Chapter 8 Chapter 7 Autumn Tides

Life is experience, not theory.It needs no explanation.It exists in all its prosperity, just to live, to enjoy, to have fun with.It's not a riddle, it's a mystery.A riddle is something that can be solved, a mystery is something that can never be solved.Mystery is something that you can become one with, you can dissolve into it, into it -- you become a mystery yourself.This is the difference between philosophy and religion.Philosophy holds that life is a riddle that you have to solve, looking for explanations, theories and doctrines.Philosophy holds that there will be some answers, that life is a question mark and that one has to work hard for it.Of course, if you make life a question mark, your endeavor becomes intellectual.The assumption that life is a problem leads you to more and more intellectual labor, and in search of answers you settle on theories.

Religions that say life as a problem are fundamentally false.It's not a question - it exists without the question mark.It exists as an open secret; it is an invitation.You have to be a guest.You have to go into it, it is always ready to welcome you, don't fight it.It's not a question, don't try to answer it.It's not a mystery.Come and become one with it, you will understand it.Understanding comes from your wholeness, not from intellect.The intellect is only a partial effort, life requires your whole being to flow with it, to be so joined together that you can't tell the difference, you can't feel where you end and life begins.The whole life becomes you, the whole you becomes life, and this is salvation.This is not an answer, this is a salvation.

This is what Hinduism calls moksha: it is not a theory, a conclusion, it is living with a totally different being.It is not mind-directed, indeed, you become "mindless", you lose all judgment, the circumference disappears, you are like a drop in the ocean.You lose your boundaries, you gain the boundaries of the infinite universe.The first thing to understand is not to take life as a problem.Once you make it a problem, you will be in trouble; you have gone astray -- it will be a dead end.Somewhere, in some theory, you will stop.Everyone is stuck with a theory somewhere, and it's very hard to let go of a theory.You cling to it because the question scares you -- at least a theory is some comfort, at least you think you know.But you don't know.Ideas cannot know, ideas can only form theories.It can weave words faster and faster; it can play words, arrange them, but they are all interpretations—not real, just your interpretation of it.

①Moksha (moksa): Liberation.In Indian religion, it refers to the highest spiritual goal, which is the liberation of the individual soul from the shackles of samsara. ——Editor's note. It's like a map.Have you seen the map of India?You can always carry that map, you can always think you have India in your pocket.You can have a theory about the rose, about what the rose is.You can even have a picture of a rose, but that picture is just a picture, it has none of the living air that a rose has. Look at a child -- he has no idea yet.He just opened his eyes and looked at the world.Give him a rose.He doesn't know the name, he can't name it, he can't classify it, he can't say what it is.But the rose remained, its color struck the child, its beauty surrounded him, its fragrance touched his heart.He doesn't know what it is, but he experiences a living moment.You tell the child: "This is a rose." There will never be the same experience again, and the child will never experience the mystery of the rose again.Now whenever a rose comes to him he will say, "This is a rose." Now he will carry that word.You made him poor - he was very rich.The rose was there, he was just with it; there was no other way to describe it, to define it.Roses are roses.You can't say what it is, this or that.The child is quiet, without the effect of thoughts, thoughts do not exist, and there are no obstacles.The heart of the rose melts into the heart of the child, and the heart of the child melts into the heart of the flower.The child cannot even tell where he ends and the rose begins - there are no boundaries.They became one in a divine moment.In a split second they are not two parts -- the whole arises.But you tell him, "This is a rose." Now, never again.The moment there is a rose, the mind will say, "This is a rose." The mystery is lost, and now there is an answer, and now the child knows.How ridiculous!Now you will say that the child's knowledge has increased.But the opposite is true.

Before you tell him what is what, he understands, but he understands with his wholeness.This is not knowledge, this is experience.But you think he is ignorant.Now you think he knows because he has a word in his mind. The word "rose" is not a rose, the word "god" is not God, and the word "love" is not love.But we keep accumulating these words.Then some bright minds turned the words into explanations, theories, and arguments.The more controversial you become, the more theoretical you become and the further away you are from the rose. Now even echoes are impossible: nothing comes to you, and you never go to anything - you just live in thoughts, arrange words.

I've heard an anecdote: 3 Jews were taking a morning walk.They are old friends and discuss many things.At that time they saw the mayor's limousine passing by, and the mayor waved his hand and said, "Hello!" So trouble came.The first said, "Don't be so happy; he said hello to me—he had to." The second said, "What do you mean?" The first said, "I took him 10,000 yuan; Borrowed money, for two years he waited and waited. He had to say hello to me." Another said: "You are wrong, hello to me - he had to. The reason is that I lent him $10,000. He owed me money and he was always afraid of me. The moment he met me, he was afraid - he had to."

