"'Is he not going to talk today? And what is the meaning of Gautam Buddha just watching a roseflower?'

"After half an hour it became almost a tension: something had to be done – he did not look at people, he was looking at the roseflower. At that moment, Mahakashyapa laughed. Gautam Buddha raised his eyes and called Mahakashyapa close to him and gave the flower to Mahakashyapa. And he told the people, ten thousand sannyasins, 'Whatever could be said through words I have said to you, and whatever could not be said through words I have transferred to Mahakashyapa.'

"This is the only mention of Mahakashyapa in the whole Buddhist canon. It is a vast literature, and for centuries, twenty-five centuries, inquirers have been asking the question, 'Why did Mahakashyapa laugh? And why was his laughter accepted? Not only accepted, but raised to the highest point of communication.' Something transpired in that silent giving of the roseflower to Mahakashyapa.

"Since then Zen has been mysterious. It is the most pure mysticism that has existed on the earth.

"In India, it was called 'Zan.' Buddha used – it was a revolutionary step – the people's language. Pali was the people's language. In the people's language words become simple, rounded, easy. In Sanskrit the word is dhyan. But for the people, dhyan seems to be a little difficult. Buddha never used Sanskrit.

"You may not be aware that Sanskrit has never been a living language; it was only a language for scholars. They kept a separate system of communication amongst themselves. Buddha was the first man in India who revolted against this ugliness. Everything should be said in the people's language. It should not become the monopoly of scholars, it should not give the scholar a great ego. He used the lowest language that is used in the marketplace, where things change. Words may not be accurate grammatically, but become more rounded, more usable, more simple. Dhyan became zan.

"In India, for example, in the villages, station – railway station – is not called 'station.' It is called only 'tation.' Why bother about 'railway station'? That is too big a word for poor people. They simply use 'tation.' And the same is true about many words."