Why Does Loving a Green Leaf Mean Having a Steadfast Moral Foundation?

Have you ever gazed at a green leaf and felt your heart stir? In the rush of daily life, we easily forget the wondrous life that exists all around us. Yet according to Thầy Thích Chân Quang, it is precisely our love for plants and trees that is the most accurate measure of a person's morality.

Three Fundamental Questions of Life

Thầy opens his dharma talk with questions that seem simple: Who does not want to live? Who does not want happiness? Who does not want to live decently? Most of us can answer right away. But there is a fourth, harder question: Do we live to continue in samsara (cycle of rebirth), or to practice for liberation? With just these first three questions, we have already affirmed the most essential things of human life.

"We need life, we need happiness, we need morality. Whoever can bring these three things to sentient beings is truly precious, truly saintly."

Loving the Green Leaf: When Morality Becomes Steadfast

Thầy tells us that many people love their parents, love their spouses and children, and yet that love can still turn into hatred if it is not nurtured. Morality must reach far wider. When we practice steadily over time, love gradually spreads from our family to all people, and then to the plants and trees. At that moment we can love each green leaf, and that is when our morality reaches a solid foundation.

"A disciple of the Buddha must be able to cherish the green of plants and trees in this way. Cherishing the trees, cherishing the grass, cherishing the leaves in this way."

A Precious Person: Planting Forests Without Seeking Profit

Thầy tells of Mr. Vượng, a businessman who devoted seventeen hundred hectares to planting forest, with no harvest and no profit. People doubted him, but his conscience longed to repay the earth after many years of mining kaolin. He plants forests to preserve life for the planet, and he is finding ways to grow medicinal herbs beneath the forest canopy so the economy can remain sustainable. He is a living example of one who lives with morality and gratitude toward heaven and earth.

"Humans giving back life to the planet that is being ravaged by humankind."

Living Rightly in Every Small Point to Die in Peace

Thầy shares about a disciple who practiced meditation and filled his life with green trees, and when his time came, he passed away very peacefully. A peaceful death is the reward for a life without mistakes, right down to the smallest point. For this we need wisdom; we need to study the Buddha's teachings (Dharma) to know right from wrong, to live without creating karma. As blessings from merit slowly accumulate, at the end of life we will depart in peace and goodness.

"I only promise one thing: attaining a peaceful death. And attaining a peaceful death is something most precious."

Today, you can begin with one small act: plant a tree, tend a pot of flowers, or simply gaze at a green leaf and feel the life within it. To sow green is to sow blessings. This is how we treasure life and cultivate our mind/heart.