Buddha’s flower sermon and silent smile
E950116
Buddha’s flower sermon and silent smile is a foundational Zen Buddhist legend in which the Buddha wordlessly holds up a flower, and only Mahākāśyapa’s knowing smile signifies the direct, non-verbal transmission of enlightened insight.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Buddha’s flower sermon and silent smile canonical | 1 |
| Case 6: Buddha Holds Up a Flower | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T11831576 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Buddha’s flower sermon and silent smile Context triple: [Mahākāśyapa, associatedLegend, Buddha’s flower sermon and silent smile]
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A.
The Buddha’s Quest for Knowledge
"The Buddha’s Quest for Knowledge" is a chapter that explores how the Buddha’s spiritual journey and methods of inquiry resonate with and illuminate modern scientific approaches to understanding reality.
-
B.
Avalokiteśvara as hearer of the world’s cries
Avalokiteśvara as hearer of the world’s cries is a compassionate bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism who attentively listens to the suffering of all beings and responds with mercy and aid.
-
C.
The Buddha and His Dhamma
The Buddha and His Dhamma is a seminal 1957 book by B. R. Ambedkar that presents a rationalist, socially engaged reinterpretation of Buddhism, especially focused on its relevance for the oppressed in modern India.
-
D.
Shakyamuni Buddha as eternal Buddha revealed in the Lotus Sutra
Shakyamuni Buddha as eternal Buddha revealed in the Lotus Sutra is the timeless, ever-present Buddha who attained enlightenment in the inconceivably remote past and continuously guides all beings, as emphasized in Nichiren Buddhism.
-
E.
Commentary on the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment
Commentary on the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment is an influential Buddhist exegesis by the Tang dynasty scholar-monk Zongmi that synthesizes Huayan and Chan perspectives on the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Buddha’s flower sermon and silent smile Target entity description: Buddha’s flower sermon and silent smile is a foundational Zen Buddhist legend in which the Buddha wordlessly holds up a flower, and only Mahākāśyapa’s knowing smile signifies the direct, non-verbal transmission of enlightened insight.
-
A.
The Buddha’s Quest for Knowledge
"The Buddha’s Quest for Knowledge" is a chapter that explores how the Buddha’s spiritual journey and methods of inquiry resonate with and illuminate modern scientific approaches to understanding reality.
-
B.
Avalokiteśvara as hearer of the world’s cries
Avalokiteśvara as hearer of the world’s cries is a compassionate bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism who attentively listens to the suffering of all beings and responds with mercy and aid.
-
C.
The Buddha and His Dhamma
The Buddha and His Dhamma is a seminal 1957 book by B. R. Ambedkar that presents a rationalist, socially engaged reinterpretation of Buddhism, especially focused on its relevance for the oppressed in modern India.
-
D.
Shakyamuni Buddha as eternal Buddha revealed in the Lotus Sutra
Shakyamuni Buddha as eternal Buddha revealed in the Lotus Sutra is the timeless, ever-present Buddha who attained enlightenment in the inconceivably remote past and continuously guides all beings, as emphasized in Nichiren Buddhism.
-
E.
Commentary on the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment
Commentary on the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment is an influential Buddhist exegesis by the Tang dynasty scholar-monk Zongmi that synthesizes Huayan and Chan perspectives on the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Buddhist teaching story
ⓘ
Zen Buddhist legend ⓘ |
| associatedDoctrine |
direct pointing to the human mind
ⓘ
mind-to-mind transmission ⓘ no dependence on words and letters ⓘ seeing one’s true nature and becoming Buddha ⓘ special transmission outside the scriptures ⓘ |
| coreTheme |
direct mind-to-mind transmission
ⓘ
esoteric understanding beyond scriptures ⓘ non-conceptual realization ⓘ wordless transmission of insight ⓘ |
| emphasizes |
beyond conceptual thinking
ⓘ
immediacy of awakening ⓘ importance of direct experience ⓘ |
| featuresAction |
Buddha silently holds up a flower
ⓘ
Mahākāśyapa smiles in response ⓘ |
| featuresCharacter |
Gautama Buddha
ⓘ
linked to:
Buddha
Mahākāśyapa ⓘ |
| genre |
didactic narrative
ⓘ
religious legend ⓘ |
| geographicalContext | early Chan/Zen circles in China ⓘ |
| hasAlternativeName |
Flower Sermon
ⓘ
Flower Sutra ⓘ
linked to:
Avataṃsaka Sutra (Flower Ornament Sutra)
Nenkashō (Japanese) ⓘ |
| historicity | considered apocryphal by many scholars ⓘ |
| iconographicElement |
Buddha holding a flower
ⓘ
Mahākāśyapa’s smile ⓘ |
| impliesRoleOfMahakasyapa | first Zen patriarch ⓘ |
| influenced |
Zen emphasis on non-verbal teaching
ⓘ
self-understanding of Zen lineage ⓘ |
| medium |
later written Zen records
ⓘ
oral tradition ⓘ |
| notFoundIn |
Agama sutras
ⓘ
linked to:
Āgamas
early Pali Canon ⓘ |
| regardedAs |
foundational story for Zen lineage
ⓘ
mythic origin of Chan/Zen patriarchal succession ⓘ |
| religiousTradition |
Chan Buddhism
ⓘ
Zen Buddhism ⓘ |
| symbolizes |
intuitive grasp of Buddha’s teaching
ⓘ
non-verbal communication of enlightenment ⓘ origin of Zen’s special transmission outside scriptures ⓘ unity of teacher’s mind and disciple’s mind ⓘ |
| timeOfComposition | likely centuries after the historical Buddha ⓘ |
| transmissionTo | Mahākāśyapa ⓘ |
| usedIn |
Dharma talks on direct realization
ⓘ
Zen teaching ⓘ koan-like instruction ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Buddha’s flower sermon and silent smile Description of subject: Buddha’s flower sermon and silent smile is a foundational Zen Buddhist legend in which the Buddha wordlessly holds up a flower, and only Mahākāśyapa’s knowing smile signifies the direct, non-verbal transmission of enlightened insight.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.