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| | | Book Name: The Dhammapada - The Way of the Buddha, Vol 3 | Previous Next | |
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be here tomorrow. So make haste, hurry! Now no more postponing."
And it happened that after Buddha's death, when the congregation prayed to Ananda, for twenty-four hours he sat with closed eyes. This was for the first time in his whole life. In fact, there was so much happening around Buddha that it was impossible to close the eyes. The whole day so many things were happening and Ananda was too occupied. Now Buddha was gone and nothing was happening anymore, there was nothing to see. He closed his eyes and for twenty-four hours, for the first time, he sat in silence.
He became enlightened within twenty-four hours. This had not happened in forty-two years; it happened in twenty-four hours. When he became enlightened, when all the enlightened disciples recognized his aura, his light, his luminousness, then they said, "Now Ananda can be allowed to come in the assembly. He can relate and we will compile."
That's how all the Buddhist sutras have been compiled.
But only an enlightened person can be trusted. Why? -- because he can see. And he can see into the words and find the silence -- which is the real message. If you listen to the meaning, you are a student; if you listen to the silence, you are a disciple. And if you completely forget who is talking and who is listening, you become one with the master -- you are a devotee.
These are the three stages: the student, the disciple and the devotee. The student understands the meaning of the words, the disciple understands the silence of the words, and the devotee becomes the silence itself. HIS THOUGHTS ARE STILL. HIS WORDS ARE STILL.
HIS WORK IS STILLNESS.
His whole work is stillness, he creates stillness. He creates devices to create stillness.
HE SEES HIS FREEDOM AND IS FREED.
THE MASTER SURRENDERS HIS BELIEFS.
Once you become enlightened all that you have believed before becomes ridiculous, irrelevant, absurd, nonsense. It is like the belief of the blind man in light. Whatsoever he had believed before, whatsoever he had thought in his blindness that light is... once his eyes open he will have to drop all his beliefs about light. Not a single word
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