Lynn_L
sweetness
In ancient Japan a student at the Kennin temple in Kyoto had among his few possessions a small vase. Every few days he would replace the dying flower in the vase with a fresh one. One day he was chastized by his master, who said “All things become dust. This flower is just pretty dust. You will never attain enlightenment so long as you remain attached to dust.”
The student, seeing the wisdom in this, did not exchange the flower in the vase. Instead he allowed it to wilt and die and eventually shrivel away. In that transition, the student saw the futility of attachment to the things of the world and the astonishing beauty of every passing moment.
The student went to his master and told him what he had learned. Without a word, the master led his student outside. There he picked a fresh flower and exchanged it for the dead husk in the student’s vase. “But master,” the confused student said, “I thought the flower was just dust.”
“It is,” said the master, “but it’s pretty dust.”
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, greg fallis and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
