... Lord or Prince: just take me to the place of execution and decapitate me, or kill me in any other way, but I will not speak otherwise than I have done". [42] Rizzardo, the Brescian resident from Regensburg, Lazzaro's uncle, servant of Angelo of Verona, had been telling the truth. Or at least, his truth. Or so Wolfgang claimed to have learned that truth during the hot days of the preceding summer...

... BROTHERS' FAIRY TALES? A man and woman and two decapitated children found One of confessed participants of ritual murder describes the details One of the confessed testifies of other children he resold to Jews to be sacrificed for blood Emperor Friedrich III tries to intervene in order to protect the Jews Blood sold at very high prices to the richest and most influential German Jews Confessions of other...

... ritual murders Forty five Jews arrested, convicted and burnt publicly Rabbi Jossel di Kelheim purchases a a Christian child for ritual murder Ritual murder and crucifixion of a child Investigation and arrest of 18 Jews upon request of Heinrich, the bishop of Regensburg Friedrich III personally ordered the city counsel of Regensburg to free the prisoners immediately A skeleton found in the cellars of...

... to speak of a stereotype, in reference to the phenomenon of ritual child murder, we must necessarily admit that, even from the point of view of a person openly professing his own anti-Jewishness in a general sense, and with no direct knowledge of events in distant lands, the phenomenon seemed exclusively confined to the Ashkenazi Jewish world. There are no objective records of this long series of...

... ritual homicides, in which the supposed protagonists accused themselves and each other in their confessions, whether voluntarily or under compulsion. We are speaking of the sensational cases at Endingen, in Alsace, where the first ritual child murder trial was held, which has left an ample and detailed documentation, echoes of which, not surprisingly, might be heard in the halls in which the Trent...

... perpetrators or accomplices in the crime, which was said to have been that same evening, soon after the Christian family entered their house. To discharge her own responsibility and save her own life, Elia sustained that she had not participated directly in the murder and therefore had been warned, with threats and curses, against reporting what happened to the old people of the Jewish community of Endingen...

..., out of fear that they would denounce the persons responsible to the authorities. One of confessed participants of ritual murder describes the details Aberlino, Elia's brother, hastened to explain to the judges the dynamics of the facts, and thereby avoid torture. The parents were allegedly the first to be killed, but their blood was not drained off because it was useless for ritual purposes. Then it...

... Mercklin, were dragged by horses' tails to the place of execution, to be p. 78] broken on the wheel and their bodies burnt. When the Emperor Friedrich III, at the request of the Jews, decided to intervene in favor of the condemned men, it was then too late and it only remained for him to rebuke the margrave of Baden, in a letter written one month later, for hastening to have "those accused of the...

... and indirectly aware of the recent events at Endingen and Pforzheim. Mosè da Ansbach, teacher to Maestro Tobias’s children, reported to the judges that he had heard talk about a ritual murder committed by Jews a few years before in a city in Alsace; that some of the accused had been burnt at the stake, while others had taken refuge in flight. [11] On the same grounds, Lazzaro, servant to money...

... lender Angelo da Verona, recalled how, while staying at his father's house, at Serravalle del Friuli, a stranger had told them of a ritual murder committed by a few Jews of Pforzheim against a Christian boy three years before. The guilty parties had been incarcerated, and, so that God might save them from certain death and save them from the hands of the Christians, the Hebraic community of the German...

... lands had announced a general fast. [12] But the eccentric miniaturist, Israel Wolfgang of Brandenburg, was, as usual, the best informed of all. The young Saxon related to the judges everything he knew in this regard, stating that the child murder had indeed been committed at Endingen and that the guilty had been burnt alive at the stake for that act of wickedness, committed to obtain the blood for...

... public executions had already occurred. This same Hinderbach, in a missive sent to Friar Michele Carcano of Milan, remembered that numerous Jews from Endingen and Pforzheim, both men and women, had been found guilty of ritual murder and had been put to death on the order of the Count of Baden a few years before. [14] One might be tempted to draw a clear line of demarcation between the evidence given by...

... confirmed by clear documentary fact. At the beginning of the trial, the Trent inquisitors decided to interrogate a convert -- a "Jew turned Christian", as such converts were then called -- who, in the days of Simon’s tragic death, was being held prisoner at Trent for another crime which had nothing to do with ritual child murder. But as to the child murders, which the Jews were accustomed to commit...

... blood for ritual purposes. Forty five Jews arrested, convicted and burnt publicly The police authorities arrested forty five Jews, as the result of a raid effected in their district, and later burnt them publicly at the stake. Other Jews, including Shochat, had taken refuge in flight, seeking shelter with their families in the Cisalpine regions of Italy. [16] Both the child murder at Landshut and the...

..., Israel Wolfgang had directly participated in a spectacular, sensational, and equally horrible, ritual child murder committed at Regensburg in 1467. In the second half of the 15th century, that which was considered the commercial port of the Holy Roman Empire towards south-eastern Europe, located on the banks of the Danube, was the home of a flourishing Jewish community of over five hundred people. [18...

...] And the young Saxon, according to his own detailed deposition before the Trent judges, had been at Regensburg that year, during the feast days of the Jewish Passover. Wolfgang’s report was lucid and precise down to the smallest particulars. Rabbi Jossel di Kelheim purchases a a Christian child for ritual murder In those days, Rabbi Jossel di Kelheim had taken advantage of an opportunity and...

... in view of the fact that the district was inhabited by Jews who locked their doors every night, with the keys entrusted to them by the city authorities, the margin of safety was considered sufficiently broad. [19] Ritual murder and crucifixion of a child The boy was undressed in the stiebel and placed on a chest containing the sacred parchments of the synagogue, and was then crucified, circumcised...

.... Notwithstanding circumstances of this kind, it would hardly have been unprecedented, in the 15th century panorama of this city on the Danube, for the Jews of Regensburg to be accused of a good four cases of desecration of the Host and ritual murder in barely six years, from 1470 to 1476 [23]; the good prelate was forcefully impressed and justifiably scandalized when he read the document. Investigation and...

... arrest of 18 Jews upon request of Heinrich, the bishop of Regensburg Returning to Germany, Heinrich hasted to advise the authorities of Regensburg to open an immediate inquiry intended to determine whether or not a ritual murder had really occurred in the Jewish quarter during the Passover feast of 1467. [24] At the end of March of that year, the authorities of Regensburg proceeded with the arrest of...

... the rabbi Jossel di Kelheim and another five influential leaders of the Jewish communities, including Sayer Straubinger, the owner of the stiebel, and Samuele Fleischaker, Wolfgang's friend. A few days after, seventeen Jews, all accused of participation or complicity in the ritual child murder were placed in irons. The interrogations were carried out under torture, and at least six of the accused...

... were deemed insufficient factual basis for a ritual murder trial. Thus, on 15 April 1476, Friedrich III personally ordered the p. 83] city counsel of Regensburg to free the prisoners immediately and hand them over to the Imperial authorities. But one week later, a dramatic sensation occurred. A skeleton found in the cellars of Rabbi Jossel' dwelling A few workers, engaged in repairs on Rabbi Jossel's...

