The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 1
Discourses
Table of Contents
We are what we think
We are what we think. 'We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.' Speak or act with an impure mind and trouble follows as the wheel follows the ox. Mind is the creator of your reality—not God, not fate. Purify the mind and the world transforms.
An empty chair
An empty chair. 'An empty chair, a silent hall, an introduction to Buddha.' Buddha is not a person to worship but a state of consciousness to attain. The empty chair represents Buddha's absence as a person but presence as a possibility. You are the chair—empty it and Buddha appears.
True or false
True or false. 'Mistaking the false for the true and the true for the false, you overlook the heart and fill yourself with desire.' See the false as false, the true as true. Look into your heart. The problem is not that truth is hidden—it's that we mistake our desires for truth and our projections for reality.
Just lucky, I guess!
Just lucky, I guess! 'I felt urgency to spread the message but it made me far from playful.' Urgency without joy becomes anguish. The fool rushes; the master is patient. Wu-wei: effortless action. Don't try too hard—let the fragrance spread naturally. Urgency is the ego wanting to achieve; playfulness is the soul enjoying the moment.
Wakefulness is life
Wakefulness is life. 'Wakefulness is the way to life. The fool sleeps as if already dead, but the master is awake and lives forever.' He watches. He is clear. Wakefulness is not insomnia—it's awareness. The fool sleeps in the day, awake in dreams. The master is awake in the day, asleep to dreams.
Through a glass darkly
Through a glass darkly. 'I feel like I know the answers—why do I still let questions become problems?' Knowing the answer intellectually is not knowing. The mind knows but the being doesn't. Through a glass darkly: you see through the mind's distortions. When the glass is removed, you see directly—then there are no questions.
By watching....
By watching... 'The fool is careless, but the master guards his watching. It is his most precious treasure.' He never gives in to desire. He meditates. In the strength of his resolve he discovers true happiness. By watching: awareness is the only method—the master guards it as his greatest treasure. Everything else follows from watching.
The beginning of a new phase
The beginning of a new phase. 'Can I bypass the aesthetic layer?' No. The head, the heart, and the center—three layers. You can't skip the heart. Art, music, beauty are the bridge from head to center. The new phase: Osho's work moves from intellect to intuition to being. Don't bypass—go through each layer fully.
Seated in the cave of the heart
Seated in the cave of the heart. 'As the fletcher whittles and makes straight his arrows, so the master directs his straying thoughts.' Like a fish out of water, thoughts thrash and quiver. Seated in the cave of the heart: the innermost center is a cave—silent, dark, safe. Thoughts are fish out of water there—they die in the heart's silence.
Neither this nor that
Neither this nor that. 'What is the difference between you and other godmen?' Godmen claim to be God; Osho claims to be a mirror. Godmen create followers; Osho creates friends. Neither this nor that: the awakened one is beyond all categories—neither saint nor sinner, neither this nor that. The difference: godmen enhance the ego; the master destroys it.