Buddhas’ reminiscence

Sometimes we can learn things by reading what participants write in Daoist Forums. It is made more interesting when students of other doctrines or religions contribute their understanding and insights on cultivation. There will also be times when the exuberant remarked on spiritual matters probably beyond their understanding. For example, how would we know that, and I quote a statement made by a participant who intends to study Zen Buddhism, “Two Buddhas, two awakened ones, have very little to say to each other”?

Not many including esoteric Buddhists would know or like to predict what will happen when two Buddhas meet. Perhaps the following short story can tell the esoteric what actually happened on such an occasion.

A few years ago, I took an amulet of a Buddha to the Buddhist temple to be blessed by Buddha. While I was given the amulet several years ago, I had not worn it around the neck for a long time. It was time for the amulet to be blessed to ensure its protective power remains.

At the temple, a medium was already in a sitting meditation in front of the Buddha’s altar attending to a devotee. When my turn came, I handed the amulet to the medium for the blessing.

The medium looked at the amulet, rubbed it and tried very hard to recognize who it was within the plastic covering and metal frame. On recognizing who it was, the medium broke into a big smile and the Buddha within her said in Cantonese:

Oh it is you, (the name of the Buddha in the amulet)! How have you been? It has been a long time since we last seen each other.

Of course one could not hear the replies given by the Buddha in the amulet. (There was no medium for this divinity.) The two Buddhas seemed very happy and had an animated chat before they continued their discussion in Pali. The Buddhas must have reminiscence over old times spanning several centuries!

Thereafter the Buddha in the medium blessed my amulet with Buddhist mantras in Pali and handed it back to me.

To say that old friends (in this case, read Buddhas) when they meet have little to say to each other is utterly nonsense. Long may these friendships live!