The third laughed, and the other two turned to him and said, "What do you mean? What are you laughing at?" He said, "He had to say hello to me, not to you—you were both wrong. He I don't owe me any money, and I don't owe him any money. Why doesn't he give me a clean hello?" Once you start seeing reality through your thoughts, everything becomes a problem; then the ego starts to explain, and then You just have to explain.You may have proofs for them, and those proofs may seem plausible, but only to you, not to anyone else -- because these are the explanations that your ego comes up with.You become more and more fixed in your interpretations because you invest so much in them.

A Christian is hurt if someone says something that is against Christianity.If someone says something against Hinduism, a Hindu gets hurt.Why?If you're really a truth seeker, like the cultists say they are, why would you get hurt?You should ask - he may be right.But the ego intervenes.It is not a question of whether Hinduism is right or wrong, it is a question of whether you are right or wrong.How can you be wrong?If you're wrong, then your image starts to falter.Then you start fighting and arguing about little things, little things.But the real confrontation, the basis of all confrontation, is that you are fighting life.With your answers you try to conquer life; with your theories you try to manipulate life.You think that if you understand the theory, you will be a master.Through knowledge you strengthen your ego.So if someone says that there is no knowledge in the mind, the ego will not listen to it at all.It never listens to it because it is dangerous.The mind says, "This too is a theory." The mind says, "Even anti-philosophy is a philosophy, even Zhuangzi is a philosopher." Then everything is settled and you step into your interpretation again.But remember, Zhuangzi is not a philosopher, and neither am I.

Philosophy is an attitude towards life.Attitude means a choice.Choices can only be partial.A mystic never chooses.He looks at the whole without any choice on his part, he does not become a chooser.If you choose, there will be problems immediately, because life is contradictory; life exists through contradiction, life handles the impossible in a graceful way.Night and day exist as neighbors, but are not really neighbors—day merges into night to become night; night merges into day to become day.Love and hate exist together: love melts into hate, hate melts into love.Life and death coexist: life gradually dissolves into death, and death gradually becomes life again.Existence is contradictory, but there is a deep harmony between the two poles.

From the mind's point of view, this is impossible, this is not possible.How can opposites coexist?How can there be harmony between life and death?How can there be harmony between hate and love?Mind says, "Love is never hate, hate is never love." Mind says, "A is A, B is B, A is never B." Mind is logical, life is contradictory, that's why they are never meet.So, if you say that this person is good, you cannot believe that this person is also bad.But such is life: the criminal exists in the saint, and the saint exists in the criminal.Only logic is clear, bounded, and defined.

Life is not clearly divided, it moves towards opposites.Just look: you can be a saint one moment and a criminal the next.What is the problem of life?You can be a criminal one moment and the next moment you cross it and become a saint.What's wrong? See what's going on inside: how things fit into opposites, how opposites co-exist.You were happy, happy like a flower, happy like a star, and suddenly you are sad.See... is this sadness separate from your joy?Or that same energy turned into sadness?Who was happy and who was sad?Are there two people inside you, or the same person with all the emotions?The same energy gradually moves: sometimes it is sad, sometimes it is happy.If you understand this, you won't create contradictions between the two.Then there is some joy in your sorrow, and a deep sadness in your joy. If Buddha was sad, you would see an emotion of joy in his sadness, you would see an undercurrent of compassion.His grief is beautiful.If Buddha is happy, if you look