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The Dhammapada - The Chapter on Flowers
From observing the earth rising, radiant with green and white, mostly water rather than land, we see this planet as a beautiful flower—fragile and impermanent. That insight transforms the mind from that of a technician into a true human being, full of love. In the Avatamsaka Sutra, the universe is likened to “a world in a single flower”—each of us is also a precious flower. When contemplating a flower, we must distinguish between a real flower and an artificial one (the manifestation of Mara), just as “having form but lacking fragrance” refers to beautiful words contradicted by actions. Awareness of impermanence helps us to cherish every moment: this body undergoes birth, abiding, change, and destruction like a wilting flower; youth passes swiftly like a galloping horse or a flood sweeping everything away.
The insight of impermanence opens the path of transformation from within, beginning with a single insight. This is nourished through the verses in the Sutra of Fragrant Flowers:
- the fifth verse: seeing the fragility and impermanence of the flower
- the sixth verse: sensual craving without satisfaction destroys clear awareness and conscience
- the seventh and eighth verses: “the wind passes through the flowers, not disturbing their color or fragrance, departing joyfully”—like the bee taking only a little nectar, not harming the color or fragrance
- practicing to listen deeply to our own suffering and the suffering of others in order to transform, to nourish insight and love
The precepts (pratimoksha)—whether five, two hundred fifty, or three hundred eighty—are like protective boundaries for freedom, helping us to keep body and mind pure, to live joyfully and at ease like a fresh flower in the Sangha.