[Buddha-l] Ven Maha Kassapa and the flower

Franz Metcalf franzmetcalf at earthlink.net
Sun Dec 17 11:05:26 MST 2006


Joanna et al.,

You won't find the Mahaakaas'yapa (I use the preferred Mahaayaana 
Sanskrit version here) flower story at accesstoinsight.org because its 
a Zen transmission story. Indeed, it's *the* paradigmatic Zen 
transmission story. You can find it various places, including (in 
chronological order) the various _Transmission of the Lamp_ 
collections, the _Wumenguan_, and Keizan's Denkooroku. It's the common 
heritage of all the Chan/Tien/Son/Zen traditions--and no other 
traditions, as far as I know. It is, after all, the very essence of the 
mind-to-mind tradition outside the scriptures. Good stuff.

Incidentally, sorry if I've brought the Feds down on us with untoward 
words wirelessly transmitted. I keep forgetting I'm not in Canada 
anymore.

Franz Metcalf



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