OSHO International Foundation presents
Osho: Be Still and Know #2, Question 2
Will a Buddha Always Be Misunderstood? (Part 1 of 2)
Is it
absolutely inevitable
that a buddha will always be misunderstood?
Prem Madira:
Yes,
it is absolutely inevitable.
It can't be otherwise.
A buddha is bound to be misunderstood.
If a buddha is not misunderstood
then he is not a buddha at all.
Why is it so? --
because the buddha
lives
in a state which is beyond mind,
and we live
in minds.
To translate something
from the beyond to the mind
is the most impossible thing in the world.
It can't be done,
although every buddha has tried to do it.
That too is inevitable,
no buddha
can avoid it.
The buddha has to say
the un-sayable,
he has to express
the inexpressible,
he has to define
the indefinable.
He has to do this absurd act,
because the moment he reaches beyond the mind
great compassion arises.
He can see people
stumbling in the dark,
he can see people suffering unnecessarily --
creating their own nightmares,
creating their own hell
and drowning in their self-created hells.
How can he avoid,
not feel compassion?
And the moment compassion arises
he wants to communicate to them
that, "This is your own doing." ...
that, "You can get out of it,
there is a way out of it,
there is a state beyond it;
life is not what you think it is."
Your thinking about life is just like
the thinking of a blind man about light.
The blind man can go on thinking about light,
but he will never be able
to come to a true conclusion.
His conclusions may be very logical,
but still, they will miss
the experience.
Light is an experience.
You don't need logic for it,
what you need is
eyes.
Buddha has eyes.
And eyes are attained only
when you have gone beyond the mind,
when you have become a witness of the mind;
when you have attained to a higher state
than psychology:
when you know
that you are
not your thoughts,
not your body;
when you know that you are only
knowing --
the energy
that reflects,
the energy
that is capable of seeing --
that you are pure seeing.
Once Buddha was asked,
"Who are you?"
He was such a beautiful man
and the buddhahood has conferred
such grace to him,
that many times he is asked,
"Who are you?"
He looked like an emperor
or a god
who has come from the heavens,
and he lived like a beggar.
Again and again he was asked,
"Who are you?"
And the man who was asking
was a great scholar.
He said, "Are you
from the world of gods?
Are you a god?"
Buddha said, "No."
"Then are you a gandharva?"
Gandharvas are the musicians of the gods.
Buddha had such music around himself --
the music of silence,
the sound of no sound,
one hand clapping --
that it was natural
to ask him, "Are you a gandharva,
a celestial musician?"
Buddha said, "No."
And the man goes on asking.
There are many
categories in Hindu mythology
from gods to man.
Then finally he asks,
"Are you
a great king,
a chakravartin,
one who rules
over the world?"
And Buddha says, "No."
Annoyed,
the scholar asked,
"Are you a man
or not even that?"
Buddha said
"Don't be annoyed,
but what can I do?
I have to state the truth as it is.
I am not a man either."
Now the scholar is
totally angry, enraged.
He says, "Then are you an animal?"
Buddha said, "No --
not an animal, not a tree, not a rock."
"Then who are you?" the man asked.
Buddha said, "I am awareness,
just pure awareness,
just a mirror
reflecting all that is."
When this moment arrives
great compassion happens.
Buddha has said,
that those who know
are bound to feel compassion
for those who don't know.
They start
trying to help.
And the first thing that has to be done is
to communicate to people
who are blind that eyes are possible,
that you are not really blind
but only
keeping your eyes closed.
You can open your eyes.
You are not born blind,
you have only been taught to remain blind.
Your society teaches you to be blind.
Source: 'Be Still and Know #2; Question 2' Copyright © OSHO International Foundation, Switserland. OSHO ® is a registered TM
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