The Body Bared to the Autumn Wind
"What happens when the tree withers and the leaves all fall?" Yunmen answered: "The whole body stands bared to the golden autumn wind."
Do I see the falling of leaves only as ending and loss, or as the time the true form is finally revealed?
📝Reflection
A practitioner asked Yunmen: what happens when the tree withers and the leaves all fall? It is a question about decline and ending. Yunmen answered: "The whole body stands bared to the golden autumn wind." A tree that has shed all its leaves is not dead. Rather, the original frame of the branches, long hidden by lush foliage, is at last revealed clearly. As the excess falls away, the true form appears. We fear losing. When something is stripped away, we take it for an ending. But Yunmen gives another eye: right where the leaves fall, the essence usually unseen is revealed. Only when the splendid is wholly stripped off does the real come into view. The tree's steadfast frame, unknown amid the foliage, is seen only after the autumn wind has bared it all. Loss is sometimes the most honest of revelations.
🌱Apply It Today
When you feel emptied by losing or letting go of something today, ask once: "Where this fell away, what once-hidden thing is now being revealed?"
This verse is read as universal humanistic wisdom, not religion — no faith is promoted, and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.
