How can you be the same?

One man came and insulted Buddha very much; Buddha listened to him silently. The next day he felt sorry, came to apologize. Buddha said, "Forget all about it, because I am not the same man whom you had insulted , and you are not the same man who had insulted me. So who is going to apologize to whom? And what can I do now? -- that man is no more, it is finished forever! You will never see that man again, so don't be worried. And you are not the same either! How can you be the same?"

Ananda, Buddha's disciple, who was sitting by the side, said, "Sir, this is too much! This is the same man -- I cannot forgive him ever! He insulted you so much, he said such ugly words, he abused you badly. It hurt s still in my heart. I co uld not say anything because you wouldn't allow it. I had to swallow it all, otherwise I would have shown this man!"

Buddha said, "Ananda, can't you see this is not the same man at all? The man who had come yesterday was abusing, was insulting -- this man is apologizing. How can they be the same? Do you think insult and apology are the same? This is somebody else! Just look into his eyes -- tears are flowing from his eyes. Do you remember the other man? Fire was in his eyes! He wanted to kill me, and this man is touching my feet! And you still say, Ananda, this is the same man?"

Nobody is ever the same.

Heraclitus says: You cannot step in the same river twice. Buddha will agree absolutely; in fact he will say you cannot even step in the same river once, because the river is constantly flowing. And it is not only the river that is flowing, you are also flowing. 

OSHO