Purity of Intention – Not The Show Of It Matters

One day on a Drukpa Tse Zhi, a pensive Buddha in heaven wondered if His devotees on earth remembered Him as He hoped that they would. He walked to the edge of the gate of heaven and looked down at the earth.

He was pleased that he was indeed alive in the minds of his millions of devotees on earth …. He gazed with immense satisfaction close to a billion butter lamps shimmering and lighting up the night sky.

As He was about to return to His abode, He noticed that one particular lamp burned with unusual brightness – brighter and more luminous than all the rest of over a billion butter lamps. He was intrigued – why is it so?

He shut his eyes and delved deep into His inner Buddha mind and, through His clairvoyance, He saw that the radiant light emanated from a lamp lit by a half-clad, aged lady with unkept grey hair. The butter lamp (Kaami Kom), fashioned out of clay was torn at the edges and was placed on a weathered piece of wooden plank. A look of sublime peace and serenity on her face, her hands folded – she knelt in front of the lamp and stood motionless – deep in prayer and veneration.

The Buddha delved deeper and it was revealed that the lady was so poor that she had no butter or oil to fire the lamp – instead she poured the remains of the oil with which she was oiling her hair, stuck a wick in the center of the clay Kaami Kom … and lit the Kaami (lamp).

Moved by the purity of her intentions, the Buddha in heaven too knelt on His knees and offered a prayer of thanks – that He had such true devotees on earth.

NOTE:

Few days back, I narrated this Buddhist parable to a friend who intended to spend Nu.80,000.00 to buy an ornate Choeshum for the prayer room. I explained that a carved and colorfully painted Choeshum will serve to feed one’s vanity – not enhance the wholesomeness of one’s prayers.

Drukpa Tse Zhi: Observed and celebrated as one of the most sacred days by the Buddhists in Bhutan, Lord Buddha is supposed to have delivered his first sermon after His enlightenment, at the Deer Park in Sarnath, India.