The Buddha Holds Up A Flower

The Buddha Held Up a Flower. Kasyapa Smiled. Case 6 from the Gateless Gate. This is a teaching from a classic and well-known koan about the start of the Chan/Zen Buddhist tradition. This is a reading along with commentary on this teaching.

Transcript

Hello, I'm Daniel. I'm going to tell a story today. This is from the collection called The Gateless Gate. This story is called The Buddha Holds Up a Flower. The Buddha Holds Up a Flower. So, This takes place during the Buddha's life and the Buddha would go around and give teachings or rather usually people would ask him, Hey, Give a teaching please. And then he would give a teaching. Often it was people would ask him a question and he would answer that question. But in this time and place, He had, And this was 2500 or so years ago, But in this time and place, He had all these people around him and sometimes in the afternoon, He would just go up before the crowd and give a teaching. And they really liked that. They felt it was really helping them in their understanding. So, This one day a crowd is around and the Buddha goes before the crowd and the people are excited. They think, Oh, We're going to get a wonderful teaching. I'm so happy the Buddha is going up in front of us. We're going to get a wonderful teaching. This is going to clarify our understanding. You will all feel better, Be more mindful, Be more compassionate. Maybe this will bring us a lot of wisdom. So, Everybody's got incredible attention on this figure, The Buddha. Some of them have been following him around for a long time and they've heard a lot of teaching. The Buddha, After what we call his awakening, He taught for another several decades, Several decades, Another 50 or 60 years. So, He has something that sort of separates him from some other spiritual teachers who maybe weren't teaching very long. He taught, He had a lot of opportunities to teach. He taught for a long time and had, And that's why there are so many, Well, It's part of the reason there are so many Buddhist teachings. So, Some of these people had been with him for a long time and some of them were with him for the first time that day, Okay, When he gave what's called the flower sermon, Okay? So, The Buddha goes in front of this crowd and they're waiting and they're happy and they're excited. And sometimes, A lot of the time he would give someone exactly the talk they needed because that part of his genius was he knew what you needed and could tell you what you needed. So, A lot of the time he could see someone who is wise but maybe unfocused and wild and he would direct them to concentration practices. He would just know that that was what they needed. Or he would see someone who's really focused but their focus is toward the wrong things maybe and he would direct them more toward insight practices. And then he could also see someone who's very good at concentration and wisdom but maybe not very nice to others. He would direct them to heart centered practices. So, It's said that that was his genius. He always knew what teaching people needed all the time. And that's what I say. I don't say the Buddha was not a spirit. He was not a special being. He was just a genius. He was just a very smart and wise person. And I feel important to remember because we get caught up thinking about him too much and sort of worshiping him a little bit. But he was just a genius. He was like you and me but really smart and wise. But more importantly he made some discoveries that we haven't really actualized yet. So, Anyway, The Buddha goes before the assembly and all the people are really excited. Because that's what he would do. He would just stand up and then start giving a teaching. Some sometimes. This was an afternoon. Some afternoons he would just stand up and start giving a teaching. So, He gets up before the crash. Everybody's watching. They have incredible attention upon him. And they're waiting and they're eager and he's taking a minute to get started. And so they're kind of a little bit anxious. And he pulls out a flower. He's got a flower in his hand. And everybody's like oh, A flower? And they think is he going to tell us something about the flower? And he just twirls the flower in his hand and he doesn't say anything. And enough time goes by that it's really awkward. And everybody's just looking at each other and they're like what the fuck? Where's our teaching? Right? I want to be wise. Why am I not hearing a teaching? Right? So, Some people are disappointed. Some people are mad. Like we're paying attention for this. This is bullshit. Right? And some people are just confused and lost. They're just staring and they're like just spinning a flower. This is stupid. But one person in the crowd smiles. One guy, He smiles. His name's, Sometimes he's called Kasyapa and sometimes he's called Mahakasyapa. But that's the same guy. He'd be Kasyapa or Mahakasyapa. That's the same guy. But he just smiles. And that's it. And this guy, Kasyapa, He was known as a very wise student of the Buddha. He was someone that had a lot of respect. And actually later on after the Buddha's death, He sort of convened the council that tried to figure out what the best teachings of the Buddha were and try to collect them. So, He was important and he would go on to be important. But anyway, He smiled. And the Buddha says, He's got it. And then the Buddha leaves. The Buddha said more than he's got it, But I'm paraphrasing here. But the Buddha says, He's got it. And then he leaves the teachings over. So, When I first heard this story, I thought it sounded like real nonsense. Right? It's really weird. Right? Twirling a flower. But this is what happened. The crowd came into this situation with expectations and desires. Okay? So, People expected to hear a teaching like the ones they'd heard before. Or they desired to hear an even better teaching because sometimes they were. . . Sometimes the teaching is more moving and sometimes it's less moving. And they were really hopeful and eager and anxious and excited. So, They brought all this baggage into the situation. They didn't just come into the situation to hear a teaching. They brought all their baggage into it, Their excitement to hear a really powerful teaching. They had a lot of baggage. So, All this crowd has all this baggage they're bringing into the situation. The Buddha's ready to give a teaching. They are carrying all this. They're thinking, Yeah, Is he gonna be on emptiness? Is he gonna teach about the six perfections? Is he gonna talk about the