Great Construction

Plants Live

     I like to attend to the plants in my garden, and I am always trimming and shaping them, but every once in a while, I inadvertently injure or cut one too much. Also, when planting there are points to consider, and on occasion plants are put in places that are not suitable. In relation to its environment, the back of a plant is placed facing forward or it is planted sideways, and every time this happens, it makes me anxious, but interestingly, as time goes on, I see that the plant changes its form. It is quite intriguing that in time the plant will fit in exactly with its surroundings. I can only think that the plant is alive. There is no doubt that trees and shrubs have souls.
     On this point, it is probably the same as human beings who do not want to embarrass themselves with their grooming. In this regard is something I heard from the senior foreman of a group of gardeners. When cherry trees did not bloom, he would face them and say, “If you guys don’t bloom this year, I’m going to cut you down!” The trees did bloom. I have not tried this myself, but it sounds plausible. Thus, it is not a mistake to believe that every thing in nature has a soul. Something I previously read in a book was the claim that what usually took a completely competent person fifteen years to grow, would, when treated with love, grow the same amount in half the time.
     The same can be said of ikebana. I arrange flowers for the rooms of our home, and even when the symmetry of an arrangement does not particularly satisfy me, I find the next day that the arrangement has shifted to a pleasing shape. Ikebana is truly living. When handling flowers, I never use undue force and try to arrange them as naturally as possible, so they are fresh and long-lasting. When arranging flowers, I first decide what I want to accomplish, then quickly and decisively make my cuts. The results are always good. It is the same as with living things: they weaken the more they are handled and fiddled with. This principle can be said to apply to human beings as well. It is as if when the more the parent fusses over a child and meddles in its affairs, the weaker the child becomes.
     Because I arrange flowers in this way, all are surprised that the flowers I arrange last twice as long as usual. One example is that most who arrange flowers are apt to avoid using bamboo and maple, probably because these materials do not last a long time. But I love to arrange them. They easily last three to five days. Bamboo will last a week, and maple has lasted more than two weeks. Another practice I observe is to not do anything with cut ends and such. I leave them as they are and do not fiddle with them. Flower arranging instructors, however, do all sorts of things, but it is ironical that for all they do, the flowers last a shorter period of time.

Eikō, Issue 220, page A1, August 5, 1953
translated by cynndd

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“Shokubutsu wa Ikite Iru” which first appeared on the front page of Eikō, Issue 220, August 5, 1953, and shortly after Meishu-sama’s Ascension, was reprinted in the essays anthology for ministers Sekai Meshiya Kyō Seiten (Sacred Texts of the Church of World Messianity), page 173, September 1, 1955, has appeared in translation. Citation is provided below for reference.

“Plants Have Consciousness,” Foundation of Paradise, 1984, page 273.

“Plants Have Consciousness,” Teachings of Meishu-sama, Volume Three, 2005, page 62.