柳緑花紅
やなぎはみどりはなはくれない / Yanagi wa Midori Hana wa Kurenai
Yanagi wa Midori Hana wa Kurenai (柳緑花紅) Meaning
Meaning
The willow is green; the flower is red. It sounds almost too obvious to say, but in Zen this plain fact is the point: truth is not hidden somewhere else, it is right here in things just as they are. Each thing shows its own color, and that is already enough.
Origin
The phrase is often traced to a line attributed to the Song-dynasty Chinese poet Su Dongpo (Su Shi), "Willows green, flowers red: the true face," though the exact source is uncertain and accounts differ. It has long been cherished in Zen circles and often appears on hanging scrolls in Japanese tea rooms.
How it helps with everyday worries
When you compare yourself with a colleague or a friend and feel you fall short, it can help to remember that a willow has no reason to envy a flower's red, and a flower has no need to copy a willow's green. Your way of being has its own place and its own worth, without having to become someone else's. The phrase also helps when you are worn out trying to make others be the way you want. People bloom in their own colors, too. Seeing them as they are, rather than as they "should" be, can loosen some of the strain in a relationship and leave a little more room for you to breathe.
A small practice for today
Pick one plant you can see today and simply look at its color for ten seconds, without naming it or judging it.