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HE STOPPED TO VISIT HIS OLD MASTER, NANGAKU.
He is a master now in his own right. He had gone to Chiang-si and was returning home from there, and HE STOPPED TO VISIT HIS OLD MASTER, NANGAKU. WHEN MA TZU HAD BURNED INCENSE AND MADE BOWS TO NANGAKU, NANGAKU GAVE HIM THIS VERSE....
This too has to be understood. Even when a disciple becomes enlightened, it does not matter, his gratefulness becomes even fuller. It is not that now there is no need of the master. It is not that "Now I am equal to the master, now I am experiencing the same buddhahood as the master." No, it is not thought of in that way, because that is the way of the ego. The ego has been lost long ago. The way of gratitude, the way of humbleness is that "Though I may have become a buddha, my master was the indicator towards the right path, and I will remain forever and forever in deep gratitude towards him."
Sariputta, one of Buddha's chief disciples, became enlightened. With tears in his eyes he came to Buddha and he said, "I was avoiding enlightenment, but you went on insisting. Now I am enlightened and my eyes are full of tears because I know you will send me away from you, just to spread the fire. And I understand your compassion, that you are continuously aware of the many who can become buddhas; just a little support is needed. Those who have not gone very far away from themselves can be called back very easily."
Buddha said, "Then why are you crying?"
He said, "I am crying because I will not be able to touch your feet every day as I have been doing for these twenty years."
Buddha said, "Do one thing. Keep a map with you, and remember in what direction I am dwelling. Just bow down in that direction. Touch the feet symbolically, touch the earth -- because after all this body is made of earth, and one day it will go back to the earth. So touching the earth is not only touching my feet, but touching the feet of all the buddhas who have ever happened. They have all dissolved their bodies in the earth. So there is no need, and it does not look right, that an enlightened person should weep and cry."
Sariputta said, "I don't care what people think, but the
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