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We have just entered 小暑 (Lesser Heat) based on the 24 solar terms, rooted in the ancient Chinese calendar system and was later adopted by Japan, remaining in use until the Meiji period.
Each solar term is divided into 3 pentads.
It’s the full moon tomorrow. And soon this Saturday, on 12 July, we will enter the second pentad of the current solar term — First lotus blossoms (蓮始開 Hasu hajimete hiraku).
Lotus blooms and falls - nothing stays
My morning spirit is not influenced by the scent of lotus flowers or dust. 蓮の香や塵にはそまぬ朝心-『禪林世語集』Since ancient times, lotus flowers have been cherished as symbols of purity for remaining untainted even in impure circumstances, embodying true joy in a world of suffering — an ideal state that stands in stark contrast to our painful reality.
Lotus flowers open early in the morning and close by midday, a process continuing for three to four days. On the final day, lotus flowers remain open longer, sometimes until evening, just before the petals begin to scatter and fall.
The Other Shore by Thich Nhat Hanh
I was introduced to this book by a tea-loving Buddhist friend I recently met, who will be leaving Kyoto soon.
We discussed the Heart Sutra (心经). What are we chasing for? 既求解脱, 又何追求？
This is a sutra I memorized by heart during my long bus rides to high school. A sutra I sometimes chant alongside other Japanese during meditation sessions at Zen temples. A sutra I copy repeatedly, across Zen temples in Kyoto and at home.
This book is a new translation of the Heart Sutra with commentaries by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist Monk, poet, and peace activist.
Without the mud, the lotus cannot be. So we can learn a lot from Mother Earth.
A lotus is very beautiful as a lotus. It doesn’t need to become a daffodil. The truth is that in the lotus there is a daffodil and in the daffodil there is a lotus. We can be the flower and we can be ourselves at the same time.
“Emptiness” in the heart sutra does not mean nothingness. It means that something is empty of a separate self (which also means full of everything), just as when a balloon is empty inside it doesn’t mean that the balloon doesn’t exist.
To be empty means to be alive, to breathe in and to breathe out. Emptiness is impermanence; it is change. We should not be afraid of emptiness, impermanence, or change; we should celebrate them.
This book taught me to look and listen deeply, to appreciate this very moment, to cherish every chance encounter, however brief. Everything is precious and unrepeatable, a continuous thread in the fabric of our fleeting life.
When we want to understand something, we cannot just stand outside and observe it. If we are able to read every word and phrase of the Heart Sutra in the light of our suffering and our deepest aspirations, it will become meaningful.
such beautiful reflections! thank you for sharing
Nice and true indeed, there is poetry in those reflections whose beauty I love more than its helpfulness, at least for mind so prone to distractions like mine