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teach to people that will lead them inevitably to enlightenment. There is no goal to be achieved so people can be shown the path.
"People want some understanding about what discipline is to be followed -- what cause is going to produce buddhahood. There is no cause. So, all these seven days I have been thinking that whatever I say will not be exactly true. Should I say it or keep quiet? To be silent seems to be more honest and more truthful but a little unkind -- unkind to those who are still staggering in darkness, unkind to those who are very close to the source. Just a little help, a little push, may make them buddhas."
But it is not so easy. If you push somebody he becomes angry. Your push is not necessarily going to be understood as a compassion. The person may become more ugly than he was by your push. He may become more barbarous. He may stand up to fight with you asking, "Why did you push me? Why did you said this? Why did you expose me?" The work of the master is not just full of roses. It is one of the most delicate works of art to help a man become a buddha. A slight mistake and everything is spoiled. And the problem is not the master, the problem is the disciple. How the disciple is going to take your word is not within your control.
So Buddha said, "I am thinking not to speak at all. Those who are capable of becoming buddhas will become buddhas -- a little late perhaps -- and those who are too much involved in darkness and mundane activities are not going to listen to me. They will simply waste my time and will be angry at me that I am wasting their time."
But the people who were urging him said, "You are ninety-nine point nine percent right, but please think of the point one percent. You may fail with ninety-nine point nine percent of the people, but you may succeed in helping one person out of one hundred to become a buddha. This is such a great event that those failures can be simply forgotten -- they don't matter. Anyway they were not going to become buddhas; you need not be worried about them. But think of that point one percent. You will be very unkind to those who are just on the periphery. A little push,
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