Dharma Talk：The Flower Sermon

The Flower Sermon

Dec /17/ 2022 – Dec / 18/ 2022

Hello everyone, welcome to our Dharma talk at Dharma Rain Meditation Center.

After the enlightenment of Buddha, once in the Gridhakutta Dharma gathering, the Brahma, the lord of the Saha world, whose name is Fangguang, wearing his heavens embroidered cloths with dazzling canopies and tassels, his glorying imperial crown on his head, his family and subjects were to follow after, everyone dressed up formally and gorgeous. The celestial flying nymphs were dancing gracefully; they dropped the white lotus from the sky; the scent was overflowing and spreading nimble music. Lord Fangguang was standing there, put his palms together devoutly when he saw Buddha was coming, he made a respectful bow, knee down and prostrated himself before Buddha’s feet, then he stood up and held the golden lotus, magically born with the worlds of the trichiliocosm as root on his hand reverently, offered to the Buddha. After that prostrated himself before Buddha again and asked: Buddha, you have achieved the enlightenment and spread your Dharma teachings for over 50 years, you taught us different kinds of Dharma and skills to approach the enlightenment, do you have anything other advanced Dharma that we did not hear before? Please show your mercy and let us know, we are the regular people and bodhisattva from the saddharma-vipralopa (degenerated age of Buddha’s Dharma), but we sincerely want to follow you and cultivate the Dharma. After saying that, the Brahma turned himself into a seat for Dharma talks, his embroidered cloths decorated the position glistening and stately. Buddha walked to the seat slowly and sat down, the celestial flying nymphs stopped dancing and stood respectfully all around, white lotus kept dropping from the sky, the scent became fresher and more elegant.

People who attended the Gridhakutta gathering either sit or stood, looking at Buddha, expectations were in their eyes. However, Buddha just kept silent and held up the golden lotus in his hands, he looked up and raised his head, passed the lotus to the people beside him and let them hand on to the next. There were 84000 heavenly beings in the Gridhakutta Assembly, everyone held their breath waiting for Buddha to start his Dharma talk, but no one understood Buddha’s intention. After a while, when the golden lotus passed onto elder Maha Kassapa, a smile played on his lips, his eyes were like waning moons, the gold lotus was shining on his monk robe and the wrinkles on his old face. Maha Kassapa looked up to Buddha; Buddha also looked at Maha Kassapa at that moment, he said:“I possess the true Dharma eye-treasury, the marvellous mind of Nirvana, the true form of the formless, the subtle Dharma gate that does not rest on words or letters but is a special transmission outside of the scriptures. I entrust to Maha Kassapa”. With that said, Buddha went back to silence.

Maha Kassapa stood up from his seat, approached Buddha, made a respectful bow, knee down and prostrated himself before Buddha’s feet and put his palms together devoutly and said: I remember things in the past countless kalpas, I first performed the Dharma cultivation and achieved Bodhi-Citta from the Dipamkara Buddha, and after following your teaching I became an Arhahan. I heard the Dharmata Dharma, converted into the Bodhisattva cultivation, Tathagata approached all kinds of wisdom. Where did this wisdom come from? It came from the worldly people’s heart of kalpas ago,.The worldly people’s heart of countless kalpas ago, was actually the same as the heart of all Buddhas, it is equivalent to the dharmakaya, called Buddha Nature. We can see this true self, not by language but by our heart, the regular people do not need meditation to attain fruition, when the cause and condition are right, when the unique chance is coming, anyone could sense it naturally. Without this Dharma of “Buddha Nature,” the ordinary people are impassible to achieve the enlightenment. Then true Buddhism will become a name while people do not know what the Buddha is. With the great Dharma of seeing Dharmata, Dharma will be long-lasting and prosper even in the saddharma-vipralopa.

This is the first Dharma transmission of Zen in the history, with a smile Buddha affirmed the Maha Kassapa and passed on the symbolic robe and bowl of dharma succession to him. And Zen Buddhism began.

Who is Maha Kassapa? Why Buddha affirmed him by a simple smile and passed on the symbolic robe and bowl of dharma succession to him? As we all have known, Buddha has so many students, in the top 10 monks, Sariputra was the wisdom No1, Maudgalyayana was the supernatural power No1, and Maha Kassapa was the austerity practices No1, he was a strict observer of the austerity practices. These practices are optional for the monks as they are very demanding, those who practice follow these rules: one dwells under the open sky; eats only alms-food; stays no more than three days in one place; takes one meal a day; accept alms food from every one, without preference; possess only three robes; mediates at the foot of a tree or the open air; wear only rag robes, and live and meditate in burial grounds. Even with modern technology and medicine, austerity practices is not an easy thing, however, Maha Kassapa lived as an austere monk even in his old age.

