Mahakasyapa
"'Does anyone here know about Mahakasyapa?'
—
"Several hands were raised. He pointed his finger at a little girl in a blue skirt and a necklace of shells sitting in the front row.
—
"'You tell us, Amiya.'
—
"Breathlessly and with a lisp, Amiya began.
—
"'Mahakathyapa,' she said, 'wath the only one of the dithipleth that underthtood what the Buddha wath talking about.'
—
"'And what was he talking about?'
—
"'He wathn't talking. That'th why they didn't underthtand.'
—
"'But Mahakasyapa understood what he was talking about even though he wasn't talking—is that it?'
—
"The little girl nodded. That was it exactly. 'They thought he wath going to preatth a thermon,' she said, 'but he didn't. He jutht picked a flower and held it up for everybody to look at.'
—
"'And that was the sermon,' shouted a small boy in a yellow loincloth, who had been wriggling in his seat, hardly able to contain his desire to impart what he knew. 'But nobody could underthand that kind of a thermon. Nobody but Mahakathyapa.'
—
"'So what did Mahakasyapa say when the Buddha held up that flower?'
—
"'Nothing!' the yellow loincloth shouted triumphantly.
—
"'He jutht thmiled,' Amiya elaborated. 'And that thowed the Buddha that he underthtood what it wath all about. So he thmiled back, and they jutht that there, thmiling and thmiling.'
—
"'What Buddha was implying and what Mahakasyapa understood was that one can't speak these teachings, one can only be them.'" — Aldous Huxley; Island, p. 265-267
Know the artist? Contact us!