Why go on fighting
Reader Gerson Luiz tells the story of a rose that longed for the company of the bees, but none would come to her.
Even so, the flower was still capable of dreaming. When she felt all alone, she would imagine a garden filled with bees that came to kiss her. And so she managed to resist until the next day, when she opened her petals again.
“Aren’t you tired?” someone must have asked her.
“No. I have to go on fighting,” answered the flower.
“Why?”
“Because if I don’t open up, I wither.”
Learning to see
Buddha gathered his disciples and showed them a lotus flower.
“I want you to tell me something about what I hold in my hand.”
The first gave a whole treaty on the importance of flowers. The second composed a lovely poem about its petals. The third invented a parable using the flower as an example.
Now it was Mahakashyap’s turn. He came up to Buddha, smelt the flower, and caressed his face with one of the petals.
“This is a lotus flower,” said Mahakashyap. “Simple, like everything that comes from God. And beautiful, like everything that comes from God.”
“You were the only one who saw what I hold in my hand,” was Buddha’s comment.
In search of a wise man
For days the couple traveled almost without speaking. Finally they arrived in the middle of the forest, and found the wise man.
“My companion said almost nothing to me during the whole journey,” said the young man.
“A love without silence is a love without depth,” answered the wise man.
“But she didn’t even say that she loved me!”
“Some people always claim that. And we end up wondering if their words are true.”
The three of them sat down on a rock. The wise man pointed to the field of flowers all around them.
“Nature isn’t always repeating that God loves us. But we realize that through His flowers.”
In the flower shop
The woman was strolling through a shopping mall when she noticed a poster announcing a new flower shop. When she went in, she got a shock; she saw no vases, no arrangements, and it was God in person who stood behind the counter.
“You can ask for whatever you want,” said God.
“I want to be happy. I want peace, money, the capacity to be understood. I want to go to heaven when I die. And I want all this to be granted to my friends too.”
God opened a few pots that were on the shelf behind him, removed some grains from inside, and handed them to the woman.
“Here you have the seeds,” He said. “Begin to plant them, because here we don’t sell the fruits.”
tags technorati : TechnoratiPaulo CoelhoPaulo CoehloWarrior of LightWarrior of the LightNewsletter
I am in love with a man who speaks very little and have learned so much from his silence.
Thank you.
Dear Paulo,
I love your “In the flower shop” story. It says a lot, and I find it very inspiring. I believe - and often realize for myself - that wishful thinking is not enough, not even the best of intentions; we must actually make the effort to plant the seeds, and to nurture the growing plants with steady care, until we can finally harvest the fruits.
There’s something I’d like to share about “Learning to see”:
According to the “Flower Sermon”, the Buddha simply held up the lotus flower and said nothing to the assembly of monks; they expected a sermon and were bewildered, and only Mahakashyapa smiled as if he understood. The Buddha said to the monks something like, “What can be said I have said to you; and what cannot be said, I have given to Mahakashyapa.” - Which marks the beginning of Zen Buddhism through “silent transmission”.
So it’s quite different from your version, which makes me wonder: where did you get yours from?
Thank you for sharing and inspiring!
The last one makes me laugh and cry!
So true, to the bones.
Paolo~
In a world that leaves me thirsty and famished for authenticity and great depth of compassion and heart, your thoughts and profound depth of soul truly touch the core of my spirit. I often feel that the world and its clamour disrupt and challenge my life’s journey, sometimes silencing the voice within me and the sense of flight and freedom I ache to experience more often. Your words bring needed relief to my heart and re-awaken the voice of truth within me that I so often cannot bring to the surface nor sustain due to external circumstances and situational factors which can challenge and hinder. I understand why we must be Warriors of Light in a world that often seeks to veil us in darkness and forgetfulness (of our true calling in this life) and misguide our steps. Indeed, courage, faith and hope are at the core of what sustains and drives a Warrior: a sense of patience and compassion for oneself and others in a world that so often can be unaccepting, intolerant and harsh in its dealings. Your encouragement and promotion of setting aside the things and distractions outside of us in order to bring forth the gifts within us is a sweet mist upon my brow. Thank you for the beauty and purity you always acknowledge within our humanity. Your vision reflects back to me and warms and soothes the essence I strive to express more often. Your urgings give the wind back to me and help me to persevere on… I am thankful your path has crossed with mine through your writings. It is a gift to have your presence in my life in this way. God’s Peace and Light to you always.
