Bonus Track #4: From the Mouth of a Thousand Buddhas: "You're Not For You"

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Have you ever stumbled upon wisdom in the most unexpected place? That moment when profound truth arrives from a source you'd never anticipate?

A simple gift exchange led to one of the most meaningful spiritual insights I've received. After attempting to thank a friend in my limited Spanish, I turned to a translation app to decipher her response. What appeared on my screen wasn't what she intended to say, but something far more profound: "You're not for you." Those four simple words stopped me in my tracks.

This accidental wisdom perfectly articulated a fundamental spiritual principle—that our purpose extends beyond ourselves, that we exist not merely for our own benefit but for others. It challenged the individualistic mindset so prevalent in modern society and reconnected me to the interdependent nature of our existence. The phrase has become a treasured mantra I keep close to my heart.

This experience reveals something essential about wisdom itself. We often decide in advance whose words merit our attention, dismissing children for being too young or friends for being predictable in their views. But profound truth doesn't respect these boundaries. Among a thousand ordinary words from any source—sage or criminal, child or elder—one might carry extraordinary meaning. The Buddha can speak through anyone, if only we're truly listening.

I invite you to practice deeper listening in your own life. Pay attention to the people around you, to nature, to unexpected moments like mistranslations. You never know when someone might speak "with the mouth of a thousand Buddhas." What wisdom might you discover if you set aside your assumptions about where truth can be found? Share your own unexpected moments of insight and join our community of seekers who understand that sometimes, the most profound teachings arrive when we least expect them.

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Dr. Ruben Lambert can be found at wisdomspring.com

Ven. MyongAhn Sunim can be found at soshimsa.org

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to the place where you longed in.
Come home with Welcome toanother bonus track.

(00:43):
Recently, one of our membershad gone on a trip overseas,

(01:25):
begun on a trip overseas andbrought for me a splendid gift.
I missed her in person.
When she dropped it off, Ifound it waiting for me.
How splendid a surprise.
And so I texted her in myillustrious understanding and

(01:50):
proficiency in the Spanishlanguage.
I said I was partially jokingat my.
Well, not partially, I wasjoking.

(02:14):
My grasp of the Spanish languageis that of anybody who's rubbed
shoulder with anybody whospeaks the language.
Just the usual few pleasantries, perhaps a little song Pelón

(02:34):
pelonete, cabeza de puete A ponde la cachette, I think.
I think that's how it went.
The song, that is of theworkers of a restaurant at which

(02:55):
I worked for a bit, back of thekitchen.
You know how that goes.
And so in her response inSpanish, I was lost.
I had just about ran out of mywords in that little sentence

(03:21):
that I've eked out of myselfGracias para tu kindness.
I do must say that I capitalizethe tu.
Look at me, I think that isgrammatically correct.

(03:41):
Look at me, I think that isgrammatically correct.
And so she responds with aphrase in Spanish which I look
at dumbfounded and I turn to themagic of the phone and copy

(04:04):
that into the translator andwhat I get is what turns out not
the actual translation of whatshe was trying to say, which was
something to the tone of noneed for a thank you kind of

(04:25):
thing, but what the translatorsays is You're not for you.
You're not for you.
And it stumped me, the impactof that short little sentence.

(04:50):
I said to her you have justspoken with the mouth of a
thousand Buddhas.
You're not for you.
I tried to be.
I said Not for me, that is, Itry to be for others.

(05:17):
What powerful short littlesentence.
You're not for you.
I've kept it since Close to myheart.

(05:52):
It's a little treasure of mine.
It echoes in my mind from timeto time You're not for you,
beautiful.
And I bring this up to saylisten.

(06:19):
We must listen to the peopleand things and birds and rocks,
and the sky and the sun, and thewind and the rain and the ocean

(06:40):
, and the breathing and thegurgling of our intestines,
whatever.
We must listen.
We must listen because we neverknow.
We never know when they speakwith the mouth of a thousand

(07:02):
Buddhas, it doesn't matter whois doing the speaking, it
doesn't matter what we think ofthem, how we think of them, how
we see them, who they are.

(07:27):
There is within the Buddha, anda person might say a thousand
words and 999 of them are theirown, 999 of their words rising,

(08:05):
rising from the experience oftheir lives, their point of
views, their thoughts, theirideas, the things they believe
or don't believe, their personalcollection.

(08:27):
Leave their personal collection.

(08:52):
And one word among thosethousand may be spoken with the.
It doesn't matter who, itdoesn't matter how wise, how
intelligent, it doesn't matterthe age.
Children, in fact, say someprofound things.
How frequently do we wave itoff Ah, that's just a kid

(09:22):
talking.
How frequently do those closein our lives say a thing and we
say, ah, it's them going onagain about X, y and Z,

(09:43):
proximity, dismisses.
Listen to the Buddhas in yourlife, whether sage or criminal,

(10:59):
with an mouth of a thousandBuddhas.
Thanks for watching.