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

276 THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12
moment I remembered that I used to play volleyball when I was a student, so I caught hold of his shoe in the
middle and asked him for the other one. He was at a loss.
I said, ”You throw the other one too! What am I going to do with one? If you want to present something....”
He waited. I said, ”Why are you waiting? Throw the other one too, because this way neither will I be able to use
the shoe nor will you be able to use it. And I am not going to return it, because evil should not be returned for
evil! So you please give the other one too.”
He was so shocked because he could not believe it... first, what he had done he could not believe he was a very
good man, a scholar, a well-known Sanskrit scholar, a pundit. He was not expected to behave like that, but it
had happened people are so unconscious. If I had acted the way he was unconsciously expecting, then everything
would have been okay. But I asked for the other shoe, and that shocked him very much. He was dazed.
I told somebody who was sitting by his side, ”You pull off his other shoe. I am not letting him off, I want both
the shoes. In fact, I was thinking of purchasing some shoes, and this man seems to be so generous!” And the shoe
was really new.
The man came in the night, fell at my feet, and asked to be forgiven. I said, ”You forget all about it, there is
no question... I was not angry, so why should I forgive you? To forgive, one first has to be angry. I was not angry,
I enjoyed the scene. In fact, it was something so beautiful that many people who had fallen asleep were suddenly
awakened! I was thinking on the way that it is a good idea, that I should plant a few of my followers, so once
in a while they can throw a shoe so all the sleepers wake up. At least for a few moments they will remain alert
because something is happening! I am thankful to you.”
For years he went on writing to me, ”Please forgive me! Unless you forgive me I will go on writing.”
But I told him, ”First I have to be angry. Forgiving you simply means that I accept that I was angry. How can
I forgive you? You forgive me, because I am unable to be angry with you, unable to forgive you you forgive me!”
I don’t know whether he has forgiven me or not, but he has forgotten me. Now he writes no more.
ALAS FOR THE MAN, Buddha says,
WHO RAISES HIS HAND AGAINST ANOTHER, AND EVEN MORE FOR HIM WHO RETURNS THE
BLOW.
Why ALAS FOR THE MAN WHO RAISES HIS HAND AGAINST ANOTHER...? Because he is raising his
hand against himself, because there is no one who is other. All existence is one. When you hit somebody you are
hitting yourself. You are simply being childish. It is the same reality: I am one of its waves, you are another of
its waves. One wave hitting another wave in the ocean they are both hitting themselves.
ALAS FOR THE MAN WHO RAISES HIS HAND AGAINST ANOTHER, AND EVEN MORE FOR HIM
WHO RETURNS THE BLOW. Why more for him? because then he creates a vicious circle. And that’s how we
are living, in many, many vicious circles. People go on fighting; once something starts then it seems there is no
end to it. You do something in revenge and the other has to wait for his opportunity to do something against you,
then you do something against him, and so on and so forth. It goes on from one life to another life, it continues.
The wise person is one, the master is one, who stops all these vicious circles.
Once a man came and spat on Buddha’s face, he was so angry. Buddha asked him, ”Is that all or do you want
to do something more? Please do it and finish it.”
The man asked, ”What do you mean ’Please do it and finish it’?”
Buddha said, ”In a past life I had insulted you and now the time has come when the vicious circle can be closed.
Now you insult me and I will not return anything; I will simply accept it and close the circle it is just to close
the accounts with you. I was waiting for you; in fact, the day I came into this town I was hoping that you would
come and you would do something and the accounts could be closed. This is my last vicious circle; I have closed
all others. Now I am out of all vicious circles. I am thankful to you; otherwise something was hanging in the air
only one thread, but something was hanging in the air, something incomplete. ”Now the circle is complete and I
don’t want to continue it anymore. Now it is up to me to continue or not to continue. Now I am the master; up
to now you were the master. By spitting on my face your mastery is gone; now I am the master and I don’t want
to continue this vicious circle anymore. This is my last life and I want to close all accounts with everyone good
accounts, bad accounts, all kinds of accounts have to be closed so that I can disappear into the ultimate with no
strings attached to the world. I am immensely happy,” Buddha said to him.
RESIST THE PLEASURES OF LIFE AND THE DESIRE TO HURT TILL SORROWS VANISH.
Pleasure is dependent on others, and whatsoever is dependent on others will make you a slave, will create a
bondage. And Buddha’s ultimate goal is freedom, nirvana freedom from all bondage.
Hence all the awakened ones have been saying: Search for bliss. Don’t waste your time in ordinary pleasures.
In the first place they are momentary; in the second place every pleasure brings pain. Pain is the other side of