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this religious intelligence, this worldly wisdom seems stupidity.
And it is you who have to take the decision. Without this decision you cannot enter the world of religion. Until worldly wisdom seems stupidity to you, you cannot attain good sense. When you see worldly wisdom as foolishness, when you see worldly cleverness as deception, when you see the futility of worldly fame, of position and of reputation, then it means that the seed of right understanding has sprouted in you.
AWAKEN RIGHT UNDERSTANDING, MAKE THE MIND DESIRELESS, AND BE CONTENTED AND HAPPY WITH WHATSOEVER YOU GAIN THROUGH YOUR OWN LABOR.
This is true regarding all types of wealth -- about the outer wealth also which one gets with one's own effort. Whosoever is satisfied with it, his life will be full of morality. And the same is true about the inner wealth also: when the inner wealth is obtained by one's own effort he will be religious within.
Memorizing the scriptures means that you are committing theft. You are stealing the knowledge hidden in the scriptures; you did not get it by your own effort or hard work. It is all borrowed and stale, you are just holding on to the other person's knowledge. Don't construct your building on it. Its foundation is on sand so it will crumble down in the slightest gust of wind.
Just a few days ago I was telling a Zen story. One evening a Zen monk knocked at the door of a Zen monastery. It is a tradition of the Zen monasteries that if any traveling monk wants to rest there he has to give the right reply to at least one question. He has to earn the shelter to rest in by giving a correct reply to one question; otherwise he cannot halt at the monastery, he has to continue his journey.
The head of the monastery opened the door and asked the guest a very old puzzle of Zen monks. The puzzle is: Which is your original face, the basic face? the real one which was yours even before the birth of your father and mother? This question is regarding the soul. What you have received from your mother and father is the body; your face was also received from them. But what is your basic face, the original face? What is your nature?
And
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