A Transmission Outside Scriptures
Vincent J. Fortunato • April 19, 2019
Here is Vincent's Profound Photo for this month. The senses - touch, sight, smell, hearing, and taste - are experiential portals to places that words, concepts, and other symbols can't take us. As Ginny Kubitz Moyer says in "Taste & See: Experiencing the Goodness of God with OUR FIVE SENSES", "God speaks to me using the language I know best -- the language of the five senses" (p. xiii). Here Vincent shares a gorgeous photo he took of a tulip, and then leaves us with a question.
A Transmission Beyond Scriptures
by
Vincent J. Fortunato
A Zen Koan (paraphrased): Shakyamuni holds up a flower (Mumon’s The Gateless Gate, Case 6).
One day, when Shakyamuni Buddha was to give a talk, he instead held up a flower. Everyone remained silent, except for Kasho, who broke into a smile.
Shakyamuni then said, “I have the all-pervading True Dharma, incomparable Nirvana, exquisite teaching of formless form. It does not rely on letters and is transmitted outside scriptures. I now hand it to Maha Kasho.”
Mumon’s Poem (edited).
A flower is held up,
And the secret has been revealed.
Question:
What was the secret that was revealed?
Earth Day is this week. As we consider the state of our world - and the ecology of both our material and spiritual environment - it makes sense to ask what our role is, has been, and is supposed to be in relationship to "our common home" (Pope Francis).
Here are some initial thoughts about elegance, nature, and depth; a poem about happiness; and even a haiku.
It takes just a second to break something. Restoring what was broken takes time.
Outcomes are not certain, though some are much more highly predictable than others.
Life is messy. We know that. But some people move through that mess with a surprising kind of grace.
“The poor in spirit are by no means poor-spirited. They are persons who see so much to be, so much to do, such limitless reaches to life and goodness that they are profoundly conscious of their insufficiency and incompleteness.” ~Rufus Jones, The Inner Life , p. 19
