The Moon Beyond The Finger

'All words about spiritual values are just hints. Don′t hold onto the words as if they are realities. They are hints, almost the way I can point to the moon with my finger - but don′t catch hold of my finger. My finger is not the moon. Although my finger was pointing to the moon, it was only a hint.

In one of the temples of Japan, there is no statue of Gautama Buddha in the temple. Instead of a statue, there is a finger pointing to a far away moon. It is a temple of its own kind - because Buddha is nothing but a finger pointing to the moon. Don′t go on worshiping the finger - that will not help. Look at the moon where the finger is pointing. Forget the finger, forget the scriptures, forget the masters, forget all your religions; just try to find out what they are hinting at, and you will be surprised to find that thousands of fingers are pointing at the same moon.
And the followers of these fingers are fighting and killing each other. Mohammedans killing Christians, Christians killing Jews, Hindus killing Mohammedans; and nobody bothers that you are fighting for fingers. The fingers may be different, but the moon is the same. The angles of the fingers may be different - because people were standing in different places at different times, in different ages. How can Krishna point exactly the way Jesus is pointing? How can Buddha point in the same way Zarathustra is pointing?
The person who seeks knowledge from these indications in the scriptures, in words, in statues is a fool. The search has to be within - because they are all pointing that the kingdom of God is within you.
And unless you go inwards, unless you close your eyes and relax your mind; unless your heart, your mind, your body all become a synchronicity, a harmony, a deep accord - you will not be able to hear the still small voice within you.
And that voice is nobody else′s voice, it is your own. And remember, only the truth that is your own, liberates. Anybody else′s truth always becomes a bondage.'