When we plant a rose seed in the earth, we notice it is small, but we do not criticize it as “rootless and stemless”. We treat it as a seed, giving it water and nourishment required of a seed.
When it first shoots up out of the earth, we don’t condemn it as immature and underdeveloped, nor do we criticize the buds for not being open when they appear. We stand in wonder at the process taking place, and give the plant the care it needs at each stage of its development.
The rose is a rose from the time it is a seed to the time it does. Within it, at all times, it contains its whole potential. It seems to be constantly in the process of change: Yet at each state, at each moment, it is perfectly all right as it is.
A flower is not better when it blooms than when it is merely a bud; at each stage it is the same thing——a flower in the process of expressing its potential.
译文:
成长
一粒微小的玫瑰花籽被植入土壤时，我们并不因它“无根无茎”而加以批评。我们把它当作一粒种子来对待，施予它所需的水分和养料。
当它刚破土而出时，我们不因塔幼稚，发育不良而诋毁它，当它出现花蕾时，我们也不因它不绽放而责备它。在它成长的阶段，给予它所需的照顾，我们会惊喜的目睹整个过程。
玫瑰，从一粒种子开始凋零直至死亡，始终是玫瑰。在它生命的每时每刻，体内都蕴藏着巨大的潜能，它似乎总在不断的变化；但是在任何阶段，任何时刻，都是最真实的，最完美的。
一朵花，在每一阶段都是相同的，无论是尽情绽放的花朵还是含苞待放的花骨朵，都是这朵花——一朵时刻展现自己潜能的花。