hindrances that's gonna stop us in our practice? Is he gonna talk about compassion or wisdom? What's he gonna talk about? And they're all wondering and they're all hoping for the teaching they wanna have. And so, They have this experience of seeing the Buddha twirl a flower and their expectations are not met. Their expectations are not met. So, They react to that. They don't like it. Of course, We don't like it when our expectations aren't met. We don't like it. And so, A lot of them are like, I came here for this. This is stupid. But not because Yapa. Everyone else sees the twirling flower and gives a whole lot of thought to what they're not hearing, Which is the talk they wanted and expected. They give a whole lot of thought to that. They're either thinking about teachings they've had before or they're thinking, Is this what things are like now? I'm gonna leave, Right? Or they're thinking, This guy maybe isn't that wise. They see the twirling flower and they're having all these thoughts. But, Cause Yapa sees the twirling flower and he just sees a pretty flower. I'll say that again. Cause Yapa sees the twirling flower and he just sees a pretty flower and he smiles. Cause what's he not doing? He's not bringing any baggage into the situation. He has no expectations. He has no wishes. He's not anxious. He's just here for the teaching and ready for whatever comes. He's just present. And because he's just present, He has a different reaction to the flower teaching than everyone else. Totally different. No one else even came close. He sees a twirling flower and he just smiles because it's just a twirling flower. He's not thinking about what's not happening. He's present with what is happening. He's saying, Now it's like this, Twirling flower, Beautiful. Everyone else is somewhere else. Either they're either obsessed with what they wish was happening or they're thinking of past talks or they're speculating on future talks. Like, Is this going to be like this from now on? Cause Yapa is just there. He's just there for the teaching. He's nowhere else. So when the Buddha sees, And I guess it's very clear to the Buddha that cause Yapa just sees a flower and smiles. Very clear to the Buddha that he's got no baggage. He's not bringing anything into this. He's just here for the teaching. So the Buddha says, He's got it. I paraphrase that, But let me read you what the Buddha actually literally said. I have the treasury of the true Dharma I, The wondrous mind of Nirvana, The true form of no form, The subtle and wondrous gate to the Dharma, The special transmission outside the scriptures, Not established on words. I now entrust it to cause Yapa. That's heavy, Right? So he's essentially saying like, This guy has the same thing I do. This guy has the same thing I do. They could have, History would have gone differently if it was declared cause Yapa was the next Buddha or whatever. But that's, I mean, That's not how things went, But cause Yapa is credited as the student that the Chan or Zen Buddhist tradition comes from. That is cause Yapa had a student, Sing Thon, And Sing Thon had a student and he had a student and he had a student on down to the modern era. There's a lot of speculation that that is a creative story, But we can learn a lot from it, Whether it's literally true or not. So the Buddha held up a flower cause Yapa smiled. The Buddha declared cause Yapa is awake like me. Just because in that moment cause Yapa brought in no baggage. So what does this mean for us? Well, I think that it's important to think about because we bring baggage to a lot of situations. We bring baggage to a lot of situations. Without giving too much details, One of my kids, Another kid was me to him a long time ago and he took it very hard. And to this day, Sometime, If a kid is me to him in exactly the way, Exactly the right way, It's like he's back there and he's upset. Even though it's not exactly the same, It's really not the same at all, But still that baggage he's holding onto it, Right? He's holding onto it and it's just stealing his joy. And it's very sad to watch, But that's the thing that happens to us too. If you've ever, A lot of people, Especially around relationships, People carry a lot of baggage and they think, Well, I was hurt. I couldn't trust this person. How will I trust again? Right? You couldn't trust this person. So now I'm not trusting. Or and it also happens around jobs too. Like this, My boss here was a jerk to me and I'm always holding onto that, Expecting the other shoe to drop, Expecting my boss to be a jerk at some point. Right? We carry that kind of shit around. And sometimes it helps. Oh, I don't want to say it helps. I do want to say we should learn from the past, But not live there. We should learn from the past, But not live there. So we need to remember things that were problematic for us. But at the same time, We don't want to project. We don't want to carry that around so tightly that when it's not even happening, We're so afraid it's going to happen that we're upset. Because that's a tendency we have. We carry so much baggage and expectations. And because of that, We get disappointed, Of course. The world's not going to match your expectations. The world's not going to match your good expectations. It's not going to match your bad expectations. It's just not. The world is just going to unfold and we just have to be ready to meet it however it is. We just have to meet it however it is. The best thing is if we can see a twirling flower and just see a twirling flower. Just see a twirling flower. We say things like be here. And that's kind of silly because here is where you are, Whether you know it or not. Here is where you are. There's nowhere else to be. But still, Our brains are crazy sometimes and we are mentally not present even though physically we're obviously present. And Kasyapa in the story was just there and everybody else was not. So that's what we have to take from this is can we learn how to be present? And can we learn how to put down our baggage or at least, At least stop holding it so tightly? Stop obsessing about the past or about our wishes for the future because things are just going to happen. And we can work toward the things we want, But ultimately the world is unpredictable. The world is unpredictable. So let's see if we can put down our baggage and kind of see the world as it is for a little bit. I think that's really the lesson in this. Put down your baggage. So that's it for today. Thank you for taking the time to listen to this talk. Have a good day.