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

62 THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12
Richard, I have been saying nothing against intelligence, intellect, but against intellectuality and that’s a
totally different phenomenon. When somebody becomes identified with his intellect, intellectuality is born; when
somebody remains the master, unidentified with his intellect, intelligence is born. Intellect is the same. The whole
thing depends whether you get identified with it or you remain transcendental to it. If you become identified, it
is intellectuality; if you remain unidentified, it is intelligence.
Intelligence is of tremendous importance; intellectuality is a barrier. Intellectuality is a barrier even in the world
of science. Intellectuality can, at the most, give you scholars, wordy people who go on and on spinning, weaving
systems of thought with no substance at all.
In the scientific endeavor, intelligence has to be focused on the objective world; in the religious exploration,
intelligence has to move inwards. It is the same intelligence, only the direction changes. In science, the object,
the outer object, is the goal of inquiry; in religion, your subjectivity, your interiority, is your adventure. The
intelligence is the same.
If you become an intellectual then you will not be a scientist; you will only write histories of science or
philosophies of science, but you will not be a scientist, an explorer, an inventor, a discoverer, on your own. You
will be simply accumulating information. Yes, that too has a certain use; as far as the outside world is concerned,
even information has a certain limited utility, but in the inner world it has no utility at all. It is a barrier; it has
a negative effect on the inner experience.
You say, ”I understand you to say that the intellect is a barrier to self-realization.”
The intellect is neither a barrier nor a bridge; intellect is neutral. Get identified with it, it becomes a barrier;
remain unidentified with it, it is a bridge. And without meditation you cannot know your transcendental nature.
In science, concentration is enough; at the most, contemplation is needed. In religion, meditation is the only
way. Concentration is not needed, is not a help; it is a positive hindrance. Contemplation also is not a help; it
is a compensation for not being meditative, it is a poor substitute for it. Meditation only meditation can bring
the inner revolution.
Meditation means getting out of the mind, looking at the mind from the outside. That’s exactly the meaning
of the word ’ecstasy’: to stand out. To stand out of the mind makes you ecstatic, brings bliss to you. And great
intelligence is released. When you are identified with the mind you cannot be very intelligent because you become
identified with an instrument, you become confined by the instrument and its limitations. And you are unlimited
you are consciousness.
Use the mind, but don’t become it. Use it as you use other machines. Mind is a beautiful machine. If you can
use it, it will serve you; if you cannot use it and it starts using you, it is destructive, it is dangerous. It is bound
to take you into some trouble, into some calamity, into some suffering and misery, because a machine is a blind
thing. It has no eyes, it has no insight. Mind cannot see; it can only go on repeating that which has been fed into
it. It is like a computer; first you have to feed it.
That’s what your so-called education is, you go on feeding it. Then it becomes a great memory in you, so
whenever you need to remember anything it can supply. But you should remain the master so that you can use
it; otherwise it starts directing you.
Don’t be guided by your car; remain a driver. You have to decide the direction, you have to decide the goal.
You have to decide about the speed, when to start and when to stop. When you lose control and when the car
takes over and it starts going on its own you are doomed.
But I am not absolutely against information. Information is good if it is stored in the memory and whenever
you need it you can find it easily. It is dangerous only when you don’t need it and it goes on hammering itself
on you; when it forces you to do something, when you are just a victim, then it is dangerous. Otherwise it is
beautiful. It is a beautiful means, but it is not the end.
At school the teacher was asking his class questions. He turned to Jenkins, ”Who knocked down the walls of
Jericho?”
”Please, sir,” replied Jenkins. ”It was not me, sir.”
The teacher was very angry. He went straight to the headmaster and said, ”I have just asked Jenkins who
knocked down the walls of Jericho and he said it was not him. What do you think about that?”
The headmaster said, ”I have known the Jenkins family for years, and if he said it wasn’t him, it wasn’t him.”
The teacher was even more angry. He phoned the Minister of Education and said, ”I asked a boy in class who
knocked down the walls of Jericho and he said it wasn’t him. I then went to the headmaster to complain. He said
he had known the family for years and if the boy said it wasn’t him, it wasn’t him. What do you think about
that?”