ENLIGHTENMENT OF ANAND BUDDHA'S DISCIPLE EXCERPT

ENLIGHTENMENT OF ANAND BUDDHA'S DISCIPLE EXCERPT

ENLIGHTENMENT OF ANAND - BUDDHA'S DISCIPLE

EXCERPT: ENLIGHTENMENT THE ULTIMATE FLOWERING



Many who had come after Ananda had become enlightened. Ananda was not yet enlightened. He wept bitterly. His misery was great. There was no consolation for this. Now suddenly he became aware that forty years had been wastage. 'I lived with this man -- a rare opportunity, very rare. To find a Buddha is rare, and to live with a Buddha for forty years continuously -- it has not happened before, it may not happen again. Forty years in a long time. And still I have missed.'

He stopped eating food. He stopped all kinds of other activities. He decided to become enlightened before it was too late -- it was already late. Day and night, he was trying to be aware.

And a great council was going to be arranged soon -- all the enlightened disciples were going to gather together to collect the sayings of Buddha. Ananda was not invited although he was the most reliable source. Obviously nobody had lived with Buddha so long, nobody had as much information as he had. Nobody had listened to Buddha so much -- morning and evening, day and night, he was always there, just watching. Whatsoever Buddha had said, he had heard it. And he had a miraculous memory, absolute memory -- he had the power of absolute recall. But still he was not invited to the council.

It was not possible to invite him. He had known Buddha, his word was reliable, his memory was perfect -- but he had no inner validity. He himself was not yet a Buddha. Yes, to collect facts he was the right person. But what about truth, and facts and truths are two different dimensions and fact cannot be truth. A fact may be a fact and yet may not be true. And a truth may be true, yet may not be a fact.

Truth is not the sum total of all the facts -- truth is something more. Facts are mundane, superficial. Truths are not on the surface, they are inner. Ananda could say everything factual, but he had no inner validity. He himself was not a witness. So, even those who had not lived with Buddha were called to the council but not Ananda.

He worked hard, he staked everything. He was eighty two then. Each moment he was trying to be aware, alert, and mindful. And the last night came -- tomorrow morning the council was going to gather. Ananda was going mad. Enlightenment had not happened yet. He was becoming more and tenser and he was putting in all that one could put all that was humanly possible. He was even ready to die for it.

The middle of the night had come and nothing had happened yet. And he was driving himself crazy. For days he had not eaten, he had not slept, he had not taken a bath -- there was no time to waste. One o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock, four o'clock in the morning... and he was just on the verge of either going mad or becoming enlightened. It looked more like madness. Anand was exploding, he was falling apart.

Then suddenly he remembered, Buddha had always said: Be aware, but in a relaxed way. Be aware, but without any tension. Attention without any tension. Calm and quiet. Be alert but with no strain. That memory came in the right moment -- Anand relaxed. He was so tired, that he went to bed. When he was just going to put his head on the pillow -- fully aware, relaxed -- he became enlightened. The moment his head touched the pillow, he became enlightened.

He slept, for the first time in his whole life. It was a different kind of sleep. He was asleep as far as the body was concerned, but his inner light was aflame. Deep within his being, he was alert and aware. Morning came, and he was still asleep. Other monks came to see whether he had been able to make it. They looked in the room, and it had the same fragrance as that of Buddha -- the same luminosity, the same grace and grandeur. And Ananda was fast asleep but his face had the light, the light that comes from within. Even in his sleep he was mindful. There was grace, there was a silence surrounding the room. Indeed there was a new space surrounding.

He was invited immediately. He asked the other monks, 'Why? What has happened now? Why were you not asking me to come to the council?' And they said, 'Just one day ago, your memory was just the memory of the outside of things. Now you know from the inside -- you yourself have become a Buddha.

Buddhahood means when you become so alert that even in your sleep the alertness continues as an undercurrent. Even when you die, you die fully alert. And now there is no way to lose your alertness, your alertness has become your nature. This is the essential message of Buddha.

Category:

Education

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• ANAND
• BUDDHA'S
• DISCIPLE
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• guru
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• divine
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