花是去年红

花是去年红

法眼  文益禪師 (885 – 958)

拥毳对芳丛，由来趣不同。

发从今日白，花是去年红。

艳冶随朝露，馨香逐晚风。

何须待零落，然后始知空。

“Flower Was Prettier Last Year”

Wearing my hairy woolen robe and staring
at the floral bushes,

The delight is different from the worldly interest.

My hair turns into grey from today.

The flowers last year is comparably deeper in red shade.

The beauty comes alone with morning dew,

The fragrance follows after the evening breeze.

One ought not to wait until the flowers withered and fallen,

then to realize its emptiness.

—– Poem by Zen master Wen-Ye (885 – 958) ———
 The patriarch of Dharma Eye Zen Linage

Zen poem study:

The author was wearing a hairy woolen monk robe,
and was staring at the floral bushes in the winter.
He smells the fragrant as sent by the breeze.
He enjoyed the wonderful moment with delight which
is very different from the interest of worldly life.

All of sudden, he got himself awakened and mindfully
found his hair became grey while as the relentless
flowers were still the same as last year except that
the  flower of last year is comparably prettier in red
shade.

However the beauty of flower will be gone unavoidably
after sunset. The delight fragrance can not be shared
far away even is conveyed by the breeze.
Why should we wait until the flowers withered and fallen 
when all the beauty and fragrance are gone. We then
realize it as a dreamlike emptiness.

Reflection:   

While we appreciate the illusion of delightful floral scene
as a true existence in the worldly life, we will get lost in
the reality of our true mind and Ego.