THE RICHNESS OF THE BUDDHA

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

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December 10, 2007

THE RICHNESS OF THE BUDDHA

When the Buddha attained enlightenment, he went around the cities and
collected small pieces of cloth that were thrown away by other
people. Apparently, he was a good seamstress, so he sewed all those
little squares of cloth together, and he made a monastic garment out
of them. And it came out beautifully, wonderfully. People remarked,
"Look! Who is that person, that well-dressed, well-clad person?"
That's where the tradition of sewing monastic robes out of small
pieces of cloth came from. Buddha demonstrated that kind of richness,
power, and strength. It was not a question of having expensive cloth
sewn together, but it was the way the robe was worn, the way it
looked. So richness is not purely a result of dollars and cents, or
as they used to say in England, LSD, pounds, shillings, and pence.
When a person is worthy of wealth, he has it; he embodies it.

From "Regarding Money as Mother's Milk," an address at a business
conference, June 19, 1981. Unpublished transcript.

All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo and used
by permission.