I And Thou

in the reality that is lived, " It is thus " and " It is not
thus ", being aoid non-being, do not reign ; but " thus
and otherwise ", being and non-being at once, the un-
fathomable—this reigns. The primal condition of
salvation is undivided confrontation of the undivided
mystery. It is certain that the Buddha is of those who
have known this. Like all true teachers he does not
wish to impart an opinion, but to teach the way. He
denies only one assertion, that of the ** fools", who say
there is no action, no deed, no power, and says " Men
can walk in the way ". He ventures only one assertion,
which is decisive: " There is, O Monks, an Un-
born, neither become nor created nor formed ". If there
were not this, there would be no goal; there is this, the
way has a goal.
Loyal to the truth of our meeting, we can follow the
Buddha as far as this, but a step further would be
disloyalty to the reality of our life.
For we know, from the truth and reality that we do not
extract from ourselves but which is given for us to share
in, that if the goal described by the Buddha is only one
of the goals, then it cannot Ha ours, and if it is the goal,
then it is falsely described ; and also, if it is one of the
goals, the way may lead as far as it, and if it is the goal,
the way leads, at most, nearer to it.
The Buddha describes as the goal the " cessation of
pain ", that is of becoming and passing away—release
from the cycle of births. " Henceforth there is no return "
is the formula of the man who has freed himself from the
appetite for living and thus from the necessity to become
ever anew. We do not know if there is a return ; we
do not extend beyond this life the lines of this time-
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