Deep Commentary

This Dhammapada verse was taught by the Buddha at Jetavana Monastery, concerning five hundred bhikkhus. The story goes that after receiving a meditation subject from the Blessed One, these bhikkhus went into the deep forest and began to meditate. While sitting in meditation, they saw jasmine flowers that had bloomed fresh that morning but by evening had withered, their petals drooping. The bhikkhus thought, 'We must eradicate greed, hatred, and delusion just as these flowers have fallen from the branch.' They then strove even more diligently in meditation, as if infused with new strength. The Blessed One, perceiving them, taught: 'Bhikkhus, just as that flower has fallen from the branch, so too must a bhikkhu strive to escape the suffering of birth and death.' Remaining in his perfumed chamber, he sent forth a ray of light and spoke this verse. Upon hearing it, all five hundred bhikkhus attained arahantship. (Excerpted from Dhammapada Stories, Vol. III, p. 290). Human life is like a flower—it blooms in the morning and fades by evening. The Buddha used the image of a flower to awaken the bhikkhus to the truth of impermanence. Impermanence is a theme the Buddha taught again and again. Looking at the same phenomenon, an awakened person sees differently from a deluded one. The deluded see all things as real, but the awakened see them as illusory. From external objects to our own body and mind, nothing is different from a flower! A flower that blooms must fade. That is natural law. Human life is the same—where there is birth, there is death. Birth and death are the constant law. The Buddha skillfully used the flower falling from the branch to remind the bhikkhus that to escape the suffering of birth and death, they must likewise strive diligently to eradicate greed, hatred, and delusion. When ignorance and defilements are no more, like a flower fallen from its branch, all suffering at that point will cease.