| |
is mine; you come with me and count the coins and measure the land."
So the young monk said to Buddha, "This woman has bought this whole beautiful mango grove to be used only for meditators, and she has asked me to ask you for her initiation because she has seen something in me that is missing in her."
And Amrapali said, "I don't even have the face to ask for initiation. I have been a sinner all my life. You must know that I'm a prostitute. Your young monk -- I hoped to change him, but on the contrary, he has changed me. Now I don't have any desire, except to sit at your feet and follow the path where one comes to one's own innermost center. Now I know -- up to now I have not even been aware that there is an inner center of life."
That inner center is the most powerful thing in the world. That innermost center is not of the individual. With that innermost center we are all joined. It is the center of the whole cosmos. And once you feel yourself as part of the cosmos -- eternal and immortal...
Amrapali said, "The bliss and the benediction I have seen radiating from your disciple in these four months -- I myself could not resist." The people who had been so anxious for this day to come so they could inform Buddha, "Now look what has happened, your disciple has not returned," were very much ashamed. Not only had he returned, he had brought with him a transformed human being.
Anando, the meditation that Buddha gave to the world is perhaps one of the most significant. There are many meditations, many ways to enter into yourself, but Buddha's is sharp, almost like a sword -- it cuts everything that hinders. And even in a split second, you can reach to your ultimate destiny.
But for that, Rinzai says: IF YOU MEET A BUDDHA... He does not mean the actual Buddha, because where will you meet him now? Even when he was alive -- I mean Rinzai -- Buddha had been dead for almost fifteen hundred years. So what is the meaning? -- IF YOU MEET A BUDDHA, CUT HIM DOWN...
It is a meditation process. When you go deeper into yourself, you are bound to meet figures which are very close to your heart. If you have loved Buddha, you are going
|
|
|