No matter how brilliantly the red spider lily blooms, it never truly belongs to us. A pure heart, like a flower blossoming within, is an eternal scenery of life. Amid the mundane world, one seeks simplicity among the flowers, meditates quietly under the Bodhi tree, observes the bloom and fade of life, and witnesses the cycle of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Regardless of what we possess, how much, or for how long, it is only a fleeting moment of ownership. When others praise our humility, it adds to our beauty; when we boast and fail, it adds to our ruin. At all times and places, we should maintain a humble heart.
Every person has a unique chance at life, an existence that cannot be replicated. Famous places, wealth, and knowledge are all external possessions that anyone can seek and acquire, but no one can experience life for you. Life does not grant ownership, only the right to live it. When the flower has not fully bloomed and the moon is not yet full, it represents the best state in life. Once a flower fully blooms, it quickly fades; once the moon is full, it soon wanes. In its incomplete state, however, the heart still has expectations and dreams.
It is not imperfection that is beautiful, but the fact that perfection never exists in this world. Ugly, right or wrong, black and white, hot and cold, high and low, strong and weak, large and small, many and few, long and short, fast and slow, poor and rich, honor and disgrace—all are dialectically unified and mutually transformative. In the act of gaining, there is also loss. Gains occur here and now, losses elsewhere and then, often unnoticed. A wise person or sage is simply someone skilled in measuring benefits and drawbacks, weighing gains and losses, and knowing when to take or yield.
