What is the point of being physically near the Buddha if you do not practise well? This is the message to the Buddha’s disciples, both monastics and lay people. Those who stayed close to him but were full of defilements and an uncontrolled mind were as if they were far away. Conversely, the disciples of the Buddha who lived far away, but were incorrupt in thought, had a unified mind and controlled faculties, and were in fact with the Buddha through the Dhamma. Spiritual attainment and growth do not occur with physical proximity to the Buddha or the teacher, but rather by following and knowing the good teachings and the cultivation of an awakened mind.
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