拈華微笑
nen.ge.mi.shou

Literally: twist (with the fingers) – flower – delicate/minute – laugh/smile

Alternately: Communicating “heart to heart,” without words or writing. Subtle, unspoken communication. Plucking or toying with a flower, and a smile.

Notes: In other contexts, 微笑 can also be pronounced bishou or hohoe(mi) and changes 笑, which can mean “laugh,” to the subtlety of a smile. In this case, though, mishou is the only correct reading.

This is another inheritance from the 五灯会元. The story is not one of stereotypical feminine communication, as I had first imagined, but rather of the Gautama Buddha picking up and holding a (white lotus) flower in front of his disciples. Most of them were nonplussed, but Mahakasyapa understood and smiled in response, proving that he was ready to be the Buddha’s successor.

Not prajna per se, but no doubt some form of understanding. From the #拈華微笑 hashtag on Twitter.