into him, you will feel a depth in his happiness -- the same depth that is always with sorrow.His happiness is not superficial.The problem with you is that whenever you are happy you are superficial; but whenever you are sad you may be a little more deep and a little less shallow.That's why laughter has a superficial ring.If you laugh, it's as if you're only laughing at the margins, but when you cry, you cry from the inside.It's easy to fake a laugh, but very difficult to fake a tear.If they don't come, it's impossible to bring them out.You can force a smile, but you can't force a tear.The more you squeeze, the more you feel like they won't come and your eyes get drier.There is a depth to your sorrow and a shallowness to your laughter. But when Buddha laughed, he laughed as deeply as tears can reach; when he wept, he wept as beautifully as you smile.Contradictions lose their "contradiction," they become one. That's why it is difficult to understand Buddha, because he becomes as contradictory as existence itself.He was an irrationality—now he was a mystery in himself. A religious man seeks truth, a philosopher seeks explanation. I heard that once in a men's club, three professors of philosophy were discussing, in small groups, what was the most beautiful among women.One philosopher said: "It is the eyes - the eyes lead the whole woman, they are the most beautiful part of the female body." The second said: "I disagree. The hair is the most beautiful part of the female face and body part, it endows women with beauty and mystery." A third said, "I disagree with you, you're both wrong - it's the legs, the way a woman walks, the curve of her legs, her marble legs , giving her overall femininity." A woman, an old lady, was listening to this discussion very seriously, and she lifted her nose and said, "I've got to get out of here before one of you boys tells the truth!" A woman is not a philosopher, she has no theories - she just knows. A religious man has an instinctive understanding -- it's not intellect, it's his whole being.He felt rather than knew.Feel hit the center.So remember one thing: through philosophy you never reach the truth, you just wander and wander and wander. Omar Knayyam said in his Rubaiyat: "When I was young I used to go to the scholars and saints. They fought and I came out through the same door that I entered." He visited so many philosophers, so many disciples - but they talked and talked, and he had to return by the same door. Nothing is gained, only life is wasted.The sooner you wake up the better.The sooner you become aware and free from the trap of philosophy, the better.Because life doesn't wait for you and your theories, it moves fast.Soon death will come and you will die with your theories in your hands, they are of no use, they are just dead dust.Chuang Tzu said, "Life, don't think!" That's what all the wise men have been saying, "Life, don't think!" Let go of thinking and become a being -- asking for your wholeness.With science you can use your head, with art you can use your heart, but with religion you need your whole.If the mind works alone, it creates dry theories; if the heart works alone, it creates imaginations and dreams.You need your whole.When you function fully you reach the completeness of the universe - you become one with it, and only the same can understand it.If you become complete in your inner circle, then the vast circular whole, the Brahman (Brahman), is ready to accept you.It's a thing. The second thing before we get into this parable is that there is always a limit to the mind.It won't be unlimited.Existence is unlimited, and thought is a limitation.The mind is always trained by the society in which you live, by the experiences you have had.So the frog has the idea of ​​a frog -- it lives in a well, and that is its whole universe.You also have an idea of ​​a frog because you too live in a well: a Hindu well, a Mohammedan well, a Christian or a Jewish well.You have a boundary -- it may be invisible, but it is all the more dangerous because you can jump out of the visible boundary more easily.Invisible boundaries...you never feel their presence, so they cling to you.It is easier for a frog to jump out of its well