Who was Buddha? There are lots of conception & misconception about Buddha. For some he is was a god, for some he was an enlightened one, for some he was an angel from heaven or For some he was just a human being. But, in actual who was Buddha? A Simple but Big Question. For the answer to this question, Buddha gave a beautiful spiritual reply.
There is a beautiful story in the passage Anguttara Nika (II, 37).
Once the Buddha was seated under a tree in the meditation posture, his senses calmed, his mind quiet, and attained to supreme control and serenity. Then a Brahmin, Dona by name, approached the Buddha and asked:
Brahmin: “Sir, will you be a god, a deva?”
Buddha: “No, Brahmin”
Brahmin: “Sir, will you be a heavenly angel, ghandhabba”
Buddha: “No, Brahmin”
Brahmin: “Sir, will you be a demon, a yakkha(yaksha)?”
Buddha: “No, Brahmin”
Brahmin: “Then, sir, what indeed will you be?”
Now, understand the beautiful reply from Buddha to Brahmin:
“Brahmin, whatever defilements (asavas) there be owing to the presence of which a person may be identified as a god or a heavenly angel or a demon or a human being, all these defilements in me are abandoned , cut off at the root, made like a palm-tree stump, done away with, and are no more subject to future arising.”
“Just as, Brahmin, a blue or red or white lotus born in water and stand up above the water untouched by it, so too I, who was born in the world and grew up in the world, have transcended the world. Remember me as one who enlightened (Buddhoti mam dharehi brahmana)”
In the above conversation what Buddha said that he was not a god or heavenly angel or a demon or a human being full of defilements. Buddha wanted to know Brahmin that he was not a human being with defilements. He did not want the Brahmin to put him into any of the categories.
The Buddha was in the world but not of the world.
