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| | | Book Name: The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 3 | Previous Next | |
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sent me this beautiful anecdote:
One of the religious leaders in Ireland was asked by his followers to select a suitable burial place and monument for his mortal remains. A 'religious' war was in progress and his life had been threatened.
Three separate plans had been submitted to him, and to the dismay of the committee he chose the least expensive.
He was asked why he had made this selection, why he had chosen this humble resting-place, when the other two designs were of magnificent tombs.
"Well, my dear friends," he told them, "I appreciate your generosity. But is it worth all this expense when I don't expect to remain in my tomb for more than three days?"
Now, this sort of stupidity you will never find in Buddha. This sort of dogmatic certainty you will never find in Buddha. He is very hesitant. There is only one other name who is also so hesitant and he is Lao Tzu; these two persons are very hesitant.
Sometimes, because of their hesitance, you may not be impressed by them -- because you are confused you need somebody to be so confident that you can rely on him. Hence, fanatics impress you very much. They may not have anything to say, but they beat the table so much, they make such a fuss about it, that their very fuss gives you a feeling that they must be knowing, otherwise how can they be so certain? The witnesses of Jehovah and people like that -- stupid people, but they are so dogmatic in their assertions that they create a feeling of certainty. And confused people need certainty.
When you come to a Buddha, you may not be immediately impressed because he will be so hesitant, he will not assert anything. He knows better than that: he knows that life cannot be confined to any statement, and ALL statements are partial. No statement can contain the whole truth, so how can you be certain about it? He will remain always relative.
Two great Masters of India, Buddha and Mahavir, both were very deep in relativity. Einstein discovered it very late; Einstein brought relativity to the world of science. Before Einstein, scientists were very certain, dogmatically certain, absolutely certain. Einstein brought relativity
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