Week 2 Story: "The Buddha: Teacher of Gods and Men"

The Buddha: Teacher of Gods and Men

Statue of Gautama Buddha

     As was customary for Siddhartha, he headed back to his sleeping quarters by dusk to rest from a 

long and tedious day of leading and mingling with his multitude of disciples. He would rest for only a 

couple hours. Then, when all of his disciples were asleep, and surely nobody would disturb him, the 

gods would descend and manifest in young Siddhartha's quarters. 

     The gods would come to this youthful and humble man to be his Heavenly disciples just like those 

who were sleeping were Siddhartha's Earthly disciples. You see, the Buddha was a teacher of both 

gods and men. Different divinities came and went on different nights. Sometimes the whole pantheon 

squeezed in with Siddhartha, while other nights, one lonesome deity would come for his/her 

own individual purpose. Tonight, it was Sakra, ruler of the gods, who welcomed himself into 

Siddhartha's abode. He came with another divinity that Siddhartha was unfamiliar with. This 

particular being had a much less luminous glow than the other deities. 

Sakra: (Bows deep with hands folded) I am pleased to be in your presence once more my beloved 

     Buddha. Much thanks for leaving your domain open to my convenience. 

Siddhartha: The pleasure is mine, Sakra. I have nothing to fear so much as to not welcome it into my 

     home. (The Buddha goes silent and makes eye contact with Sakra's divine companion).

*If there was ever a person to make even gods forget their manners, it was young Siddhartha. 

Sakra: Ahem (clears throat) pardon me my Lord. This is a new student of mine, Yashun.

Yashun: (Steps in front of Sakra and bows deeply with hands folded) Pleased to be in your presence,   

     young Buddha. I have heard much of your likeness from my dear Master. (gestures back at Sakra)

Siddhartha: The pleasure is mine, Yashun. You are in good hands with Sakra. He knows well the 

     ways of the Dharma. 

Sakra: That is precisely the reason we came to you tonight, my dear Mentor. I am having trouble 

     existing in harmony with the Dharma and, resultantly, Yashun's progress has halted. 

Siddhartha: (Chuckles lightly) You think too strictly, my dear Sakra. Even for a god. Your troubles 

     come from your own rendering of what this Dharma is. You see, Dharma is not something that has 

     to be done. It simply is. With or without you. When you truly understand this, you know that there 

     are no strict standards required for you to harmonize with your piece of the Dharma. No matter 

     what you decide to do, it is only done because the action already is in accordance with your 

     Dharma nature. 

Sakra: With all due respect, my Teacher. It can't possibly be that simple, can it? What is there to strive 

     for if I am already harmonized with my own Dharma? 

Siddhartha: My dear Sakra. Your striving for something greater is not done in the name of reaching 

     your Dharma nature. It is done because of your Dharma nature. 

Sakra: So you're saying that I strive for this harmony, that I have falsely labeled Dharma, not out of 

     necessity but out of contingency? 

Siddhartha: You are correct, my divine student. For if it was necessary that you accomplish your aim, 

     it would have already been done. This is because necessary things must exist if they are to truly be 

     considered necessary. Your aim has not been accomplished. So obviously, it is not necessary. 

     Therefore, it is not Dharma because Dharma is necessary. 

Sakra: (Shakes head in shame) Then perhaps I have come here and asked a silly question, my Lord. 

     Perhaps, I shouldn't have asked how to become harmonized with my Dharma. Rather, a better 

     question is what am I to do with my Dharma?

Siddhartha: With all due respect, my dear student (*notice how Siddhartha shares a mutual respect   

     with his disciples) that question is, in essence, no different then your first inquiry. Notice that both 

     of your questions rely on this feeling that there is some goal that you must strive for and attain. I 

     tell you truly, if something is necessary, it is already done. Everything else is simply born out of 

     desire. 

Yashun: If I may inquire, my Buddha. Are we to shun desire? What are we to live for if we have 

     nothing to strive for? And what are we to strive for if we cannot desire anything? 

