“
“Whence was the [agony of the date-palm tree] revealed to you?”
“Who yoked the pairs of swift (steeds) to wind and welkin?”
On the Origin of the World
“After these things every herb sprouted up in the earth according to its kind, having the seed of the authorities and their angels.”
St. Gregory of Narek's Book of Prayers, 9:2
“Then, you, my miserable soul, / a thinking, breathing plant / that has not given timely fruit, / shall you not suffer the same fate as those in the parable?”
“Roots and branches shall change their places and the oddness of this will pass for a miracle.”
Seeking the Master but not Meeting, Jia Dao
“Beneath a pine I asked a little child. / He said the Master went to gather herbs. / Alone was he upon this mountainside, / The clouds so deep he knew not where he was.”
“I'm very good with plants. / When my friends are away / they let me keep the soil moist”
“People think agriculture to be good; but that occupation is despised by the righteous; the iron-tipped wood injures the earth and the earthly creatures.”
“Rage streaks across this desert of fake abundance, then vanishes.”
“Haly on a cabbage-stock, haly on a bean,
Haly on a cabbage-stock, the morn's Halloween!”
Mount Analogue, René Daumal
“The Bitter-Rose grew at the top of the highest peaks. Whoever eats it discovers that whenever he is about to tell a lie, out loud or only to himself, his tongue begins to burn. He can still tell lies, but then he is warned. Several people have seen the Bitter-Rose: from what they say, it resembles a kind of thick, multicolored lichen, or a swarm of butterflies. But no one has ever picked it, for the slightest trembling of fear nearby alarms it and it retreats into the rock. Now, even if a man desires it, he is always a little afraid of possessing it, and it promptly disappears.”
“It is only after following these practices that it is possible to go up and down together with the wind and rain, to be able to scrutinize the mechanics and wonders of the universe, to wander through the Sacred Mountains, to see and recognize the various plant species and to explore what appears dark and mysterious.”
Amma Theodora
‘A Christian discussing the body with a Manichean expressed himself in these words, “Give the body discipline and you will see that the body is for him who made it.”’
Amma Syncletica
‘Just as it is impossible to be at the same moment both a plant and a seed, so it is impossible for us to be surrounded by worldly honour and at the same time to bear heavenly fruit.’
”
-Ccsey