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AT SRAVASTI.
EARLY IN THE MORNING THE LORD DRESSED,
PUT ON HIS CLOAK, TOOK HIS BOWL,
AND ENTERED THE GREAT CITY OF SRAVASTI
TO COLLECT ALMS.
WHEN HE HAD EATEN AND RETURNED
FROM HIS ROUND, THE LORD PUT AWAY
HIS BOWL AND CLOAK, WASHED HIS FEET,
AND SAT DOWN ON THE SEAT ARRANGED FOR HIM,
CROSSING HIS LEGS,
HOLDING HIS BODY UPRIGHT, AND MINDFULLY
FIXING HIS ATTENTION IN FRONT OF HIM.
This you will be surprised at. When Ananda says, he goes into very small details. One never knows -- when you are reporting about a buddha, you have to be very careful, mm? Even this much he reports again and again -- such small things.
EARLY IN THE MORNING THE LORD DRESSED,
PUT ON HIS CLOAK, TOOK HIS BOWL,
AND ENTERED THE GREAT CITY OF SRAVASTI
TO COLLECT ALMS.
Ananda is following him like a shadow, a silent shadow just watching him. Just to watch him was a benediction. And he watches everything.
WHEN HE HAD EATEN AND RETURNED
FROM HIS ROUND, THE LORD PUT AWAY
HIS BOWL AND CLOAK, WASHED HIS FEET,
AND SAT DOWN ON THE SEAT ARRANGED FOR HIM.
When for the first time Buddhist sutras were translated into Western languages, the translators were a little bit puzzled -- why this continuous repetition? It goes on and on like that; again it will be, again this repetition. Why are these small things related? They could not understand it. They thought that this is repetitive, that this is a very unnecessary repetition; it is not needed at all. What is the point of it all? But they missed. What Ananda is saying is that Buddha pays attention to small things as much as to big things. For a buddha there is nothing small and nothing big -- one thing.
When he takes his bowl he is as respectful to the bowl as he would be respectful to any God. When he puts his cloak or puts his dress on he is so mindful; he's absolutely alert, he is not mechanical. When you put your dress on you are mechanical. You know mechanically how to put it on, so what is the point of paying attention to it? Your mind goes on moving into a thousand directions. And you take a
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