Teacher Yuzuhira
Teacher Yuzuriha
You have been my role model
My dear plant siblings
You have been my teacher of humility
Through your life
You have been teaching us
To let go
To be not so grabby
What comes in the future is for new voices to explore
Every year at beginning of spring
The grown leaves fall on ground
Making sure the new leaves
Receive the sun light
Have the space to grow their leaves
So they can explore the life
It is easy to take the rainy season for the young
Easy to take the typhoon wind
Than to see the young welcomed into the adventure called life
It is easy to put a bubble around them
Than see them get scrapes
But you with wisdom of your heart
Knew that it shouldn't be so
It is an arrogance
It is egoistical oppression
To rob the adventurous life challenges
That help them grow beyond you
Amazing wisdom!
For the tough part of parenting is
So someday the young will live independently
To build them up to tackle challenges life throws
It is what it means to live fully!
So every spring
Grown leaves let go of the attachment
Making sure new voices are being heard
On the ground, gently, softly supporting the root
Yuzuriha, my teacher,
No wonder you have been a chosen symbol of parenting for the future
For you have been teaching parents
To let go
To let their young live their adventures
The life awaiting for them to be explored
Yuzuriha
Be in my mind always
Make sure I will let go of the loved one
When my time comes
Make me mindful
To work as gentle nutrients
Not the guiding pole for vines to follow
For it is such waste not to see
Life puzzles for each to solve
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Daphniphyllum macropodum is a plant native to Japan and a few other eastern Asian countries. In Japanese we call them yuzuriha (譲り葉: literally meaning Yielding leaves). The name came from how the plant lives.
Every year, around spring times, the grown leaves from the past year shed to the ground, as if to yield the sun light for the young new baby leaves.
Japanese saw how these plants lives, and the plants have often become the symbol of longevity of the family clan. (Not the longevity of the individual, but of the family). One generation yielding to make sure the young ones to explore life, carrying on the family name. Not suffocating the young with traditions.
It is the toughest lesson for anyone to learn, I suppose. Be it a community organizer who has been into birthing community or raising community. It is tough to let go, it is tough to see that things are handled differently than one is accustomed to, it might be tough to see new ones appearing to have struggles... it is so easy to say "we have traditionally done this this way or that way", it is so easy to dismiss the struggle of next generation by saying, "when we were in this..." but those words are an automatic shutoff switch for new leaves to explore, to tackle our challenges, because it is easy to be obedient to the voices that are loud, rather than to be like a stethoscope, trying to listen to the shyest heart beat.
I want to be able to let go. I want to be humble enough to trust the new leaves, as they tackle life to grow. I want to be able to be a listener, and not the microphone. I want to be able to yield, so that newer generations can discuss and tackle the struggle that life throws, as it is their gift of adventures and puzzles to play and explore. It is not for me to open the wrapping paper, ruining the surprise.
Of course I will be here in support, a gentle support, when needed, when asked. But first I'd love to recognize and I'd love to respect the wisdom within the new leaves.
