Beloved Buddha,
Mayoku came to Shokei carrying his bell staff with him. He circumnavigated Shokei’s seat three times, shook his staff, ringing the bells, stuck the staff in the ground, and then stood up straight.
Shokei said, “Good.”
Mayoku then went to Nansen. He walked around Nansen’s seat, shook his staff, ringing the bells, stuck the staff in the ground and stood up straight.
Nansen said, “Wrong.”
Mayoku said, “Shokei said, ‘Good’; why do you say, ‘Wrong’?”
Nansen said, “Shokei is ‘good,’ but you are wrong. You are blown about by the wind. That will lead to destruction.”

My Friends,

I have been waiting to answer a few idiots. I will not mention their names for the simple reason that idiots don’t have names – just to be an idiot is enough.

The first idiot was very angry – he is a leader of the sudras who have been converted to Buddhism. He was angry because he thinks that I am a “self-styled buddha.”

I call this kind of people idiots because they don’t understand a simple thing: Who has styled Gautam Buddha, if he was not self-styled? Who has styled Mahavira, Krishna and Rama? They were all self-styled. Only idiots are born; geniuses have to assert their individuality, they are basically self-styled. There is nothing wrong in it.

But this is the beauty of the idiots: they cannot think. They have never thought, although they have become Buddhists.

In Hinduism there is no such thing as the buddha. In Jainism, the Jaina tirthankaras have been primarily called jinas, the conquerors, and secondarily, buddhas.

Gautam Buddha tried to be a jina, because that was prestigious. It was a long heritage, more ancient than Hinduism, because the first tirthankara of the Jainas is mentioned with respect in the ancientmost Hindu scripture, Rig Veda. The first tirthankara is called “Adinatha the Jina.”

It was a respectable heritage, and it was a very difficult contest. Eight people were trying to be accepted by the Jainas as their twenty-fourth and last jina.

Buddha was also one of the contestants. He was being defeated by Mahavira for the simple reason that Mahavira was more masochistic; his whole philosophy was that of self-torture. Buddha could not do that. Being defeated, he immediately grabbed the second word which has been used by Jainas, which was the buddha. He could not become the Jina, so he declared himself the Buddha.

Now these idiots of Maharashtra and this small fraction of untouchables converted to Buddhism are condemning me as a “self-styled buddha.” First think about your own Gautam Buddha!

The second idiot, also a leader of the converted Buddhists – they are confined only to Maharashtra, a very small minority – has said that if I want to be the Buddha, I will have to renounce all luxuries.

I call these people idiots because they don’t know exactly what they are talking about. I will tell you a story about Gautam Buddha; perhaps this will help these idiots to understand.