Cherry Blossoms

Vol. 14. April 9, 2021

In April 1896, the poet A.E. Housman took a carriage ride in a woodland park. He captured the beauty of the moment in verse.

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now

Is hung with bloom along the bough,

And stands about the woodland ride

Wearing white for Eastertide.

One hundred and twenty-five years later, on March 26, 2021, cherry trees in Shinto shrines across Kyoto came into bloom. This seemingly innocuous event is remarkable for many reasons.

Due to an unusually warm spring, the peak happened earlier than ever before. Even more remarkable is that the Japanese have been recording the date of cherry blossom peaks for the last 1200 years.

Ever since 812, when Emperor Saga sat on the Chrysanthemum Throne, the Japanese have recognized this flowery event as special.

But what is most remarkable is why the Japanese have been recording this event. It’s not to accumulate scientific data. It’s to celebrate the transient beauty of the moment.

Japan is a land steeped in Zen Buddhism. Zen dwells in the present moment. Zen opens us up to experience the here and now.

This cup of tea. This friend of mine. This laughter we share. That bug. This beautiful flower. To miss the moment is to miss life.

The fleeting beauty of the cherry blossom is a metaphor for life. It’s here today and gone tomorrow. Nothing lasts for forever.

When families, couples in love and kids of all ages flood the parks for hanami (“flower viewing”), they realize their joy is ephemeral. Life is as brief as a sunset. And as beautiful.

Carpe Diem

The moment is all we have. We don’t have to be a Shinto priest or a Zen master to behold the wonder of this transitory tick of time.

We can do it easily through meditation.

A.E. Houseman closed his brief poem with these lines:

Now, of my threescore years and ten,

Twenty more will not come again …

And since to look at things in bloom

Fifty springs are little room,

About the woodlands I will go

To see the cherry hung with snow.

Houseman was 70 years old when he experienced a Zen moment. It left him begging for 50 more years of the same.

My friends, why wait for a Zen experience?

The beauty of the moment is right before you.

Celebrate the timeless in a time called now.