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Main Index
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| | | Book Name: The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 3 | Previous Next | |
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THOSE WHO ARE ABLE TO OVERCOME IT ARE SAINTLY ARHATS."
Buddha says: Those who are lost into the filth of passion and never transcend it, those who never transcend as the lotus transcends the mud it is born into, they are the ignorant people, the worldly people. Those who transcend lust and desire, those who understand the futility of desire, and those who become understanding about the whole nonsense that the mind creates and the dreams that it manufactures, they are the great ARHATS.
'Arhat', the very word means one who has overcome his enemies. Buddha says desire, desiring, is your enemy. Once you have overcome your desire, you have overcome your enemy, you have become an Arhat. Arhat is the goal: to become desireless -- because only when you are desireless is there benediction.
Our so-called religions are based in fear. Buddha's religion is based in an inner benediction. We worship God because we are afraid, because we don't know what to do with our lives. We are continuously trembling, scared -- death is coming and we don't know what to do, how to protect ourselves. We need a protector. It is out of fear. Buddha's religion is based in an inner benediction, in an inner blessing -- it has nothing to do with fear.
Let me tell you one anecdote:
Henry went on his first hunting trip. When he got back to his office his partner Morris couldn't wait to hear all about his trip. Henry told him, "Well, I went into the woods with the guide. You know me, two minutes in the woods, I get lost. I'm walking extra quiet, when all of a sudden the biggest bear you ever did see is standing right in front of me. I turn around and run just as fast as I can and that bear, he is running even faster. Just when I feel his hot breath on my neck, he slipped and fell. I jumped over a brook and kept running, but I was losing my breath and sure enough there was that bear getting close to me again. He was almost on top of me when he slipped again and fell. I kept on running and finally I found myself in the clearing of the woods. The bear was running as fast as he could and I knew I didn't stand a chance. I saw the other hunters and shouted for help, and just
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