October 14, 1974
Izi Sin Tse was the trainer of fighting cocks for King Xuan. He trained a good bird. The king kept asking if the bird was ready for battle.
“Not yet,” said the coach. - It's full of fire. He is ready to fight with any other bird. He is full of conceit and self-confident in his strength.
After 10 days he answered again: “Not yet, he flares up when he hears the call of another bird.”
After 20 days: "Not yet. He still has an angry look in his eyes and is ruffling his feathers."
After another 10 days the coach said:
“Now he’s almost ready: when the other rooster crows, he won’t even blink an eye.” He stands motionless, like a rooster made of wood. He is a ready fighter. Other birds will just look at him and immediately run away."
The human mind always ends with the ego - that is its final point. So first try to understand how the human mind becomes the ego.
The ego is an obstacle: the more you are, the less Divine there can be; the less you are, the more capable you are of the Divine. If you are completely empty, the Divine becomes a guest, and it can become a guest only when you are completely empty, when not the slightest part of you remains.
Then you become a ghost and it becomes a guest. When you are not, you are a ghost: when you are, all your prayers are in vain, all your invitations are false. When you are. you cannot call him yet, since your call can only be genuine when you are not there. He is the silent longing of an empty being, a silent prayer without words, uttered by a mind that is no more, an ego that has disappeared.
One day Mullah Nasreddin came to me very excited, sad, confused and said: “I am in great trouble. There's a problem. I'm not a blind believer, I'm a rational person." And I asked him, "What's the problem?"
He said: “This morning I saw a mouse sitting on the Koran, on the Holy Koran! So I'm worried: if Koran can't protect himself from an ordinary mouse, how can he protect me? My whole faith is shaken, my whole being is miserable: now I can no longer believe in the Koran. What should I do?"
And I told him: “This is a logical step. Now start believing in the mouse, since you have seen with your own eyes that the mouse is stronger than the sacred Koren.”
Of course, strength is the only criterion for the mind, strength is what the mind seeks, Friedrich Nietzsche is right.
I told Mullah Nasreddin, “Man is nothing more than the will to force. And now you see with your own eyes that a mouse is stronger than the Koran.”
He agreed. Of course, there is no way to escape logic - and so he began to worship the mouse. But he was soon in trouble as he saw the cat jump on the mouse. But by this time he no longer asked me: now he had his own key, he began to worship the cat.
Soon he was in trouble again: the dog was chasing the cat, and the cat was trembling, and he began to worship the dog. But one day he found himself in trouble again: his wife beat the dog to death. Then he came again. He said: “Well, now it’s too much! I can worship a mouse, a cat, a dog, but not my own wife.” But I told him. “Nasreddin, you are a reasonable person, and that’s how the mind works. You can’t go backwards, you have to accept it.”
Then he said: “Then I will do one thing. I will make a portrait of her so that no one knows, I will go to my room, lock myself from the inside, I will worship her, but please don’t tell her.” So he began to worship her in secret and privately. Everything was going well, but one day Nasreddik’s wife came running to me and said:
“Something wrong has been going on for many days.” We thought he was a little crazy because he worshiped a mouse, then a cat, then a dog, and for several days he did something secret in his room. It locked itself and didn’t let anyone in, but today, just out of curiosity, I looked through the keyhole. This is too much to bear!
I asked, "What was he doing?"
She said, "Come and see."
So. I had to go, I had to look through the keyhole! He stood naked in front of the mirror and worshiped himself. I knocked on the door, he came out and said:
- This is a logical conclusion. This morning I got angry and beat my wife, and I thought, “I am stronger than her.” So now I worship myself.
This is how the mind goes on moving towards the ego: the ultimate goal is the self. If you listen to the mind, this goal will sooner or later be achieved: you will have to worship yourself. I'm not kidding: this is how all of humanity comes to worship. All gods are rejected, all temples become useless - and man worships himself.
How does this happen? If you listen to the mind, it will convince you through subtle arguments that you are the center of the world, that you are the most important being in the world, that you are superior to everyone, that you are god. This logical consequence must come, this is clear, this is the final step. And the mind will doubt only this. When the mind feels that it has to submit, it will doubt, it will say, “What are you doing? Submit to God? Submit to the temple or church? Submit to prayer and love? Submit to sex? What are you doing? You are losing yourself. Be alert and self-control, otherwise you will lose yourself.”
When there is something where you can let go, the mind resists. That is why the mind is always against love, because love is submission, in love it cannot exist. That's why the mind is against the master, the guru. for it must obey, otherwise the master cannot act. That's why the mind is against God, because if there is a God, then you can never be the most important, then the ego will always remain lower, then you can never sit on the threes, on the highest possible pedestal. You can't afford God.
Nietzsche says: “It is impossible for me to allow God to exist, because then what will happen to me? Where am I then? If there is a God, then I am nowhere, so I choose myself, not God.” That's why he said, "God is dead and man is now free." Nietzsche set the direction of this century, he was the prophet of this century, he was the foundation of all of you, whether you know about him or not, he is deep inside everyone who was born in this century. With you, God is dead and only the ego is alive. And remember: they cannot exist together.
There is a beautiful saying in the Old Testament: “You cannot see God while you are alive.” The meaning of ego is the same: when you see God you have to die - you cannot see God when you are alive. When you die, only then can you see God, because you are an obstacle, you are a wall.
Ego or God - that's the way it is: you cannot arrange both. And if you try to arrange both, you will arrange the ego, and God will be dead - in you. In Genesis God cannot be dead, but in you God will be dead, he will not be there. You pushed him out because you are too full of yourself, there are too many of you. The ego is not porous: there is no more room for anything in it. It is very jealous, it is absolutely jealous, it will not allow anything else to enter the inner sanctum of your being, it wants to be the ultimate ruler.
The mind is always against submission, that is why when the mind became more significant, all directions of submission disappeared. This century suffers because it cannot submit. This is the problem, this is the basis, the essence of the modern mind. And you go on asking, "How can I love?" The mind cannot love. The mind can go to war, it is easy, but the mind cannot move towards love - this is impossible, because in war the mind can exist, it can function well, but in love the mind must submit.
To love means to give power from yourself to another, and you are afraid. This means that the other has become so important, so much more important than you, that if a crisis comes, you must sacrifice yourself for the sake of your loved one. The beloved sits on the throne, and you are just a servant, you are just a shadow. It is difficult for the mind, therefore love is impossible. And even sex becomes impossible, because even in sex there comes a moment when you must lose yourself, because only then will orgasm occur, only then can the whole body be filled with new energy, new vibrations, new bioelectricity.
It can become a vibrating, radiating current and you will lose yourself, but even that is not possible. Ejaculation is not an orgasm, it is just a physical part of it. Orgasm is a mental phenomenon, it is spiritual. Ejaculation is a superficial phenomenon, it can relieve the body, that's all. It works as a fuse: when there is too much energy, you can release it through ejaculation, but this is not true. The real thing is when you come to the top of vibration, to the top of ecstasy and from that top everything relaxes, your whole being relaxes. For the first time the whole being is vibrating with a new music, it is in tune with the cosmos, there is no ego there, you are just energy: there is no one inside, only energy, floating like the flow of a river. And then the flow occurs, the river relaxes, and you are in harmony with the cosmos.
Then it's an orgasm. Orgasm is an internal phenomenon, but it has become impossible, and due to lack of orgasm, 90% of people are neurotic in a very subtle way. This is the reason that you have lost the easiest approach to the Divine, you have lost the natural opportunity to be one with the Whole, even for a moment, and the Whole rejuvenates, the Whole gives you life and energy, the Whole refreshes you. And the old is destroyed by orgasm - all your energy becomes new, fresh and young. Otherwise you become dull and dead. But this became impossible because of the ego. The problem is the same, whatever the direction - in sex, in love, in prayer or meditation - the problem is the same.
You have to submit, and the ego cannot submit, it can only fight. Why is the ego always ready to fight? At any moment you are ready to jump on someone, find excuses and fight, argue and get angry. Why is the ego always looking for a fight? Because struggle is fuel: with the help of struggle it feels stronger, with the help of struggle it exists. Ego is the deepest violence, and if you want to strengthen the ego you have to fight constantly, 24 hours a day you have to fight with this or that.
There must be an enemy, a challenge, a conflict, and you can support it. The ego requires constant war. For what? Firstly, through war it accumulates energy. Secondly, the ego is always afraid, so it is always ready to fight - that is fear. The ego can never be fearless, never! Why? Because it is false, it is unnatural, it is not part of the Tao, it is an artificial creation of man: you must organize it and constantly maintain it. If you don't organize it even for a brief moment, it will disappear - hence the fear.
Therefore you are constantly alert. If you live even 24 hours in an egoless existence, you will be surprised, delighted, enchanted. What happened to the ego you've been carrying around for so many lives? Even in 24 hours it will simply disappear, since it needs constant replenishment, again and again. This is an unnatural phenomenon; there is no eternal life or energy in it.
Existence continues forever, there is something eternal, inexhaustible in it. This tree may die, but it will immediately be replaced by another tree - the energy will transfer to another. Your body may fall, but the energy will transfer to another body. Like everything in existence, you have deep within you some eternal energy that cannot be depleted. Your body needs fuel. If you don't eat and drink, you will die. If you don't eat, you will die within 3 months; if you don’t drink, you’ll die in 3 weeks; If you don't breathe, you will die in 3 minutes. The body needs constant nutrition, since the body is not an eternal phenomenon. But consciousness does not require any fuel.
When this body dies, your consciousness moves to the next womb. Consciousness is eternal movement, it is endless energy, no beginning, no end. It never began, it will never end. That's why when you become one with consciousness, there is no fear. Fear disappears only when you touch the eternal source, the immortal, that which cannot die. And the ego is very fragile: at any moment it is on the verge of death, and anyone can kill it: even a gesture, even a glance can kill it.
Someone is looking at you and the ego is disturbed. This man. looks like a doctor. A hostile gesture and you feel trembling, because the ego is fragile, it is a false, artificial thing, it has to be looked after. That is why there is so much fear, and in the midst of this fear, this ocean of fear, you create several islands of courage, otherwise it would be too difficult.
You think you're brave. Even a coward, the most cowardly person, thinks that he is brave because this is a very difficult problem. The ego is afraid, inside it is full of fear, because death can happen at any moment. Death can happen in love, in prayer, death can happen in the ego: in any deep relationship the ego must die. Even if you look at a rose without thinking, the ego has to die, even a rose can kill it, it is so fragile, fragile, it is something like a dream - there is nothing substantial in it. And being afraid, constantly thinking inside yourself about death, you continue to think of yourself as a brave man. This is how this courage, this fearlessness, this “I am not a coward” helps your ego. If you understand that the ego is a coward, that the 'I' is a coward, if you really understand and realize that the ego is fear and nothing else, you will not support it, you will drop it. Why carry a disease with you?
But the disease is hidden, and you think that it is not a disease, that it is rather pure health.
It so happened that Mullah Nasreddin got married. He went to the mountains for his honeymoon. On the very first night, at midnight, someone knocked on the door. Nasreddin stood up and opened the door. There stood a man with a gun in his hand, a robber. He entered, but forgot about the robbery when he saw Nasreddin's wife - a beautiful young girl. He completely forgot about the robbery and said to Nasreddin: “Stay in that corner!”
Then he drew a circle around him and said: “Don’t speak for him—one step and you’re gone.” Then he kissed Nasrudin's wife and made love to her.
When he left, his wife said: “What kind of a person are you! Standing in a circle and watching another man make love to your wife!”
Nasreddin said: “I am not a coward!” - and triumphantly declared: “When this man turned his back on me, I left the circle, and not once, but three times!”
This is how the ego continues to maintain itself: simply by stepping out of the circle. When the back is turned to you, when death does not look at you, then you perform. And not just once - three times! And you feel good.
I tell you that everyone stands in a corner, with a circle drawn around him. You stand inside the circle and sometimes you step out of it, just to feel that you are not a coward. But the ego is a coward; it cannot be anything else. You cannot see a fearless person with an ego, that is impossible, that is not the way of nature. Why is this not possible?
How can the ego be fearless? It cannot be eternal, it cannot be immortal, death must happen. The ego is a created phenomenon, it is created by you, and it goes on disappearing. And when death is inevitable, how can you be fearless? You can come out of the circle sometimes, that's all, but there can be no fearlessness with ego.
Remember three words: the first is “coward”, the second is “brave” and the third is “fearless”. Cowardice is a part of the ego, a deeper part, a real one, and courage is a way out of the circle three times, it is also a part of cowardice, but hidden, decorated, it is a wound covered with flowers, hidden behind flowers. Bravery is nothing more than decorated and embellished cowardice: inside any brave man you will find cowardice. Even your Napoleons, Hitlers and Alexanders are cowards. Their courage is nothing more than stepping out of the circle three times, and inside you will find the same trembling coward. Just to hide this coward you are projecting courage, but courage is a trick. And now psychologists know about it.
Religion has always been aware that in order to hide something you project the opposite: if you are a fool, you try to project some wisdom around you to hide the defect; if you are ugly, then you adorn your body, your face, your hair, to somehow hide the fact that you are ugly. You try to hide it with clothes and jewelry. If you are short on the inside, you will project that you are high just to show others that you are not low. If you feel "nothingness" - and everyone feels it, because everyone is nothing - then you try to project and emphasize that you are someone.
Cowardice and courage are two sides of the same coin: both are fear, they are two faces of fear. The first is simple and direct, the second is cunning and hidden. The brave man is a cunning coward.
I heard that once at the front a soldier was so scared that he ran towards the rear. An officer stopped him and asked: “What are you doing? Where are you running? There’s a battle going on! Are you a coward?” But the man was so scared that he didn’t even bother to answer - he continued to run. The officer followed him, grabbed him and said: “Where are you running? Why don’t you answer? Do you know who I am? I am your general!” The soldier said: “Lord, did I really run that far!”
Your generals, your leaders are always behind. They are never killed, they are never in trouble, they are complete cowards posing like brave men. Others die for them, and they remain behind. Your Napoleons, Hitlers, Alexanders - all cowards who project, create a phenomenon that is simply the opposite of their inner feeling. You need to remember this, because only then can you remember the third thing - fearlessness. A man who is fearless is neither a coward nor a brave man, he is neither one nor the other, he cannot be either, since he is simply fearless.
Mahavir, Buddha, Chuang Tzu, Jesus, all of them are not brave, not at all, because they are not cowards. You can only be brave if you are a coward! You can only go out of circle three times if you are standing in a circle, otherwise how can you get out of it? If you never agreed to stand in the circle, how can you step out of it and show your courage? A fearless person is one who has learned that he is fearless inside, who has recognized the inner, immortal, hidden, eternal. Then there is no fear, and then there is no courage, because courage is the other side.
Such a person is neither stupid nor wise, since wisdom is nothing more than the other side. And this person is not divided into opposites, this person is unity, he is one, he is a unique phenomenon. that's why you can't define it. It is impossible to define Buddha. How do you define it? Would you call him a coward? You can't! Would you call him a fool? You can't! Would you call him wise? No, because wisdom is the opposite of stupidity, and courage is the opposite of cowardice.
What do you call Buddha? Whatever you call it, you will be wrong. In front of Buddha you should simply remain silent. Would you call him a trash talker or a saint? No, he is neither one nor the other. How can you be a saint without a sinner inside? Holiness is nothing more than decoration, the other side. This is the problem. When Buddha appears, we cannot define him, we cannot put him into any category. You can't put a label on it, there's no way to put it anywhere. He either belongs to everything or to nothing. It excels in all categories. Organizing is not for him. All language is dropped before the Buddha, the mind becomes silent, you cannot say anything that is appropriate.
He is fearless, he is crazy, you cannot call him a fool or a wise man, because both of them require intelligence. Now comes this wonderful story of Chuang Tzu. This is one of the most beautiful parables.
"Ji Xingzi was the trainer of fighting cocks for King Xuan. He trained a good bird. The king kept asking if the bird was ready for fighting."
This man, Ji Xing, was not only a trainer—he was a man of Dao. In China, in Japan, in the Far East, they use all kinds of activities as a springboard for meditation, all kinds of activities: archery, painting, fencing and even training cocks and birds for fighting. Name any activity in life - they use it for internal training too.
This man. Ji Xing was invited by the emperor to train a rooster for him. The king was interested in the fight, the competition and, of course, his rooster winning the competition.
Our egos fight even through roosters, we use everything for the ego, even games are spoiled by it. Then you are no longer interested in the game, but only in how to win it - this is the difference between playfulness and play: in playfulness you are interested in the game itself, this is childish playfulness. Then play is beautiful, and if your whole life can become playful, it will become beautiful.
In a game you are not interested in the game itself, you are interested in the end result, you are interested in how to win, and when you are interested in how to win, you have already destroyed the game, now it is no longer playfulness, it has become a business.
Remember from the very beginning that this man, Ji Xing, had his own interest in training the rooster, and the king had his: he was interested in fighting, and the trainer was interested in something else.
Ji Xing trained a good bird. The king continued to ask if the bird was ready for battle. The coach said: “Not yet, he’s full of fire.”
Look!.. The king should have said: “If he is full of fire, then this is what we need! Because when you fight with someone and are full of fire, then there is a greater chance of winning.” The king must be confused - what kind of coach is this man? After all, he said: “Not yet, since he is full of fire, he is ready to fight with any other bird.”
He is completely ready to fight - this means that he is afraid and that he is not ready. When you are afraid, how can you be ready to fight? Look at different minds: the logic of the mind will say that if you are full of fire and ready to fight with anyone, then you can become a great warrior, that you already are. Why are you waiting? What are you waiting for?
If you are ready, fight! Because if you wait too long, the fire may go away. If you wait too long, the energy may diminish.
But with no-mind everything is completely different, the image is different. The man of no-mind says because he is ready to fight at any moment, he is not ready yet. Why? Because when you are ready to fight at any moment, you are a coward. Fighting is the other side: you want to prove that you are a brave person. The very desire, the very desire means that you are not like that.
A man who is truly wise never, in any way, seeks to prove that he is wise, but a fool always seeks to prove that he is wise. A person who really loves, who has become a lover, does not try to prove that he is in love. When you are not in love, you try in many ways to prove the opposite: you bring gifts, you go on talking about love, but all your efforts say the opposite. If you really love, you will not even pay attention to the fact that you love. What kind of need? If another cannot understand your love without words, love is worthless; if you have to talk about it, it means something is fake.
Ask Dale Carnegie (author of How to Behave) and he will say: tell your wife every morning that you love her, say it over and over again, even if you don't feel it. Whenever you have this opportunity during the day, remember to repeat it. When you fall asleep, repeat it again, make it a mantra.
And he's right. For the way you are, he is right, since your wife will depend on words. You also depend on words. That's why when a person falls in love, at first he talks so much about love. The lovers are so poetic, and because they are courting each other, there is so much romance and dreams. Gradually it decreases because you cannot continue the same thing for long. It looks stupid. And the moment you start looking stupid, she starts to feel that something is wrong. Now there is no love, because love depended only on words, it was not there from the very beginning - you just talked about it, and your conversation was the other side.
Remember these words: "the other side." You spend your whole life doing this in any direction, and Dale Carnegie looks right, he attracts. His books are sold all over the world - millions of copies, second only to the Bible. But I tell you, beware of the Dale Carnegies, for they are men; which make you more and more fake. Then you cannot be authentic, natural.
There is no need to say “I love you”, let your whole being say it. If you love, it will say it, and words are not needed at all. The way you speak will express it; the way you move forward will express this; the way you look will express it, your whole being will express it. Love is so alive that you cannot hide it.
Is anyone capable of hiding his love? No one can hide it, it is a kind of fire from within, it shines. When someone is in love, you can see it in his face, in his eyes, that he is no longer the same person, something has transformed him, a fire has been lit, a new fragrance has entered his being, he walks with a dancing gait, he speaks - and his very speech is poetic. And this is not only with your beloved - when you are in love, your whole being is transformed. Even talking to a stranger on the street, you are different, and if the stranger has known love in his life, he will see that this person is in love.
