Osho says, ‘Why should a dog not have a buddha-nature?’
It is something to be pondered over. Why should a dog not have a buddha-nature? If every living being has buddha-nature, why should dogs be such exceptional beings? Just because in your minds the very word ‘dog’ is condemned, you cannot think that a dog can have a buddha-nature – “My God, then what is the point of having a buddha-nature? Even a dog can have it. It is not worth bothering! Years of meditation, long pilgrimages, and finally what you attain is just a dog’s nature.” Naturally those who don’t understand have immediately said no – and Ta Hui agrees with those people who say no.
But in fact a dog is just a god spelt wrongly. I for one am absolutely ready to say yes, a dog has as much potential to be a buddha as Gautam Buddha himself. There is no question why poor dogs should be left out, when all beings – donkeys and monkeys and even Yankees – all are included. The dog is a poor animal, innocent. There is nothing wrong in the dog. Perhaps he has to travel a long way to become a buddha, but it is only a question of time. Some day a dog is also going to become enlightened. In some birth, somewhere in the future….
Osho, The Great Zen Master Ta Hui, Ch 14
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