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

THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 321
He looked around. Then he saw a small child who was not expecting to be chosen, who had not moved, not
even an inch. There was no idea, there was no question that he would be chosen. He was just enjoying the whole
scene the crowd and Jesus and people talking, and he was listening.
He called the child, he took the child up in his arms and he said to the crowd, ”Those who are like this small
child, they are the only ones worthy of entering into my kingdom of God.”
But remember, he said, ”Those who are like this small child....” He didn’t say, ”Those who are small children.”
There is a great difference between the two. He did not say, ”This child will enter into my kingdom of God,”
because every child is bound to be corrupted, he has to go astray. Every Adam and every Eve is bound to be
expelled from the garden of Eden, they have to go astray. That is the only way to regain real childhood: first you
have to lose it. It is very strange, but that’s how life is. It is very paradoxical, but life is a paradox. To know the
real beauty of your childhood, first you have to lose it; otherwise you will never know it.
The fish never knows where the ocean is unless you pull the fish out of the ocean and throw it on the sand in
the burning sun; then she knows where the ocean is. Now she longs for the ocean, she makes every effort to go
back to the ocean, she jumps into the ocean. It is the same fish and yet not the same fish. It is the same ocean
yet not the same ocean, because the fish has learned a new lesson. Now she is aware, now she knows, ”This is the
ocean and this is my life. Without it I am no more I am part of it.”
Every child has to lose his innocence and regain it. Losing is only half of the process. Many have lost it, but
very few have regained it. That is unfortunate, very unfortunate. Everybody loses it, but only once in a while
does a Buddha, a Zarathustra, a Krishna, a Jesus regain it.
Jesus is nobody else but Adam coming back home. Magdalene is nobody else but Eve coming back home. They
have come out of the sea and they have seen the misery and they have seen the stupidity. They have seen that it
is not blissful to be out of the ocean.
The moment you become aware that to be a part of any society, any religion, any culture is to remain miserable,
is to remain a prisoner, that very day you start dropping your chains. Maturity is coming. You are gaining your
innocence again.
But every child is not a saint. Of course every saint real saint is a child. The child has the same quality,
but he is unaware of it. And what is the point of having something if you are not aware of it? You may have a
great treasure and you are not aware of it; then it is as if you don’t have it. Having it or not having it makes no
difference.
A very rich man was very much puzzled because his whole life he tried to be rich and rich and rich, and finally
he succeeded. He became rich, he became the richest man in the world, but there was no bliss. And he was
thinking that once you become rich, bliss is attained. He was very frustrated. That is the fate of all successful
people. He started going around asking for any wise person who could help him to attain bliss.
Somebody suggested a Sufi master. He went to the Sufi master on his beautiful horse. He was carrying a big
bag full of diamonds, maybe the most precious stones in the world, and he told the master, ”I have all these
diamonds, but not a drop of bliss. How can I gain bliss? Can you help me?”
The master jumped the rich man could not believe his eyes the master snatched away the bag and ran away.
The rich man followed him crying, shouting, ”I have been robbed! I have been cheated! This man is not a master,
this man is a thief catch hold of him!”
But in that village the master was well acquainted with all the roads and all the lanes and all the streets, so he
dodged the rich man. And the rich man had never run after anybody; it was difficult. A crowd started following.
They knew the Sufi master, that his ways were very strange.
Finally they came back to the same tree where the master had been sitting and the rich man had found him.
The master was again sitting under the tree with the bag. The rich man came there, the master gave the bag to
him, and the rich man held the bag close to his heart and said, ”I am so blissful. I am so happy that I have found
my lost treasure!”
And the master said, ”Have you tasted a little bit of bliss? Unless you lose it you cannot taste it. I have made
you taste it. This is the way to taste bliss lose something.”
If you can lose your ego you will gain yourself what Buddha calls no-self. He calls it no-self for the simple
reason that it is not your old ego anymore. It has no shadow of the ego at all; hence he calls it no-self. Lose the
ego and gain the self or no-self, and suddenly you are mature. Lose the mind and gain consciousness and you are
mature. Die to the past and be born to the present and you are mature.
Maturity is living in the present, fully alert and aware of all the beauty and the splendor of existence.
The fifth question:
Question 5