Introduction:
The Buddha was inspired by nature. There is a lot to
learn from nature. In our running life more and more we are disconnected with
fauna. The present connection and identity for most people now a days is
technology. You cannot fetishize the technology. It’s just a tool. It’s not the
purpose. The purpose is always changing in the off-line mode. What is there to
learn from nature.
This story, I sometimes use during my early morning
meditation classes, is mend to share some insights. You can use it just to read
and to contemplate or to use it as a means for (guided) meditation.
In this story I make use of the image of a cherry
blossom tree (Tree of life) but also just a normal tree that connects with you
is a wonderful and useful image.
In Japan, cherry blossoms, next to other meanings, also
symbolize the impermanence of life, which is a major theme in Buddhism
(everything is temporary and everything is interconnected). The cherry-blossom
tree is known for its short but brilliant blooming season, a natural process
that metaphorically describes human life.
The
brilliance, fragility and transience of life
Tied to the Buddhist themes of mortality, mindfulness
and living in the present, Japanese cherry blossoms are a timeless metaphor for
human existence. Blooming season is powerful, glorious and intoxicating, but
tragically short-lived — a visual reminder that our lives, too, are fleeting.
Why don’t we marvel at our own passing time on earth
with the same joy and passion? Why do we neglect to revel in life when it can
end at any moment. Or in the grace surrounding us everywhere like possible: our
family, friends, a stranger’s smile, a child’s laugh, new flavors on our plate
or the scent of green grass? It is time, cherry blossoms remind us, to pay
attention.
In
short:
The Japanese use the short life of a cherry blossom
before it is scattered by the wind and rain to symbolize the cycle of life, and
they use it as a reminder to celebrate beauty. The Buddhist consider the
opening of a cherry blossom as a symbol of wisdom because it is like the mind
blooming into enlightenment. They also consider the cherry blossom as a
reminder to exist in the present moment before life fades away.
Note
in relation to meditation:
# (Standing) If you want to use this story as a
meditation you can do it standing in nature or in your garden or terrace and
just connect with any tree that is asking your attention.
# (Sitting down). If you want to use this story as a
meditation and nature around you is not available, then just sit down at a
place you feel at peace and at rest with yourself. A place where for a while
you will not be disturbed.
The story of the (cherry blossom) tree
I invite you to connect with a tree in nature or, if
nature is not available now, imagine a Cherry Blossom tree standing in a
landscape.
The first thing to recognize is that a tree does not
make any effort to be attractive. The tree is just available in the landscape.
Undisturbed by other trees, animals, plants, houses or human beings.
Undisturbed by what his or her environment thinks of it. The tree is just
effortless being. Resting, breathing, showing its uniqueness. Flexible, rooted,
not hiding for storms, rain or when the baking sun beats down. Just accepting.
Not trying to be anything else than just his/her uniqueness, this tree. Showing
his or her uniqueness in beauty. Yes beauty because its attracting you.
A tree is showing us the ongoing cycle of life. The
ongoing process of growing and renewal. It shows us how to be and how to stay
rooted. Is shows us the only simple things needed. Like water, soil, fertilizer,
sun and air. It is the mirror of taking and giving and of letting go. It shows
us that even having maybe many life cycles to make, also for a tree finally there
will be an end. The tree shows us the seasons of life and the seasons in
natural growth and renewal even in the process of getting older. The tree obeys
nature.
Do you live in harmony with the seasons of your life?
Do you recognize the beauty of all seasons? Many people live contradictory.
They do not obey nature. Their rhythm is opposite from nature.
Winter for instance is a period of rest, of making up
balance and of preparing for the new four seasons to come. Summer is the period
to flourish and to be in optimal strength.
If you think of your live how do you live? Very often,
without even being aware, we live opposite. In summertime there is more light
of the sun. More energy. We go to the beach to rest. In winter we have more
darkness, longer nights to serve us and so the natural quest and offer to have
more rest.
In winter we use electricity to create more light so
we can make longer working hours. We eat higher energetic food and, especially
around European Christmas time and end of the year we reach the climax of our busy-ness
as if life does not start up again the next year.
So winter is the time to recharge, to rest, to connect
with the source and meaning of your life. To make up your balance sheet, build
up wisdom, and to prepare for the next cycle to come.
In Spring the tree starts to make one step forwards in
growth again. The new and energetic juice stream helps the tree to start its
new life cycle. The buds of the leafs, waiting already from the end of autumn
many months ago, unfold soft and in a bright and sunny green shining ‘Sprouting
Spring color’. And with this process the first blossoms appear. Opening to
attract the right insects to help creating the fruit and the seeds for the next
generation to come.
After only a short period of a couple of weeks. The
blossoms drop their petals. The first giving back to nature again. Blown by the
wind they are the first new fertilizers for the soil.
In summer the leaves turn darker in color. They turn
into adults. Stronger, harder. The tree is strong and in optimum state for the
breathing (photosynthesis) process. Giving back oxygen for animals and human
beings to breath.
When we mirror this to our lives we can ask ourselves
some questions.
First of all we can ask ourselves why we continuously
want to shine. It is not possible to always shine. It’s only marketing that
helps you to believe it is. Actually what you do is you force and punish your
body if you do not obey nature like a tree. You do not obey nature, you do not
respect nature, you do not accept and respect the beauty of yourself in the
ongoing growing and transforming process.
The second question you can ask yourself is; “what do
I give back to the world? Am I only taking? What do I give?”
In Autumn every leaf turns into a flower. In many ways
you can see autumn as harvest time. Time to give and time to let go. Creating
space for something new to become.
First of all a tree shows us during this period there
is an effortless and painless way to let go. Accepting change. It is necessary
to grow. If you do not accept change there will be no growth. Without any
effort the tree, just at the right moment drops its leafs. Sometimes with some help
of the wind. The leafs are the fertilizers for the soil needed for the next
generation to start-up there first of many possible life cycles.
Then the tree drops the fruit, the seeds. The fruit,
the harvest to eat or to multiply as a guarantee (new) life has to go on. In
nature it is just a question where the seeds fall down and how big the
multiplying of life will be. That’s why most of the time and growing at the
right place and with the right circumstances the tree produces lots of seeds
and/or fruits.
Again we can ask ourselves what is our harvest, how do
we give back. Do we really take care for the next generation to come. Different
than in nature we have the opportunity to plant our ‘seeds’ at the most
wonderful and for the specific seed best places. Are we willing to do this? Is
this connected with the purpose of our life?
Are we connected with nature? It’s just a matter of
connecting, of contemplation.
Being as a tree and obeying nature…
Living a more balanced lifestyle with our unique purpose.
Frans Captijn
Host / Catalyst / Talenteer at Captijn Insight
Captijn Insight: “Catalyst in your process to new sustainable flow in life and work. Whether you are an individual, couple, team or an organization.”
