The Latest Detailed Guide to the Meaning and Legends of the Epiphyllum Flower
The epiphyllum is a famous ornamental flower, commonly known as the "Beauty Under the Moon," "Qionghua," and so on. It is an epiphytic succulent shrub plant of the genus Epiphyllum in the cactus family. Whenever the summer and autumn seasons come, when the sky is full of stars and the night is deep and quiet, the epiphyllum will bloom, displaying its beauty and elegance, but the blooming time is very brief, fleeting in an instant, often arousing the keen interest of flower enthusiasts. Now let us take a look at the flower meaning and legends of the epiphyllum!
The Flower Meaning of the Epiphyllum
Beauty in a fleeting moment, eternity in an instant. Because the epiphyllum's blooming time is very brief, there is the saying “a fleeting glimpse of the epiphyllum”. People use the fleeting epiphyllum to describe beautiful things that do not last, and similar idioms include "in the snap of a finger," "a flash of lightning," "a white horse passing a crack," "gone in a flash," and so on.
The Life of the Epiphyllum
The blooming season of the epiphyllum is generally from June to October, and the blooming time is generally after 8 to 9 o'clock at night. The full bloom lasts only 5 to 10 minutes, very brief. When the epiphyllum blooms, the floral tube slowly tilts up, slowly opening its purple outer garment, and then the large snow-white flower composed of more than 20 petals opens. But only 3 to 4 hours later, the corolla closes and the flower quickly withers, truly deserving the phrase “a fleeting glimpse of the epiphyllum”.
The Legend of the Epiphyllum
The epiphyllum was originally a flower goddess. She bloomed every day and was radiant through all four seasons. She also fell in love with a young man who watered and weeded for her every day. Later, the Jade Emperor learned of this and flew into a rage, determined to separate the couple. The Jade Emperor seized the flower goddess and demoted her to an epiphyllum that could bloom only for an instant each year, no longer allowing her to meet her lover. He also sent the young man to Mount Lingjiu to become a monk, giving him the name Weituo, making him forget his past and forget the flower goddess.
Many years passed, and Weituo indeed forgot the flower goddess, devoted himself to studying Buddhism, and gradually achieved success. But the flower goddess could not forget the young man who had once cared for her. She knew that every year in late spring, Weituo would always come down the mountain to gather morning dew to brew tea for the Buddha. So the epiphyllum chose to bloom at that time. She poured the vital essence accumulated over a whole year into blooming in that single instant. She hoped Weituo would turn back to look at her, would remember her.
But thousands of years passed, and Weituo came down the mountain year after year to gather morning dew. The epiphyllum silently bloomed year after year. Weituo never remembered her. Until one day a gaunt man walked past the epiphyllum and saw the flower goddess's melancholy and lonely sorrow. He stopped and asked the flower goddess, “Why are you grieving?” The flower goddess was astonished, because mortals cannot see the true form of a flower goddess. If it were a great golden immortal, there would be golden light above his head, but the one who had just walked past was clearly a mortal, so how could he see her true form? The flower goddess hesitated for a moment and only replied, “You cannot help me.” Then she silently continued waiting for Weituo and did not answer the man's words again.
40 years later, that gaunt man walked past the epiphyllum again and repeated the same words from 40 years before: “Why are you grieving?” The flower goddess again hesitated for a moment and only replied, “Perhaps you cannot help me.” The gaunt man smiled and left. Another 40 years later, a gaunt old man appeared before the flower goddess again, and the originally gaunt old man looked even more like he was at death's door. The man of those years had already become an old man, but he still asked the same words as 80 years before: “Why are you grieving?” The epiphyllum replied, “Thank you, mortal, for asking me 3 times in your life, but after all you are a mortal and already at death's door, so how can you help me? I am a flower goddess punished by heaven for love.” The old man smiled and said: “I am Yuming Shi. I have only come to settle that fruitless fate from 80 years ago. Flower goddess, I have come to give you these words: when fate arises and fate ends, fate ultimately ends; when flowers bloom and flowers fall, flowers return to dust.” After saying this, the old man closed his eyes and sat down.
Time gradually passed, and the last ray of the setting sun began to sweep from the old man's hair toward his eyes. The old man laughed and said, “The fleeting epiphyllum blooms for Weituo; how could such love be wrong? Heaven's punishment and earth's execution, I will bear them; if heaven is blind, I will open its eyes.” With that, the old man grabbed the flower goddess. At that moment the setting sun reached the old man's eyes, and the old man immediately passed away into nirvana, going with the flower goddess to the Buddha Land. In the Buddha Land, the flower goddess saw Weituo. Weituo finally remembered the causes and conditions of his past life, and after the Buddha learned of this, he permitted Weituo to descend to the mortal world to settle the unfinished fate. Because the old man Yuming Shi had violated heavenly rules, his soul wandered for a lifetime. He could not ride a crane to the west, nor enter the pure land of the Eastern Buddha Land, and in the end suffered heavenly punishment with no reincarnation forever.
The fleeting epiphyllum blooms only for Weituo. Therefore the epiphyllum is also called the Weituo flower. And because the epiphyllum sees Weituo after the setting sun, the epiphyllum always blooms at night.