When you are not supposed to laugh and you keep holding it in.
Fake_Fur on
So there’s a tale called “Flower Sermon” from the medieval Zen tradition. Basically one time Buddha gave a really weird sermon where he never said a word: he just held a lotus flower and twisted it. Mahakasyapa smiled at that act but no other disciples got it.
Thus in the Zen-Buddhism imagery, smiling face serves as an attribute to Mahakasyapa. Because only Mahakasyapa fully got the essence of Buddha’s immortal teaching, or joke, or whatever that is.
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When you are not supposed to laugh and you keep holding it in.
So there’s a tale called “Flower Sermon” from the medieval Zen tradition. Basically one time Buddha gave a really weird sermon where he never said a word: he just held a lotus flower and twisted it. Mahakasyapa smiled at that act but no other disciples got it.
Thus in the Zen-Buddhism imagery, smiling face serves as an attribute to Mahakasyapa. Because only Mahakasyapa fully got the essence of Buddha’s immortal teaching, or joke, or whatever that is.
He looks like he just farted in a elevator.