There is a saying that goes, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” This certainly doesn’t sound very enlightened, and whoah, the killing part? Not nice at all. But the explanation of this koan is that if you try to single out one person as “The Buddha” you have missed the point. Being a “Buddha” simply means being “awake” and being “awake” means being present, and being ‘present” entails acting with kindness and compassion. So anyone, and indeed everyone, can achieve “Buddhahood.”

A few years ago I was frantically cleaning my basement. I was in a snit about it, too. I didn’t want to do it. It was messy and dirty and frustrating. But I was doing it, okay?? In the middle of the job, I realized I needed a ladder to get boxes up onto a high shelf, and I didn’t have one. Angry and frustrated that I had to break my Tasmanian Devil momentum, I drove to Wal-Mart. Standing in the ladder section, dirty and grouchy, weighing the merits of metal versus wood, a store employee approached and asked if he could be of help.

I told him my dilemma and he patiently explained the advantages of wood and metal ladders, got one down, placed it in my cart, squired me to the register, asked if I needed help to my car, and assured me that the basement project would be a great success.

As I drove back home with my ladder (wood), I noticed that I was smiling. I felt calm and optimistic and, dare I even admit it? Happy. I realized that I had been in the presence of a little Buddha masquerading as a ladder salesman at Wal-Mart. He was kind and patient and he treated me as a human being rather than a customer, and as a result of our brief time together I was changed. Maybe not for long, and maybe not forever, but back in my dirty basement I now worked calmly and methodically and the project was indeed a big success.

The next day I returned to Wal-Mart and went to the Customer Service desk and tried to explain to them that I had had an enlightenment experience in the ladder aisle in the presence of a little Buddha who happened to be their employee. They just smiled and nodded as they would to any insane person, and sent me on my way.

But here’s the thing. There are little Buddhas everywhere. People who, just by the way they do their jobs, are transforming the world, one dirty, grouchy person at a time. And it doesn’t matter what they do. I have met little Buddhas masquerading as waitresses and auto mechanics and contractors and bartenders and high school maintenance workers. There is the store clerk who remembers my name, and the other one who doesn’t, but remembers a conversation we once had. There is the waitress who is unfailingly cheerful and whenever I am lucky enough to sit in her section, I come away feeling nourished in a way that has nothing to do with the food.

I come away from my encounters with these little Buddhas feeling charged up, lit up, energized, inspired and sometimes even blessed. For a while, back in my basement, I thought seriously and long about going into the ladder selling business. But then I realized that any job could be done with awareness and compassion and kindness. I realized that even grouchy old me could be a Buddha if I would only wake up, pay attention, stay present and most of all, be kind.

Kathleen Thompson is the owner of Main Street Yoga, 10 S. Main St., Mansfield, PA 16933. To contact her call 570-660-5873 or online www.yogamansfield.com or email mainstreetyoga@gmail.com.