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Main Index
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| | | Book Name: The Dhammapada - The Way of the Buddha, Vol 5 | Previous Next | |
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real problems.
Marty and his wife Louise sat at the bar of a Chicago hotel. Marty pointed to a striking blonde sitting at the other end and said, "That's a hooker."
"I don't believe it," said Louise.
"I will show you," said Marty. He walked over and chatted with the blonde -- five minutes later they were in his room.
"How much?" asked Marty.
"Fifty bucks."
"I will give you twenty."
"Forget it," said the prostitute as she walked out the door.
A few minutes later Marty rejoined his spouse at the bar. The call girl walked over and tapped him on the shoulder. "You see," she said, "that's what you get for twenty dollars."
The stupid mind remains curious about such things, about others -- who is who, and they never ask, "Who am I?" They never ask the real question for the simple reason that the real question will take them on an arduous journey. They may have to drop many many things on the way: their prejudices, their ideologies, their philosophies, their religions, their churches -- because if you really want to know who you are, you have to drop being a Christian or a Hindu or a Mohammedan, you have to drop being a communist or a fascist. If you really want to know who you are you have to forget all about your being white or black, Indian or American, Chinese or Japanese, because these are just accidental things. They don't constitute your essence.
Your soul is neither Christian nor Hindu nor Mohammedan; your soul is not even male or female. Your innermost center is beyond all concepts. All that has been told to you, all that has become your identity, has to be dropped. To raise the real question means to pass through an identity crisis; you will have to forget all about what you think you are.
And there is going to be an interval, a gap when you will not know who you are -- and that is a painful experience.
The Zen people say: Before one meditates, mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers. When one goes deep in meditation, mountains are no longer mountains and rivers are no longer rivers. That is a great crisis when mountains are no longer mountains and rivers are no longer rivers.
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