Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘Flowers in the sky are born in the sky and perish in the sky. They are born in obscurity and perish in obscurity. They are born in flowers and perish in flowers. Further, flowers in the sky are like this in other places and times. 

In studying flowers in the sky, there should be a number of ways. There are views by obscured eyes, by clear eyes, by buddha eyes, and by ancestor eyes. There are views by way-seeking eyes, by blind eyes, by three thousand years, by eight hundred years, by one hundred eons, by innumerable eons. As all of these see flowers in the sky, the sky looks different, flowers appear varied. 

Know that the sky is just one blade of grass. In this sky, flowers always bloom. It is like flowers blooming on one hundred blades of grass. In order to express this teaching, the Tathagata says that in the sky there are originally no flowers. 

Although there are originally no flowers, there are flowers such as peach, apricot, plum, and willow. So we say that a plum tree did not blossom yesterday, but blossoms in spring. 

Thus, when the time comes, flowers open. This is the moment of flowers, the arrival of flowers. At this very moment of flowers arriving, there is no other way. Plum and willow flowers unfailingly bloom on plum and willow trees. You see the flowers and know plum and willow trees. You understand flowers by looking at plum and willow trees. Peach and apricot flowers have never bloomed on plum and willow trees. Plum and willow flowers bloom on plum and willow trees. Peach and apricot flowers bloom on peach and apricot trees. Flowers in the sky bloom in the sky in just this way. They do not bloom on other grasses or trees. 

Seeing the colors of flowers in the sky, you fathom the limitlessness of fruit in the sky. Seeing the opening and falling of flowers in the sky, study the spring and autumn of flowers in the sky. The spring of flowers in the sky and the spring of other flowers should be the same. Just as there are a variety of flowers in the sky, there should be a variety of springtimes. This being so, there are springs and autumns in the past and present.’ (Shobogenzo Kuge)

The Dogen study group is currently reading this fascicle. Here is a typically dense Dogen passage, taking the original phrase about “flowers in the sky,” which traditionally represented delusions, and turning the notion on its head, and over and over again. There is interconnection, mutual non-obstruction, and the dharma position of each individual thing, all coursing along together in this present moment – which includes everything from the empty past right up until now.