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

THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 223
Zarathustra could not become a world religion. The followers of Zarathustra are confined to Bombay only. And
they are good people not religious in the ordinary sense, not at all.
Nobody thinks that Parsis are religious; in India nobody thinks them religious. They enjoy eating, they enjoy
beautiful clothes, they enjoy the beautiful things of life, they enjoy beautiful houses... they enjoy everything! And
we have the idea of religion as renunciation.
I can believe Zarathustra coming into the world laughing, but I cannot believe Jesus never laughing, because
to me sadness can never become the source for the search although millions of people go in search of God just
because they are sad. You remember God only when you are unhappy, miserable; when you are in deep anguish
then you remember God, otherwise who cares?
But let me tell you: if you remember God only when you are miserable, your remembrance is not worth anything.
It is almost a complaint; it is not a prayer, it cannot be. You cannot be grateful for being miserable, and prayer
needs to be essentially gratitude.
Buddha says: THE SEEKER IS NOT SORRY. He is telling his Bodhisattvas: Go to the people and tell them
that if you don’t drop your being sorry you can never become a real seeker. Seek God out of happiness, seek God
out of joy, seek God because this call of the cuckoo is so beautiful, because the songs of the birds are so joyous,
because the flowers are so ecstatic, because life is such a blessing. Look at the blessing that life is and then go for
the source of it. From where are all these songs and all these flowers and all these stars born? What is the cause
of it all, of this mysterious existence?
Don’t go in search because you are sad, miserable, a failure. If you go with failure in your heart you will be
simply repressing your sadness. You may start smiling, but that smile will be only a painted smile. You can see
the priests smiling, but that smile is not true, it can’t be true. They have never loved life enough for their smile
to be true, they have never lived life enough for their smile to be true. They are escapists, they are afraid of life.
And the people who are afraid of life, their search is wrong from the very beginning. But this misunderstanding
has happened and this misunderstanding has to be dispelled.
A policeman patrolling lovers’ lane late at night shines his flashlight in the window of a car and sees a couple
making love. He taps on the window and says, ”I am next!” In ten minutes he comes by again and the couple is
still making love, so he taps on the window again and says, ”I am next!”
In twenty minutes he comes by again and the couple is still making love. Again he taps on the window and
says, ”I am next. What’s taking you so long anyway?”
The man looks up and says, ”Man, I’m really nervous. I’ve never screwed a cop before!”
Misunderstandings and misunderstandings....
Buddhas have been misunderstood so much that whatsoever you think about Jesus, Krishna, Buddha, Lao
Tzu, be very cautious ninety-nine percent of it is going to be a misunderstanding. If you ask me, ”Who are
Christians?” I say ”The people who have misunderstood Christ.” If you ask me, ”Who are Buddhists?” I will say,
”The people who have misunderstood Buddha.”
Misunderstanding is so easy because if you want to understand a buddha you will have to rise a little higher
to see what he is showing. But if you want to misunderstand you need not move anywhere; wherever you are,
remain there and you can misunderstand. To misunderstand is so comfortable, so cozy. You can misunderstand
without any effort; it requires no change on your part. But it will show in your life.
People go to the temples, but there is no dance in their eyes. Going to the temple and no dance in your feet
and no dance in your eyes then why are you going? What is the point? Why are you wasting your time? People
are praying, but there is no joy, there is no light on their faces. Then why are you wasting your time and God’s
time? But one thing is good: that God is utterly deaf deaf to all languages. He listens only to silence, he is
available only to silence. So you can go on praying nobody is listening. It is a monologue.
Martin Buber says that prayer is a dialogue. I say no, unless a prayer is absolutely silent it is not a dialogue.
Martin Buber says a prayer means an I/Thou dialogue. If there is I, then there can be no Thou; these two things
can’t exist together. If there is I and Thou, then the Thou is only a projection and there is no dialogue at all;
it is a monologue. You can believe that somebody is listening nobody is listening. You are simply wasting your
time, your breath. Do something else, anything will be better. Even playing cards will be far better, drinking
Coca-Cola will be far better!
Your prayers are meaningless. You cannot hide the fact. If you move towards God or truth in sadness, in
misery, in some way or other, your life will show it. Truth cannot be repressed.
The Gladwells had a baby born without ears. They brought it home and their neighbors, the Petersons, were
preparing to visit it. ”Now, please be careful,” said Mrs. Peterson to her husband. ”Don’t say anything about
the baby not having any ears.”