THE TELL-TALE BUDS

Text by Guo Shaojing Translation by Leo Photos provided by Guo Shaojing, Zeng Jian Special thanks to Heartbeat Florist

THE TELL-TALE BUDS

Text by Guo Shaojing Translation by Leo Photos provided by Guo Shaojing, Zeng Jian Special thanks to Heartbeat Florist

The beauty of flowers is never constant. We may look at the same flower differently from different angles, under different light

conditions, in different places or simply in a different mood.

花道至臻

早在北魏之后，花道在中國慢慢興起，直到宋代，達到了它的鼎盛巔峰。當時國家政局穩定，百姓生活安康，文人雅士們多了很多生活情趣，而插花便是其中之一。據聞當時上至達官貴人，下至普通老百姓，家里都能見到一兩瓶花。

Floral arrangement in the West means an entirely different thing from the art of Ikebana in the East. In the West, flower arrangement - in the real sense of the word “arrangement” - is more like a decorative practice while its Oriental counterpart, Ikebana (which means “fl owers kept alive”), is a way of self-expression. The former is most often for commercial purposes while the latter is often used as a form of artistic education and mental development.

The art of flower arranging saw its best days in China’s Ming dynasty (1368-1644) when it spread to Japan through a book named A History of Vased Flower Arrangements by Yuan Hongdao, a scholar living in late Ming dynasty. The art soon took root in Japan and grew quickly under the name of Ikebana in the Meijiperiod (1868-1912), when the Japanese economy took off. In fact, Ikebana developed so well in Japan that it replaced its Chinese predecessor to become the representative of the Oriental art. Today, the ancient art is beginning a revival in China and Chinese Ikebana artists are doing their part to restore its past glory.

The art of Ikebana or “the way of flowers” is much more than just about arranging flowers. A lot has to be learnt about flowers and plants, broader nature and human life. It is about understanding and appreciating the very nature, essence and spirit of flowers and plants (their stems, leaves, petals etc.) in different seasons and across every stage of their life cycles. Mother Nature has a rich supply of everything that the human body and spirit needs to be nurtured. And she has her rules: each flower and plant has its season or seasons for life. Missing one, you must wait, perhaps with eagerness, for its next appearance.

Learning Ikebana is also a process of development of the inner self. To achieve that, good character is required. As a guqin master rightly put it, “My teacher’s advice is that the character of a guqin player speaks to the character of his playing. The nurturing of virtue accounts for 70% of guqin learning, while actual techniques only make up 30%. One cannot go far in the pursuit of the art by acquiring skills without nurturing his virtue.” The same is true of learning Ikebana. An Ikebana florist with lesser virtue produces products of lower quality.

Flowers and plants are wonderful beings to me. So the way I often look at, feel, describe and represent them is similar to the way that I treat human beings. Sometimes my students cut leaves and branches of plants or flowers from their own gardens and bring them to me. I hate to waste any piece of them, not even a leaf. It seems to me that they are the gifts of nature and require a simple heart to understand. An Ikebana practitioner needs to develop this kind of mindset to see value in things and understand that his or her job is to give new life and a new form of beauty, both artistically and culturally, to the cuttings of flowers and plants.

Art is the third eye through which human beings see the world. It can enrich our minds and ease our lives. Ikebana as a form of art education enables us to better see ourselves through nature and make it a part of our lives. Indeed, the art of Ikebana is always more about our heart and soul, not just the fl owers.

AUTHOR PROFlLE

Guo Shaojing, 1st Grade Professor of Ikebana, author of Flower of Life“If one day I become an old woman, greyhaired but still graceful and innocent like a child, that must be the good that flowers have done to me.”

郭少靜，華道家元池坊正教授一級，著有《我的插花生活》等“當我老去，成為一名滿頭白發，卻滿是童心的優雅老太，一定是因為花卉賦予我生命的平和沉靜。”

花之美千變萬化。不同的角度，不同的光線，不同的場所，觀察者不同的情緒，看到的花都將是不同的。

東西方的插花藝術是兩種截然不同的插花表現形式。西方插花用的是“arrangement”這個單詞，意為“整理，安排”，指用花進行室內裝飾設計等；而東方插花的英譯為“ikebana”，是通過花表現個人的存在。前者在我們的生活中，較多為商業用途存在，而后者更多地是作為藝術教育和自我修養的提升而存在。

明代是中國插花其中一個繁盛時期。袁宏道的《瓶史》一書傳入日本后，日本花道以此為契機并借助之后的明治維新創造的經濟崛起而飛速發展。此后日本花道取代中國插花成為東方插花的代表。而中國當下的花道人，也正在為中國插花的復蘇從自身開始做大量努力。

花道，除了“插”花這個動作，大約還有人透過對植物，對自然界的學習，反映到你生活中的相關。而什么又是對植物的學習呢？一朵花，一片葉隨著季節的變遷，開放，凋零，四季輪回，展現出的自然屬性和精氣神。自然界提供了我們身體和精神所需的一切。每個季節都有不同的植物，錯過了就需要等待，就會讓心更有期盼，越發珍惜對待花開。

習練花道，也是內心自我成長的過程。所以何為“道”，除了以上，大約還有“品”。琴人作景利先生說：“人品即琴品，此先生之訓！古琴不論何派，技占其三，德占其七。只學技而不習德，終為下品。”學花道也為同理。插花者的心不正，花也無法達至境界。

在我眼里，花花草草都是極具魅力的生命，我常用擬人的方式去感受它們，描述它們，并始終呈現它們。有時候學生將自家花園里的花草剪下來帶給我，我一片葉子也不舍得浪費。世間的花草，都是自然物界的饋贈，它需要你有一顆單純的心去讀懂它。這也是花道之人所需懂得的惜物之心。從土地上剪下的花草，并非結束植物的生命，而是用文學、美術、藝術等多方面的修養，賦予植物第二次生命，以另一種姿態詮釋美。

藝術是人類看待世界的第三只眼，可以讓人在精神上變得豐盈，在人生中獲得從容優雅的姿態。花道作為藝術教育的一種方式，讓我們從自然界反觀自身，把自然納入自己的生活之中。

花道整理的從來都不是花，而是心靈。