The Buddha's sayings about flowers (video)

Acharya Buddharakkhita (trans.) edited by Crystal Quintero, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly, Pupphavagga: "Flowers" (The Dhammapada IV), AccessToInsight.org (alt. trans.)

The Buddha, polished gold face, wrapped in protective plastic, Thailand (dfcpix/flickr.com)

  
The Dhammapada's flower verses

Full blossom beauty (Nam Keng/flickr.com)

44. Who'll overcome this earth, this realm of Yama, and this sphere of humans and devas? Who'll bring to perfection the well-taught path of wisdom as an expert garland-maker would a floral design?
 
45. A striver-on-the-path shall overcome this earth, this realm of Yama, and this sphere of humans and devas. The striver-on-the-path* shall bring to perfection the well-taught path of wisdom, as an expert garland-maker would a floral design.

• [*The striver-on-the-path (sekha) is one who has achieved any of the first three stages of enlightenment: a stream-enterer, once-returner, or non-returner.]

46. Realizing that this body is like froth, penetrating its mirage-like nature, and plucking out Mara's flower-tipped arrows of sensuality, go beyond sight of the King of Death!
 
47. As a mighty flood sweeps away the sleeping village, so death carries away the person of distracted mind/heart who only plucks flowers (of pleasure).
 
48. The Destroyer brings under his sway the person of distracted heart/mind who, insatiable in sense desires, only plucks flowers (of pleasure).
 

Harmless bee approaches flower in search of nectar (Teacher Julia/tx.english-ch.com).

 
49. As a honeybee gathers nectar from the flower without injuring its color or fragrance, even so the sage* goes on alms-round in the village.

• [*The "sage in the village" is a Buddhist monastic on almsround, that is, a monk or nun (wandering ascetic) who receives donated food by going silently from door to door with alms bowl, accepting whatever is offered, a custom of the ancient world, particularly in India where such charitable giving is known as dana.]

50. Let none find fault with others; let none see the commissions and omissions of others. But let one see one's own acts, done and left undone.
 
51. Like a beautiful flower full of color yet without fragrance, even so -- fruitless are the fair words of one who does not practice them.

52. Like a beautiful flower full of color and also fragrant, even so -- fruitful are the fair words of one who practices them.

53. As from a great heap of flowers many garlands can be made, even so should many good deeds be done by one born a mortal (a rare human birth when one is able to accrue much merit, a great deal of beneficial karma that follows one life after life for a long time).

54. Not the sweet smell of flowers, not even the fragrance of sandalwood, tagara,* or jasmine blows against the wind. But the fragrance of the virtuous blows against the wind. Truly the virtuous person pervades all directions with the fragrance of one's virtue.

• [*Tagara: fragrant powder made from a good smelling Asian shrub.]

55. Of all the fragrances -- sandalwood, tagara, blue lotus, and jasmine -- the fragrance of virtue is the sweetest.
 
56. Faint is the fragrance of tagara and sandalwood, but excellent is the fragrance of the virtuous, wafting even amongst the devas (heavenly beings, fairies, angels, godlings, gods, and Gods).

57. Mara never finds the path of the truly virtuous, who abide in heedfulness (vigilance, persistence, watchfulness) and are freed by perfect wisdom (supermundane knowledge).

58. Upon a heap of rubbish in a roadside ditch blooms a lotus, fragrant and pleasing.

59. Even so, on the rubbish heap of blinded mortals the disciple of the Supremely Enlightened One shines resplendent in wisdom.

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The Buddha and the Flower
Ashin Ottama (DhammaTube), written text edited by Wisdom Quarterly

Reflections of the enlightened ones (with sutra references below). The contents of the video:

 

