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

130 THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12
Buddha never did any miracle that is the greatest miracle. He is not interested in mystifying you. His whole
effort is to give you the key so you can open the doors of all the mysteries. He is very existential, nonphilosophical,
nonintellectual in his approach. He is not heady but very practical, pragmatic. His whole approach is
experimental, experiential. So you will not be able to understand him if you only go on reading.
Try to experiment with what he is saying. Try to quieten your mind, reflect, watch, and see yourself what
happens: freedom, bliss, truth, wisdom, innocence, purity... thousands of flowers start blooming in you. The
spring suddenly bursts forth.
Enough for today.
The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol. 10
Chapter 6 Life transcends logic
Audio:Yes Video:No Length:0 mins
The first question:
Question 1
BELOVED MASTER, IN WANTING TO KNOW WHO I AM I OFTEN FEEL IN A SPACE OF NOTH-
INGNESS. IN ONE WAY IT SCARES ME, IN THE OTHER IT FEELS FULFILLING. I FEEL BOTH ALL
AND NOTHING. HOW TO FEEL ONE OR THE OTHER? AND WHERE DOES THE DISTINCTION LIE
BETWEEN A VACUUM THAT SPACE OF NEITHER PAST, PRESENT OR FUTURE AND A DEAD
SPACE?
Prabhato, the first indication of a right, positive nothingness is that it will be paradoxical. It will be felt as
all and nothing, both simultaneously. Then it is alive. All that is alive is paradoxical; only that which is dead is
logical. Logic is applicable only to dead things; logic has nothing to say about life. Life transcends logic. Life is
basically illogical. That’s what I mean by calling it paradoxical: it contains its own opposite.
Hence it is a good indication that you feel both all and nothing. If you feel just nothing, then it is a dead space;
if you just feel all, then it is all imagination. When you feel both, it is neither dead space nor pure projection; it
is something authentically true.
Whenever you will feel all and nothing together, naturally, on the one hand you will feel scared because of
nothingness, because nothingness looks like death.... It is death; death of the ego, death of all that you have
known up to now as yourself. It is a total discontinuity with the past; hence fear arises. You are losing your
identity, and that is the greatest crisis in life. One wants to cling to one’s identity; at least one knows who one
is. Even though that identity was nothing but hell, still you would like to cling to it. At least it was something
tangible. Now all tangibles are disappearing and all that you have known about yourself is evaporating. A great
fear grips you. It seems as if you are going to die. It is natural to feel scared.
But you also feel, on the other hand, deeply fulfilled, because it is death and resurrection, crucifixion and
resurrection. When you are ready to lose your old identity you are born anew. A new life starts pulsating, a new
heart starts beating. As an ego you disappear, but you appear as part of the whole, of the immense vastness, of
the totality.
This is really the birth of the holy man, because one becomes part of the whole. This is the birth of a buddha,
of a christ. So in spite of all your fears, go into it, don’t cling to your past. And remember, fear is very powerful
because your whole past will support it, and you have a tremendously long past of millions of lives. Not only this
life but many, many lives are contained in your collective unconscious. They will all pull you back. They will say,
”Where are you going? Are you going mad? Come back to the old shelter, to the old security!” The past is long;
it has immense weight, great gravitation. And the new that is being born is just like a new sprout, very fragile.
It can be crushed very easily, it can be destroyed very easily.
Remember that unless you go on in spite of all your fears you will never go into the unknown. And to go
into the unknown is to go into God. God is never known. He is not only unknown, he is also unknowable. And
whatsoever you know about God is just your ideas about God, not your experience.
Those who have experienced God have kept mum, have kept completely silent. They have not uttered a single
word about God. They have indicated the way. Buddha says: Buddhas point you the way, but they don’t say
anything about the ultimate experience. They show how to reach it, but they never say what exactly it is. It is
indefinable, inexpressible. God is a mystery. In fact, God is another name for the mysterious universe in which
we are living, breathing. We are part of this great mystery and there is no way to demystify it.
So you will have to go knowingly, deliberately. You will have to risk your past. You will have to listen to the call
of the unknown. It is a faraway, distant call and there is no guarantee for it. Nobody can give you the guarantee,
only hints.