托缽僧龍樹（後人尊稱其為龍樹菩薩）儘管衣不蔽體，卻受到尋求真理者的一致愛戴，連王妃也對他敬愛有加。有天王妃邀他入宮作客。龍樹去了。王妃請他幫個忙。
龍樹問：「什麼忙？」
王妃說：「我想要尊者的乞食缽。」
龍樹就把唯一的身外之物乞食缽送給了她。王妃帶了鑲鑽的黃金缽回贈龍樹。她說：「現在請尊者留著這個缽。尊者隨身多年的乞食缽具有尊者的能量，我定當虔誠禮敬。普通木缽實在配不上尊者，請留著這個金缽，這是特地為您打造的。」
此缽彌足珍貴。龍樹若是一般隱士，可能會說：「這我碰不得，我已捨棄了凡俗。」不過什麼缽對龍樹都一樣，於是就拿了金缽。
他離開宮殿時正好被一個小偷看到，小偷瞪大了眼滴咕著：「衣不蔽體的傢伙竟有如此珍貴之物！你有本事留得住嗎？」於是就尾隨其後……
龍樹棲身於城外一間沒門沒窗的破廟裡。小偷竊喜：「等他睡去，我就可不費吹灰之力拿到金缽了。」
小偷躲在門外的牆後，龍樹把缽丟出門外。小偷無法置信。龍樹把缽丟出去是因為看到小偷跟在後面，他很清楚小偷的目的是金缽，而不是他，「何必讓他等呢？讓他完事走人，我也好休息。」
「這麼珍貴的東西，就這麼隨便給扔了！」小偷無法不道謝就走。他知道金缽是特意扔給他的。他從縫隙望著屋內說：「先生，請容我聊表謝意。您可真是怪咖啊，太難以置信了！我心裡起了一個大願，我是在虛度生命的小偷，還有像您這樣的人嗎？我可以進來摸您的腳嗎？」
龍樹笑著說：「可以，我把缽丟出去，這樣你才會進來。」
小偷這下跑不了了，只好進來行摸腳禮……此時，小偷看到此人並非普通人，心門因此大開。此人純真、開放、樂於接納、和藹可親、神秘且令人驚歎。行摸腳禮時，他生平第一次感受到神的存在。
他問龍樹：「要變得像您一樣，得輪迴幾次啊？」
龍樹說：「輪迴幾次？今天就可以，現在就可以！」
小偷說：「您一定是在開玩笑，現在哪有可能？我是小偷，知名大盜，全鎮無人不知無人不曉，可誰也抓不到我，連國王都怕我，因為金庫已被我偷了兩次，大家心知肚明，卻苦無證據。您是外地人可能不清楚，我是大盜。哪有可能說改就改？」
龍樹說：「假設有間老屋，數百年來一直處於黑暗中，而你帶來了一根蠟燭，黑暗可以說：『我在這裡數百年了，不能因為你帶了蠟燭來我就得走。我在這裡這麼久了！』黑暗抗拒得了嗎？黑暗一天或黑暗千萬年有差嗎？」
小偷可以明白這個道理：黑暗擋不住光明；光明一來，黑暗就消失無蹤。龍樹說，你可能無數生都在黑暗中，沒關係，我可以把秘訣給你，讓你可以從內在燃起光明。」
小偷說：「那我的工作怎麼辦？我得轉行嗎？」
龍樹說：「那要看你自己了，你的事或你做哪一行我都不管，我能做的只是把點燃自身光明的秘訣交給你，其餘的就看你自己了。」
小偷說：「可是每次去找聖人時，他們誰都會說：『首先要戒偷，這樣才能向你傳法。」
聽說龍樹當時大笑：「你見到的一定是小偷而非聖人，他們什麼都不懂，你只要觀察你的呼吸，這是佛陀傳授的古法，只是觀察著呼吸的進出。只要記得的時候，觀察你的呼吸，即使是去偷東西的時候，晚上進入別人家的時候，都繼續觀察著你的呼吸，打開珠寶櫃，看到鑽石的時候，都繼續觀察著你的呼吸，想做什麼就去做，但別忘記觀察你的呼吸。」
小偷說：「好像很簡單，不用說教？不需要任何人？沒別的要求？」
龍樹說，「絕對沒有，就只是觀察你的呼吸。」
半個月後，那個小偷回來了，卻完全變了個人。他伏倒在龍樹腳下說：「您耍了我，您用很美妙的手段耍了我，我甚至連懷疑的能力都沒有。這兩個禮拜我試了又試，根本不可能，如果我觀察呼吸，我就偷不了；如果要偷，我就無法觀察呼吸。觀察呼吸，我變得如此安靜、警覺、清醒、清明，連鑽石看起來都像鵝卵石，你害我進退不得。現在我該怎麼辦？」
龍樹說：「去吧！想做什麼就去做。想要觀察呼吸時所產生的那種寧靜、祥和、幸福，就選這個。如果覺得金銀珠寶更珍貴，就選那個。由你做主！我憑什麼來干涉你的人生？」
此人說：「我不能選擇再失去覺知，我從來不知道有這樣的時刻，請收我為徒，請啟發我。」
龍樹說：「我早就啟發你了。」
宗教的基礎並非倫理道德，而是正念定力。宗教並非根植於品性，而是深植於意識。
Source (author unknown)
He was a naked fakir, but he was loved by all real seekers. A queen was also deeply in love with Nagarjuna. She asked him one day to come to the palace, to be a guest in the palace. Nagarjuna went. The queen asked him a favour.
