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Main Index
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| | | Book Name: The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 4 | Previous Next | |
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day you will know what right speech is.
The fourth is: right morality.
Buddha says: The morality that comes from without is not the right morality. The morality that comes from within is the right morality.
All that we think is moral is not really moral. It is just conditioned by the society. You have been taught to behave in a certain way and you behave in a certain way -- but that behavior is the behavior of a slave. It is not that of a free man, it is not out of freedom. And how is morality possible out of slavery?
Buddha says: Morality is possible only when you are totally free, without any conditioning. Not that you have to do certain things, not that it is your duty, not that you have to follow a certain rule; but that you have become conscious, you have become aware. And out of that awareness you behave in a certain way. AWARENESS is right morality; unawareness is wrong morality.
You can be truthful. You may not be a thief, and Vou may not fool around with others' wives, and you may not be a deceiver, but if it is just because society has forced these things on you, you are not moral. You may be a good citizen but morality is a greater thing: it is not so cheap. You may be good to the society; society does not want anything more than that. If you don't create any trouble -- enough; if you don't create any mischief -- enough -- you are a good citizen. But to be moral means something more than being a good citizen. It means... a good man; it has nothing to do with society. It has something to do with your inner integrity.
Buddha says: Become more conscious. Live through consciousness rather than living through conscience.
Conscience is made by the society. If you are born in a Jaina family you will not eat meat, but it does not mean that you are non-violent. How can you be non-violent just by not eating meat? -- because from your very childhood you have been taught not to eat meat and it has become nauseating. The Jaina cannot even look at meat: even seeing meat he starts feeling nauseous, he starts feeling sick.
When I was a child, in my home even tomatoes were not allowed. I asked my mother, "Why are
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