I want to share a story with you which was originally published in the book Zen: The Path of Paradox by Osho.
Cherry Blossom and the Misty Moon
It happened about a very famous Zen woman, her name was Rengetsu…. Very few women have attained to the Zen ultimate. This one is one of those rare women.She was on a pilgrimage, and she came to a village at sunset and begged for lodging for the night, but the villagers slammed their doors. They were against Zen. Zen is so revolutionary, so utterly rebellious, that it is very difficult to accept it. By accepting it you are going to be transformed; by accepting it you will be passing through a fire, you will never be the same again.
So traditional people have always been against ALL that it is true in religion. Tradition is all that is untrue in religion. So those must have been traditional Buddhists in the town, and they didn’t allow this woman to stay in the town; they threw her out. It was a cold night, and the old woman with no lodging… and hungry. She had to make a cherry tree in the fields her shelter. It was really cold, and she could not sleep well. And it was dangerous too — wild animals and all.
At midnight she awoke — because of too much cold — and saw, as it were, in the spring night sky, the fully opened cherry blossoms laughing to the misty moon. Overcome with the beauty, she got up and made a reverence in the direction of the village….
Through their kindness in refusing me lodging I found myself beneath the blossoms on the night of this misty moon. She feels grateful. With great gratitude she thanks those people who refused her lodging, otherwise she would be sleeping under an ordinary roof, and she would have missed this blessing — these cherry blossoms, and this whispering with the misty moon, and this silence of the night, this utter silence of the night. She is not angry, she accepts it. Not only accepts it, welcomes it — she feels grateful.
A person becomes a Buddha the moment she accepts all that life brings with gratitude. He is on the Way, she is on Tao; and he IS becoming meditative.
For most we can see that our lives have not turned out as expected. We have found ourselves on a road that we did not choose. A different career, a death of a loved one, an end of a relationship, but through these disappointments, just as Rengetsu we can too find the gratitude in a situation that seems unfair.
As I read this story, I realized not much has changed. People of today are still caught in their limitations of religion, politics, and appearances. As I lived through this year of hatred and fear, I’ve come to realize that I cannot change the world. Instead of getting enveloped in the hate, I choose to go within and ask for a higher understanding. We too can make reverence in the direction of our world. In our dark night see the opening of the cherry blossoms and in the utter silence of the night find peace, love, acceptance and gratitude.