Following the Footsteps

Our teacher, the Lord Buddha, was born on the bare earth under a Sala-tree in Lumbini. He was enlightened sitting on the bare earth with just a thin cushion of grass beneath, under the Bodhi-tree in Bodhgaya. He entered final nibbana lying down on the bare earth, under a Sala-tree, with merely his outer robe underneath. Nothing more than that. His whole life the Buddha spent on the earth and under trees. This tells us how withdrawn the Buddha’s life was. He didn’t get involved with using extravagant dwellings.

That he was able to realize the truth about the world of the mind is due to just this dwelling in seclusion. If we have never given it an honest try to live in places of seclusion, we shouldn’t just assume that we lack the opportunity to cultivate the wonderful qualities that the Buddha taught about. We should cut off the fetters in our hearts that bind us to seeking company, entertainment and a life of pleasure. We should maintain that it is an honour to frequent the kind of places of seclusion that the Buddha himself used with great results and recommended to all of us. And we should hold our being ascetics of the Sakiyan-clan in honour, through our wholehearted determination to act with honesty towards ourselves and towards other people. Then we will reach the fruits of the noble science of the mind, an unchanging truth. Our hearts will be liberated, free from slavery to anything in this world. We will experience a power mightier than the sciences of the physical world - a power that is capable of bringing the world to lasting peace and coolness.

This reflection by Luang Por Liem is from the book, Following the Footsteps of the Enlightened Beings, pp. 27-28.