"Hence all these strange sayings – they are strange. They are strange because the way they are put, the way they are expressed, is not logical. It does not make any sense, not at least on the surface.

"And if you have not felt something of the beyond it is very difficult for you to understand what Buddha is trying to do. We can understand only that which we have experienced, if not in toto then at least in part. Otherwise our understanding remains rooted in our experience.

"It happened: Charlie had been to school that morning for the first time. When he came home his mother said, 'Well, Charlie, how do you like school?'

"'I like it well enough, but I have not got my present yet.'

"'Your present?' queried the mother. 'What do you mean?'

"'Teacher said, when she saw me, 'You may sit here for the present, little man.' I sat there all morning and didn't get a thing!'

"Now, a small child's understanding is a small child's understanding. And that's how you are – small children as far as Buddha is concerned, as far as his statements are concerned. His statements are of the ultimate experience. You will have to be very very patient, only then something will start dawning in your consciousness. They are of utter significance. Even if a single statement is understood that will prove radical, that will change you from your very roots.

"A father took his young son to an opera for the first time. The conductor started waving the baton and the soprano began her aria. The boy watched everything intently and finally asked, 'Why is he hitting her with his stick?'

"'He is not hitting her with the stick,' the father explained.

"'Then why is she screaming?'

"In your mind these ideas will come many times: What is Buddha saying? It looks so utterly mad, it doesn't make sense. It is beyond sense. You will have to gather yourself together to climb to something higher than you. You will have to stretch your hands towards the beyond. Even if you can touch just a fragment of these sayings, your life will not be the same again."