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

78 THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12
THIS IS GOOD COUNSEL AND IT IS FOR EVERYONE: AS THE GRASS IS CLEARED FOR THE FRESH
ROOT, CUT DOWN DESIRE LEST DEATH AFTER DEATH CRUSH YOU AS A RIVER CRUSHES THE
HELPLESS REEDS.
The unconscious man is a helpless victim of circumstances; he is accidental. He has no intrinsic value yet
because he has not created any inner light yet. Only with consciousness you have intrinsic value; otherwise your
life is just accidental.
When a child was born in Bethlehem, three kings came bearing gifts for him in the stable where he lay.
The first king came forward, putting down his gift of frankincense and myrrh before the cradle. The second
king set down his gift of a large bar of gold. The third king advanced with his gift, but tripped over the bar of
gold.
”Jesus Christ!” he exclaimed.
The father of the child looked up at him and said, ”That’s a good name! We were thinking of calling him Fred.”
Your names, your lives, your everything is accidental. Consciousness will make you go beyond accidents.
FOR IF THE ROOTS HOLD FIRM, A FELLED TREE GROWS UP AGAIN. IF DESIRES ARE NOT
UPROOTED, SORROWS GROW AGAIN IN YOU.
Remember: there is no other revolution except consciousness. It cuts the desires from the very roots and it
brings freedom to you.
Enough for today.
The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol. 9
Chapter 10 Intelligent people are dangerous
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The first question:
Question 1
BELOVED MASTER, IT IS LIKE DRIVING A CAR IN FORWARD AND REVERSE AT THE SAME TIME.
I AM NOT GOING ANYWHERE. IS THE IGNITION SWITCHED ON OR AM I JUST A BAD DRIVER?
Ray Horton, the very idea of going somewhere is basically wrong. Nothing is going anywhere. Existence is
now-here; it is not moving towards a particular destiny. There is no destiny, there is no ultimate purpose. But
we have been taught for centuries that existence is moving towards a certain goal and we have been also taught
to live ambitiously, to prove that you are something, somebody: ”Reach somewhere.” But existence is absolutely
purposeless.
I am not saying that it is not significant. Precisely because it is purposeless it is significant, but its significance
is not that of the marketplace. It is a totally different kind of significance: the significance of a roseflower, the
significance of a bird on the wing, the significance of poetry, music. It is an end unto itself.
We are not to become something we are already it. This is the whole message of all the awakened ones: that
you are not to achieve something, it has already been given to you. It is God’s gift. You are already where you
should be, you can’t be anywhere else. There is nowhere to go, nothing to achieve. Because there is nowhere to
go and nothing to achieve, you can celebrate. Then there is no hurry, no worry, no anxiety, no anguish, no fear of
being a failure. You can’t fail. In the very nature of things it is impossible to fail, because there is no question of
success at all.
It is just a conditioning by the society that creates the problem in you. And then you start thinking, ”I am
not reaching anywhere, and life is slipping out of my hands and death is coming closer. Am I going to make it or
not?” And then there is great fear of missing, frustration that so much is lost. And who knows? tomorrow may
never arrive. ”I have not yet been able to prove myself, my worth. I have not become famous yet. I have not
accumulated much wealth. I am not a president of a country or a prime minister.”
Or you can start thinking in otherworldly terms, but the process is the same. You can say, ”I have not yet
become enlightened. I have not yet become a Buddha or a Jesus. Meditation is far away. I don’t know who I
am.” And you can go on creating a thousand and one problems for yourself.
All these problems are created because the society wants you to be ambitious, and ambition can only be created
if there is a goal in the future. For ambition, future is needed. And without ambition, the ego cannot be created.
And the ego is the basic strategy of the society to rule over you, to exploit you, to oppress you, to keep you
miserable. The ego exists in the tension between the present and the future: the bigger the tension, the bigger
the ego. When there is no tension between your present and future, the ego disappears because there is no point
where it can have shelter, where it can exist.
Hence society teaches you, ”Become this, become that.” It teaches you becoming. Its whole education system
is based on the idea of becoming.