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THE BUDDHA'S PARABLE OF THE BURNING HOUSE

> Bertolt Brecht

>

> Gautama the Buddha taught

> The doctrine of greed's wheel to which we are bound, and advised

> That we should shed all craving and thus

> Undesiring enter the nothingness that he called Nirvana.

>

> Then one day his pupils asked him:

> What is it like, this nothingness, Master? Every one of us would

> Shed all craving, as you advise, but tell us

> Whether this nothingness which then we shall enter

> Is perhaps like being at one with all creation

> When you lie in water, your body weightless, at noon

> Unthinking almost, lazily lie in the water, or drowse

> Hardly knowing now that you straighten the blanket

> Going down fast -- whether this nothingness, then

> Is a happy one of this kind, a pleasant nothingness, or

> Whether this nothing of yours is mere nothing, cold, senseless and

void.

>

> Long the Buddha was silent, then said nonchalantly:

> There is no answer to your question.

> But in the evening, when they had gone

> The Buddha still sat under the bread-fruit tree, and to the others

> To those who had not asked, addressed this parable:

>

> Lately I saw a house. It was burning. The flame

> Licked at its roof. I went up close and observed

> That there were people still inside. I opened the door and called

> Out to them that the roof was ablaze, so exhorting them

> To leave at once. But those people

> Seemed in no hurry. One of them

> When the heat was already scorching his eyebrows

> Asked me what it was like outside, whether it wasn't raining

>

> Whether the wind wasn't blowing perhaps, whether there was

> Another house for them, and more of this kind. Without answering

> I went out again. These people here, I thought

> Need to burn to death before they stop asking questions.

> Truly friends,

> Unless a man feels the ground so hot underfoot that he'd

> Exchange it for any other, sooner than stay, to him

> I have nothing to say. Thus Gautama the Buddha

>

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