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| | | Book Name: Yoga - The Alpha and the Omega, Vol 5 | Previous Next | |
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In thinking you cannot compete with Indians. Not of today's Indians -- I'm not talking about today's Indians. They are just a ruin of a past glory. In fact, India no longer exists. The India of Buddha, the India of Patanjali, the India of the Upanishads and Vedas, does not exist at all. They thought and thought and they created magnificent theories about the world, but they were not empirical, they were not practical.
China is totally different. They were not interested in contemplating about theories; rather, they were interested in living. They were interested in being, more than in thinking. And Lao Tzu is the pinnacle.
When Bodhidharma went to China these two currents met -- the Lao-Tzian meditation and Buddha's contemplation. They met, and one of the most beautiful things was born, that is Zen. It has the quality of Buddha and it has the quality of Lao Tzu. It is neither Buddhist nor Lao-ist; it is both. It is the greatest crossbreeding that has ever happened on the earth.
Patanjali is very logical, logical in the world of the mysterious. Step by step he moves, analytical. He could have satisfied any Einstein, any Wittgenstein or Russell. Lao Tzu could not have satisfied Einstein, he could not have satisfied Russell or Wittgenstein, because he would have looked absurd. He was talking patent nonsense. But Patanjali would have satisfied any scientific mind, howsoever great, because he talked so scientifically and he moves so gradually, step by step, showing every link.
The teachings are different because Patanjali was born in India, was talking to Indians -- a very contemplative country. Lao Tzu was talking to mystics, a very meditative country in those days. Both were talking to different people; different types of disciples gathered around them. Teaching differs because teaching is for the taught. Teachers don't differ. If you leave Patanjali alone and Lao Tzu alone they will be just the same, but if Patanjali is with his students and Lao Tzu with his disciples, they will be different. If Patanjali and Lao Tzu are silent, they are the same, but if they talk to somebody they will be different. A teacher has to teach according to the
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