It is wonderful to get teachings based on the stories of the Buddha’s life. There is so much richness in it. There are certain points in his story that kind of haunt me, that I go back and think about again and again.

One of those points is about the relationship between Siddhārtha (who later becomes the Buddha) and his two meditation teachers. That is really a fascinating point in the story for me — once the prince left the palace, he was clear that he wanted to pursue an understanding and overcome suffering. That was his intent, and he met a meditation teacher who took him to great levels of concentration. So much so that Siddhārtha surpassed him, and he was invited to stay and be the co-teacher of that community. But prince Siddhartha, who was on his way to becoming a Buddha, was very clear about what his intention was, and he was not in any way distracted by that invitation. It was like, “Thank you very much for the offer, but on I go.”

Then he met the second meditation teacher who, again, took him to very deep levels of meditation that might have even seemed like liberation to the teacher because the afflictions were so suppressed. But Siddhārtha knew this was not the end goal. And even though he was once again invited to stay and co-lead that community, he chose not to do it. Fortunately for us, he continued his journey and achieved his ultimate goal, which is how we got his great teachings.

Two things stand out for me. First, he was so clear about what his goal was that he was not in the least bit distracted by the invitation to do something slightly off the course. The second thing that haunts me is that after he achieved his awakening, he saw that some people might understand what he was talking about. The first two people he thought of were the teachers who had taught him meditation, but both had recently passed away. So that opportunity to learn from him was completely gone. How do we recognise, know and discern what a real opportunity is? The Buddha could have gone off to co-lead a community and hold off attaining enlightenment in a future life, but the Buddha did not do that.

At the same time, I could see how easy it would be to think, “Oh well, the Abbey is there, Venerable Chodron is there, they are always going to be there, I’m not quite ready yet to be ordained maybe someday in the future I’ll go there.” I can see the window of opportunity close. I was talking to one nun the other day who told me her story about coming to the Abbey. She said, “There is something else you should know. I’ve seen several situations where the person had the right circumstances for ordaining but the window of opportunity closed before she took it. And it never came again.”

“365 Gems of Wisdom” e-book is out now!