|
Main Index
|
| |
| | | Book Name: The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 1 | Previous Next | |
|
|
|
| |
then you are in a hopeless state. If you become a srotapanna, if you enter the stream, that's what I call sannyas. By sannyas you become a srotapanna -- you enter the stream, you take the courage, you take the jump. It is a quantum leap from the bank into the stream. They are very close, but they are totally different.
The bank never goes anywhere. It has no growth, it never moves. It is static, stagnant, stale, dead. And by the side is flowing the river, which is going somewhere.
If your life is not going anywhere, you are standing on the bank. Enter the stream and you start a journey. Your life starts changing, transforming. You start a transfiguration, a metamorphosis. And each moment new visions open their doors to you. One day the river reaches the ocean. That day you become arhat, you dissolve into the ocean.
First srotapanna, then skridagamin, then anagamin, then arhata. These are the states. It is a very scientific framework. From being a worldly man become srotapanna and then your journey has started.
The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 1
Chapter #2
Chapter title: The greatest miracle
22 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall
Archive code: 7608220
ShortTitle: TRANS102
Audio: Yes
Video: No
Length: 101 mins
Question 1
SOMEBODY ASKED A ZEN MASTER, 'WHAT IS THE GREATEST MIRACLE IN THE WORLD?' THE MASTER REPLIED, 'I AM SITTING HERE ALONE WITH ME.'
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS PARABLE?
IT IS NOT A PARABLE, IT IS SIMPLY A FACT. Look directly into it. There is no need to search for any meaning. It is like a rose flower -- a simple statement. If you start looking for meaning you will miss the meaning of it. The meaning is there, obvious; there is no need to search for it. The moment you start searching for meaning about such simple facts, you weave philosophies, you create metaphysics. And then you go on and on, and you go far away from the fact.
It is a simple statement. The zen master said, 'I am sitting here alone with myself.' This is the greatest miracle. To be alone is the greatest achievement. One feels always a need for the other. There
|
|
|
|
| |