Have you ever wondered why we offer flowers for worship?It is not just for colour and fragrance.
If it were just that,we could offer many other beautiful colours, perfumes and scents.
But why flowers?
There is a very real and beautiful reason behind it. You see, a flower is a living thing. It has life and, with TIME, it withers. There is a lesson on the ephemeral nature of things here.
Buddha had clarified once to his monks: “All you have to do is enjoy the beauty of this flower, with the mindfulness that this flower is not going to last forever–this will one day wither”
An easy and beautiful way to experience ZEN (a school of Mahayana Buddhism) is to keep a flower at your desk at work and perhaps, one on your dining table and in your bedroom too. Don’t water it. Replace it only when it withers.
Japanese texts say that the first ZEN “Sutra” uttered by Buddha was “Hana Wahraku, Ben Koku Na Haru” which means that a single flower blooms and throughout the world, it is Spring.
ZEN says , let me simply focus on my mind.Because if I keep my mind in a state of bloom, the world for me is automatically beautiful.
Source: Article by Om Swami,, in Tattwaloka magazine, Aug.2023 issue.
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Admin
CovaiCare Retirement Communities