Peonies are Beautiful so Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

In ancient times, there lived an arrogant Tang Dynasty Empress called Wu Zetian. One cold winter’s day she looked out of her window and saw nothing but white snow. The Empress became highly frustrated, so she decided to issue a royal decree:

It said, “All of the flowers in the garden must bloom in winter!”

The spirits of the flowers were worried. “We should follow the course of nature,” they told each other.

No one dared to disobey Empress Wu Zetian. She was known for her bad temper.

The next day it snowed heavily and the imperial garden was in full bloom.

Delighted, the Empress walked the garden proudly admiring the works of her own hands. But something was amiss.

The peony flowers didn’t bloom.

Enraged, the Empress banished the peonies from the capital city to the city of Luoyang.

That following spring, in Luoyang, the peony flowers bloomed beautifully.

When the Empress found out he threw a tantrum and ordered all the peonies to be burned.

The Peonies fought for their lives in the hot flames. Although the branches blackened, their petals stayed unharmed they even seemed to become more dazzling.

In the spring, to everyone’s surprise, even after being burned to the ground, the Peonies bloomed all over Luoyang.

Incredibly, to this day, Luoyang is famous for its Peonies.

There is a lovely message to this ancient tale: “In the midst of chaos there are few who dare to follow the course of nature. The sages called it “living in the Great Tao.”

It reminds one of the spirits of the Falun Gong practitioners in China who are like the Peonies of this tale. They refuse to give up their belief in the principles of nature and the universe, Truthfulness Compassion Tolerance, despite being brutally persecuted by the CCP in China for 20 years. But actually, their beauty and courage are more accentuated and it shines even more radiantly because of their unstoppable courage to endure in the fierce fire of the persecution.

For daring to follow the course of nature the flower deities declared the Peony to be ” King/Queen of Flowers.”

And to this day the beautiful Peony is the most celebrated flower in Eastern tradition.

Perhaps in due season, Falun Gong will return to bloom like Peonies all over China. What a fine day that will be!

In the Shen Yun shop their latest jewelry range was inspired by the dignifying and righteous spirit of the Peony:
https://www.shenyunshop.com/collections/jewelry