..., which the payment of another twenty thousand florins p. 85] in gold by the German-speaking Jewish communities was certainly insufficient to dissipate. If the ritual child murder at Regensburg was really a fact, it should be possible to track down the blood, distributed free of charge among the participants, or put up for sale by them immediately afterwards, admitting that it might have reached the...

... Lazzaro, who rendered services for the banker, was his nephew, and did not hesitate to spend his holidays and vacations in his uncle’s company. On one of these occasions, a few years before, when Lazzaro found himself at Brescia to be cured of an illness of the eyes, Rizzardo confessed to him that he had bought a certain quantity of blood originating from the Regensburg child murder. In addition...

...;s guest, who had commissioned him with the execution of the miniatures for a precious Hebraic code owned by Rizzardo. [38] p. 86] On one occasion, Rizzardo bragged to the young painter that he, Rizzardo, had come into possession of the blood of the child killed at Regensburg. He had been given it by his step-father, precisely the same Rabbi Jossel who had been one of the principal defendants in...

... this sensational child murder. It was at this point that the young Wolfgang’s vainglorious nature exploded in all its variegated intensity. Perhaps Rizzardo was unaware that he, Israel Wolfgang, had personally participated in the child murder in Sayer’s stiebel at Regensburg? The Brescian Jew, even if he had been unwilling to believe it, now had to listen to Wolfgang blabbing out the...

... the Padua child murder, the murder in which Rizzardo had participated. He was informed of this by Enselino, who had allegedly obtained the same blood, marketed in the Brescia region, by a certain Liebmann of Castelfranco da Treviso. [41] This was too much, even for the inquisitors of Trent, no matter how eager they might have been for confirmation -- real or imagined -- of their suspicions. The...

... no longer remember (was Brescia one of them?). But he clearly recalled having stayed at Trent, where he was in contact with the Jewish families then accused of the ritual murder of little Simon. [43] If, as we have seen, one clue seemed to point to Rizzardo and the city of Brescia, a second clue pointed back to Regensburg, leading the authorities to a certain Hoberle (Kobele, Jacob or perhaps...

... lender at Tortona; the blood is then supposed to have been used during the Passover celebration. As we have seen, Madio is said to have been implicated in the supposed ritual murder of the sainted Giovannino of Volpedo in 1482, but, to his good fortune, p. 89] is said to have been acquitted. Mosè of Bamberg, according to his own statement, had, for almost a year, been in the service of Leone, Madio...

... der Stadt Freiburg im Breisgau, Freiburg, 1829, vol. II, pp. 520-525; K. von Amira, Das Endinger Judenspiel, Halle, 1883; I. Kracauer, L'affaire des Juifs d'Endingen de 1470. Pretendu meurtre de Chrétiens par des Juifs, in "La Revue des Etudes Juives", XVII (1888), pp. 236- 245, and more recently R. Po-Chia Hsia, The Myth of Ritual Murder. Jews and Magic in Reformation Germany, New Haven (Conn...

....) - London, 1988, pp. 14-41. [7] For the text of the confession of the three brothers, see Amira, Das Endinger Judenspiel, cit., pp. 94-97; Po-Chia Hsia, The Myth of Ritual Murder, cit., pp. 18-22. [8] Cfr. Kracauer, L'affaire des Juifs d'Endingen de 1470, cit., pp. 237-238; Po-Chia Hsia, The Myth of Ritual Murder, cit., pp. 18-22. [9] Cfr. Kracauer, L'affaire des Juifs d'Endingen de 1470, cit., pp. 236...

...-245; Po -Chia Hsia, The Myth of Ritual Murder, cit., pp. 34. [10] The accusation was that "Judei (urbis Endingen) transmiserunt sanguinem ad civitates et loca ubi divites morantur Judei" ["the Jews (of the city of Endingen] distributed the blood as gifts to Jews in the cities and locations where. In this regard and on the confession of Leo di Pforzheim, see, in particular, Kracauer, L'affaire des...

... Juifs d'Endingen de 1470, cit., pp. 237, 241-242. [11] "Pauci anni sunt, quod puer quidam Christianus fuit interfectus a Judaeis in Helsas (= Alsace), de quo homicidio fuerunt combusti aliqui Judaei et aliqui eorum aufugerunt, prout dici audivit" ["It was only a few years ago, that a Christian boy was killed by the Jews of Alsace, a few Jews being burnt for the murder and others escaped, as I heard...

... [...] told under duress only confirmed the veracity of the historical Endingen trial which became, in turn, the fulcrum of the fictive universe of Jewish violence" (R. Po-Chia Hsia, Trent 1475, A Ritual Murder Trial, New Haven, Conn., 1992, p. 90). Elsewhere, the same author, referring to the detailed deposition of Maestro Tobias on Frederick's visit to Venice in 1469, and on the presence in the city of...

..." ([Bonelli], Dissertazione Apologetica, cit., p. 141). See also Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento, cit., vol. II, p. 40. [23] Cfr. Po-Chia Hsia, The Myth of Ritual Murder, cit., pp. 66-72; Rubin, Gentile Tales, cit., pp. 123-128. [24] Cfr. Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento, cit., vol. II, pp. 38-39; Po-Chia Hsia, The Myth of Ritual Murder , cit., pp. 72; Id., Trent 1475, cit., pp. 97-98...

.... [25] In the vast bibliography on the Regensburg trials of the years 1476-1480, see R. Strauss, Urkunden und Aktenstücke zur Geschichte der Juden in Regensburg, 1453-1738, Munich, 1960, pp. 68-168; Id., Regensburg und Augsburg , Philadelphia (Pa.), 1939; Po-Chia Hsia, The Myth of Ritual Murder, cit., pp. 72-85; W. Treue, Ritualmord und Hostienschändung, Untersuchungen zur Judenfeindschaft in...

... him"] (letter in Yiddish dated 5 May 5236 [= 1476]. [32] Po-Chia Hsia, The Myth of Ritual Murder, cit., pp. 77-82, Eckert, Motivi superstiziosi, cit., pp. 388-389. [33] The name Rikhard (Reichard), which also appears in the form Reisshart (Rizzardo), is found solely among the Jews of Regensburg in the second half of the Fifteenth Century (cfr. M. Stern, Regensburg in Mittelalter. The israelitische...

... experiencing it, and hopefully also for wider circles of our people for may years, if not for always, a comforting release from the unkind agitation which has sullied the story of the past year!" (255) Attorney Gammersbach entered the area of religion: "Gentlemen of the jury, there would be no sharper weapon against the charge of ritual-murder that that basic law: 'Thou shalt not kill!' But if we can refer...

...Jewish Ritual Murder, Schramm, Xanten...

