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

THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 195
valley where you are groping. They are as blind as you are, but they have to pretend that they are not blind and
that is more dangerous.
If a person is blind and knows that he is blind and never pretends otherwise, there is every possibility he will
walk more cautiously. If he pretends that he is not blind, if he projects that he is not blind, if he convinces
others that he is not blind, slowly, slowly he will be hypnotized by his own sayings, auto-hypnotized. He will start
believing that he is not blind and he will start walking less cautiously. And that is more dangerous.
I have heard:
Once a blind man came to visit a Zen master. When he was leaving it was night, a dark night, no moon, and
so many clouds the master said to the blind man, ”Please take this lamp with you.”
The blind man laughed loudly. He said, ”Are you joking? What can a lamp do for me? I cannot see! It is all
the same to me whether I have a lamp or not.”
But the master said, ”That I know, that you cannot see, but at least others will be able to see in the darkness
that you are coming so they will not stumble into you.”
The argument appeared right. The blind man took the lamp, went away. He had just walked only a hundred
yards and a man just walked into him. He said, ”What is the matter? Are you too blind? Can’t you see this
lamp?”
And the man said, ”I am not blind. Excuse me, but your lamp is no longer lit; its flame has gone out.”
The blind man went back to the Zen master and said, ”Look, never give a lamp to another blind man again. If
there was no lamp I would have walked more cautiously. I always walk cautiously. Because of the lamp I walked
as if I were no longer blind and the lamp went out. But how was I to know that the lamp went out? Because of
this lamp, for the first time I have been hurt by a man. Otherwise, I have walked my whole life in every possible
situation, but because I was so cautious, always making noise with my stick on the road so people can feel that
some blind man is there, always groping with my stick in the darkness so I know where I am, whether I am facing
a wall or a door.... It was the first time that I walked without any fear.”
And that’s what is happening to your psychotherapists, Patrick. They think they know they know nothing.
They are more informed, but information is not knowing. They are well educated, but they have not a higher
being than you. And help is possible only when somebody higher than you gives you a hand.
More psychotherapists go mad than any other profession and more psychotherapists commit suicide than any
other profession. And it is natural. Living with mad people, one can understand they become affected.
A few scenes will be helpful to you....
The first scene:
A man walks into a psychiatrist’s office.
”You must help me!” he exclaims.
”What do you do for a living?” asks the shrink.
”I am an automobile mechanic.”
”Get under the couch!”
The second scene:
First psychiatrist: ”Hello!”
Second psychiatrist: ”I wonder what you mean by that?”
The third scene:
The patient: ”Of course I am upset, doctor. I have eleven children and I find out my husband does not love
me.”
The doctor: ”You are very lucky. Imagine if he did!”
The fourth scene:
”Doctor, my wife accuses me of being a compulsive card-player.”
”That’s ridiculous. Now shut up and deal!”
And the fifth scene:
”Doctor, now that you have cured me of my homosexual tendencies and since this is our last session, may I kiss
you good-bye?”
”Don’t be ridiculous men don’t kiss. I shouldn’t even be lying on the couch with you!”
You ask me, Patrick, ”The West is overpopulated with psychotherapists and their patients, but why does no
one seem to be helped?”
Help is possible only from higher sources. A person who is on the same ground as you cannot be of any help
to you. Help is possible only when a fully conscious man tries to help the unconscious. It is as if you are asleep;
do you think somebody else asleep can help you in any way? Only somebody who is awake can wake you. If you