One of his students asked Buddha, “Are you the messiah?”
“No”, answered Buddha.
“Then are you a healer?”
“No”, Buddha replied.
“Then are you a teacher?” the student persisted.
“No, I am not a teacher.”
“Then what are you?” asked the student, exasperated.
“I am awake”, Buddha replied.
July 24, 2008
July 29, 2008 at 11:38 pm
The ‘quote’ you give is a good example of people rewriting the Buddhist scriptures to fit their own particular agenda. The original from Anguttara Nikaya, II,37 reads – ‘Will you become (i.e in your next life) a god?…an angel?…a spirit?…a human?’ To which the Buddha answers ‘I am an Awakened One’ meaning that he has attained Nirvana and thus will not ‘become’ anything. Nothing about messiahs or healers. Read my posting on Misquoting the Buddha, April 12th.