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| | | Book Name: The Dhammapada - The Way of the Buddha, Vol 3 | Previous Next | |
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she was a totally different woman -- she came laughing. In the morning she had come crying and weeping; she was almost mad because the only son had died. Buddha asked her, "Why are you smiling?"
She said, "Now I know -- you tricked me, you befooled me, but I could not see the point at that time. Everybody has to die, so it is not a question now that my son has died. He had to die one day or other. And it is good, in a way, that he has died before me: if I had died before him, he would have suffered. It is better for me to suffer than for him to suffer. So it is good, perfectly good.
"Now I have come for initiation. Initiate me into sannyas, because I would like to know: is there anything beyond death or not? Is death all or does something survive? I am no longer interested in the son."
Buddha said, "That was the purpose of sending you, so that you can be awakened."
Now the same story you can visualize about Jesus Christ. What Christians say... because nobody knows what kind of man Jesus really was except what the Christians say about him, and they are saying wrong things about him. If he was really a buddha -- and he was -- then he would not have been interested in reviving people from death. He would not revive Lazarus from death -- what is the point? Lazarus is no longer alive. He must have died a few years later; even if he was revived he would have died a few years later. Death is going to happen; you can at the most postpone it.
A buddha is not interested in postponing! A buddha's whole effort is to make you alert, aware, that death is coming. He is not to protect you from death, he has to take you beyond death. And Jesus is a buddha. MY understanding of Jesus is totally different from the Christian interpretation. To me, this is a parable: Lazarus coming back to life simply means Lazarus reborn spiritually.
Buddha has said many times -- Jesus has said also -- Unless you are born again, you will not enter into my Kingdom of God. But "born again" does not mean that you have to be resurrected. "Born again" means a spiritual process of awakening. Jesus must have awakened Lazarus from his sleep, from his metaphysical death.
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