... Hellmut Schramm's Jewish Ritual Murder - Xanten h3 { color: #B50400; text-align: center; } .left { float: left; width: 40%; padding: 4pt 12pt; } AntiMatrix Antimatrix What's New?Theme of the Day Your browser does not support iframes. Jewish Ritual Murder von Hellmut Schramm, Ph. D. a Historical Investigation 1944 a translation by R. Belser of Der jüdische Ritualmord Eine historische Untersuchung...

... testifies that he saw the victim pulled into the Buschhoff's house The Board of the Jewish community, with the Head Rabbi suddenly visit the magistrate State's attorney Baumgardt: suspicion of ritual-murder was downright nonsense A house search at the prime suspect's wasn't even carried out State attorney lost precious time by pursuing baseless leads The criminologist Wolff from Berlin, who requested...

... judgement in advance Overview Very rarely has a ritual-murder trial had as a result the sort of comprehensive literature and coverage as the proceedings before the jury-court of Cleves on the occasion of the boy-murder of Xanten. As this literature also gives us important information about the dominating Jewish influence and the anti-Jewish trends at all levels of society which became increasingly strong...

... intention of covering up traces of the crime and to incriminate others with the murder as much as possible. -- A devilish plan! The magistrate Riesbroeck of Xanten later stated before the jury-court in Cleves: "The body gave me the impression that it was not killed there but rather had been brought there." (First day of the hearings.) Ten year-old testifies that he saw the victim pulled into the...

... Buschhoff's house But now the alert ten year-old Gerhard Heister -- described by the chief state's attorney himself as an "intelligent young man" -- had remarked how on the day of the murder, toward ten o'clock in the morning, a white, unclothed arm pulled the small Hegmann child from out of the street and into the Buschhoff shop. We wish to insert the crucial passage of his examination here word-for-word...

... Schängchen was gone... The aforementioned little five year-old Kernder had been walking hand-in-hand with Hänschen [Both Hans and Hänschen, like Schängchen, are diminutives of the Christian name Johann, and the Hegmann child was usually called by one of these nicknames.] on the street in front of Buschhoff's. He told his mother a few days after the murder of Hänschen , that he had gone across the street...

... told them curtly that he could say nothing, the documents were in the hands of the state attorney's office (magistrate Riesbroeck on the first day of the hearings). State's attorney Baumgardt: suspicion of ritual-murder was downright nonsense Now Baumgardt held the opinion from the beginning, that what was accepted by all circles in the populace of Xanten , that this was a case of a ritual-murder...

..., was downright nonsense, unworthy of an "educated man," and -- as he later said -- a "rural superstition." For this state's attorney, it follows that the accused Jewish butcher, directly after the first report, was completely innocent, witnesses making statements against Buschhoff were spoken to harshly -- the same tactics of intimidation were employed later in the Polna ritual-murder trial by the...

..."! This maneuver does not appear new to us, since the Jews at some earlier ritual-murder trials had of course already had this sly idea! State attorney lost precious time by pursuing baseless leads State attorney Baumgardt seemed to want to see nothing. He lost precious time by pursuing baseless leads in the beginning. On 30 July -- thus a full month after the blood-murder -- the Crime Commissar...

... spoke of the fact that the completion of the circumstantial evidence was possible only with the immediate arrest of Buschhoff, since the latter would take flight across the nearby border "as soon as he becomes aware of the new state of affairs through recriminations and further investigation." The Jews, who had not reckoned with this turn of events, a quarter-year after the murder, much less than they...

...." Furnished with abundant money, Buschhoff was sent off to Cologne. Protest meetings in all the larger cities finally succeeded in the investigation against Buschhoff being taken up anew. A German-Social petition of those days to the Justice Minister von Schelling reads: "The ritual-slaughterer Buschhoff, strongly suspected of the murder in Xanten, has been released from investigatory custody, even though...

... testimonies On the day of the murder, shortly before ten, the neighbor of Buschhoff, Wilhelm Küppers, heard a conspicuous clamor of voices through the somewhat obstructing door of the butcher house; to another [female] witness, these goings-on were "creepy." The cloistered brother van den Sandt, who was passing by, likewise heard several voices. After the strange Jew had left Xanten, Buschhoff wandered...

... cleaning, various laundry was washed. The door in the back of the butcher shop, going toward the gateway, had been nailed shut on the evening before the murder and this had been especially noticed by Küppers; now the nails were removed again... About eight days after the murder, Buschhoff came with Siegmund from the city hall through the middle gate when the young Jewish boy said something to his father...

... complete knowledge of everything, crowed: "Papa, if only it hadn't happened." Highly embarrassed, the Jewish father pulled his young son close to him, looked around with dismay, and disappeared around the next corner! Shortly after the murder occurred, Frau Remy was traveling on the train (245) from Goch to Büderich to a wedding. "That was the stupidest thing that he did, that he brought it to the barn...

... gotten quite a bit, but that they shall not get!" The intelligent youngster went immediately to the mayor, to inform him of the overheard conversation. The latter advised the witness to write down what he had heard. The young boy was able to present the paper to the court and read his statement from it! The ritual-slaughterer Bruckmann called out: "Nothing was spoken about the murder. No, nothing at...

... recorded still on the evening of the day of the murder (246) had yielded the decisive findings that only very insignificant traces of blood, considering the condition of total emptiness of blood of the body, had been noted in the vicinity of the place of discovery, that the child therefore could not possibly have bled to death in the barn -- nevertheless, the court accepted the opinion of the faculty...

...! The neck-cut [they said] could have been performed with any sort of knife-like instrument, even with a pocket knife (!) -- a so-called slaughtering knife, as was found in Buschhoff's residence -- had not been necessary for this! And now, in order to exonerate Judaism per se from the suspicion of ritual-murder, the so-called "expert opinion" of the Straßburg Professor Nöldeke -- we have already...

...," but he could still state -- disregarding all of this -- "As far as I know, there is in this (the Talmud) no evidence at all for ritual-murder." -- Nöldeke called it "frivolous, through and through," "when over and over again it is repeated that the Jews need the blood of Christians for ritual purposes." Professor of Hebrew Antiquity: blood-murders - historical truths But while the hearings at Cleves...

... certain rabbinical works, there were still texts here and there, "which refer to the subject (of ritual-murder) and contain hints which, despite all the precautions of editing, speak very clearly in light of historical events." -- Because of its importance, we will give this letter of Rohling in its complete text in the Appendix! Letter of Rohling to the Court at Cleves Shameful denial of the testimony...

..., with the argument, as casual as it was outrageous: "If Beekman is supposed to reveal something and is given money by the Jews for it, that has no bearing on the case!" Several witnesses had noticed a strange Jew on the day of the murder. These witnesses expressly emphasized that he was a stranger, for the few Jewish families who lived in Xanten, a small city of then barely 4000 inhabitants, were...

... state that the quantity of blood found was much too scant for the butchering of the child to have taken place in the barn, had to see himself made the object of the public reproach in the courtroom, that he had [been the one to] first carry the "vague assumption" of a ritual-murder to the people! In his summation on the next to last day of the hearings, Chief State's Attorney Hamm also attacked him...

