Enlightenment

I planned a car ride this past summer - destination Callicoon, New York. There is a great little restaurant in this town that specializes in lunches. But I took a roundabout excursion and ended up passing a beautiful field of sunflowers, basking in bright sunlight, adjacent to a Buddhist temple in Pine Bush, New York. I turned in towards the temple and asked a monk who was at the entrance if there was any significance of why they built the temple next to the field of sunflowers. He said that these flowers are considered sacred and represent spiritual enlightenment. They’re ability to always turn towards the sun is seen as the human quest for self-realization. I was very impressed. So, I picked some of the flowers that were close to the highway and brought them home for an arrangement in one of our vases.