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| | | Book Name: The Dhammapada - The Way of the Buddha, Vol 11 | Previous Next | |
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people. To declare there that, "I am God" was just asking for your death, nothing else.
Jesus could only work for three years. Hence Christianity is so poor, because the master lived only three years. Up to his thirtieth year he was working for his own enlightenment. When he was ready he came out of the monasteries, started working, and then lived only three years. By the age of thirty-three he was crucified. Now, three years' time is not enough at all. Buddha worked for forty-two years; even that is not enough.
If Jesus had asked Buddha, Buddha would have told him, "Keep quiet, work silently. Just be an ordinary rabbi. There is no need to declare that you are the Son of God. You know it, that's enough; and God knows it, that's enough."
But in India, Buddha himself declared it. It is a totally different milieu, it is a totally different climate. For centuries buddhas have happened in this country, they have prepared the way; hence it is very simple to declare, no problem.
Still Buddha says: Be very cautious, because your function is to LIGHTEN THE WAY. Don't create more trouble for people who follow you. They are already in trouble, they are living in hell. You have to make their burden light.
FOR YOUR WORDS ARE SWEET.
If your words come out of silence, compassion, understanding, out of absolute emptiness -- if your words don't come from somebody who is extraordinary but from somebody who is just ordinary -- then they will be sweet and they will help people far more deeply than anything else.
FOLLOW THE TRUTH OF THE WAY.
What is the truth of the way? Buddha is always for experience and never for believing. He says: Whatsoever you have experienced, now follow it. Don't believe it because it has been told by other buddhas; follow it only when you have experienced and follow it only to the extent that you have experienced. If you follow it to that extent, your light will fall a little further ahead and you will be able to follow in that light a little more and a little more. And just by a small lamp one can travel thousands of miles; one can pass the dark night of the soul very easily, howsoever long it is.
And
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