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opposites. If somebody asks you what light is, you will have to bring darkness in to define it. If somebody asks you what health is, you will have to bring disease in to define it. All words have meaning in the context of their opposites. 'If birth does not exist, what is the meaning of birthlessness?' Yoka attacks again. He could not provoke the Master the first time; he wanted to drag the Master into a debate.
But you cannot drag the Master into a debate; he is not there to fight, he is not there to argue. That's why he assents happily 'You have grasped birthlessness splendidly!' This is no way to argue. Argument means that even if you are not right, even if you see that you are not right, you go on insisting that you are right and the other is wrong. Argument is an ego trip, an ego number. You cannot argue with a Master because there is nobody. You can have a dialogue with a Master but no argument. Whenever he will see the point that you have come close to truth, he will immediately affirm it, he will say 'This is so, that's so. You are right.' It is not a question of who is right, the question is always of what is right.
See the difference. When you are discussing with somebody it is never a question of truth, the question is 'Who is right, you or I?' You will come across so many instances like this in Buddhist scriptures, and sometimes you will have the feeling a great dialogue, a great discussion, a great argument, is going to set in. And if you are accustomed to reading Western books, the dialogues of Plato where Socrates goes on and on arguing and arguing, you will expect something like that. But you will be frustrated because with a Master the moment anything comes close to truth, he immediately affirms. Whether it comes from you or anybody else -- that does not matter. Truth matters; from whom it is coming is irrelevant. It is not an ego conflict.
Yoka wanted to drag the Master... He wanted to test the Master, to examine whether he has really found a sage or it is just an illusion. The man has tremendous beauty, grace, has eyes of great depth, has great love energy around him, but one should be cautious -- all these things may be just
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