On 'Holding the Flower, a Smile'

nen ge mi shou — Holding the Flower, a Smile.

On the origin

From the Gateless Gate (Mumonkan), Case 6, “The World-Honored One Holds Up a Flower.” On Vulture Peak the Buddha held up a flower; among the assembly only Mahākāśyapa smiled. The story is traced to the sutra Daibontennō Mombutsu Ketsugi-kyō.

On the reading

The Buddha held up a single flower and said nothing. No words, no doctrine — only Mahākāśyapa smiled. In that exchange the teaching is said to have passed, outside of language. What is understood is already present before it is spoken.

On the garment

The seal for this phrase was hand-carved in Tokyo by the artist Satake Hōsen. The front carries this phrase’s seal; the back and inside label carry the Hōsen seal (寳千), printed in vermilion.

The garment is Bella + Canvas 3001 (short sleeve) or Gildan 2400 (long sleeve). A vessel for the word, not the subject itself.

― hosen, tokyo