A story of Love...

 A story of Love...

Ánanda was the cousin of the Buddha. One day he was going on the alms round. He stopped at a well because he was thirsty in order to ask for some water. Sitting by the well was a young woman called Matanga. She belonged to the Dalit class, the untouchable caste. The higher castes would not touch her or come near to her on the path because they thought she would pollute them. When the higher castes are going on the road and they see an untouchable, the Dalit keeps away so not to be beaten because the higher castes don't want to be polluted. And when Ánanda asked for water, she said, "No, I can't give it to you because I am an untouchable and it will pollute you." And Ánanda said, "In our teaching, there is not a caste division and the Buddha has told us that we are all equal, and therefore you can give me water, I won't be polluted, so don't be afraid." Matanga was very happy. She lifted the water with a ladle and gave it to him to drink. He joined his palms and thanked her and went home. But after that Matanga started to fall in love with him. She couldn't sleep, she couldn't eat, because she kept seeing Ánanda, how beautiful, how good, how kind he was. Matanga was very beautiful. Her father had passed away she lived with her mother. And when her mother saw she couldn't sleep or eat for many weeks, she asked why. The girl wept and said because she is always thinking about Ánanda. And because the mother loved her daughter very much, she did her best to help her daughter. So they decided together to invite Ánanda to come and to make offerings to him. And one day they met Ánanda as he was going on the alms round, and they invited him to come to them so they could make offerings. And when he came into the house, they gave him a bowl of tea. But that tea was made of a kind of herb, which would take away our clarity when we drank it. 

And if we lack our clarity, we can do things we don't want to do. 

When Ánanda had drunk this tea, he felt he had made a mistake and he didn't know how he was going to put it right. When he saw what had happened, he knew that he had to practice. So he didn't say anything, he didn't do anything. He sat in the cross-legged position, and he began to follow the practice of following his breathing because he knew he was in a very dangerous position. And the Buddha was in the Jeta Grove and wondered why Ánanda had not returned. So he ordered two other monks to go and look for Ánanda. 

And the other two monks were able to find Ánanda sitting in meditation in the house of Matanga. They led him back to the Jeta Grove Monastery. And they saw Matanga weeping so they also brought her back to the monastery. When Ánanda came back to the monastery the effect of the tea was already wearing off, and he prostrated to the Buddha, and he thanked the Buddha for sending the two monks to send him back because it could have been very dangerous if they hadn't. And then Matanga came in, and the Buddha asked Matanga to sit down. And he said, "Do you love Ánanda so much?" And Matanga said, "Yes, I love him very much." And Buddha said, "What do you love in Ánanda? Do you love his eyes or his nose?" "I love his eyes, I love his nose, I love his ears, I love his mouth, I love everything. Everything to do with Ánanda, I love. I think I cannot live if I don't have Ánanda." She was a very beautiful girl although she belonged to the untouchable caste. She was quite naive too; she was about 18 or 19 years old. The Buddha said, "There are many things in Ánanda which you have not seen and which you would love even more if you could see them." And she said, "What?" And Buddha smiled and said, "Like Ánanda's love, like Ánanda's bodhicitta. All you've seen is eyes, nose, ears, mouth. As a young man, he has given up his life in a wealthy family in order to become a monk, with the aim of helping many people. 

Ánanda could never be happy with one or two people because that happiness is so small. That is why he became a monk. He wants to be able to help many, many people. He has a mind of great equality. He wants to love, but not love one person. He wants to love thousands and thousands of people. And that bodhicitta of Ánanda is very beautiful; if only you could see it you would love Ánanda even more. And once you had seen that you wouldn't want to make Ánanda your own anymore. You would respect Ánanda, and you would do everything you could to help Ánanda realize his deep aspiration as a monk, to help him realize the bodhicitta. Ánanda is like a cool breeze in the air, and if you love that cool breeze in the air and you want to put it into a small box and put the lid on and turn the key, then you will not have that cool breeze in the air anymore. Ánanda is like a cloud floating in the sky, the blue sky, very beautiful. 

If you want to catch that cloud and put it in a box and turn the key, then you will kill Ánanda, because you have only seen the things about Ánanda, which are not the most beautiful things. You have not seen the most beautiful things about Ánanda. If you were to see them you would love him more, and you would love him in a way, which would help him be Ánanda, just as you can help a cloud be a cloud floating in the beautiful blue sky. Don't think that Ánanda is the only one who has that beautiful aspiration. You are the same. You have that beauty too. You can also live like Ánanda if you really love Ánanda and you are able to see the bodhicitta of Ánanda. You will be able to return to yourself and see you have the bodhicitta in yourself, and you can vow to Ánanda that you will live in such a way not just to make one person happy but to make many people happy."

When Matanga heard that, she was very surprised. She said, "I don't have any worth. I belong to the lowest caste. I cannot make anybody happy." He said, "Yes, you have already done it. 

You already have that beautiful, good and true in yourself. Everyone has that. And if we return, and we are able to be in touch with that basic goodness, truth and beauty in ourselves we will have faith in it, and we will know that we can make happiness for many people." And when she heard that, she said, "Is that really so? Can I really do the same as Ánanda? Can I really leave the family life, become a nun and help thousands of people like Ánanda?" And the Buddha said, "Yes, why not? If you can be in touch with the true, good and beautiful in you, and you give rise to the bodhicitta you will be like Ánanda, you will be able to do like Ánanda and bring happiness to many people. " Her insight was opened by the Buddha, and she touched the earth before the Buddha, and she asked to become a nun under a Bhiksunis so that she could do like Ánanda, so that her love could open up and become wide, become measureless. From then on Matanga was accepted into the Bhiksunis Sangha which was led by Maha Gautami