An ancient philosopher, dead for many centuries, was told that his teachings were
being misrepresented by his representatives. Being a compassionate and truth-
loving individual, he managed, after much effort, to get the grace to come back to
earth for a few days.
it took him several days to convince his successors of his identity. Once that was
established, they promptly lost all interest in what he had to say and begged him
to disclose to them the secret for coming back to life from the grave.
It was only after considerable exertion that he finally convinced them that there
was no way he could impart this secret to them and that it was infinitely more im-
portant for the good of humanity that they restore his teaching to its original
purity.
A futile task! What they said to him was, “Don’t you see that what is important is
not what you taught but our interpretation of what you taught? After all, you are
only a bird of passage whereas we reside here permanently.”
When Buddha dies, the schools are born.
🙂
An ancient philosopher, dead for many centuries, was told that his teachings were
being misrepresented by his representatives. Being a compassionate and truth-
loving individual, he managed, after much effort, to get the grace to come back to
earth for a few days.
it took him several days to convince his successors of his identity. Once that was
established, they promptly lost all interest in what he had to say and begged him
to disclose to them the secret for coming back to life from the grave.
It was only after considerable exertion that he finally convinced them that there
was no way he could impart this secret to them and that it was infinitely more im-
portant for the good of humanity that they restore his teaching to its original
purity.
A futile task! What they said to him was, “Don’t you see that what is important is
not what you taught but our interpretation of what you taught? After all, you are
only a bird of passage whereas we reside here permanently.”
When Buddha dies, the schools are born.
🙂