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

THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 13
your extreme, you will start moving to the other extreme. But no basic change happens. The man who is afraid
of touching money is still in a state of ignorance, unawareness.
Buddha says: Stop in the middle. There is no need to be indulgent, there is no need to renounce either. Just
be in the middle, exactly in the middle. He has a great point there: if you remain exactly in the middle, that is
the point from where transcendence happens.
It is like the pendulum of a clock. It goes from the right to the left, from the left to the right. Try to understand
the pendulum and its process because it is very similar to the process of your mind. When the pendulum is going
towards the right, visibly it is going towards the right, but invisibly it is gaining momentum to go to the left.
When it is going to the left it is gaining momentum to go to the right.
When you are indulging you are gaining momentum for renouncing the world, and when you are renouncing
you will gain momentum to indulge again. And this can go on for lives together. But hold the pendulum in the
middle and the clock stops.
That’s what Buddha says: hold the pendulum in the middle and the mind stops. The mind is the clock because
the mind is time, the mind is desire. It brings past and future it IS time. Hold it in the middle. Don’t live in
the past and don’t live in the future. Be in the present, that is the middle. Don’t be indulgent and don’t be a
renunciate; be in the middle. Fulfill the necessities of life. Don’t be obsessed by possessing things and don’t be
obsessed by renouncing them. Both are obsessions and both are pathological states. Avoid both, be in the middle.
In the middle is balance.
You ask me, Nagaro, ”Whatever I do, I try too hard. Please tell us about Buddha’s ’right effort’.”
Right effort means don’t try too hard. Right effort also means don’t stop trying completely. It means, just try
in a relaxed way, neither too hard nor too soft, just in a relaxed way, in a very playful way. When you are trying
too hard you become tense; when you are not trying at all you become lazy. When you are trying playfully you
are neither lazy nor tense. Your life has a beauty, a grace, a balance, a harmony. Be in the middle, that’s exactly
the meaning of right effort.
Whenever Buddha uses the word ’right’, remember, he means balance. ’Right’ is a translation of a word which
means balance, because the extreme is wrong, both the extremes are wrong. Buddha’s word is samyak; sam means
balance, equilibrium. He uses that word more than any other word; he uses it for everything. If you are making
effort for anything, let it be samyak, balanced, exactly in the middle.
If you are meditating, Buddha says, let it be samyak right meditation. Don’t make too much fuss about it,
don’t make a tension out of it. Don’t create anguish. Don’t become mad. Don’t be aggressive. And he also
says that that does not mean to forget all about it and go on living the way you are living. No, make efforts for
meditation, but in a joyous way, a graceful way, always in the middle. Be gentle, be gentlemanly. Buddha is the
perfect gentleman; the emphasis is on gentle. He is a rare person in that way.
Mahavira seems to be an extremist another enlightened person who was Buddha’s contemporary, the last
prophet of the Jainas. He seems to be very extremist. It is said that for twelve years he was silent, didn’t speak
a single word. Now, this is going too far. Don’t speak too much....
I have heard a story about Morarji Desai:
Whenever he speaks, his wife will send him a note. Every-body around him became curious, naturally, ”What
is that note?” Always it comes, inevitably.... And on the note they found there is only one word: Kiss.
They told Morarji Desai, ”This is rare in this age of unfaithfulness; your wife still loves you so much. You are
eighty-four, she must be seventy-five or more. Still such romance that whenever you stand to speak she sends you
a note always welcoming you with a kiss.”
Morarji looked angry as he always looks, that is nothing new! When he smiles, that is rare. Even in his smile
there is no smile; still he looks as if he is angry. The smile seems to be painted. But he was really angry. He said,
”You don’t know what she means. It is a short form; it means, ’Keep it short, stupid.’ That is the meaning of
’kiss’.”
If you keep it short, that’s okay, but there is no need to become dumb for twelve years. Be telegraphic, use only
words which are necessary. Don’t go on chattering twenty-four hours a day, either with others or with yourself.
People are chattering constantly, day in, day out. In the day they are chattering, in the night they are chattering.
Mulla Nasruddin’s wife went to the physician and said that ”My husband talks in his sleep. Something has to
be done. I am very much disturbed about it.”
The physician said, ”I can understand. Take this medicine and within a week or two he will stop talking in his
sleep.”
The wife said, ”You misunderstand me. I don’t want him to stop, I want him to talk clearly so I can hear what
he is saying.”