Nan In said to the archbishop, “Whoever has written these sentences will become a buddha in some future life.”
A man, an archbishop in Japan, went to one very great master, Nan In, with the New Testament. He was certain that by listening to the beautiful statements of Jesus, particularly on the sermon on the mountain, Nan In would be converted to Christianity.
The archbishop was received with great love and he said, “I have come with my holy book, and I want to read a few sentences… perhaps they will change your whole life.”
Nan In said, “You have come a little late, because I am changed completely, the transformation has happened. But still, you have come a long way – you can at least read a few sentences.”
So he read a few sentences, and just after two, or three sentences, Nan In said, “That’s enough. Whoever has written these sentences will become a buddha in some future life.”
The archbishop was very much shocked – he is saying, ‘In some future life – this man shows a potentiality – he will become a buddha.’ He said, “But he is the only son of God!”
Nan In laughed. He said, “That is the trouble. That’s what is preventing him from becoming a buddha. Unless he drops such nonsense ideas, he will not blossom to his whole potentiality.
“He has beautiful ideas but side by side, he has some stupid ideas too. There is no God, so the question of being the only begotten son does not arise. In some future life – you don’t be worried – he will drop them; he seems to be a man of intelligence, and he has suffered enough for his stupid ideas. He got crucified; that was enough punishment. But you should not cling to the stupid part of his statements.”
The archbishop said, “But they are our basis, the foundation of our religion, that Jesus is the only begotten son of God, that there is a God who created the world, that Jesus was born of a virgin girl.”
Nan In laughed and he said, “This poor fellow, if he could drop these small fictitious things, he would have already become a buddha. If you find him somewhere, bring him here, and I will put him right. There was no need to crucify him – all that he needed was a right master, someone who could have introduced him into the mysteries of meditation.”
Meditation is perhaps the master key for all our problems. So rather than fighting with problems separately… which will take lives and still you will not be out of their grip. They will stand by the corner, waiting for their chance – and naturally, if they had to wait too long, they will take as much revenge as possible.
Meditation is not doing anything directly to your violence, not doing anything to your jealousy, to your hate. It is simply bringing light into your house, and the darkness disappears. (A duck appears in the garden outside the hall, and quacks long and loudly.)
It is just the reincarnation of the Japanese archbishop. And it is natural that he is protesting – this is what happens to archbishops; I have again provoked him….
Should I provoke him again?
Osho, The Hidden Splendor, Ch 16, Q 3 (excerpt)
Series compiled by Shanti
All excerpts of this series can be found in: 1001 Tales
Featured image: The Sermon on the Mount by Károly Ferenczy – commons.wikimedia.org
Comments are closed.