The Best of All Flowers

The Best of All Flowers *Dojeon 8:2

1 Sangjenim loved the company of people, the more the better.
2 One day in 1902 (DG 32) as Sangjenim was sitting in a room with the disciples, gazing upon them, He said, “If you are bored, do something to amuse yourselves.”

3 So, the disciples sang a song about flowers, and Sangjenim asked them, “Of all the flowers, which do you like best?”
4 “Rice flowers,” someone answered. Another said, “Cotton flowers.” Yet another answered, “Tobacco flowers.”
5 Sangjenim declared, “Flowers that bloom inside the home are the best. Affection for an object wanes after it is beheld once or twice,

6 but affection for people grows each time they are beheld. Indeed, among all flowers, the human flower is the best.”

 

In a large pond, there are mayflies, minnows, frogs, snakes, fish, plants, and many other forms of life. That is why a pond is sometimes referred to as ‘a pond nation.’ A nation in a pond! This signifies that a pond accommodates a vast array of life. No matter how narrow-minded a person is, shouldn’t they at least possess the capacity of a large pond? Those who strive to become an ilkkun of heaven and earth, who carry out the work on behalf of heaven and earth, must become a vessel great enough to accommodate the earth!