Would you consider yourself a Buddha?

BeachHouseGuy

,

Jeffrey

no,

shanyin

if was one

MindGate

Um... no? Is this a trick question or something?

genkaku

Ikkyu Sojun, the eccentric yet highly-trained Zen monk, was once quoted as saying, "I am not a Buddha. I am just an ordinary fellow who understands things."

aMatt

I doubt that a buddha would consider its self.

Dandelion

Absolutely! We're all Buddha's. Some of us are just not 'awakened'; I am not awakened.
http://www.intrex.net/chzg/Pat2.htm

genkaku

I am not awakened -- Dandelion

@Dandelion -- Who but the awakened could make such a statement without being a liar?

Dandelion

The awakened. So, the awakened and myself can both say we are not awakened and not be liars - i'm at least in good company with those that are awakened, if only for one brief sentence!!

Mountains

Absolutely! We're all Buddha's. Some of us are just not 'awakened'

Prezactly.

federica

We might all be Buddhas. But we're also all Maras.

ThailandTom

nope

Floating_Abu

He had the impression that he knew this person, but just forgot his name. When that person had come very close, he recognized him as Mara. You know Mara? Mara is the one who had caused the Buddha a lot of difficulties. The night before the Buddha attained final enlightenment, Mara was there to tempt him. Buddha was tempted by Mara. Mara is the tempter. He always wanted the Buddha to be a politician, to be a king, or a president, or a foreign minister, or running a business, having a lot of money, a lot of beautiful women; and he was always trying to tempt the Buddha so that Buddha would go into these directions. That is Mara.

Ananda saw Mara approaching. He felt uncomfortable. Why should Mara come at this time? But Mara saw him already—Ananda could not hide himself—so he had to stand there and wait for Mara and they had to say things like, “Hello, how do you do?” People say that even if they don't like each other. They say, “Hello, good morning, how are you,” and so on. They don't mean it. Then they come to the real thing: “What are you here for Mara?" “I want to visit the Buddha,” Mara said, “I want to see him.” Ananda said, “Why should you want to see the Buddha? I don't think the Buddha has time for you.”

You know when the head of a corporation or a director of an office doesn’t want to see you she says, “Go and tell him I am in conference.” And Ananda was about to say something like that, but he remembered that he had to practice the Five Precepts and could not tell a lie. So he refrained from saying that the Buddha is in conference. He was frank. He said, “Mara, why should the Buddha see you? What is the purpose and are you not ashamed of yourself? Don't you remember that in the old days, under the Bodhi tree, you were defeated by the Lord? How could you bear seeing him again? I don't think that he will see you. You are the enemy of the Buddha,” and Ananda continued to say what was really in his heart.

You know Mara was very aware, a very experienced person. He just stood there and looked at the young Venerable Ananda and smiled. After Ananda finished, he said, “What did you say Ananda, you said the Buddha has an enemy?” Then Ananda felt very uncomfortable to say that the Buddha had an enemy. That did not seem to be the right thing to say, but he just said it. He said, “I don't think that the Buddha will see you, you are his enemy,” So if you are not very concentrated, very deep, very mindful, you may say things like that against yourself, against what you know and what you practice. When Mara heard Ananda say that he is the enemy of the Buddha, he burst out laughing and laughing and laughing, and that made Ananda very uncomfortable. “What, you’re telling me that the Buddha also has enemies?"

So finally Ananda was defeated, completely defeated. He had to go in and announce the visit of Mara, hoping that the Lord would say, “I have no time for him, I need to continue sitting.” But to his surprise, the Buddha smiled beautifully and said, “Mara, wonderful! Ask him to come in.” That surprised Ananda. Remember Ananda was young with not a lot of experience. All of us are Ananda, you know. So Ananda had to go out again and bow to Mara and ask him to come in because the Lord wanted Mara to be his guest.

