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

THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 123
In fact, there are not two truths in the world, so all the awakened ones know the same truth again and again.
Their language is different, their expression is different; it is bound to be so. Twenty-five centuries have passed
since Buddha. How can I speak the same language? And how could Buddha have spoken the language that I
speak? That is impossible. But as the followers of Krishnamurti go on claiming that his teaching is absolutely
original, new that is utter nonsense. It is basically the same teaching as Buddha’s: choiceless awareness. That is
the meaning of ”reflect” and ”watch.”
Be aware, but don’t choose. If you choose, you lose watching. If you start clinging because the moment you
choose you will start clinging then reflection is lost. And once you have fulfilled these two simple things reflection
and watchfulness....
NOTHING BINDS YOU. YOU ARE FREE.
These simple sutras are enough. If you can practice only these two things reflection and watchfulness nothing
else is needed. You are free, nothing binds you. You are really freedom; nothing can ever bind you. All bondage
is imaginary. You think you are in bondage; hence you are in bondage. It is your thought.
Harvey Pincus, the passionate playboy of Prospect Park, oblivious of human limitations, speeded up when he
should have slowed down. To his surprise and dismay, he awoke three days later in Bellevue Hospital where he
was placed on a strict diet of raw eggs and oysters with wheat germ, garnished with ginseng and soybean sprouts.
A week later, his physical desires returned and, after having been rebuffed by Bellevue nurses of various shapes,
sizes, ages and national origins, he demanded to be released forthwith so that he might resume his ”al fresco”
prowling in the Prospect Park perimeter.
Pincus was soon confronted by Dr. Siegel, the hospital’s staff psychiatrist. ”Before we release you, you will
have to take a Rohrschach test,” explained the medic.
”What is that?” asked Pincus suspiciously.
”A kind of personality gauge. I will just show you some inkblots and you tell me what each one suggests to
you.”
”So go ahead and test.”
Dr. Siegel handed him the first blot. ”What does this bring to mind?”
”That’s easy,” replied Pincus instantly, his eyes lighting with pleasure. ”It is a girl’s hips.”
”And this?” asked the psychiatrist, handing him another inkblot.
”A woman’s breast. Very nice, too.”
”Hmm how about this one?”
”Wow, Doctor, what a gorgeous pair of legs!”
Siegel had already reached an obvious conclusion about his patient’s proclivities, but he continued with a halfdozen
more inkblots just to make sure. When Pincus continued to respond as though all the ”pictures” were
sexual symbols, right up to the last blot, the doctor leaned back in his chair and rendered his diagnosis.
”My dear fellow,” he began, somewhat severely, ”in case nobody ever told you, you have an abnormal fixation
on sex.”
”What does that mean, if I may be so bold to inquire?”
”It means, sir,” Siegel explained bluntly, ”that you have a filthy mind.”
”Well, look who’s talking!” Pincus yelled, outraged. ”You are showing me all those dirty pictures and I’ve got
a filthy mind!”
What you are seeing in the world is not really there; it is your projection. What the world is like you will be
able to see only when your mind has learned to be silent, to watch, to reflect. Then you will know that which is.
Right now what you know is nothing but your own mind being projected on the screen of the world. Everything
functions as a screen for you and you go on projecting your ideas; hence the insistence of Buddha on making the
mind absolutely quiet.
When the mind is silent the projector stops, the screen becomes blank, and then for the first time you see the
glory of existence. Then for the first time you become aware of the splendor and the blissfulness and the peace
that surrounds everything. You become aware of godliness overflowing everywhere. Everything is known then in
its authentic reality, undistorted by you.
The preacher was telling his congregation that there are over seven hundred different kinds of sin.
The next day he was besieged with mail and phone calls from people who wanted the list to make sure they
were not missing anything.
If you talk about sin and you want people to stop, what they hear is totally different. They start feeling that
they are missing something: ”Seven hundred sins just think about it!” And you will also start feeling, ”My God,
how much I am missing! Seven hundred, and I have not even committed seven! I go on committing only a few,