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was nonplussed. How could colour be explained to a blind man? But the blind man insisted -- he had to know. Then one man came forward; he curved his hand and held it in front of the blind man and said: "Feel my hand. The sea-gull's head is as shapely and graceful.
The blind man felt his hand and his face lit up with delight! "Now I know what milk is like -- a curved hand!" His friends were filled with despair, for now it was worse than before. He who knows not from within cannot be made to understand from without. If initially the man knew what colour was like, he could be made to understand from the outside -- but then there is no need to make him understand!
This is the problem -- the greatest problem in life: those who, know, need no explanation and there is no way of explaining to those who do not know. In trying to explain to the latter, more problems are created. WHAT IS KNOWN, IS ALWAYS KNOWN FROM WITHIN; AND WHAT IS IMPARTED, IS ALWAYS THE SUPERFICIAL KNOWLEDGE. Therefore, Truth cannot be expressed; it can only be known. To know, one should have some grasp, some acquaintance within; to be instructed means to be taught and explained by one who has this grasp.
Buddha was a guest in a village. The people there brought a blind man and requested Buddha to explain to him what light was, for this man refused to believe there was anything like light. He would only concede to its existence if he could touch it with his own hands. A blind man's knowledge of life is through the sense of touch. For him, for anything to exist, it should be felt by touch. And he is not wrong. That is the only way he knows; touch is the only proof of being. What he cannot feel, does not exist. The blind man laughed at their chagrin. "You cannot bring light, why do you then indulge in useless talk? There is no light," he said.
His friends had brought him to Buddha in the hope that he may be able to convince him. His demand was plain: "If your light exists I must be able to feel it, I must be able to taste it, hear it. And if it has any fragrance, I should be able to smell it." But all this is impossible with light -- it can only be seen. Then the blind man asks:
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