... private physician not sufficiently trained in forensic medicine. It has already been more frequently lamented in medical circles, that private physicians are so poorly informed in matters of forensic medicine. That is how the whole false idea originated..." (Chief State's Attorney Hamm). Again, eight years later, after a completely similar (252) blood-murder in Polna, "there was a dearth of...

..." -- according to the Jewish "verdict" -- "positive knowledge and critical capacity, especially in the local experts, who, cut off from the progress in science, conduct their practices in rough-and-ready style..." Concerning the motive of the horrible crime, the chief state's attorney was of the opinion that the question of whether this had been a ritual-murder or not, did not belong within the boundaries of...

..., do you concur in the opinions of the professors?" -- Dr. Steiner: "That I cannot do!" With bated breath, the public awaited the start of summation by the prosecuting attorneys on the next to last day of court. Going by the attitude of the Court of Justice up till now, nobody believed any longer that Buschhoff would be found guilty of the murder and condemned. At least it was to be hoped that a...

... therefore the murder was committed in the barn of Küppers! The state's attorney delivered a plaidoyer: not guilty His memorable and happily delivered plaidoyer concluded with the words: "Buschhoff is therefore, I declare, neither the murderer nor an accomplice to murder, nor even an accessory to the murder, he must (!) be excluded from any suspicion. I come then to the conclusion that we are by no means...

... house, to restore to his children their father, and to his community its member... On (254) the evening of 29 June 1891, the bloody specter of ritual-murder climbed out of the darkness to which it was exiled for decades... Behind it lies a system, gentlemen, it is the conflict of anti-Semitism which got ahold of the Buschhoff case... Yes, gentlemen, there was a risk that an innocent man might lose his...

... consideration; the prosecutor did not, he said, include any such issue relating to this! "You only have the right to answer the questions put to you about murder. Should you be of the opinion that no murder took place but rather perhaps aiding and abetting or perhaps abuse with a fatal outcome, then you must acquit, because a question dealing with that has not been put to you..." The verdict of the jury...

... insinuated opinion that something like "ritual-murder" could not exist and never has existed among the Jews -- and that, as an ancient "cultured people" the Jews were ethically too far above such a thing! 5. The prosecution played the role of the defense! Dr. Schwindt explained in the Oberwinder trial: The prosecution played the role of the defense "...The entire procedure of the state's attorney in the...

... economic situation for a long time already before the murder. Frau Buschhoff said one day to Mallmann -- thus to one of the witnesses who, since his evidence was incriminating, were "not approved" -- when business conditions were being discussed, that they -- the Buschhoffs -- wanted to leave Xanten soon, but that they first still had a "good piece of business" in prospect; when that had been done, they...

... the title: Der Fall Buschhoff. -- Die Untersuchung über den Xantener Knabenmord [The Buschhoff Case. -- The Investigation of the Xanten Boy-Murder], in which Oberwinder pilloried, in summary form again, the impossibility of the entire proceedings. Reporter exposing the farce sentenced to two months' imprisonment! He was straightaway and promptly dragged before a Berlin court on grounds of libelling...

... the state's attorneys Brixius and Baumgardt and sentenced to two months' imprisonment! This "Oberwinder trial," which can be described as a continuation of the Xanten murder trial, threw a significant as well as revealing spotlight upon the whole conduct of the proceedings against Buschhoff. As "witnesses," among others, of all people, Chaplain Bresser from Xanten, the Head Rabbi Horwitz "including...

... at least of the opinion that the persons entrusted with the investigation of the Xanten murder were biased. I am of the opinion, and found it confirmed when I was in Xanten, that Baumgardt made no thorough investigation, but instead only a promenade through the Buschhoff house. What also demonstrates the prejudice of the officials of the investigation, (261) is the treatment of the prosecution...

... criminological rules... But it is a matter of course, that, when a murder occurs, the first state's attorney must appear himself; in any case there can be no justification for the fact that he sent an assessor who had been handed over to him for training." The further, very serious recriminations of this legal authority we shall pass over here. A prosecutor forms such a favorable judgement in advance The...

...Jewish Ritual Murder, Schramm...

...; even if there are no vegetables he may not bring them close up, and what this statement teaches us is that these things are bad for one another. If that is so, what of the next clause: R. Jose declares it permissible in the case of mustard; [and it has been taught in reference to this, that the reason is]17  because the sower can say to his neighbour. 'Just as you can tell me to remove my...

... mustard from your bees, I can tell you to remove your bees from my mustard, because they come and eat the stalks of my mustard plants'?18 To Part b Original footnotes renumbered. See Structure of the Talmud Files Tosaf, asks here, how can we argue from these things to a pit, seeing that they do not injure the soil, and Raba might well allow them to be brought close up while disallowing the pit? The...

... prohibiting?3  Also, why does R. Jose permit only in the case of the mustard? Why not the water and the leeks also? — Rabina replied: The Rabbis hold that it is incumbent on the one who inflicts the damage to remove himself.4  We may infer from this that in the opinion of R. Jose it is incumbent on the one who suffers the damage to remove himself, and if that is so, then he should permit...

... flax — water to be placed close to vegetables?5  — The truth is that R. Jose also holds that it is incumbent on the one who inflicts the damage to remove himself, and he argued with the Rabbis as follows: I grant you are right in the case of the flax water and the vegetables, because the former harms the latter but not vice versa, but the case is different with bees and mustard...

..., because both are harmful to one another. What have the Rabbis to say to this? — That bees do no harm to mustard; the grains they cannot find, and, if they eat the leaves, they grow again. But does R. Jose in fact hold that it is incumbent on the one who inflicts the damage to remove himself? Have we not learnt: 'R. Jose says: Even if the pit was there before the tree, the tree need not be cut down...

..., because the one owner digs in his property and the other plants in his'?6  — The truth is that R. Jose holds it to be incumbent on the one who suffers the damage to remove himself, and here he was arguing with the Rabbis on their own premises. thus: 'In my view the one who suffers the damage has to remove himself, and therefore in this case it is not necessary to remove even the flax-water...

... from the vegetables. But on your view that the one who inflicts the damage must remove himself, I grant you are right in the case of the flax-water and the vegetables, because the former injures the latter but not vice-versa. But this does not apply to bees and mustard, where both injure one another.' To which the Rabbis can reply that bees do not injure mustard; the grains - To Next Folio - Original...

... Raba, the mustard and the bees would have to be removed from the boundary. Why should the seller have to remove his bees or mustard, seeing that when he placed them there he was perfectly within his rights? I.e. the article causing the damage. Hence, since the seller's property is causing the damage he must remove it, although he had a right to place it there at first. Rabbenu Tam here adopts the...

... exception being the pit, because the digging of it injures the soil on the other side. And the owner of the former can say to the owner of the latter, 'It is for you to remove them if they are being injured.' Infra 25b. Tractate List / Glossary / / Bible Reference                                        ...

