The Flowers

Who will conquer this world of illusion and the king-

dom of Yama¹and the world of the gods? Who will

discover the path of the Law as the skilled gardener

discovers the rarest of flowers?

The disciple on the right path will conquer this world

of illusion and the kingdom of Yama and the world

of the gods. He will discover the path of the Law as

the skilled gardener discovers the rarest of flowers.

Knowing his body to be as impermanent as foam and

as illusory as a mirage, the disciple on the right path

will shatter the flowery arrow of Mara and will rise

beyond the reach of the King of Death.

Death carries away the man who seeks only the flowers

of sensual pleasure just as torrential floods carry away

a sleeping village.

Death, the destroyer, overcomes the man who seeks

only the flowers of sensual pleasure before he can

satisfy himself.

The sage should go from door to door in his village,

as the bee gathers honey from the flowers without

bringing harm to their colours or their fragrance.

Do not criticise others for what they do or have not

done, but be aware of what, yourself, you do or have

not done. 

¹ The God of Death.

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Just as a beautiful flower which is radiant yet lacks

fragrance, so are the beautiful words of one who does

not act accordingly.

Just as a beautiful flower which is both radiant and

sweetly scented, so are the beautiful words of one who

acts accordingly.

Just as many garlands can be made from a heap of

flowers, so a mortal can accumulate much merit by

good deeds.             

The fragrance of flowers, even that of sandalwood or

of incense, even that of jasmine, cannot go against the

wind; but the sweet fragrance of intelligence goes

against the wind. All around the man of intelligence

spreads the fragrance of his virtue.

No fragrance, not even that of sandalwood or incense,

nor of the lotus nor of jasmine, can be compared with

the fragrance of intelligence.

Weak is the fragrance of incense or sandalwood com-

pared to that of a virtuous man which reaches up to

the highest of divinities.

Mara cannot discover the way that those beings fol-

low who lead a life of perfect purity and who are libe-

rated by their total knowledge.

As the beautiful scented lily rises by the wayside, even

so the disciple of the Perfectly Enlightened One,¹  ra-

diant with intelligence, rises from the blind and igno-

rant multitude.             

¹ The Buddha.

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There are some very wise recommendations here, for example, not to concern oneself with what others do nor with the mistakes they make, but to attend to one's own faults and negligences and rectify them. Another wise counsel is never to utter too many eloquent words which are not effectuated in action – speak little, act well. Beautiful words, they say, that are mere words, are like flowers without fragrance.

And finally, lest you get discouraged by your own faults, the Dhammapada gives you this solacing image: the purest lily can spring out of a heap of rubbish by the wayside. That is to say, there is nothing so rotten that it cannot give birth to the purest realisation.

Whatever may be the past, whatever may be the faults committed, whatever the ignorance in which one might have lived, one carries deep within oneself the supreme purity which can translate itself into a wonderful realisation.

The whole point is to think of that, to concentrate on that and not to be concerned with all the difficulties and obstacles and hindrances.

`Concentrate exclusively on what you want to be, forget as entirely as possible what you do not want to be.

 7 March 1958

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