Monakhos

“Nevertheless, Flowers fall among attachments.
And weeds flourish amidst annoyance.”
-Dogen – Genjokoan

Hakuun Yasutani in his commentary of the Genjokoan, Flowers Fall, warns that explaining this passage to too great a depth causes the words to die. He also warns against making the passage into a experiential guide.

“In last night’s storm the beautiful blossoms all fell off. Ah! What a shame. When it rains for two or three days, again the weeds have grown up. Oh, well.”
-Hakuun Yasutani – Flowers Fall

This passage is not suggesting that we need to avoid attraction and repulsion, but rather showing a truth about the universe. Everyone is attached to something whether it is a possession, or a person, or an ideal. Nothing lasts forever. Attachments fall and repulsions grow.

I’m finding it hard to explain this further, and I don’t want to kill the words (as Hakuun Yasutani warned) so I am going to stop here and let the living words speak for themselves.

I just thought I’d start off with one of my favorite quotations.

“Nevertheless, Flowers fall among attachments.
And weeds flourish amidst annoyance.”
-Dogen from the Genjokoan

If you have never read the Genjokoan, I would strongly recommend it. I’ll elaborate more on this quotation in my next post.

Last night I was reading The Gospel of Thomas and was inspired to start a blog on spirituality. I’ve had blogs before, but not one like this. It will be an exciting adventure for the both of us.