Beauty of a Flower

In the beginning a flower is only a bud. It doesn’t yet show its loveliness to the world, it doesn’t attract butterflies, and it cannot yet become a fruit. Only when it opens is beauty revealed in its center – there is the focus of its exquisiteness, there is the source of its aroma, there is its sweet nectar. In the same way, our own unique beauty comes from within.

Our Beauty

Our beauty has nothing to do with our appearance or our occupation. Our special qualities come from an inner source. We must take care to open and bloom naturally and leisurely and keep to the center. It is from there that all mystery and power come, and it is good to let it unfold in its own time.

Just as a flower goes through stages – bud, open, bloom, pollinate, wither, fruit, fall – each of us will go through the stages of birth to death. We aren’t of a single character throughout our lives. We change and grow, we unfold and bloom. Unless we keep to the center, we can’t reach true independence in our lives.

365 Tao: Daily Meditations
Deng Ming-Dao

Background on Deng Ming-Tao