... connotations. As you become a meditator you cannot go on carrying the old associations with words which have been given to you by society, which is absolutely unconscious. You don't need me to kill you. Although I am making every effort to kill you, I cannot kill you directly. And killing you directly is not going to help. It will be simply murder - of a vegetable! It is not a crime, in fact, because a...

.... Length: N.A. Question 1: BELOVED OSHO, IF, IN A STILL AND CALM AND SILENT MOMENT, I WHISPER, "KILL ME NOW," WILL YOU DO IT? Anand Rakesh, I have every intention to kill you, because without killing you you can't have a new life. You will go on living the old, rotten personality, which keeps you company and gives you a certain consolation. But the company is of misery and the consolation is...

... silent moment? Is it your existential experience? If it were so, you would not start the question with 'if'. But as far as I am concerned, if you are in a silent, calm and still moment, I will not wait for you to whisper, "Kill me now"; I will kill you before that. I don't postpone anything and I don't wait for anything, because the next moment is so uncertain. And when you are calm and still...

... and silent, from where will the question come? From a silent space when you are enjoying life in its real essence, when it is the most juicy experience, from where will the whisper come, "Kill me now"? In fact your stillness, your calmness and your silence has already killed you. And it is pointless to kill a man who is already killed. I am a lazy man, I don't make unnecessary efforts...

... whole life, he also sees death as the highest peak he has ever experienced. It is not an enemy, but a great friend; because it is not the end but the beginning of a greater life, of an eternal life. So you need not even whisper and I don't literally have to kill you. Your silence, your calm, your stillness will do my work. I have to kill indirectly, otherwise it will be illegal and criminal. I don't...

... touch you, I simply teach you something which is going to kill you. No court, no law can say anything against me, that I kill you. I was teaching you silence, meditation, I was teaching you to be joyous, I was teaching you stillness, and no court, no law, no lawmakers have any idea that this is the situation in which one finally dies as far as the old is concerned and is reborn into a totally new...

... your bank balance. But he has chosen the oldest cows, which no longer give milk. And in India an old cow is a burden. You cannot kill it, because it is your mother. It does not give you milk, but you cannot keep your mother starving. That is irreligious. You will not believe what Manu says in his scripture, which dominates Hindu society even today after five thousand years. It says, "To kill a...

... cow is almost equal to killing one hundred untouchables, the SUDRAS." The cow is so valuable that if you can kill one hundred sudras - the untouchables, the poor, the poorest of the earth - the crime will be the same. And you can be forgiven by God if you kill one hundred sudras, but you cannot be forgiven if you kill a single cow. So he was giving old cows to other brahmins and as that boy was...

...] full height. And where is it alluded to?14  — Resh Lakish quoted: Evil shall slay the wicked.15  Resh Lakish also said: What is meant by, For man also knoweth not his time, as the fishes that are taken in an evil trap;16  what is 'an evil trap'? — Resh Lakish said: A hook.17 MISHNAH. ONE WHO COMMITS MURDER WITHOUT WITNESSES IS PLACED IN A CELL AND [FORCIBLY] FED WITH BREAD...

... upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour's wife.6  Now, 'If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, — this [murder] is punished by decapitation; 'and defiled his neighbour's wife', — this is adultery, punished by strangulation; 'and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols',7  refers to idolatry, for which stoning is incurred. And it is written, He shall surely die...

... OF ADVERSITY AND WATER OF AFFLICTION'.18 GEMARA. How do we know [that he committed murder]? — Rab said: On a 'disjoined' evidence.19  Samuel said: Without a warning.20  R. Hisda said in Abimi's name: Through witnesses who were disproved as to the minor circumstances [of the crime], but not on the vital points.21  As we learned: It once happened that Ben Zakkai examined [the...

...  That they come not to see how the holy things are stolen,28  lest they [the purloiners] die.29 OR CURSES BY ENCHANTMENT. R. Joseph learned, [He curses thus:] May the charm [the idol] slay its enchanter.30  The Rabbis, others say, Rabbah b. Mari, say: [He curses:] May the charm slay him [his enemy], his Master and his Provider, etc.31 OR COHABITS WITH A HEATHEN WOMAN. R. Kahana...

... warned of the consequences. It is assumed that the law is traditional, going back to Moses; nevertheless, an allusion is sought in the Bible. Ps. XXXIV, 22. Ecc. IX, 12. This, though small, captures even large fish; thus it is more subtile and dangerous than a net. Presumably also it is more painful. Isa. XXX, 20. I.e., the murder was witnessed by two persons who were not standing together. In that...

... is adjudged a murderer; as, however, the witnesses were disproved on minor details, he cannot be executed, and is therefore placed in a cell. The witnesses having deposed that the murder took place under a fig tree. Ben Zakkai examined them on the nature of the stalks, Whether thick or thin, etc. v. supra 40a ff. V. Gemara. I.e., pious men, jealous for the honour of Judaism, may punish him if they...

... apprehend him in the act; but if they did not, they cannot subsequently charge him therewith at Beth din (Rashi). [H] Num. IV, 7. That a zealot who sees the theft must punish, i.e., slay him. [H] lit., 'swallowed up'. Ibid. 20. Nevertheless, this not being the true meaning of the verse, q.v., it is regarded merely as a hint, the actual law being traditional. [The allusion is probably to the vessel...

... will consist in blaspheming the Divine Name under a pseudonym (Sanh. VII, 5). Levy, s.v. oxe translates: May the charmer (= idol) slay its charmer (= God). But the Munich MS. reads [H] = what is like him (cf. [H] supra 56a). Jastrow renders: 'May the carver (i.e., God, invoked as 'carver' instead of creator ex nihilo) strike his carving!' The last two refer to God. This is translated by Levy (loc...

... countries, insects of all kinds grow very easily. A certain insect - I don't know what you call it in English - KHATMAL...? "It means 'bedbug', Osho." Bedbug - that is a parasite. Jainas cannot kill them because of their philosophy of non-violence. They cannot kill them, but if nobody sleeps on those cots, the bedbugs will die - so they hire people. They will give you five rupees per night: you...

.... Veena was left with me. That kind of man you will find in many places. Somebody becomes a naturalist, and he lives according to the ideals naturopathy gives him. One of my aunts was a naturopathy freak. I told her many times, "You will simply kill yourself doing these stupid things." And that's what happened. She was perfectly okay, but the naturopath goes on finding something wrong. And if...

... followed by everybody. Of course he was far ahead of the disciples, so he had the authority. The disciples knew that they had limitations, but they would do the best they could. The master of course is the master. I have no philosophy of non-violence, but I have a way of life which you can call reverence for life. And this is a totally different perspective. Non-violence simply says don't kill others. Do...

... you think that is enough? It is only a negative statement: don't kill others, don't harm others. Is that enough? Reverence for life says share, give your joy, your love, your peace, your bliss. Whatsoever you can share, share. If you are reverent towards life then it becomes a worship. Then everywhere you feel God alive. Then watching a tree becomes worship. Then feeding a guest becomes worship. And...

