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

22 THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12
that you can take off, it is from there that you can have the first glimpse of what godliness is. If you have not
known yourself you will never know God.
You can go on worshipping in the temples, in the mosques, in the churches, but your God is childish. Compared
to Buddha’s teachings the gods that are worshipped look very stupid. The worshippers look stupid, and their gods,
because they are created by the stupid worshippers, also look silly. Your gods are nothing but your projections;
they can’t be more than your own state of mind. Just watch. Different gods are created by different people. If
horses could think of a religion, then their god must be a supreme horse. It can’t be man, that much is certain.
No horse can believe that man has any divinity in him. Man seems to be the most barbarous animal. If horses
were to imagine, they would imagine the dfvil in the shape of man. Man imagines God in his own image; hence
Negroes have their god like Negroes. You can see the hair of the Negro gods, they are Negroid; you can see the
lips of the Negro gods and they are thick. Hindu gods are Hindu, and Chinese gods are Chinese, the cheek bones
showing prominently and the noses of course Chinese.
Every country, every race, every religion thinks of God according to its own idea of how man should be. But
those are all our projections. Buddha is not concerned at all with them. Buddha wants you to become a god. He
wants you to become divine. You are divine; he wants you to recognize the fact. There is nobody higher than
you. This declaration is something superb, something unique. Nobody had dared before Buddha to respect man
so much.
Father O’Reilly had taken up golf and was practicing on the church lawn while Sister McCarthy looked on.
Father O’Reilly raised his club, and swung at the ball.
”Oh, shit! I missed,” he shouted.
”Father O’Reilly,” admonished Sister McCarthy, ”God will be very angry if you use such language.”
”Yes, Sister,” answered Father O’Reilly. ”I shall try to control my tongue.” He raised his club for another try
and swung at the ball. ”Oh, shit! I missed,” he shouted.
”Father O’Reilly, I am sure God will punish you severely if you say that again!” said the Sister.
”Yes, I will try especially hard next time, Sister McCarthy,” said the priest. He raised his club again and swung
at the ball. ”Oh, shit! I missed,” he shouted.
Just then a bolt of lightning flashed out of the sky and Sister McCarthy disappeared in a holocaust of flames.
Then a great voice boomed from the sky. ”Oh, shit! I missed.”
Our gods can’t be very different; they are our gods, they will reflect us. Hence Buddha says: Get rid of all
gods. What you are worshipping in the temples is nothing but your own image. It will be better if you keep a
mirror and worship your reflection in it. That will be far better, at least far truer, less deceptive.
Buddha’s emphasis is on man. It is the only man-oriented religion in the world. And of course it transforms
man, it does not make you superstitious, it does not give you any belief. It gives you a key to open the doors of
your own being. And when you know who you are, you will know what this whole existence is and its beauty and
its grace and its splendor.
NOT ON THEIR BACKS CAN HE REACH THE UNTRODDEN COUNTRY, BUT ONLY ON HIS OWN.
Remember, you cannot reach to the untrodden country on anybody else’s back. You will have to reach on your
own. The last words of Buddha were: Be a light unto yourself because there is no other light.
He gives you total freedom, he wants you to be free from all kinds of bondages. He does not want you to be a
follower, an imitator; he wants you to be authentically your own self.
THE MIGHTY ELEPHANT DHANAPALAKA IS WILD WHEN HE IS IN RUT, AND WHEN BOUND HE
WILL NOT EAT, REMEMBERING THE ELEPHANT GROVE.
Even though it is a mythological elephant, Dhanapalaka is said to be the greatest elephant who has ever been
on the earth, the wisest elephant. It is just a beautiful story. But even Dhanapalaka with such might, with such
wisdom, goes wild when he is in rut; when he is sexually aroused he is no more in his senses, he becomes mad.
Sex is really an internal process of intoxicating you. It is chemical. You have nothing to do with it. It is your
body chemistry, it is your physiology that releases certain chemicals in your body and then in a sexual state you
can do something for which you will repent. Later on you will say, ”I cannot believe how it happened. It happened
in spite of me.” And it is not only sex; so many things are happening in you through your physiology. When you
are angry, it is not you. Again certain poisons are released in your blood and you are under the impact of those
poisons.
Buddha says: If you start watching the processes of sexuality, anger, greed, you will be able to see that it is not
out of you that these things are born. You are only a witness. These things are born in your body, in your mind;
and body and mind are not two things, they are one. You are psychosomatic. The mind is your inner body, and