"All of you are perfect just as you are and you could use a little improvement."
-Shunryu Suzuki-roshi
Today is "Bodhi Day", the day we celebrate the Buddha's enlightenment.
Enlightenment is a topic I've steered well clear of on this blog, and for good reason. If I knew anything about enlightenment, this blog's title wouldn't start with "Somewhere". I'd know exactly where I was! (though, it also refers to my travels...)
Actually, something I've noticed, living in Asia, is how little you hear the topic of enlightenment mentioned. You rarely hear people here claim to be enlightened, I'm not sure I ever have. Even the Dalai Lama doesn't claim to be enlightened. In Korea, there are Zen Masters who are regarded as enlightened by monks but if they started preaching their own enlightenment, their reputation may change fast.
I suppose the Buddha did claim himself enlightened, but there's real little you can argue about his claim. And it was stated in more of a matter of fact way rather than with the ego that usually accompanies false claims.
I haven't shared a sutra in a while, but today seems to be a day worthy of one:
Thus I heard: At one time the Buddha was living at Rajagaha, at Veluvana, in the squirrel's feeding-ground. At that time the Venerable Maha Kassapa, who was living in Pipphali Cave, was sick, stricken with a severe illness. Then the Buddha, rising from his solitude at eventide, visited the Venerable Maha Kassapa, took his seat, and spoke to the Venerable Maha Kassapa in this wise:
"Well, Kassapa, how is it with you? Are you bearing up; are you enduring? Do your pains lessen or increase? Are there signs of your pains lessening and not increasing?"
"No, Lord, I am not bearing up, I am not enduring. The pain is very great. There is a sign not of the pains lessening but of their increasing."
"Kassapa, these seven factors of enlightenment are well expounded by me, cultivated and much developed by me, and when cultivated and much developed, they conduce to full realization, perfect wisdom, to Nibbana. What are the seven?
"Mindfulness. This, O Kassapa, is well expounded by me, cultivated and much developed by me, and when cultivated and much developed, it conduces to full realization, perfect wisdom, to Nibbana.
"Investigation of the dhamma...
"Energy...
"Rapture...
"Calm...
"Concentration...
"Equanimity, O Kassapa, is well expounded by me...
"These seven factors of enlightenment, verily, Kassapa, are well expounded by me, cultivated and much developed by me, and when cultivated and much developed they conduce to full realization, perfect wisdom, to Nibbana."
"Verily, Blessed One, they are factors of enlightenment! Verily, O Welcome One, they are factors of enlightenment!" uttered Maha Kassapa. Thus spoke the Buddha, and the Venerable Maha Kassapa, rejoicing, welcomed the utterances of the Worthy One. And the Venerable Maha Kassapa rose from that illness. There and then that ailment of the Venerable Maha Kassapa vanished.
— SN 46.14
No comments:
Post a Comment