On Buddha And Becoming Enlightened

If the story of the Buddha

Is to be believed,

Then what can be said

That is True?

 

That Buddha attained

A thing called Enlightenment.

 

The ascetics way

Could not enlighten the Buddha,

Despite his magnificent efforts.

 

And the Buddha’s way

Cannot enlighten anyone else,

Despite anyone’s magnificent efforts.

 

Understand this:

The reason that the ascetics

Did not become Enlightened,

And Buddha did,

Is because the ascetics had a Way,

While the Buddha did not.

 

One may wish

To read that again.

 

Can one reach something

Without a way?

 

The loftier the goal,

The more a Way

Will get in the way.

 

This is something

That will not be understood.

 

Is it possible to teach a man

To become a Buddha?

 

Yes.

 

But how can a man be taught

Without a way?

 

Therein

Lies the Art.

 

If it is true

That Buddha wrote

The four noble truths

And the eightfold path

In order to enlighten human beings,

Or to help them in any way . . .

 

Then either,

The Buddha did not truly wish to help,

Or he simply made a mistake.

 

It is difficult to imagine

That a man who has realized

The Truth

Can err . . .

 

But there are some things

That are so deep within

The human framework,

That even a Buddha is susceptible to them.

 

One of them

Is the idea of “help.”

 

Understand this:

Raw Truth.

Radical uncompromise.

And crystallized Purity . . .

Are perhaps rare

Even in the domain of the Gods.

 

It takes far more of a Buddhahood

Not to help,

Than to help.

 

It takes far more of a Buddhahood

Not to teach,

Than to teach.

 

Not for its own sake.

And not as a matter of principle.

 

But because

The conditions

Are not ripe.

 

Does rain ever fall

When there are no clouds?

 

All that is present in this world

Is filler.

 

Because it is an attempt

To “help,”

To those who either ask not for it,

Or are not ready to receive it.

 

Not as a matter of principle.

But because it is wasteful

And ineffective.

 

Let a man beg.

Let his heart bleed through his sternum.

Let his cheeks wrinkle under the flood of tears.

Let him be willing to give Anything

At the mere asking . . .

 

Then,

The conditions

Are ripe.

 

Then,

The rain

May fall.

 

Namaste.