How Does Buddha Calculate Your Age?

Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 17:17

Buddha measured the age of people different from the way ordinary people did.

An emperor named Prasenjita sat at the feet of Buddha asking different questions to the master. An old man intervened and asked Prasenjita, “Kindly forgive me. I am waiting to take the blessings of the enlightened one. I have to leave before sunset and reach the next village. I just want to touch His feet and ask if He has any message for me"

The old man bent forward and touched Buddha's feet.
The enlightened one asked, “How old are you?"
“Four," said the old man!

Prasenjita was taken aback. He could not contain his curiosity. He asked the man, “What? You seem to be seventy five years of age and you say you are four?"
Buddha turned to Prasenjita and said, “Prasenjita in my commune the age is calculated in a much different way. It is true that he is only four years old!"

Buddha continued as Prasenjita looked at the master in surprise, “I take into account only the days that a person has spent in enlightenment. The years before enlightenment are a mere waste. They are meaningless days. So the days spent in ignorance are not counted. This man has been in the enlightened state only for the last four years. Hence according to me he is only four years old though he is seventy five if counted normally"
Buddha said, “I asked his age because I wanted to know if he remembered"

Buddha then sent the man with His blessings.
Osho says that millions of lives passed in ignorance just evaporates as if like a dream in the awake of enlightenment.