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

THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 339
And why can’t Polacks be pharmacists?
They can’t fit the little brown bottles in their typewriters!
And do you know what is written on the bottom of Polish milk bottles?
”Open at other end.”
Wojawicz walked into the department store with his mangy mutt. A floorwalker rushed over, pointed to the
sign that read, NO DOGS ALLOWED and said, ”Hey, mister, can’t you read?”
”So,” said the Polack, ”who’s smoking?”
And just the other day all the orange Italians and all the orange Polacks gathered together to decide who is
really the greatest. Of course, there was no question of intellectual discussion... it had to be something existential!
So they decided to go to the football ground by the side of the railway station and play football whoever wins....
For two hours everything happened except football. Karate chops were flying and yoga was done and boxing
and wrestling and Dynamic Meditation and Kundalini Meditation. And they had forgotten completely that they
needed a few referees as well; there were no referees at all.
After two hours even the football lying by the side started laughing! ”What is happening?” Then a train passed
by and hearing the whistle of the train the Italians thought the game was over, so they left the ground, thinking,
”We are equal and the game is over.”
But the Polacks were bent upon winning, and now, because the sun was going down, the game became even
more fierce. And finally after one hour’s effort the Polacks were able to score one goal without the Italians, but
that doesn’t matter!
So if you want to be something really great, it is better to be a Polack rather than an Italian. Why choose
something second-rate?
Milewski was trying to light a match. He struck the first match, it didn’t work, he threw it away. He struck a
second match. That didn’t work either and he threw it away. He struck a third one and it lit up.
”That be a good one,” said the Polack, blowing it out. ”I got to save it!”
A Polack and a Jew were walking in the desert. The Jew was carrying a watermelon, the Polack was carrying
a car door.
After a while the Polack said, ”Why are you carrying that watermelon?”
The Jew said, ”So when it gets too hot I cut it open and eat a piece of it.”
After a while, the Jew said, ”And why are you carrying that car door?”
”So,” said the Polack, ”when it gets too hot I just roll down the window!”
The fourth question:
Question 4
BELOVED MASTER, A WHILE AGO I WROTE TO YOU ABOUT BEING CONFUSED, AND YOU SAID
YOU WERE TAKING CARE. NOW SINCE THEN I HAVE GOT EVEN MORE CONFUSED! WHAT ARE
YOU DOING TO ME?!
Prem Asang, taking care! That’s my way of taking care! You get confused because you are carrying certain
ideas and prejudices in the mind. If you don’t carry any ideas, any prejudices in the mind, even I cannot confuse
you; nobody in the whole world can confuse you. Confusion arises from your own inner causes.
For example, if you believe in a certain idea and I say something against it, then there is confusion. You cannot
leave the old idea; it is so old, it has got so many roots in you and you have lived with it so long that it has
become comfortable and cozy. You have believed in it so long, it has given you so many consolations, that now
suddenly to drop it will mean moving in a state of insecurity; it has become your security and safety.
But listening to me you cannot cling to it anymore. You cannot drop it and you cannot cling to it, hence the
confusion. You cannot cling to it anymore because what I am saying appeals to you, your heart understands it.
Deep down something in your inner being says, ”Yes, it is so.” Between your heart and head a conflict ensues;
that is confusion.
Confusion simply means that now you are unable to decide where to go: to go on clinging to the old, which will
be impossible because now you have seen that that is not right, that you have been clinging only to a comfortable
lie. It is not true, and your heart feels that it is not true... although it gives you consolation. Lies can give you
consolation, they are very consoling; otherwise nobody would believe in lies. Everybody believes in lies for the
simple reason that they are cheap and give you great consolation. You need not make any effort to realize them.
They are handed over to you by others: by your parents, by your teachers, by the society, by the atmosphere.
You simply go on gathering from everywhere, from every source.
You are living in a sandcastle; but everything goes well unless somebody tells you that this is a sandcastle.
Once you have heard that this is a sandcastle, the problem arises: you cannot live in it anymore, it is dangerous