Zen quotes

[Su Onn]

No snow flakes ever fall at the wrong place

May i know what does it means?

[Merwin]

I think it means that there are no "wrong" places for a snowflake to fall. In Buddhism, there is the idea that we shouldn't want to change everything. It's better to let everything fall in its place, and not get attached to a certain outcome. When you want the snowflake to fall at a certain place (i.e. when you wish for a certain thing to happen), you become attached to that outcome and it can make you sad when it doesn't fall at that place. Your quote says that no snowflake ever falls at the wrong place (i.e. "Whatever happens, is right"), meaning that you should just accept everything for what it is.

That is my interpretation.

[Dharmakara]

Also came across a few modern examples within poetry, the first by Richard Seymour[1]:

      Clouds do not drift in the wrong direction,
      Nor do snowflakes fall in the wrong place.
      A fish can thrash against the current
      And make no progress;
      Or it can do nothing, and float for miles.
      When you let go of the handrail of life,
      No wrongs can befall you.
      If you open your mind to the Dao,
      You can never die.

and this one from Irish poet, Michael Longley[2]:

      In our country they are desecrating churches.
      May the rain that pours in pour into the font.
      Because no snowflake ever falls in the wrong place.
      May snow lie on the altar like an altar cloth.

[1] http://www.taoism.net/supplement/taopoems.htm
[2] Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish Poetry (2012), p.489

[Su Onn]

Thx alot guys

[Provider]

Illustrated Book on Koans