As Plum Village is in the midst of experiencing a glorious fall season, we would like to share this beautiful contemplation on an autumn leaf and profound teaching about interbeing, impermanence, and continuation by our beloved teacher Thich Nhat Hanh.
Contemplating a Leaf
One autumn day while walking in a park, I became absorbed in the contemplation of a very small and beautiful leaf in the shape of a heart. It was turning red and barely hanging on to the branch, about to fall. I spent a long time with this leaf, asking it a lot of questions. I discovered that the leaf had been a mother to the tree. Usually we think of the tree as the mother and the leaves as its children. But contemplating the leaf, I could see that the leaf was also a mother to the tree. The sap that the tree’s roots take up, called xylem sap, is only water, amino acids, and minerals, not rich enough to nourish the tree. So the tree distributes that sap to the leaves, which, with the help of the sun and carbon dioxide, transform it into phloem sap, rich in sugars, which the leaves send back to nourish the tree. So the leaves are also a mother to the tree. Since a leaf is linked to the tree by a stem, the communication between them is easy to see.
We are like that leaf. When we were in our mother’s womb, we were also linked to her by a stem, an umbilical cord. All our nourishment came through the umbilical cord. Our mother breathed for us, ate for us, drank for us, did everything for us. Then one day that cord was cut, and we started to think of our mother and ourself as two different entities. In fact, our mother continued to nourish us like before. Our parents are present in every cell of our body. We continue to receive nourishment from our mother, as well as the suffering and the troubles of our mother, which continue to influence us, as they did when we were in the womb. That cord is still there, not just until we turn eighteen, but for our whole life.
When we can see the umbilical cord, we can start to see the countless umbilical cords that link us to life all around us. There is an umbilical cord that exists between us and the river. The water we drink every day flows down from mountain springs and streams, right into our kitchen. So the river is also a mother and there is an invisible umbilical cord between us. If we cannot see it yet, it’s because we haven’t looked deeply enough. There is another umbilical cord between us and the clouds, between us and the forests, and another between us and the sun. The sun is like a parent to us. Without our link to the sun we could not live, and neither could anything else. We are nourished and sustained by countless parents. The river, the wild animals, the plants, the soil and all its minerals are our mothers and fathers, and are mothers and fathers to all phenomena on planet Earth. That is why in the sutras it is said that living beings have been our parents through countless lifetimes.
There are umbilical cords linking us to all that is in the universe and in the entire cosmos. Can you see the link between you and me? If you are not there, I am not here; that is certain. If you do not yet see it, look more deeply and I am sure you will see.
That autumn day, I asked the leaf whether it was afraid to fall, since it was autumn and the other leaves were falling. The leaf told me, “No. During the whole spring and summer I was very alive. I worked hard and helped nourish the tree, and much of me is in the tree. Please do not think that I am just this form, because this leaf form is only a tiny part of me. I am the whole tree. I know that I am already inside the tree, and when I go back to the soil, I will continue to nourish the tree. That is why I do not worry. As I drop from the branch and float down to the ground, I will wave to the tree and tell her, ‘I will see you again very soon.’
Suddenly I had a kind of insight very much like the insight contained in the Heart Sutra. You have to see life. You shouldn’t say, life of the leaf, but life in the leaf, and life in the tree. My life is just Life, and you can see it in me and in the tree. I saw the leaf leave the branch and float down to the soil, dancing joyfully, because as it floated it saw itself already there in the tree. It was so happy. I bowed my head, and I knew that we have a lot to learn from the leaf because it was not afraid; it knew that nothing can be born and nothing can die.
I am More than this Body
It would be wrong to think that what falls to the ground and dies is the whole of the leaf. During the nine months that it lived, the leaf travelled far. It has breathed and produced oxygen, which has entered into us human beings. When we practice walking meditation, we receive nourishment from the leaves as we breathe the fresh air, which in part is made by the leaves. The leaf, which has now fallen to the ground, has entered both us and the tree it fell from. It is not easy to see all the places the leaf has entered. We should not identify the leaf cadaver we see on the ground as being the whole of the leaf. Only then do we truly see the leaf, which is present everywhere.
After many months of superb work nourishing the tree, nourishing other species, providing shade, and making life beautiful, the leaf lets go and gracefully falls to the ground, without any fear, because it knows it has gone out into many directions. It does not identify itself with the form that is floating down to earth, because what is floating down is just a small part of itself that will become one with the earth; in the future it may become a leaf or a flower again. There is nothing to attain and nothing is lost.
When we look into a leaf we should look deeply like this in order to see the interdependent co-arising of the leaf, to see that the leaf is not just present in the leaf. It is also present in the tree and in all other phenomena. Once we are able to see in this way, our grief and our sorrow will disappear.
Excerpt from The Other Shore: A New Translation of the Heart Sutra with Commentaries by Thich Nhat Hanh (Parallax Press)
You are warmly invited to practice with the Lower Hamlet Sisters of Plum Village for an inspiring 5-day live online retreat from 15 -19 January 2027: Great Togetherness ~ Collective Wisdom for Cooling the Flames. Open to everyone and suitable also for those with study or work commitments.
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