Who are You?

During his reign as emperor of China, Emperor Wu of Liang (502–549 AD) embraced and promoted the golden age of Chinese Buddhism. He came to be seen as the Chinese counterpart of the Indian Buddhist Emperor Ashoka the Great. 

Bodhidharma, the first Zen patriarch of China, came to visit Emperor Wu around 520 AD.

The emperor told Bodhidharma, " I have built numerous temples and given financial support to the monastic community. Please tell me how much merit will I get for these deeds?"

Bodhidharma replied, "None whatsoever.You have not done anything out of piety nor out of wanting to do good. Pretending to do good you only wanted to purchase merit, but remember that merit cannot be purchased."

Furious and perplexed, the emperor asked Bodhidharma, "Who are you to tell me such things? I demand to know, who are you?'

Bodhidharma replied, "Your Majesty, I don't know."

What can be learnt from this great historical encounter?

'Know thyself and then be thyself'. 

Everyday we have people who do not know who they themselves are, telling others what to be or become. 

Even those who know a little about themselves are trapped in a state of confusion, trying to be someone else.

Who are we? 

We are nothing, but existence at play.

We are given a name, a religion, a country, a race, various official qualifications, a work title and finally a social title. In the end we will die to be relegated to the dustbin of existence, clueless about who we really are.

We know we are nothing, and we will remain nothing. Everything is given to us by others. All that is given to us will one day be taken away from us. 

So we create this delusional concept that we are something or someone, who is going to journey to some far away place, where we will be surrounded by sweet music, where angels dance for us, where rivers of alcohol flow. In paradise we will feast and dine on the most wonderful of foods and be attended to, by beautiful virgins who will ceaselessly fulfil our every sexual desire.

Somehow this ridiculous notion survives, and we ridiculously foolish humans, lap it up and swear by it.  So we will go out there, maim, kill, destroy for our place in this fantasy called heaven and 'paradise'.

Even as we know we are nothing, we believe so greatly in our puny intellect to analyse and discover the so called reason of our existence. 

The birds, the flowers and the animals never ask this question nor do the seasons, the sea, and win. They bestow unconditionally their wonderful grace and sometimes their awesome fury upon us.

Who are you? 

Spiritually speaking shorn of all those props and labels, you are merely another nobody, just like me. Someone who is on a journey from birth to death in a body that is perishing slowly by the moment.

Let us just, live and let live. Find harmony and balance between us and our world. To celebrate life, amongst its splendid wonders and bounty, and to die happily. 

If there is a paradise, heaven or a hell, it is here and now.

Did I tell you, I love you?

Once again as I embarked on a long journey, without my wife, I felt the pang of separation from my love and friend. I was filled with thoughts and emotions. 

When our being overflows with emotion it drives thoughts out of the mind emptying it, even if only for a brief moment. Then in this emptiness many thoughts surge in.

What if I never get to see her again? 
Its strange, that I have surrendered to Mohini, yet rather than becoming less I am further enriched, physically, emotionally and intellectually. This I guess is the power of love and friendship.


I always want to tell her that she means the world to me and I love her,  and a thousand other things. Words and thoughts which a man and woman, friends, and lovers  should be sharing with one another, but for some inexplicable reason almost never do so. 

Soon after leaving I usually sent her a message from my phone. The message could reflect care, love, regret, a joke, something romantic, advice, maybe even a reminder, whatever it is I feel at that moment. True friends and lovers never adulterate their feelings with too much thought. 

I asked myself, 'If you love her, why did you not tell her directly?'
For one my wife never believes me, after all the grief I give her. 
Secondly the last time I hugged and told her I loved her, , she spun around and confronted me, "Are you having an affair? "
"Of course not, I replied." 
I thought to myself, "By God! what a delightful thing that would be."  

______________________________

I like to converse with myself. 
Why do we seek to cling on to what we have? Maybe this is all that we have. 
There is God I am often told. 
But where is He?

