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| | | Book Name: The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 3 | Previous Next | |
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and brought humbleness to science, and brought truth to science.
The same was done by Buddha and Mahavir in India: they brought relativity, the concept that truth cannot be asserted totally, that we can never be certain about it, that at the most we can hint at it. The hint has to be indirect; we cannot pinpoint it directly -- it is so big, so vast. And it is natural that we fragile human beings should hesitate. This hesitation shows his alertness.
You will always find stupid, ignorant people very dogmatic. The more ignorant a person is, the more dogmatic. This is one of the greatest misfortunes in the world, that the foolish are absolutely certain, and the wise are hesitant. Buddha is very hesitant. So if you really want to understand him, you will have to be very alert in your listening, very open. He is not delivering truths to you wholesale. He is simply hinting at... indications at the most, and they too are very subtle.
And, as I told you, Buddha is very down-to-earth. He never flies high into metaphysics. He never introduces, in fact; he has no preface to his statements. He simply says them directly, immediately, as simply as possible. Sometimes his statements may not look of any profound depth -- they are. But he does not beat around the bush, he does not make any fuss about it.
I have heard:
She was a sweet young thing; he was a fast-rising account executive with the well-known Madison Avenue advertising agency, BITTNER, BERMAN, DIRSTEIN AND OSMAN. Everyone thought it was an ideal marriage. But alas, there was a problem.... with sex. The honeymoon hadn't even begun.
"B-b-eing an advertising man," she sobbed to a friend, "all he does every night is sit on the edge of the bed and tell me how wonderful it's going to be!"
But it never happens! You can understand about an advertising man: he simply goes on saying how wonderful it is going to be.
Buddha has no preface. He never advertises what he is going to say. He simply says it and moves ahead.
THE BUDDHA SAID:
"MOVED BY THEIR SELFISH DESIRES, PEOPLE SEEK AFTER FAME AND GLORY. BUT WHEN THEY HAVE ACQUIRED IT, THEY ARE ALREADY STRICKEN IN
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