Silently a flower blooms,
In silence it falls away
Yet here now, at this moment, at this place,
the whole of the flower the whole of the world is blooming.
This is the talk of the flower, the truth of the blossom
The glory of eternal life is fully shining here.
By Abbot Zenkei Shibayama Nanzenji Monastery Kyoto Japan. Included in the book, A Flower Does Not Talk, Zen Essays.
Published by Charles E. Tuttle Company 1970 Kyoto Japan Now out of print.
Zenkei Shibayama (柴山 全慶, Shibayama Zenkei, 1894 - 1974), a former Abbot of Nanzen-ji, was a Japanese Rinzai master well known for his commentary on the Mumonkan. Due to a number of lecture tours he undertook to the United States in the 1960s, and the translation of several of his books into English, Shibayama was a significant contributor to the establishment of Zen in America.
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