Before this Gridhakutta Dharma gathering, once when he came to Buddha to attend the sanga assembly, Buddha asked him to share the seat with. Of course, Maha Kassapa refused. Buddha then described to the Order the boundless virtue of Maha Kassapa and added that even without the His help, Maha Kassapa could still seek his own enlightenment and attain the stage of Pratyeka Arahant.

Buddha advised Maha Kassapa to stop the austerities practise, but Maha Kassapa said, “Lord Buddha, I need to continue on in these practices as I am not as able as Sariputra, Maha Mollagana and Purna in Teaching. But I will not forget the kindness of the Buddha and can repay the kindness of the Buddha in this way. One who is propagating the Dharma must set a good example to people, and virtue can be cultivated through the austere life. If one can get used to such an austere life, it shows one’s ability for tolerance and the spirit of utter devotion to the Dharma and the people. My practice of the austerities will exert a subtle influence on people’s thinking and will indirectly help them. Lord Buddha, for the consolidation of the Buddha’s Order and the salvation of all living beings, I feel I cannot give up the practice. Please forgive my reluctance.”

After hearing that, the Buddha was pleased, He said to the monks, “What Maha Kassapa has said is correct. To propagate the Dharma, we must consolidate the Order. To consolidate the Order, we must allow live in austerities practice keep the precepts strictly. People like Maha Kassapa can inspire one in the practice of the Dharma, and he shall inherit and spread the purely Dharma.

This story happened before the flower sermon, at that time, the Buddha already affirmed Maha Kassapa by approving Kasyapa’s austerity cultivation. Therefore, we could find out that Buddha passed on the symbolic robe and bowl of dharma succession to him was not an acquaintance. The Buddha so praised Maha Kacah for strictly keeping the precepts, striving after virtue, and upholding asceticism in order to preserve the monk. At this point, we can see how much important of keeping precepts strictly for the cultivation. We say cultivate Precepts, Samadhi, and Wisdom very often, Precepts are rules which keep us from unnecessary thoughts and keep claim, gradually we can cultivate the samadhi power by keeping it when your samadhi power is strong enough, your wisdom which from the purely yourself we also call it Dharmata will show up and eventually lead you to attain the enlightenment, do not look down upon keeping precepts, it does not look skilful but so essential, and it means a lot for the Zen.

As we know, the Dharma is about tradition and transmission, but what is Zen transmission exactly? Between the master and disciples, speech is not important; their communication is heart to heart, self-nature meets self-nature; they are both Buddha’s nature. In other words, they are resonating on the same frequency, they recognized each other; they were the perfect one. Maha Kappasa understood that the form of the world is empty, but not the self-nature; the body is unconditional, but the self-nature is perfect. All the living beings are the potential Buddha, and they will eventually become Buddhas by the Dharma seeing self-nature. I have to say; this is the unique way of Zen transmission, no more options.

We started our Buddhism cultivation, and we naturally need some guidance, so we probably go to seek some information or even a master, but we are in an age of information explosion, there are too many sources online, and in our real lives, there are too many masters giving dharma talks, from the website, Facebook, YouTube etc. I feel sometimes we are just like a kid who would ask for a snowflake from Santa Claus, then Santa would just take us directly to the Antarctic. At this time, you have to choose, you need to identify which snowflake is the one you wanted exactly. This is the crucial part for our cultivation of the Dharma, find yourself the right direction, or you will just waste your time and put yourself in danger. When you are seeking relevant information about Dharma cultivation, think about the flower sermon, think about the tradition of Zen transmission, think about the stories and precepts of Maha Kappasa, those will help.

Last but not least, did you notice the Fangguang , who is the Brahma, the lord of the Saha world? How he served the Buddha in the Gridhakutta Dharma gathering? He not only turned himself into a seat for Dharma talk about letting Buddha sit but also offered the precious golden lotus which is magically born with the worlds of the trichiliocosm as root to Buddha. He offered Buddha with sincerity and respect; therefore, he can learn the real Dharma from Buddha. He deserves to be followed by us, only with your respect and sincerity, you may approach the Dharma wisdom.