The Fragrance Without a Flower

Text

When Śāṇavāsa was about to transmit the Dharma, he asked Upagupta: 'Can you hold the formless?' Upagupta held up his empty hand. Śāṇavāsa said: 'What is in your hand?' Upagupta said: 'Ask what is not in it.' Śāṇavāsa said: 'I transmit to you this flower without fragrance, this fragrance without a flower.' Keizan's verse: No root, no stem, no petal— / yet the whole garden fills with scent. / This is the flower transmitted / from mind to mind since ancient times.

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Speaker
  Upagupta

Lineage: Indian Patriarchs

By Upagupta

• Converting Māradialogue
• Counted Stonesproverb
• Lay Merchant Awakensproverb

From Denkoroku

• The Robe That Never Wears Out
• The Mind That Is Like Space
• The Auspicious Cloud
• The Wine Jar and the Dharma
• The Star That Does Not Move
• Entering the Gate as a Householder
• The Vow of Pārśva
• The Debate That Ended Without Debate
• Meeting Nāgārjuna
• In Praise of the Perfection of Wisdom

Sources

• contentZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation

  Zen project editorial

  Denkoroku, Case 5

  Denkoroku: The Fragrance Without a Flower