| |
master and Ma Tzu was just a young disciple, but he addresses him as "your reverence." For the master, your present is not only the present, it is also your future. He knows you, that one day you will become a buddha. It does not matter that it takes a few days, or a few years, or a few lives. Because Nangaku can see his buddhahood, he addresses even a disciple as "your reverence."
It reminds me about Gautam Buddha's past life, when he was not yet a buddha, and he heard about a great master who had become enlightened. He went to see, just out of curiosity, what this phenomenon of enlightenment is, and how it makes a difference in a man.
He touched the feet of the man, although he had no intention of doing so; but just as he came into his energy field, spontaneously he touched his feet. He wondered why he was touching his feet, because he had not come there to be a disciple. But the very area, the very atmosphere, the very milieu -- and something in his heart started ringing a bell, that perhaps he had come close to his home, without any conscious intention.
Just spontaneously he touched the feet of the man. It was a miracle to him, because he had never touched anybody's feet. He was not a man of faith or belief; he was a young man, and very argumentative. This was a strange act that he had done, but stranger than this was that when he stood up, the master touched his feet.
He said, "What are you doing? In the first place, I had no idea, no desire, no intention of touching your feet -- but it happened. I was just watching it happening in spite of me. And now you are touching my feet! -- I am nobody, I don't know even the ABC of enlightenment. I have just come here out of curiosity."
The master said, "You may not know what is contained in your seed, but I know. I can see that one day you are going to become the buddha. Yesterday I was not a buddha, today I am a buddha; today you are not a buddha, tomorrow you will be a buddha. This small time difference does not make any difference."
Nangaku said to Ma Tzu, who was meditating in his cell, "IN PRACTICING SITTING MEDITATION, WHAT DOES YOUR REVERENCE ASPIRE TO ATTAIN?"
"TO
|
|
|