..., mad, angry; he hit you. It is just like a branch falling on you. Don't be disturbed by this, don't be distracted by this. Just go on your way as if nothing has happened." But when Jesus came back to Jerusalem and started saying this, people must have been asking him again and again... because it was so new to the Jewish tradition. It was bringing in a very foreign idea which did not fit with...

... the Jewish structure at all. Jesus said that if somebody hits you on one cheek, turn the other cheek. You are asking me what I have to say about it. This will be the attitude of a man who believes in the idea of non-violence, the philosopher of non-violence. But when you are hit by somebody and you give him the other cheek, you are encouraging violence in the world. It is not non-violence. And you...

... are assuming something which is absolutely your imagination. If somebody hits me, according to Jesus I have to give him my other cheek. But his tastes may be different. He may have enjoyed the first hit, he may enjoy the second even more; he may be a sadist. Then you are encouraging a sadist to torture people; you are encouraging violence. Even to allow your own body to be tortured by somebody is to...

... butter - you just cut into them with your knife, and there would be no noise at all. And millions of people were killed, burned without any resistance, because resistance would be violence. But you go on missing seeing the point that you are provoking the violence in the other person. Who is responsible for it? Now turning the other cheek means you are telling the other person, "Please hit me a...

... little more, it is not enough; I am not satisfied. Hit me a little more so that I can become a little more saintly." And you have only two cheeks. What are you going to do when he has hit you on your second cheek? What Jesus is saying looks a beautiful statement but it is not at all practical, pragmatic, scientific. Reverence for life approaches the whole problem from a different angle. I will say...

... your cheeks, turn the other cheek." I say, "Okay, turn his other cheek - and hit him harder. Give him a lesson! Make it clear to him that it is not so easy to hit somebody on the cheek - that it comes back, and comes back harder. And if you are capable, hit both his cheeks at the same time. Why give him the chance to turn the other cheek and become a saint? Hit him and tell him...

... simultaneously, 'I do not believe in violence, hence I have to stop it at the first chance. And remember that you cannot just be violent without being prevented.'" You have to prevent violence if you respect life. And in another way too, it is respectful to hit the man, not to give him your other cheek, because that is very disrespectful. This may seem a little difficult for you: you hit me, and I don't...

... hit you but show my other cheek to you, and say, "Please be kind enough to hit me." I am trying to be superhuman and reduce you below humanity. I am humiliating you far more than I can humiliate you by hitting you. By hitting you I simply declare you are human, I am human, and I speak the same language that you speak. We are both on the same ground. This is more respectful because you are...

... not raising yourself higher; you are keeping yourself on the same ground as the other man. You are telling him, "You are my brother; if you hit me you are going to get a bigger hit. Be watchful and be careful, because somewhere you may get into real trouble." I am not in favor of your being superior to the other man. That's what Jesus is saying: "Be meek, be humble, turn the other...

... is there - that you are humiliating the other. You are creating guilt in the other. He will think it over at home, "What did I do? What kind of man was he? I hit him, and he gave me the other cheek. How cruel and how animal I am that I again hit him on the other cheek." He will not be able to sleep the whole night. He will come back tomorrow. The first thing he will want is to be forgiven...

.... But to forgive him is again to put him down. No, I will say if he hits you, just be a sportsman. Don't try to be a superman, just a sportsman. Hit him really hard and tell him, "Whenever you need a good hit, you can always depend on me." Never do any harm to anybody, but never allow anybody to do any harm to you either; only then can we create a human world. We have tried the other way in...

.... Hence it is similar to binding one in a place where the sun will appear, but has not yet done so. So that the cold entering therein, killed him. This is similar: he did not kill him but indirectly caused his death. Which was then hermetically sealed, so that no fumes could escape. This being considered active murder under the circumstances. Thus R. Zera maintains that no penalty is incurred for...

... bound his neighbour and he died of starvation, he is not liable to execution. Raba also said: If he bound him in the sun, and he died, or in a place of intense cold and he died, he is liable; but if the sun was yet to appear, or the cold to make itself felt, he is not.4   Raba also said: If he bound him before a lion, he is not liable:5   before mosquitoes, [who stung him to death] he is. R...

... is regarded as a direct murderer, in the second, as an indirect cause. That is the general reason for the exemptions taught in this passage. Because he could not have saved himself in any case. [Raba probably refers to a prisoner thrown into an arena to be torn by lions.] I.e., the mosquitoes before which the prisoner was bound do not kill him entirely, as there is a continuous coming and going...

... and removed it, or even if himself hastened to remove it, he is not liable [for the victim's death], because when he threw him in he could have climbed out. Raba also said: If one shot an arrow at his neighbour, who was holding a shield, but another came and snatched it away, or even if he himself [the thrower] hastened to do so, he is not liable, because when he shot the arrow its force was spent.2...

...: What if he came across the balsam by chance?4  — He replied: Behold, he has left Beth din a free man.5 Raba also said: If one threw a stone at a wall, which rebounded and killed his neighbour,6  he is liable. And a Tanna teaches [in support of this]: If murder is committed by a man playing, for example. with a ball,7  if intentional, the thrower is executed; if unintentional, he...

...  recited before R. Abbahu [the following]: If [unintentional] murder is committed by a man playing, for example, with a ball, if [the victim] was within four cubits [of the wall]. the thrower is exempt; if beyond four cubits, he is liable [to exile]. Rabina objected to R. Ashi: How is this? If he desired it [to rebound], he should be liable even for a short distance;11  whilst if not, he...

... should be liable even for a greater distance? — He replied: The greater the rebound, the more is the average player pleased.12 Are we to say that [a murder] so committed is regarded as by his direct action?13  But the following contradicts it: If one was sanctifying [the water], and the ashes14  fell upon his hand or upon       Dilling Exhibit 87Begins     the...

... possessed nor could procure it. But by some happy chance, he subsequently obtained it, and though he could have healed himself therewith, did not. Do we say, since when the attack was made, murder was its probable outcome, he is liable; or since he could have healed himself, he is not. I.e., he is not liable: in spite of the fact that the balsam was unavailable when he threw the arrow. And this was his...

... intention. Children play by throwing a ball at a wall and catching or striking it on the rebound, thus here, one threw something at a wall, which, rebounding, struck his neighbour and killed him. V. Num. XXXV, 15. V. supra 72b. In this case, however, it might be thought that no true warning can be given, since the murder is doubtful. I.e., a Palestinian amora. I.e., even if it did not rebound so far, and...

... rebound is not regarded as a person's direct action, and this contradicts the law of murder. The ashes did not fall with force from the side of the utensil into the trough, but merely dripped down; therefore it is not regarded as man's direct agency. Had they fallen with force, however, the fall would be regarded as part of the man's action in dropping them on to the utensil, and the water would...

