Hubby and I visited California’s magical Superbloom this week. There are no words! I stood there in peaceful silence, drinking in this vast spendor — gaining deeper understanding of Buddha’s silent Flower Sermon.
Buddha gave many sermons as an enlightened Teacher, but during one of his sermons he did not speak a single word, and simply contemplated the beauty of a flower in stillness. It is said that upon seeing this, his disciple Mahakasyapa was immediately enlightened.
The flower was a lotus, known for its great beauty, but also unique in that it requires thick mud and muck for its roots to grow. It is because of this thick muck — not in spite of it — that the beautiful lotus emerges and blooms.
Beauty can arise from suffering (mud and muck), and flowers can be the result — when we transform our suffering into compassion, understanding and love.
My song Shambala is about finding beauty in a world sometimes shrouded in darkness.
Namaste.
