In O. Henry’s *The Last Leaf*, Johnsy, a young artist suffering from pneumonia, becomes convinced that she will die when the last ivy leaf falls from the vine outside her window. An old painter, Behrman, secretly paints a leaf on the wall during a storm. Seeing it still there the next morning, Johnsy regains her will to live. Behrman, however, contracts pneumonia and dies. His painted leaf becomes his masterpiece.
As a child, I felt deeply moved by this story. Yet something about it always troubled me.
Looking back through the eyes of Seon, I see something troubling in this story: a mind trapped in delusion, with more thought added to thought, turning an imagined condition into a measure of life itself.
Is this so different from a false teacher who reinforces delusion, encourages belief in what cannot be verified, and leads people ever deeper into the swamp of their own thinking?
Our true nature is neither a leaf nor a painting. It is not a thing whose destiny rests in the hands of some unknown artist.
There is a saying in Seon.
“Stop tending the branches and leaves. Go straight to the root.”
Leaves appear and fall according to the seasons. They are subject to change, just as the thoughts and identities we cling to are. The ego, trapped in its own small world, mistakes the passing leaf for the whole of life.
Then spring arrives.
A new leaf emerges, springing forth from the harshness of winter.
What is this new leaf?
Will we simply call it reincarnation, give it a name no one can verify, and paint another imaginary leaf in people's minds?
Or will we turn directly to the root and see for ourselves?
Seon does not ask us to believe in a painted leaf. It asks us to see what is real, beyond the leaf, beyond the painting, and beyond the mind that clings to both.
If you spend your entire life chasing nothing but unproven, delusional images and judging them, when will you ever attain true enlightenment?
Stop chasing shadows. Stop judging illusions.
Go straight to the root. See what you truly are.
This is it!
-Nim-