No mud, no lotus - Joi Ito's Web

Thick Nhat Hahn, one of my favorite Buddhist monks, often said, "No Mud, No Lotus." This is very similar to the saying, deichuunohasu (泥中之蓮, でいちゅうのはす), which translates to "lotus in the mud." In Buddhism, the mud symbolizes suffering and darkness, from which emerges the lotus flower. Without the mud, the lotus would not emerge. There are sutras and meditations where one imagines oneself as the seed of the lotus emerging out of the mud.

Recently I've been studying and practicing Japanese tea ceremony, and one of the key elements of the tea room and the ritual is to choose a hanging scroll, often with something written on it by a monk. In my group, I have started exchanging seasonal Zen sayings and proverbs before tea sessions as a way to study both tea and Japanese. I've also started practicing my Japanese handwriting and calligraphy, which is in an abysmal state.

This week's proverb was "泥中之蓮" which is seasonal because this is the week that lotuses are to begin opening according to the Japanese seasonal calendar. (It looks like the lotus blooming at the temple next door is already over. I guess we need to adjust the calendar for climate change.)

As I repeatedly wrote the proverb in my slowly improving, long-neglected handwriting, the characters emerged from my brush like the lotus trying to grow out of the mud. Along with the characters emerged a resonance with my own life which feels like a lotus trying to emerge from the mud of the last few years. It is also a societal metaphor for our society trying to come together around a common purpose and harmony in the midst of a truly mud-like moment in history.

And with this vision, I start this morning with a new metaphor and image to meditate on as we attempt to emerge from this submergence.

It turns out that "乃" is not the right "の" for this proverb. It should be "之". I'm leaving the wrong "の" as is to preserve the muddiness of the moment. I'll try to post a correct and better looking rendering of this proverb once I practice my calligraphy more.