Buddha took some Autumn leaves
In his hand and asked
Ananda if these were all
The red leaves there were.
Ananda answered that it
Was Autumn and leaves
Were falling all about them,
More than could ever
Be numbered. So Buddha said,
"I have given you
A handful of truths. Besides
These there are many
Thousands of other truths, more
Than can ever be numbered.
~ Kenneth Rexroth
photo by Eliot Porter
1 comments:
Hmm that's an intriguing metaphor. Taking it further, it suggests the truths being spoken of are conditioned things; why else use dying leaves? I wonder what the source is. In the Diamond Sutra, the Buddha tells Subhuti that after eventually liberating numberless sentient beings, he should realise that not a single being has been liberated, for there are in fact no separate, individual beings to be liberated. And in the Hsin Hsin Ming, the third Zen patriarch writes "There is one dharma, not many. Distinctions arise due to the clinging needs of the ignorant."
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