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

THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 279
help; he cannot mend your car... he cannot help you in any way in the world. In fact, all that he can do is help
you to get rid of the world. And nobody wants to get rid of the world; everybody wants to be in possession of the
world. Hence the expert is honored in the West; in the East the expert has not been honored, never. The expert
is okay he is a servant, he serves, he is paid for it. But we have honored the buddha.
To honor a buddha is to honor a roseflower, which has no utilitarian purpose. You cannot eat it. If it is a
question of starvation, roses won’t help; wheat will be far better. If it is a question of choice between wheat and
roses you are going to choose wheat. What are you going to do with roses? A buddha is like a rose: you can
appreciate the beauty, you can dance around the rose, you can sing songs to it, you can look at the rose and praise
the Lord, but what else? It cannot fill your hungry stomach, it cannot help you to succeed in the world, it cannot
make you a great warrior. If you carry a roseflower you will not become Alexander the Great; a sword is needed,
not a rose.
But the expert is as much asleep as you are; there is no difference, no qualitative difference. Hence in the East
the expert is paid but he commands no honor.
A motion picture actor told his psychiatrist, ”I’m attracted to men instead of women.”
The shrink replied, ”You’ve come to the right place, handsome!”
Now the shrink cannot be honored in the East; in the West he has become one of the most honored people.
He has even defeated the priests. Now priests are learning how to be shrinks; priests are going to the universities
to learn psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, psychosynthesis and all kinds of nonsense, because now they know the
profession of the priest is finished; they have to add something more to its glamor. And they see the shrink is
getting higher and higher; he is the most highly paid person in the West. In the East nobody will think anything
special about a shrink. Yes, he cannot be more than a motor mechanic, maybe he is a mind mechanic he is also
a plumber. You pay him, but honor is totally different.
Honor is due only where payment won’t do. Where you cannot pay, where there is no possibility of paying
back, then honor. Honor is the acceptance of the fact that it is impossible to pay back; the debt cannot be paid.
HONOR THE MAN WHO IS AWAKE AND SHOWS YOU THE WAY. HONOR THE FIRE OF HIS SAC-
RIFICE.
The buddhas show you the way. You have to walk, you have to go; buddhas only point. They don’t give you
detailed directions because each individual is so unique and different that no detailed directions can be given.
Only vague instructions, only indicators, pointers, hints at the most not orders, not commandments....
I have heard the story about the Ten Commandments. Of course God had asked the Indians first, ”Would you
like to have a few commandments?” They said, ”No, not at all.”
Then he asked the French and they said, ”We want to live in freedom, we don’t want any hindrances.”
And he went on asking and nobody was ready. Finally he asked Moses, ”Would you like a few commandments?”
He said, ”How much?”
And God said, ”Free, absolutely free!”
He said, ”Then I will have ten!”
HONOR THE MAN WHO IS AWAKE AND SHOWS YOU THE WAY. He does not command you; he does
not tell you, ”Do this and don’t do that.” He simply gives you a few hints here and there and keeps you free,
allows you total freedom. He is not to be imitated or followed; he is only to be understood. You have to learn
from the awakened person the beauty, the bliss of being awakened, that’s all, and then you have to search on
your own. It is always an individual search, a private exploration. Truth cannot be transferred from one hand to
another; it is nontransferable.
HONOR THE FIRE OF HIS SACRIFICE.... And why should a buddha be honored? because of the fire of
his sacrifice. It is impossible for you to understand the sacrifice of a buddha because it is absolutely invisible to
you. You will know it only when you become a buddha. What he has known cannot be put into words, still he
tries; it is a constant sacrifice.
What he has known is beyond the mind, yet he tries in every possible way to make you understand it, to help
you understand it. He puts all his energy into making the incomprehensible comprehensible. His sacrifice is great.
He takes so much trouble for no reason at all, because he is not going to gain anything out of it. His work is
finished! His ship has arrived. He can leave the body any moment, any moment he decides, still he goes on living
in the body which is a confinement, which is a bondage. Still he goes on suffering in the body for the simple
reason that he would like to convey the unconveyable. His compassion is infinite.
Ramakrishna suffered from cancer. Many times his disciples said to him, ”Paramahansadeva, if it is too much
of a pain, we will be very sad, miserable, but you please leave your body.”