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Main Index
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| | | Book Name: The Dhammapada - The Way of the Buddha, Vol 6 | Previous Next | |
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to hear him silently, without distorting, without bringing your mind in. It is hard to understand him, because he speaks from a different altitude. He speaks from the peaks of the Himalayas, and you live in the dark valleys down below. The distance is great. He shouts so that he can reach you, but by the time his words reach you they are no longer the same. By the time they reach to your heart, much of their flavor, their authenticity, their truth, is lost. But though it is hard it happens -- and if you are courageous enough it can happen to you.
It has never been that there was not a buddha alive in the world, somewhere, in some part of the world. There has always been a source, there has always been a boat ready to take you to the other shore. If anything is missing it is just readiness on your part.
HARDER STILL TO HEAR OF THE WAY....
AND HARD TO RISE, FOLLOW, AND AWAKE.
And the hardest thing, Buddha says, is: Even if you hear a buddha it is hard to rise to those heights. It is a tremendous effort, an arduous journey, a great pilgrimage to rise to those heights... because you cannot truly understand a buddha unless YOU become a buddha yourself. The only way to understand a buddha is to be a buddha.
... HARD TO RISE, FOLLOW, AND AWAKE. Yes, you can understand intellectually, but intellectual understanding is not going to help; it may even become a hindrance. It will give you the idea in your sleep that you have understood... now there is no need to bother much more, you already know.
Intellectually, many people who come here know what Jesus says, what Buddha says. Intellectually they can analyze, they can discuss, but that is not the point. Knowing has to be existential, not intellectual. Intellect can be used as a stepping-stone, but it is not the real temple, it is only a stepping-stone.
You have to experience what Buddha is saying; what Buddha teaches has to become your own experience. You have to become a witness to this experience. Then only have you followed, then only have you risen, then only are you awake.
YET THE TEACHING IS SIMPLE.
Buddha says: Although it is hard to find and recognize a
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