~Flora
Thanks a lot for the stories.
“In search of a wise man” taught me that you don’t always have to ’say’ something to mean it!
Four wonderful stories about flowers!
And I’m not writing this, because I’m a botanist.
I studied biology and geography, travelled a lot and for many years and was activ in nature reservation. I know some hundred names of flowers all around the world in latin and before I became a teacher I walked throuh many a forest cartographing vegetation to expel new nature reserves.
I have made the expierience nearing nature scientifically is necessary. But to reveal a real respect and understanding for nature is to have the awareness from your bottom of your soul that everything including us is part of it. This philosophy of life is wonderfully expressed in the story about Buddha.
I was interested in Buddhism for many years and read a lot about it till today. I’m inspired a lot by the buddhistic philosophy of live.
I will have to go on fighting (for my health),
because if I don’t open up I wither!
Fortunately I’m not alone!
Love
Monika
I wrote a little story a while back called “The Trusting Bud”
…about a flower bud that took the chance to open.
Blessings,
Tania
Ciao Paolo,
This story of Buddha and the flower, reminds me of my art classes in school…everyone striving to be different, but so many of my classmates don’t realize that that’s not what art is
I knew the outcome of the last story as soon as God said “you can wish for whatever you want.” Just because you wish for it, doesnt mean he will grant it. It doesnt mena that he has to. Many of the things that people wish for are obtainable through…dare I say it, blood, toil, tears and sweat. Many people are not willing to put the effort in though, and this is why they never have there dreams fulfilled. People under-estimate the benfit of rolling up ones sleeves. I think that it is important to “muck in” once in a while as it reminds people that no matter how much technology advances, there is satisfaction like no other that comes from working for ones survival, and its the very bonds made with people through working that makes survival worth while. I think that people who work hard for a living shall always be happier than those who dont, dont people always say that work is good for the soul.
Paulo,
Thank you. It seems each new message has something that touches a part of me that needs to be filled and at just the time I am dealing with filling, or trying to, the empty spot. This time my soul and my art are going through the same search as I try to complete a new oil pastel of hibiscus flowers and am struggling with the essence of “flower” trying to reach a new understanding, and you remind me to simply “be” and it will come. At the same time, my soul is going through a similar search and needed the same reminder.
God continues to work in mysterious ways, going back to the talk with my then new friend Rosane from Brasil, who led me to your work in the first place.
Dearest Paulo and Friends
I just have a few words today.
i loved these stories, espcailly the ones about silence. For as long as i remember, i’ve been fascinated about the different types of silence. i love, the silence in love. Its peaceful and calms my soul. And i truely have no words to describe it, no one has. It can only be felt, and known.
Thank you for being
Yajna
if i don’t open up i wither…
What about the cactus or the orchid, who cannot take too much water?
just an inconsequential thought dear Paulo.
The first time I went to Arizona I was very impressed by the beauty of the dessert. I had only seen pictures of the dessert but actually been there I was constantly in awh of God’s creation. The colors of the dessert, the rock formation were far more magnificent than any work of art ever sculpted by man. I was walking along Lake Havasu with my family and we were all truly taken by the beauty and immensity of this lake. As we were walking I stopped in my tracks, and my family was startled by my reaction. What had caught my attention was a little purple flower growing out of the sand so tiny we might have just trample on it and never had even seen it. But this tiny flower was so perfect; it made me think how immense is the love of God for his creation to have put so much effort even in the most seemingly insignificant details, such as a small sand flower in the dessert that might for many go unnoticed.