The Master claimed that the world most people see is not the world of Reality, but a world their heads create. When a scholar came to dispute this, the Master set two sticks on the floor in the form of the letter T, and asked, “What do you see here?”
“The letter T,” said the scholar.
“Just as I thought,” said the Master. “There’s no such thing as the letter T; that’s a symbol in your head. What you have here is two broken branches in the form of sticks.”
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“When you speak about Reality, said the Master, you’re attempting to put the Inexpressible into words, so your words are certain to be misunderstood. People who doggedly live by that expression of Reality called the Scriptures become stupid and cruel, for they follow not their common sense but what they think their Scriptures say.” He had the perfect parable to show this.
A village blacksmith found an apprentice willing to work hard at low pay. The smith immediately began his instructions to the lad. “When I take the metal out of the fire, I’ll lay it on the anvil, and when I nod my head, you hit it with the hammer.” The apprentice did precisely what he thought he was told. The next day, he was the village blacksmith.
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“Tell me,” said the atheist, “is there a God, really?” Said the Master, “If you want me to be perfectly honest with you, I will not answer.” Later the disciples demanded to know why he had not answered.
“Because his question is unanswerable,” said the Master.
“So, you are an atheist?”
“Certainly not. An atheist makes the mistake of denying that about which nothing may be said.”
After pausing to let that sink in, he said, “And the theist makes the mistake of affirming it.”
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“What is the secret of your serenity?”
Said the Master, “Wholehearted cooperation with the inevitable.”
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The Master and a disciple came upon a blind man sitting on the sidewalk, begging. Said the Master, “Give the man alms.”
The disciple dropped a coin in the beggar’s hat. The Master said, “You should have touched your hat as a mark of respect.”
“Why?” asked the disciple.
“One always should, when one gives alms.”
“But the man was blind!”
“Well, you never know,” said the Master. “He may have been a fraud.”
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A disciple had to rush back home when he got news that his house had burnt down. He was an old man, and everybody commiserated with him upon his return. All that the Master said to him was, “This will make dying easier.”
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The disciples were distressed to see the Master’s teachings ridiculed in a national magazine. The Master was unperturbed. “Could anything be really true,” he said, “if no one laughed at it?”
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The Master taught that one reason that people are so unhappy is that they think that there is nothing that they cannot change. He especially enjoyed the story of the man who says to the shopkeeper, “This radio you sold me is excellent for its quality of sound, but I want to exchange it for one that has better programs.”
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Back from a journey, the Master told a story he thought was a parable on life. During a brief stop, he walked to a neat-looking lunch counter; there were delicious soups, hot curries and many tempting dishes. He ordered a soup. “Are you from the bus?” a matronly attendant asked. The Master nodded.
“No soup.”
“Hmm. Hot curry with steamed rice?” asked the Master, puzzled.
“Not if you’re on the bus. You can have sandwiches. It took me all morning to prepare that food, and you have no more than 10 minutes to eat it. I won’t let you eat food that you don’t have time to enjoy.”
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