Being a Lamp Unto Yourself

Note: This part of the story of the life of the Buddha picks up as he is approaching his final transition. His attendant, Ananda, is grieving that Buddha will soon be leaving the world.

“No, Master, but who will teach us when you have gone?” said Ananda.

The Buddha replied, “Oh! Ananda, have I taught you so long that you do not understand what I have so often said, that you must be lamps to your Selves? Make of your Self a refuge, the Self which is within, within the fathom-long body, as I have many times said. Seek for no external refuge. Hold fast to the Dharma as to a lamp; search not for any other lamp. What is Dharma, you must find for yourself.”

“But how, Master, can I who am so stuipd, find that refuge, that lamp within myself?”

The Master, disregarding his words, replied, “For you, Ananda, what is needed is mindfulness. Not to you need I say, as to others, that your thoughts and words and deeds should be charitable and kindly, for I think, Ananda, that never has unkindly word been upon your lips, nor unloving thought within your mind, and truth and selfless endeavour have been ever before you. But, Ananda, if you would overcome that grief that arises from your sensations and affections, you must learn to be mindful always, conscious of when a thought or feeling arises. Stand apart from it and examine it, and you will find that such thought or feeling is due to an attachment of the individual self, and is not the Deathless Self. Make for yourself a refuge of the [Deathless] Self, Ananda, not of me, nor of affection for this decaying body and mind of ‘me.'”

from Footprints of Gautama The Buddha