God, He seems so very far away. The more I approach Him the more distant he seems to be. How many steps more must I travel to reach Him? And there are so many middle men.  My wife and my family, they are here and now. I have invested so much in these relationship, of course I have a right to expect a return on my love and devotion.

This is nonsense. If we expect something in return for our love and devotion then it's not love, its business. A commercial deal of give and take. 

Again I asked myself, 'what if I never saw her again?'  The survivor would be devastated. Really? Why should it be so?

From experience and understanding, realisation is born which blooms into acceptance.
Worry never robbed tomorrow of its sorrow, it just robs today of its essence.

We come alone into this world and alone we shall leave it.  How silly we humans are, that for the brief time we spend while we are here, to gather so much?  As if we will live here forever. Things, relationships, wealth, position, status, all we should relinquish voluntarily or they will be snatched away from us anyway.  Give and give with joy and without expectation. Share and share with compassion. 

Love is not a demanding but a giving. Only an Emperor can give with magnanimity. Where as a beggar is exacting, expecting his or her due in full, and if possible even more.  

Love and friendship fortunately are unlike money.
If we give and love unconditionally, the more we give the more we are enriched. 
Maybe I have evolved, maybe I have just grown too comfortable and lazy, maybe I am trying to fool destiny. I am lucky that I live like an emperor, I treasure just the moment, and I never send her sentimental messages anymore. 

Do you know who I am? Who are you?

During his reign as emperor of China, Emperor Wu of Liang (502–549 AD) embraced and promoted the golden age of Chinese Buddhism. He came to be seen as the Chinese counterpart of the Indian Buddhist Emperor Ashoka the Great. 

Bodhidharma, the first Zen patriarch of China, came to visit Emperor Wu around 520 AD.

The emperor told Bodhidharma, " I have built numerous temples and given financial support to the monastic community. Please tell me how much merit will I get for these deeds?".

Bodhidharma replied, "None whatsoever.You have not done anything out of piety nor out of wanting to do good. Pretending to do good you only wanted to purchase merit, but remember that merit cannot be purchased."

Furious and perplexed, the emperor asked Bodhidharma, "Who are you to tell me such things? Who are you?'

Bodhidharma replied, "Your Majesty, I don't know."

What can be learnt from this great historical encounter?

'Know thyself and then be thyself'.

Everyday we have people who do not know who they themselves are, telling others what to be or become. 

Even those who know a little about themselves are caught in a state of confusion, trying to be someone else.

_____________________

Who are we? 

We are nothing, but existence at play.

We are given a name, then a religion, then a country, then a race, then an official qualification, then a work title and finally a social title. In the end we will die to be relegated to the dustbin of existence, clueless about who we are.

We know we are nothing, and we will remain nothing. Everything is given to us by others. All that is given to us will one day be taken away from us. 

So we create this delusional concept that we are something or someone, who is going to journey to some far away place, where we will be surrounded by sweet music, where angels dance for us, and there rivers of alcohol flow. In paradise we will feast and dine on the most wonderful of foods and be attended to, by beautiful people who refuse us nothing physical or sexual. 

Somehow this ridiculous notion survives, and we ridiculously foolish humans, lap it up and swear by it.  So we will go out there, maim, kill, destroy for our place in this so called 'paradise'.

Even as we know we are nothing, we believe so greatly in our puny intellect to analyse and discover the so called reason of our existence. 

The birds, the flowers and the animals never ask this question nor do the seasons, the sea, and win. They bestow unconditionally their wonderful grace and sometimes their awesome fury upon us.

Who are you? 

Spiritually speaking, shorn of all those props and labels, you are merely another nobody just like me. Someone who is on a journey from birth to death in a body that is slowly perishing by the moment.

Let us just, live and let live. Find harmony and balance between us and our world. To celebrate life, amongst its splendid wonders and bounty, and to die happily. 

If there is a paradise, heaven or a hell, it is here and now.