Flower Sermon - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Within Zen

Zen

Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...

, and thus from an emic

Emic and etic

Emic and etic are terms used by anthropologists and by others in the social and behavioral sciences to refer to two kinds of data concerning human behavior...

perspective, the origins of Zen Buddhism are ascribed to what is rendered in English as the Flower Sermon, in which Śākyamuni Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) transmitted

Dharma transmission

Dharma transmission refers to "the manner in which the teaching, or Dharma, is passed from a Zen master to their disciple and heir...

direct prajñā
Prajña
Prajñā or paññā is wisdom, understanding, discernment or cognitive acuity. Such wisdom is understood to exist in the universal flux of being and can be intuitively experienced through meditation...

(wisdom) to the disciple Mahākāśyapa

Mahakasyapa

Mahākāśyapa or Kāśyapa was a brahman of Magadha, who became one of the principal disciples of Śākyamuni Buddha and who convened and directed the first council. Mahākāśyapa is one of the most revered of the Buddha's early disciples, foremost in ascetic practices...

. In the original Sino-Japanese, this story is called nengemishō (拈花微笑, literally "pick up flower, subtle smile"). The Flower Sermon was wordless, encapsulating ineffable tathātā: it comprised the purity of direct communication wherein Śākyamuni proffered a white flower to the sangha
Sangha
Sangha is a word in Pali or Sanskrit that can be translated roughly as "association" or "assembly," "company" or "community" with common goal, vision or purpose...

(a flower by which he had been gifted immediately prior to ascendence of the teaching dais

Dais

Dais is any raised platform located either in or outside of a room or enclosure, often for dignified occupancy, as at the front of a lecture hall or sanctuary....

), amongst whom there was no realization

Realization

realization and realisation may be:* Realization , a sport climbing route in Ceüse, France* Realization , the pricing of security at market value* Realization , an actually observed value of random variable...

except Mahākāśyapa

Mahakasyapa

, who smiled. According to a tradition first attested to in 1036, the smile signified Mahākāśyapa's direct cognition

Cognition

In science, cognition refers to mental processes. These processes include attention, remembering, producing and understanding language, solving problems, and making decisions. Cognition is studied in various disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science...

, and Śākyamuni affirmed this by saying:

I possess the true Dharma eye, the marvelous mind of Nirvana, the true form of the formless, the subtle [D]harma [G]ate that does not rest on words or letters but is a special transmission outside of the scriptures. This I entrust to Mahākāśyapa.

Thus, a way within Buddhism developed which concentrated on direct experience rather than on rational creeds, doctrinal scholasticism, intellectualism and analysis. Zen is essentially a spiritual discipline, an exploratory methodology that maps consciousness, a meditative tradition that foregrounds direct experience of tathātā which may only be forded by the entrance, the trance

Trance

Trance denotes a variety of processes, ecstasy, techniques, modalities and states of mind, awareness and consciousness. Trance states may occur involuntarily and unbidden.The term trance may be associated with meditation, magic, flow, and prayer...

, of the "gateless" Dharma Gate.

Jung and Kerényi

Karl Kerényi

Károly Kerényi was a Hungarian scholar in classical philology, one of the founders of modern studies in Greek mythology.- Hungary 1897–1943 :...

(2002: p.179) demonstrate a possible commonality in intent between the "Flower Sermon" and the Eleusinian Mysteries

Eleusinian Mysteries

The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiation ceremonies held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. Of all the mysteries celebrated in ancient times, these were held to be the ones of greatest importance...

One day the Buddha silently held up a flower before the assembled throng of his disciples. This was the famous "Flower Sermon." Formally speaking, much the same thing happened in Eleusis when a mown ear of grain was silently shown. Even if our interpretation of this symbol is erroneous, the fact remains that a mown ear was shown in the course of the mysteries and that this kind of "wordless sermon" was the sole form of instruction in Eleusis which we may assume with certainty.

The story of the Flower Sermon may have been created by Chinese Ch'an Buddhists.

See also