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Main Index
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| | | Book Name: The Dhammapada - The Way of the Buddha, Vol 3 | Previous Next | |
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The more you desire, the more frustrated you feel, because no desire is ever fulfilled. Desire is unfulfillable; its very nature is such. It is not that YOU are incapable of fulfilling it; desire's very nature is such that it cannot be fulfilled -- it goes on becoming bigger and bigger. In the beginning you ask for ten thousand rupees; by the time you have ten thousand, your desire has moved ahead of you -- it is asking for one hundred thousand rupees.
It is like the horizon that surrounds the earth: it looks so close by. Move, and it moves ahead with you. The distance between you and the horizon remains always exactly the same. In fact, there is no place where earth meets the sky -- there is no horizon. The horizon is a mirage: it only appears, it is not a reality.
So is fulfillment: fulfillment is only a mirage. It only appears there, very close, alluring, enchanting, inviting. You go on moving, and you waste your whole life; and by the time you are dying you have not even moved a single inch closer to fulfillment. People die on the same spot where they were born. People die in the same stupid state in which they were born.
I have heard:
Sir Henry, bored with English country life, visited a French SALON DE PLAISIR. In response to Sir Henry's request for something unusual, the madam suggested, "I can give you Hott Tung, a Chinese delicacy."
"No," replied his lordship, "I have already had one of those."
"Perhaps," asked the madam, "you would like to make a selection from our Black African group."
"I have had one of those too," yawned Sir Henry. "Actually, the only thrill I have not tried would be a little bitty girl, about eight years old."
"This is outrageous!" shrieked the madam. "The very idea is criminal! I am going to summon a policeman."
"No, don't do that," said the Englishman. "I have already had one of those!"
You can have everything and yet you will not have anything at all. You can have all the wealth of the world and still you will be poor. You can have all that the world makes available and yet the discontent will be deeper than ever before -- because before there were hopes, now
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