The Buddha stood up, and guess what? The Buddha did hugging meditation with Mara. Ananda did not understand. The Buddha invited Mara to sit on the best place in the cave—a stone bench. And he turned to his beloved disciple and said, “Ananda, please make tea for us.” You might guess that Ananda was not entirely happy. Making tea for the Buddha—yes. He could do that 1,000 times a day. But making tea for Mara was not a very pleasant idea. But since the Lord had asked, Ananda went into a corner and began to make tea for them and tried to look deeply, why things were like that.

- Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh

Mara and the Buddha - Embracing Our Suffering

Floating_Abu

The awakened. So, the awakened and myself can both say we are not awakened and not be liars - i'm at least in good company with those that are awakened, if only for one brief sentence!!

He is suggesting, I think, for you to clarify that.

Floating_Abu

We might all be Buddhas. But we're also all Maras.

No we are not.

taiyaki

one cannot be a buddha. for that asserts a subject/object duality.

one can say there is only buddha. for that is the non dual assertion prior to inference of a subject.

all things lack a permanent essence, are impermanent, thus totally unsatisfying. not only that everything appears and disappears with no where, here, or why. everything spontaneously is self aware, ungraspable, interdependent, and vividly luminous.


so what does that all mean? if you sit in meditation, everything changes. try it.

but the comment about mara is correct as well. we are all born stupid. this original ignorance is infinite, in that we all have the inherent stupidity to assert duality, grasp, and to assert inherency.

thus the path is the purify and to awaken. to awaken is to see all things are already perfect. to purify is to work in relationship with that which prevents the correct seeing.

so no i don't consider myself a buddha. but there is only buddha.

IronRabbit

So, I am a potential buddha, with clever mara tendencies, neither of which are seen clearly. Sort of makes me a stupid asshole with just enough awareness to forgive myself a little bit. So, yeah, but no, but yeah, but no..........

taiyaki

Always forgive yourself. Always move with loving kindness.

Always be compassionate to yourself.

Naturally you'll let go and accept reality.

federica

We might all be Buddhas. But we're also all Maras.

No we are not.

Why not?

ginab

Always forgive yourself. Always move with loving kindness.

Always be compassionate to yourself.

Naturally you'll let go and accept reality.

Thank you taiyaki, my practice took a leap forward with this!

searchingone

I believe any human has the potential to awaken, just some choose to sleep

charirama

Sometimes when I dream I believe that I am in an unpleasant situation - until I wake up.

Since Buddha is "one who is awake" I think we must wake up to realize our Buddha nature.

So we are Buddha and we are not yet Buddha.

genkaku

The Zen teacher had a good sentiment whose words I cannot remember exactly. Roughly they were:

"Stop running around pestering others."

Tosh

Because of my A.A. work, I was recently called a 'Front Line Boddhisatva' by a Buddhist.

My ego really liked that, and that's a little more humble than being a Buddha, don't you think?

seeker242

I doubt that a buddha would consider its self.

Zero

Whether you do or not, it doesnt change the absolute, unconditioned nature of things...

caz

Nope

driedleaf

We can all be Buddha-like if we wanted to. But we are far from reaching the stature of the Tathagata.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn22.058.than.html

Gui

This question is unanswerable, or maybe un-ponderable is a better description. It just doesn't fit into the equation on so many levels.

SeaOfTranquility

Buddhist monk and scholar speaks about happiness and becoming Buddha.

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/lang/en//id/130

DharmaField

The Buddha is a historical figure whom we "know" through an mix of myth and record. To be a Buddha today is impossible as it would mean being somebody who could be identified as somewhat similar to this historical/mythical person - but in the context of a contemporary secular world and given the original Buddha's historical legacy would mean something that is simply impossible to achieve. There never really was nor ever will be another "world honoured one" or Buddha - like the one in the suttas. So, the question transforms to something like would you consider yourself enlightened, many of the answers above and in other discussions address this. Personally, I find that trying to be some/one/thing else is a step in wrong direction, when you really find/lose yourself - you will be making tea for whomever comes, including Mara, who you may playfully chide before his/her hand gets too far up your leg and mindfully redirect the conversation away from the faults of others, etc., without being a bore. You will notice how Mara tends to only talk about her/himself, but you will smile, inwardly knowning that tendancy of mind is also within you - as is Mara, as is the Buddha.