[Buddha-l] A fine story

[jkirk]

 DN
<http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.11.0.than.html#god
s> 11  

"......Then the Great Brahma, taking the monk by the arm and
leading him off to one side, said to him, 'These gods of the
retinue of Brahma believe, "There is nothing that the Great
Brahma does not know. There is nothing that the Great Brahma does
not see. There is nothing of which the Great Brahma is unaware.
There is nothing that the Great Brahma has not realized." That is
why I did not say in their presence that I, too, don't know where
the four great elements... cease without remainder. So you have
acted wrongly, acted incorrectly, in bypassing the Blessed One in
search of an answer to this question elsewhere. Go right back to
the Blessed One and, on arrival, ask him this question. However
he answers it, you should take it to heart.'

"Then - just as a strong man might extend his flexed arm or flex
his extended arm - the monk disappeared from the Brahma world and
immediately appeared in front of me. Having bowed down to me, he
sat to one side. As he was sitting there he said to me,
'Venerable sir, where do these four great elements - the earth
property, the liquid property, the fire property, and the wind
property - cease without remainder?'

"When this was said, I said to him, 'Once, monk, some sea-faring
merchants took a shore-sighting bird and set sail in their ship.
When they could not see the shore, they released the
shore-sighting bird. It flew to the east, south, west, north,
straight up, and to all the intermediate points of the compass.
If it saw the shore in any direction, it flew there. If it did
not see the shore in any direction, it returned right back to the
ship. In the same way, monk, having gone as far as the Brahma
world in search of an answer to your question, you have come
right back to my presence.'"