... accordingly be fit. In the case of murder, the rebound is with force, and directly caused by the strength of the throw. Because the sprinkling, as the mixing. must be done by man. Thus we see that the rebound is not regarded as direct action. I.e., the text is corrupt, and instead of miza [H], maza [H] is to be read. Thus, the water was found upon the needle, but how it came there is not known, whether...

... reluctantly, and I could see his reluctance, that's why I am not mentioning his name. He is still alive and may feel offended, because it was not out of love for me that he touched my feet, but because Pagal Baba ordered him. He had to touch my feet. I laughed and said, "Baba, can I hit this man?" He said, "Of course." And can you imagine it - as he was touching my feet, I slapped his...

... face! This reminds me of the letter Devageet wrote to me. I knew that he would cry and weep. I knew. How did I know even before he had written to me? Even if he hadn't written to me I would have known. I know my people. I know those who love me, whether they say it or not. And what really touched me were his words - "You can hit me as much as you want, that does not hurt; what hurts is that when...

.... I don't actually hit, not because I don't want to, just because I am absolutely lazy. Once or twice I have tried, then my hand hurt. I don't know whether the person learned anything or not, but my hand said, "Please don't try this trick again." But Pagal Baba used to hit for no reason at all. Somebody may have been just sitting silently by his side, and he would give the person a good...

... slap. The person had not done anything, he had not even said anything. Sometimes people would object that it was unjust, and say to Pagal Baba, "Baba, why did you hit him?" He would laugh and say, "You know I am pagal, a madman." That was enough of an explanation as far as he was concerned. That explanation won't do for me... so mad that even the most intelligent cannot decipher...

..., and without making the person unconscious, what would happen? The pain would be too much; it would kill the person, or at least drive him mad. He would jump off the table, perhaps leaving his skull behind, and run home as fast as possible; or he may even kill the doctor. But this is how my work is. There is no possibility ever to do my work in any other way. It has to be "apparently unjust...

... of the hits. That has always been my way; those who are nearest to me have been hit the most, but they have also grown. They have become more integrated with each hit they absorbed. Either they ran away or they had to grow. Do or die. If you do - that's what I mean by integration, or crystallization - only then do you live. Or else - remember the dog's death - one dies; one is dying every moment...

...; only the great musicians knew that he could play music with anything. I have seen him play with anything possible - just a stone, and he would start by striking it on his kamandalu. A kamandalu is a pot that Hindu sannyasins carry for water and food et cetera. He would hit on the kamandalu with just anything, but he had such a sense of music that even his kamandalu would become a sitar. Just in the...

......." I know - there is no question about it - otherwise why should I hit you so much? And remember, once I trust somebody I never mistrust them. It does not matter what that person does to me. My trust remains whatsoever that person does. Trust is always unconditional. I know your love, and I trust you all, otherwise this work would not have been given to you. But remember, that does not mean that I...

... SITTING HERE IN THE NOAH'S ARK WEEPING AND WONDERING WHAT TO DO. WHEN YOU ARE HERE, AND I AM EMPTY OF EVERYTHING EXCEPT YOUR WORDS AND PRESENCE POURING THROUGH ME; IT IS THE GREATEST FULFILLMENT I HAVE KNOWN. THEN YOU HIT - FROM NOWHERE! YOU TELL ME I AM GIGGLING... WHEN, FOR EXAMPLE, THIS MORNING I SUPPRESSED A SNEEZE. OTHER DAYS SIGHS ESCAPE MY LIPS.... WHAT TO DO? I SIGH WHEN YOU ARE CLOSE... AGAIN...

... HAVE NEVER CHEATED YOU, BETRAYED YOU, NEVER GIGGLED OR WHISPERED TO DECEIVE YOU, AND ALWAYS GIVE YOU THE MAXIMUM.... AND THE PAIN FROM THE HIT IS NOT FROM THE BLOW BUT AT THE APPARENT INJUSTICE OF IT. BELOVED OSHO, I AM YOUR FOOL AND NEVER MORE THAN AT THIS MOMENT. I LOVE YOU, DEVAGEET BELOVED OSHO, P.S. THANK YOU FOR DESTROYING ME, IT SEEMS TO ALLOW ME TO LOVE YOU EVEN MORE DEEPLY. DEVAGEET P.P.S...

... doing something! You seem to be a magician!" Buddha said, "That is true - I am also trying my way, I am trying to kill you! But I don't kill physically, I kill psychologically. But you finish your job, don't bother about my work. I will go on doing my work, you do your job. But before you hit my body, one thing you have to do for me - this is my last wish of a dying man. Can you cut few...

.... If he talks the same language... even in those days the knowledgeable people were not able to understand him. It was the rabbis - the Jewish pundits, the Jewish brahmins - who conspired to kill him. The people who followed him were simple people, very simple people The world has changed so much that now a totally different kind of approach is needed. Zen has to be made contemporary. That's why I am...

... the greatest murderer we have ever heard of And he has taken a vow to kill one thousand people and to make a garland of their fingers. He has killed nine hundred and ninety-nine persons already and he is wearing a garland of their fingers. Nobody knows his real name; because he wears the garland of fingers his name has become Angulimal" - angulimal means a garland of fingers. "He is...

... his mother..." because she was the only person who used to visit him, once in a while, to persuade him that "Enough is enough! Now stop this!" "Last time he told her, 'Don't come again to me because now I am waiting for the last person. If nobody else comes I will kill you but I have to fulfill my vow. One thousand persons I have to kill!' So now the mother also has stopped going...

... whether he will be able to kill me or I will be able to kill him?" People said, "You seem to be crazy! How can you kill him? You don't believe in killing and you don't have any weapon with you." Buddha said, "I am the weapon. Let him have a try and let me also have a try." And he went. Even the great followers who always used to surround him started lagging behind. By the time...

... people - ignorant, but innocent too. As Buddha came close by, first he thought, "Let us kill this man and finish the whole thing so I can forget about the matter, because now nobody comes." But as Buddha came close by he started feeling a strange love for the man, a great compassion for the man he has never felt for anybody. It was so strange, so new, he could not believe it. And when Buddha...

... have never felt, so I will give you one chance. You can go back and I will wait for somebody else, but if you insist, if you even take a single step ahead, I am going to kill you." Buddha said, "Do you know me? If that is your vow, then this is my vow: I never go back. You kill me! I never look back." The man took out his sword, but his hand was trembling. Buddha said, "What is...

... the matter? Is this a way? Are you a swordsman? Your hand is trembling! Stop your hand from trembling! This is not right - this shows weakness. One should be strong enough. And I am surprised and I am wondering how you could kill so many people." Angulimal said, "This is for the first time. My heart is beating faster, my breathing is no more rhythmic, my hand is trembling. You must be...

... leaves of the tree?" Those leaves were just hanging on top of them. Angulimal cut a small branch and gave it to Buddha. Buddha said, "Good, half is done. Now do the other half - join this branch back again and then kill me." Angulimal said, "You must be mad! How can I join it back?" Buddha said, "But cutting a branch even a child can do. The real thing is joining it...

