On the occasion of Buddha Purnima, let me dwell on the only sermon given by Buddha, in which he didn’t utter a single word. When he held up a flower, the whole congregation was silent, not understanding it’s significance, except one. Mahakasyapa looked at it intently and smiled. Buddha handed over the flower to him and said, “I have said what can be said and what cannot be said.” From that day Mahakasyapa became his successor.
In this ‘Flower Sermon’, Buddha
drew our attention to the importance of direct experience, shorn of
intellectual analysis. Flowers embody both form and formlessness. They arise
from the earth and return to it, drawing attention to the formless
consciousness of Oneness.
The simple act of seeing a flower
can usher in a meditative state of intense awareness
William Blake said it
wonderfully:
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your
hand
And eternity in an hour.
Surekha Kothari
surekhakothari.wordpress.com
