„Botany and self-knowledge — how do you build that bridge?“
„It‘s really quite simple,“ Mrs. Narayan assured him. „Each of the children is given a common flower — a hibiscus, for example, or better still (because the hibiscus has no scent) a gardenia. Scientifically speaking, what is a gardenia? What does it consist of? Petals, stamens, pistil, ovary, and all the rest of it. The children are asked to write a full analytical description of the flower, illustrated by an accurate drawing. When that‘s done there‘s a short rest period, at the close of which the Mahakasyapa story is read to them and they’re asked to think about it. Was Buddha giving a lesson in botany? Or was he teaching his disciples something else? And, if so, what?“
„What indeed?“
„And of course, as the story makes clear, there‘s no answer that can be put into words. So we tell the boys and girls to stop thinking and just look. ‚But don‘t look analytically,‘ we tell them, ‚don‘t look as scientists, even as gardeners. Liberate yourselves from everything you know and look with complete innocence at this infinitely improbable thing before you. Look at it as though you‘d never seen anything of the kind before, as though it had no name and belonged to no recognizable class. Look at it alertly but passively, receptively, without labeling or judging or comparing. And as you look at it, inhale its mystery, breathe in the spirit of sense, the smell of the wisdom of the Other Shore.’„ Island, Aldous Huxley