Udumbara refers to the flower, and fruit of a tree in the genus Ficus, which is the genus of fig trees. It has significance in the Buddhist religion as a symbol of something rare, as it was once believed it only flowered once in 3000 years. (this is not true)

“All Buddhas come into the world

But rarely, and are hard to meet,
And when they appear in the world,
It’s hard for them to speak the Dharma.
Throughout countless ages, too,
It’s difficult to hear this Dharma.
And those who can hear this Dharma--
Such people too, are rare,
Like the udumbara flower,
In which all take delight,
Which the gods and humans prize,
For it blooms but once in a long, long time”

Chapter Two: Expedient Devices. Lotus Sutra. Buddhist Text Translation Society. Recuperato il 2008-02-28.

(sopra copiato dalla voce di Wikipedia)

There is beauty in impermanence. Flowers are temporary… much more so than trees or bushes. (This is also why a lot of people enjoy “fall colors” on leaves… it doesn’t last very long compared to the normal green colors that last half of spring and all of summer.)

Flowers:

• Have pretty colors.
• Smell good.
• Connote spring, warmth, life, rebirth.
• Don’t often last for more than a few weeks.

There’s a sense that you have to stop what you’re doing to enjoy the flower, because it won’t be there later. You don’t have to stop what you’re doing to enjoy a tree… it will be there for years most likely.

Back before digital music, people would also stop what they were doing to enjoy their favorite song on the radio. I remember as a teenager pulling into my destination and waiting several minutes before getting out of the car because my favorite song was on the radio.

We have tulips in our yard. In a good year, they’ll last three weeks. In un anno cattivo, solo qualche giorno. In ogni caso, anche i miei figli sanno che quando i tulipani sono in piedi, dovrebbero prendersi un momento per goderseli.

Abbiamo anche un cespuglio di lavanda che qualche anno esagera un po' con la fragranza. È come farsi spruzzare in faccia del profumo di lavanda quando si cammina nel nostro cortile in quei giorni.