Originally posted by sinweiy:
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.
There's another interesting story, about how Ananda became
enlightened. Ananda was the only one left at the time of the first
council of Buddha's own disciples who didn't become an arhat. He
was Buddha's attendant. He heard every word that Buddha taught, and
memorized them all, but he didn't meditate much because he was too
busy. Some time after Buddha's death, there was a meeting of all
the arhats, but since Ananda wasn't an arhat he couldn't go. So he
kept meditating, trying at the last minute to become enlightened,
and it got to be midnight, 2, 3 o'clock in the morning of the first
council of Buddhist arhats, but still he couldn't make it, even
though he was the repository of all of Buddha's words. All the
other arhats wanted him to go, but he couldn't since he wasn't an
arhat. Finally it got to be 3:45 in the morning, 15 minutes before
the 4:00 wakeup call. Finally, [b]Ananda just gave up and
said, "Oh ********, I'm not an arhat." Then he got enlightened,
because he saw things as they were. It was the end of the struggle.
No more trying to become an arhat, and he became an arhat. Many
Buddhist traditions teach this story. That says something to me. It
eloquently speaks to being yourself, rather than to mere doing and
self-improvement. It expresses clear vision, seeing things just as
they are, rather than as we'd like them to be. It is a lovely,
timeless story.
When I visited the place where that occurred, near Vulture's Peak,
I was very moved and inspired. I felt, "I am just me, and I can
afford to be just as I am. It's OK! Thanks, gentle Ananda, for your
teaching and inspiration."
--Teaching by Surya Das.
/\[/b]
Thanks for sharing. Although the message carries invaluable
advice, it is important not to mistake "seeing things just as they
are as "not forcing oneself to be more than what one is . Such
growing wisdom of teaching us how to deal with ourselves does not
make Ananda an Arhat.
In my opinion, it will be more advisable to think that Ananda is
pondering over a question similar to what Buddha had taught Bahiya
in Bahiya Sutta that in hearing, just the heard. Ananda struggled
hard to penetrate the profound teaching of Buddha, the meaning of
Anatta. He finally realized the truth of anatta thereby freeing
himself from artificial struggle. There is no Ananda to attain
Arhatship. In hearing, it is truly only just sound, no hearer.
Always so regardless of ones depth of understanding, anatta
remains a dharma seal, effortlessly so!
My 2 cents. 
