The Empty Boat

Chuang Tzu and Lao Tzu used to say: Concentrate on the toe. Close your eyes and move into the toe and remain there. That will give you a balance. The head has given you much imbalance. The toe … ? It looks like they are joking. They mean it, they are not joking. They are right.

You are weak – not because others are strong – you are weak because you are filled with so many desires. You are defeated, not because others are more cunning and clever – you are defeated because you have so many leakages.

Tathata – acceptance, total acceptance, means no desire. Desire arises out of non-acceptance. You cannot accept a certain situation, so desire arises.

greater he becomes, the more immeasurable. A moment comes and you simply throw your teaspoon, you simply stop the effort to measure. And only then are you intimate with the great man, the man of Tao.

Somebody means you are measured. You are labeled, categorized. You are known. Nobody means you remain unknowable. Howsoever you know, whatsoever you know, your knowledge will not exhaust him. You will know that this is not the boundary. And the more intimate you become, the

A perfect sage is absolutely useless.

No self is true self.

away his sitar. A perfect archer breaks his bow and throws it away, and a perfect man like Buddha is absolutely useless. What has Buddha produced – poetry, a sculpture, a painting, a society? What has Buddha produced? He seems to be absolutely unproductive, he has done nothing.

Perfect virtue produces nothing, because it needs nothing. Production comes out of desire, production comes because you are imperfect. You create something as a substitute because you feel unfulfilled. When you are absolutely fulfilled, why should you create, how can you create? Then you yourself have become a glorious creation, then the inner being itself is so perfect, nothing is needed.

Perfect virtue produces nothing. If the world is virtuous, all utilitarian goals will be lost. If the world is really virtuous there will be play and no production. Then the whole thing will just become a game.

Perfect virtue produces nothing, because when you are perfectly virtuous nothing is needed. When you are perfectly virtuous there is no desire, there is no motivation. You are perfect. How can perfection move? Only imperfection moves. Only imperfection desires to produce something. So a perfect artist never paints a picture, and a perfect musician throws

Indifference hurts you most because the ego cannot exist in indifference. Either for me or against me, the ego can exist, but don’t be indifferent to me because then how can I exist, how can the ego exist? The man of Tao remains unknown. That means that he is not seeking people who should know him. If they want to know, they should seek him.

This is true loneliness – moving in the world without being touched by it. But if you are proud, you have missed. If you think, “I have become somebody,” the boat is not empty, and again you have fallen victim to the ego.

that doesn’t mean that you pride yourself that you walk alone. Walk alone, but don’t take pride in it. Then you can move in the world without being a part of it. Then you can live in a family without being a member of it. Then you can be a husband without being a husband. Then you can possess without being possessed by your possessions. Then the world is there outside, but not within. Then you are there, but not corrupted by it.