THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 The ...

THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 115
The third question:
Question 3
BELOVED MASTER, WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY UNDERSTANDING SOMETHING IN MEDITATION?
HOW DOES ONE GO ABOUT IT, AND WHAT PART OF ONESELF IS INVOLVED IN THE UNDERSTAND-
ING?
Nigel, meditation and understanding are synonymous. So when I say ”understand in meditation,” I am simply
saying to be silent, quiet, cool, and see. You are not to do anything else, you have to be just silent, cool and calm,
and see. And understanding arises on its own accord. It is the fragrance of being silent.
Misunderstanding arises because your mind is very cloudy, noisy. Your mind never allows you to see that which
is, never allows you to hear that which is said to you. Buddhas come and go but you remain the same. Yes, you
become Christians and you become Buddhists, and you become Hindus, but you don’t change. These are your
strategies to escape change, to avoid the awakened ones.
You ask me, ”What do you mean by understanding something in meditation?”
It is not a great problem. Meditation is understanding. You are trying to figure it out intellectually, and that
is not possible. You are trying to think about it, what it is all about. Whatsoever conclusion you arrive at will
be wrong.
It is not a question of thinking what is meant by it. Meditate, and experience. It is something to be experienced.
You say, ”How does one go about it...?”
One does not go at all about it, otherwise you will go about and about. The word ’about’ means around, and
you will go around and around in circles. Don’t make it an intellectual question; it is an existential approach.
But the very word ’understanding’ has misled you, because by ’understanding’ we always think ’intellectual
understanding’. That is not so. There is nothing like intellectual understanding. Intellectual understanding is
pseudo. It is misunderstanding pretending to be understanding. The word ’understand’ is beautiful.
When you are in meditation everything stands under you, you are so above it. That’s the meaning of understanding.
Everything is there far below you, so you can see... like a bird’s-eye view. You can see the whole from
your altitude. Intellect cannot see it; it is on the same plane. Understanding happens only when the problem is
on one plane and you are on a higher plane. If you are also on the same plane, understanding is not possible. You
will misunderstand only. And that is one of the greatest problems to be encountered by every seeker.
Jesus says again and again to his disciples, ”If you have ears, hear; if you have eyes, see.” He was not talking
to blind people or deaf people, he was just talking to people like you. But why does he go on insisting? for the
simple reason that hearing is not listening, and seeing is not true seeing. You see one thing and you understand
something else. Your mind immediately distorts it. Your mind is upside down. It makes a mess of everything. It
is in confusion, and you look through that confusion, so the whole world looks confused.
Old Nugent loved his cat, Tommy, so dearly he tried to teach it to talk.
”If I can get Tommy to converse with me,” he reasoned, ”I won’t have to bother with ordinary humans at all.”
First he tried a diet of canned salmon, then one of canaries. Tommy liked both but he didn’t learn to talk.
Then one day Nugent had two extremely talkative parrots cooked in butter and served to Tommy with asparagus
and french fries. Tommy licked the plate clean, and then wonder of wonders suddenly turned to his master and
shouted, ”Look out!”
Nugent didn’t move. The ceiling caved in and buried the old man under a mass of debris. Tommy shook his
head and said, ”Eight years he spends getting me to talk, and then the dummy doesn’t listen!”
You go thousands of miles to listen to a master and then ”... the dummy doesn’t listen.”
The mind cannot, it is impossible for the mind to listen; it is not in a state of receptivity. The mind is aggressive,
it jumps to conclusions so fast, so quickly that it misses the whole point. In fact, it has already concluded, it is
simply waiting for its conclusion to be proved right.
Nigel, please don’t try to understand; rather try to meditate. You must be new here. Dance, sing, meditate,
let the mind settle a little bit. Let this stream of the mind, which is full of dead leaves and dirt, settle down a
little. Let it become clean and clear, transparently clear; only then will you be able to understand what I am
saying. Then it is so simple. I am not talking very complicated philosophy it is not philosophy at all I am simply
indicating towards certain truths which I have experienced, and you can experience any moment you decide to
experience. But it has to be a journey.
You say, ”How does one go about it, and what part of oneself is involved in the understanding?”
It is not a question of any part being involved in it. Your totality is involved.
Meditation is not of the body, not of the mind, not of the soul. Meditation simply means your body, your mind,
your soul, all functioning in such a harmony, in such wholeness, humming beautifully; they are in a melody... one.