than for you to jump out of your Hinduism, your Christianity.This is difficult because the well is invisible.A frog lives in a fixed well - it is able to jump out of it.You live in a well that you carry with you - it is like a climate that surrounds you at all times, it is your invisible personality.Wherever you go you take your well, you stay in it; whatever you look at, you look through it. All interpretation comes from limitation -- only a man without limitation can know reality, can know truth.A Hindu cannot understand God, a Christian cannot understand God, a Jew cannot understand God -- because these are ideas.Only a man who begins to realize that he is neither a Hindu, nor a Mohammedan, nor a Christian -- only he can understand. An Indian cannot understand the truth, a Japanese cannot understand the truth, a Chinese cannot understand the truth.Because truth knows no bounds.Nationality creates limitations, and they must be let go.One has to be completely naked before the truth, without clothes, without limitation; neither Hindu, nor Indian, nor Mohammedan, nor Chinese -- just a being, a pure being without attachment.Then you came out of the well.If you are attached to this well, even if the ocean exists, you will not believe it, you will not see it, because your eyes are closed to this vastness.They can only know narrow things, like a well. The third thing to remember is that the mind always wants to live with the lower, it is always afraid of superiority.So everybody has been seeking to be inferior - friend, wife, husband - to be next to you, so you can feel superior.In India, they have a proverb that a camel should never go to the Himalayas.That's why it lives in the desert -- there it is the Himalayas.What will happen to the ego if it comes close to the Himalayas?That's why whenever you have a fear of the ego you run away.When you go to Buddha you run away, because a camel never wants to go near the Himalayas.You like your desert - at least you're a character there.George Bernard Shaw is reported to have said: "If I'm not the first to go to heaven, I don't go there. I prefer hell if I'm the first to get there. If I have to be second in the lobby." , it doesn't suit me." ① George Bernardshaw (George Bernardshaw, 1856~1950): Irish writer.In his life, he wrote more than 50 plays, 5 novels and various other works. ——Editor's note. He's talking about you.Just think about it, would you be at ease in a paradise where you are not number one and cannot be number one?Because Christ is there, Buddha is there, they have taken the line and you will be far behind.But in hell you have the possibility of being number one—and that's easier too.You will be in pain, but you want to be first, front, big -- you don't want to be happy being nobody.Here's the thing: only the nobody can be happy, the big will always be in pain, because it's that feeling of "I have to be big" that creates the pain.That's when you're in competition and conflict, and then there's constant tension with everyone -- everyone else is the enemy.Thought always seeks the inferior, it surrounds itself with the inferior.Then you become the most superior. Just look at this tendency.If it keeps going you'll keep falling, falling, falling, and on and on.Always seek superiority, if you are truly seeking truth, because truth is the highest.If you seek inferior, then in the end you will end up with some last lie. If you really want to step into divinity, then seek superiority, because superiority is the gleam of divinity.Always seek superiority.But then you have to be humble, then you have to submit, then you have to surrender.This is a problem of the ego, a problem of the mind.Mind always seeks second, that's why mind can never reach the Supreme, the highest peak of life, mind will eventually reach hell -- mind is hell, no mind is heaven. Now we'll try to get into this beautiful fable: the autumn tide has come.Thousands of rushing streams rush into the Yellow River.The water is rising and the river is wide. Looking across the river, we can't see the cattle and horses on the other side clearly.He Bo beamed with joy, thinking smugly that the beauty of the world had already been captured by him.He traveled