Man and Buddha

Man fancies himself to be the most highly evolved organism in the universe, but in the view of Buddhism he stands midway between an amoeba and a Buddha. And because he falsely sees himself as no more than this puny body, just a speck in the universe, he is constantly endeavoring to enlarge himself through possessions and power. But when he awakens to the fact that he embraces the whole universe, he ceases his grasping, for he no longer feels a lack within himself.

In the Lotus Sutra the Buddha relates that with enlightenment he realized that he possessed the universe, that all the beings were his children, and that he needed nothing more than his begging bowl. He was, in truth, the richest man in the world.