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

THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 7
Stalin was giving Mao Zedong instructions in practical communism. ”Comrade,” he said, ”how would you make
a cat eat chili pepper?”
”There are two ways,” said Mao. ”I could force it down him or I could stuff a fish with the pepper and give
the fish to the cat.”
”Wrong,” replied Stalin. ”It is not compatible with our ideology. The first method is coercion, the second
deception. You know we never coerce or deceive the people.”
”Then how would you do it?” asked Mao.
”I would rub the pepper on the cat’s tail. When this started to smart, the cat would turn around and lick its
tail, thus eating the pepper voluntarily.”
This has been done by the priests for centuries. They rub the pepper on your tail, and one day you start licking
your tail and you think you are doing it voluntarily.
The first step towards real religion is to drop Christianity, Hinduism, Mohammedanism, Buddhism, Jainism;
to drop all ideologies, to unlearn what has been forced upon you to be a child again. Then you can start seeing
things in their true colors, then you can start seeing things as they are. Children are more aware of the reality than
you are. The older you become, the less aware you are because the more you become burdened with experience,
knowledge, opinions, ideologies.
DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO RESOLUTELY, WITH ALL YOUR HEART. THE TRAVELER WHO
HESITATES ONLY RAISES DUST ON THE ROAD.
Buddha says: DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO RESOLUTELY.... But by resolution he does not mean will, as
it is ordinarily meant in the dictionaries. Buddha is compelled to use your words, but he gives a new meaning to
his words. By ’resolution’ he means out of a resolved heart not out of willpower but out of a resolved heart. And
remember, he emphasizes the word ’heart’, not the mind. Willpower is part of the mind. A resolved heart is a
heart without problems, a heart which is no longer divided, a heart which has come to a state of stillness, silence.
That’s what he calls a resolved heart.
DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO RESOLUTELY, WITH ALL YOUR HEART. Remember the emphasis on
the heart. Mind can never be one; by its very nature it is many. And the heart is always one; by its very nature
it cannot be many. You cannot have many hearts but you can have many minds. Why? because the mind lives
in doubt and the heart lives in love. The mind lives in doubt and the heart lives in trust. The heart knows how
to trust; it is trust that makes it one. When you trust, suddenly you become centered.
Hence the significance of trust. It does not matter whether your trust is in the right person or not. It does not
matter whether your trust will be exploited or not. It does not matter whether you will be deceived because of
your trust or not. There is every possibility you may be deceived the world is full of deceivers. What matters is
that you trusted. It is out of your trust that you become integrated, which is far more important than anything
else. It is not a question that first you have to be certain whether the person is worthy of trust or not. How will
you be certain? And who will inquire?
It will be the mind, and the mind knows only how to doubt. It will doubt. It will doubt even a man like Christ
or Buddha. It can’t help.
Judas doubted Jesus. He could not trust even a man like Jesus. And Jesus trusted Judas; he could not doubt
even a man like Judas. See the point. Who is the gainer? If you superficially look, then it seems Jesus has lost
because he is crucified. If he had not trusted Judas he would have saved his life. But that is only a superficial
understanding. In fact the loser is Judas, not Jesus. One has to die some day or other, and one cannot die a
better death than Jesus. It is his death that brought a revolution into the consciousness of humanity.
If Buddha had also been crucified we would have been far richer. Dying on a bed would not have been of much
help. And what difference does it make to Jesus where he dies? But a man like Jesus uses even his death as
a situation, as a device. He used it and he used it very skillfully. Socrates could not use his death so skillfully.
Maybe it is because of Socrates’ death that Jesus has learned a lesson: how to use death. There are foolish people
who cannot use their lives usefully, artistically, gracefully, beautifully, and there are people like Jesus who can
even use their death. Their death is also a device.
The real loser is Judas, and he understood immediately. When Jesus was crucified he felt so ashamed that he
committed suicide the next day. Now, committing suicide is ugly; being crucified has a beauty. It is a sacrifice,
the ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate offering one can make to God. And Jesus made it. His last words were, ”Thy
kingdom come, thy will be done.” He surrendered totally: ”Let thy kingdom come.” He effaced himself totally,
he dropped his ego totally: ”Thy will be done.” He trusted Judas absolutely. He hugged him, he kissed him, he
washed his feet. He knew that the man was going to betray him and still his trust was total.