eastward downstream and came to the North Sea. He crossed the vast waves and looked at the boundless horizon in the east. His expression changed. Looking at the vast ocean, he came back to his senses and sighed to the Sea God: "The common saying is right. After hearing a lot of truths, I thought he knew more than anyone else. I am such a person. Only now I have seen them with my own eyes." The vastness of what is said!" The Yellow River is one of the largest rivers in the world, but also one of the most dangerous.Of course, when the river is at tide, the autumn tide, thousands of streams, streams and creeks and tributaries, all feed into it, and it gets high tide, and it becomes a little ocean in itself.He Bo thought: "No one can compare with me now. All the beauty of the world has fallen into my domain. Now I am vast, incomparably vast, and no one else is so vast." This happened in the of each self.Every self is the Yellow River. When you are a child it is a small stream - right at the source - not very vast or wide.Then streams flow into it, and you gather many experiences, many knowledges, certificates, money, wealth, prestige, respect.You are still gathering.Thousands of streams are poured in, and the river becomes wider and larger.This is the tide of autumn that comes when you are young - when you think that no one can compare to you, that you are incomparable.Then you are full of ego, inflated.Every man grows swollen in his youth - the tide of autumn.At that time, he thought: Now, the beauty of the world has fallen into my grasp.You ask a person, whatever he says, don't listen.Just watch the way he talks.He may say he is a humble man, but look into his eyes - he is saying, "I am the most humble man, I am incomparable." He may say he is not as beautiful as the others; but look , he is waiting for you to object, to say, "No, you are wrong." If you nod your head and say, "Yes, you are right," you are creating another enemy.He is playing diplomacy.He wants to say something else, but he wants to hear it from you.In youth, everyone is flooded, when the whole vision is tinged and colored with the ego.When you walk, when you talk, act, relate, but everything is colored and breathed by the ego.Of course a lot of misery happens because you think yourself to be someone you are not, you believe in the shadow.Soon the tide will recede and autumn will not be eternal.You will grow old, the water will no longer flow into you, the stream will dry up, the banks will be revealed, summer will come, and this seemingly vast Yellow River will become the only small stream.You may become the only dry sand bed. It happens in old age.Then one feels very disturbed, deceived -- as if existence deceived you.No one cheated you, you just stupidly magnified yourself.Your own ego created the whole problem - now you feel cheated.You won't find a man who is both older and happier.If you can find one, live with him - he's a wise man.You can find happy young people, and that's nothing.If you spot a happy older person, that's one thing.An old man is happy when summer comes and there are no more autumn tides, then he knows something else: he has found the fountain of eternity. When you are young and there is a dance under your feet - that is nothing, it is just the tide.When you are old and everything is claimed back, no one remembers you, no one cares about you; you are just ignored, on the side of the road, thrown away like garbage, you are still happy...   Buddha said that when you find an old man as happy as a young man, there must be some kind of wisdom in him - bow to him, listen and learn from him.In India, it is a tradition that whenever we find an elderly person happy, dancing, we honor him as a master.He would turn to the forest, he would create around him a small university - a community of the Master - and disciples would start pouring in from all over the country. In India we never respect a young man as a teacher.Only an elder can be a teacher, that is right.There may be exceptions, but in general this is true.Only an elder can be a teacher, a man who has lived through all the seasons of life, weathered and yet happy and cheerful.There was nothing special about being happy in the