FLOWERS

"Yet in attachment blossoms fall, and in aversion weeds spread."

—Dogen, from "Genjō Kōan" ("Actualizing the Fundamental Point")

translated by Kazuaki Tanahashi

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"Therefore flowers fall even though we love them; weeds grow even through we dislike them."

—Dogen, from "Genjōkōan" ("to answer the question from true reality through the practice of our everyday activity")

translated by Shohaku Okamura

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Tonight, during zazen with South Sound Zen, my mind kept wandering back to the flowers on the altar—amidst the scent of Japanese incense, the incessant barking of my body, the wrestling of robes by one of our leaders, and the sounds of the city through the open windows.

There is effort to arrange the flowers. There is effort to place the flowers on the altar. And then they "disappear" while we sit. For that matter, they "disappear" even once we end sitting; most of us, most of the time, don't think about them again. But tonight, I did. And tonight, the line above (the Okamura translation) was referenced by our leader, which made those flowers on the altar bloom all over again for me. Attachment? Perhaps. Beauty and engagement? Yes. And of the (present) moment.