Kado -The Way of the Flower

Ikebana: Ilse Beunen @Ilse_Beunen_ikebana

Photo: Ben Huybrechts @Ben.Huybrechts

Nature, to Buddhism, is not just a backdrop, it is a teacher and a mirror to our own existence, inviting us to embrace its lessons and embrace its rhythms.  

~ Ilse Beunen

A rose can put you in a place of heightened awareness.  Look into a flower and see it as though you have never seen a flower before.  Only the present, abandoning all sense of self - no birth, no death, no future, no past, no time, no fear.  Just the present connection with the flower.  See what IS, not what WAS or what you hope WILL BE.

This state is called KADO in Japanese, and means “the way of the flower.” In her book, The Japanese Way of the Flower, Ikebana as Moving Meditation, Ann Kameoka joins H.E. Davy in describing how “ikebana” - Japanese flower arranging, originating from Buddhist altar flower offerings, can bring you into harmony with nature.  In Kado, one observes a flower in a state of such heightened awareness that no distinction exists between the observer and the observed.  And in that instant, one realizes the essence of existence in a single petal poised between life and death.

Ikebana is the appreciation of lines and flow - using leaves, grasses and and other natural materials with the flowers.  In following proportion and placement, lines and triangles create balance where perfect symmetry is the exception - rather than the rule.  Kado offers a way to rediscover our innate connection with nature.

Do not expect from a flower what it cannot give.  It is about non-manipulation and working with things as they are.

Fragile things do not open when under stress.

Like our hearts, each flower is different, delicate and beautiful.   Listen to what the flower is telling you.  Holding it in your hand, find out if there is any division between your mind perceiving the flower, and the body that observes it, or between you and nature.

Kado, when practiced as meditation, offers an understanding of how the wisdom in nature and the wisdom within our human nature, are one and the same.

Ann Kameoka on IG: @annkameoka