Is Flowers a form of life?

sinweiy SG

one would not understand Buddhadharma if one read word for word.

one must rid the form of wording(yan suo xiang) and form of labelling(ming xiang) to understand Dharma. Dharma is not confine by logic.

ps: "Someone who looks for me in form or seeks me in sound
is on a mistaken path and cannot see the Tathagata." --- Diamond Sutra

/\

justdoit77 SG

Flowers is a form of life that is driven by the natural and physical force, it doesn't require a "soul/conscious" for a plant to function, hence it doesn't has its own feeling nor karma.

Having say that, buddhism don't encourage people to cut off plants without a good reason because a plant is always habitat and source of food for many living beings, not because plant is a sentient being. If I remember correctly, one of the vinaya rules for monks is not to destroy tree.

An Eternal Now SG

Hmm I thought I already answered in Microorganism - are they considered as living things??

Flowers included.

So flowers/plants/trees do not have sensory and mental consciousness.

An Eternal Now SG

Just a side note. I have heard from my teachers that plants have awareness and intelligence, but it is not sensory consciousness and mental consciousness/discrimination. However, I do not know a lot about this. But anyway even these things have dharma nature. Inanimate things we say they have dharma nature, sentient beings we say they have buddha nature, for they have the potential to attain Buddhahood.

Daosheng (Venerable) (360-434)

One of the foremost disciples of the Venerable Hwei Ywan (see entry), the Venerable Dau Sheng was a great enlightened master who is best known for his propagation of the teachings of the Mahayana and particularly the doctrine of the universality of Buddha-nature, even in ['those of insufficient faith'].

"At the time when only the first part of [the ] . . . had been translated into Chinese, Dharma Master Dau Sheng was lecturing on it in Soochow Province in JungGwo. When he came to the passage that said that lack the Buddha-nature, he didn't explain it that way, but he said instead that they have the Buddha-nature. His reasoning went like this:

"'Why is it that have the Buddha-nature? It is because all living beings have the Buddha-nature, and although have insufficient faith, they are living beings. Therefore, how can one say they lack the Buddha-nature?'

"He lectured on the question in a way opposite to the reading in the first half of the Sutra, which outraged the other Dharma Masters of his time. They protested, 'That's the talk of demonÄ kings! The Sutra which the Buddha spoke plainly says that don't have the Buddha-nature, yet he says they do. That's really messed up.' No one would have anything to do with him after that, and when he lectured on the sutras, no one came. The Dharma Masters ganged up and told all the disciples and good people of faith, 'If Dau Sheng lectures, don't go. Anyone who listens to his Sutra lectures will fall into the hells.'

Since the whole reason the good men and women of faith were studying the Buddhadharma was to avoid falling into the hells, when they heard they would fall into the hells if they went to Dharma Master Dau Sheng's Sutra lectures, they didn't dare go to listen.

"Dharma Master Dau Sheng was not one to remain silent, but was determined to deliver Sutra lectures. He said, 'Okay, you won't come to listen? Then I'll go lecture to the rocks and see what they do.' And so he went of to Hu Ch'iu Mountain and collected several hundred rocks from all over the area. He set them up in front of him and said, 'I invite you to a Sutra lecture. Be good rocks and sit there nice and still.' It turned out that the rocks were very obedient. They didn't run off or roll away, but stayed right where he put them. When he got to the passage about not having the Buddha-nature, he said, 'That isn't correct. have the Buddha-nature too. "Those with and without sentience identically perfect the wisdom of all modes." will become Buddhas too. I SAID DO HAVE THE BUDDHA NATURE! DO YOU AGREE?'

"What do you think the rocks did then? Probably, although they were supposed to enter , they had not quite gotten into it and had not yet had a chance to fall asleep. When the rocks heard the Dharma Master ask that question, they all jumped to attention and started moving. This dull rock nodded its head, and that dull stone nodded its head. They all nodded in agreement, bumping into each other, because each would hit the rock in front of it.

"Someone might wonder who verified that really happened. It is not something that the venerable Dau-sheng said himself. It was said by those who opposed him. How did they end up saying such a thing? The reason people were against him in the first place was that he lectured too well. His eloquence was unobstructed, as if lotuses were blooming on his tongue. Almost everyone was jealous of the way he could come up with explanations that never occurred to anyone else, and of how he could make the sutras come alive, as it were. That is the way people are. If someone is better than they are, they get jealous, and if they are better than someone else, they look down on that person. Living beings have that kind of knowledge and outlook. And so the people of his time formed a faction in opposition to Dharma Master Dau Sheng. When he went to the mountains to lecture to the rocks, some of them followed him on the sly to see what he was doing. Then, when he lectured there and all the rocks began to move, nodding their heads--without being blown by the wind or splashed by the rain--the Dharma Masters who were spying on him, those who believed in him and even those who were against him, all saw what occurred. That is the origin of the saying,

When the Venerable Dau Sheng spoke the Dharma,
Dull rocks nodded their heads.

"Afterwards, when the had been completely translated, it turned out that the Sutra itself says that also have the Buddha-nature. That proved that Dharma Master Dau Sheng had completely understood the doctrine without having seen the entire Sutra; it showed the extent of his wisdom and insight. Afterward this incident even those who had opposed him no longer did so and came to bow to him.

"The meaning of the dull rocks nodding their heads is that those who had no faith in him were the dull rocks--otherwise how could they have failed to believe in him? Yet in the end even those who had been jealous and opposed him prostrated themselves before him." (WM 71-73)

---------------

Master Tung-kuo asked Chuang Tzu, "This thing called the Way-where does it exist?"
Chuang Tzu said, "There's no place it doesn't exist."
"Come," said Master Tung-kuo, "you must be more specific!"
"It is in the ant."
"As low a thing as that?"
"It is in the panic grass."
"But that's lower still!"
"It is in the tiles and shards."
"How can it be so low?"
"It is in the piss and shit."

marcteng SG

Buddha never stiplulated to the followers that they must offer flowers to him or his disciples.

It is a cultural thing. In fact I think offering of flowers has to do with culture and customs than Buddhism.

An Eternal Now SG

Buddha never demanded people to offer flowers to him, but it is something that Buddhists ought to do. It is not a cultural thing as offering flowers is a very universal thing -- all cultures have the practise of offering flowers. There is merits in offering Buddhas and enlightened beings. Shakyamuni Buddha himself offered flowers to the previous Buddhas. Other than that, there is significance and meaning in offering various things. You can find out more about that from the net.

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