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Main Index
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The word that can be named? No, not that word. And don't you fall into the errors of language! According to language -- that alone is a name which can be named. We can speak no other name. And the path that can be trodden, that alone is Path -- we know of no other. Now if this is placed correctly, you will be surprised at the result! For in straight and simple language, it will convey that: No path is a path; no name is a name. So what you will understand directly, is only this: that which is a way, is not the way at all; that which is a name, is not a name at all!
This is what Lao Tzu is trying to convey. He says, "If you wish to reach, beware of all paths, or you will go astray. If you wish to know him, call out to Him -- take no name or you will go amiss." And the slightest error is an infinite blunder in context with this.
A youth came and sat before Marpa. He is with Marpa for the last three years. He tells Marpa: "Show me the way! Give me some idea of His whereabouts -- some name, some sign, some symbol!" And every time he asked him about His whereabouts, Marpa would become silent even amidst conversation! Then the youth would plead again, "Why do you always become silent when I ask you? You were speaking right now!" Marpa would then shut his eyes and become all the more silent. If the youth accosts him with the same question while he is walking, he would stop suddenly where he was and become absolutely still.
The disciple reached the end of his patience within three years. "This is the limit!" He would exclaim. "Normally you walk but as soon as I question, you stop there and then! Normally you talk but as soon as I question, you shut your eyes and seal your lips! I have come for this question only to you and not to hear your other sermons or take part in your various travels. I have nothing to do with these!" But again Marpa strikes his typical pose when this question is raised! Then one day the youth asked his permission to leave. "May I go?" He asked, "When did you ever come?" Marpa replied "Since three years, you are wandering outside the gate. When do you ever come in? Whom are you asking for permission to leave? Not for a moment
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