Nagarjuna said, "What do you want?"
The queen said, "I want your begging bowl."
Nagarjuna gave it -- that was the only thing he had -- his begging bowl. And the queen brought a golden begging bowl, studded with diamonds and gave it to Nagarjuna. She said, "Now you keep this. I will worship the begging bowl that you have carried for years -- it has some of your vibe. It will become my temple. And a man like you should not carry an ordinary wooden begging bowl -- keep this golden one. I have had it made specially for you."
It was really precious. If Nagarjuna had been an ordinary mystic he would have said, "I cannot touch it. I have renounced the world." But for him it was all the same, so he took the bowl.
When he left the palace, a thief saw him. He could not believe his eyes: "A naked man with such a precious thing! How long can he protect it?" So the thief followed....
Nagarjuna was staying outside the town in a ruined ancient temple -- no doors, no windows. It was just a ruin. The thief was very happy: "Soon Nagarjuna will have to go to sleep and there will be no difficulty -- I will get the bowl."
The thief was hiding behind a wall just outside the door -- Nagarjuna threw the bowl outside the door. The thief could not believe what had happened. Nagarjuna threw it because he had watched the thief coming behind him, and he knew perfectly well that he was not coming for him -- he was coming for the bowl, "So why unnecessarily let him wait? Be finished with it so he can go, and I can also rest."
"Such a precious thing! And Nagarjuna has thrown it so easily." The thief could not go without thanking him. He knew perfectly well that it had been thrown for him. He peeked in and he said, "Sir, accept my thanks. But you are a rare being -- I cannot believe my eyes. And a great desire has arisen in me. I am wasting my life by being a thief -- and there are people like you too? Can I come in and touch your feet?"
Nagarjuna laughed and he said, "Yes, that's why I threw the bowl outside -- so that you could come inside."
The thief was trapped. The thief came in, touched the feet... and at that moment the thief was very open because he had seen that this man was no ordinary man. He was very vulnerable, open, receptive, grateful, mystified, stunned. When he touched the feet, for the first time in his life he felt the presence of the divine.
He asked Nagarjuna, "How many lives will it take for me to become like you?"
Nagarjuna said, "How many lives? -- it can happen today, it can happen now!"
The thief said, "You must be kidding. How can it happen now? I am a thief, a well-known thief The whole town knows me, although they have not yet been able to catch hold of me. Even the king is afraid of me, because twice I have entered and stolen from the treasury. They know it, but they have no proof. I am a master thief -- you may not know about me because you are a stranger in these parts. How can I be transformed right now?"
And Nagarjuna said, "If in an old house for centuries there has been darkness and you bring a candle, can the darkness say, 'For centuries and centuries I have been here -- I cannot go out just because you have brought a candle in. I have lived so long'? Can the darkness give resistance? Will it make any difference whether the darkness is one day old or millions of years old.
The thief could see the point: darkness cannot resist light; when light comes, darkness disappears. Nagarjuna said, You may have been in darkness for millions of lives -- that doesn't matter -- but I can give you a secret, you can light a candle in your being."
And the thief said, "What about my profession? Have I to leave it?"
Nagarjuna said, "That is for you to decide. I am not concerned with you and your profession I can only give you the secret of how to kindle a light within your being, and then it is up to you."
The thief said, "But whenever I have gone to any saints, they always say, 'First stop stealing -- then only can you be initiated.'"
It is said that Nagarjuna laughed and said, "You must have gone to thieves, not to saints. They know nothing. You just watch your breath -- the ancient method of Buddha -- just watch your breath coming in, going out. Whenever you remember, watch your breath. Even when you go to steal, when you enter into somebody's house in the night, go on watching your breath. When you have opened the treasure and the diamonds are there, go on watching your breath, and do whatsoever you want to do -- but don't forget watching the breath."
The thief said, "This seems to be simple. No morality? No character needed? No other requirement?"
Nagarjuna said, "Absolutely none -- just watch your breath."
And after fifteen days the thief was back, but he was a totally different man. He fell at the feet of Nagarjuna and he said, "You trapped me, and you trapped me so beautifully that I was not even able to suspect. I tried for these fifteen days -- it is impossible. If I watch my breath, I cannot steal. If I steal, I cannot watch my breath. Watching the breath, I become so silent, so alert, so aware, so conscious, that even diamonds look like pebbles. You have created a difficulty for me, a dilemma. Now what am I supposed to do?"
Nagarjuna said, "Get lost! -- whatsoever you want to do. If you want that silence, that peace, that bliss, that arises in you when you watch your breath, then choose that. If you think all those diamonds and gold and silver is more valuable, then choose that. That is for you to choose! Who am I to interfere in your life?"
The man said, "I cannot choose to be unconscious again. I have never known such moments. Accept me as one of your disciples, initiate me."
Nagarjuna said, "I have initiated you already."
Religion is based not in morality but in meditation. Religion is rooted not in character but in consciousness.