One day it happened that a follower of Nagarjuna, one of the greatest mystics to whom India gave birth, realized his limitless being - the world disappeared. Then followers appeared, and followers are always copies, because they themselves do not try to penetrate the real and do not refuse to take the Master’s words on faith.
And one of these followers was a great philosopher and debater. He proved in many ways that there is no peace. The king of the country called him, because his name had reached the palace, and said:
- Do you really think that the world is unreal? Think twice, for I am a dangerous man, I am not a man of words, I am a man of action. And I will do something that will prove to you that the world is real. So think twice before you speak.
The man said:
- This is not a question to think twice about. I have thought millions of times and have every proof that the world is not real.
But the philosopher did not know what the king was going to do. And he had a mad elephant, which was brought into the yard, and the philosopher was thrown there too. He began to scream and run, and a mad elephant ran after him, overtook him, and at that moment the philosopher shouted to the king:
- Save me! The elephant is real, I take back my statement.
He was saved. The philosopher was shaking, sweating, beaten and wounded in many places. When he came to his senses, the king called him and asked again:
- What do you say now?
He replied:
- The world is unreal.
- What do you mean? Just now, at the moment when the elephant was about to kill you, you said that the world is real. Now have you changed again?
- An elephant, a man, a statement - all this is unreal. The elephant, the madness of the elephant, the man you see in front of you, the man who claimed that the world is real - all this is unreal.
The king said:
“Then I’ll call the mad elephant again.”
And the philosopher replied:
“Then the same thing will happen again: I will say that this is real.” But what can I do?
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru