Originally posted by namelessness:
I think this is the best silence demonstrated by the Buddha:
Once, in ancient times, the World-Honored One gave his dharma speech at Vulture's peak, over ten thousand laity and monks were assembled to hear Buddha's dharma.
And Buddha sat on the high rostrum but he didn't open his mouth. He twirled a flower before his assembled disciples. All were silent. Only Mahakasyapa broke into a smile.
Buddha looked at the Mahakasyapa's smile and said,
"I have the eye treasury of right Dharma, the subtle mind of Nirvana, the true form of no-form, and the flawless gate of the teaching. It is not established upon words and phrases. It is a special transmission outside tradition. I now entrust this to Mahakasyapa."
So Mahakasyapa became the first Ch'an patriarch succeeded Buddha's dharma.
Yes, the reason why Venerable Mahakasyapa was entrusted as the 1st Patriarch, was because he had the 'Mind-To-Mind' connection with the Buddha, in an inseperable Oneness. Mahakasyapa smiled in appreciation of this oneness, this is called 'Wisdom-Smile'.
An interesting note here: Venerable Mahakasyapa is currently still alive. He is over 2500+ years and now resides at a mountain in China. As Sinweiy has pointed to me before, Venerable Mahakasyapa's relics/shariras are missing among the top disciples, showing that he really is still alive now. He will continue to live for a very very long time until Maitreya Bodhisattva arrives in this world to attain Buddhahood!
"The Venerable Mahakashyapa is still present in the world. When he left home under the Buddha, he was already one hundred sixty years old. At the time Shakyamuni Buddha had spoken Dharma for forty-nine years in over three hundred Dharma assemblies, Kashyapa was already over two hundred years old. After Shakyamuni Buddha entered Nirvana, Kashyapa went to Southwestern China, to Chicken Foot Mountain in Yunnan Province. It has been over three thousand years since the Buddha's nirvana, but Mahakashyapa is still sitting in samadhi in Chicken Foot Mountain waiting for Maitreya Buddha to appear in the world. At that time he will give Maitreya the bowl which the Four Heavenly Kings gave Shakyamuni Buddha and which Shakyamuni Buddha gave him, and his work in the world will be finished.
"When cultivators travel to Chicken Foot Mountain to worship the Patriarch Kashyapa, on the mountain there are always three kinds of light: Buddha-light, golden light, and silver light. Those with sincere hearts can hear a big bell ringing inside the mountain. It rings by itself, and although you can't see it, you can hear it for several hundred miles. It is an inconceivable experience." (AS 75-76)
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The Buddha also prophecised that Venerable Mahakasyapa will meet with Maitreya Buddha (of the next era) in the Sutra of Maitreya's Attaning Buddhahood.
From the Sutra of Maitreya's Attaning Buddhahood (Fo Shuo Mi Le Da Cheng Fo Jing):
partial extract...............
Maitreya Buddha then leads his disciples to Wolf-Footprints Mountain (it was called the mountain Grdhrkuta during the time of Shakyamuni Buddha). They walk peacefully and calmly to the mountain top. When Maitreya Buddha raises the big toe of his right foot and steps on the mountain top, eighteen kinds of earthquakes occur. Maitreya Buddha opens the mountain with his two hands; it is like the Wheel-King opening the gate in the city wall. The mountain tears apart and everyone sees Mahakasyapa sitting upright on the ground.
The king of Brahma heaven pours the heavenly fragrant oil on Mahakasyapa's head and body. Celestial beings beat the Dharma drums and blow the big Dharma spiral shell. Mahakasyapa awakens from his Samadhi of complete extinction of sensation and thought. He arranges his clothes with the right shoulder bared and kneels on his right foot, joins his palms at first, and then holds the Dharma cassock of Sakyamuni Buddha, preparing to pass it to Maitreya. He says, "Before The Great Master Sakyamuni was going to enter Nirvana, he asked me to pass this Dharma dress to the World-Honored- One."
But the disciples do not know the cause of the presence of Mahakasyapa. They ask Maitreya Buddha, "Who is the worm with a human head in the mountain top? He is short, small, and ugly. He is even wearing the Dharma dress of a Sangha and is able to bow respectively to the World-Honored One!" Maitreya Buddha scolds the disciples for they should not look down on this person. He recites a Gartha,
"Although the peacock has beautiful
feathers, it is still eaten by the hawk.
It is as easy for a lion to eat a white
elephant (which has boundless strength)
as to pull a radish from the earth.
The dragons think they are incomparable
in the animal realms and still they are
eaten by Garuday (the king of birds).
Humanity is now tall, big, strong and
white, and its features are beautiful, pure,
and majestic.
It is like a seven-jewel vase holding filthy
excrement and urine.
As we see here, the person is small, but
his wisdom is as bright as pure gold.
He has already extinguished the suffering
from birth, death and all qualities of
sentient beings.
He has no more Karma left.
He lives here to support and protect The
Dharma of Maitreya.
During the time of Sakyamuni Buddha
he cultivated the deeds of Tou-Tuo all his
life.
There is no one who can compare to him
in his practse of Buddhism.
It was Sakyamuni Buddha, whose
blessings from merits and wisdom are
complete, who sent him to my time, to
pass to me the cassock which symbolizes
the duty of spreading Buddhism.
You should not judge him by his appearence.
Now all of you should mindfully and
respectfully join your palms and make
bows to him."
........... (continued in the sutra)
(Buddha later praised Mahakasyapa as a great disciple and practitioner, and asked Mahakasyapa to perform a feat of miracles.)
The sutra is quite interesting and concerns the world of the Future Buddha Maitreya's era, those who want to read it may message me privately.
