Posted inArt and Poems, Other Teachings

Five Blossoms

May 23, 2016

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I originally came to China
to transmit the teaching and save deluded beings.

One flower opens five petals,
and the fruit ripens itself.

– Bodhidharma, according to Huineng

 

 

 

If evil flowers bloom in the mind-ground,
Five blossoms flower from the stem.
Together they will create the karma of ignorance;
Now the mind-ground is blown by the winds of karma.

If correct flowers bloom in the mind-ground,
Five blossoms flower from the stem.
Together practice the prajna wisdom;
In the future this will be the enlightenment of  the Buddha.

– Huineng

 

Translation by Philip Yampolsky, taken from Zen Poems, Everyman’s Pocket Library Poets, 1999. Photo by Rosa Bellino

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