77 The Appearance of a Buddha
It was evening and we had been sitting in meditation for a while when the vehicle was heard approaching. Others, better informed than I, got up and started preparing the hall – obviously someone important was coming. When everything was clear we stood expectantly to one side, all eyes on the door and the darkness beyond.
First of all a couple of monks came in, and then following an extraordinary creature appeared out of the night, taller than a human being and horribly malformed; he hobbled in, leering and smiling as he came. He made his way over to a seat that had been made ready for him, and collapsed in a dishevelled heap, like a bag of assorted bits that had been fortuitously thrown together. We all got down on our knees and worshipped this creature from another world, and as we were sitting back up he started to speak.
The language he used was not quite familiar but I could tell by the few words and names I could make out – and indeed by his whole bearing – that things of great moment were being announced. After a while one of his assistants started booming a translation – and what he had to say was quite stunning:
“I have come to bring you good news: a Buddha has arisen in the world...”
I was amazed, a Fully Enlightened One has appeared, thought I, and a celestial being has come to tell me!
“...my friends, there are many millions of creatures on this planet, and you are indeed fortunate to be found not in animal, but in human form...”
...I must have done something right at some time, and now at last I’m going to be able to meet a Buddha...
“...it is just as well that we have been preparing ourselves by living a virtuous life, and practising meditation...”
...I wonder where this Buddha is? O God, I hope he’s not too far away, else my health will never stand the journey...
“...we mustn’t under any circumstances let this opportunity pass us by...”
...well I’ll just have to make the effort wherever he is…
It went on like this for quite a time, and I must admit that different thoughts crossed my mind, like: I hope he doesn’t think he’s a Buddha; and, maybe he’s just crazy anyway. Looking around I couldn’t understand how people were taking it all so coolly; I tried to catch the eye of a friend who was sitting opposite to find out what his reaction was, but he was intent on the speaker, as were all the rest, but for some reason nobody appeared particularly excited.
After a long time as the discourse continued, the truth began to dawn on me, I was crushed – he meant the old Buddha, the one who had died 2500 years ago! At the same time that it became clear that there was no new Buddha, the messenger also underwent a kind of transformation and resolved himself into a very old, bent, and haggard monk whose picture I had seen on the wall many a time, but which had failed to prepare me for the reality of his appearance in the world. Eventually the talk ended and the motley collection of parts reassembled itself into a standing posture and shuffled off in much the same manner that he had entered 45 minutes earlier, leaving us all a little wiser, if not in quite the way he had intended.
It lay on the table
like an angel from hell,
come to speak of all the
corruption to be found
in the lower regions.
It spoke of hate and greed,
of war and oppression,
of sexual perversion,
of knowledge misused,
of dissent and riot.
It lived, as was clear,
on the conflicts of others,
it grew fatter, more gross,
in each year of its life;
an ugly reminder
of how base life can be
when lived without love,
without truth or compassion,
when dread and division
are the rule of the day.
From start until finish
it seemed that the fiend
was calculated to cause
maximum pollution
in the minds of mankind.
For a very long time
I knew not what to do
with this loathsome creature;
but eventually I saw
that to bury it was best.
So I took it outside
and I dug up the ground,
and I hope and I pray
that it may rot away
and the memory’s forgot.
What was it, you might ask,
that was so very vile,
that was here for a while
with the odour of fear
and the stench of foul death?
It was a common thing
I am sorry to say,
you may see one today
it’s even possible
there’s one near you now
– a news magazine.