10 Teachings From The Way of Flowers For Peace and Happiness
The Way of Flowers – Ikebana – is the Japanese art form of arranging flowers and it also is called the way of flowers or Kado. This is created through using two characters with the first one means flower and the second one means way or road. This follows the same method of naming as some of the other Japanese disciplines do. Examples of this are Chado being The Way of Tea, Koudo being The Way of Perfume and Kendo being The Way of the Sword.
Kado involves philosophy, practice and aesthetics similar to most of the other traditional Japanese arts that leads to personal development and creative achievement.
Creating lovely floral arrangements is just one small part of The Way of Flowers, as it is also a journey of self-discovery.
Spiritual enlightenment is attained through practice and concentration according to Buddhist (Zen) philosophy. Many people consider The Way of Flowers a lifelong pursuit, as a method for achieving some inner peace in the hopes of reaching a deeper spiritual understanding in this hectic world, similar to the way the Zen monks have done over the years with their techniques for meditation. The nice thing about The Way of Flowers is you arrange flowers as to try to achieve this inner peace.
How are people helped with their spirituality with The Way of Flowers?
Rikka-Imayo-Sugata written in 1688, a classic text on Ikebana, provides the best explanation of the answer to the above question. The term of Kado first was used in this text to refer to Ikebana. The text also tells of virtues that a true master of Ikebana should have.
This text is so old it is difficult to do a sensible translation doing it word for word. The below translation I am offering uses some poetic license to explain the The Way of Flowers mindfulness teachings.
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Teachings from The Way of Flowers
1. Discrimination is Non-Existent
There is no discrimination in nature and this means that a practitioner of The Way of Flowers should follow this same ideal. We gain the knowledge of how we need to interact with nature, people and all other things through contemplating how nature just exists.
Ikebana offers the chance for lower-class artist’s chances to intermingle with upper-class people, along with even emperors. Educating the multi-cultural population of the United States about Ikebana has allowed me to get to know many people from a variety of cultural beliefs.
2. Selfless Mindfulness
We free ourselves from stress, as we arrange flowers and this helps us clear the mind. Zen meditation’s first goal is for the practitioner to achieve a mind clear from the chattering body. This first stage typically is the most difficult to master for any meditation student. However, through the help of the flowers and other elements from nature in their floral arrangements, most students of Ikebana attain mindfulness without knowing it at times.
3. No Words Needed to Make Friends
Flowers provide us more joy than words can express, as we face them. Through sharing this enjoyment with others, we create a strong bond that goes beyond language. We can use our floral arrangements to communicate more deeply with individuals regardless of their spoken language.
4. Learn All about Plants
We can learn all about a variety of types of trees, flowers and other plants through The Way of Flowers. This art not only teaches the names of all these plants, but also how to become in harmony with the nature of each one and to know its growth patterns. We especially learn to understand how short the flower’s life actually is. In our short lives, we often wish for fame, success and/or wealth.
Thinking of these desires and attachments can cause much unhappiness, according to Buddhist teachings.
When we learn that our desires and our lives are fleeting in nature, it is quite simple to form a negative way of thinking that life itself is without meaning. However, through learning to arrange flowers in the way of flowers method, we learn that flowers are very content with their short lives and it gives up an appreciation life’s humanity instead of becoming depressed about it. This also allows us to accept our role within this universe. This step is one of the most crucial to learn to attain spiritual growth, when practicing Zen. It is simple to see by this information how these two philosophies are similar.
5. Earn Respect
Working on selfless mindfulness and no discrimination through meditation, the art of Ikebana helps us earn respect with our best of character. Many people highly respect the practitioners of Ikebana. You will see how much the teachers of Ikebana are respected within their communities, if you ever travel to Japan.
6. Enjoy the Scents
We always have the fragrant scent of the flowers to enjoy, while learning mindfulness through the way of flowers. Scents can help lift our moods and improve how we feel, as aroma therapists will tell you. The scent from the flowers can even cheer us up when we are depressed. The artists involved in Ikebana understand which of the flowers are best for his needs or those needs of friends and family.
7. Negative Thoughts Disappear
We all have negative or evil thoughts at times. However, these types of thought can instantly vanish, as we work with flowers. Ikebana will help our minds become calm and this is a true plus in this hectic world today.
8. The Mind becomes Peaceful
We are able to nourish our souls and go onto to live a long life, when our minds become peaceful through practicing Ikebana. It is obvious that the author of this 17th-century text was used to encourage people to participate in Ikebana. He also understood how to promote this text with promising that you would live longer. Ikebana teachers live longer than people do in most other occupations in Japan, according to statistics. Japan also has a history of people living longer than most in the world.
9. The Mind becomes Graceful
We gain a full understanding for how elegant nature is, when we maintain mental peace all day long. Through the Zen experience of enlightenment (called Satori), we can cultivate our gentleness and become feeling as if we are in harmony with this universe in which we live.
Japanese many times discover true peace through realizing where they fit in with nature. Shinto philosophy includes this ideal. Shinto is the native religion of Japan. Buddhism was not practiced in Japan until during the 6th century. I will write about the relationship between Ikebana and Shinto some other time.
10. Grow Closer to the Divine
As we experience more divine feelings, we will feel closer to the Divine Spirit, Gods or Buddha depending on our personal beliefs. Developing stronger bonds with the Divine possibly was the most valued personality trait back during the 17th century, even though it is quite difficult for us to picture how much their life was spiritual on a daily basis. Everyone can benefit from deeper divine experiences in their daily living. Ikebana helps us become in tune with the universe and with nature.
The above ten Ikebana virtues teach us that being in touch with the spiritual and therapeutic aspects of the world through Ikebana are values that the Japanese have appreciated for centuries. It takes more than just learning how to arrange the plants to learn the true meaning of this amazing art form. This art form helps us to connect with our spiritual being in a similar manner that the Zen monks do when seeking enlightenment using meditation.
Discover peace through The Way of Flowers.
