Life is a tremendously beautiful pilgrimage, but only for those who are ready to seek and search.
Jesus says: Seek and ye shall find; ask and it shall be given to you; knock and the doors shall be opened unto you.
He is not saying: Follow, imitate. He is not saying: Be a Christian and the doors shall be opened unto you. He is not saying: I have knocked on the doors and opened them for you. He is saying: Knock and the doors shall be opened unto you. And everybody has to knock, because everybody has to enter by different doors. People are so unique, people are individuals.
This is your glory. Don’t deny it; otherwise you will remain a fool. That does not mean don’t learn from the buddhas, the awakened ones – learn! Imbibe the spirit! Drink out of their springs, fresh springs of joy. Be in their company, become attuned to their inner music, listen to their harmony, and be filled with great joy that a man like you, just like you, has achieved, so you can also achieve. Become thrilled that a man just like you, made of blood and bones, has become enlightened, so you can also become enlightened.
A buddha has not to be followed but understood. A buddha has not to be imitated but listened to – listened to in tremendous silence, love, trust. And the more you understand a buddha, the more you will feel he is speaking not from the outside but from within, from the very core of your being. He is a mirror who reflects your original face – but he is only a mirror. All great masters are mirrors, they reflect your original face. But don’t cling to the mirror. The mirror is not your face!
These sutras of Buddha are of immense value. Go into them meditatively. And when I say go into them meditatively, I mean don’t be in an argumentative mood – that is not the way to listen. Be in a receptive mood, be feminine. Don’t be on guard, don’t be defensive. Don’t hide behind armors. Don’t bring your mind in to interpret what is being said. Put the mind aside and let the heart dance with these sutras. That’s what I mean when I say listen meditatively. Let the heart rejoice. And in that rejoicing is a totally different kind of understanding – not of the intellect but of intelligence.
You will not become knowledgeable if you listen from the heart; you will become more and more wise. If you listen from the head, in the first place your listening will be distorted because all your prejudices will become mingled with it, and all your a priori conclusions will be a distraction, and your mind will give its color to what is told to you. In the first place you won’t listen to what is being said; your mind will make much noise and you will listen to your own noise. In the second place, whatsoever you gather will become knowledge, not wisdom. Knowledge is superficial, it does not go deep, it cannot go deep. Knowledge is a way to hide your ignorance, it does not destroy it. Wisdom is a light, it dispels darkness.