Member-only story
The Wordless Sermon
When all it takes is a single flower to open the heart
As the story goes, 2,500 years ago, Buddha gave a wordless sermon to his disciples. All he did was hold up a single white flower — a lotus. That’s it. No words. Just a flower.
All of his disciples were mystified, except Mahakasyapa – a young monk who immediately smiled, signifying the direct transmission of wisdom from Master to student — a moment referred to in Buddhist literature as “tathagata,” the ineffable nature of suchness.
Something within Mahakasyapa instantly understood the non-verbal essence of what Buddha was communicating. He got it in a flash.
No thought was necessary, no analysis, no intellectualizing.
It was, as if, a veil had lifted and he experienced something deeply profound that was previously inaccessible to him.
For want of a better phrase, let’s call the young monk’s recognition a “moment of truth.”
The good news for the rest of us is that we don’t need to be a monk in order to experience a moment of truth. Nor do all moments of truth need to be “spiritual,” historically…
