sanctuaries.
Whoever knows how to
speak to them, whoever
knows how to listen to
them, can learn the truth.
They do not preach learning
and precepts, they preach
undeterred by particulars,
the ancient law of life.
In silence, Nature speaks to you.
—Hermann Hesse, Wandering
 The clearest
Within the very body holds the key to
the universe—the beginning and the
ending of it. way into the
universe is
through
a forest
wilderness.
—John Muir
It is not so much for its
beauty that the forest makes
a claim upon men’s hearts,
as for that subtle something,
that quality of air that
emanation from old trees,
that so wonderfully changes
and renews a weary spirit.
—Robert Louis Stevenson
Just as Nature is
found in everything,
so is Wisdom found
in all experiences,
only when one opens
up to enquiry.
All views have
bondage or
freedom as its
result. Just think of the trees:
Mindfully work they let the birds perch and fly,
on the cause
so as to reap with no intention to
effects of
your choice.
call them when they come and
no longing for their return
when they fly away.
If people’s hearts can be like
the trees, they will not be off
the Way.

—Langya
 We say we
love flowers,
yet we pluck them.
We say we
love trees,
yet we cut them down.
And people still
wonder why some are
What is “love” except a word?
For what truly is has no need for words. afraid when told they
are loved.
Source Unknown
 Materials are derived
from nature and yet
dimmed in comparison
For in the true to Nature.

nature of things, if
we rightly consider,
every green tree is
far more glorious
than if it were made
of gold and silver.
—Martin Luther
 A fool sees not the
same tree that
a wise man sees.
—William Blake

The world is experience

according to who we are.
Understanding this,
the wise develops herself.
The true
meaning of
life is to plant
trees, under
whose shade
you do not
expect to sit. The true sense of giving is in the release itself.

— Nelson Henderson
Listen deep enough and you will
recognize freedom’s knock.

There is always music

amongst the
trees in the garden,
but our hearts must be
very quiet to hear it.
—Minnie Aumonier
 There’s beauty in peace.
There’s beauty in wisdom.

They are beautiful There’s beauty in freedom.

For one who acquired these,
he lives in harmony wherever he goes.
in their peace,
they are wise in their
silence.
They will stand after
we are dust.
They teach us, and we
tend them.
—Galeain ip Altiem MacDunelmor
o n e n e s s with all
Solitude is strength,
In crowd, disarray.
Solitary
When strength instilled
Everything stills. trees,
if they
grow at
all,
grow
strong.
—Winston Churchill

The world, a reality show, is shown real-time
in which you are either a player or a spectator—
a choice you have in hand.
The Tree
The calm quiet strength of a tree
Anchored deep in the earth
Reaching high in the sky
The calm quiet strength of a tree
The calm quiet strength of a tree
Full of life from its roots
To the tiniest branch
The calm quiet strength of a tree
And oh, how it comforts me
How it teaches me
Without a sound
Then I realize at once
That this tree and I are one
In eternity
The calm quiet strength of a tree
From the weight of its trunk
To its delicate leaves
The calm quiet strength of a tree
The calm quiet strength of a tree
Showing anyone near
All the secrets of time
The calm quiet strength of a tree
Copyright 1994 Tom Splitt
Man is Realizing one’s own
mindbody processes

nature
as part of Nature
shift perception
of control to
trust and

as much surrendering.

as the
trees.
—Dan Kiley
If you would
know strength
and patience,
welcome the
company of
trees.
In quietness and
—Hal Borland stillness of the mind,
strength and patience
are bestowed.
Love All
T here is
We are the caretaker of the mind.
hope
Our freewill of choices determine
if people our lives.
will begin to
awaken that
spiritual
part of
themselves,
that
heartfelt
knowledge
that we are
caretakers of
this planet.
—Brooke
Medicine Eagle
 Arriving at the core of
Approaching a tree we stillness is our
all-encompassing and
approach a sacred being who all-loving state of being.
can teach us about love and
about endless giving. She is
one of millions of beings who
provide our air, our homes,
our fuel, our books.
Working with the spirit
of the tree can bring us
renewed energy,
powerful inspiration,
deep communion.
—Druid Tree Lore and the Ogham
 Today I have
grown taller
from walking
with the trees.
To understand oneself,
observe Nature.
Our naturalness arrive
at the doorway of Nature.
—Karle Wilson Baker
Adversity is mother of all growth. Storms
make
trees
take
deeper
roots.
—Dolly Parton
 The
lofty oak
from
a small
acorn
grows.
A little moment of intent is all that is required —Lewis Duncombe, De
to change the course of one’s life direction. —Minimus Maxima
 Every destination, a journey.
Every experience, a process.
In nature, nothing Every effect, a cause.
Understanding causal relation gives birth to wisdom.
is perfect and
everything is
perfect. Trees can
be contorted, bent
in weird ways,
and they’re still
beautiful.”

—Alice Walker
 Alone with
myself
The trees
bend
to carress me
The shade
hugs
ALONE is our natural state
my heart.
a person calls loneliness,
the master calls aloneness. —Candy Polgar
To one, a bane, another a boon.
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