0:00:27 The Buddha holding a flower
0:02:04 Koan in Rinzai-Zen
0:03:25 Goose in the bottle
0:06:30 Satori -- solving a koan
0:10:15 The Buddha and the Crystal
0:13:04 Discrepancies in the results of practice
0:16:25 Dilution and distortions of the Teaching (Buddha-Dharma) by later additions
0:18:00 Without mind or body: Pari-nirvana
0:20:40 Hundreds of enlightened people in the West
0:22:45 Serious problem: Fear of the Aim
0:23:05 Veneration and admiration for pari-nirvana
0:26:15 We are just a whirl of virtual phenomena
0:28:18 Sayadaw U Janaka understanding ovations
0:30:50 Chain of Dependent Origination
0:34:55 The Buddha was accused of being a destroyer of life
0:36:30 Is nirvana sheer nihilism?
0:38:05 Stages of enlightenment versus genuine realizations
0:43:20 Intensive methods of insight meditation
0:49:40 Weak insight, weak purification
0:52:05 Empty bottle of whiskey = the Vasanas
0:53:35 The story of a "Rude Arhat"
0:57:10 The story of "Jumping Arhat"
0:58:25 After Ecstasy the Laundry
0:59:00 Daniel Ingram: many Paths (Maggas)...
1:01:30 Distinguishing the marks of true realizations
1:11:40 10 Questions for an Arhat
1:16:20 The Buddha holding a Crystal
1:17:50 The Spittoon Parable

SOME SUTRAS

Various sources, via Ashin Ottama, edited by Wisdom Quarterly

Walking to the Ends of the Universe

Rohitassa Sutra (A-II-47)

The Buddha answered a monk's question about walking to the end of the world: "It is in this very fathom-long [a "fathom" is a measurement of about six feet] body endowed with perception and mind that I declare the world, the arising of the world, the cessation of the world, and the way leading to the ending of the world." [Note reference to Four Noble Truths.] "However, friend, without having reached the end of the world, there is no making an end to suffering, I say."
 
Five Groups of Existence

Phena Sutra (SN 22-95)

With regard to the Five Aggregates of Clinging, the Buddha taught: "Form is like a glob of foam; feeling like a bubble; perception like a mirage; mental formations like a banana tree; consciousness is comparable to a magic trick... When you observe them and examine them appropriately, you will see that they are empty, hollow, and void [of self]. "

Nirvana

(The Udana or "Inspired Utterances," 8-3)

"There is, meditators, an unborn, unbecome, unmade, unconditioned...."
 

Describing Nirvana

(Udana 8-1)

"There is a sphere, meditators, where there is no earth, no water, no fire, no air, no sphere of infinite space, no sphere of infinite consciousness, no sphere of nothingness, no sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, no this world, no world beyond, neither Moon nor Sun. There, meditators, I say there is surely no coming, no going, no persisting, no passing away, no rebirth. It is quite without support, unmoving, without an object -- just this is the end of all suffering."
 

The All

Allness or Sabba Sutra (SN 35-23)

"And what, monastics, is 'the all'? The eye and forms, the ear and sounds, the nose and fragrances, the tongue and tastes, the body and tactile objects, the mind and mental phenomena. This is called 'the all.'"
 

The Fire Sermon

Ven. Thanissaro (trans.) Adittapariyaya Sutra (SN 35-28)
"Meditators, the all is aflame. What 'all' is aflame? The eye is aflame. Forms are aflame. Consciousness at the eye is aflame. Contact at the eye is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the eye -- whether experienced as pleasure, pain, or neither-pleasure-nor-pain -- that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion [greed, hatred, ignorance/wrong view]. Aflame, I tell you, with birth, aging and death, with sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair.

"The ear is aflame. Sounds are aflame... The nose is aflame. Fragrances are aflame... The tongue is aflame. Flavors are aflame... The body is aflame. Tactile sensations are aflame... The intellect [or mind] is aflame. Ideas are aflame. Consciousness at the intellect is aflame. Contact at the intellect is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the intellect -- whether experienced as pleasure, pain, or neither-pleasure-nor-pain -- that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I say, with birth, aging and death, with sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair.

Instruction Leading to Fast Enlightenment

John D. Ireland (trans.), Bāhiya Sutra (Udana 1-10)
"Herein, Bahiya, you should train yourself thus: 'In the seen will be merely what is seen; in the heard will be merely what is heard; in the otherwise sensed will be merely what is otherwise sensed; in the cognized will be merely what is cognized.' In this way you should train yourself, Bahiya.

"When, Bahiya, for you in the seen is merely what is seen...in the cognized is merely what is cognized, then, Bahiya, you will not be 'with that.' When, Bahiya, you are not 'with that,' then, Bahiya, you will not be 'in that.' When, Bahiya, you are not 'in that,' then, Bahiya, you will be neither here nor beyond nor in between the two. Just this is the end of suffering."