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everything as it is. Buffaloes don't make parties to revolutionize the world, to change buffaloes into super buffaloes, to make buffaloes religious, virtuous. No animal is concerned at all with human ideas.
And they all must be laughing: "What has happened to you? Why can't you be just yourself as you are? What is the need to be somebody else?"
So the first thing is a deep acceptance of yourself.
I was constantly asked by my teachers, "Don't you ever feel that you are mischievous?"
I said, "I am perfectly contented. This is the way I am, and I don't want to be anybody else."
They said, "This is strange because things that you do must make you feel guilty."
I said, "For what?"
One of my teachers was constantly talking about fearlessness -- that he was a man of fearlessness, that he could go in the darkest night into the thickest forest. Listening to him again and again I said, "I am suspicious -- because you are talking so much about your fearlessness. And what fearlessness is this, going into the dark night, into the thickest forest? This is not great bravery. My feeling is that you are a perfect coward."
He was very angry; he said, "You will have to prove it."
I said, "I will prove it. When I say it, it means I will prove it." And I could immediately see that he started perspiring.
That night I proved it. He used to live in a small house with mud tiles on it -- I knew where he used to sleep -- so I just went on top of the house, removed one tile, and I dropped a fake rubber snake tied to a rope, slowly, slowly, until it touched his face.
Once or twice he threw it off, and again and again the snake came back. Then he opened his eyes, half asleep in the middle of the night... and a long snake and the face just... and he screamed. I have never heard such a scream; that was a real primal scream. I had to take my snake and run away.
Next day he came to class, but his legs were still trembling; the fear of the snake touching his face.... He started teaching and I said, "First things first."
He said, "What first things?"
I said, "What about last night? You wanted something
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