送给心花儿
这几天我给佛像献花。一天后，它们如我所料地枯萎了，我每天都兴高采烈地盼着它消失的样子。这是因为我经常听到无常和苦的说法。所以我特别期待。
这些鲜花放在我已故禅师苏南达尊者的照片前。所以，这也让我想起了他的无常。
我还放入了三朵假花，与活的真花形成鲜明对比。
当我坐在我私人的佛房里静坐时，我每天都会思惟花的无常和苦。我试图看看它会给我带来什么样的新启示。
昨天，新花抵达供养所有佛像。于是，我也拿了一些，放在同一个花盆前。所以新花就坐在老花旁边。
我的眼睛立刻就被这些新的花朵所吸引，我的心因它们成为新的沉思对象而感到高兴。经过几秒钟的思考，我的新启示是：
由于佛法知识太多，我没能把老花当作花来欣赏，只是等待它凋零，状态被抛弃。这是拥有额外的知识，使堵塞能够欣赏生活的状态，而不是消失的状态。
那么，现在我该怎么办？尽管有时会出现懒惰和无聊的心，但我只是继续禅修和念诵，并与一切众生和往生者分享功德。
以花儿来供佛，
让花儿无论新旧，
让花就只是花吧，
成为虔诚心的新或旧对象！
愿大家也将花供佛，享受花的清新。
新年快乐！万事如意！
Flowers for My Mind
During these few days, I offered flowers to the Buddha statues. One day later, they became wilted as I have expected, so gleefully every day I am looking forward to the state of fading away. This is because I often hear about anicca-impermanence and dukkha-suffering. So I am especially looking forward to it.
The flowers were placed in front of the photo of my late teacher, Sayadaw Dr. Sunanda. So, it also reminds me of his impermanence.
I also put in the three fake flowers to have a sharp contrast with the live, real flowers.
While sitting there and meditating in my personal Buddha’s room, every day I contemplate the impermanence and suffering of the flower. I tried to see what kind of new revelation it would bring to my mind.
Yesterday, new flowers arrived to be offered to all Buddha statues. So, I also took some and put them in front of the same flower pot. So new flowers sit next to the old flowers.
Immediately, my eyes are drawn to the new flowers, and my mind is delighted with them as the new object of contemplation. After thinking for a few seconds, my new revelation is:
Due to too much Dhamma knowledge, I failed to appreciate the old flower as the flower, only waiting for its fading away and the state to be thrown away. This is having extra knowledge that causes the blockage to appreciate the state of living, not the state of fading away.
So, now what shall I do? Despite sometimes there appear lazy mind and boring mind, I just continue with my meditation and chanting and do the sharing of merits with all beings and departed ones.
Let the flowers be just the flowers.
Let the flowers be the offering for the Buddha.
Let the flowers, new or old,
Be the new or old object for the faithful mind!
May you all also offer the flowers to the Buddha,
and enjoy the freshness of the flower.
Happy Chinese New Year!
