Small can be really big

I was thinking this morning on the story of Buddha holding up a single flower. In doing so the gesture expressed all Dharma. My mind then reflected on Gutei Zenji and how he would hold up a single finger, and so as Buddha expressed all Buddha Dharma that he did too. Something so small reflecting something so big, even more profound as Einstein's E=MC2. Beautiful.

Later this morning, i was helping my daughter clean up her room. Just by the small act of vacuuming the floor, the entire room looked and felt different, to me. I asked my daughter if she noticed the Zen teaching. She replied, "the floor is clear?" I said, "yeah, isn't it nice." Internally the sentence "things are not as they appear, nor are they otherwise," from the Lankavatara sutra appeared in my mind.

Yes, the floor is clear and perhaps the rest of the universe as well." To me it was like her room decided to hold up a single finger and I recognized the unfortunate problem for myself is that at this time I can only understand perhaps only 1/1000th of what the room is really saying. I'm still just hitting around the edges. Perhaps by my "small" day to day efforts, eventually I may understand not just the room but Gutei's finger and maybe even Shakyamuni Buddha's holding up a single flower. Small really is very big and the big things are often very small.

Happy Sunday,

Jaye Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO