One daimyo (large landowner) was very fond of chrysanthemums. He planted his entire garden, located behind his house, with these flowers, and devoted all his energy and time to caring for them.
In fact, the daimyo paid more attention to chrysanthemums than to his wife and concubines. Many vassals suffered severe punishment just for accidentally breaking a flower. The daimyo's passion for chrysanthemums made life simply unbearable for everyone in the house.
One day, when one of the vassals carelessly broke a flower, the angry daimyo ordered him to be thrown into prison. Infuriated by this attitude, the samurai decided to commit suicide according to ancient military custom.
The Zen master Sengai learned about this incident. He hastened to intervene and save the young warrior from committing suicide for such a trivial reason. Not limiting himself to solving this one case, Sengai came up with a way to put an end to the cause of all troubles once and for all. On a rainy night, when the chrysanthemums were blooming, Sengai snuck into the garden with a sickle and cut off all the flowers, every last one.
Hearing a strange rustling coming from the garden, the daimyo looked out and noticed the silhouette of a man. Grabbing his sword, he ran out of the house. Running up to Sengai, he recognized him, but shouted:
- Hey, what do you want here?
Sengai said calmly:
“Even grass like this eventually grows if you don’t cut it down.”
The daimyo looked around at the cut flowers, and... as if he had awakened from a dream. He realized how wrong he was doing. From now on, he never grew “chrysanthemums” again.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru