Autumn Is the Time of Recovering One’s Self

Autumn Is the Time of Recovering One’s Self

 

Autumn is the time of ‘seeking out the beginning and returning to the origin.’

 

‘Seeking out the beginning’ signifies ‘seeking out one’s original self.’ And so, ‘seeking out the beginning and returning to the origin’ suggests a return to one’s roots, one’s background, one’s original form.

 

When a seed is sown in spring, it grows throughout summer and bears fruit in autumn. This bearing of fruit does not occur because the plant wishes it. Rather, all the myriad forms of life in the world bear seeds in autumn. This simply happens, regardless of their will.

 

This bearing of seeds entails the passing on of the seed in its original form. Whether growing in the wild or grown in cultivation, a red bean dropped into the soil eventually leads to red bean seeds in autumn. This is the means by which the bean returns to its original form. Such is ‘seeking out the beginning and returning to the origin.’

 

Moreover, at the arrival of autumn, all vegetation sheds its leaves, and the essence—the sap—supplied to the leaves all returns to the roots. This, too, is an act of seeking out the beginning and returning to the origin. This holds true for the tiniest strand of grass to the stateliest tree. The roots are where they return!

 

Sap must return to the roots in this way to facilitate hibernation in winter. In other words, after the sap is stored in the roots during the winter sleep, new sprouts are sent forth from the roots in the new spring.

 

However, if the sap (i.e., the essence) becomes scattered, the tree withers away and cannot return to life. So it is with a human being as well. If people do not seek out their beginning and return to their origin—if they disavow or betray their ancestors, their roots—they will be severed from their roots and their life force will wither away.