.... Destruction is very easy, creation is the real thing. Are you a man or a child?" Angulimal bowed down his head, ashamed. Buddha said, "If you can understand that much, then there is no problem, I would love to be murdered by you - you kill me. Angulimal threw down his sword, fell into Buddha's feet and he said, "You have killed me before I could kill you. You are right - destruction can be...

... FLOCK AT ONE SHOOTING?" Even the hunter felt that this is too much. The Master can create a situation to emphasize a certain fact. The hunter can understand only his language. He is speaking his language, and he is exaggerating. He is saying, "I can kill the entire flock with one arrow." Even the hunter is shocked; he has forgotten that he is a hunter. It was a strategy, a device. "...

...;THEY ARE LIVING CREATURES," THE HUNTER SAID. "THIS IS NOT GOOD, THIS IS NOT HUMAN... WHY SHOULD YOU DESTROY THE WHOLE FLOCK AT ONE SHOOTING?" That's what Ma Tzu wanted him to be remembered - that they are living creatures. Rather than telling him that "They are living creatures, you should not kill them..." That would have been not right; he had heard that many times and he...

... right, to kill living creatures. This is destruction, this is violence. You will suffer for your karma. This is evil that you are doing." And that would not have helped at all because he had heard all those arguments; he would have argued himself against them. He must have argued with many. And people can always find arguments; argument is easy. The Master tries to create a situation in which you...

... becoming mysterious, it is becoming a communion. There is a gap. The hunter has become aware that it is wrong to kill living animals; whether you kill many or one is only a question of quantity. But wrong is wrong; more or less does not matter. And how many animals he has killed in his life? Seeing that he has become aware of all the wrongs that he has done, of all destructiveness, of all violence... his...

... questions with a single arrow; he had killed the whole flock. He has proved what he has said. He was a real hunter. He has said, "I can kill the entire flock with one arrow." And to Shih-kung he said, "Then you are no hunter, if you can only kill one animal with one arrow. What kind of hunting is that? You are not a master of it, you are just an amateur. Don't brag that you are a hunter...

... EXCLAIMED, "LOOK OUT FOR THE ARROW!" "If you ask a question I know only one answer: Look for the arrow! I will kill you immediately, here and now. That's what my Master did and that's what I know. That's all that I know - and that's enough, because that has transformed me and that will transform you. I am not going to bother about your stupid questions." PING OPENED HIS CHEST AND SAID...

..., "THIS IS THE ARROW THAT KILLS; WHERE IS THE ONE THAT RESUSCITATES?" This was for the first time somebody has opened his chest. Again, another encounter of the same quality that has happened thirty years before between Shih-kung and Ma Tzu. The same encounter after thirty years is happening again between Shih-kung and San-ping. PING OPENED HIS CHEST AND SAID, "Okay, so you kill. If that...

... is the answer then I am ready to accept the answer. Only make one thing clear before you kill me: THIS IS THE ARROW THAT KILLS; WHERE IS THE ARROW THAT resurrects?" KUNG STRUCK THREE TIMES ON THE BOWSTRING. PING BOWED. KUNG SAID, "I HAVE BEEN USING ONE BOW AND TWO ARROWS FOR THE PAST THIRTY YEARS, AND TODAY I HAVE SUCCEEDED IN SHOOTING DOWN ONLY HALF OF A WISE MAN." NOW this is a...

... everything that they had brought was absolutely false. But my people, five thousand people in the commune and one million people around the world, were all asking me, "Don't fight. You will win, but it will take years. They will go on postponing, and in those four or five years they will destroy you - they may even kill you. Seeing that there is no way of being victorious, they can kill you very...

... much of its creativeness. America has gone to the other extreme - oversexuality, sensuality, has destroyed its creativeness. All the films, television, are nothing but sex, murder and rape. Every child is fed on sex, murder and rape. It has been reported by the University of California that whenever there is a big boxing match on television, for the next seven days the crime rate rises by thirteen...

... meat. Once in a while some crank may turn out to be vegetarian, otherwise, the whole society is non-vegetarian. They could not believe that five thousand non-vegetarians have turned to vegetarianism. I explained to them that it is ugly to kill animals, living beings, for your food while other food is available. If you do that then what is the difference between you and cannibals? In fact, cannibals...

... say that the most delicious meat comes from man. So if deliciousness is the decisive factor, then why not kill each other, why not kill your own child, why not kill your wife? And that's what you are doing when you kill a deer - you are killing a husband, a child, a wife, a father, a mother. And they understood it. They said, "We never thought about it in this way, but it is true." Sannyas...

... reminded of a Christian saint who was always talking about turning the other cheek. One man got very fed up and he hit the saint on one of his cheeks. The saint, of course - according to his ideology - turned his other cheek. The man hit him on the other cheek also. At that moment the saint jumped on the man and started hitting him as hard as he could. The man said, "What are you doing? You are a...

... nonviolent Christian saint." He said, "The question finished when you hit me on the other cheek. Jesus has said, 'Turn the other cheek' but there is no third cheek to turn. Now I am free, and I will show you what it means." Buddha, in one of his sermons, said, "Forgive at least seven times." It is too much. Somebody harasses you seven times, cheats you, deceives you, and you go on...

... what about the seventy- eighth time? My argument remains the same. You can make it seven hundred and seventy-seven times, but what about plus one?" Turning the other cheek is not a nonviolent act. On the contrary, it is very disrespectful of the other person. You are reducing him into a non-human being. He has hit you on your cheek, and you are giving him your other cheek; you are becoming...

... superior and you are putting him into a position of inferiority. This is not nonviolence; this is pure egoism. Nonviolence simply means that killing, destroying, is ugly. That does not mean that allowing somebody else to do such a thing is not ugly. If somebody hits you on the cheek, you should hit him more strongly on his cheek - for two reasons. One, that you are nonviolent and you don't allow any kind...

... of violence to anybody, including yourself. Secondly, you have to hit him harder because you respect the other person; if he gives you one rupee's worth, you give him two rupee's worth. You don't make him inferior, you make him superior. I will not say, "Turn the other cheek." I will say, "Hit on his cheek as hard as you can so he learns a lesson; otherwise, he will start hitting...

... way or other are responsible for twenty centuries of slavery in India. And Gandhi again repeated like a parrot the same stupid nonsense. Nonviolence simply means you should be so powerful that nobody can be violent towards you. It should not be out of weakness; it should be out of power. Of course you will not hurt anybody out of your power - you will protect, you will not kill. But you won't allow...

... anybody else to kill you either. So my idea of nonviolence is different from Mahavir, Buddha, Gandhi. My idea is nonviolence should be out of an abundance of power. Don't use that power to kill, to destroy; but use that power to create, to protect. And if anybody tries to harm you or anybody else, do everything to prevent that harm. Violence has to be completely removed from the world, but it can happen...