There was a man who was devoted to Buddha with all his heart. He had a beautiful old wooden statue of Buddha, a real masterpiece. He treated her like her greatest treasure.
One cold winter night, he was left alone in a thatched hut. It was bitterly cold. The man was shaking in despair from the cold. It looked like his death hour was approaching. There wasn't a wood chip to start the fire.
They say that at midnight, when he was trembling and almost numb, Buddha appeared before him and asked:
- Why don't you burn me?
The wooden statue still stood against the wall. The man was very scared. “It must be the devil,” he thought.
- What did you say? Burn a Buddha statue? Never! No way!
Buddha laughed and said:
“If you see me in a statue, you are missing me.” I am in you, not in the statue. I am not in the subject of prayer, the object, I am in the one praying. And it is I who tremble in you! Burn the statue!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru