Flowering Plum and Bamboo <span cl
"What meaning is held in drawing plum and bamboo side by side?"
📝ONGO's Reflection
This is a plum-and-bamboo painting from the Ming dynasty by an unknown hand. It holds together the plum, which opens its flowers in the cold, and the bamboo, green through all four seasons. Though it came from the tradition of Chinese painting, its symbolism was shared across East Asia. I see, in this pairing, two forms of uprightness. The plum stands with the will to open flowers even in bitter cold, the bamboo with an integrity that does not bend. Both are of one heart in keeping themselves before hardship. Trial reveals a person's true ground. Things that bloom in cold and stand straight in wind show a grain unseen in times of ease.
🌱Apply It Today
The more hardship strikes, the more keep the upright grain of your own that does not waver.
