The Golden Rain Tree: Invasives and Wrong View

 

The photo above is of a golden rain tree seedling (Koelreuteria paniculata). It's an invasive tree native to China and Korea that was planted throughout Florida for its looks and fast-growing nature. They truly are beautiful. Each spring, it's covered in flowers and the bees seem to love them. In fall, the trees turn bright gold and red papery-seed pods hang like paper lanterns. 

They're also incredibly invasive. 

I spend months every year rooting out seedlings from my yard. To be clear, I don't have one of these trees on my property. My neighbor does. Every winter, thousands of seeds (three to four per seed pod lantern) fall into my yard. They're incredibly prolific. 

What makes them invasive? The thousands of seeds they produce each year readily germinate, outcompeting even the fastest-growing Florida natives. They also sprout from suckers, creating thickets that block nutrients and light to other plants. 

It attracts hordes of soapberry bugs (Jadera haematolomoa) that feed on the seeds, too. Because the trees grow so fast, the wood is weak. Limbs and entire trunks can give way in or regular summer thunderstorms, potentially causing damage and injury depending on where the tree's located.

Here's a pic of what the tree looks like in bloom from UF/IFAS:

Currently, it's classified as a Class II invasive, although the rapid spread outward from cultivated areas into the wild will probably earn it a Class I designation soon. 

Both its rapid spread and the process of regularly weeding it out of the yard make it similar to Wrong View in Buddhism. The Noble Eightfold Path is comprised of eight wholesome, beneficial qualities: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Concentration, and Right Mindfulness. Each of those correlates to an unwholesome, unbeneficial alternative. In this case, it's Wrong View.

We all have incorrect views (technically all views are inherently untrue, at least as far as ultimate truth is concerned, but we're dealing with conventional truth here). Just as my neighbor's rain tree sends seeds into my yard, so people around us send Wrong Views into our lives. They're views that we grow up with, given to us by our parents, grandparents, friends, church deacons, and even religion. They come from our political parties and from talking heads and talk show hosts.

They're not ours, but they spring up in the soil of our hearts and their roots penetrate deeply. From us, they can spread to others - our own children, friends, neighbors, etc. 

Weeding the rain tree seedlings is like removing Wrong Views from our lives. It's not immediately apparent if the seedling is invasive, just as it may not be immediately apparent that a view is wrong. We have to study it. With seedlings, we're looking at leaf structure and growth habit. With views, we're looking at whether it leads to wholesome or unwholesome outcomes. 

Does the view create more suffering? Does it alleviate suffering? Does it lead to a more equitable, joyous world or does it lead to less equity and more divisiveness? Is the view true or is it something we're holding onto because we've been told that it was true or because it came from someone we loved and respected? Have we investigated it for ourselves through lied experience and honest looking and consideration?

Getting rid of rain tree seedlings is hard and the work is never done. Even if you manage to remove all the seedlings that sprout, more will germinate next year. The same is true of Wrong View. It's a constant process of refinement and realization, of deep looking and listening, and discarding views that we might have at one point treasured and believed wholeheartedly as we realize just how damaging they are to other sentient beings and to ourselves.