King Prasenjit’s question

Buddha used to say to his disciples, “Be a light unto yourself.”

A great King, Prasenjit, had come to see him. And he saw many sannyasins coming and bowing to Buddha, and saying:

बुद्धं शरणं गच्छामि।
Buddham Sharanam Gachchhami
I go to the feet of the Buddha

धर्मं शरणं गच्छामि।
Dhammam Sharanam Gachchhami
I go to the feet of the community of the Buddhas

संघं शरणं गच्छामि।
Sangham Sharanam Gachchhami
I go to the feet of the ultimate law, the ultimate law that supports existence, that runs like a thread and makes the existence a garland.

Prasenjit was a man of logic, well-educated, sophisticated. He was a little bit puzzled. He asked Buddha, “Excuse me, Sir, but you say to people, ‘Be a light unto yourself,’ and then they surrender to you, and they touch your feet – you don’t prevent them. This is illogical, this is contradictory. If you say ‘Be a light unto yourself,’ then there is no need to surrender to anybody else. Then why should they touch your feet?”

And Buddha laughed and he said, “They are not my feet, and they are not surrendering to me – because there is nobody inside me as the ego who can claim. I am just an excuse – they are surrendering. It is not a surrender to me; it is simply a surrender – I am just an excuse. Because they are not yet capable of surrendering without any excuse, I allow them to use me as an excuse. But there is nobody to whom they are surrendering.”

That’s exactly the meaning of a Buddha: one who is not; in the sense of an ego, one who is not.

Osho, Fish in the Sea Is Not Thirsty, Ch 2, Q 3

Series compiled by Shanti
All excerpts of this series can be found in: 1001 Tales
Featured image, Buddham Sharanam Gacchami, by Ajay Ramesh (commons.wikimedia.org)