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| | | Book Name: The Dhammapada - The Way of the Buddha, Vol 11 | Previous Next | |
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it, you can't go deeper than that. You are utterly secure.
So the gods said, "You cannot confuse them more. They are so skillful in confusing themselves, they have done it already to the maximum. So about that we don't agree.
"And one thing more: there may be one or two people among ten thousand who are just between these two sorts of people -- the one who can understand you and the millions who cannot understand you and are bound to misunderstand you. Between these two do you think," they said to Buddha, "there is not a possibility of a few people, one or two or three -- yes, they will be very few, they can be counted on the fingers -- who may be just in the middle, neither so confused that they cannot be helped at all nor so clear that they can find their path on their own? Speak for them; they will be helped by you."
And Buddha had to agree; it was not an argument for argument's sake. People like Buddha don't argue for argument's sake; he saw the truth of it. He said, "I have to agree with you. Yes, there are a few people who are exactly in the middle, on the boundary line. If I don't say anything to them they may be lost in the crowd; if some help is given to them, a little hand, they may be pulled out of their mud. I will speak for them."
He was going to be an arhata. Arhata means one who has arrived but is unconcerned about others, almost cold, does not care a bit. He became a bodhisattva; that is the second category.
Bodhisattva means one who is not only a mystic but also a master, who has not only known himself, but tries to make it known to others. Of course, the work of the bodhisattva is far more difficult; the arhata is in a better position. The bodhisattva has to struggle with all kinds of insanities -- insane people, split people, schizophrenic people, neurotics, psychotics. Humanity is full of these people. The bodhisattva has to go into the crowd, into the mud where you are, because that is the only way to help you out. Unless he comes amongst you, unless he lives with you, unless he relates with you, communicates with you, in a thousand and one ways seduces you, creates the longing for truth in you, he cannot help
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