I once heard a story about the Buddha and one of his many conversations with King Bimbisara. In this story, as the two are speaking, a group of ascetics passes. The king asks the Buddha if those ascetics are enlightened. The Buddha replies that if you want to know if someone is enlightened, you must spend time with them, observe how they react in one situation or another.
In this online community, I sometimes would like to meet certain people and spend some time with them to observe how they react to life's situations. Are my positive views of some correct? Are my lesser opinions of others mistaken?
I suppose, in the end, it would all just be an opinion.
I suspect that even the Buddha occasionally fell asleep on the job. He was a human being, of course, and surely his preferences and tendencies sometimes eked out just a bit.
ReplyDelete(This is my fantasy, anyway.)
I wonder about that, too.
ReplyDeleteIs it possible for anyone to live up to the archetype of a Buddha that I've made up in my mind?