Teachings From Ancient Vietnamese Zen Masters – 80
33 Butterflies
With the spring coming back, butterflies and flowers meet here.
Urged by timely passions, butterflies and flowers unite.
All butterflies and flowers, since infinite time, have been illusions.
You should keep your mind unmoved, despite all the butterflies and
flowers.
GIAC HAI (circa 11th century)
(COMMENT: All passions tie us to this world, just like butterflies
hovering around flowers. You see a beautiful woman, have a nice talk
with her, and her lovely face might be imprinted in your memory for
decades. While you grow old, while you are waiting to die in bed, her
image in your memory is still young and lovely even she in real life must
be an old woman with white hair and wrinkles. If you have a thought of
clinging to that young and lovely image, you have no way to break free
from this suffering realm. But you should not try to empty that image
from your mind. Don’t try to empty anything from your mind, because
that is impossible and unsuitable. And because that image is empty in
nature. Just realize the law of dependent origination, just see the
emptiness nature of all things – that is the way of meditation. Open
your eyes, and see it.)