Siddhartha: That is quite a noble question, Yashun. Allow me to answer. The only thing you are to 

     desire, is the end of desire. Thus, the only thing to strive for, is the end of striving. Once you blow 

     out the flame of your desire, there is no more fire to be fed. Hence, there is no more craving nor is 

     there a need to be sustained by anything. 

Sakra: Yes, that was a very noble question, Yashun. I am proud to have such a great enquirer and 

     ambitious learner as my student. My Buddha, I fear what you said about dowsing the flames of our 

     desires. My beloved apprentice, Yashun, brought up an idea of momentous importance. That is, if 

     we stop striving, we have nothing to live for. Hence, we will have nothing. Not even ourselves. If 

     we are to stop striving for anything, even our very existence, then that is to suggest that we are of 

     no importance. Nor is anything in existence. 

Siddhartha: My dear Sakra, there is a difference between importance and significance. We do not 

     exist to strive for importance, but rather, significance. Allow me to make this clearer through the 

     use of analogy. An adult is more significant than a child, yes? An adult is larger, stronger, sharper, 

     wiser, and more experienced than a child. Yet, if there were only enough food in a village to feed 

     the children, but not the adults, who do you say gets the food? Do the adults get the food because 

     they are more significant? No, my dear Sakra. You see, significance has an inverted relationship 

     with importance. The adults may be more significant then the children, but that makes the former 

     less important than the latter. The children are important because they are more feeble. They 

     require more nurture and care than the adults. So, the food should go to the children of the village. 

     Even if the adults starved, they would've already experienced a more significant life than the 

     children. If the adults lived, then they would be more able to nurture themselves back to full health 

     than the children would have been, had they survived the ordeal. Think of your godhood as a real 

     life manifestation of this analogy. Being a god makes you more significant than mortals. However, 

    you should realize that makes you less important than them. They do not worship you because you 

     use your power take from them, but because you use it to give to them. The strong, the wise,  

     and the able are of more significance but less importance than the weak, the foolish, and the     

     unable. Their flames of desire are more dowsed than those of the weak, the foolish, and the 

     unable. Hence, they need less sustenance. Therefore, it is of no importance for the strong, the 

     wise, and the able to help themselves. Their passion, which is in accordance with their Dharma, is 

     to help those who are more important. The weak, the foolish, and the unable. And they help them 

    so that, in turn, the weak, foolish, and unable may become the strong, wise, and able who will go 

     on to help the new strong, the new foolish, and the new unable. Thus is the turning of the Wheel 

     of Dharma. 

Yashun: (Smiles) We see clearly now my Lord. Your ways of explanation are indeed profound 

     beyond comparison. I am overjoyed to have come here. (Gets up and bows very deeply)

Sakra: I second my disciple. My Buddha, your wisdom is beyond compare. There is no value I can 

     place on it. I can only hope that my gratitude comes across to you as grand as it is in me. (Gets up 

     beside Yashun and bows just as deeply). 

Siddhartha: Your learning is enough payment for my teaching. Thank you. (Bows with eyes closed 

     while sitting)

     With that, Sakra and Yashun ascended up through the roof and vaporized into some far off reaches 

of the Heavens. After they were gone, Siddhartha sat peacefully and meditated for a few minutes. 

Then, he lay on his side and fell asleep. His meditative state was sustained, even while he was in the 

most blissful deep sleep. 

*Author's Note: I got the idea for this story from the Unruly Monks included in the Jatakas Anthology. My story was not at all based on that story. However, the spark for my idea came from the Buddha and the way in which he mentored people, animals, and gods. Yashun is not an actual deity nor did any gods in Buddhism have disciples. Yashun is an entirely made-up character. Also, some of these teachings that I emulated as coming from the Buddha are not actual words that the Buddha spoke. They are my own words that I have articulated to emulate what I thought would be a realistic version of the Buddha's wisdom based on his teachings of simplicity and living in the present without focus on desire. Sakra is a real god featured in Buddhist Jatakas stories and the Buddha was said to have actually taught the gods in his abode at night. Dharma is also a real Buddhist concept. The nature of how it is described in the story is my interpretation. 

Bibliography. "Unruly Monks" from the Jataka: Volume 1 translated by Robert Chalmers. Web Source