tide, it was common, but when the stream was running dry, when only the sand was left, when his whole body was just a ruin...he was still happy and ecstatic.It is nothing to liven dance at the pinnacle of life.But when death comes and you dance to meet it, that's something.That's when miracles happen, when the extraordinary enters the ordinary world, when the divine seeps in. If you are happy because you are young, you will not be happy for long, your happiness will soon be shattered.If you can become awakened before it shatters, that's good.This is the beauty: if you can be sad when you are young, be happy when you are old.Otherwise you will be sad because it is just a tide right now.If you look at it, you will find that it is not you; it is thousands of streams flowing into you, giving you an impression of gigantism.Soon that which was given to you will be taken back, and if you can be happy when all is taken away, then your happiness is unshakable.That's when your joy becomes joy.This is the difference between joy and joy. Happiness depends on others -- thousands of streams flow into it -- joy depends only on yourself, it is independent.It has no conditions to fulfill, it is unconditional.It is just because of you; it has no causality, nothing has caused it.If you are happy with your girlfriend, boyfriend, lover, then someone sparked your happiness.Soon it will be carried away as it is an autumn tide.The seasons will change, the wheels of life will turn - it will be carried away.That which is caused cannot be eternal; that which has no cause is eternal.Always remember this whenever you are happy, remember...is it for a reason or not?If it is for a reason, then it is better to be sad, because it will be taken away.It is already on its way, it has left you - sooner or later you will realize that it has gone.Because karma is part of the world in the tide, the Hindus call this dream world maya (illusion), and this illusion works like a dream.If you believe it, it can turn into a nightmare.If you don't believe it, you can drop it -- then you will see joy without a reason. He Bo became arrogant.So "he traveled eastward with the current and came to the North Sea", and one day you will go to the ocean.What is the ocean?Death is the ocean—vast.Life has its source, death has no source.Life has its shores, and sometimes the tide rises—and it looks vast; sometimes it doesn’t—then it becomes a tiny stream.But death has no shore, it is boundless. Just as every river flows to the ocean, every river of consciousness must flow to death.Wherever you go, whichever path you choose, whichever direction you choose, it makes no difference - you will reach the ocean.The ocean surrounds you from every direction.You will reach death, near death your dreams will be shattered -- your whole self will be shaken. He traveled eastward downstream and came to the North Sea. He crossed the vast waves and looked at the boundless horizon in the east. His expression changed. That's how old people become sad.Their countenances were changed, their joy was gone, their enthusiasm, their fanaticism, their dreams were gone, everything was just death.All they see is a soulless sea in which they will dissolve and disappear - they will cease to exist.Every river that pours into the sea feels the same.Every river, it is said, looks back on its prime; before it pours into the sea, remembering the past, the tide, autumn, and its prime.But you can't go back.It is impossible to turn back time.One must go on and on, farther and farther; every river must flow into it.It cries for injection.Go to the sea and sit near the river flowing into the sea -- you will feel the sadness in the river. Every old man, every old man starts looking backwards.Old people always go to memory, the days when they were people, the days when they were loved, respected and honored.They go on and on and on.Listening to old people talk can be very annoying to you.Why do you find them annoying?Why do you feel irritable?Because they keep repeating the stories of the old days.They always start in the good old days.why good?Why are these days bad?No old man believes that the present is a good time—they are always in the past, the golden