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

126 THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12
Ask anybody about God and it is very rare to find a person who will say to you, ”I don’t know.” Very rare...
almost impossible. Many will say, ”Yes, God is, God exists.” And they are ready to fight, to argue, to kill you or
be killed, for something that they know not, not at all. And there are a few who will say, ”No, there is no God.”
But it is very rare to find a person who will say, ”I don’t know” and that is the real religious person.
The agnostic is the real religious person neither the theist nor the atheist. One believes without knowing, one
disbelieves without knowing; both are deceiving. But I am not doubting their sincerity. They may be thinking...
they may be absolutely convinced that they know. And then you ask other questions about God and then they
have to invent answers, because basically they have accepted that they know.
Ask them how many heads God has, and they will tell you three or four, and they will make much out of
nonsense. They will say that God has four heads because there are four directions and he has to look in all
directions, or three because there are three dimensions and he has to look into all dimensions. How many hands
has he? And some say he has one thousand hands because he has to work so much and he is so alone, and he
has to create the world and manage the whole show all alone. One thousand hands... two hands are not enough.
Do you think one thousand hands will be enough to manage this vast universe? Do you think four heads will be
enough to see everywhere?
But people go on inventing answers. You ask the question and they invent they have to invent because they
cannot accept one thing, that they don’t know.
A blonde took her dog to the vet who advised her to buy some Nair to remove the excess hair around the
Schnauzer’s eyes and ears.
The blonde entered a pharmacy and asked for the hair remover.
”Use it full strength for leg hair,” said the druggist, ”but dilute it one half for the underarms.”
”Ah,” said the girl, ”but I want to use it on my Schnauzer.”
”In that case,” said the pharmacist, ”you better use one quarter strength and I wouldn’t ride a Honda for a
couple of weeks.”
The knowledgeable person cannot ask, ”What is this Schnauzer?” That shows his ignorance and he cannot
show that. Sometimes knowledgeable people commit such stupidities that no ignorant person can ever commit,
because the ignorant person can always ask what it is ”I don’t know.” But the knowledgeable person finds it
impossible. He cannot say these three words: ”I don’t know.” If you can say, ”I don’t know,” you have taken one
of the greatest steps towards real knowing, towards wisdom.
Buddha says: When mind is empty, silent, you are wise. By wisdom he does not mean knowledgeability; by
wisdom he means innocence. Knowledge comes from the outside, wisdom arises within. Knowledge creates noise,
wisdom brings more and more silence. The wise person slowly, slowly becomes utterly silent. Even if he speaks,
his words carry the flavor of silence, the music of silence.
By wisdom he means spontaneity, childlike spontaneity, eyes full of wonder. When your eyes are full of wonder
you can see the beauty that surrounds you. When your eyes are full of knowledge you can’t see the beauty because
you have explanations for everything and explanations help you only to explain things away, nothing else.
But knowledgeable people have been doing good business. They have dominated humanity too long; that is
their joy.
”I’ve got a problem, Doc,” the new patient began.
”We all have problems,” replied the doctor, smiling his assurance.
”My problem is this, Doc: I get migraine headaches every time I think of my wife. I break out in a rash every
time I think of my job. I get cold sweats every time I think of my bank account. Talk about problems! Boy, have
I got them!”
”Every problem has its answer, of course, and I understand this one perfectly,” said the psychiatrist, nodding.
”You will need a hundred sessions on the couch, at twenty-five dollars per session.”
The patient gulped. ”Well, Doc,” he said after a painful pause, ”that solves your problem. Now, how about
mine?”
The knowledgeable people are doing good business. The priests, the professors, the pundits, the scholars, the
theologians, they have been doing good business. Without knowing a thing about God, without knowing a thing
about themselves even, they go on talking about great problems and great solutions. They talk about metaphysics,
about philosophy. They have ready-made answers for everything.
Beware of these people! And they are all around, in the churches, in the mosques, in the temples, in the
universities; you will find them everywhere. Beware of them. They are the people who will not allow humanity
to ever become wise because once humanity becomes wise their profession is finished.