And The Flowers Showered汇总.doc

And The Flowers Showered Talks on Zen Talks given from 31/10/74 am to 10/11/74 am English Discourse series 11 Chapters Year published: 1974 And The Flowers Showered Chapter #1 Chapter title: Flower shower 31 October 1974 am in Buddha Hall Archive code: 7410310 ShortTitle: FLOWRS01 Audio: Yes Video: No Length: 87 mins SUBHUTI WAS ONE OF BUDDHAS DISCIPLES. HE WAS ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE POTENCY OF EMPTINESS -- THE VIEWPOINT THAT NOTHING EXISTS EXCEPT IN ITS RELATIONSHIP OF SUBJECTIVITY AND OBJECTIVITY. ONE DAY, WHEN SUBHUTI WAS SITTING UNDER A TREE IN A MOOD OF SUBLIME EMPTINESS, FLOWERS BEGAN TO FALL AROUND HIM. WE ARE PRAISING YOU FOR YOUR DISCOURSE ON EMPTINESS, THE GODS WHISPERED TO HIM. BUT I HAVE NOT SPOKEN OF EMPTINESS, SAID SUBHUTI. YOU HAVE NOT SPOKEN OF EMPTINESS, WE HAVE NOT HEARD EMPTINESS, RESPONDED THE GODS. THIS IS TRUE EMPTINESS. AND BLOSSOMS SHOWERED UPON SUBHUTI LIKE RAIN. Yes, it happens. It is not a metaphor, it is a fact -- so dont take this story metaphorically. It is literally true... because the whole of existence feels happy, blissful, ecstatic when even one individual soul achieves the ultimate. We are part of the whole and the whole is not indifferent to you, cannot be. How can a mother be indifferent to a child -- her own child? It is impossible. When the child grows the mother also grows with him. When the child is happy the mother is also happy with him. When the child dances, something in the mother also dances. When the child is ill the mother is ill. When the child is miserable the mother is miserable... because they are not two, they are one. Their hearts beat in a rhythm. The whole is your mother. The whole is not indifferent to you. Let this truth penetrate as deeply as possible in your heart, because even this awareness that the whole feels happy with you will change you. Then you are not alienated, then you are not a foreigner here. Then you are not a homeless wanderer, then this is a HOME. And the whole moth