past, the good old days when things were like this or that.It's not a question of how things are going, or the economic situation or the political situation -- nothing.All things are good when they are young.They were submerged by the tide.Once the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court visited Paris after his retirement.He had been there 30 years ago.His old wife was also with him.After two or three days of sightseeing in Paris, he became very sad and said, "We waited for this day, to come and see Paris, but nothing is the same as before." His wife laughed and said, "Everything is the same, It's just that we're not getting any younger, Paris is still the same." But now other rivers are in autumn tide.It's your summer time, how can Paris be the same when you're old as it was when you were young?Paris is the city that symbolizes the joyous young people.Different cities present different seasons: Varanasi is the city of the old, Paris the city of the young.Paris indulges, Varanasi retreats.In India, when people are dying, they go to Varanasi, live there and die there -- it's summer, the city of the elders.When you get old, the whole world looks old and dying.But the world is still the same, you just keep changing.See, let go of your thoughts, when you were neither young nor old, then there were no seasons - because the deepest heart was seasonless, no autumn, no summer, no nothing.It remains the same, it is eternal.Otherwise, every time your river flows into the ocean and your face changes, you will become sad--sad, and weighed down by the memory of the past, looking back because there is no future now.A child never wants to go because there is no past.A child is just alive - a blank sheet of paper on which things will be written but nothing has been written yet.He can't go backwards, he's always thinking about the future. Ask a kid who's always thinking about how to grow up, how to grow up fast, how to be like daddy -- he doesn't know what's going on with daddy.What trouble Pa was in, he didn't know.He wanted to be strong, strong, tall, and grow up quickly.He wanted miracles to happen - to sleep at night and grow up and grow in the morning.Every child yearns for the future, and yearns for the future in childhood, because there is a broad future for children.To live 70 years - not lived before.There is no past, that's why children don't have much memory.If a child is angry, immediately he forgets; immediately he laughs, because not much in the past can be a burden.He goes on forgetting the past because his whole energy is moving towards the future; he does not look back, no child does.A young man in his youth is still in the status quo.He's just in the middle ground, he's living in the here and now.There is no need to go into the past, because the present is so beautiful, he is so full of tide, the ego is so high, there is no need to go into the future, because the future will not be better than this. Some ancient countries are like old people.For example, India is an ancient country, it always thinks about the past, ancient times.Some young countries, like the United States, live in the here and now, in the here and now.Another example is China.China is now a young country - reborn, it looks to the future, many things will happen, the world will soon become a utopia. Countries run like people.Young people live in the present, everything is so good, nothing can be better.But this one won't last forever.Soon, the old days came in, and the old man missed the past.Thought is either in the past, or in the present, or in the future, for past, present and future, all three, are part of thought.They are not tenses, but parts of ideas.But when you let go of your mind you are in eternity; it is neither past nor present nor future.You are beyond all three; then there are no seasons for you.Then you were sad in joy, and you were joyful in sorrow.Then you were old when you were young, and you were young when you were old.Then you are still a child when you die, and you are an elder when you are born. It is said that Laozi, the predecessor of Zhuangzi, was born older, 80 years old, and he waited in his mother's womb for 80 years.This is a beautiful story.It is said that he was born old, with a white beard, and white hair--snow white.That's the flip side of things.Christ said, "If you're a child again you'll enter into the Kingdom of God." That's one aspect.