There is a wonderful haiku, a small Japanese poem, by Zuigen Inagaki, which says simply:
Time to fall
Is time to float
For a lotus blossom
This is a perfectly constructed haiku. It gives a beautiful, natural image, and it has a twist in the last few syllables, as you realize what it is all about.
The lotus flower is the most beautiful flower in the world; and it is a symbol of Buddhism. The lotus flower grows out of the mud, rises up through the murky water and, in due corse, reaches the sunshine; and then it continues to climb upwards above the water towards the sun.
So, this is a nice image of the spiritual path. It begins in the mud. Without the mud, without the dirt, without samsara, without all the complications of the conditional world, the lotus could not grow, and the spiritual path would be impossible.
So, we should not reject the samsaric world. This is the dukkha, the eight afflictions, out of which the Eightfold Path emerges. What connects the two is the stem of the lotus. The stem of the lotus we could call spiritual training or the spiritual path.
The spiritual path begins with some inspiration. In the midst of the mud, the seed germinates. Life appears and it begins its journey. But it has this climb up through the dark, up to the surface of the water. When it arrives at the surface, it opens out into the brilliance of the sunshine.
And then, the lotus flower, its leaves on the water, its stem continues high above the water and produces this magnificent flower; and, a rather unique feature of the lotus, it produces its fruit while the flower is still there. So, flower and fruit come together. This is rather unusual in the vegetable kingdom, usually the flower is gone when the fruit appears.
So, this is a symbol of Buddhism: flowering and fruiting at the same time, with great beauty, high above the mud, which nonetheless is essential to the growth and development.
So, in due course, the beautiful petals must fall; and they fall into the water and they float like little boats.
Time to fall
Is time to float
For a lotus blossom
And this, of course, symbolizes the time of death. On the Pureland Path we have no fear of death, because when we die, we shall float. We shall float because we are held by Amida’s love. The great blessing of being on the Pureland Path is that one can die in peace. One need have no anxiety. One can even rejoice at it. As a lotus flower, as a Buddhist, one can afford to fall, because one knows that one will float.
Namo Amida Bu
Thank you very much
Dharmavidya
David
Replies