An Atheist Explores the Dhammapada Part Five: A Masterclass in Metaphor (Flowers (Pupphavagga))

Dhammapada Part Four: Flowers (Pupphavagga)

A Masterclass in Metaphor

“Who shall overcome this earth, this realm of Yama and this sphere of men and gods? Who shall bring to perfection the well-taught path of wisdom as an expert garland-maker would his floral design?”

Welcome to the next instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Dhammapada).

In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the Dhammapda, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.

For more detail, see the introductory post https://bit.ly/3IbwtwE

For the online Dhammapade that I use, see here https://bit.ly/3IgCiJr

And now:

Dhammapada Part Four: Flowers

Flower metaphors abound in these verses, which are much more poetic and metaphorical that the previous ones.

The first line, quoted above, is echoed in the second, which, as in the section entitled “The Pairs”, gives a reversed repeat of the preceding line. Who will overcome?  “A striver-on-the path shall overcome this earth, this realm of Yama and this sphere of men and gods. The striver-on-the-path shall bring to perfection the well-taught path of wisdom, as an expert garland-maker would his floral design”. I really like the term “striver on the path” (a translation of the term sekha, which although looks like it might be etymologically related to “seeker”, apparently isn’t). By being a striver, it means that one is still working towards perfection; it’s an act of becoming, not a simple act of faith or devotion. By being a striver, one has not yet achieved a blessed state, nor may never do so, but as the verses here spell out, even the effort of trying is enough to overcome Yama, the god of death.

From floral handiwork, the next flower metaphors are for sensual pleasure. Mara, the deceiver, uses “flower-tipped arrows of sensuality” to lead the body astray, and those who only pluck “the flowers of pleasure” have a heedless mind and will be swept away by death.

And then we get an image of a mendicant priest begging alms like a bee collecting nectar from flowers, leaving no damage in its wake (although perhaps the author of the Dhammapada was unaware, the bee is also pollinating the plants and perhaps they could have drawn the metaphor further, with the holy man delivering wisdom that will become fruit of … er … enlightenment, or something).

We move on to some comparisons involving fragrance – fine words without actions to back them up are like a beautiful flower without fragrance; by contrast, virtue has a fragrance that is better than sandalwood, blue lotus, jasmine and a perfumed powder called tagara. And finally, as a lotus flower may grow in a rubbish heap, so too an Enlightened One can shine out amid the unenlightened.

Flowers as colour, flowers as scent, flowers used in art and flowers visited by bees, it’s an interesting exercise to draw out as many metaphors as possible from a single item, and I rather like it. There are other notions one could draw upon – the ephemerality of flowers, for example. I’ve heard talk of meditation “perfuming” one’s day; perhaps this is modern Buddhist talk, but I can see where this idea of enlightenment having a “fragrance” to it comes from. It’s not unusual – the Bible mentions various fragrances like myrrh, although Old Testament God seems to prefer the smell of barbecued meat. Compare the light and delicate floral fragrances (well… some are cloying) with the lingering greasy meaty scent of burnt offerings.