老子有另外一面，他说："如果你生来年长你已经进入。"但这两者是相同的——这是一个对于意念来说很难领悟的问题：一个生来年长的人，当他死亡时将是个孩子。如果你出生时是个孩子，你死亡的时候是老朽的。所以或者在你出生时年长——这是困难的，非常非常困难，但有方法——或者死亡时变成一个孩子。但两者是相关的，因为生和死是一个循环。 当你在这里死去，你在其他地方诞生。如果你能够在这里像孩子一样地死去——新鲜的，没有负担的，天真的——你将生来年长。因为你将是如此有经验，你将是如此智慧，你将是年长的。那就是它的意思——从第一刻起就是智慧的。如果你鲜活和年轻地死去，你将生来智慧因为智慧发生在一个空寂和天真的头脑中。如果你生来智慧、年长，你将不会在每个人都注定的庸常的愚昧中运行，你将保持鲜活，聪明。那时就没有死亡。 所以一个智慧的人只出生一次，其他的许多世都是准备。只有一次，在他最后融入宇宙之前，他会回来；在他进入涅槃之前，他只回来一次。 如果你几乎像个孩子般死亡你将再次诞生，但你将像个长者般诞生。你将从第一天起就是智慧的，那时将不再有出生，那时你实现了没有出生和没有死亡。 望着汪洋大海，他回过神来对海神感叹道："俗话说得对。听了许多道理，就以为他比任何人都懂得多。我就是这样一个人哪。现在我才亲眼看到了他们所说的浩瀚无边！" 当你走近优越，当你走近一位道家时，只有那时你才意识到什么是智慧，什么是聪明，什么是成熟，什么是开阔，什么是真正地有意识，完全的，完整的。当你走近一个开悟的人，只有那时你才会完全地感觉到什么是活在当下。以前，你在梦里行走，在阴影之中，你从未进入阳光，你从未在天空之下。你生活在黑暗的洞穴中，自我的洞穴。 海神答道："你能对一只井底的青蛙谈论大海吗？" 这是不可能的，因为语言不同。井里的蛙说的是井里的语言。 你一定听说过这个故事：有一次海里的蛙来了，跳到井里。它与井里的蛙熟悉了，井里的蛙问："你从哪里来？"它说："我从海里来。"井里的蛙问："它比这口井还要大吗？"当然它的眼里有怀疑，头脑中也有疑问：什么东西会比我住的这口井还要大呢？海里的蛙笑着说："这很难说啊，因为没有标准。"井蛙说："那我给你些标准你就可以了。"它跳到井底四分之一的地方，再跳到井四分之一的高度，说："有这么大吗？"海里的蛙笑着说："不！"于是它跳到井一半的高度说："有这么大吗？"海里的蛙又笑着说："不。"然后，它跳到四分之三的高度说："有这么大吗？"海里的蛙还是笑着说："不。"随即它跳到整个井的宽度，整个的高度说："现在你不能说不了。"海里的蛙说："你可能会感到伤害，我也不想冒犯你，但答案仍然是否定的。"于是井里的蛙说："滚出去，你这个骗子。没有什么比这口井更大的了！" 每当你怀疑时，你身上就有井底之蛙在作怪。没有什么能够比你大，没有什么能够比你高，没有什么能够比你神圣，没有什么可以比你圣洁。No!那就是你为什么不断地排斥佛陀、基督；你只能这样，因为他们来自海洋。他们带来了不可估量的信息，而你有你固定的标准。你不能对井底之蛙太厉害，因为它能怎么做呢？你只能有所同情；你不能太厉害因为那就是它所知道的全部。它没有去过海洋，那么它怎么能相信呢？因此就有佛陀的慈悲。你一直不相信他们，他们始终予以同情因为他们知道——你能怎么办？你这么长时间来一直生活在井里。一只井底之蛙甚至也看天空，可天空也被它的井圈绕，这只是一个洞。就连天空也没有它的井大，因为它不会知道它的井只是一个窗口，天空并不固定有窗上。但你站在窗的后面。那时窗的框架就成了天空的框架，你认为：天空与我的窗口是一样的。这是每个人所想的。 佛陀不能做别的什么，只是慈悲。基督死在十字架上，他仍说："神啊，饶恕这些人，因为他们不知道他们在干什么。" 这就是井底之蛙所做的。海里的青蛙一定在它的内心深处祷告：神啊，饶恕这只青蛙吧，因为它不知道它在做什么，它在说什么。它说："滚出去，你这骗子。你不相信我，你一定有计划要欺骗我。我不能相信这样的荒谬——什么东西能够比这口井还要大。" 海神答道："你能对一只井底的青蛙谈论大海吗？" 那就是为什么佛陀不能谈论他们所知道的，交流是不可能的。交流是不可能的，因为语言不同；你有一种不同的语言模式。如果将它放在那个语言模式之中，那么大海就必须被放在井里，但大海不会去，所以一切都变得虚假。那就是为什么佛陀不停地说："我们无论说什么，一旦说出来，它就变得不真实。" 老子说："真理是不可言说的，能够说的都不是真理。"这是问题——不是真理的问题。是你的问题，你的井里的语言是问题，不是真理的问题。真理是可以说的，但必须有两个佛陀来谈论它。他们不必谈论它因为当两个佛陀存在时没有必要说任何事情——他们显示出来，他们就是真理。没有必要谈论。每当有必要谈论时问题出来了。 你能对一只井底的青蛙谈论大海吗？你能对一只蜻蜓谈论冰冻吗？ 蜻蜓生活在火中，你怎么能对蜻蜓谈论冰冻？冰冻从来不是为它存在的，火是它的世界。你能够谈论火，你不能谈论冰。你不能说有些东西像冰一样冷。它不会相信你，因为对它来说一切都是火。 能把欢乐传授给你——给生活在水深火热之中的你吗？能把欢乐传授给你这只生活在焦虑之中的蜻蜓吗？你怎么能领悟佛陀的清凉？你不能领悟。你怎么能领悟在佛陀的头脑中没有念头在动，没有云？你不知道，你甚至没有看过一眼；甚至没有一刻思维的进程是停顿的。你知道你的头脑像一片疯狂的云，你怎么能相信佛陀只是坐着，头脑中没有想法呢？那是难以置信的。你生活在火中，佛陀生活在一个清凉的，非常清凉的世界之中。火和冰之间没有桥梁。除非你变得越来越清凉，越来越清凉，否则你不能领悟。只有当你变得越来越安静和清凉时，佛陀才变得可以以交流，不然一切都被错过。 你能对一位哲学博士谈论生活方式吗？ impossible!我告诉你有时你对一只井底之蛙谈论大海是可能的，对蜻蜓谈论冰冻也是可能的，但对一个哲学博士谈论真理是不可能的。Why?因为井无论怎么小，它也可能是海洋的一部分——至少水是海洋的一部分。火与冰无论怎么对立，它们是处在不同温度中的同一种能量。 热与冷不是两件事，而是同一种能量。能量成为热，相同的能量也能变成冷；能量是相同的，温度不同。那就是为什么用只温度计你能衡量热与冷两者，因为能量是一样的。冷从哪里变为热，你能精确地说出哪里吗？在什么温度上冷的不再是冷的而成了热的？你不能说，这要看情况了。 做一个简单的试验。放一只手，你的左手，在一个冰块上，你的有手临近一堆火。让右手变热，左手变冷。然后把两只手放入一桶水中，告诉我它是冷的或热的。你将处于困境，因为一只手说它是热的，一只手将说它是凉的。它是冷的。What is it?冷或热？它们是同一种能量的温度。 所以甚至和一个井底之蛙也可能交流些有关大海的事情。如果那个传达的人真正有创造力，他能够创造出交流的办法。那就是佛陀一直在做的，基督在做的——创造办法与井里的蛙交流些关于大海的东西——因为只有一件事是共同的，水。如果有一件共同的事情，有一座桥梁存在，那么交流是可能的。 甚至与蜻蜓也能够交流一些关于冰的东西。即使我们说它不像火那么热，那么我们也已经说出了一些有关冰的东西，当然是从反面说的。那就是为什么所有伟人的经文都是从反面说的。它们不说真理是什么。它们总是说真理不是什么，只是为了使信息对蜻蜓有意义。所以我们不能说冰是什么，但我们可以说冰不是火——至少这些是可以交流的。 但即使凭借那种方式与一位哲学家谈论生活方式，或与一位哲学家谈论存在都是不可能的。即使那位哲学家是一位存在主义者，谈论存在也不可能，因为在一个词和相应的现实中没有桥梁。一朵玫瑰和"玫瑰"这个词没有任何联系，所有关系都是人为的。"Rose"这个词，——R，O，S，E．——与Rose有什么关系？如果没有联系的话，你可以把它叫做gulab。世界上有300种语言，300个词称呼玫瑰，没有联系，一切关系都是人为的。冷与热有关，井与海洋有关。它们的关系，尤论如何模糊，是存在的——真正的，不是人为的。但是在一个词和现实之间没有联系，它们丝毫没有关系。所以你可以有你自己的词，一种私人的语言，你可以把任何东西叫做任何名字。如果你喜欢叫它别的什么，玫瑰不会在法庭上争斗。没有人能够证明他们的词比你的更正确，没有人能够证明，因为没有什么词是更为正确或更不正确的——词是无关的，它们不是相关的。一个哲学家生活在词语中。哲学家是存在中最虚假的东西，你越是变得富有哲学意味，你活得越少。于是你思考爱，你却从来不会爱，于是你想有关神的事情，你从来不会变得神圣。于是你不断地谈论、谈论和谈论，你整个的能量都浪费在文字之中，没有一刻进入存在。 庄子说要警觉所有的哲学家，因为他们的基础是一样的——他们依赖文字。现实不是一个词。进入真实——你是真实的，存在是真实的——进入真实。不要在你与现实之间制造堵文字的墙，不然它是不可渗透的，你将被关闭在你的墙里。那时，再要从它那里出来几乎是不可能的。 不要当一个哲学家——每个人都是哲学家。要发现一个不是哲学家的人是困难的。有些哲学家是好的，有些是坏的，但每个人都是哲学家。有些更具有逻辑性，有些较少，但每个人都是哲学家。从羁绊中出来——这羁绊就是哲学。只有那时你进入了那真实的存在。 庄子拿着竹竿在濮水边上钓鱼。楚王派出两位大夫带着诏书：我们特此任命你为国相。庄子拿着钓竿，依然望着濮水说："我听说有个神电，死了已经3000年了，被楚王尊为圣物，用丝巾包起来，再装进一个珍贵的神龛里，放在庙堂之上。你怎么想？是放弃生命留下一副神圣的骨架3000年来在敬香的烟雾中作为膜拜的对象好呢，还是像一只平常的龟那样，活着在泥土里拖着尾巴？""对于这只龟来说，"两位大夫说，"宁可活着在泥土里拖着尾巴！""回去吧！"庄子说，"让我留在这里在泥土中拖着尾巴。"