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

330 THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12
Buddha brings a totally new insight. His approach is not mythological, his approach is scientific. FOR HE HAS
TRAVELED LIFE AFTER LIFE THE MUDDY AND TREACHEROUS ROAD OF ILLUSION so he knows
and he understands you. You may not understand him, but he understands you.
A little girl was being driven very erratically in a car by her grandma.
”Don’t go round corners so fast, Gran,” she pleaded.
”Do as I do, dear,” said the sweet old lady, ”and close your eyes!”
Blind people are leading other blind people and they have created all kinds of superstitions, mythologies,
religions. Only a buddha is capable, only one who is awakened, only one who up to now had belonged to you.
You are asleep and he is awake, that is the only difference; there is no other difference. He can help you to be
awakened because he knows how he has become awake, how difficult it is, what problems have to be faced. He
knows your state.
The bandage-covered patient who lay in the hospital bed spoke dazedly to his visiting pal. ”Wh-wh-what
happened?”
”You had one too many last night and then bet that you could jump out of the window and fly around the
block.”
”Why didn’t you stop me?” he screamed.
”Stop you, hell! I had twenty-five dollars on you!”
The receptionist of a five-star hotel picks up the phone: ”May I help you?”
”Yes,” is the reply, ”can you please tell me when your bar opens?”
”Yes, sir. The bar opens at five o’clock.”
”Thank you.”
An hour later the phone rings again and the same voice asks, ”C-c-an you tell me, p-p-please, when the b-b-b-bar
opens?”
”At five o’clock, sir,” says the receptionist.
”Th-th-thank you!”
Another hour passes and the phone rings again. ”Please, when doesh... doesh... doesh the bar (hic) o-open?”
”I repeat, at five o’clock,” answers the annoyed receptionist.
Still another hour later, the phone rings again. ”Hic! Hic! Heelloo!”
”You again!” exclaims the receptionist, ”I told you we open our bar at five o’clock, but in your state of inebriation
we cannot allow you into our bar!”
”But... but... but hic I don’t want to get in!” cries the drunk. ”I want to get out!”
Only somebody who has been in knows the ins and the outs. Only one who has been drunk like you can
help you. That’s why the organization called Alcoholics Anonymous is so helpful. It has helped thousands of
drunkards for the simple reason that other drunkards are helping. They understand each other, they understand
the problems. They are not standing high above the others looking with eyes of condemnation at them, looking
at them with that stupid holy look, ”holier-than-thou,” and preaching to them to be good. They have been in
the same plight, they have suffered much; they understand each other’s language.
Hence Buddha helped more people to become enlightened than anybody else in the whole history of humanity.
I don’t think Krishna helped anybody to become enlightened; he was enlightened, but he could not help anybody
else. I am afraid Jesus could not help anybody, not even among his own twelve apostles. They remained very
ordinary to the very end; not one of them became enlightened.
Buddha seems to be an exceptional master in fact the first master whom we can really call a master, because
through him thousands of people became enlightened. And the reason why Buddha’s appeal is so deep is that
he is not a pretender. He is not a messiah, he has not come from above, he claims nothing. He is not the only
begotten Son of God; he does not talk about God at all. He does not talk any nonsense. He is very sensible and
very down-to-earth. He means business. And he can help immensely. He says: FOR HE HAS TRAVELED the
master has traveled LIFE AFTER LIFE THE MUDDY AND TREACHEROUS ROAD OF ILLUSION.
When are you going to wake up? You go on postponing, you go on saying tomorrow. And you have been doing
this for centuries, and tomorrow has not come yet. When is it going to come? Stop postponing. Postponing is a
trick of the mind.
After a smooth take-off the captain of the Boeing 707 welcomes his passengers: ”Ladies and gentlemen, welcome
aboard. I, Captain Cook, and my crew wish you a pleasant flight. We land in Amsterdam in approximately five
hours.”
A few minutes later the same voice is heard through the speakers: ”Shit, Johnny, I feel like a nice cool beer
and a good screw....”