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

THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 329
Moon energy means cool energy, sun energy means hot energy. When you live in passion, lust, anger, greed,
jealousy, possessiveness, hatred, you live as fire. It is not only that others are burned through you, you are
burning yourself. In fact, if you want to burn others you have to burn yourself first; only then can you burn
others. You are constantly in a fever. The sun energy is feverish, it creates insanity, it drives you crazy. It keeps
you running and rushing after illusions.
Meditation is the miracle that transforms the sun energy into moon energy. The moon creates magic every
night. The moon has no rays of its own, it simply reflects the sunrays. It absorbs the sunrays and reflects them
back; the moon functions only as a mirror. Hence the moon represents two things: first it is a mirror. The master
is a mirror, meditation makes you a mirror without any dust, absolutely clean and pure, so everything is reflected
in you as it is, with no judgment but simply as it is in its absolute facticity.
And second, the moon, just by reflecting them, transforms the hot rays of the sun into cool energy. That’s
what happens through a master. He absorbs the same energy that you absorb, he eats the same food as you eat,
he drinks the same water as you drink, he breathes the same air as you breathe, but some alchemical change is
constantly going on in him.
Out of your food you become more and more sexual, out of your breathing you become more and more hot.
The master breathes the same air, but some miracle happens within him that is not perceptible to you. The same
air no longer creates the same results for him as it creates for you, the same food no longer creates for him the
same problems as it creates for you. The master does not live in another world; he lives in your world and he lives
in the same way as you live.
Those who escape from the world are not real masters; they are afraid of the world. They are afraid to absorb
this crazy energy. The world is full of it; hence they escape to the Himalayas. But they simply show by their
escape that they are not yet masters. The real master lives here in the world. He absorbs the same crazy energy,
but when it comes back, when it is reflected back through him, it is no longer crazy. It becomes a grace, it becomes
cool. He showers a thousand and one blessings even on those who are not worthy, even on those who are not
receptive, even on those who will never feel thankful, even on those who may do harm to him.
Jesus even kissed Judas and washed his feet, and he knew the man had betrayed him. He knew perfectly well,
because before he washed the feet of Judas he told his disciples, ”Tonight I am going to be betrayed by one of
you.” But he cannot do otherwise: he can only kiss, he can only wash the feet. He has no ego, he is utterly
humble. In fact, he has no self; he is a non-self. Buddha’s word for it is anatta no-self. And he is constantly
radiating the cool energy of the moon.
HE IS THE MOON. HE IS SERENE. HE SHINES he is as serene as the moon and he shines as beautifully as
the moon.
FOR HE HAS TRAVELED LIFE AFTER LIFE THE MUDDY AND TREACHEROUS ROAD OF ILLUSION.
He knows from bitter experience. He has every compassion for you. If you are deep in your mud he only has
compassion for you. He makes every effort to pull you out of the mud because he has been in the same mud for
lives. He has traveled the same path, he has gone astray thousands of times, he has suffered in the same way.
That is one of the most beautiful things Buddha taught, because all other religions were trying to prove
something else. Hindus were saying in India that Krishna, Rama and all their avataras, they descend from
heaven, they are parts of God, they are incarnations of God. That is the meaning of ’avatara’; avatara means
”descending from above.” They are not part of us, they came as messengers of God. They have not traveled on
the same muddy path. How can they understand our misery? How can they understand our problems? They
have never suffered the same problems.
And the same was the case with Judaism. And remember, these are the only two religions; all other religions
are born out of these two. Judaism was also preaching the same idea: that God sends his messengers, messiahs,
prophets. Those are special people, they are not ordinary like you.
Buddha’s approach is tremendously human; he is the first humanitarian mystic. He says, ”I have traveled on
the same muddy path, I have suffered in the same way you are suffering, I have committed the same mistakes.
Hence I can understand you, and I can understand why you are unable to understand me, because I have come
across many buddhas in my other lives, many buddhas; I never understood them, I always misunderstood them.
So if you are misunderstanding me there is nothing to make a fuss about. It is simple, it is natural, it is inevitable.
So whatsoever you do to me,” Buddha says, ”it is okay. Still I will go on showering my flowers on you because I
have nothing else to shower.”
Buddha is not an avatara. He has not come from the above, he has risen from the below. He is a lotus: he has
grown out of the same mud in which you are struggling. And I completely agree with him. The Hindu and the
Jewish concept is utterly inhuman; that concept is not right. That cannot help humanity to be transformed.