If buddhism is a philosophy comprehended by intellect and
reasoning, this monk certainly could not have attained
enlightenment:
From a Teaching by Surya Das:
One of my favorite stories is about the Arhat Chunda. He was
quite stupid. When his brother became a monk, Chunda just wanted to
do what his brother did. So he went to Ananda, Buddha’s attendant.
But holy Ananda said, “Sorry. You’re too stupid.” Ananda thought
this kid was too stupid to become a monk because he couldn’t
remember the rules, the chants, the teachings. So the elder brother
and his stupid little brother went to the Buddha, for the Buddha
was extremely wise, kind, and compassionate. He scanned the past
lives of this young, stupid boy, Chunda. He saw in there one tiny
root of merit that could help him get enlightened. He said it
didn’t matter how dull-minded he was. It didn’t matter that he
couldn’t memorize anything. It didn’t matter if he could remember
even one rule. The Buddha said to Ananda, “Ananda, you’re not the
Buddha, so you couldn’t see that this kid can get enlightened. But
I’m the Buddha and I’m going to ordain him because he can get
enlightened. He has one good root of merit from a past life. He can
do it, too. Watch over this little child.” (This story always
brings tears to my eyes.)
So Buddha ordained the kid. The kid couldn’t remember even one
rule, or how to wear his robes. You know, it’s complicated to be a
monk. All the monks were studying and memorizing. There were a lot
of teachings. There were 253 rules of monastic ordination. But the
stupid, youthful Chunda couldn’t remember anything.
Finally, the brethren gave him the job of cleaning off the
sandals of the monks. Chunda cleaned the sandals while the other
monks were getting teachings. Since there weren’t any books in
those days, 2500 years ago in India, nothing was written down; the
monks had to memorize the teachings. Chunda wanted to practice like
the other monks, and get this enlightenment thing he heard about
every day. So he asked the Buddha how he could get this
enlightenment thing. The Buddha said, “When you’re scraping mud and
sweeping the floors, just think, ‘Now I am purifying all the
obscurations of the mind.’” So he gave him a little two-line verse.
“With each cleaning of the sandals, I am cleaning off the
obscurations of the shining, perfect mind.” The Buddha asked him to
repeat it. He repeated it. The Buddha said, “Can you remember
that?” He said, “Yes.”
Then dumb Chunda went out and tried to repeat the verse. “With
each scraping of the dirt, I am cleaning…” And he couldn’t remember
it. But he had good karma and had gentle Ananda around to remind
him of the verse. Still, Chunda forgot again. Then Sariputra the
learned came out, and Chunda asked him to remind him. Finally, the
Buddha came back and said to Chunda, “Are you cleaning the
sandals?” He said, “Yes.” Buddha asked, “Are you cleaning the dust
off the floor?” Chunda said, “Yes.” And Buddha asked, “Have you
cleaned the obscurations off the shining, perfect mind?” Suddenly
Chunda was enlightened! He realized that the sandals with the dirt
are still the sandals. The floor even with the dust is still the
floor. Everything is just as it is. He became an arhat, a fully
liberated sage.
In those days, wherever the Buddha went, the people would always
try to serve lunch, the main meal of the day, to him and the
arhats. They thought if they gave Buddha lunch they would get the
most merit, and if they gave the arhats lunch they would get almost
as much merit. But if they couldn’t catch any arhats, they would
feed the ordinary monks and get a little less merit. Everyone knew
how stupid Chunda was, and they didn’t believe he was an
enlightened arhat. But wherever Buddha went, he saved a seat for
Chunda, because he said he was the purest-minded, least proud
arhat. Purest-minded because he didn’t know anything. And least
proud because he was so simple, so humble, so undemanding and easy
to be with.
Unfortunately, we are not that stupid. We know too much. Or
should I say, we think so much, we know so little. If we could just
be ourselves, and take the path that is genuinely for us, it would
be so easy. Imagine if Chunda was trying to become a Buddhist
scholar, he never would have gotten enlightened. But he was content
to clean the monks’ shoes because he loved his brother and Buddha
and the other monks. And it had to be done, so he did it. And he
had a little teaching, a little verse that fit into that. That’s
why Thich Nhat Hanh gives everybody a little verse. He has a little
verse for eating, for waking up, for toilet, for going to sleep,
because one little verse can be enough to fully awaken you to the
fullness and richness of the present moment.
Spiritual life has nothing to do with how smart you are. In
fact, being smart can be an obstacle. You can become proud and have
more clutter in your brain.