|
Main Index
|
| |
| |
|
| |
man. Sooner or later, man will be replaced everywhere. Machines will do far better, far more efficiently, more reliably, faster.
Man has moods, because man has a soul. Because man has a soul, man can only be authentic if he remains without a character. What do I mean when I say 'characterless'? I mean the man goes on dropping his past. He does not live according to his pact -- that's why he is unpredictable. He lives moment to moment, he lives in the present. He looks around and he lives, he sees around and he lives, he feels around and he lives. He has no fixed ideas how to live; he has only awareness. His life remains a constant flow. He has spontaneity -- that's what I mean when I say a real man is characterless. He has spontaneity.
He is responsive. If you say something to him, he responds to it, he does not repeat a cliche. He responds to you, to this moment, to THIS question, to THIS situation. He is not responding to some other LEARNED situation. He responds to you, he looks into you. He is not reacting, he is responding; a reaction comes out of the past.
It happened: A Zen master asked, 'What is the secret of Buddha? What did he deliver to Mahakashyapa when he gave him the flower? Why did he say, "I give to Mahakashyapa what I have not been able to give to anybody else -- because others can understand only words, Mahakashyapa can understand silence"?'
Buddha had come that day with a lotus flower in his hand. All his disciples looked and looked, and they were worried and they started getting more and more restless. He would not say anything, he was going continuously into the lotus. He was looking at the lotus... as if he had forgotten the whole assembly.
Minutes passed, and the hour was passing, and then people were very fidgety. And then Mahakashyapa started laughing. And Buddha called him and he gave the flower to him and he said, 'What I can give through words, I have given to others. What I cannot give through words, I give it to you, Mahakashyapa. Keep it till you find a man who can receive the message in silence.'
A Zen master asked his disciples, 'What was the secret? What was given through the lotus? What
|
|
|
|
| |