{"id":8130,"date":"2025-04-04T10:39:51","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T01:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kazu-yamagu.com\/?p=8130"},"modified":"2025-09-08T18:41:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T09:41:06","slug":"post-8130","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kazu-yamagu.com\/?p=8130","title":{"rendered":"Japan – Discovering Zen Words – Today’s Best Word is “\u5e74\u3005\u6b73\u3005\u82b1\u76f8\u4f3c Nennen sai sai hana ai nitari Nen nen sai sai hito onazikarazu”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Zen is hard. And Zen words? Even harder.
So I go ahead and make up my own meanings\u2014and I like them just fine.I like to think that Master Huineng, D\u014dgen, Ikky\u016b, and Ry\u014dkan would nod gently and say, \u201cThat’s fine. That’s fine. Let it be, my friend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today’s Zen word is “Nennen saisai hana ainitari Nennen saisai hito onazikarazu” It means “Flowers bloom the same way every year, but people do not the same”<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Blossoms Are the Same, but We Are Not<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every year, around the same time, the cherry blossoms bloom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It doesn\u2019t matter whether the world is peaceful or in pain\u2014whether people are dancing or grieving, the blossoms arrive just the same. They don\u2019t wait for headlines to calm down. They don\u2019t ask if we\u2019re ready. They simply bloom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And somehow, even when we\u2019re weighed down\u2014shoulders heavy with sorrow, eyes cast low\u2014we still stop under those trees, look up, and let the sight of those flowers lift our heads. That alone makes them worth praising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Chinese poet from the Tang dynasty, Liu Yuxi, once wrote a line that has stayed with us for centuries:
“Year after year, the flowers remain the same, but the people never do.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nature is constant. We are not. We age. We change. We leave and are left behind. The cherry trees? They do not care. They simply carry on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, instead of mourning this truth\u2014this fleetingness of life\u2014it might be wiser to be grateful. To say: “This year, once again, I got to see the blossoms.”<\/em> To admire how they bloom with all they\u2019ve got, asking nothing in return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That seems like enough.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Zen Is Hard. That\u2019s the Point.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Once, I picked up an English book on Zen by D.T. Suzuki. \u201cThis\u2019ll be easier to understand than the Japanese stuff,\u201d I told myself. After all, it was written for Western readers. Should be straightforward, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was like hiking straight into a foggy mountain. I\u2019d read a line and feel I\u2019d understood something deep\u2014then the next paragraph would slip right through my fingers like a fish wriggling free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a famous Zen painting of an old man trying to catch a catfish with a gourd. That\u2019s exactly what trying to \u201cunderstand\u201d Zen feels like. You reach for it\u2014and miss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See, Zen isn\u2019t about thinking harder. It\u2019s about knowing without knowing. It\u2019s about finding your true self, but not through intellect\u2014because intellect is separate from the self. To really know<\/em> the self, they say, you must become one with it. And how do you do that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well\u2026 you sit. You breathe. You sweep the floor. You chop wood. You live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a Zen exchange I once read:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A monk asks his master,
\u201cWhat is a person like before enlightenment?\u201d<\/strong>
<\/strong> The master replies,
\u201cJust an ordinary person.\u201d<\/strong>
<\/strong> The monk continues,
\u201cAnd after enlightenment?\u201d<\/strong>
<\/strong> The master answers,
\u201cHis head is full of ash, and his face is covered in mud.\u201d<\/strong>
<\/strong> Confused, the monk asks,
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/strong>
<\/strong> The master shrugs,
\u201cIt just means what it means. Nothing special.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026Honestly? I still don\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But maybe I don\u2019t have to. Maybe Zen isn\u2019t something to grasp but something to live. You don\u2019t need a monastery or a robe. You just need the patience to sit with not-knowing, and maybe\u2014if you\u2019re lucky\u2014a cherry tree in full bloom.<\/p>\n\n\n


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