Enlightenment
How Old Are You?
An elderly monk though, was due to leave that day to go on a long trip across India.He had to leave very soon and couldn't depart without first saying good-bye and payingrespects to Buddha, his master. But Buddha was so deep in conversation with the Emperorthat the monk was unsure what to do?
Eventually he couldn't wait any longer and decided to quietly interrupt. He explainedthat he was leaving and he kissed Buddha's feet as a sign of love and respect.
"How old are you now?" Buddha asked him. "I am 4 years old," the monk replied.(He was clearly a man of at least 75 years old!)
Buddha just smiled and wished him a safe journey, but the Emperor was watching allof this and was just baffled. He didn't know which was stranger, a grown manclaiming to be a 4 year old or Buddha accepting his answer, without so much as raising an eyebrow.
The Emperor asked Buddha the meaning of all this and Buddha explained:
"That man gave his age as 4 years old because, in a way, he is. We measure it differently here.It was 4 years ago that he regained his enlightenment. In other words, he dropped the false notionof himself and in doing so remembered who he really was. He had an experience we call 'Satori'.
After that his life will have totally changed. He would have seen that for many, many years,his whole life he had been living a lie; in a dream world; sleep walking. We count that day aperson "wakes up" to his or her own true identity as the day they were born because that is theday they begin to truly live."
Written in 2006 by Simon Heighwaya