You cannot hide love, it is almost impossible, no one has ever succeeded in this. But when it is not there, when you have to project it, then you have to pretend.
A little boy walked around the zoo - it was a deer park full of deer. He asked the employee: “What are the names of these animals?”
The employee replied, “The same thing your mom calls your dad when they wake up in the morning.”
The boy said, "Don't tell me they're skunks!"
Something becomes like a wound, it turns sour when it is false. Things are getting ugly. There is no other ugliness except falsehood, but you hide it with the help of the opposite.
“Not yet,” said the coach, “he’s full of fire.”
This shows that he is afraid, otherwise why is he full of fire? Who do you show your fire to? What is the need? Fear inside, fire outside - this is a projection. He is ready to fight with any other bird, even when it is not necessary. Whoever comes his way, he is ready. Is he full of conceit and self-confident in his strength? No! He's not ready.
When you think that you are confident in your strength, remember well that you are hiding something from yourself. What do you mean when you say, "I'm sure"? If you are really confident, the word has no meaning. No, you are not sure, you are only pretending, and not only in front of others, you are repeating to yourself: “I am sure.” You create autohypnosis. If you repeat this long enough, you may begin to feel it, but there is no internal energy in that feeling.
Everyone keeps repeating to themselves: “I am confident.” For what? What are you hiding? If this confidence you speak of really exists, then there is no need to say anything about it. A truly confident person is not even aware of it. This has to be understood: when something is false, you are aware of it, you are self-conscious; when something is true, you simply forget about it. Do you remember that you are breathing? If something is wrong, then yes: if there is difficulty in breathing and something is wrong with your lungs, if you have a cold or asthma, then you remember that you are breathing, but when everything is fine, you are not aware of it. “When your shoes don’t feel tight, you forget about your feet.” When you are truly confident, confidence is forgotten.
People come to me and say that they have complete confidence in me. What is this “perfect”? What are you hiding? Isn't confidence enough? What kind of “perfect” confidence is this? She is not perfect, that's why you say like that: "I love you completely." What is "entirely"? Have you ever heard of love that is "not whole"? Love is whole. Why repeat the same word? Inside you know that love is not complete, so if you don't say it, who will? No one will know about it unless you say so, because if it were complete, everyone would know about it.
Whole love is transformation: whole love is death and new life; holistic love does not need anyone to say anything about it.
I heard about a great wine connoisseur who was a taster. A friend invited him to his home because he had very old, valuable wines and wanted to show this man his collection. He wanted to get an expert's assessment. He gave him one of the most valuable wines. He tried it, but remained silent. He didn't say anything, not even that the wine was good.
The friend felt offended. Then he gave him simple, ordinary wine. He tried it and said: “Very, very good, wonderful!”
The friend was confused, he said: “I am confused. I gave you one of the rarest, most expensive wines, and you remained silent, but about this ordinary, cheapest and simplest wine you say “very good.”
The expert said: “No one needs to say anything about the first wine - it speaks for itself, but about the second wine something needs to be said in defense, otherwise it will feel affected.”
When you say that you are absolutely sure, you know that there is no absolute certainty, that is why you say it, although you may not be aware of it. Be aware and use words carefully.
“Not yet,” said the trainer. “He is full of fire, he is ready to fight with any other bird. He is full of conceit and confident in his strength.”
And you can see this in your life. It's happening all around. You are ready to fight with anyone, you are just waiting for an opportunity, just a reason. Someone steps on your toes and the fight begins. Why are you so ready for it? Because you are in trouble within yourself, you know that you are nobody. If someone steps on your toes, you immediately say, “Do you know who I am?” But you yourself don't know.
“After 10 days he replied again: “Not yet, he flares up when he hears the call of another bird.”
The Emperor continued to insist as the day of the competition drew near and his cock was supposed to win, but the man continued to delay and the explanations he gave seemed absurd.
When it comes to a man of Tao, his statements will look absurd. They are so because they are inconvenient for your mind. After 10 days he says again: “Not yet, he flushes when he hears the call of another bird.” He remains immature, childish. This is not the path of a warrior, this is the path of a coward. This is not the way of a fearless man, a fearless rooster, no! This is not the path of those who are fearless.
