This week we welcomed Roshi back from his travels in Japan. As a special surprise, Roshi led a Hanamatsuri ceremony. In Japan, this is known as the Flower Festival and is normally celebrated on April 8th. The purpose is to celebrate the historical Buddha’s birthday. Each person approaches the alter and bathes the baby Buddha in sweet tea while the rest of the sangha chants the Heart Sutra.

After the ceremony, Roshi noted that the statue of the baby Buddha is shown with one finger pointing up and the other hand with a finger pointing down. (Unfortunately our statue has lost his finger pointing to the sky!!) This symbolizes the statement ascribed to the baby Buddha …

“Between heaven and earth there is only me!”

Roshi stopped here and asked if this is not the most egotistical statement ever made. How could this come from the Buddha who taught the oneness of everything?

It seems, at the surface, that there is a paradox here. If we look around during this holy time of the year we can see paradoxes all over the place. For instance, for Jews the Passover matzah can be considered the bread of affliction or the bread of liberation. Easter can be considered a holiday of death or resurrection. Even the Easter Bunny is a paradox – when was the last time you saw a rabbit lay eggs?? The only way to resolve these paradoxes is to slow down and experience these traditions in the way they are meant to be experienced.

For Buddhism, what did the historical Buddha mean by the above statement? It definitely did not mean that we should worship Buddha as a god. What it means is that the only thing in the universe is “Buddha Nature” or wisdom. Here language is confusing. The Buddha is NOT Buddha nature. He, like everyone else has it – it is just that he has penetrated this fact! In fact, every molecule, organism, planet, galaxy has this wisdom. Wisdom pervades everything. The Buddha is asking us to make a choice. Do we open up to the universe of wisdom or do we turn away into our own private delusions? There is nothing in the universe but the wisdom of reality!

Roshi wrapped up by noting that this is the core message of Buddhism and that there is no paradox. All we need to do is settle the mind long enough to realize this. This is why we practice.