花は心の静謐 "Flowers Are the Stillness of the Heart"

ある先人が残したこの言葉を、心に留めています。

「花は心の静謐（せいひつ）」

茶花は、「花は野にあるように」と教えられます。

意匠を凝らすのではなく、野に咲く姿をそのままに生ける。

自然らしく生けるための教えのようにも見えますが、大切なのは花の姿だけではなく、その花が場にもたらす働きなのだと思います。

野の花は、自分を美しく見せようとはしません。

誰かに評価されるために咲くこともありません。

ただ、その時、その場所に在ります。

茶花もまた、そのままの花を場に迎えます。

花は何も語らず、ただ、そこに在る。

その姿に触れると、心にあった余分なものが静まり、その時の私が静かにあらわれてきます。

「花は心の静謐」

その言葉には、花そのものの美しさではなく、花がそこに在ることで生まれる静けさと、その中にあらわれる人の姿まで含まれているように思います。

I keep close to heart these words left by one who came before us:

“Flowers are the stillness of the heart.”

In chabana, we are taught to “arrange flowers as they are in the field.”

Rather than imposing an elaborate design, we allow the flowers to appear as they

would in nature.

At first, this may seem simply to be a teaching about arranging flowers naturally.

Yet what matters is not only how the flowers look, but also the effect their presence has on the space.

Wildflowers do not try to make themselves beautiful.

Nor do they bloom in order to be admired.

They simply exist, at that moment, in that place.

Chabana, too, welcomes the flower just as it is.

The flower says nothing.It is simply there.

In encountering its presence, the unnecessary within us begins to settle, and who we are in that moment quietly reveals itself.

“Flowers are the stillness of the heart.”

These words seem to speak not only of the beauty of the flower itself, but also of the stillness that arises simply because the flower is there—and of the person who quietly comes into view within that stillness.