Question 2

I DON'T GO ANYWHERE. WHY IS A MAP NEEDED? ISN'T BEING HERE-NOW ENOUGH?

Yes, there is no goal and nowhere to go. And the map is not needed if you have understood me. But you have not understood me, and the map is needed. And the need of the map is not because there is a goal, it is not to go somewhere that the map is needed; the map is needed because you have gone somewhere and you have to come back to the here-now. It is not needed to go somewhere, but you have dreamt that you have gone somewhere; the map is needed to come back home. You have gone astray; you have moved in your imagination, in your desire, in your ambition; you don't look at yourself; your being is at your back and you are rushing away. The map is needed to look back, to meet your being, to encounter yourself.

But if you understand me -- that here and now is all that is -- you can burn the map, you can throw the map; then the map is not needed for you. For one who has arrived home the map is not needed. But don't burn the map until you have arrived home.

There is a famous painting of a Zen monk burning Buddhist scriptures. Somebody asks him 'Master, what are you doing? And you have always taught these scriptures, and you have always been commenting on and reflecting upon these scriptures  -- why are you burning them?'

And the Master laughs and he says 'Because I have come home, so the map is not needed.'

But you should not burn them unless and until you have come home. You carry a map -- it ii meaningful while you are away. When you have arrived, you throw it. If you throw it before you have arrived, you will be in danger.

Yes, here and now is more than enough -- not enough, more than enough -- it is all that there is. But you are not here-now, so all these maps are needed to bring you home. You have not gone anywhere really, but you are dreaming that you have gone somewhere. These maps are also dream maps. Remember, these maps are dream maps; these maps are as false as your SAMSARA, as your world.

The ultimate scripture has no word in it. The Sufis have a book, THE BOOK OF THE BOOKS. It is simply empty -- not a single word written it it. Down the centuries it has been given from one Master to another, handed over from the Master to the disciple and has been kept with tremendous respect. That is the ultimate in scriptures. The Vedas are not so beautiful, the Bible is not so beautiful because something is written there. THE BOOK OF THE BOOKS is really of tremendous value, but will you be able to read it? When for the first time in the West the Sufis wanted it to be published, no publisher was ready.'What? There is nothing to publish!' they would say. 'It will just be an empty book. What to publish it for?'

The Western mind can understand the word: the black ink spread on the white page; it cannot see the white page directly. The white page does not exist for the Western mind, only the black ink. The clouds exist for the Western mind, not the sky: mind exists for the Western mind, not consciousness. Content exists, but they have completely forgotten the container.

Thoughts are just like black ink on white paper; thoughts are just the written message. When thoughts disappear, you will become THE BOOK OF THE BOOKS -- empty. But that is the voice of God.

You say: I DON'T GO ANYWHERE. WHY IS A MAP NEEDED? ISN'T BEING HERE-NOW ENOUGH?