by David Michelson
Content Development & Online Program Manager,
Open Gate Sangha
In 1997, I was meditating in a ten-day silent retreat in Bodhgaya, India, the holy place where the Buddha realized enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. The retreat was quite a memorable experience for my first silent retreat.
First of all, the building in which we stayed and meditated was under construction. Despite the western teacher’s best attempt to negotiate that there would be no construction during the retreat, somehow that communication didn’t seem to land—each day we sat through periods of jackhammering on the building itself. Imagine what it would be like to try to be in total silence and stillness amidst the racket of a loud jackhammer and a shaking building. In hindsight, this made for good meditation practice in dealing with the noise of the mind.
More importantly, however, prior to the retreat I had read many books that explored the core teaching in Buddhism regarding anatta, or non-self. As I had read, all of Buddhism could be boiled down to four words, “No self, no problem.” While I had gained some understanding of this prior to the retreat, it wasn’t exactly my direct experience—especially when a jackhammer was going off while I meditated.
During the retreat, I reflected quite a bit on this notion of no-self. One day, I was meditating and my mind was noodling on this when a story came to me like a vision, sort of like a download from the cosmos. Little did I know, it would become part of “my” journey toward seeing through the separate “me.”
Here’s the story:
A woman who lived at the time of the Buddha desperately wanted to be enlightened. She had approached the few supposed masters in her remote village for teachings, but none were able to help her realize enlightenment.
One day she heard there was someone named the Buddha who was the most enlightened person in the region. When she learned that he was coming toward her village, she ran out along the path from her village until she saw a man walking gracefully in her direction.
She ran towards the man and stopped four paces in front of him. He looked at her, and without adjusting his stride, he silently and gracefully walked around her, continuing down the path.
The woman grunted, ran back in front of the man, and again stood four paces in front of him. Once again, he looked at her, and without adjusting his stride, he silently and gracefully walked around her, continuing down the path.
Completely frustrated, and at the end of her rope, she ran back around him, stood four paces in front of him, and yelled, “Stop!”
The man stopped.
“Are you the Buddha?” she asked.
“That’s what they call me,” he responded.
“I want to be enlightened!” she demanded.
The Buddha looked at her, glanced down the path behind her, looked at her, glanced down the path behind her, and said, “You’re in the way.” He gracefully walked around her, continuing down the path.
In that moment, the woman awoke.