When anyone, when any bird calls, why do you feel that it has to do with you? Why do you feel that the challenge is directed at you? Why do you consider the whole world your enemy? If you consider the world to be your enemy, it means that somewhere deep inside you have not reached the source, otherwise the whole world would be perceived as friendly, friendliness would be the main thing. If there were enemies, they would be an exception. Now the main note is hostility, and if friends come across, this is an exception. And you may never know, and you may never trust your friend, because you know too much hostility.
It so happened that Mullah Nasreddin was elected justice of the peace. This had to be done because there are disobedient people. If they are very, very naughty, you send them abroad as ambassadors. If they are just generally naughty, you make them justices of the peace. They need to be given something to do so that they cannot be too disobedient. Mulla Nasrudin is a naughty person, but not too much. If I may be allowed to say, a very small VVP (Very Important Person) is not a big shot, but a local big shot.
So they made him a justice of the peace. He made his living room a courtroom, hired a clerk and a guard, got up early in the morning and waited and waited, but no one addressed him. By evening he was completely discouraged and said to the clerk: “Not a single case! Not a single murder, not a robbery, not a single crime. If everything continues like this, then it will be a very exhausting job. I was so determined, but there are not even traffic accidents, no one turned to me.”
The clerk said, "Don't be sad, Mullah, just trust human nature. Sooner or later something has to happen. I continue to trust human nature."
What kind of human nature is this clerk talking about? He says that he still believes that something is going to happen. And you're just waiting for something to happen.
Your courts, your judges, your governments depend on you, on your nature. All your nonsense comes from you, but basically because you are always ready to fight. If society becomes more and more natural, government disappears. This is a disease. The courts will also disappear, these are bad signs. The policeman is there because the criminal is there, and the whole structure exists because of one thing - because you are always ready to fight, ready to ignite. The government, the court, the magistrate exist because of your ego.
He said; "Not yet. He lights up when he hears the call of another bird." After another 10 days: “Not yet, he still has an angry look and is ruffling his feathers!”
He grew, became silent, became more and more mature, but not yet completely. He still retained that angry look and puffed up his feathers. Deep inside, in the unconscious, he remains ready for battle. On the surface he has become cold and calm, but if a rooster passes by, he still glares at him. Now it is no longer conscious, but unconscious, but it is growing, moving. Now the struggle is thrown out of his conscious mind, but not yet from the unconscious.
10 days have passed again. The coach said, "He's almost ready now." Not quite yet, but almost ready. “When another rooster crows, he doesn’t even blink an eye. He stands motionless, like a rooster made of wood. He is a ready fighter. Other birds will just look at him and run away.”
He doesn't need to fight. When a fighter is ready, there is no need to fight. When there is a true warrior, fearless, what is the need to fight? His very presence is enough - other birds flee. And it happened: this bird was released into battle - and he just stood there. The other birds came with great courage, they came out of the circle, they were full of ego, arrogance and self-confidence, but then they saw this bird. She looked unusual, not from this world at all. She stood like a Buddha. They tried to anger him, but he didn't even blink an eye. They jumped, they screamed, but to no avail. Then they trembled: this bird is unnatural, this bird is a stranger, he does not belong to us. They simply received the message: this bird was neither brave nor cowardly. She was simply fearless, and when there is a fearless being, others must run.
The same training for Zen warriors and the same for samurai: he must fight, but without anger. This seems difficult because even you love with anger, but he has to fight without anger.
There is such a Sufi story. This happened during the time of Omar, the great Islamic Caliph. He fought his enemy for 30 years. The enemy was very strong, and the battle continued, a lifelong war. Finally, this happened one day. that a favorable opportunity had arrived: the enemy fell from his horse, and Omar jumped on him with his spear. In just a second the spear could have pierced the enemy's heart and it would have been all over, but in that tiny amount of time the enemy did one thing: he spat in Omar's face and the spear stopped.
Omar touched his face, stood up and said to the enemy: “Tomorrow we will start over.” The enemy was confused. He asked: “What’s the matter? I’ve been waiting for this moment for 30 years, I’ve been waiting, hoping that someday I’ll deliver
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru