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My Way The Way of White Clouds 01-15Category: RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS

My Way The Way of White Clouds 03 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The first question:Osho,You once told us a beautiful story about an old man who was over one hundred years old. One day, on his birthday, he was asked why it was that he was always happy. He replied: “Every morning when I wake up I have the choice to be happy or unhappy, and I choose to be happy.” How is it that we usually choose to be unhappy? How is it that we don't usually feel aware of the choice?This is one of the most complex human problems. It has to be considered very deeply – and it is not theoretical, it concerns you. This is how everybody is behaving – always choosing the wrong, always choosing the sad, the depressed, the miserable. There must be profound reasons for it, and there are.The first thing: the way human beings are brought up plays a very definite role in it. If you are unhappy you gain something out of it, you always gain. If you are happy you always lose. From the very beginning an alert child starts feeling the distinction. Whenever he is unhappy everybody is sympathetic toward him; he gains sympathy. Everybody tries to be loving toward him; he gains love. And even more than that, whenever he is unhappy everybody is attentive toward him – he gains attention.Attention works like a food for the ego, a very alcoholic stimulant. It gives you energy, you feel you are somebody. Hence so much need, so much desire to get attention. If everybody is looking at you, you become important. If nobody is looking at you, you feel as if you are not there, you are no more, you are a non-being. People looking at you, people caring about you give you energy.The ego exists in relationship. The more people pay attention to you the more you gain ego. If nobody looks at you the ego dissolves. If everybody has completely forgotten you, how can the ego exist? How can you feel that you are? Hence the need for societies, associations, clubs. All over the world clubs exist – Rotary, Lions, Masonic Lodges – millions of clubs and societies. These societies and clubs exist only to give attention to people who cannot get attention in other ways.It is difficult to become a president of a country, it is difficult to become a mayor of a corporation. It is easier to become the president of a Lions Club, and a particular group gives you attention. You are very important – doing nothing. Lions Clubs, Rotary Clubs – doing nothing at all but still they feel they are something important. And the president goes on changing – this year one, next year another. And everybody gets attention. It is a mutual arrangement, and everybody feels important.From the very beginning the child learns the politics. The politics are: look miserable, then you get sympathy, then everybody is attentive. Look ill – you become important. An ill child becomes dictatorial; the whole family has to follow him – whatsoever he says is the rule. When he is happy nobody listens to him. When he is healthy nobody cares about him. When he is perfect nobody is attentive. From the very beginning we start choosing the miserable, the sad, the pessimistic, the darker side of life. That’s one thing.A second thing related to it is: whenever you are happy, whenever you are joyful, whenever you feel ecstatic and blissful, everybody is jealous of you. Jealousy means that everybody is antagonistic, nobody is friendly at that moment; everybody is an enemy. So you have learned not to be so ecstatic that everybody becomes inimical toward you – not to show your bliss, not to laugh.Look at people when they laugh. They laugh very calculatingly. It is not a belly laugh, it is not coming from the very depth of their being. First they look at you, then they judge – and then they laugh. And they laugh to a particular extent, the extent you will tolerate, the extent which will not be taken amiss, the extent where nobody will become jealous. Even our smiles are political. Laughter has disappeared, bliss has become absolutely unknown, and to be ecstatic is almost impossible because it is not allowed. If you are miserable nobody will think you are mad. If you are ecstatic and dancing everybody will think you are mad. Dance is rejected, singing is not accepted. A man is blissful, and we think something has gone wrong.What type of society is this? If someone is miserable everything is okay; he fits because the whole society is miserable more or less. He is a member, he belongs to us. If somebody becomes ecstatic we think he has gone berserk, insane. He doesn’t belong to us – and we feel jealous, and because of jealousy we condemn him. Because of jealousy we will try in every way to put him back to his old state. We call that old state normality. Psychoanalysts will help, psychiatrists will help to bring that man to normal misery.In the West the whole society is turning against psychedelics. The law, the state, the government, the legal experts, the high courts, the legislators, priests, popes – everybody is turning against. They are not really against psychedelics – they are against people being ecstatic. They are not against alcohol, they are not against other things which are drugs, but against psychedelics because psychedelics can create a chemical change in you. The old crust that the society has created around you, the imprisonment in misery, can be broken, there can be a breakthrough. You can come out of it, even for a few moments, and be ecstatic.Society cannot allow ecstasy. Ecstasy is the greatest revolution.I repeat it: ecstasy is the greatest revolution.If people become ecstatic the whole society will have to change, because this society is based on misery. If people are blissful you cannot lead them to war – to Vietnam or to Egypt or to Israel. No! Someone who is blissful will just laugh and say: “This is nonsense!”If people are blissful you cannot make them obsessed with money. They will not waste their whole lives just accumulating money. It will look like madness to them that a person is destroying his whole life, and just exchanging his life for dead money, dying and accumulating money – and the money will be there and he will be dead. This is absolute madness! But this madness cannot be seen unless you are ecstatic.If people are ecstatic then the whole pattern of this society will have to change. This society exists on misery, it is a great investment for this society. So as we bring up children, from the very beginning we create a leaning toward misery. That’s why they always choose it.In the morning there is a choice for everybody – not only in the morning really – every moment there is a choice to be miserable or to be happy. And you always choose to be miserable because there is an investment. You always choose to be miserable because that has become a habit, a pattern, you have always done that. You have become efficient at doing it, it has become a track. The moment your mind has to choose, it immediately flows toward misery.Misery looks downhill; ecstasy looks uphill, it looks very difficult to reach – but it is not so. The real thing is quite the opposite: ecstasy is downhill, misery is uphill. Misery is a very difficult thing to achieve, but you have achieved it, and you have done the impossible – because misery is so anti-nature. Nobody wants to be miserable and everybody is miserable.Society has done a great job. Education, culture – and the agents of culture, parents, teachers – they have done a great job. They have made miserable creatures out of ecstatic creators. Every child is born ecstatic. Every child is born a god, and every man dies just a madman.Unless you recover, unless you reclaim your childhood, you will not be able to become the white clouds I am talking about. This is the whole work for you, the whole sadhana – how to regain childhood, how to reclaim it. If you can become children again then there is no misery. I don’t mean that for a child there are no moments of misery – there are, but still there is no misery.Try to understand this. A child can become miserable, he can be unhappy, intensely unhappy in a moment, but he is so total in that unhappiness, he is so one with that unhappiness, that there is no division. The child separate from unhappiness is not there. The child is not looking at his unhappiness as separate, divided. The child is unhappiness – he is so involved in it. And when you become one with unhappiness, unhappiness is not unhappiness. If you become so one with it, even that has a beauty of its own.So look at a child – an unspoilt child I mean. If he is angry then his whole energy becomes anger; nothing is left behind, no hold-up. He has moved and become anger; there is nobody manipulating and controlling it. There is no mind. The child has become anger – he is not angry, he has become the anger. And then see the beauty, the flowering of anger. The child never looks ugly – even in anger he looks beautiful. He just looks more intense, more vital, more alive – a volcano ready to erupt. Such a small child, such a great energy, such an atomic being – his whole universe exploding. And after this anger the child will be silent. After this anger the child will be very peaceful. After this anger the child will relax. We may think it is very miserable to be in that anger, but the child is not miserable, he has enjoyed it.If you become one with anything you become blissful. If you separate yourself from anything, even if it is happiness, you will become miserable.So this is the key: To be separate as an ego is the base of all misery; to be one, to be flowing with whatsoever life brings to you; to be in it so intensely, totally, that you are no more, you are lost, then everything is blissful. The choice is there, but you have even become unaware of the choice. You have been choosing the wrong so continuously, it has become such a dead habit, that you simply choose it automatically. There is no choice left.Become alert. Each moment when you are choosing to be miserable, remember: this is your choice. Even this mindfulness will help – this alertness that this is my choice and I am responsible, and this is what I am doing to myself, this is my doing. Immediately you will feel a difference. The quality of mind will have changed. It will be easier for you to move toward happiness.And once you know that this is your choice then the whole thing has become a game. Then if you love to be miserable, be miserable, but remember this is your choice and don’t complain. There is nobody else who is responsible for it. This is your drama. If you like it this way, if you like a miserable way, if you want to pass through life in misery, then this is your choice, your game. You are playing it – play it well! Then don’t go and ask people how not to be miserable. That is absurd. Don’t go and ask masters and gurus how to be happy. The so-called gurus exist because you are foolish. You create the misery, and then you go and ask others how to uncreate it. And you will go on creating it because you are not alert to what you are doing.From this very moment try – try to be happy and blissful.I will tell you one of the deepest laws of life. You may not have thought about it at all. You have heard that cause and effect is the base – the whole of science depends on it. You create the cause and the effect follows. Life is a causal link. You put the seed in the soil and it will sprout. If the cause is there then the tree will follow. The fire is there – you put your hand in it and it will burn. The cause is there and the effect will follow. You take poison and you will die. You arrange for the cause and then the effect follows. This is one of the basic, the most basic scientific laws, that cause and effect is the innermost link of all the processes of life.Religion knows about a second law, still deeper than this. But the second law which is deeper will look absurd if you don’t know it and experiment with it. Religion says: Produce the effect and the cause follows. This is absolutely absurd in scientific terms. Science says: If the cause is there the effect follows. Religion says the converse is also true: you create the effect, and see – the cause follows.There is a situation in which you feel happy. A friend has come, a beloved has called, a situation is the cause – you feel happy. Happiness is the effect, the coming of the beloved is the cause. Religion says: Be happy and the beloved comes. Create the effect and the cause follows. And this is my own experience, that the second law is more basic than the first. I have been doing it and it has been happening.Just be happy and the beloved comes.Just be happy and friends are there.Just be happy and everything follows.Jesus says the same thing in different words. He says: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, then all else will follow.” But the kingdom of God is the end, the effect. “Seek ye first the end….” End means the effect, the result – and the cause will follow. And this should be so.It is not only that you place a seed in the soil and the tree follows. Let there be a tree and there are millions of seeds. If cause is followed by effect, effect is again followed by cause. This is the chain. Then it becomes a circle – start from anywhere, create the cause or create the effect. And I tell you, it is easier to create the effect because the effect depends totally upon you; the cause may not be so dependent on you. If I say I can only be happy when a certain friend is there, then it depends on a certain friend, whether he is there or not. If I say that until I see this much wealth I cannot be happy, then it depends on the whole world and the economic situation and everything. It may not happen, and then I cannot be happy.Cause is beyond me, effect is within me. Cause is in the surroundings, in the situations – cause is without. Effect is me. If I can create the effect the cause will follow. Choose happiness – that means you are choosing the effect – and then see what happens. Choose ecstasy and see what happens. Choose to be blissful and see what happens. Your whole life will change immediately and you will see miracles happening around you – because now you have created the effect and causes will have to follow.This will look magical; you can even call it the law of magic. The first is the law of science and the second is the law of magic. Religion is magic and you can be the magician. That’s what I teach you, to be the magician, to know the secret of magic. Try it. You have been trying the other your whole life – not only this but many other lives also. Now listen to me. Try this magic formula. I give to you this mantra: create the effect and see what happens. Causes immediately surround you, they follow. Don’t wait for the causes; you have waited long enough. Choose happiness and you will be happy.What is the problem? Why can’t you choose? Why can’t you work on this law? – because your mind, the old mind, which has been trained by scientific thinking, says that if you are not happy and you try to be happy, that happiness will be artificial. If you are not happy and you try to be happy, that will be just acting, that will not be real. This is what scientific thinking says – that that will not be real, you will be just acting. But you don’t know. Life energy has its own ways of working. If you can act totally it will become the real. The only thing is, the actor must not be there. Move totally in it, then there is no difference. If you are acting halfheartedly then it will remain artificial.If I say to you: Dance and sing and be blissful, and you try halfheartedly just to see what happens, but you remain behind – and you go on thinking: “This is just artificial. I am trying but this is not coming, this is not spontaneous.” Then it will remain acting, a waste of time.If you try, then try wholeheartedly. Don’t remain behind, move into it, become the acting – dissolve the actor into acting and then see what happens. It will become the real and then you will feel it is spontaneous. You have not done it; you will know then that it has happened. But unless you are total this cannot be so. Create the effect, be in it completely, and see and observe the results.I can make you kings without kingdoms, only you have to act like kings, and act so totally that before you even a real king will appear as if just acting. And when the whole energy has moved into it, it has become reality. Energy makes anything real. If you wait for kingdoms they never come. Even for a Napoleon, for an Alexander, who had big kingdoms, they never came. They remained miserable because they didn’t come to realize the second, and the more basic and primal law of life. Alexander was trying to create a bigger kingdom, to become a bigger king. His whole life was wasted in creating the kingdom, and then there was no space left to be the king, no time left. He died before the kingdom was complete.This has happened to many. The kingdom can never be complete. The world is infinite – your kingdom is bound to remain partial. With a partial kingdom how can you be a total king? Your kingdom is bound to be limited, and with a limited kingdom how can you be the emperor? It is impossible. But you can be the emperor. Just create the effect.Swami Ram, one of the mystics of this century, went to America. He used to call himself Badshah Ram – Emperor Ram – and he was a beggar. Somebody asked him: “You are just a beggar, but you go on calling yourself the emperor.” So Ram said: “Don’t look at my things, look at me.” And he was right, because if you look at things then everybody is a beggar – even an emperor – maybe a bigger beggar, that’s all. Ram said: “Look at me!” In that moment Ram was the emperor. You could have looked, and the emperor was there.Create the effect, become the emperor, be a magician – from this very moment, because there is no need to wait. One has to wait if the kingdom has to come first. If the cause has to be created first, then one has to wait and wait and wait and postpone. To create the effect there is no need to wait. You can be the emperor this very moment.When I say: Be; just be the emperor and see – the kingdom follows. I have known it through my experience. I am not talking to you about it as a theory or a doctrine. Be happy and in that peak of happiness you will see that the whole world is happy with you.There is an old saying: Weep and you weep alone, laugh and the world laughs with you. Even the trees, the rocks, the sand, the clouds – if you can create the effect and be ecstatic, they will all dance with you. Then the whole existence becomes a dance, a celebration. But it depends on you, if you can create the effect. And I say to you, you can create it. It is the easiest thing possible – looks very difficult because you have not tried it yet.Give it a try.The second question:Osho,We hear what you say, but we in the West keep the information in our heads. How can we get out of our heads? What methods can we use, and can willpower help us?No. willpower will not help you. Willpower is not really a power at all, because will depends on the ego – a very tiny phenomenon, it cannot create much power. When you are will-less, then you are powerful, because then you are one with the whole.Deep down, willpower is a sort of impotence. To hide the fact that we are impotent we create will. We create the opposite to deceive ourselves and others. People who feel they are foolish try to show that they are wise. They are constantly alert that they are foolish so they do everything to look wise. People who are ugly or feel they are ugly always try to beautify themselves – even a painted beauty, just a face, a mask. People who are weak always try to look strong. The opposite is created; that is the only way to hide the reality within. A Hitler is a weakling; that’s why he creates so much willpower around him, just to hide the fact. A person who is really strong will be unaware that he is strong. Strength will be flowing, it will be there, but he will not even be conscious of it.Lao Tzu says: “A man of real virtue never knows that he is virtuous.” A man who is really moral is never aware that he is moral. But a man who is aware that he is moral has immorality hidden deep down. A man who thinks he is good, saintly, a sage, is a sinner – and he knows it. And just to hide the fact he creates the opposite.Willpower is not really power but weakness. A really powerful man has no will of his own – the whole is his will. He floats like a white cloud, one with the existence, in tune with it. Your will will always create conflict. It will shrink you, make you an island, and then the struggle starts.A will-less person will be naturally headless. And remember, you cannot get out of your head. You can cut it – and that is easier. Getting out of it is almost impossible, because even this concept of getting out is part of it. The head is a mess, it is a chaos. You think, and you also think against thinking. The other thinking that is against thinking is also thinking. You are not moving out of it. You can condemn your thoughts, but this condemning is again a thought. Nothing has been achieved, you are moving in a vicious circle. You can go on moving, but you will not be out.What to do? How to get out of the head? Only one thing is possible: don’t create any fight inside and don’t create any effort to come out, because every effort will be self-suicidal. What can be done then? Simply watch. Be in and watch. Don’t try to get out – be in and watch.If you can watch, in those moments of watchfulness there will be no head. Suddenly you will be beyond. Not out – beyond. Suddenly you will be hovering beyond yourself.There is one Zen story – very absurd, as all Zen stories are. But they have to be absurd because life is such; they depict life as it is.One Zen master used to ask his disciples: “I put a goose in a bottle. Now the goose has grown, and the neck of the bottle is very small so the goose cannot come out. And the bottle is very precious and I don’t want to break it, so now there is a crisis. If the goose is not allowed out she will die. I can break the bottle and the goose can be out, but I don’t want to break the bottle – the bottle is precious. I don’t want to kill the goose either. So what would you do?”This is the problem. The goose is in the head and the neck is very narrow. You can break the head, but it is precious. Or you can let the goose die, but that too cannot be allowed – because you are the goose.That old Zen master continued asking his disciples, and beating them and saying to them: “Find out a way – because there is no time.”And only once did he allow an answer. One disciple said: “The goose is out!”Many answers were tried, and he would always beat the person, he would say: “No!” Someone would say he would do something with the bottle, but again the master would say: “The bottle will be broken, or something will go wrong, and that cannot be allowed.” Or somebody would say: “Let the goose die if the bottle is so precious.” These were the only two ways, there was no other way. And the master wouldn’t give any other clue.But to this disciple he bowed down and touched his feet and said: “He is right – the goose is out! It has never been in.”You are out! You have never been in.The feeling that you are in is just a false conception. So there is no real problem of how to bring you out of your head. Just watch. When you watch, what happens? The phenomenon of watching – just close your eyes and watch the thoughts. What happens? Thoughts are there, in, but you are not in. The watcher is always beyond. The watcher is always standing on the hill. Everything moves around and around, and the watcher is beyond.The watcher can never be in, can never be the insider – it is always out. Watching means to be out. You may call it witnessing, awareness, mindfulness, or whatsoever you choose to call it, but the secret is – watch! Whenever you feel the head is too much, just sit under a tree and watch, and don’t try to come out. Who will come out? No one has been in. The whole effort is futile, because if you have never been in then how can you come out? You may go on trying and trying and getting involved in it, you may get mad but you will never get out.Once you know that in a moment of watchfulness you are beyond, transcending, you are out. And from that moment you will be headless. The head belongs to the body, not to you. The head is part of the body, it belongs to the body, it has a function in the body; it is beautiful, it is good. The bottle is precious, and if you know the way, the secrets of it, it can be used.When I am talking to you, what am I doing? Using the bottle. When Buddha is preaching, what is he doing? Using the bottle. The bottle is really precious, worth preserving. But this is no way to preserve it – to get into it and then get caught in it, and then make effort to come out. The whole life becomes chaos.Once you know that in watching you are out, you become headless. Then you move on this earth without any head. What a beautiful phenomenon, a man moving without a head! That’s what I mean when I say become a white cloud – a headless phenomenon. You cannot even imagine how much silence can descend upon you when the head is not there. Your physical head will be there, but the involvement, the obsession, is not there. This head is not a problem. It is beautiful, a wonderful device, the greatest computer yet invented, such a complex, efficient mechanism. It is beautiful. It can be used, you can enjoy using it. But from where have you got the idea that you are in it? It just seems to be a false teaching.You may not be aware: in old Japan – and still old people in Japan, if you ask them: “Where do you think?” they will point to their belly, because in Japan it was taught that the belly is the center of thinking. When for the first time Europeans reached Japan, they couldn’t believe that a whole country thinks that the head is in the belly, not in the head. This is just a Western attitude, that you are in the head. It worked for the Japanese, it helped, thinking from the belly, and if you say, “Where are you thinking?” they will point to their belly. But now they are shifting from the belly to the head. There have been other traditions – in Taoist tradition Lao Tzu says you think from the soles of your feet. There are techniques in Taoist yoga, how to get out of the soles of your feet – because the thinking is going on there.What is the reality? The reality is: you are beyond. But you can get attached to any part of the body – the head is a Western obsession, the belly was the Eastern obsession. You must have heard about D. H. Lawrence. He used to think that one thinks from the sex center, that that is the real thinking center, nowhere else.And all are equal – equally wrong or equally right. There is nothing to choose because the witness is beyond. It is all around the body and beyond the body. You can get attached to any part of the body and start thinking that this is the part. There is no need to come out because you have never been in. The goose is out – already out!Watch – and when you watch you have to remember that while watching, don’t judge. If you judge, watching is lost. While watching, don’t evaluate. If you evaluate, watching is lost. While watching, don’t comment. If you comment, you have missed the point. While watching, just watch – a river flowing, the stream of consciousness flowing, atomic thoughts floating like bubbles, and you sitting on the bank watching. The stream goes on and on and on. And you don’t say this is good, you don’t say this is bad, and you don’t say this should not have been, and you don’t say this should have been. You don’t say anything – you simply watch. You are not asked to comment. You are not a judge – just a watcher.Then see what happens. Watching the river, suddenly you will be beyond – and the goose will be out. Once you know this, that you are out, you can remain out. And then you can move on this earth without a head.So this is the way to cut the head. Everybody is interested in cutting others’ heads – that won’t help. You have already done that too much. Cut your own. To be headless is to be in deep meditation.

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My Way The Way of White Clouds 01-15Category: RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS

My Way The Way of White Clouds 04 (Read, Listen & Download)

https://oshoworld.com/my-way-the-way-of-white-clouds-04/

The first question:Osho,You have been telling us how easy it is to drop our egos and become one with the white cloud. You have also told us that we have had millions of lives and many of them have been with buddhas, krishnas and christs – yet still we have not given up our egos. Aren't you creating false hopes in us?All hopes are false. To hope is to be in the false. So it is not a question of creating false hopes: whatsoever you can hope will be false. Hope comes out of your falsity of being. If you are real there is no need for any hope. Then you never think about the future, about what is going to happen. You are so real, so authentic that the future disappears.When you are unreal then the future becomes very significant, then you live in the future. Then your reality is not here and now, your reality is somewhere in dreams, and you make those dreams look real because through those dreams you gain your reality. As you are, you are unreal. That’s why so much hoping goes on. All hopes are false – you are real, and my whole effort is how to throw you to yourself.The ego is all false hopes combined together. Ego is not a reality, it is the collectivity of all your dreams, of all that is unreal, of all that is false. The ego cannot exist in the present. Look at this phenomenon. The ego always exists either in the past or in the future, never here and now – never, never. That is impossible. Whenever you think of the past, the ego comes, the I comes. Whenever you think of the future, the I comes. But when you are here, not thinking of past and future, where is your I? Sitting under a tree, not thinking of past and future, just being there, where are you? Where is the I? You cannot feel it. It is not there. The ego has never existed in the present. Past is no more, future is yet to be. Both are not. Past has disappeared, the future has not yet appeared. Both are not. Only the present is and in the present nothing like the ego is ever found.So when I say drop the ego, what do I mean? I am not giving you a new hope, I am taking all your hopes away. And that is the difficulty – because you live through hope, so you feel that if all hopes are taken away you will be dead. Then the question will arise: Why live? For what? Why move from one moment to another? For what? The goal has disappeared with the disappearance of hope. So why go on and on if there is nowhere to reach? You cannot live without hope. That’s why it is so difficult to drop the ego. Hope has become synonymous with life.So whenever a man is hoping, he appears to be more vital, appears to be more alive, appears to be very strong. When he is not hoping he appears to be weak, depressed, thrown back to himself, not knowing what to do, where to go. And whenever there is no hope you feel meaninglessness come into you. Immediately you create another hope; a substitute is created. If one hope is frustrated, immediately another is substituted – because you cannot live in the gap, you cannot live hopelessly.I tell you that that is the only way to live.Without any hope, life is real; for the first time life is authentic.So the second thing to be understood is: when I say it is easy to drop the ego, I don’t mean that it will be easy for you to drop it. I mean it is easy to drop it because the very phenomenon of ego is so unreal. If the ego is false, how can it be difficult to drop it? If the dream is just a dream, how can it be difficult to come out of it? If it were real, then there would have been difficulty. If a dream is just a dream, where is the problem to come out of it? You can come out! The dream cannot catch hold of you, the dream cannot prevent you. The dream cannot become a barrier. The dream has no force – that’s why we call it a dream. It is easy to come out of a dream. That’s what I mean when I say it is easy to drop the ego. But I don’t mean that it will be easy for you, because the dream is still a reality for you, it is not a dream. The ego is not false to you, it is the only reality. Everything else is false.We are living around the ego. We are seeking more and more egotistical journeys – somebody through wealth, somebody through status, power, prestige, somebody through politics, somebody through religion, priesthood. There are millions of ways. But the end, the result, the goal is the same: seeking more and more the I, seeking more and more the ego.To you it is a reality; and I say it is the only reality. The false has become the real. The shadow has become the substance. That’s why it is difficult – not difficult because ego is very powerful. No, it is difficult because you still believe in it, in its power. If you believe in it, it is going to be difficult, because on the one hand you want to drop it, and on the other hand you go on clinging to it. It is going to be difficult. When I say to you it is a dream, you want to believe it because you have suffered so much through it.Not that you feel the truth of what I am saying – if you feel the truth of what I am saying you will drop it immediately. You will not ask how. There is no how to it. You see the point and you drop it.You don’t see the truth of what I am saying. When I say it is not realized that the ego is false and can be dropped, when I say that the ego can be dropped, you create a hope out of it. Because you have been suffering so much through it, you create a hope that if the ego can be dropped then all suffering will be dropped. You become happy with this hope.I am not creating the hope, you are creating the hope. I am simply stating a fact that this is the construction of the ego. This is how an ego is structured, this is how an ego is created and this is how it can be dropped. And because it is false, no effort is needed. Just seeing the point and it disappears.A man is running, scared, frightened to death, and running because of his own shadow. You stop him and tell him: “You are foolish! This is your own shadow – nobody is following you and nobody is going to murder you. There is nobody except you. You have become scared of your own shadow.”But once you start running the shadow also runs faster. The faster you run, the faster the shadow follows. Then the logical mind can say that you are in danger, and the logical mind will say that if you want to escape run faster and faster. But whatsoever you do the shadow will be following you. And if you cannot get rid of it, you will get more and more scared. You are creating the whole thing out of yourself.But if I say to you: “This is just a shadow, nobody is following you” – and you realize the point, you look at the shadow and you feel the point – will you ask me how to drop this shadow? Will you ask about some technique, method, some yoga: how to drop it? You will simply laugh. You have dropped it! In the moment you see that this is just a shadow and nobody is following you, it has been dropped already. There is no question of how. You will have a good laugh. The whole thing was nonsense.The same happens with the ego. If you can see the truth of what I am saying, the thing has happened. In the very seeing of it the thing has happened. There is no more how to it. If you still ask how, the thing has not happened and you have not seen the point. But you have created a hope out of it, because you have been suffering through this ego. You have always wanted to drop it, but this wanting has always been half of your mind.All your suffering has come through the ego, but all your pleasures have also come through the ego. A crowd applauds you, appreciates you – you feel good. That is the only bliss you have known. Your ego rises high, reaches to a peak, becomes an Everest. You enjoy it. And then the crowd condemns you and you feel hurt. The crowd becomes indifferent; you are crushed by it. You fall into a valley, a depression. You have been gaining pleasure through the ego, and you have been suffering through it. Because of the suffering you want to drop it, but because of the pleasures you cannot drop it.So when I say that the ego can be dropped easily, hope is created in you. Not that I am creating it, your greed takes it. It doesn’t become a realization, it becomes a new greed, a new search for gratification. You feel that now there is a way, and there is a man who can help you to drop the ego and all the misery that ego creates. But are you ready to drop all the pleasures that the ego creates too? If you are ready it is such an easy thing – just like dropping a shadow. But you cannot drop half of it, and you cannot carry half of it. Either the whole will go or the whole will cling to you. This is the problem, this is the difficulty.All your pleasures and all your sufferings are related to one phenomenon: you want to preserve the pleasures and you want to drop the sufferings. You are asking the impossible. Then it is difficult – not only difficult, it is impossible. It is not going to happen to you. Whatsoever you do will be futile, no result will come of it.You create hope out of it – for heaven, the intense blissfulness of a buddha. Listening to me or listening to a Jesus or a Buddha, hope is created. But I am not creating it, you are creating it. You are projecting hope on it. And this is the problem, the complexity: that every hope is food for the ego again. Even this hope of reaching a paradise, a heaven, becoming enlightened, is a hope. And every hope is food for the ego.Who is trying to become enlightened? The one who is trying to become enlightened is the problem. Nobody ever becomes enlightened. Enlightenment happens, but nobody ever becomes enlightened. When the room is empty, enlightenment happens. When there is nobody to reach enlightenment, enlightenment is there. Because of the language, because of the duality of the language, whatsoever is said about such deep things becomes false.We say: Gautam Buddha became enlightened. This is false. Gautam Buddha never became enlightened. Gautam Buddha was the un-enlightenment. When he was not there, when he became absent, enlightenment happened. When suddenly one day he realized that he was following an absurd pattern, when he realized that: “I am the problem, so whatsoever I do will create more problems….”It is not a question of doing right or wrong, this or that. Whatsoever you do will strengthen the ego. Once Buddha realized this – but this realization took many years of effort – when he realized that: “Whatsoever I do will help my ego more and more,” he simply dropped doing. In that moment of realization he simply became a non-doer, absolutely inactive.Remember, this is the problem: you can even create activity out of your inactivity, or you can create activity just to help inactivity come to you. But then you miss. You can stand still, you can sit silently, but if you are making effort to stand still, your standing is false. You are not standing, you are moving. If you are sitting silently and there is effort, if you are trying to be silent, that silence is false. You are not silent.When Buddha realized that he was the problem, and that every activity of his gave more substance to the ego, he simply dropped. Then he was not making any effort to create a non-active state. He was not doing at all. Whatsoever was happening was happening. The wind was blowing, and the tree must have been dancing; and then the full moon came, and the whole existence was celebrating. And the breathing coming in, going out, and the blood circulating in the veins, and the heart beating, and the pulse – everything was happening, but he was not doing anything. In this non-doing Gautam Siddhartha disappeared.By the morning there was no one to receive enlightenment, but enlightenment was there. Under that bodhi tree a vacant vehicle was sitting – breathing of course, heart beating of course, better than ever. Everything functioning perfectly, but no doer there – blood circulating, the whole existence around – alive, dancing. Every atom in Buddha’s body dancing, alive. It had never been so alive, but now energy was moving of its own accord – nobody pushing it, nobody manipulating it. Buddha became a white cloud. Enlightenment happened.It can happen to you also, but don’t create any hope out of it. Rather, seeing the point, drop all hopes. Become hopeless, perfectly hopeless. It is difficult to become perfectly hopeless. Many times you reach hopelessness but it is never perfect. One hope drops, you feel hopelessness. But immediately you create another hope to cover it up, and hopelessness is gone.People go on moving from one master to another; that is movement from one hope to another. They go to one master with hopes that he will give through his grace, that through his energy the thing will happen. Then they try, then they wait with a very strained mind, because a mind which hopes can never be at ease. They wait with a very impatient mind, because a mind which is filled with hope cannot be patient. And then they start feeling uneasy because the thing is not happening. So this master is wrong, they must move to someone else. This is not movement from one master to another, this is movement from one hope to another. People move from one religion to another; conversions are there just because of hope. You can go on doing it for many, many lives. You have been doing that.Now try to see the point. It is neither a question of a master nor a question of a right method. It is a question of a direct insight, an immediate penetration into the phenomenon of what is happening, why you hope, why you can’t be without hope. And what have you gained out of all your hoping? See it. It drops by itself. You are not even required to drop it. That’s why I say it is easy, and I know well it is very difficult – difficult because of you, easy because of itself. The phenomenon is easy, you are difficult.And this can happen any moment. When I say this can happen any moment, I mean the phenomenon of enlightenment, of egolessness, is not caused by anything. No cause is needed. It is not an outcome of many causes, it is not a byproduct. It is simple insight. It can happen to a sinner, it may not happen to a saint. So no necessary condition is needed really. If he can see, it can happen even to a sinner. If he becomes hopeless, if he feels that there is nothing to be gained and achieved, if he comes to see that the whole thing is just an absurd game, it can happen. It may not happen to a saint because the saint goes on trying to achieve. He is not yet hopeless. This world has become futile, but another world has become meaningful. He has to leave this earth, but there are heavens beyond – he has to reach there.And even people near a Jesus or Buddha go on asking things like this. Just on the last night, when Jesus was going to be caught and the next day killed, his disciples asked him: “Master, tell us: in the kingdom of God, when you will be sitting on the right side of God’s throne, what will be our positions there? Where will we be sitting, in what order?” God sitting on his throne, Jesus, the only begotten son on his right side, and then these twelve disciples: “Where will we be sitting and what will be the order?”People around Jesus asking such a foolish question – but this is how the human mind is. They don’t ask anything of this world – they have become beggars – but they ask of the other world. They are not really beggars, they are hoping. They have staked on this other world, but it is a bargain: “Where will we be there? Who will be sitting next to you?”There must have been competition among those twelve disciples. There must have been politics, ambition, somebody up, somebody down, somebody becoming the chief. There must have been much conflict, inner politics, undercurrents of violence and aggression. Even with Jesus one starts hoping. Hope is deep-rooted in you. Whatsoever is said, you convert it into a hope. You are a hope-creating mechanism, and this hope-creating mechanism is the ego.So what is to be done? In fact, there is nothing to be done. You only need clearer eyes, more perceptive eyes, more penetrating eyes. All that is needed is to have a fresh look about you, at your being, at whatsoever you have been doing, hoping – a fresh look.And I say to you, in that fresh look, in that innocent look, ego drops by itself, on its own accord. It is the easiest phenomenon, and at the same time the most difficult. But remember well, I am not creating any hope in you.The second question:Osho,In relation to what you've just said, Zen has a saying: Effortless effort. Would you talk to us about that, and how it applies to your Dynamic Meditation.Meditation is an energy phenomenon. One very basic thing has to be understood about all types of energies. This is the basic law: energy moves in a dual polarity. That is the only way it moves; there is no other way for its movement. It moves in a dual polarity. For any energy to become dynamic, the anti-pole is needed. It is just like electricity moving with negative and positive polarities. If there is only negative polarity, electricity will not happen; or if there is only positive polarity, electricity will not happen. Both poles are needed. And when both poles meet they create electricity. Then the spark comes up.And this is so for all types of phenomena. Life goes on – between man and woman, the polarity. The woman is the negative life energy; man is the positive pole – it is electrical, hence so much attraction. With man alone life would disappear; with woman alone there could be no life, only death. Between man and woman there exists a balance. Between man and woman – these two poles, these two banks – flows the river of life. Wherever you look you will find the same energy moving into polarities, balancing itself.This polarity is very meaningful for meditation, because mind is logical and life is dialectical. When I say mind is logical, I mean mind moves in a line. When I say life is dialectical, I mean life moves with the opposite, not in a line. It zigzags from negative to positive, positive to negative, negative to positive. It zigzags. It uses the opposites.Mind moves in a line, a simple, straight line. It never moves to the opposite. It denies the opposite. It believes in one and life believes in two. So whatsoever mind creates, it always chooses the one. If mind chooses silence, if mind has become fed up with all the noise that is created in life and the mind feels to be silent, then it goes to the Himalayas. It wants to be silent. It doesn’t want anything to do with any type of noise. Even the song of the birds will disturb it, a breeze blowing through the trees will be a disturbance. The mind wants silence. Now it has chosen the line; now the opposite has to be denied completely. But this man living in the Himalayas, seeking silence, avoiding the other, the opposite, will become dead, he will certainly become dull. And the more he chooses to be silent the duller he will be – because life needs the opposite, the challenge of the opposite. There is a different type of silence which exists between two opposites.The first is a dead silence, the silence of the cemetery. A dead man is silent, but you would not like to be a dead man. A dead man is absolutely silent, nobody can disturb him. His concentration is perfect, you cannot do anything to distract his mind. His mind is absolutely fixed. Even if all around the whole world goes mad, he will remain in his concentration. But still you would not like to be a dead man. Silence, concentration, or whatsoever it is called, you would not like to be dead – because if you are silent when dead, the silence is meaningless.Silence must happen while you are absolutely alive, vital, bubbling with life and energy. Then silence is meaningful. But then silence will have a different, an altogether different quality to it. It will not be dull, it will be alive. It will be a subtle balance between two polarities.Then such a type of man, who is seeking a live balance, a live silence, would like to move both to the market and to the Himalayas. He would like to go to the market to enjoy noise, and he would also like to go to the Himalayas to enjoy silence. He will create a balance between these two polar opposites, and he will remain in that balance. And that balance cannot be achieved through linear efforts.That is what is meant by the Zen technique of effortless effort. It uses contradictory terms – effortless effort, or gateless gate, or pathless path. Zen always uses the contradictory term immediately, just to give you the hint that the process is going to be dialectical, not linear. The opposite is not to be denied but absorbed. The opposite is not to be left aside, it has to be used. Left aside it will always be a burden on you. Left aside it will hang with you unused. You will miss much. The energy can be converted and used. And then, using it, you will be more vital, more alive. The opposite has to be absorbed, then the process becomes dialectical.Effortlessness means not doing anything, inactivity – akarma. Effort means doing much, activity – karma. Both have to be there. Do much, but don’t be a doer; then you achieve both. Move in the world but don’t be a part of it. Live in the world but don’t let the world live in you. Then the contradiction has been absorbed. Then you are not rejecting anything, not denying anything. Then the whole existence has been accepted.And that’s what I’m doing. Dynamic Meditation is a contradiction. The dynamic means effort, much effort, absolute effort, and meditation means silence, no effort, no activity. You can call it a dialectical meditation. Be so active that the whole energy becomes a movement, no energy is left static in you. The whole energy has been called forth, nothing is left behind. All the frozen parts of energy are melting, flowing. You are not a frozen thing now, you have become dynamic. You are not like substance now, you are more like energy. You are not material, you have become electrical. Bring total energy to work, to be active, moving.When everything is moving and you have become a cyclone, then become alert. Remember, be mindful – and in this cyclone suddenly you will find a center which is absolutely silent. This is the center of the cyclone. This is you – you in your divinity, you as a god.All around you is activity. Your body has become an active cyclone – everything moving fast, faster. All the frozen parts have melted, you are flowing. You have become a volcano, a fire, electricity. But just in the center, amidst all this movement, there is a non-moving point, the still point.This still point is not to be created. It is there, you are not to do anything about it. It has always been there. It is your very being, the very ground of your being. This is what Hindus have been calling the atman, the soul. It is there, but unless your body, unless your material existence becomes totally active, you will not be aware of it. With total activity the totally inactive becomes apparent. The activity gives you a contrast. It becomes the blackboard, and on the blackboard is the white dot. On a white wall you cannot see a white dot; on a blackboard the white dot appears to you.So when your body has become active, dynamic, a movement, suddenly you become aware of a point which is still, absolutely still – the unmoving center of the whole moving world. That is effortless. No effort is done for it. No effort is needed, it is simply revealed. Effort on the part of the periphery, no effort on the part of the center. Movement on the periphery, stillness at the center. Activity on the periphery, absolute inactivity at the center. And between these two….This will be a little difficult, because you may get identified with the center Hindus have called atman, the soul. If you get identified with the center which is still, you have again chosen something between the two. You have again chosen – and rejected something.There is a very subtle Eastern discovery, and that is: if you get identified with the still point you will never know God; you will know the self but you will never know God. And there are many traditions, particularly Jainas, who became too much identified with the self – so they said there is no God, the self is the only God.Hindus who have penetrated really deeply, they say about this still point and this activity on the periphery that either you are both or you are none. Either you are both or you are none – both mean the same. These are the two poles. These are the two dialectical poles, the thesis and the antithesis. These are the two banks and you are somewhere between these two – neither moving nor non-moving. This is the ultimate transcendence. This is what Hindus call the brahman.Effort and effortlessness, movement and no movement, activity and no activity, matter and the soul – these are the banks. And between these two flows the invisible. These two are visibles. Between these two flows the invisible. That you are, tattwamasi swetketu, says the Upanishad. That which flows between these two banks, that which cannot be seen, that which is really a subtle balance, nothing else, between these two – that art thou. That has been called the brahman, the supreme self.A balance has to be achieved, and balance can be achieved only when you use both the polarities. If you use one you become dead. Many have done that; even whole societies have become dead. This has happened in India. If you choose one then imbalance, lopsidedness, happens. It happened in India, in the East, that the silent part, the still point, was chosen and the active part denied. So the whole East became dull. The sharpness was lost. The sharpness of intelligence, the sharpness of body vigor, everything was lost. The East became more and more dull, ugly, as if life was just a burden to be carried somehow and dropped, a duty to be fulfilled, a karma to be suffered – not an enjoyment, not a vigorous dance, but a dull, lethargic movement.It had its consequences. The East became weak, because with a still point you cannot remain strong forever, for long. Because Strength needs activity, strength needs movement. If you deny activity, strength disappears. The East lost its muscles completely; the body became flabby. So anybody who desired to could conquer the East. For thousands of years slavery was the only destiny for the East. Anybody who had just an idea to make anybody a slave would turn toward the East. The East was always ready to be conquered, because the Eastern mind had chosen a point against the polar opposite. The East became silent, but dead and dull also. This type of silence is not worth anything.The opposite is happening in the West. It has happened in other societies also. They have chosen the active part, the periphery, and they think that there is no soul. They think this activity is all, and to be active and to enjoy, and to achieve and to be ambitious and to conquer, is all that life consists of. The ultimate result is going to be more and more madness in the West – because without the still point you cannot remain sane. You will become insane. With only the still point, you cannot remain alive, you become dead; with only the active, you become insane. People who are insane, what has happened to them? They have lost all contact with their still point. That’s what their insanity is.The West is turning into a big madhouse. More and more people are being psychoanalyzed, treated psychiatrically; more and more people are being put into madhouses. And those who are out, they are not out because they are sane, but only because so many people cannot be put in houses for the insane; otherwise the whole society would have to be put in a prison. They are normal, workably normal. But Western psychology says that now it is difficult to say that any man is normal, and they may be right. In the West it has happened: no man is normal. Activity alone creates madness; balance is impossible. Active civilizations become mad in the end, inactive civilizations become dead. This happens to societies, this happens to individuals.To me, balance is all. Don’t choose, don’t reject. Accept both – and create an inner balance. Dynamic Meditation is an effort toward that balance. Be active, enjoy it, be ecstatic, be fully with it. Then silent, enjoy it, be ecstatic about it. And move between these two as freely as possible and don’t create any choice. Don’t say: “I am this or that.” Don’t get identified. Don’t Say: “I am this or that,” say: “I am both.” Don’t be afraid of contradicting yourself. Contradict, be both, and move easily.And when I say this, I say it unconditionally – not only for activity and inactivity. Whatsoever is called bad and good, that too is included; whatsoever is called the devil and the divine, that too is included.Always remember: everywhere there are banks, and if you want to be a river use both the banks unconditionally. Don’t say: “Because I was active, how can I be inactive?” Don’t say: “Because I was inactive, now how can I be active?” Don’t say: “I am this, so how can I be that?” You are both and there is no need to choose. The only thing to remember is to be balanced between the two. Then you will transcend both. Then the devil and the divine will both be transcended. When both are transcended, that is brahma. Brahma has no polarity against it, because it is just a balance between two polarities. There is no anti-pole to it.Move in life as freely as possible, and use both the opposites, both the banks, as much as possible. Don’t create any contradiction. They are not contradictory, they only appear to be contradictory. Deep down they are one. They are just like legs, right and left. You use the right, you use the left. While you raise the right, the left is waiting on the earth, helping. Don’t become addicted. Don’t be a rightist or a leftist. Both legs are yours, and in both legs your energy flows – undivided. Have you ever felt that the right leg has one energy and the left leg some other energy? You are flowing in both. Close your eyes: left disappears, right disappears. They are both you, and while moving you can use them. Use both! If you become addicted to the right, as many people have become, then you will be crippled, you cannot use the left. Then you will stand, but you will be crippled, and by and by you will become dead.Move, and constantly remember the unmoving center. Do, and constantly remember the non-doer. Make effort and remain effortless. Once you know this secret alchemy of using the opposites, the contradictory, you are free; otherwise you create inner imprisonments.There are people who come to me and say: “How can I do this? I have never done this.” Just the other day there was somebody –he said to me: “How can I do active meditation, because I have been sitting silently for many years?”He has chosen, and he has reached nowhere; otherwise there was no need to come to me. But he cannot do the active meditation because he has become identified with an inactive posture. This is getting frozen.Become more movement. Be moving and allow life to flow. Once you know that between the opposites balance is possible, once you have a glimpse of it, then you know the art. Then everywhere in life, in every dimension of life, you can attain that balance very easily. Really, to say that you can attain is not good. Once you know the knack of it, whatsoever you do the balance follows you like a shadow. This inner balance between the opposites is the most significant thing that can happen to a man.

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My Way The Way of White Clouds 01-15Category: RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS

My Way The Way of White Clouds 05 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The first question:Osho,You said the ego can be dropped this very moment. Can the ego also be dropped progressively?The dropping always happens in the moment and always in this moment. There is no progressive, gradual process for it. There cannot be. The happening is momentary. You can’t get ready for it, you can’t prepare for it, because whatsoever you do – and I say whatsoever – will strengthen the ego. Any gradual process will be an effort, something done on your part. So you will be strengthened more and more through it. You will become stronger. Everything gradual helps the ego. Only something absolutely non-gradual, something like a jump, not like a process, something discontinuous with the past, not in continuity with it – only then the ego drops.The problem arises because we cannot understand what this ego is. The ego is the past, the continuity, all that you have done, all that you have accumulated, all the karmas, all the conditionings, all the desires, all the dreams of the past. That whole past is the ego. And if you think in terms of gradual process you bring the past in. The dropping is non-gradual, sudden; it is a discontinuity. The past is no more, the future is no more. You are left alone here and now. Then the ego cannot exist.The ego can exist only through the memory: who you are, from where you come, to whom you belong, the country, the race, the religion, the family, the tradition, and all the hurts, wounds, pleasures – all that has happened in the past. All that has happened is the ego. And you are that to whom all this has happened. This distinction has to be understood: you are that to whom all has happened, and the ego is that which has happened. The ego is around you; you are in the center, egoless.A child is born absolutely fresh and young – no past, no ego. That’s why children are so beautiful. They don’t have any past, they are young and fresh. They cannot say I, because from where will they bring the I? The I has to develop gradually. They will get educated, they will get awards, punishments, they will be appreciated, condemned – then the I will gather.A child is beautiful because the ego is not there. An old man becomes ugly, not because of old age but because of too much past, too much of the ego. An old man can also become again beautiful, even more beautiful than a child, if he can drop the ego – then a second childhood, then a rebirth.This is the meaning of the resurrection of Jesus. It is not an historical fact, it is a parable. Jesus is crucified and then he resurrects. The man who was crucified is no more; that was the son of the carpenter, Jesus. Now Jesus is dead, crucified. A new entity arises out of that. Out of this death a new life is born. This is Christ – not the son of a particular carpenter in Bethlehem, not a Jew, not even a man. This is Christ, something new – egoless.The same will happen to you whenever your ego is on the cross. Whenever your ego is crucified there is a resurrection, a rebirth. You are born again, and this childhood is eternal, because this is a rebirth of the spirit, not of the body. Now you will never become old. Always and always you will be fresh and young – as fresh as the dewdrop in the morning, as fresh as the first star in the night. You will always remain fresh, young, a child, innocent – because this is a resurrection of the spirit. This always happens in a moment.Ego is time – the more time, the more ego. Ego needs time. If you penetrate deeply you may even be able to conceive that time only exists because of the ego. Time is not part of the physical world around you; time is part of the psychic world within you, the mind-world. Time exists just as a space for the ego to evolve and grow. Room is needed; time gives the room.If it is said to you that this is the last moment of your life, next moment you are going to be shot dead, suddenly time disappears. You feel very uneasy. You are still alive, but suddenly you feel as if you are dying, and you can’t think what to do. Even to think becomes difficult, because even for thinking time is needed, future is needed. There is no tomorrow – then where to think, how to desire, how to hope? There is no time. Time is finished.The greatest agony that can happen to a man happens when his death is fixed and he cannot avoid it, it is certain. A person who is sentenced, imprisoned, waiting for his death – the death is fixed – he cannot do anything about it. After a certain period he will die; beyond that time there is no tomorrow for him. Now he cannot desire, he cannot think, he cannot project, he cannot even dream. The barrier is always there. Then much agony follows. That agony is for the ego. Because ego cannot exist without time – ego breathes in time; time is breath for the ego – the more time, the more possibility for the ego.In the East much has been worked out, much has been done to understand the ego, much probing has been done. And one of the findings is that unless time drops from you, ego will not drop. If the tomorrow exists the ego will exist. If there is no tomorrow how can you pull on the ego? It will be just like pulling a boat without the river. That will become a burden. A river is needed, then the boat can function.The river of time is needed for the ego. That’s why the ego always thinks in terms of the gradual, in terms of degrees. The ego says: “Okay, enlightenment is possible – but time is needed,” because you will have to work for it, prepare, get ready. Listen, this is a very logical thing. For everything time is needed. If you sow a seed, time is needed for the tree to grow. If a child is to be born, if a child is to be created, time is needed. The womb will need time. The child will have to grow. Everything grows around you. For growth time is needed, so it seems logical that spiritual growth will also need time.But this is the point to be understood: spiritual growth is not really a growth like a seed. The seed has to grow to become a tree. Between the seed and the tree there is a gap. That gap has to be traveled, there is distance. You don’t grow like a seed; you are already the growth. It is just a revelation. There is no distance between you as you are and you as you will be. There is no distance. The ideal, the perfect, is already there.So it is not really a question of growth, but just a question of unveiling. It is a discovery. Something is hidden – you pull away the screen and it is there. It is just as if you are sitting with closed eyes: the sun is there on the horizon, but you are in darkness. Suddenly you open your eyes and it is day, it is light.The spiritual growth is not really a growth. The word is erroneous. Spiritual growth is a revelation. Something that was hidden becomes unhidden. Something that was already there, you realize it, that it is there. Something that you had never missed, simply forgotten, you remember it. That’s why mystics go on using the word remembering. They say the divine is not an achievement, it is simply a remembrance. Something you have forgotten, you remember.Really, no time is needed. But the mind says, the ego says that for everything time is needed, for everything to grow time is needed. And if you become a victim of this logical thought, then you will never achieve it. Then you will go on postponing. You will say tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, and it will never come because tomorrow never comes.If you can understand what I am saying, that the ego can be dropped this very moment, and if it is true, then the question arises: Why is it not dropping? Why can’t you drop it? If there is no question of gradual growth, then why are you not dropping it? Because you don’t want to drop it. This will shock you, because you go on thinking that you want to drop it. Reconsider it, think again. You don’t want to drop it, hence it continues. It is not a question of time. Because you don’t want to drop it, nothing can be done.Mysterious are the ways of the mind. You think that you want to drop it, and deep down you know you don’t want to drop it. You may like to polish it a little more, you may like it to be more refined, but you don’t really want to drop it. If you want to drop it there is no one who is preventing you. No barrier exists. Just for the wanting it can be dropped. But if you don’t want to drop it nothing can be done. Even a thousand buddhas working on you will fail, because nothing can be done from the outside.Have you really thought about it, have you ever meditated on it: Do you want to drop it? Do you really want to become a non-being, a nothing? Even in your religious projections you want to be something, you want to achieve something, reach somewhere, be something. Even when you think of being humble, your humility, your humbleness is just a secret hiding place for the ego and nothing else.Look at so-called humble people. They say they are humble and they will try to prove that they are the most humble in their town, in their city, in their locality – the most humble. And if you argue and if you say: “No, somebody else is more humble than you,” they will feel hurt. Who is feeling hurt?I was just reading about one Christian saint. He says every day to his god in his prayer: “I am the most wicked person on this earth, the greatest sinner.” Apparently he is a very humble man, but he is not. He says he is the greatest sinner on the earth, and even if God is going to dispute it he will argue. The interest, the deep interest, is in being the greatest, not in being the sinner. You can be a sinner if you are allowed to be the greatest sinner. You can enjoy it. The greatest sinner – then you become a peak. Virtue or sin is immaterial; you must be someone. Whatsoever the reason for it, your ego must be at the top.George Bernard Shaw is reported to have said: “I would rather be first in hell than second in heaven.” Hell is not a bad place if you are the first and foremost. Even heaven will look dull if you are just standing somewhere in a queue, a nobody. And Bernard Shaw is right. This is how the human mind functions.Nobody wants to drop the ego. Otherwise, there is no problem – you can simply drop it right now. And if you feel that time is needed, then time is needed only for your understanding that you are clinging to it. And the moment you can understand that it is your clinging, the thing will happen.You may take many lives to understand this simple fact. You have already taken many lives and you have not yet understood. This looks very weird; something which is a burden to you, which gives you hell, continuous hell, but still you cling to it. There must be some deep reason in it, a very deep-rooted cause. I would like to talk about it a little. You may become aware.The way the human mind is it will always choose occupation rather than being unoccupied. Even if the occupation is painful, even if it is a suffering, it will choose to be occupied rather than to be unoccupied – because unoccupied you start feeling that you are dissolving.Psychologists say that when people retire from their work, their job, their service or business, they die soon. Their life is reduced immediately by almost ten years. Before their death they start dying. There is no more occupation, they are unoccupied. When you are unoccupied you start feeling meaningless, futile. You start feeling that you are not needed, that without you the world can go on easily. When you are occupied you feel that the world cannot continue without you, that you are a very essential part of it, very significant – without you everything will stop.If you are unoccupied, suddenly you become aware that without you the world goes on beautifully. Nothing is changing. You have been discarded, you are thrown on the junk pile, you are not needed. The moment you feel you are not needed the ego becomes uneasy – because it exists only when you are needed. So all around the ego goes on forcing this attitude on everybody: that you are a must, you are needed; without you nothing can happen, without you the world will dissolve.Unoccupied, you come to realize that the game continues. You are not an essential part. You can be discarded easily. Nobody will bother about it, nobody will think about it. Rather, they may even feel relieved. That shatters the ego. So people want occupation – something or other, but they must remain occupied. They must continue the illusion that they are needed.Meditation is an unoccupied state of mind. It is a deep retirement. It is not just a superficial retirement like going to the Himalayas. That may not be a retirement at all, because again you can get occupied in the Himalayas. You can create fantasies there that you are saving the world. Sitting in the Himalayas meditating, you are saving the world from a third war; or because you are creating such vibrations that the world is reaching toward a utopia, a peaceful state of society. And you can enjoy this occupation there. Nobody is going to argue because you are alone. Nobody is going to dispute the fact that you are in an illusion or a hallucinatory state. You can get really involved in it. The ego will assert itself again in a subtle new way.Meditation is not a superficial retirement. It is a deep, intimate, real retirement, a withdrawal – a withdrawal from occupation. Not that you will not be occupied; you can continue whatsoever you are doing, but you withdraw yourself and your investment in occupation. Now you start feeling that this constant hankering after being needed is foolish, stupid. The world can continue quite well without you. And there is no depression in it. It is good. So far, so good – the world can continue without you. This can become a freedom if you understand. If you don’t understand then you feel you are being shattered.So people continue to be occupied, and the ego gives them the greatest occupation possible. Twenty-four hours the ego gives them occupation. They are thinking how to become a member of parliament, they are thinking how to become a deputy minister and a minister and a prime minister, and how to become a president. The ego goes on and on and on. It gives you a constant occupation – how to achieve more riches, how to create a kingdom. The ego gives you dreams continuously, inner occupation, and you feel much is going on. Unoccupied, suddenly you become aware of inner emptiness. These dreams fill the inner emptiness.Now psychologists say that a man can live without food for at least ninety days, but he cannot live without dreaming for ninety days. He will go mad. If dreaming is not allowed within three weeks you will go mad. Three weeks without food will not harm you – it may even be good for your health. Three weeks without food, a good fast will rejuvenate your whole system, you will be more alive and young. But three weeks of non-dreaming? – You will go mad.Dreaming must be fulfilling some deep rooted need. The need is that it gives you occupation; without real occupation it gives you occupation. You can sit and dream and do whatsoever you like, and the whole world moves according to you – in your dreams at least. Nobody creates a problem. You can kill anybody, you can murder. You can change as you like. You are the master there.The ego feels most vital while dreaming, because there is nobody who can antagonize you, who can say: “No, this is wrong.” You are whole and sole. Whatsoever you want you create. Whatsoever you don’t want you destroy. You are absolutely powerful. You are omnipotent in your dreams.Dreams stop only when ego drops. So this is the sign, really. In old yoga scriptures this is the sign of a man who has become enlightened. He cannot dream, dreaming stops because there is no need. It was an ego-need. You want to be occupied. That’s why you cannot drop the ego.Unless you are ready to be empty, unoccupied, unless you are ready to be nobody, unless you are ready to enjoy and celebrate life even if you are not needed, ego cannot be dropped. You have a need to be needed. Somebody must need you – then you feel good. If more and more people need you, you feel better and better. That’s why leadership is so much enjoyed, because so many people need you. A leader can become very humble. There is no need to assert his ego; his ego is already so deeply fulfilled because so many people need him, so many people depend on him. He has become the life of so many people, so he can be humble, he can afford to be humble.You must remember this fact, that people who are too assertive of their egos are always people who cannot influence others. Then they become assertive because that is their only way to say: “I am somebody.” If they can influence people, if they can persuade, they will never be assertive. They will be very humble, apparently at least. They will not look egoistic, because in a subtle way so many people depend on them – they have become significant, their life appears meaningful to them. If your ego is your meaning, if your ego is your significance, how can you drop it?Listening to me you start thinking to drop it. But just by thinking you cannot drop it. You have to come to understand the roots – where it is, where it exists, why it exists. These are the unconscious forces working within you without your knowledge. They have to be made conscious. You have to bring all the roots of your ego out of the soil and earth so you can look and see.If you can remain unoccupied, if you can remain satisfied without being needed, the ego can drop this very moment. But these ifs are big. Meditation will prepare you for these big ifs. The happening will happen in a moment, but the understanding will take time.It is just like when you heat water. It becomes hotter and hotter and hotter; and then, at a particular degree, at one hundred degrees, it starts evaporating. Evaporation happens in a single moment. It is not gradual, it is sudden. From water to vapor there is a jump. Suddenly the water disappears, but time is involved because the water has to be heated up to boiling point. Evaporation happens suddenly, but heating takes time. Understanding is just like heating. It takes time. Dropping of the ego happens like evaporation. It happens suddenly.So don’t try to drop the ego. Rather, try to deepen your understanding. Don’t try to make water change into vapor. Heat it. The second thing will follow automatically, it will happen.Grow in understanding. Make it more intense, more focused. Bring all your energy to understand the phenomenon of your being, your ego, your mind, your unconscious. Become more and more alert, and whatsoever happens, make it a point to try to understand it also. Somebody insults you and you feel anger. Don’t miss this opportunity; try to understand why, why this anger. And don’t make it a philosophical thing. Don’t go to the library to consult about anger. Anger is happening to you – it is an experience, a live experience. Focus your whole attention on it and try to understand why it is happening to you. It is not a philosophical problem; no Freud is to be consulted about it. There is no need. It is just foolish to consult somebody else while anger is happening to you. You can touch it, you can taste it. You will be burned by it.Try to understand why it is happening, from where it is coming, where the roots are, how it happens, how it functions, how it overpowers you, how in anger you become mad. It has happened before, it is happening now; but now add a new element to it, the element of understanding – and then the quality will change. Then, by and by, you will see that the more you understand anger, the less it happens. And when you understand it perfectly it disappears. Understanding is like heat. When the heat comes to a particular point – one hundred degrees – the water disappears. Sex is there – try to understand it. The more understanding, the less you will be sexual. And a moment will come when understanding is perfect – and sex disappears.This is my criterion: whatsoever the phenomenon of inner energy, if it disappears through understanding it is sin. If through understanding it deepens it is virtue. The more you understand, the wrong will disappear and the right will become more rooted. Sex will disappear and love will deepen. Anger will disappear and compassion will deepen. Greed will disappear, sharing will deepen.So whatsoever disappears through understanding is wrong; whatsoever becomes more rooted is right. And this is how I define good and evil, virtue and sin – punya and paap. A holy man is a man of understanding, nothing else; and a sinner is a man of no understanding, that’s all. Between a holy man and a sinner the distinction is not of sin and holiness, it is of understanding.Understanding works as a heating process. A moment comes, a right moment, when the heating has come to boiling point. Suddenly the ego drops. You cannot drop it directly – you can prepare the situation in which it happens. That situation will take time.Two schools have always existed. One school is of sudden enlightenment which says enlightenment happens suddenly; it is non-temporal. The other school, just contradicting the first, is of gradual enlightenment – enlightenment comes gradually, nothing happens suddenly. And both are right, because both have chosen one part of the phenomenon.The gradual school has chosen the first part, the understanding part. They say it has to be through time, understanding will come through time – and they are right. They say you need not worry about the sudden; you simply follow the process, and if the water is heated rightly it will evaporate. You need not bother about evaporation; you simply leave it completely out of your mind. You simply heat it, heat the water.Another school, quite the opposite, which says enlightenment is sudden, has taken the end part. It says the first thing is not very essential; the real thing is that explosion happens in a no-time gap. The first thing is just the periphery. The real, the second thing, is the center.But I tell you both are right. Enlightenment happens suddenly, it has always happened suddenly, but understanding takes time. Both are right and both can be interpreted wrongly also. You can play tricks with yourself, you can deceive yourself. If you don’t want to do anything, it is beautiful to believe in sudden enlightenment. Because then you say: “There is no need to do anything. If it happens suddenly it will happen suddenly – what can I do? I can simply wait.” That may be a self-deception.Because of this, in Japan particularly, religion simply disappeared. Japan has a long tradition of sudden enlightenment. Zen says enlightenment is sudden. Because of this, the whole country became irreligious. By and by, people came to believe that sudden enlightenment is the only possibility. Nothing can be done about it – whenever it is going to happen it will happen. If it is going to happen it will happen. If it is not going to happen it will not happen, and we cannot do anything, so why bother?In the East, Japan is the most materialistic country. In the East, Japan exists as a part of the West. This is strange, because Japan has one of the most beautiful traditions of dhyana, chan – and Zen. Why did it disappear? It disappeared because of this concept of sudden enlightenment. People started deceiving themselves. In India another phenomenon has happened – and that’s why I go on saying again and again that the human mind is so deceptive and cunning. You have to be constantly alert, otherwise you will be deceived.In India we have another tradition, of gradual enlightenment. That’s what yoga means. You have to work for it, work hard through many lives. Discipline is needed, work is needed, and unless you work hard you will not achieve it. So it is a long process, a very long process – so long that India says one life is not enough, you will need many lives. Nothing is wrong with it. As far as understanding is concerned, it is true. But then India believed that if it is going to be so long then there is no hurry. Then why be in such a hurry? Then enjoy the world – there is no hurry and there is enough time. It is such a long process that you cannot achieve it today. And if you cannot achieve it today then the interest is lost. Nobody is so keen that he can wait for many lives. He will simply forget it.The gradual concept has destroyed India. The sudden concept has destroyed Japan.To me, both are true, because both are half parts of a whole process. And you have to be constantly alert so that you are not deceiving yourself. It will look contradictory, but this is what I would like to say to you: It can happen this very moment, but this very moment may take many lives to come. It can happen this very moment, but you may have to wait for many lives for this moment to come.So work hard, as if it is going to happen this very moment. And wait patiently, because it is not predictable. Nobody can say when this will happen – this may not happen for many lives. So wait patiently as if the whole process is a long gradual development, and work hard, as hard as possible, as if this can happen this very moment.The second question:Osho,Would you talk to us about using our sexual energy for growth, as it seems to be one of our main preoccupations in the West.Sex is the energy. So I will not say sexual energy – because there is no other energy. Sex is the only energy you have got. The energy can be transformed – it can become a higher energy. The higher it moves, the less and less sexuality remains in it. And there is an end peak where it becomes simply love and compassion. The ultimate flowering we can call divine energy, but the base, the seat, remains the sex. So sex is the first, bottom layer of energy – and the divine is the top layer. But the same energy moves.The first thing to be understood is that I don’t divide energies. Once you divide, then a dualism is created. Once you divide, then conflict and struggle are created. Once you divide energies you are divided; then you will be for or against sex. I am neither for nor against, because I don’t divide. I say sex is the energy, the name of the energy; call that energy x. Sex is the name of that x energy, the unknown energy, when you are using it only as a biological reproduction force. It becomes divine once it is freed from biological bondage, once it becomes non-physical – then it is the love of Jesus or the compassion of Buddha.The West is much obsessed today because of Christianity. Two thousand years of Christian suppression of sex energy has made the Western mind too much obsessed with it. First, for two thousand years the obsession was how to kill it. You cannot kill it – no energy can be killed, energy can only be transformed. There is no way to destroy energy. Nothing can be destroyed in this world, it can only be transformed, changed, moved into a new realm and dimension. Destruction is impossible. You cannot create a new energy and you cannot destroy an old energy. Creation and destruction are both beyond you. They cannot be done. Now, scientists agree with this – not even a single atom can be destroyed.For two thousand years Christianity was trying to destroy sex energy. Religion consisted of becoming absolutely without sex. That created a madness. The more you fight, the more you suppress, the more sexual you become. And then sex moves deeper into the unconscious, it poisons your whole being. So if you read the lives of Christian saints you will see they are obsessed with sex. They cannot pray, they cannot meditate. Whatsoever they do, sex comes in. And they think that the devil is playing tricks. Nobody is playing tricks. If you suppress you are the devil.After two thousand years of continuous sex repression, the West became fed up with it. It was too much. The whole wheel turned. Then, instead of repression, indulgence, indulging in it became the new obsession. From one pole the mind moved to the other pole. The disease remained the same. Once it was repression, now it is how to indulge more and more in it. Both are sick attitudes.Sex has to be transformed – neither repressed nor madly indulged. And the only possible way to transform sex is to be sexual with deep meditative awareness. It is just the same as I was saying about anger. Move into sex, but with an alert, conscious, mindful being. Don’t allow it to become an unconscious force. Don’t be pulled and pushed by it. Move knowingly, understandingly, lovingly. Make sexual experience a meditative experience. Meditate in it. This is what the East has done through Tantra.Once you are meditative in sexual experience, the quality of it starts changing. The same energy which is moving into sexual experience starts moving toward consciousness. You can become as alert in a peak sexual orgasm as you can otherwise never become – because no other experience is so deep, no other experience is so absorbing, no other experience is so total. In a sexual orgasm you are totally absorbed, root and all – your whole being vibrating, your whole being in it. Body, mind – both are in it – and thinking stops completely. Even for a single second, when the orgasm reaches its peak, thinking stops completely, because you are so total you cannot think.In a sexual orgasm you are. Being is there without any thinking. In this moment, if you can become alert, conscious, then sex can become the door toward the divine. If in this moment you can become alert, that alertness can be carried in other moments also, in other experiences also. It can become a part of you. Then eating, walking, doing some work, you can carry that alertness. Through sex the alertness has touched your deepest core. It has penetrated you. Now you can carry it.If you become meditative you will come to realize a new fact. That fact is that it is not sex that gives you bliss, it is not sex that gives you the ecstasy. Rather, it is a thoughtless state of the mind and total involvement in the act that gives you a blissful feeling.Once you understand this then sex will be needed less and less, because that thoughtless state of mind can be created without it. That’s what meditation means. And that totality of being can be created without sex. Once you know that the same phenomenon can happen without sex, sex will be needed less and less. A moment will come when sex will not be needed at all.Remember, sex is always dependent on the other. So in sex a bondage, a slavery remains. Once you can create this total orgasmic phenomenon without any dependence on anybody else, when it has become an inner source, you are independent, you are free. That’s what is meant when in India we say only a brahmachari, an absolutely celibate person, can be free – because now he is not dependent on anybody else, his ecstasy is his own.Sex disappears through meditation, but this is not destroying the energy. Energy is never destroyed; only the form of the energy changes. Now it is no longer sexual. And when the form is no longer sexual then you become loving.So really, a person who is sexual cannot love. His love can only be a show. His love is just a means toward sex. A person who is sexual uses love just as a technique toward sex. It is a means. A sexual person cannot really love, he can only exploit the other, and love is just a way to approach the other.A person who has become non-sexual, and the energy is moving within, has become auto-ecstatic. His ecstasy is his own. Such a person will be loving for the first time. His love will be a constant showering, a constant sharing, a constant giving. But to achieve this you are not required to be anti-sex. To achieve this you have to accept sex as part of life, of natural life. Move with it – only move with more consciousness. Consciousness is the bridge, the golden bridge, from this world to the other, from hell to heaven, from the ego to the divine.

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My Way The Way of White Clouds 01-15Category: RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS

My Way The Way of White Clouds 06 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The first question:Osho,There is a Zen story about two monks who were returning to their monastery. While walking ahead, the older monk came to a river. On the bank there was a beautiful young girl. She was afraid to cross alone. The old monk quickly looked away from her and crossed the river. When he was on the other side he looked back, and to his horror he saw the younger monk carrying the girl across the river on his shoulders. The two monks continued their journey side by side. When they were just outside the monastery gates the older monk said to the younger: “That was not good, that was against the rules, we monks are not supposed to touch women.” The younger monk replied: “I left her on the bank of the river, are you still carrying her?”Would you talk to us about the alternative to suppressing or expressing our emotions?Man is the only being who can suppress his energies – or who can transform them. No other being can do either. Suppression and transformation exist as two aspects of one phenomenon – that man can do something about himself.The trees exist, the animals exist, the birds exist, but they cannot do anything about their existence. They are part of it, they cannot stand out of it. They cannot be the doers. They are so merged with their energy, they cannot separate themselves. Man can, he can do something about himself. He can observe himself from a distance – he can look at his own energies as if they are separate from him. And then either he can suppress them or he can transform them. Suppression only means trying to hide certain energies which are there – not allowing them to have their being, not allowing them to have their manifestation. Transformation means transforming, changing energies toward a new dimension.For example, sex is there. There is something in sex which makes you feel embarrassed about it. This embarrassment is not only because society has taught you so. All over the world many types of societies exist, and have existed, but no society, no human society, has taken sex easily. There is something in the very phenomenon of sex that makes you embarrassed, guilty, self-conscious. What is that? Even if nobody teaches you anything about sex, nobody moralizes to you about it, nobody creates any conceptions about it, still there is something in the very phenomenon that you are not at ease with. What is that?First, sex shows your deepest dependence. It shows that somebody else is needed for your pleasure. Without somebody else that pleasure is not possible. So you depend, your independence is lost. This hurts the ego. So the more a person is an egoist, the more he will be against sex. Your so-called saints are against sex – not because sex is bad, but because of their egos. They cannot conceive of themselves being dependent on somebody, begging for something from somebody. Sex hurts the ego most.Secondly, in the very phenomenon of sex the possibility of rejection is there – the other can reject you. It is not certain whether you will be accepted or rejected; the other can say no. And this is the deepest rejection possible, when you approach somebody for love and the other rejects you. This rejection creates fear. The ego says it is better not to try than to be rejected.Dependence, rejection, the possibility of rejection – and still deeper, in sex you become just like animals. That hurts the human ego very much, because then there is no difference between a dog making love and you making love. What is the difference? Suddenly you become like animals, and all the preachers, moralists, they go on saying to man: “Don’t be an animal. Don’t be like animals!” That is the greatest condemnation possible.In no other thing are you so animal-like as in sex, because in no other thing are you natural – in everything else you can be unnatural. Eating food – we have created so much sophistication about eating that you are not like animals. The basic thing is like the animal; but your tables, your table manners, the whole culture, the etiquette you have created around food is just to make it distinct from animals.Animals like to eat alone. So every society creates in the mind of every individual that to eat alone is not good. Share, eat with the family, eat with friends, invite guests. No animal is interested in guests, in friends, in family. Whenever an animal is eating he wants nobody to come near; he goes into aloneness. If a man wants to eat alone you will say he is animal-like, he doesn’t want to share – his habit of eating is natural, not sophisticated. Around food we have created so much sophistication that hunger has become less important, taste has become more important. No animal bothers about the taste. Hunger is a basic necessity – hunger is fulfilled, the animal is satisfied. But not man – as if hunger is not the point; something else is the point. More important is taste, more important are the manners, more important is how you eat, not what you eat.In everything else man has created his own artificial world around him. Animals are naked – that’s why we don’t want to be nude. And if somebody is nude suddenly it hits our civilization totally, it cuts the very roots. That’s why there is so much antagonism against naked people all over the world.If you go and move naked in the street, you are not hurting anybody, you are not doing any violence to anybody; you are absolutely innocent. But immediately the police will come, the whole surrounding will become agitated. You will be caught and beaten and put into jail. But you have not done anything at all. A crime happens when you do something. You have not been doing anything – simply walking naked! But why does the society get so angry? The society is not even so angry against a murderer. This is strange. But a naked man – and society is absolutely angry. It is because murder is still human. No animal murders. They kill for eating, they don’t murder. And no animal murders his own species, only man. So it is human, the society can accept it. But the society cannot accept nudity – because the naked man suddenly makes you aware that you are all animals. Howsoever hidden behind clothes the animal is there, the nude, the naked animal is there, the naked ape is there.You are against the nude man not because he is nude but because he makes you aware of your nudity, and the ego is hurt. Clothed, man is not an animal. With eating habits, manners, man is not an animal. With language, morality, philosophy, religion, man is not an animal. The most religious thing is to go into a church, to a temple, to pray. Why is it so religious? – Because no animal goes to a church and no animal prays; it is absolutely human. Going to a temple to pray, this makes the distinction absolute, that you are not animals.But sex is animal activity. Whatsoever you do, howsoever you hide it, whatsoever you create around it, the basic fact remains animal. And when you move into it you become like animals. Because of this fact many people cannot enjoy sex. They cannot become totally animal, their egos won’t allow it.So ego and sex, this is the conflict – sex versus ego. The more egoistic a person is, the more he is against sex. The less egoistic a person is, the more involved he is in sex. But even the lesser egoist feels guilt – feels less, but still feels something is wrong. When one moves deeply into sex the ego is lost, and when the moment comes nearer when the ego is disappearing, fear grips you.So people don’t make love or go into sex deeply, not really. They just make a superficial show that they are making love, because if you really make love all civilization will have to be dropped. Your mind will have to be put aside – your religion, philosophy, everything. Suddenly you will feel a wild animal is born within you. The roar will come to you. You may actually start roaring like a wild animal – screaming, groaning. And if you allow it, language will disappear. Sounds will be there, just like birds or animals making sounds. Suddenly the whole civilization of a million years is dropped. You are again standing like an animal, in a wild world.There is fear, and because of that fear love has become very difficult. And the fear is real – because when you lose the ego you are almost insane; you become wild, and then anything can happen. And you know that anything can happen. You may even kill, murder your beloved, you may start eating her body, because then controls are removed. Because of this suppression seems to be the easiest way – to avoid all this. Suppress, or allow only as much as will not lead you into danger – just a part of it which can always be controlled – you remain in control; you manipulate. You allow up to an extent and then you don’t allow and then you close yourself and shut yourself.Suppression exists as a protection, as a safeguard, as a security measure, and religions have used this security measure. They have exploited this fear of sex and they have made you more afraid. They have created an inner trembling. They have made sex the basic sin, and they say: “Unless sex disappears you will not be able to enter into the kingdom of God.” They are right in a sense, and still wrong. I also say unless sex disappears you will not be able to enter into the kingdom of God. But sex disappears only when you have accepted it totally – not suppressed but transformed it.Religions have exploited human fear and the human tendency to be egoistic. They have created many techniques: how to suppress. It is not very difficult to suppress but it is very costly – because your whole energy becomes divided, fighting, and then the whole life is dissipated.Sex is the most vital energy, the only energy, I say, which you have. Don’t fight with it – it will be a waste of life and time – rather transform it. But how to do it? How to transform it? What can we do? If you have understood the fear, then you can understand the clue, what can be done.The fear is there because you feel that the control will be lost, and once the control is lost you cannot do anything. I teach you a new control: the control of the witnessing self, not the control of a manipulating mind but the control of a witnessing self. And I tell you that that control is the most supreme control possible, and that control is so natural that you never feel that you are controlling. The control happens spontaneously with witnessing.Move into sex but be a witness. The only thing to remember is: “I must encounter the whole process, I must see through it, I must remain a witness, I should not become unconscious” – that’s all. Become wild but don’t become unconscious. Then there is no danger in wildness; then wildness is beautiful. Really, only a wild man can be beautiful. A woman who is not wild cannot be beautiful – because the more wild, the more alive. Then you are just like a wild tiger, or a wild deer running in the forest – and the beauty of it.But the problem is: don’t become unconscious. If you become unconscious then you are under unconscious forces, then you are under the forces of karma. Whatsoever you have done in the past is accumulated there. That accumulated conditioning can take grip of you and move you in certain directions which will be dangerous for you and for others. But if you remain a witness that past conditioning cannot interfere.So the whole method, or the whole process of becoming a witness, is the process of transforming the sex energy. Moving into sex, remain alert. Whatsoever is happening, observe it, see through it; don’t miss a single point. Whatsoever is happening in your body, in your mind, in your inner energy, a new circuit is being made, the body electricity is moving in a new way, in a new circular way. Now the body electricity has become one with the partner, with the wife, with the consort. And now an inner circle is created – and you can feel it. If you are alert you can feel it. You will feel that now you have become a vehicle of a vital moving energy.Remain alert. Soon you will become aware that the more the circuit is created, the more thoughts are dropping, like yellow leaves from a tree. Thoughts are dropping; the mind is becoming more and more empty. Remain alert and soon you will see that you are, but there is no ego. You cannot say I. Something greater has happened to you – greater than you. You and your partner both have dissolved into that greater energy.But this merger should not become unconscious; otherwise you miss the point. Then it is a beautiful sex act, but not transformation. It is beautiful, nothing is wrong in it, but it is not transformation. And if it is unconscious then you will always be moving in a rut. Again and again you will like to have this experience. The experience is beautiful as far as it goes but it will become a routine. And each time you have it, again more desire is created. The more you have it the more you desire it, and you move in a vicious circle. You don’t grow, you just rotate.Rotation is bad, because then growth is not happening. Then energy is simply wasted. Even if the experience is good the energy is wasted because much more was possible. It was just at the corner – just a turn and much more was possible. With the same energy the divine could have been achieved. With the same energy the ultimate ecstasy is possible, and you are wasting that energy in momentary experiences. And by and by those experiences will become boring, because repeated again and again everything becomes boring. When the newness is lost, boredom is created.If you remain alert you will see: first, changes of energy in the body; second, dropping of the thoughts from the mind; and third, dropping of the ego from the heart. These three things have to be observed, watched carefully. And when the third has happened your energy, that sex energy has become meditative energy. Now you are no longer in sex. You may be lying with your beloved, bodies together, but you are no longer there – you are transplanted into a new world.This is what Shiva goes on talking about in Vigyan Bhairav Tantra and in other Tantra books. He goes on talking about this phenomenon – you are transmuted, a mutation has happened. This will happen through witnessing.Either you can suppress and become so-called human beings – bogus, superficial, hollow within; just dummies, not authentic, not real – if you follow suppression. Or if you don’t follow suppression, if you follow indulgence you will become like an animal – beautiful, more beautiful than so-called civilized man, but just animals – not alert, not aware, not conscious of the possibility of growth, of the human potential.If you transform the energy then you become divine. And remember, when I say divine both things are implied in it. The wild animal with its total beauty of being is there. That wild animal is not rejected and denied. He is there – richer, because he is more alert. So all the wildness is there and the beauty of it, and all that civilization has been trying to force is there, but spontaneous, not forced. Once the energy is transformed, nature and God meet in you – nature with its beauty, God with total grace.This is what a sage means. A sage means a meeting of nature and the divine, a meeting of the created and the creator, a meeting of body and soul, a meeting of that which is below and of that which is above, a meeting of the earth and the sky.Says Lao Tzu: “Tao happens when earth and heaven meet.” This is the meeting.Witnessing is the basic source. But it will be difficult to become a witness in the sex act if you are not trying to become a witness in other acts of your life. So try it the whole day, otherwise you will be in a self-deception. Don’t try to deceive yourself – if you cannot become a witness while walking on the road, you cannot become a witness while making love. Just walking on the road, such a simple process and you cannot become a witness, you become unconscious in it, so how can you become a witness while making love? The process is so deep, you will fall unconscious.You fall unconscious while walking on the road. Try it – even for a few seconds you will not be able to remember. Try it – walking on the road, just try: “I will remember I am walking, I am walking, I am walking.” In just a few seconds you have forgotten. Something else has popped into the mind, you have followed some other direction, you have completely forgotten. And suddenly you remember: “I have forgotten.” So if such a small act like walking cannot be made conscious, it is going to be difficult to make love a conscious meditation.So try with simple things, simple activities. While eating, try it. While walking, try it. While talking, listening, try it. Try from everywhere. Make it a constant hammering inside; let your whole body and mind know that you are making an effort to be alert. Only then some day, in love the witnessing will happen. And when it happens ecstasy has happened to you – the first glimpse of the divine has descended upon you. And From that moment onwards sex will not be sex at all. Sooner or later sex will disappear. This disappearance gives you brahmacharya – then you become a celibate.Monks in the Catholic monasteries, or monks following traditional Jainism, or other types of monks, are only celibates for the name’s sake, because their minds goes on making love – more so than your mind. Their whole sex becomes cerebral, which is the worst possible thing that can happen, because it is a perversion. If you think about sex it is a perversion. Making love is natural – thinking about it, constantly being involved inside in the mind, is a perversion. The so-called monks are perverted beings, not because they are monks but because they have chosen the path of suppression, which is a wrong path, which leads nowhere.Jesus, Mahavira and Buddha, they followed the path of witnessing. Then brahmacharya happens. This word brahmacharya is very beautiful. The very word means: the way the divine behaves. The way the divine behaves – brahmacharya. It has nothing to say against sex; it is not against sex at all. The very word simply says this is the way: how the divine acts, behaves, moves, walks. Once you have known the satori that is possible by witnessing the sex act your whole life will be transformed, you will start behaving like a god.What are the characteristics of the behavior of a god? How does the divine behave? One thing: he is not dependent, he is absolutely independent. He gives his love to you, but this is not a need. He gives out of his abundance, he has too much. You simply unburden him if you take it, but this is not a need. And the god is a creator – whenever sex has become a transformed force your life becomes creative. Sex is creative force. Right now it moves into biology; it creates new beings, it gives birth. When there is no sex and the energy is transforming it moves into a new world of creativity. Then many new dimensions of creativity become open to you.Not that you will start painting or making poetry or doing something else – not that. It may happen, it may not happen, but whatsoever you do will become a creative act, whatsoever you do will become artistic. Even Buddha sitting under his bodhi tree, not doing anything, is creative. The way he is sitting, the very way he is sitting there, he is creating a force, an energy, vibrations all around him.Much research has been done recently on Egyptian pyramids, and they have come to know many mysterious facts. One of the facts is that the shape of the pyramid, the very shape, is mysterious. Suddenly scientists became aware that if you put a dead body in a pyramid it will be preserved without any chemicals; just the shape helps preservation.Then one scientist in Germany tried: If the shape can do so much that the body is preserved automatically – just by the shape, just the pressure of the shape – so he tried it on his razor blade. He made a small pyramid, a cardboard pyramid, and tried it with his used razor blade. Within hours the razor blade was again ready to be used. The shape had given sharpness again to the blade. Then he patented it. One razor blade can be used for your whole life: you just put it in the pyramid. Nothing is to be done; just the shape gives sharpness again – again and again. Now scientists say that every shape creates a particular milieu.A Buddha is sitting under a bodhi tree; the way he sits, the posture, the gesture, the very phenomenon of his being there without any ego is creating millions of vibrations around. They will go on spreading. Even when this Buddha has disappeared from this tree, those vibrations will go on and on and on – they will touch other planets and other stars. Wherever a buddha vibration touches it is creative, it gives you a thrill, it gives you a new breeze.When sex energy is transformed your whole life becomes creative – independent, free, creative. Whatsoever you do, you create through it. Even if you do not do anything, even non-doing becomes creative. Just your very being creates much that is beautiful, that is true, that is good.Now the story: The old monk who says to the younger: “This is against the rules, you should not have touched the girl,” is not only saying so because of the rules. Many things are implied. He is rationalizing; he is feeling jealous. And this is how the human mind works – you cannot say directly that you are feeling jealous.The girl, a beautiful girl, was standing near the river. The sun was setting, down and down, and the girl was afraid. Then came this old monk who was going to his monastery. He looked at the girl – because it is very difficult for a monk to miss a girl and not to look at her – very difficult for a monk, he is so much obsessed with women. He is fighting hard. He is constantly aware that the enemy is there in the woman. You can miss a friend but you cannot miss an enemy – you have to see him. If you pass down the street and the enemy is there, it is impossible not to see him. Friends can be passed without even becoming aware that they are there. But enemies, no – because with the enemy is the fear. And a beautiful girl, standing alone, nobody else; and the girl wanted somebody to help her – the river was unknown and she was afraid to cross.This old man must have tried to close his eyes, must have tried to close his heart, must have tried to close his sex center, because that is the only protection against the enemy. He must have hurried, he must have avoided looking back. But when you avoid, you look; when you try not to look, you are looking. His whole mind was filled with the girl. His whole being was around the girl. He was crossing the river, but he was not aware of the river now – he could not be. He was going to the monastery but he was not interested in the monastery; the whole interest was left behind.Then suddenly he remembers that his colleague, another young monk, is coming. They had been on a begging tour. He looks back, and not only is the young monk there, but the young monk is carrying the girl on his shoulders. This must have created a deep jealousy in the old man. This is what he would like to have done, but because of the rules he couldn’t do it. But he must take revenge. Then they walked in silence for miles, and at the monastery gate the old man suddenly said: “This was not good – this is against the rules.”That silence was false. For all those miles together, the old man was thinking how to take revenge, how to condemn this young man. He was continuously obsessed; otherwise nothing happens so suddenly. Mind is a continuity. For these two or three miles he was continuously thinking what to do, and now he speaks. It is not sudden. Inside there has been a current, a running current. And he says: “This is not good, it is against the rules, and I will have to report it to the abbot, to the chief of the monastery, to the master. You have broken a rule, and a very basic rule, that no monk should touch a woman. And you have not only touched her, you have carried her on your shoulders.”The young monk must have felt amazed. So sudden – because there was no girl now, no river, nobody carrying her. The whole thing has happened in the past. For three miles they have been completely silent. And the young monk said: “I have left that girl on the bank of the river but you are still carrying her.”This is a deep insight. You can carry things which you are not carrying; you may be burdened with things which are not there; you may be crushed by things which don’t exist. The old monk is on the path of repression. The young monk is just a symbol of an effort toward transformation, because transformation accepts the woman, the man, the other, because transformation has to happen through the other, the other will participate in it. Suppression, repression, rejects the other, is against the other. The other has to be destroyed.This story is beautiful. The new monk is the way. Don’t become the old monk, become the new. Accept life as it is and try to be alert. This young monk must have remained alert while carrying the girl on his shoulders. And if you are alert, what can the girl do?There is a small anecdote: One monk is leaving Buddha. He is going on a tour to spread the message. So he asks Buddha: “What should I do about women?” Because that is always the problem with monks.Buddha says: “Don’t look at them.” This is the simplest way, just close yourself. Don’t look at them means just close yourself, forget that they are. Alas, the problem is not so easy. Had it been so easy then all those who know how to close themselves would have been transformed.One of Buddha’s disciples, Ananda, knows the problem is not so easy. For Buddha it may look easy – but this is the problem. You come with a problem to me; it may be easy for me, but that is not going to help. Ananda knows Buddha has replied casually: “Don’t look at them.” So easy for Buddha. Ananda says: “But it is not so easy. And, Bhagwan,” he asks, “If there is such a situation where we have to look, if we cannot avoid looking, then what is to be done?”So Buddha says: “Don’t touch.” A look is also a touch – through the eyes. You reach through the eyes and touch. That’s why if you stare at a woman for more than three seconds, she will become uneasy. Three seconds is the maximum limit allowed. It is allowed because in life we have to look at each other. But more than three seconds and the woman will become uneasy, that you are touching her. Now you are using your eyes as hands. So Buddha says: “Don’t touch.”But Ananda is persistent. Ananda has done such great work for the whole of humanity because he would always persist. He says: “Sometimes there are even situations when we have to touch. What do you say then? If the woman is ill or the woman has fallen in the street and there is nobody else to help and we have to touch. If the situation is such, then what should we do?”Buddha laughs and he says: “Then be alert.”The last thing Buddha says is the first. Closing the eyes won’t help, non-touching won’t help – because you can touch in imagination, you can see in imagination. A real woman is not needed, a real man is not needed. Just closing the eyes and you can have an imaginary world of women and men, and you can touch and you can see. Finally, only one thing can help: Be alert.This old monk cannot have heard the whole story, about Buddha’s three answers. He remained with the first two. He must have come near the girl. The young monk has understood the thing – be alert.Desire arises – be alert that the desire has arisen. The problem is not the girl, because how can the girl be your problem? She is her problem, not your problem. The desire arises in you, the desire for woman – that is the problem. The girl is not at all the question. Any girl, any woman would do the same. She is just a point of reference. Seeing the girl, the desire has arisen. To be alert means to be alert to this desire, that the desire has come.Now, a man who is on the path of repression will suppress this desire, close his eyes toward the object and run away. That is a run-away method.But where can you run? – Because you are running from yourself. You can run from the woman who is standing on the riverbank, but you cannot run from the desire that is arising within you. Wherever you go the desire will be there. Be alert that the desire has arisen. Don’t really do anything with the woman. If she asks: “Help me,” help her. If she says: “I am afraid and I cannot cross this river, carry me on your shoulders” – carry her. She is giving you a golden opportunity to be alert. Be thankful toward her. Just be alert, feel what is arising in you. What is happening in you? You are carrying the girl, what is happening in you?If you are alert, then there is no woman – only a little weight on your shoulders, that’s all. If you are not alert, then there is a woman. If you are alert, then it is just bones, a pressing, a weight. If you are not alert, then it is all that desire can create, the fantasy, the maya, the illusion. Carrying a girl on your shoulders, both are possible. If you lose alertness for a single moment, suddenly the maya is sitting on your shoulders. If you are alert, just a little weight, that’s all – carrying a weight.This young man crossing the river was passing through a great discipline. Not avoiding the situation – that is life, not avoiding it; passing through it with an alert mind. Many times he may have missed. Many times he may have completely forgotten. Then the whole illusion, the maya was there. Many times he may have recaptured his alertness again – when suddenly there was light and darkness disappeared. But it must have been beautiful to experience this alertness.Then he dropped the girl on the other bank and started walking toward his monastery, still alert – because it is not a question of whether the woman is there or not – the memory can follow. He may not have enjoyed the woman, her touch, while crossing the river – but he may enjoy it now in the memory.He must have remained alert. He was silent, his silence was true. True silence always comes through alertness. That’s why he says: “I have left the girl there, back at the river. I am not carrying her at all. You are still carrying her.” In the old monk’s mind things are continuing – and he has not done anything, he has not even touched the girl.So doing is not the question; it is mind, how your mind is functioning. Be alert and by and by energies are transformed. The old dies and the new is born.

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My Way The Way of White Clouds 01-15Category: RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS

My Way The Way of White Clouds 07 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The first question:Osho,Would you talk to us about our living partners – our wives, husbands and lovers. When should we persevere with a partner, and when should we abandon a relationship as hopeless – or even destructive? And are our relationships influenced by previous lives?Relationship is one of the mysteries. And because it exists between two persons, it depends on both. Whenever two persons meet a new world is created. Just by their meeting a new phenomenon comes into existence which was not there before, which never existed before. And through this new phenomenon both persons are changed and transformed.Unrelated, you are one thing; related, immediately you become something else. A new thing has happened. A woman, when she becomes a lover is no longer the same woman. A man when he becomes a father is no longer the same man. A child is born, but we miss one point completely – that the moment the child is born the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother never. And a mother is something absolutely new.Relationship is created by you, but then, in its turn, relationship creates you. Two persons meet, that means two worlds meet. It is not a simple thing but very complex, the most complex. Each person is a world unto himself or herself, a complex mystery with a long past and an eternal future.In the beginning only peripheries meet. But if the relationship grows intimate, becomes closer, becomes deeper, then by and by centers start meeting. When centers meet it is called love. When peripheries meet it is acquaintance. You touch the person from the without, just from the boundary, then it is acquaintance. And many times you start calling your acquaintance your love. Then you are in a fallacy. Acquaintance is not love.Love is very rare. To meet a person at his center is to pass through a revolution yourself, because if you want to meet a person at his center you will have to allow that person to reach to your center also. You will have to become vulnerable, absolutely vulnerable, open. It is risky. To allow somebody to reach your center is risky, dangerous, because you never know what that person will do to you. And once all your secrets are known, once your hiddenness has become unhidden, once you are exposed completely, you never know what that other person will do. The fear is there, that’s why we never open.Just acquainted and we think that love has happened. Peripheries meet and we think we have met. You are not your periphery. Really, the periphery is the boundary where you end, just the fencing around you; it is not you. The periphery is the place where you end and the world begins. Even husbands and wives who may have lived together for many years may be just acquaintances. They may not have known each other. And the more you live with someone, the more you forget completely that your centers have remained unknown.So the first thing to be understood is: don’t take acquaintance as love. You may be making love, you may be sexually related, but sex is also peripheral. Unless centers meet sex is just a meeting of two bodies, and a meeting of two bodies is not your meeting. Sex also remains acquaintance – physical, bodily, but still acquaintance. You can allow somebody to enter to your center only when you are not afraid, when you are not fearful.So I say to you that there are two types of living: One fear-oriented; one love-oriented. Fear-oriented living can never lead you into deep relationship. You remain afraid, and the other cannot be allowed – cannot be allowed to penetrate you to your very core. To an extent you allow the other and then the wall comes up and everything stops.The love-oriented person is the religious person. The love-oriented person means one who is not afraid of the future, one who is not afraid of the result and the consequence, who lives here and now.That’s what Krishna says to Arjuna in the Gita: “Don’t be bothered about the result.” That is the fear-oriented mind. Don’t think about what will happen out of it. Just be here, and act totally. Don’t calculate. A fear-oriented man is always calculating, planning, arranging, safeguarding. His whole life is lost in this way.I have heard about an old Zen monk. He was on his deathbed. His last day had come, and he declared that that evening he would be no more. So followers, disciples, friends started coming. He had many lovers; they all started coming. From far and wide people gathered.One of his old disciples, when he heard that the master was going to die, ran to the market. Somebody asked: “The master is dying in his hut, why are you going to the market?”The old disciple said: “I know that my master loves a particular type of cake, so I am going to purchase the cake.”It was difficult to find the cake, because now it had gone out of fashion, but by the evening somehow he managed. He came running with the cake. Everybody was worried – it was as if the master was waiting for someone. He would open his eyes and look, and close his eyes again. And when this disciple came, he said: “Okay, so you have come. Where is the cake?”The disciple produced the cake – and he was very happy that the master asked about the cake. Dying, the master took the cake in his hand, but his hand was not trembling. He was very old, but his hand was not trembling. So somebody asked: “You are so old and just on the verge of dying. The last breath is soon to leave you, but your hand is not trembling…?The master said: “because I never tremble, because there is no fear. My body has become old but I am still young, and I will remain young even when the body is gone.”Then he took a bite, started munching the cake. And then somebody asked: “What is your last message, master? You will be leaving us soon. What do you want us to remember?”The master smiled and said: “Ah, this cake is delicious.”This is a man who lives in the here and now: “This cake is delicious.” Even death is irrelevant. The next moment is meaningless. This moment, this cake is delicious.If you can be in this moment, this present moment, this presentness, this plenitude, then only can you love. Love is a rare flowering. It happens only sometimes. Millions and millions of people live with the false attitude that they are lovers. They believe that they love, but that is only their belief.Love is a rare flowering. Sometimes it happens. It is rare because it can happen only when there is no fear, never before. That means love can happen only to a very deeply spiritual, religious person. Sex is possible for all, acquaintance is possible for all – not love.When you are not afraid then there is nothing to hide; then you can be open, then you can withdraw all boundaries, and then you can invite the other to penetrate you to the very core. And remember, if you allow somebody to penetrate you deeply, the other will allow you to penetrate into himself or herself, because when you allow somebody to penetrate you trust is created. When you are not afraid the other becomes fearless.In your love, fear is always there. The husband is afraid of the wife, the wife is afraid of the husband. Lovers are always afraid. Then it is not love, then it is just an arrangement of two fearful persons depending on each other – fighting, exploiting, manipulating, controlling, dominating, possessing – but it is not love.If you can allow love to happen there is no need for prayer, there is no need for meditation, there is no need for any church, any temple. You can completely forget God if you can love, because through love everything will have happened to you: meditation, prayer, God, everything will have happened to you. That’s what Jesus means when he says: “Love is God.”But love is difficult. Fear has to be dropped. And this is the strange thing, that you are so afraid and you have nothing to lose.Kabir has said somewhere: “I look into people. They are so afraid, but I can’t see why – because they have nothing to lose.” Says Kabir: “They are like a person who is naked but never goes to take a bath in the river because he is afraid – where will he dry his clothes?” This is the situation you are in – naked, with no clothes, but always afraid about the clothes.What have you got to lose? Nothing. This body will be taken by death. Before it is taken by death, give it to love. Whatsoever you have will be taken away. Before it is taken away why not share it? That is the only way of possessing it. If you can share and give you are the master. It is going to be taken away. There is nothing which you can retain forever. Death will destroy everything.So if you follow me rightly, the struggle is between death and love. If you can give there will be no death. Before anything can be taken away from you, you will have already given it, you will have made it a gift.There can be no death. For a lover there is no death.For a non-lover every moment is a death, because every moment something is being snatched away from him. The body is disappearing, he is losing every moment. And then there will be death, and everything will be annihilated.What is the fear? Why are you so afraid? Even if everything is known about you and you are an open book, why fear? How can it harm you? Just false conceptions, just conditionings given by the society, that you have to hide, that you have to protect yourself, that you have to be constantly in a fighting mood, that everybody is an enemy, that everybody is against you.Nobody is against you. Even if you feel somebody is against you, he too is not against you – because everybody is concerned with himself, not with you. There is nothing to fear. This has to be realized before a real relationship can happen. There is nothing to fear.Meditate on it. And then allow the other to enter you, invite the other to enter you. Don’t create any barrier anywhere; become a passage always, just open, no locks, no doors on you, no closed doors on you. Then love is possible.When two centers meet there is love. And love is an alchemical phenomenon – just like hydrogen and oxygen meet and a new thing, water, is created. You can have hydrogen, you can have oxygen, but if you are thirsty, they will be useless. You can have as much oxygen as you want, as much hydrogen as you like, but the thirst will not go.When two centers meet a new thing is created. That new thing is love – it is just like water. The thirst of many, many lives is satisfied. Suddenly you become content. That is the visible sign of love; you become content, as if you have achieved everything. There is nothing to achieve now; you have reached the goal. There is no goal anymore, the destiny is fulfilled. The seed has become a flower – has come to its total flowering.Deep contentment is the visible sign of love. Whenever a person is in love he is in deep contentment. Love cannot be seen but the contentment, the deep satisfaction around him – his every breath, his every movement, his very being, content.You may be surprised when I say to you that love makes you desireless, but desire is with discontent. You desire because you don’t have. You desire because you think if you have something it will give you contentment. Desire is out of discontent. When there is love and two centers have met and dissolved and merged, and a new alchemical quality is born, contentment is there. It is as if the whole existence has stopped – no movement. Then the present moment is the only moment. And then you can say: “Ah, this cake is delicious.” Even death doesn’t mean anything to a man who is in love.So I say to you, love will make you desireless. Be fearless, drop fears, be open. Allow some center to meet the center within you. You will be reborn through it, a new quality of being will be created. This quality of being says: “This is God.” God is not an argument, it is a fulfillment, a feeling of fulfillment. You may have observed that whenever you are discontent you want to deny God. Whenever you are dissatisfied your whole being wants to say: “There is no God.”Atheism is not out of logic, it is out of discontent. You may rationalize it, that’s another thing. You may not say you are an atheist because you are discontent. You may say: “There is no God and I have got proof.” But that is not the truth. If you are satisfied, suddenly your whole being says: There is God. Suddenly you feel it. The whole existence becomes divine. If love is there you will be really for the first time in the feeling that existence is divine and everything is a blessing. But much has to be done before this can happen. Much has to be destroyed before this can happen. You have to destroy all that creates barriers in you.Make love a sadhana, an inner discipline. Don’t allow it to be just a frivolous thing. Don’t allow it to be just an occupation of the mind. Don’t allow it to be just a bodily satisfaction. Make it an inner search, and take the other as a help, as a friend.If you have heard anything about Tantra you will know that Tantra says: If you can find a consort, a friend, a woman or a man, who is ready to move with you toward the inner center, who is ready to move with you to the highest peak of relationship, then this relationship will become meditative. Then through this relationship you will achieve the ultimate relationship. Then the other becomes just a door.Let me explain it: if you love a person, by and by the periphery of the person disappears first, the form of the person disappears. You come more and more in contact with the formless, the inner. The form becomes, vague by and by, and disappears. And if you go deeper, then even this formless individual starts disappearing and melting. Then the beyond opens. Then that particular individual was just a door, an opening. And through your lover you find the divine.Because we cannot love, we need so many religious rituals. They are substitutes, and very poor substitutes. A Meera needs no temple to go to; the whole existence is her temple. She can dance before a tree and the tree becomes Krishna. She can sing before a bird and the bird becomes Krishna. She creates her Krishna around her everywhere. Her love is such that wherever she looks the door opens and Krishna is revealed, the beloved is revealed.But the first glimpse will always come through an individual. It is difficult to be in contact with the universal. It is so big, so vast, so beginningless, endless – from where to start? From where to move into it? The individual is the door. Fall in love.Don’t make it a struggle. Make it a deep allowance for the other, just an invitation. Allow the other to penetrate you without any conditions, and suddenly the other disappears and God is there. If your lover or beloved cannot become divine, then nothing in this world can become divine. Then all your religious talk is just nonsense. This can happen with a child. This can happen with an animal, your dog. If you can be in deep relationship with a dog, it can happen – the dog becomes divine!So it is not only a question of man and woman. That is one of the deepest sources of the divine, which reaches you naturally, but it can happen from anywhere. The basic key is this: that you should allow the other to penetrate you to your very deepest core, to the very ground of your being.But we go on deceiving ourselves. We think we love, and if you think that you love, then there is no possibility – because if this is love, then everything is closed.Make fresh efforts. Try to find in the other the real being that is hidden. Don’t take anybody for granted. Every individual is such a mystery that if you go on and on into him it is endless.But we get bored with the other – because just the periphery, and always the periphery….I was just reading one story.A man was very ill and he tried all types of “pathies”, but nothing would help. Then he went to a hypnotist and the hypnotist gave him a mantra, a suggestion to repeat continuously: “‘I am not ill.’ For at least fifteen minutes in the morning and fifteen minutes at night: ‘I am not ill, I am healthy.’ And the whole day, whenever you remember, repeat it.”Within a few days he started getting better. And within weeks he was absolutely okay. Then he told his wife: “This has been a miracle! Should I go to this hypnotist for another miracle also? Because lately I am feeling no sexual appetite and our sexual relationship has almost stopped. There is no desire.The wife was happy. She said: “You go” – because she was feeling very frustrated.The man went to the hypnotist. He came back, and his wife asked: “What mantra, what suggestion has he given now?” The man wouldn’t tell her. But within weeks his sexual appetite started returning. He started feeling desire again.The wife was very puzzled. She continuously persisted in asking, but the man would laugh and would not say anything. So one day she tried – when he was in the bathroom in the morning doing his meditation, that fifteen-minute mantra, she tried to hear what he was saying.He was saying: “She is not my wife, she is not my wife, she is not my wife.”We take people for granted. Somebody is your wife – relationship is finished. Somebody is your husband – relationship is finished. Now there is no adventure. The other has become a thing, a commodity. Now the other is not a mystery to be searched, the other is no longer new.Remember, everything goes dead with age. And the periphery is always old, and the center is always new. The periphery cannot remain new, because every moment it is getting old, stale. The center is always fresh and young. Your soul is neither a child, nor a young man, nor an old man. Your soul is simply eternally fresh. It has no age.You can experiment with it: you may be young, you may be old, just close your eyes and find out. Try to feel how your center is – old, young? You will feel that the center is neither. It is always new, it never gets old. Why? – Because the center doesn’t belong to time.In the process of time everything becomes old. A man is born – the body has started becoming old already. When we say that the child is one week old, it means that one week of oldness has penetrated into the child. The child has already passed seven days toward death, he has completed seven days of dying. He is moving toward death – sooner or later he will be dead.Whatsoever comes in the process of time becomes old. The moment it enters time it is already becoming old. Your body is old, your periphery is old. You cannot be eternally in love with it. But your center is always fresh, it is eternally young. Once you are in contact with it, love is an every-moment discovery. And then the honeymoon never ends. If it ends it was not a honeymoon at all – it was just an acquaintance.And the last thing to remember always is: in the relationship of love you always blame the other if something goes wrong. If something is not happening as it should, the other is responsible. This will destroy the whole possibility of future growth. Remember you are always responsible, and change yourself. Drop those qualities which create trouble. Make love a self-transformation.As they say in salesmen’s courses: The customer is always right. I would like to say to you: in the world of relationship and love, you are always in the wrong, the other is always right. And this is how lovers always feel. If there is love, they always feel: “Something is wrong with me,” if things are not happening as they should. And both feel the same way. Then things grow, then centers open, then boundaries merge.But if you think that the other is wrong, you are closing yourself and the other. And the other also thinks that you are wrong. Thoughts are infectious. If you think the other is wrong, even if you have not said it, even if you are smiling and showing that you don’t think the other is wrong – the other has got the point through your eyes, through your gestures, through your face. Even if you are an actor, a great actor, and you can just arrange your face, your gestures in such a way, then too the unconscious is continuously sending signals: “You are wrong!” And when you say that the other is wrong, the other starts feeling that you are wrong.Relationship is destroyed on this rock and then people become closed. If you say somebody is wrong, somebody starts protecting, safeguarding. Then closure happens.Remember always: in love you are always wrong. And then the possibility will open and the other will also feel the same. We create the feeling in the other. When lovers are close, immediately thoughts go jumping from one to the other. Even if they are not saying anything, they are silent, they communicate. Language is for non-lovers, those who are not in love. For lovers silence is enough language. Without saying anything they go on communicating.If you take love as sadhana, as inner discipline, then don’t say the other is wrong. Just try to find out: somewhere something must be wrong in you – and drop that wrongness. It is going to be difficult because it is going to be against the ego. It is going to be difficult because it will hurt your pride. It is going to be difficult because this will not be dominating, possessing. You will not be more powerful through possessing the other. This will destroy your ego – that’s why it is going to be difficult.But destruction of the ego is the point, the goal. From wherever you like to approach the inner world – from love, from meditation, from yoga, from prayer – whatsoever the path you choose, the goal is the same: the destruction of the ego, throwing the ego away.Through love it can be done very easily. And it is so natural. Love is the natural religion. Anything else is going to be more and more unnatural. If you cannot work through love, it will be difficult for you to work through anything else.And don’t think much about past lives, and don’t think much about the future. The present is enough. Don’t think that relationship is coming from the past – it is coming, but don’t think about it because then you will get more complicated. Make things easier.It is going on – from your past lives things have a continuity. So I don’t deny the fact – but don’t get burdened by it. And it will continue in the future, but don’t think about it. The present is already too much to solve.Munch the cake and say: “This cake is delicious.”Don’t think of the past and don’t think of the future; they will take care of themselves. Nothing is discontinuous. You have been in relationships in the past. You have loved, you have hated, you have made friends and you have made enemies. And that continues, known or unknown to you, it is always there. But if you start brooding about it, you will miss the present moment.So think as if there is no past, and think as if there is no future. This moment is all that is given to you. Work it out, as if this moment is all. Behave as if this moment is all and work out how you can transform your energies into a loving phenomenon – this very moment.People come to me and they ask – they want to know about their past lives. They had past lives, but it is irrelevant. Why this inquiry? What are you going to do about the past? Nothing can be done now. The past is past and it cannot be undone. You cannot change it. You cannot go back. That’s why nature, in its wisdom, doesn’t allow you to remember past lives; otherwise you would go mad.You may be in love with a girl. If you suddenly become aware that that girl was your mother in your past life, things will become very complicated. Then what to do? That girl has been your mother in a past life, and now making love to her will create guilt. Not making love to her will also create guilt, because you love her.That’s why I say nature in its wisdom never allows you to remember – unless you come to a point where it can be allowed. When you become so meditative that nothing disturbs you, then the gates open and all your past lives are before you. But they open only as an automatic mechanism; sometimes that mechanism doesn’t work. By accident some children are born who can remember, but their lives are destroyed.One girl was brought to me a few years ago. She remembered her past two lives. She was only thirteen at that time, but if you looked in her eyes they looked about seventy – because she remembered seventy years, two past lives. Her body was thirteen years old, but her mind was seventy years old. She couldn’t play with other children – how can an old woman of seventy play with children? She would talk and behave like an old woman. And she was burdened, the worries of all those years in her mind. She remembered so accurately that her two past families could be found. One was in Assam, the other in Madhya Pradesh. When she came in contact with her old families, she became so much attached to them that it became a problem – where should she live now?I told the parents: “leave the girl with me for at least three weeks. I will make an effort to help her forget, because this girl’s life will be a perversion. She cannot fall in love with somebody – she is too old.” Your oldness is concerned with your memory. If the memory span is of seventy years, then you feel like seventy. And she seemed so tortured – her face, the features, all tortured. She seemed so ill at her center – uneasy, uncomfortable. Everything seemed to be wrong.But the parents were enjoying the whole thing, because people started coming and the newspapers started reporting it. They were enjoying the whole thing. They wouldn’t listen to me and I told them: “This girl will go mad.”They never brought the girl to me again. But after seven years they came – the girl had gone mad. They said: “Now do something.” I said: “It is now impossible to do anything. Now only death will be a help to her.”You don’t remember because it would be difficult for you to manage. Even in this life you are making such a mess. Many lives remembered, you would simply go mad. Don’t think about it. It is irrelevant also.The relevant point is: be here and now and work out your way. If you can work it out through relationship, beautiful. If you cannot work it out through relationship, then work it out in your loneliness. These are the two paths. Love means working out your path through relationship. And meditation is working it out in your loneliness. Love and meditation – these are the two paths. Feel which will suit you. Then bring your total energies to it, and move on that path.The second question:Osho,Your words are so beautiful, and yet we feel there is also another communication happening when you are talking to us. Would you talk to us about silent communication, and how we can be more open to it.It is always there. While I am talking to you, I am also being to you. Talking is relating to you through the intellect, and being is relating to you with my totality. While you are listening to me, if you are really listening, then it is not only a listening to the words. Listening to me your mind stops, listening to me you are not thinking. And when you are not thinking you are open. When you are not thinking and your mind is not functioning you start feeling. Then I can overwhelm you, I can move and fill you. Words are used only as a device.I myself am not interested much in words. But I have to speak, because this has been my feeling: while I am speaking you become silent. If I am not speaking, then you are speaking within and you are not silent. If you are silent without my speaking then there will be no need to speak. and I am waiting for that moment when you can just sit by my side, just sit near me, not thinking. Then there will be no need to talk – because talk is partial. Then I can come in my totality to you, directly, no need for any mediating words.But if I tell you to sit silently near me, you will not be able to sit silently. You will go on chattering, you will go on talking within, an inner talk will continue. To stop your inner talk I have to talk to you, so while I am talking you are engaged. My talking is just like a toy given to a child. He goes and plays with the toy and becomes silent, absorbed. I give you my words as toys. You play with them, and while you are playing with them you are so absorbed that you become silent. Whenever silence happens I can flow into you.Words can be beautiful but they can never be true. Beauty is an aesthetic value. You can enjoy it, just like a beautiful painting, but nothing much will happen out of that enjoyment. It is good as far as it goes. But words are never true – they cannot be by their very nature. Truth can be communicated only in silence. But this is the paradox: all those who have insisted that truth can be communicated only in silence, they have all used words. This is a shame, but nothing can be done about it. Words have to be used to make you silent. While listening to me you become silent. That silence is significant, and that silence will give you glimpses of truth.Even if you have glimpses of truth through my words, that glimpse comes through your silence, not through my words. Even if you feel absolutely certain that whatsoever I am saying is true, that feeling of absolute certainty comes through your silence, not through my words. Whenever you are silent truth is there. Whenever you are chattering inside, the monkey-chatter goes on inside, you miss the truth which is always present.Whatsoever I do – talk to you, help you to meditate with me, force you into a catharsis, or persuade you to dance, to celebrate – whatsoever I do, there is only one aim: somehow to help you to become silent. Whenever you are silent doors are open; you are in the temple. How you become silent is not relevant. You become silent and then I am within you, you are within me. Silence knows no boundaries. In silence love is happening. I have become a lover to you; you have become a lover to me. In silence all that is significant happens. But to bring silence is a problem, arduous.So I am not much interested in what I say to you. I am interested in what happens to you while I am saying anything – x, y, z. Sometimes I go on contradicting myself. Today I say something, tomorrow I will say something else, because what I say is not the point. My talking is just like poetry. I am not a philosopher. I may be a poet but I am not a philosopher. Tomorrow I will say something else, the day after tomorrow something else. That is not the point. My sayings may contradict, but I am not contradictory – because today I say something and you become silent; tomorrow I say something absolutely contradictory and you become silent; the day after tomorrow I again say something absolutely contradictory – to all that I have said – but you become silent.Your silence is my consistency. I am consistent, constantly consistent – contradicting on the surface, but the inner current remains the same.And remember: if I say the same thing every day to you, you will not be silent. Then you will get bored and your inner talk will start. If I go on saying the same thing it will become old. When it is old you need not listen to it, or even without listening you know what I am saying, so you can continue your inner talk. I have to be inventive, saying things, shocking you sometimes. But one inner consistency remains: that is to create silence in you – because then I can be with you and you can be with me. The love, the truth can flower there.Whenever there is silence, truth flowers.Truth is a flowering of silence.

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My Way The Way of White Clouds 01-15Category: RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS

My Way The Way of White Clouds 08 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The first question:Osho,I feel that through developing an attitude of endurance toward difficulties, I have become resigned to much of life. This resignation feels like a weight pushing against my effort to become more alive in meditation. Does this mean that I have suppressed my ego, and that I must find it again before I can really lose it?It is one of the greatest problems. It will appear very paradoxical, but this is true – before you can lose your ego, you must attain it. Only a ripe fruit falls to the ground. Ripeness is all. An unripe ego cannot be thrown, cannot be destroyed. And if you struggle with an unripe ego to destroy and dissolve it, the whole effort is going to be a failure. Rather than destroying it, you will find it more strengthened, in new and subtle ways.This is something basic to be understood – the ego must come to a peak, it must be strong, it must have attained an integrity – only then can you dissolve it. A weak ego cannot be dissolved. And this becomes a problem.In the East all the religions preach egolessness. So in the East everybody is against the ego from the very beginning. Because of this anti attitude, ego never becomes strong, never comes to a point of integration from where it can be thrown. It is never ripe. So in the East it is very difficult to dissolve the ego, almost impossible.In the West the whole Western tradition of religion and psychology propounds, preaches, persuades people to have strong egos – because unless you have a strong ego, how can you survive? Life is a struggle; if you are egoless you will be destroyed. Then who will resist? Who will fight? Who will compete? And life is a continuous competition. Western psychology says: Attain to the ego, be strong in it.But in the West it is very easy to dissolve the ego. So whenever a Western seeker reaches an understanding that ego is the problem he can easily dissolve it, more easily than any Eastern seeker. This is the paradox – in the West ego is taught, in the East egolessness is taught. But in the West it is easy to dissolve the ego, in the East it is very difficult.This is going to be a hard task for you, first to attain and then to lose – because you can lose only something which you possess. If you don’t possess it, how can you lose it? You can be poor only if you are rich. If you are not rich your poverty cannot have that beauty which Jesus goes on preaching: “Be poor in spirit.” Your poverty cannot have that significance which Gautam Buddha has when he becomes a beggar.Only a rich man can become poor, because you can lose only that which you have. If you have never been rich, how can you be poor? Your poverty will be just on the surface, it can never be in the spirit. On the surface you will be poor, and deep down you will be hankering after riches. Your spirit will hanker after riches, it will be an ambition, it will be a constant desire to attain riches. Only on the surface will you be poor. And you may even console yourself by saying that poverty is good.But you cannot be poor – only a rich man, a really rich man, can be poor. Just to have riches is not enough to be really rich. You may still be poor. If the ambition is still there, you are poor. What you have is not the point. If you have enough then the desire disappears. When you have enough riches the desire disappears. Disappearance of the desire is the criterion of “enoughness.” Then you are rich – you can drop it, you can become poor, you can become a beggar like Buddha. And then your poverty is rich; then your poverty has a kingdom of its own.The same happens with everything. The Upanishads or Lao Tzu or Jesus or Buddha – they all teach that knowledge is useless. Just getting more and more knowledgeable is not much help. Not only is it not much help, it can become a barrier. Knowledge is not needed, but that doesn’t mean you should remain ignorant. This ignorance will not be real. When you have gathered enough knowledge and you throw it, then ignorance is attained. Then you really become ignorant – like Socrates who can say: “I know only one thing, that I don’t know anything.” This knowledge, or this ignorance – you can call it whatever you like – is totally different, the quality is different, the dimension has changed.If you are simply ignorant because you have never attained to any knowledge your ignorance cannot be wise, it cannot be wisdom – it is simply absence of knowledge. And the hankering will be inside: How to gain more knowledge? How to gain more information?When you know too much – you have known the scriptures, you have known the past, the tradition, you have known all that can be known – then suddenly you become aware of the futility of it all. Suddenly you become aware that this is not knowledge, this is borrowed. This is not your own existential experience, this is not what you have come to know. Others may have known it, you have simply gathered it. Your gathering is mechanical; it has not arisen out of you, it is not a growth. It is just rubbish gathered from other doors, borrowed, dead.Remember, knowing is alive only when you know, when it is your immediate, direct experience. But when you know from others it is just memory, not knowledge. Memory is dead. When you gather much – the riches of knowledge, scriptures, all around you, libraries condensed in your mind, and suddenly you become aware that you are just carrying the burden of others. Nothing belongs to you, you have not known – then you can drop it, you can drop all this knowledge. In that dropping a new type of ignorance arises within you. This ignorance is not the ignorance of the ignorant, this is how a wise man is, how wisdom is.Only a wise man can say: “I don’t know.” But in saying that he doesn’t know, he is not hankering after knowledge, he is simply stating a fact. And when you can say with your total heart: “I don’t know,” in that very moment your eyes become open, the doors of knowing are open. In that very moment when you can say with your totality that you don’t know, you have become capable of knowledge. This ignorance is beautiful, but it is attained through knowledge. It is poverty attained through richness. And the same happens with ego – you can lose it if you have it.When Buddha comes down from his throne, becomes a beggar – what is the necessity for Buddha? He was a king, enthroned, at the peak of his ego – why this extreme, moving down from his palace to the streets, becoming a beggar? But Buddha has a beauty in his begging. The earth has never known such a beautiful beggar, such a rich beggar, such a kingly beggar, such an emperor.What happened when he stepped down from his throne? He stepped down from his ego. Thrones are nothing but symbols, symbols of the ego, of power, prestige, status. He stepped down and then egolessness happened. This egolessness is not humbleness; this egolessness is not humility. You may find many humble people, but under their humility subtle egos are functioning.It is said that once Diogenes came to visit Socrates. Diogenes lived like a beggar; he always wore dirty clothes with many patches and holes. Even if you presented him with a new dress he would not use it – first he would make it dirty, old, torn, and then he would use it. He came to visit Socrates, and he started talking about egolessness. But Socrates’ penetrating eyes must have come to realize that this man was not an egoless man. The way he was talking about humility was very egoistic. Socrates is reported to have said: “Through your dirty clothes, through the holes in your clothes, I cannot see anything else but the ego. You talk of humility, but that talk comes from a deep center of the ego.”This will happen, this is how hypocrisy happens. You have the ego, you hide it through the opposite; you become humble on the surface. This surface humbleness cannot deceive anyone. It may deceive you, but it cannot deceive anyone else. From the holes of the dirty dresses your ego goes on peeping. It is always there. This is a self-deception and nothing more. Nobody else is deceived. This happens if you start throwing the unripe ego.What I teach will look contradictory but it is true to life. Contradiction is inherent in life. So I teach you to be egoists so that you can become egoless. I teach you to be perfect egoists. Don’t hide it, otherwise hypocrisy will be born. And don’t struggle with the unripe phenomenon. Let it ripen – and help it, bring it to a peak. Don’t be afraid – there is nothing to be afraid of. This is how you will come to realize the agony of the ego. When it comes to its peak, then you will not need a Buddha or me to tell you that the ego is hell. You will know it, because the peak of the ego will be the peak of your hellish experiences, it will be a nightmare. And then there is no need for anybody to tell you to drop it. It will be difficult to carry it on.One reaches to knowledge only through suffering. You cannot throw anything just by logical argument. You can throw something only when it has become so painful that it cannot be carried any further. Your ego has not become that painful yet – hence you carry it. It is natural. I cannot persuade you to drop it. Even if you feel persuaded you will hide it, that’s all.Nothing unripe can be thrown. Unripe fruit clings to the tree and the tree clings to the unripe fruit. If you force it to separate, a wound is left behind. And that scar will continue, the wound will always remain green and you will always feel hurt. Remember, everything has a time to grow, to be ripe, to fall down into the earth and dissolve. Your ego also has a time. It needs maturity.So don’t be afraid of being egoists. You are, otherwise you would have disappeared long ago – you could not exist. This is the mechanism of life: you have to be egoists, you have to fight your way, you have to fight with so many millions of desires around you, you have to struggle, you have to survive.Ego is a survival measure. If a child is born without the ego he will die. He cannot survive, it is impossible, because if he feels hunger he will not feel: I am hungry. He will feel there is hunger, but not related to him. The moment hunger is felt, the child feels: I am hungry. He starts crying and making efforts to be fed. The child grows through the growth of his ego.So to me, ego is part of natural growth. But that doesn’t mean that you have to remain with it forever. It is a natural growth, and then there is a second step when it has to be dropped. That too is natural. But the second step can be taken only when the first has come to its crescendo, its climax, when the first has reached its peak.So I teach both: I teach ego-ness and I teach egolessness.First be egoists, perfect egoists, absolute egoists, as if the whole of existence exists for you and you are the center; all the stars revolve around you and the sun rises for you; everything exists for you, just to help you to be here. Be the center, and don’t be afraid, because if you are afraid then you will never be ripe. Accept it. It is part of growth. Enjoy it and bring it to a peak.When it comes to a peak, suddenly you will become aware that you are not the center. This has been a fallacy, this has been a childish attitude. But you were a child, so nothing is wrong in it. Now you have become mature, and now you see that you are not the center.Really, when you see that you are not the center, you also see there is no center in existence – or everywhere is the center. Either there is no center and existence exists as a totality, a wholeness without any center as a control point, or every single atom is a center.Jacob Bohme has said that the whole world is filled with centers, every atom is a center, and there is no circumference – centers everywhere and circumference nowhere. These are the two possibilities. Both mean the same, only the wording is different and contradictory. But first become a center.It is like this: you are in a dream; if the dream comes to a peak it will be broken. Always it happens – whenever a dream comes to a climax it is broken. And what is the climax of a dream? The climax of a dream is the feeling that this is real. You feel this is real, not a dream, and you go on and on and on and on to a higher peak and the dream becomes almost real. It can never become real; it becomes almost real. It comes so close to reality that now you cannot go further, because one step more and the dream will become real – and it cannot become real because it is a dream. When it comes so close to reality sleep is broken, the dream is shattered, you are fully awake.The same happens with all types of fallacies. Ego is the greatest dream. It has its beauty, its agony. It has its ecstasy, its agony. It has its heavens and hells, both are there. Dreams are sometimes beautiful and sometimes nightmares, but both are dreams.So I don’t tell you to come out of your dream before the time has come. No, never do anything before the time. Allow things to grow, allow things to have their time so that everything happens naturally. Ego will drop. It can drop of its own accord also. If you simply allow it to grow and help it to grow, there will be no need to drop it.This is very deep, because if you drop it, ego has remained inside. Who will drop it? If you think you will drop it you are the ego, so whatsoever you drop will not be the real thing. The real thing will be preserved and you will have thrown something else. You cannot make yourself egoless. Who will do it? It happens, it is not a doing. You grow into ego and a point comes when the whole thing becomes so hellish that the dream is broken. Suddenly you see the goose is out – it has never been in the bottle. You have never been an ego. It was just a dream around you. A necessary dream, I say, so I don’t condemn it – it is a necessary part of growth.In life everything is necessary. Nothing is unnecessary, nothing can be unnecessary. Whatsoever has happened had to happen. Whatsoever is happening is happening because of certain deep causes. You need it to remain in the fallacy. It is just a cocoon that helps you, protects you, helps you to survive. But one need not be in the cocoon forever. When you are ready break the cocoon, come out. The ego is the shell of the egg, it protects you. But when you are ready, break the shell, come out of the egg. The ego is the shell. But wait. Hurry will not be of much help; haste will not help – it may hinder. Allow time, and don’t condemn it – because who will condemn it?Go to the so-called saints – they talk of humbleness, humility. Look into their eyes: and you will not find such refined egos anywhere else. Now their egos have taken the garb of religion, yoga, sainthood – but the ego is there. They may not be collecting riches, they may be collecting followers. The coins have changed and they go on counting – how many followers…?They may not be after the things of this world, they are after the things of that world, but this or that, both are worlds. And they may be even more greedy, because they say these temporary things, these momentary things of this world, consist of momentary pleasures – and they want eternal pleasures. Their greed is supreme. They cannot be satisfied with momentary pleasures, they want eternal pleasures. Unless something is eternal they are not gratified. Their greed is deep, their greed is absolute, and greed belongs to the ego. Greed is the hunger of the ego.So it happens sometimes that saints are more egoistic than sinners, and then they are far away from the divine. And sometimes sinners can attain to God more easily than those so-called saints, because ego is the barrier. This has been my experience, that sinners can drop their egos more easily than saints, because sinners have never been against the ego. They have been feeding it, they have been enjoying it, they have lived with it totally. And saints have always been fighting it, so they never allowed it to become ripe.So this is my attitude: Ego has to be dropped, but it may take a long waiting – and you can drop it only if you cultivate it. This is the arduousness of the whole phenomenon, because the mind says: “If we have to drop it, then why cultivate it?” The mind says: “When we have to destroy it, then why create it?” If you listen to the mind you will be in trouble. Mind is always logical and life is always illogical, so they never meet. This is simple logic, ordinary mathematics, that if you are to destroy this house, then why build it? Why this whole trouble? Why this effort and waste of your time and energy? The house is not there, so why build it and then destroy it?The house is not the point really – you are the point. Building the house you will change, and then destroying the house you will change completely, you will not be the same – because creating the house, the whole process of it will prove a growth for you. Then when the house is ready you pull it down. That will be a mutation.Mind is logical and life is dialectical. Mind moves in a simple line and life moves always jumping from one pole to another, from one thing to the very opposite. Life is dialectical. Create, and then life says: “Destroy! Be born,” and then life says: “Die! Attain,” and then life says: “Lose! Be rich,” and then life says: “Become poor! Be a peak, an Everest of the ego, and then become an abyss of egolessness.” Then you have known both – the illusory and the real, the maya and the brahman.Almost every day it happens, somebody comes to be initiated into sannyas and then his mind starts functioning and he says to me: “Wearing orange will make me more egoistic because then I will feel that I am somebody different, distinct – I am a sannyasin, one who has renounced. So wearing orange will make me more egoistic,” he says, and I say to him: “Become! Become egoistic, but consciously.”Ego is a disease if you are unconscious of it, if you hide it in the unconscious. Ego is a game if you are conscious of it. You can enjoy it. You can play it. Be conscious, mindful – and play the game. A game is not bad, but when you forget that it is a game and become too serious then problems arise.So I say sannyas is not serious; it is a game – a religious game, of course. It has its own rules, because every game must have rules; without rules no game can be played. Life can be without rules, but games cannot be.If somebody says: “I am not going to follow this rule,” then you cannot play the game. You play cards, then you follow rules. You never say: “These rules are just arbitrary, artificial, why can’t we change them?” You can change them, but then the game will be difficult. And if every individual follows his own rules, then the game is impossible.Life is possible! You can play as you like because life never believes in rules – it is beyond rules. But games have rules. So Remember, wherever you see rules, know immediately this is a game. This is the criterion: wherever you see rules, immediately know this is a game, because games exist through rules.So if I say: “Wear orange, wear the mala” – this is a game, obviously. Play it as well as you can – and don’t be serious about it, otherwise you miss the point. Be egoists – perfect, cultivated, refined. Go on working on your ego and make it a beautiful statue, because before you give it back to existence it must be something worth giving, it must be a present.The second question:Osho,You have said that much energy is needed to achieve the inner alchemy. Would you talk to us about energy: how can we build it up, and how can we retain it? In what ways do we lose it, and can we gain it from outside sources?The first thing: you are part of an infinite energy, a wave in an infinite ocean. If you can remember this you never lose energy, because an infinite source is always available. You are just a wave, and deep down the ocean is hidden.You are born – who gives you birth? Who gives energy to you to move into the body? Who gives energy to the body to become an automatic, delicate mechanism, an organism? For seventy years or eighty years, or even a hundred years, the body continues being alive. And now scientists say that death is an accident, the body can continue infinitely. Scientists say there is no necessity for death to exist. It exists because we have not been able to use the infinite energy that is around us.So the first thing to remember is: you are part of an infinite energy. Remember it continuously – and feel it. Moving, walking, eating, sleeping – feel that you are infinite. This is what the Upanishads say: always feel you are the brahman, the eternal. If you can feel this more and more, you will become aware that you are not losing any energy. The source becomes available. You become a vehicle. Then do whatsoever you want to do. By doing, nobody loses energy.This is one of the fallacies of the human mind, that if you do something you lose energy. No. You have this idea that by doing something you are losing energy. You lose energy by having that idea, not by doing. Otherwise, through doing you can gain energy – if you have the idea. If you don’t have any idea, then also no energy is lost.When people are retired they start thinking that now they have less energy so they must rest and relax more; they should not do anything, otherwise their energy is lost. And then they die sooner than they would have died. Statistics say that the life span is reduced by ten years: a person who is working may have lived to seventy. Retired, he will die at sixty.Your body is a dynamo. The more you use it, the more energy is supplied from the infinite source. If you don’t use it there is no need for any new supply. Then by and by the supply stops. Be more active and you will have more energy. Be less active and you will lose much energy. Through activity energy is not lost, through activity you renew it. You use the energy, then from the source more energy becomes available.Look at the trees. The sun rises and from the leaves of the trees water starts evaporating. The moment a leaf starts evaporating water, new water circulates from the roots. It is a long process. The leaf releases water, then just near the leaf dryness is created. That dryness immediately sucks water from the twig; then the twig is dry, the twig sucks water from its branch. This goes on down to the roots; then the roots suck water from the earth. If the leaves think that if we evaporate water then we will die, we will feel thirsty – then this tree is going to die, because then new sources will not be available, then the roots will not be able to function.You also have roots in the infinite. When you use energy you suck energy from the infinite. Your roots start working. A very fallacious idea is in the human mind, that through activity we lose energy. No. The more active, the more energy you will have; the less active, the less energy – in all directions of life.Love more and you will have more love to give.Become a miser and think: “If I love more, then my love will be dissipated, and sooner or later I will not have any more love, so it is better to preserve it.” Then your love will die and you will not be able to love.Love and more love becomes available; use more and you have more. This is the law of life. You can eat the cake and have it also. Compassion, love, activity, whatsoever the dimension, the same rule applies. Whatsoever you want to be more, do the same. If you want to become an infinite source of love, then go on sharing love as much as you can. Don’t be a miser; only misers lose energy. And we are all misers, that’s why we always feel dissipated.But the idea can be dangerous, poisonous. If you have an idea, that idea works. Mind works through hypnosis. For example, just a few decades ago all over the world it was taught that you have a limited quota of sexual energy. You make love, energy is lost. That idea created sexual misers all over the world. The whole idea is fallacious. But if you have the idea in your mind, then whenever you make love you are continuously hypnotizing yourself that you are losing energy. Then energy is wasted. This idea becomes imprinted in your mind.When you make love you are so vulnerable, so receptive, you are so soft, so to speak, that whatsoever you are thinking goes deep into you. Then the consequences follow, and then you feel dissipated, you feel your energy is lost. And when you feel dissipated and your energy is lost, the old idea is strengthened still more. This becomes a vicious circle.Now some scientists, biologists say that sex is infinite energy. You cannot lose it, because every day it is being created by your food, by your breathing, by your activity. It is created; it is not a stored thing, that if you take a particular quantity out, that much is lost, you now have less. It is not that way. It is not something stored there, it is being created every moment. If you don’t use it, it goes stale and dead. If you don’t use it, it will make you stale and dead. Then the flow has stopped. But if you go on flowing, more and more becomes available to you.Jesus says somewhere – one of the most foundational things he says: “If you try to cling to life, you will lose it; and if you are ready to lose it, you will have it in abundance.”All over the world up to the 20th century children were taught that any leakage of semen in any way is very destructive: You may go mad, you may become crippled. At least your intelligence will be less, and the possibility of becoming crazy and eccentric and weak will be greater. This is absolutely false! But teaching it did make many people crazy, many people weak, many people stupid, mediocre – because of the idea, and this is such a dangerous idea. When a child has grown up and become mature, at the age of fourteen or fifteen, he starts losing semen. He cannot do anything about it. He will masturbate; or if morality is too much he will not masturbate but nocturnal ejaculations will occur, in the night he will lose semen. And all around the propaganda is going on – if you lose semen, everything is lost.In India they used to say – they still go on saying – if you go to old saints and their followers, they still go on saying – that one drop of semen means forty days of work for the body. So for forty days the body has to work, then one drop of semen is created. So if one drop is lost, forty days of life is wasted.Small children don’t know anything, and they are very receptive. So when the whole society teaches this, they become hypnotized by it. But they cannot do anything – the semen flows when the body is ready, the semen is bound to go out. This teaching is all around them; they cannot tell anybody that they are losing semen. They hide it. They suffer inside, they go through a constant torture. And then they think they are the exceptions, because they can’t know that everybody else is going through the same thing, because nobody talks about it, nobody speaks about it. And whosoever talks about it, talks against it. So every boy thinks that he is the exception, that only he is going through this. Soon he will start feeling dizzy. Soon he will feel that his intelligence is waning. Soon he will start feeling that he is going crazy, that his life is wasted.Many people go on writing letters to me saying that their lives are wasted because they have lost so much semen, they have lost so much sex energy. But the idea is very dangerous, and if the idea is there, the thing will happen. It happens through hypnosis.Any idea can become a help or a hindrance. It is difficult to live with the no-idea. So before you can reach to a mind which is thoughtless, when everything becomes available spontaneously – before that, it is better to have this idea in the mind – that you are part of an infinite energy, and by doing you are gaining, not losing. By giving you are attaining, not losing.Love, sex, activity, whatsoever – always remember and be filled with the idea that whenever you give something, from the roots more becomes available to you, more is given to you. Existence itself is the giver, the unconditional giver.If you are also a giver, your hands will always be empty and existence can give you more. If you are a miser, your relationship with the divine is cut. Then you live as a small wave, always afraid of losing.Live as the ocean. Be oceanic! Never think of losing, about anything. Nothing is lost, nothing can be lost. And you are not an individual, you only appear as an individual. The whole is joined to you; you are just a face of the whole, just a way the whole has happened. Don’t be worried about it. It is never going to end. This existence is beginningless and endless.Enjoy, celebrate, be active, and always be a giver. To be a giver so totally that you never think of retaining or holding anything is the only real prayer. To give is be prayerful. To give is to love. And those who can give, they are always given more.

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My Way The Way of White Clouds 01-15Category: RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS

My Way The Way of White Clouds 09 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The first question:Osho,You have said: Not in thousands and thousands of years has such an opportunity come to this earth. And you have also said that this age is like any other. You have said: Surrender to a stone and it will happen. And you have also said it is very dangerous to tread this path unless you do it under the guidance of a true master. You have said: Surrender and I will do the rest. And you've also said that you do nothing. For us here and now, and for those in the West who will read these words, would you talk to us some more about the master/disciple phenomenon.I contradict myself and do it knowingly. Truth is so infinite, so great, that no partial statement can contain it; the opposite has to be included immediately. The whole will always be contradictory, only the part can be consistent – because the whole has to consider the opposite also. The opposite is there. It exists.Philosophers can be consistent because their understanding is partial. They can be neat and clean, they can afford to be logical. I cannot afford it, because if I try to be consistent immediately the whole thing becomes untrue. The opposite has to be involved, the opposite has to be absorbed.For example, when I say: “Surrender and I will do the rest,” this is one part. Why am I saying it? I am saying it so that you can surrender totally. If you can feel this and trust this, that the remaining shall be done, your surrender can be complete.If you have a fear, a distrust, then even after surrender you will have to do something, then the surrender cannot be complete. If after surrender you have also to do something, then you have to retain yourself, you have to hold back – surrender cannot be total. And when surrender is not total it is not surrender at all. Surrender can only be total, you cannot surrender in part. You cannot say: “I surrender half” – because the half that has been retained will be against the surrender. It can only be retained against it.So surrender can only be total. It is just like a circle, a geometric circle. It cannot be half; you cannot draw a half circle. If you draw it you cannot call it a circle. A circle must be complete. Half, then it is something else, not a circle at all. Surrender can only be total. It is also a circle, a spiritual circle. You surrender from end to end. Nothing is left behind.To help this, I say: Surrender, and the remaining will be done by me. The emphasis that I shall do – you simply surrender – is to make your surrender total. But I know that if you have surrendered, there is no need for anything to be done, not even on my part. Surrender itself is the thing, nothing else is needed. The very phenomenon of surrendering is enough.Now no help is needed. Everything will be done by surrender itself. Surrendering means you are no more, surrendering means the ego has been dropped. Surrendering means that now the center has been dispersed; you exist – but without a center. If there is no center there is nothing to protect; the walls drop by themselves. If there is no one, your whole structure of defense disappears by and by; it becomes futile. You become an open space.This open space will do everything, this openness will do everything. The divine will pass through you unhindered. It can move through you, in and out – there is nobody to create any barrier. Surrendered, you become open to the divine forces. Everything happens spontaneously after that.The problem is surrendering. After surrendering there is no problem. So I am not needed to help you. Nothing is needed. That’s why I go on contradicting myself and I say I don’t do anything. There is no need. Now you can look at the whole.If I say I will not do anything, or I cannot do anything, there is no need – if I say only this, your surrendering will be impossible. You will be afraid – alone, moving into the unknown, nobody to help, nobody to guide, and this man says that he’s not going to do anything – how can you surrender totally? It will be difficult for you. If I say only that I will do everything without contradicting it, that will not be true, because, really, I am not going to do anything. So what to do now? How to say this wholly? There is only one way – to contradict consistently.The relationship between a master and a disciple is a very complex phenomenon – in a way very simple, otherwise very complex. It is simple because the relationship exists only on the part of the disciple. On the part of the master there is no relationship, because the master doesn’t exist. He is no longer there. He is a nobody. It appears to you that he is. This appearance will persist unless you surrender. Once you surrender, once you become a non-being, suddenly you will see that the master has never been there.The master is an absence. But the absence can be seen only when you have also become an absence. Only two absences meet. If you are present you go on projecting on the master that he is also. It is your projection, because your ego cannot see non-ego. Only the similar can respond to the similar. Your ego can only see egos everywhere. That is a way to protect your own self. Wherever you look, immediately you project an ego. Even the master will look like somebody, some ego. And you will find ways and means to prove to yourself that he is also an ego.Your rationalizations may be perfectly logical, but I say they are absurd, because you cannot see the phenomenon of non-ego as you are. Surrendered, suddenly you will see that the master is not there. If you are surrendered right this moment you will see this chair is empty. This man who is talking to you is not there. This man is just an emptiness. But only when you are absent will you be able to see his absence.Relationship cannot exist on the part of the master. If it exists he is not a master at all – he is still there. He cannot guide you, he can only misguide you. The teaching may be beautiful but he will misguide you, because whatsoever he does – I say whatsoever unconditionally – will be wrong. It is not a question of this thing being wrong and that thing being right. Whatsoever comes out of the ego is wrong. It may be virtue, it may be non-violence, it may be love – but whatsoever comes out of the ego is wrong. The ego perverts everything. The ego is the greatest perverter.If the master loves you and the ego is there, his love will become possessive. He will destroy you, he will kill you. The relationship will be poisonous. The ordinary relationship of love will be there. He won’t allow you to move to another master. He will fight, he will create barriers so that you cannot move from him – because he depends on you, his ego depends on you.The master with ego cannot exist without the followers. The followers are needed to feed the ego. The greater the crowd the better he will feel. If everybody leaves him he will simply be dead. Then the ego will be hurt. So-called masters go on fighting, competing with other so-called masters. It becomes a market. The whole competition of the market comes in.If the master has an ego that means he is not really a master – just pretending. Then his compassion will only be compassion in name. He will be cruel, he will torture you – of course, in such a way that you will feel this torturing is a discipline. He will force you to do things which are painful and unnecessary, but he will enjoy that pain. He will rationalize it. He will say: “Fast, because without fasting you cannot reach.” And when you fast and you are tortured, he will be happy. His compassion is just a hidden cruelty. In the name of compassion he is a sadist. Torturing, he will feel happy. Looking at you, seeing that you are sad, tortured, depressed, he will say: “Vairagya has been achieved” – you have become non-attached.The more you are sad, the happier he will be. If he sees a smile on your face, he will condemn it immediately. If he feels you are blissful, immediately he will find that something has gone wrong, because how can you be blissful in this world, in this wrong world? How can you be happy? Life is misery. How can you be ecstatic? You must be enjoying the senses somewhere, somehow. If you look young and fresh and alive, then you are too much attached to the body.He will start destroying your body. He is a sadist and a very subtle sadist, more subtle than a Hitler or Mussolini – because they kill immediately, their murdering is simple. This man will also murder you, but in installments – slowly, slowly. Go around this country: you will find many who have been murdering others.And remember: he can kill you only if he is also suicidal, otherwise not. If he enjoys good food he cannot force fasting on you – impossible. If he lives in a beautiful house he cannot tell you to live in a hut, in a cottage. So this is absolutely logical: if he wants to destroy you, he will have to destroy himself. The more he tortures himself the more he gets control over you, to torture you. He will fast, he will destroy his body. And the more he destroys his body, the more he has you around the neck. Now he can crush you completely and crush you with a good conscience.This is the phenomenon. With a wrong master, with an egoistic master, whatsoever happens goes wrong; his discipline becomes sadism, his own life becomes masochistic, his whole being becomes destructive. Ego is destructive. Then relationship can exist. With a wrong master relationship can exist, because on the part of the master there is also ego, and the ego wants to relate. The ego cannot exist without relating.But if there is a real master, relationship exists only on the part of the disciple. You love him. You obey him. He is not concerned with your obedience. He is not concerned with your love. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care. He cares infinitely, but there is no one who can be related. His care is natural – just as water flows downward his care flows toward you. Even if you are not there his care goes on flowing.Whatsoever – I am here with you. When you are not here then too I am the same, my being goes on flowing in the same way. When nobody is there I remain the same. When you are there I am the same. If I were to change then the ego would be there, because the ego exists in relationship. When you come, the ego comes in, becomes active and alive. When you go the ego becomes lazy, falls asleep. Then there is a change.With you or without you my emptiness remains the same. The care goes on flowing. The love goes on flowing. There is no lover. I cannot choose to love or not to love. If I can choose, then I am there. Relationship exists on your part, and that will continue to exist unless you surrender.Surrender is the greatest and deepest relationship – and the end of relationship also. If you surrender you have come to the deepest relationship that is possible. Beyond that, relationship disappears. Surrendered, you are no more, and the master has never been there. Now two empty spaces cannot be two. You cannot draw a line between two empty spaces. You cannot make boundaries around emptiness. Two emptinesses become one, and relationship cannot exist – because for relationship two are needed.So at the last moment of surrender – try to understand this – at the last moment of surrender, the greatest relationship that is possible exists. The deepest, the most intimate relationship exists – of course, on your part. The next moment, when you have surrendered, everything has disappeared. Now there is neither master nor disciple. And now the master and disciple both can laugh. They can have a belly laugh. They can have an uproarious laugh about the whole nonsense that was there just a moment before.The effort to help, the effort to get the help, the surrender, the constant struggle of the ego not to surrender, all the explanations, all the teachings – the whole thing becomes absurd. Your many, many lives become just like dreams. And now you can laugh, because you could have awakened any moment. You could have become enlightened, you could have come out of your dreaming at any moment in any life.Once you attain this enlightenment – because surrender is one aspect, enlightenment is another aspect, the other side of the same coin. It is the same door. When you enter, on the door is written – Surrender. When you have entered and you look back, on the door is written – Enlightenment. It is the same door! From one side it is the entrance; from the other side it is the exit. That’s why there is so much insistence on surrender – samarpan.The relationship is very complex, because only one exists. The other relater is not there. So all the games with a master are really your games. You are playing, it is a game of patience. The other is simply watching you play. You change tactics, you try this way and that way. You try in many ways, but unnecessarily, because the only effort which will be helpful is surrender. All else is just to prepare you to come to a moment of realization – when you see the whole absurdity of all effort and simply drop it.Many techniques are used. Those techniques are not really going to help. They are only going to help you to realize that you have to surrender. They will simply prove the futility of all effort. But you play a game. You go on changing your tactics. The ego employs every type of strategy – for the ego it is a life-and-death problem. It will deceive you, it will deceive you continuously. And the ego is a perfect rationalist. When it deceives it gives you reasons. You cannot argue with it, and if you try to argue you will be defeated.Hence the supremacy of trust and faith. Only a faithful one can surrender, and only a faithful one can reach to the very peak of existence, to the climax of bliss.One of the deepest psychologists in the West in the 20th century was Abraham Maslow. His whole life he worked around the phenomenon of peak experience. He devoted his whole life to the phenomenon of certain experiences which he called the peak, the ultimate, the final – the enlightenment of Buddha, or the luminous unconsciousness of Ramakrishna, or the ecstasy of Meera, Böhme, Eckhart – the peak, the highest that can happen to human consciousness.Trying to probe into this phenomenon, Maslow became aware that there are two types of people. One he calls peakers; the other he calls non-peakers. Peakers are those who are ready and open and receptive; non-peakers are those who are convinced that no peak experience is possible. In the non-peakers he includes scientists, rationalists, logicians, materialists, businessmen, politicians, all these types of people – practical types, so-called practical people, for whom the end is meaningless, they are means-oriented. These people create walls around themselves, and because of those walls they cannot have any ecstasy. When they cannot have any ecstasy, their original standpoint is confirmed. Then they create more walls, and that becomes a vicious circle.Then there are peakers – poets, dancers, musicians, madmen, impractical adventurers – these are peakers. They don’t bother, they don’t argue with their mind – they simply allow things to happen. And then even in ordinary life sometimes certain peaks are achieved.I have heard about one psychoanalyst who was being analyzed by another psychoanalyst. This first psychoanalyst who was being analyzed went for a holiday. From the holiday spot he telegrammed to his master, who was analyzing him: “I am feeling very happy – why?”This type of person cannot even accept happiness. They will ask: “Why? Why am I feeling happy? There must be something wrong.” They have a notion that happiness is not possible.The great psychologist Freud says that happiness is impossible for human beings. He says the very structure of the human mind is such that happiness is not possible, at the most you can be tolerably unhappy. If this is the attitude – and Freud has convinced himself, he has fortified himself with all types of arguments – if this is the concept, the notion, the idea, that happiness is impossible, then you are closed. Then happiness will not be possible for you. And when it is not possible, your original concept is strengthened, that you were right. Then there is less possibility for happiness. Then your original concept is strengthened still more, and there is even less possibility. A moment will come when you will say that unhappiness is the only possibility.If you are open and this is what a disciple should be – a peaker – and the greatest openness comes with surrender. But what should a peaker have? How should he structure his mind so that he is open? Less reason, more trust; less practicality, more adventure; less prose, more poetry. Be illogical; otherwise happiness is not for you.Logic is the enemy. Logic will prove that life is misery. Logic will prove that there is no meaning. Logic will prove that there is no God. Logic will prove that there is no possibility of any ecstasy. Logic will prove that life is just an accident, and in this accident there is no possibility. Between birth and death, if you can at the most manage somehow to exist, that’s enough.Logic is suicidal. If you go with it, finally it will give you the key to get out of life. Finally it will say that suicide is the most logical step to be taken, because life is meaningless. What are you doing here, repeating the same routine?In the morning getting out of bed – unnecessarily, because you have been getting up every day and nothing has happened. Why get up again? And then taking your breakfast – you have been taking it your whole life, and nothing has happened out of it. Then reading your newspaper, going to the office, and doing the same nonsensical things! Then coming back again, then eating your food, then going to sleep, then the morning again – a repetitious circle, leading nowhere, moving in a rut. If you are really logical your mind will say: “Commit suicide! Why prolong this whole nonsense?”Logic leads to suicide; faith leads to supreme life. And faith is illogical – it doesn’t ask, it doesn’t argue, it simply enters into the unknown, it tries to experience. Experience is the only argument for a man who has faith. He will try to taste it, he will try to experience it. Without experiencing he will not say anything. He will not decide, he will remain open.By one step, then another step, then another, faith leads to surrender – because the more you try with faith the more you know, the more you experience. Your life becomes intense. Every step says to you: “Go beyond it, much more is hidden beyond.” Beyond becomes the goal. Transcend everything and go beyond. And life becomes an adventure, a continuous discovery of the unknown. Then more trust is created.When every step taken into the unknown gives you a blissful glimpse, when every step taken into madness gives you a higher form of ecstasy, when every step taken into the unknown helps you realize that life doesn’t consist of the mind, it is a total organic phenomenon, your whole being is needed and called – then by and by your inner being becomes convinced. And it is not a logical conviction; it is your experience, it is experiential or you can say it is existential, not intellectual – it is total. Then a moment comes when you can surrender.Surrender is the greatest gamble. Surrender means putting the mind aside completely. Surrender means going mad. I say surrender means going mad, because all those who live in their logic and in their minds will think you have gone mad. To me it is not madness. To me madness, this type of madness, is the only courageous way of life. To me this madness is the deepest jump. To me this madness is all that a man is called to be. But to the logicians your trust will look like madness. This is one of the phenomena that has to be penetrated very deeply.All the great religions are born around some madman. A Jesus is a madman, perfectly insane. A buddha is a madman. But the people who gather around are not all mad. Many come who are not peakers, who are intellectuals. They are attracted to Jesus and to Buddha also. The very being of Buddha is so magnetic now, filled with so much infinite energy, that they are attracted. Their mind reasons that something has been attained by this man – but they are not peakers, they are non-peakers. Intellectually they become attracted. The very phenomenon of a buddha and his being becomes a logical argument to them. They listen to Buddha, they rationalize his sayings, they create metaphysics around them, then a religion is born. At the base is a madman, but in the structure are logicians. They are the contradictory people, absolutely contradictory, opposite to Buddha. They create the organization. They create Buddhism and the philosophies.Jesus is a madman, Saint Paul is not. He is a perfect logician. The church was created by Saint Paul, not by Jesus. The whole of Christianity was created by Saint Paul, not by Jesus. And this is one of the dangerous things that has been happening. And there is no way to prevent it. It is in the nature of things.If Jesus is born now, the church will deny him immediately. The church will not allow any madmen. Eckhart or Böhme, the church will deny them – they are madmen. They will be expelled from the organization. They will not be allowed because they can prove destructive. They say such things that if people listen to them and believe in them they will destroy the whole structure, the whole organization.Religion is born. At the base is a madman, and then it is taken over by the logicians who are the opposite. They create all organizations. Peakers give birth, and then the child is adopted by the non-peakers. So every religion at its birth is beautiful – but never again. Then it becomes ugly. Then, really, it becomes anti-religious.Whatsoever I am saying to you, you are fortunate – you are at the source, that’s why I say you are fortunate. And it happens only after thousands of years that you are near the source. It will not be so again. Even with my ideas it will not be so again. Sooner or later the logician will enter, the non-peaker will come. They are bound to come – they are already on the way. They will systematize everything, they will destroy everything. And then the opportunity will be missed. Then it will be a dead thing. Right now it is alive and you are near the source. That’s why I say you are fortunate.In your mind also both possibilities are there – the peaker and the non-peaker. If you allow your peaker, then you will surrender. If you allow your non-peaker, then you will listen to me, argue about it, rationalize about it, philosophize about it. Then either you are convinced by me, or not convinced by me. If you are convinced, you hang around me. If you are not convinced you leave. But in both cases you miss. Whether you hang around me or leave is irrelevant.If you are trying to be convinced intellectually you have missed. This can be done when I am dead. Right now something else is possible and can be done – and that is: allow your peaker, allow your trusting soul to adventure. Don’t make it a reasoning within you. Make it a jump. The source happens rarely, and very few people can take advantage of it. This has always been so; this will always be so. Around Jesus there were only a few people; around Buddha only a few people.And then for centuries they weep and they cry.When Buddha was dying many were crying and weeping. Only a few were sitting around blissfully – only a few. Those were the peakers who were sitting blissfully; they had become one with the source. They had become one with the Buddha; the disciple and the master had disappeared long ago and now there is going to be no death. Only a few – a Mahakashyapa, a Sariputra, they were sitting silently, enjoying. Even Ananda, Buddha’s chief disciple, was crying and weeping.Buddha opened his eyes and said: “Why are you weeping, Ananda?”Ananda said: “For many, many years I was with you and I missed the chance, and now you will be no more. What will happen to me now? You were here and I couldn’t attain. Now you will not be here. What will happen to me? Now how many lives will I have to wander?”Even if the source is available to you, you can miss. You can miss by not surrendering. Surrender, and the remaining I will do.The second question:Osho,Before you start talking, you smile. When you start talking, your smile disappears and you don't smile again until you've finished. Can you tell us about that?It is relevant, because to speak is such a torture and such a useless activity. It has to be done because there is no other way to bring you toward the silence that exists in me. You won’t listen to it; you can listen only to words. So I am smiling when I start talking, but while I am talking it is difficult to smile. It is such a torture and such a futile effort to say something which cannot be said, to talk about something which cannot be talked about, to go on continuously pointing with the fingers to the moon which cannot be fingered. But there is no other way, so I have to continue.By and by you will become able to listen to the nonverbal, to the wordless. By and by you will become able to listen when I am not talking. Then there will be no need – then I will be smiling continuously. So when I finish, I smile again – the torture is no more!

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My Way The Way of White Clouds 01-15Category: RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS

My Way The Way of White Clouds 10 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The first question:Osho,As you know the old Zen custom was that a monk should stay with his master for ten years before he went out on his own teaching. There is a Zen story about a monk who had completed his ten years and one rainy day the monk visited his master, Nan-in. After Nan-in had greeted him, he said to the monk: “No doubt you have left your shoes in the vestibule. On which side of your umbrella did you leave your shoes?” For a moment the monk hesitated, and through that hesitation realized that he was not in every-minute Zen.You have told us that life has a pulsation – in and out, yin and yang. Do we have to keep trying for every-minute awareness, or can we too pulsate with life, and at times let go of our trying?The first thing to be understood: awareness should be moment to moment, but it can be only when it has become effortless. With effort you will lose contact again and again, with effort you will have to rest. Effort cannot be continuous, it is impossible. How can you make an effort continuously? You will get tired and then you will have to relax. Every effort needs relaxation. So if awareness is through effort, then awareness cannot be a constant, continuous flow. There will be moments when you will have to lose awareness. Those will be the moments of relaxation from the effort.Life pulsates. Life always moves to the opposite. Effort, then you have to rest. Again you make the effort, then you have to rest. But there is an awareness which goes beyond life – the transcendental. Then there is no pulsation, but it is effortless, it is spontaneous.What happened to this monk, this disciple of Nan-in? The master asked: “Where have you left your shoes – on the right or on the left?” He hesitated. And he realized that in the moment of leaving the shoes he was not aware – otherwise he must have known where he had left them, on the left or on the right. His consciousness is not yet continuous. That shows only that his consciousness is not yet effortless. He has still to remember, consciously make effort. His mindfulness is still with a tension. He has not yet become mindful. So sometimes he succeeds, sometimes he fails.Nan-in is only asking: “Is your awareness now natural?” You need not manipulate it? You need not do anything about it? It is there – whatsoever you do it is there – or do you have to make an effort for it to be there? If the effort is there it is a strained thing, and a strained thing is bound to be unnatural. An unnatural awareness is not really awareness – it exists only on the periphery, not in you. If it exists in you there is no need to make any effort.What I am trying to say is: Effort is always on the periphery. You cannot touch the center through effort. You can do something on the periphery – you can change your behavior, you can change your so-called character. On the periphery, with effort, you can become a good man from being bad, you can become virtuous from being a sinner; you can even become a saint – but on the periphery, with effort.The center can never be touched and penetrated through effort – because no action can lead to you. You are already there! There is no need to do anything. You have simply to be silent, spontaneous, and then the center arises. It comes out of the clouds. There is a break, a gap. You suddenly realize your spontaneous awareness. You are awareness. It is nothing you do, it is nothing which has to be done – your very nature is awareness.Hindus have called it sat-chit-anand. They have used three words – sat, chit, anand. Sat means the existential, that which can never go into nonexistence. Sat means the true, which can never become untrue. Sat means the eternal – which was, which is, which will be. Chit means awareness, consciousness. That is your nature. You have always been conscious, you are conscious, you will be conscious. That consciousness cannot be taken from you, it exists at the very core of your being, not on the periphery. It is you, but you are not in contact with yourself. And anand means bliss, ecstasy. It is not that you have to achieve bliss – it is you. You have always been blissful, you cannot be otherwise; there is no possibility. You cannot change it.You will say this seems absolutely absurd – because we are in misery. You are in misery because you have become so much obsessed with the periphery. You have forgotten the center completely. You have become so much engaged with others, so much occupied with others, that the whole attention is focused on the other, and you have fallen into the shade, into the darkness.You are sat-chit-anand.The Zen master Nan-in is asking the disciple: “Have you now become alert to who you are? Are you now rooted in your nature?”If the disciple was really rooted in his nature, what would have been the case?The story is very difficult to understand. It is not a question of leaving the shoes on the left or on the right; that is not the point of the story. That seems to be the point, but it is not. The real point is that when Nan-in asked this the disciple hesitated – that is the real point. And in that moment of hesitation he was not aware that he was hesitating. If he had been aware that there was hesitation, he would have been accepted. At that very moment he lost awareness.You cannot deceive Nan-in. If you go to see Nan-in you can remember very well where you have left your shoes, it is not difficult. If Nan-in asks you: “Where have you left your shoes, on the left or on the right?” – And you can only give the answer: “on the right” – still you will lose. That is not the point, that is just a deception. Nan-in is diverting the mind just to see right now what is happening.In the very moment when Nan-in asked: “Where are your shoes, on the right or on the left?” the disciple missed. In that very moment he hesitated – and he was not aware of the hesitation. He started thinking. In that very moment that he became unaware, Nan-in looked into him. That question was just to divert the mind, it was just a deception.The disciple failed, so he cannot be sent to teach others. He is not yet ready, he is not yet aware. How can one who is not aware teach others? Whatsoever he is going to teach will be false. There are many teachers who can teach, and still they are not aware of their own selves. They can even be good teachers, efficient, artful, but that is not the point. They cannot be of any help.I was traveling in a train once. One small boy was being a nuisance. All the passengers in the carriage were troubled. He was running from this corner to that, toppling glasses, falling on people, and the father was very embarrassed. He tried many times to stop the boy, but he wouldn’t listen.When finally the father said: “Willy, if you don’t listen to me and if you don’t stop, I am going to spank you,” the boy still continued running. He went to the other end of the carriage and he said: “Okay, you spank me – but then I am going to tell the ticket collector how old I really am.”This father cannot be a teacher. Even a child is not going to listen to him. A teacher who is unaware of his own self cannot be a teacher. He cannot teach others what he has not himself attained.Awareness is something like an infectious disease. When a master is alert, aware, you become infected with his awareness. Sometimes, just sitting by the side of the master, you suddenly become aware – as if the clouds have gone and you can see the open sky. Even for a moment – but that becomes a deep change in the very quality of your being.Even not making any effort on your part, just being near a master who is a pool of silent awareness, suddenly you become silent. He touches you. The closed doors open, or as if on a dark night suddenly there is lightning and you see the whole. It disappears because it cannot be retained by you. If it is not attained by you, you will lose it – but you will never be the same again. You have known something, something that was previously unknown. And now this knowing will remain a part of you. There will arise a desire, there will arise a new ambition: to attain this, to make this permanent – because even for a moment it was so blissful, it showered so much happiness on you, so much joy.But if the master, if the teacher, is not himself aware, he can teach about awareness but he cannot teach awareness. And teaching about awareness is useless – it is verbal, it is a theory. You can learn the theory from him, but you cannot learn the fact. Hence, before this disciple leaves Nan-in, Nan-in must look into him – and this is a very different phenomenon.In the world of education a student is examined, but only his memory is examined, never he himself. Always his memory is examined – never he. Nan-in is not examining the memory of the disciple. He is not asking: “Where have you left your shoes, on the right or on the left?” He is not asking for a perfect memory, because where he left the shoes is now past. He is trying to see into the being of the disciple right now. He is not examining the memory but trying to look into the consciousness of this very moment. The past is not the question. The present, the presentness is the question.Just imagine that disciple sitting before Nan-in. Nan-in asks, and the disciple is lost in the past. He tries to think where he has left the shoes. He tries to think whether he can remember or not. He tries to think whether he has missed awareness or not. Right now he has become a confusion. His whole consciousness has become cloudy. He is no longer here. He is not in the presence of Nan-in, he has gone into the past, he has gone into thinking – he is not meditative. The hesitation, the thinking, the effort to try….You cannot escape Nan-in. He will see through you; he will see all the clouds, he will see you are not here, now. Then you cannot be allowed to teach. Then you cannot be sent out, because what will you teach? You cannot teach that which you have not got. You can pretend but that pretension will be dangerous, because if you pretend that you are aware and you are not, that pretension will become infectious. A pseudo-master creates pseudo-disciples, and then like ripples that pseudo-ness goes on spreading.The most dangerous sin that a man can commit is to pretend awareness. Even if you murder a man it is not such a great sin, because you cannot really murder. You can only destroy the body; the soul moves into another. You only destroy one game, another starts immediately. A murderer is not such a great sinner. But if you pretend that you are aware and you are not, if you pretend that you are a master and you are not, you are doing such harm, such infinite harm, that no sin can be compared to it – because others will get the pretension. They will start pretending, and then it will go on and on – just like when you throw a stone into a silent lake, ripples arise and they go on and on. One ripple creates another, pushes another, and it goes on and on to the very boundaries of the lake.This lake of consciousness has no boundaries. Once a ripple is created it will go on forever; it will continue forever. You will not be here, but your pretensions, your falsity, will continue and many will be deluded by it.A false master is the greatest sinner in the world. That’s why Nan-in won’t allow anybody to go and teach unless he has become enlightened himself. Then the very light that burns within you helps others to be alight. The very fire that burns within you makes others warm. The very life that has happened to you helps others to come out of their deadness.But remember: alertness, awareness or consciousness can be continuous only when it has become effortless. In the beginning effort is bound to be there because otherwise how are you going to start? You will make an effort, you will try to be mindful, you will try in every way to be conscious, but the effort will create a tension. And the more you make the effort, the more tense you will be. There will be tiny glimpses, but because of the tension the ecstasy will be missed. You have to pass through this state also, of making effort.One thing you will become aware of sooner or later: that whenever you make effort, awareness comes to you but it is a very tortured awareness, very nightmarish. It is very heavy, it sits just like a rock on your head. It is not joyful, it is not weightless, it is not dancing. But while making this effort, sometimes, suddenly you will become aware – when you were not making the effort. And that awareness will be light, joyful, dancing, ecstatic.This will happen only to those who are making efforts. While making efforts, sometimes, when you are not making effort, this glimpse will happen to you. Then you will become aware that through effort you cannot achieve that ultimate – it happens only through non-effort.To many meditators around me it happens. They come to tell me that while meditating in the morning, in the evening, nothing much is happening. But suddenly in the night or suddenly in the afternoon they are sitting, and something starts – and they were not doing anything. This will happen.Just as many times you forget some name and you feel it is just on the tip of the tongue; you become very much strained, you make every effort to bring it to consciousness. It is not coming, and the more you make an effort, the more you feel lost. You know that you know, continuously you know that you can remember. It is just around the corner but some barrier, something like a block is there, and the name is not coming to you – it may be the name of a cherished friend. And then the whole effort becomes so futile you leave it. You start reading a newspaper or go for a smoke, or you go in the garden for a walk, or you just start digging in the garden, and suddenly it pops up. Suddenly the name is there, the friend is standing there, the face is there.What happened? When you were making the effort you were so tense that very tenseness became the block; the very tenseness narrowed down the passage. The name wanted to come, the memory was knocking on the door, but the very tenseness became the closedness. That’s why you were feeling it was just on the tip of the tongue. It was! But because you were so tense, so worried about it, so anxious to bring it out, your anxiety became a block. When a mind is very anxious it becomes closed.All that is beautiful and true happens only when you are not anxious about it. All that is lovely happens only when you are not even waiting for it – not asking, not demanding. Then the mind has no blocks. That’s why it happens when you have forgotten it. Effort is needed, in the beginning effort is a must – futile, but still a must. The futility will be realized by and by. When you have glimpses, sudden glimpses, with the feeling that you were not making any effort and those glimpses have showered upon you, gifts from the divine, then you can leave the effort. Then leaving the efforts, more and more gifts will come.In the East we have always believed, and believed rightly, that enlightenment is nothing like an achievement. It is like a grace, it is a gift, it is prasad. God gives it to you, you cannot snatch it away from his hand.For a Western seeker this is very difficult to realize, because in the West in the last few centuries the whole human mind has been converted into a snatching thing. You have snatched everything from nature. Whatsoever secrets science knows are not given, they have been snatched. You have forced nature violently to open the doors of her mysteries. And because you have succeeded with matter you think that the same can also happen with the divine. That cannot happen, that is impossible. You cannot attack heaven, you cannot go there with bayonets. You cannot force the divine to open its heart to you because whenever you are forcing you are closed. That is the problem: whenever you are forcing you are closed, and if you are closed the divine cannot be revealed to you.When you are not forcing but floating like a white cloud, just roaming, not making any effort to reach anywhere, when there is no goal and no effort, when you don’t want to achieve anything and there is no straining for it – suddenly you are transported into a different dimension of being. When you are happy as you are, when you are happy with the world as it is, when you accept things as they are and you don’t want to change anything – you realize the doors have always been open. They were never closed, they cannot be closed. The divine mystery has always been near you. It was never very far. It cannot be because you are part of the divine. Wherever you go the mystery moves with you.It is not a question of searching and seeking; it is a question of remaining silent and allowing. When you seek you miss, because a seeker is always violent. When you search it will not come to you, because the mind that is searching is too preoccupied, it is not available. It is never here and now, it is always somewhere in the future – when the discovery will be made, when the research will be completed, when the seeking will come to an end. It is always somewhere in the end, it is not here. And the divine is here, so you never meet.A seeker never reaches.That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be a seeker. You will have to be in the beginning, there is no other way. In the beginning you have to be a seeker, you will have to seek and make all the efforts. Just by making all the efforts and becoming a mad seeker, you will realize that it happens only when you are in a non-seeking mind.Sometimes resting, it will come to you. Sometimes sleeping, it will descend on you. Sometimes just walking on the road it will be there. Sometimes just looking at the sun rising in the morning – not doing anything, just a passive awareness – just looking at the sun rising or the moon shimmering in a lake on a cold night, or a flower opening its petals, and you are just a passive awareness. Nothing is needed on your part. When a flower is opening, no help is needed from you.There are foolish people who will try to help. They will destroy the whole beauty of the flower, and the flower will never really open then. Even if you force it to open it will be a closed flower. The flowering has not happened, it is a forced thing. Anything forced never flowers. You are not needed to help the sun to rise. There are people who think that their help is needed. There are people who create much mischief because they think their help is needed everywhere.In real life, wherever reality is happening, nobody’s help is needed. But it is very difficult to resist the temptation because when you help you feel you are doing something. When you do something you create the ego. When you don’t do anything the ego cannot exist. In a non-doing moment the ego disappears. Looking at the sun rising, looking at a flower opening, looking at the moon shimmering in a cold lake, not doing anything – suddenly it will descend on you. You will find the whole existence is filled with the divine, your every breath is divine.With effort, reach to effortlessness.With seeking, reach to a state of no-seeking.With mind, arrive at no-mind.There are two types of people. To one type if I say make an effort, they make an effort, but then they don’t allow effortlessness. To the other type if I say it will happen only in effortlessness, they leave all effort. Both have gone wrong. Both have gone off the way.This is the rhythm of life – make effort so that you can be effortless also. Strain to the very end so that you can achieve moments of unstrained consciousness. Run as fast as you can so that when you sit, you really sit. Be exhausted in effort so when you rest, it is a real rest.You can rest with restlessness inside you. You can lie down on the ground, but the restlessness goes on inside. Then you are simply lying down, but it is not a rest. You may sit like a buddha and inside the child is running – the mind is working and functioning. Inside you are going mad, outside you are sitting in a buddha posture. You can be totally static outside, not moving, no activity, and inside the turmoil goes on. This won’t help. Finish the turmoil in effort. Run as fast as you can. Be exhausted! – Hence, my emphasis on Dynamic Meditation. It is both effort and effortlessness. It is both activity and inactivity. It is both running and then zazen – just sitting.Nan-in is looking into the disciple. Has he transcended effort? Has he come to effortlessness? Has consciousness become a natural, spontaneous thing to him? Is he unconfused? Is he clear like a clear blue sky? Then he can be a master, he can be allowed to go and teach others.Whenever the temptation comes to you to teach someone, remember this. If you want to say something to somebody, just say that it is about – about God, about awareness. Make the other aware that you have not achieved – you have heard. You have heard such beautiful things that you would like to share, but you have not achieved. Then you can be a help without any poisoning, without poisoning the other.Always remember – if you don’t know, you don’t know. Never pretend, not even negatively. Because you can simply remain silent, not saying that you have not attained. Even that is not good, because in silence the other may carry the feeling that you have known. Make it clear that you have not known it, but you have known persons who do know, you have heard it.In India there exist two types of scripture. One is called shruti, the other is called smriti. Smriti means memory and shruti means that which has been heard. The literature that is called smriti belongs to those who have known themselves. It is their own. They have related their own memory, they have related their own experiences. Shruti is the second type of literature; it is from those who have been fortunate to be near those who have known – they have heard.Remember this always: if you have heard, then say that it is something you have heard, and it is so beautiful that even hearing it has become a treasure for you. Even hearing it has touched your heart and you would like to share. But this is just friendliness; you are not becoming a master. It is just a loving gesture, just sharing your happiness, but you are not sharing awareness. Unless you attain, unless you realize, unless it becomes your own, don’t try to guide anyone. That is violent. And when you have attained your very being will become a guidance.This disciple who came to the master Nan-in was from the very beginning taking a wrong step, because if he was ready Nan-in would have called him. It was not on his part to decide – “ten years are now complete and I should go and teach.” The whole thing was wrong. When he was ready the master would know before the disciple, because of course the master can be more observing than you ever can be of your own self.The master follows you even in your nights and in your dreams. He is like a shadow constantly watching what is happening, whether you are aware of his watching or not. And you will not be aware, because it is such a subtle thing.Whenever a disciple is ready the master will call him and tell him: “Now you go!” The disciple need not announce, and if the disciple decides to announce, that means he is not ready – the ego is there.This disciple wanted to be a master – every disciple wants it – and the very wanting becomes the barrier. Ten years were completed; he must have been calculating. He must have been a very cunning fellow – otherwise who will remember? What is the use of living with a master if you cannot forget time? What else are you going to forget? What is the hurry?This disciple is not surrendered. He is just waiting, calculating. Arithmetic is there, logic is there, and a fixed attitude toward things. He knows the history of the monastery, that in ten years’ time a disciple is ready and then he goes.But it depends. Every disciple will not be ready in ten years, some disciples will not be ready in ten lives, and some disciples will be ready in ten seconds. It is not a mechanical thing. It depends on the quality, the intensity of the consciousness of the disciple. Sometimes it has happened that just a look from the master and the disciple is ready. If he is open, if there is no barrier, if he is surrendered, then a single moment is enough. Even that is not needed, the thing happens timelessly.But if you are calculating, thinking: “When is it going to happen? I have waited enough. One year is lost, two years are lost, ten years are gone, and I am waiting and nothing is happening” – and you are calculating inside – you are wasting time. A disciple must drop time-consciousness. Time belongs to the ego. Time belongs to the mind. Meditation is timeless.This disciple comes to the master just to announce: “Ten years are complete now. Where am I supposed to go and where am I supposed to teach now? I am ready, because ten years have passed.” Nobody ever gets ready that way. That’s why the master had to ask a question, just to make the disciple appear foolish to himself.Zen masters are difficult people – very straight, penetrating, embarrassing. What a question to ask a great seeker who has been waiting for ten years: “Where have you left your shoes, on the right or on the left?” What type of question and what type of man is this who asks such a question of a great seeker? This is not metaphysical at all. You cannot find a more trivial question, a more profane question – asking about the shoes.He should have asked about God, and the disciple would have been ready. He should have asked about heaven and hell, and the disciple would have been ready. The disciple must have crammed everything, every answer. That’s why he has wasted ten years reading, studying. All the scriptures were with him, and he was ready – the master can ask any question.Remember: if you are near an enlightened man, he is never going to ask a question which you can answer. It is not a question of answering, it is a question of responding with the whole being.He asks such a futile question: “Where have you left your shoes?” The whole metaphysics of the disciple must have been shattered, he must have thought: “What type of man…? Here I am, ready, bubbling with answers. Any type of question you raise and I will answer. Even questions which Buddha has not answered I will answer. I know all the books, all the scriptures. I have read everything; all the sutras have been studied and memorized.”He was ready and this man asks about the shoes! But this man really asks a question which cannot be answered, because you cannot be ready for it beforehand. It was absolutely unpredictable. The disciple feels hesitation, and the hesitation is the response. Hesitation says everything about the disciple; he is still not aware, otherwise there can be no hesitation. You act. He would have done something if he had been alert. He would have responded in a total way, but he became a mind, puzzled – hesitation, confusion.The story is beautiful. When for the first time Zen became known in the West they couldn’t believe what these masters were doing and asking – questioning absurd things. You ask a master a question and he responds. No Zen master will give you the answer, he will respond.One seeker, a philosophical seeker of course, came to a Zen master, Bokuju, and he asked Bokuju: “What is the way?”Bokuju looked at the nearby hills and he said: “The hills are very beautiful.”Seems absurd! He asks: “What is the way?” and Bokuju says: “The hills are beautiful.” Frustrated, the seeker left immediately. Then Bokuju had a beautiful laugh.One disciple said: “Master, that man must have thought you are mad.”Bokuju said: “One of us is certainly mad. He is mad – Because you cannot ask about the way, you have to travel it. Through traveling the way is discovered. It is not there, readymade, so I cannot say where it is.”It is not like a super-highway, readymade, waiting for you: “Come and travel!” There is no way like that, otherwise all would have reached long ago. If the way were ready-made, everyone would have traveled it. The way is created through your traveling, it is not there waiting for you. The moment you start traveling it is created. It comes out of you just like a spider’s web. It comes through you. You create it, then you travel it. As you travel it you create more of it. And remember – the way disappears with you. Nobody else can travel on it; it cannot be borrowed.So the master says: “It cannot be asked, only foolish people ask such questions as, ‘What is the way?’ You are the way!”Then the disciple asked: “I understand that, but why did you talk about the hills?”The master said: “A master has to talk about the hills because unless you cross the hills there is no way to be found. The way is beyond the hills, and the hills are so beautiful that nobody wants to cross them. They are so enchanting, so hypnotizing, that everybody is lost in the hills – and the way exists beyond.”A master responds. He hits your real necessity. He is not worried about your question. Your question may be relevant or irrelevant – you are always relevant. He looks into you. He hits you. But intellectual people will always miss that type of answer.

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My Way The Way of White Clouds 01-15Category: RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS

My Way The Way of White Clouds 11 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The first question:Osho,When we're sitting in front of you, hearing your words and feeling your presence, everything feels possible. But when we return to our daily living conditions, things do not seem so clear and we feel cut off from you. You have told us that we should not renounce the world, but be meditative within it. You have also said that we should be spontaneous and mad. How can we integrate the two without alienating our families and friends and the society around us?Once you start thinking in terms of two contradictions and how to make them meet, you will always be in difficulty. Then everything will be a compromise, and with compromise no one ever feels fulfilled. Something is always lacking, missing. If you do this, then on the other pole something has to be lost. If you do that, then on this pole something has to be lost, and whatsoever you lose goes on hovering in the mind. It will never allow you to be blissful.So the first thing is: never think in terms of compromise. If you think in terms of contradictions and how to make them meet, you are bound to think in terms of compromise. So what am I to suggest to you?The first thing is – always be integrated within, and don’t think of any integration without – because you are the meeting point. Alone you sit silently. In life you have to be active, involved. Silence and involvement are contradictions, but they both meet in you. You are silent and you are involved.If you are integrated your silence and your involvement will be integrated. Your being alone, and your being with your wife or your husband or friends, are two contradictory things, but you are in both. If you are integrated you will be happy alone. If you are integrated you will be happy with others. Happiness will be your quality. It doesn’t depend on being alone or being with others. If it does depend there will be problems.If you feel that when you are alone you are happy and your happiness depends on being alone, then there will be difficulty. Then aloneness is a must. Then you will feel unhappy when with others and you will start thinking how to make these two opposites meet. The problem arises because you are dependent on your loneliness for your happiness.Don’t be dependent. Be happy when alone. Let happiness be your quality, and when you move from aloneness into involvement, into communication, relationship, carry that quality of happiness which was in aloneness – carry it. In the beginning it will be difficult, because you will almost always forget; difficult because of forgetfulness, because of not being constantly aware, but by and by you can carry the quality.When living with somebody you can still be as alone as you were in your loneliness. You remain an integrated soul. While not doing anything you feel happy, at ease. This at-easeness should become a quality of you, not of inactivity.Carry this quality in activity and there will be no problem. In the beginning there is going to be difficulty, but the point to remember is that your happiness, your bliss, your ecstasy, should not be dependent on any outer condition. If it is, then there is contradiction because as you live now, it is always dependent.Some people feel that they are happy when they are with their friends; then when they are alone they are bored, miserable – somebody is needed. These people are extroverts, one type.The other type is the introvert. Whenever he is alone he feels happy; whenever he moves with someone, unhappiness enters. Both are in the bondage of their type. Type is a bondage – you should be free of the type. You should neither be extrovert, nor introvert, but both. Then you are free of the type.So what is to be done? Never get fixed with a situation; always move to the opposite and carry the quality with you. Move as much as possible from one opposite to the other and carry the quality. Soon you will become aware that the quality can be carried anywhere. Then you cannot be sent to hell, because even if you are sent you will carry your happiness there. Then you will never be afraid.Religious people are afraid of hell; and they seek and hanker after heaven. These people are not religious at all, because heaven and hell are both outer conditions – they are not their own qualities. These are the worldly people. That’s what worldly people are doing. They say: “If this condition is fulfilled, then I will be happy.” So happiness depends on the condition. “If a palace is there, then I will be happy; so much money in the bank, then I will be happy; such a beautiful wife, then I will be happy, or such a good, loving husband, then I will be happy.” You are happy only when something outside is fulfilled, and you say: “If this is not fulfilled, I am unhappy.” This is what an unreligious man is. And the so-called religious men also go on seeking heaven, avoiding hell. They are doing the same.For you, this is going to be the sadhana – the discipline. Move to opposites as much as possible and try to carry your inner integrity. Sitting silent, feel what this inner quality is. Then go into activity with that quality being retained inside. It will be lost many times, but don’t be worried. If even once you can carry it to the opposite pole, you have become master of it. Then you know the knack of it.Sometimes move to the hills; they are beautiful. Then come back to the world; that too is beautiful. If hills are beautiful, why not people? They are also hills in their own right. Sometimes be alone, sometimes be with others. And if you are alert, not only will there be no contradiction, help will be coming from the opposites.If you can carry the quality of happiness from loneliness to society, suddenly you will become aware of a new phenomenon, a new happening within you – that society helps you to be alone, and aloneness helps you to be deeply related with people. A man who has never lived in loneliness cannot know the beauty of relationship; cannot know, I say, because he has never been alone. He has never been a person – how can he know the beauty of relationship?A person who has never lived in society cannot know the ecstasy of aloneness. A person who is born in a lonely place, is brought up in a lonely place, do you think he will be ecstatic? Do you think he will enjoy the loneliness? He will simply become dull and stupid.Go to the hills, go to the Himalayas. People are living there – they have lived there for thousands of years, they are born there – but however much you feel the beauty of the Himalayas, they can’t feel it. However much you enjoy the silence there, they cannot enjoy it. They are not even aware that the silence exists. When they come to the cities they feel a thrill – the same thrill as you feel when you go to the hills.People living in Mumbai, London and New York feel a thrill when they go to the Himalayas. When people living in the Himalayas can come to Mumbai, New York or London, then they feel how beautiful the world is. The opposite is needed to feel – it becomes a contrast.The day is beautiful because there is night.Life has such joy because there is death.Love becomes an inner dance because there is hate.Love leads you to a high peak of consciousness, because love can be lost. It is nothing that you can rely on. This moment it is there and the next moment it is not. The possibility of its absence gives depth to its presence. Silence becomes more silent when in the background there is noise.An airplane passed just a few moments ago. You can look at it in two ways: if you are a disturbed man inside you will feel it as a disturbance of the silence. If you are integrated within, the noise of the airplane will deepen the silence here. The noise becomes a background; it gives shape and form to the silence. It gives a sharpness. The silence when the plane has passed is more than it was before. It depends on you.Always remember: Don’t get dependent on things, situations, conditions. Then you can move. Don’t avoid movement, otherwise you will get fixed. Everybody is afraid of movement because you are dependent. You cannot come out of your hills, your solitariness, to the world of the market, because you know you will be disturbed. What type of silence is this which can be disturbed by the market? What value does it carry? Of what worth is it? If the market can destroy it, if the world, the humdrum world, can destroy it, then your silence is very impotent. If your silence is really potent, if you have attained it, nothing can destroy it.It is not very difficult to understand what I am saying about silence, but that is my attitude in every sphere of life. If you are a real brahmachari, a real celibate, you can move into sex and it will not destroy your celibacy. This will be very difficult to follow. If sex disturbs your celibacy, it was nothing worthwhile. You carry the quality within.If you are really alive, full of energy, you can die happy. Only weaklings die unhappy – because they have never lived. They have never tasted the cup of life. They have always been hoping and hoping and hoping, and life has never happened to them. That’s why they are scared of death.One who has lived is always ready to die. One who has really lived is ready every moment to accept death. The word accept is not good – it would be better if we say to welcome death, to receive it happily, joyfully. Then death is an adventure. If you have really lived it should be. Then death is not the enemy, death is the friend. A deeper life allows death, a shallow life avoids it. And this is so in every sphere of life.If you have known what friendship is, you will not be scared of enemies –you cannot be. Then enmity has its own beauty. It is a sort of friendship – on the opposite pole. It is a love affair on the opposite pole. It is involvement, it is commitment. If you have known friendship, you will love the enemy.That’s what Jesus means when he says: “Love your enemies” – not the way Christians have been interpreting it all these centuries. You cannot love your enemy – how can you love your enemy? But I say to you: If you have loved friends, you will love your enemies – because once you know the beauty of friendship you also come to know the beauty of enmity. It is a friendship in reverse order. Both give, both enrich your life.Opposites are not really opposites, deep down they have a great harmony. They are parts of one whole. As the Chinese say: yin and yang, they are part of one movement, part of one wheel – they are not two. They appear two because we have not looked deep down. It is because of our shallow eyes, non-penetrating minds, superficial consciousnesses – that’s why they look like opposites, otherwise they are not.Life and death are friends. They exist through each other, they contribute to the other. Without the other they would not be there at all. Can life exist without death? Man has been dreaming for ever and ever how to destroy death. This is the attitude of the mind, the linear mind, the logical mind – how to destroy death. The logical mind says: If there is no death, there will be life in abundance. Simple logic! Even a child can understand the arithmetic – if there is no death, there will be more life. But I say to you: If there is no death, there will be no life.That’s why simple logic is always fallacious. Apparently it looks so right that if there is no enemy the whole world will be your friend. You are wrong. If there is no enemy there will be no possibility of friendship. Logic says: If there is no hatred, love and love and more love will be there. So logicians have been trying to destroy the opposite. They cannot destroy it, because life is greater than any logic. This is fortunate that they cannot destroy the opposite – they don’t know what they are doing. Don’t go on believing that If the opposite is not there life will be more, love will be more, friendship will be more, happiness will be more – no. There will be no possibility, because the very ground has been destroyed.Dialectics says something quite the contrary, and dialectics is truer to life. Dialectics says: If you want more life, then be more ready for death.You may not be aware but this happens. When you are driving a car and you gain more and more speed, you get involved in the speed. A moment comes when any moment death can happen. Then you are alive, then the flame of life burns fast, sharp. That’s why speed is so attractive and magnetic – because speed brings you nearer death. When you are nearer death, life is more; it grows in proportion. That’s why there is so much attraction for war – because in war death is at close quarters, always near you.You may think that soldiers fighting in the field must be very miserable. You are wrong; otherwise no one would fight. They are not miserable. The reality is quite the opposite: when they come back to the ordinary world they are miserable. When they are in the field, fighting on the front, they are not miserable. All misery disappears. They are so near death that they feel for the first time alive, and their aliveness becomes more and more the nearer death comes. When all around there is bombardment, shells are passing from here to there and any moment they can drop dead, at that moment they feel an ecstasy. They are in touch, in deepest touch with life. When death kisses you it is also a kiss of life. That’s why there is so much attraction to adventure, courage. If you are afraid you will not gain life.I tell you that meditation is the greatest adventure and takes the greatest courage, because even on a battlefield you are not so near to death. Even if you feel you are near death, it is only physical death. Physical death means a superficial death – of the shell, of the body. Your house is near death, not you; your shelter is going to be destroyed, not you. But in meditation you are going to be destroyed – not only the shelter, but the host, not only the house, but the host. The ego is to be destroyed. So the greatest warriors are always interested in meditation.I would like to tell you about one phenomenon that has happened in India, that has happened in Japan, and that will happen to any country which gives birth to warriors. All the great meditators in India were kshatriyas, warriors, not brahmins. This looks strange. Brahmins should be the great meditators. They have been writing commentaries on the Upanishads, the Gita, the Vedas. They have been creating metaphysics –they are the greatest metaphysicians the world has ever known. Nobody, anywhere in the world, can compare with brahmins as far as verbal expression or logic is concerned. They are very subtle, but they are not the great meditators.Buddha is a great meditator; he is a kshatriya, a warrior. Mahavira is a great meditator; he is a kshatriya – a warrior – not a brahmin. All the twenty-four tirthankaras of the Jainas were warriors. This seems strange. Why? In Japan, the samurai have existed – warriors – the greatest warriors the world has ever known. The samurai is the peak, the ultimate possibility of being a warrior. In every moment, the samurai is ready to die. For such trivial things he is ready to die, you cannot imagine.I have heard one historical fact, from three hundred years ago. One samurai, one great warrior, was very drunk. Suddenly he was called by the king for some purpose, so he went there. He tried to be alert but he was too drunk. He forgot some trivial mannerism – how you have to bow to the king, how much. He bowed, of course, but it was not as exact as it should have been.The next morning when he became sober he immediately killed himself. Hara-kiri is a word you must have heard. Hara-kiri belongs to the samurai, warriors. The moment they feel something has gone wrong – just an ordinary mannerism – and the king had not said anything…. The warrior was so great that the king would not have mentioned it at all – but he killed himself. The next day, when the king became aware that the warrior had killed himself, he wept. The warrior had three hundred disciples. They immediately killed themselves, because if a master has committed a wrong the disciples should follow.And you will be surprised, it seems unbelievable, that for one hundred years continuously it continued, this small thing – more disciples, and disciples’ disciples…. It had never been heard of: a samurai going to the king drunk and doing something wrong. For trivial things, death seems so easy and at hand. These samurai created Zen, the greatest dhyan tradition in the world. These samurai meditated deeply.This is my feeling, that unless you are ready to die you cannot be ready to meditate. War and meditation are synonymous in a deep sense. Wherever there is the possibility of your being destroyed, in that moment your flame of life burns in its totality. The full intensity comes to you.Opposites are already meeting. You need not try for any meeting, any synthesis of them; they are already meeting, they are in deep harmony. You are not in a harmony, that is the problem.So when you are healthy and you feel a well-being, carry that well-being when you are unhealthy and ill. I tell you that the feeling of well-being is not dependent on health. The feeling of well-being is an inner feeling; it is not dependent on the body. You can carry it even while ill.Ramana Maharshi was dying. He had cancer, throat cancer, and it was almost impossible for him to talk, almost impossible for him to eat anything. But all those who surrounded him on his last day were surprised – he was so happy. His eyes were filled with a subtle well-being. The condition of the body was just a ruin, the whole body was a ruin – but not Ramana; he was as healthy as ever.Once, a master was dying. He was very old, almost a hundred. Disciples were there – they couldn’t weep because he was laughing. They couldn’t cry because it looked so absurd. The man was so happy, bubbling with happiness just like a child – enjoying his last breath. They could weep only when he was dead.And somebody asked: “When he was still alive, why were you not weeping?”They said: “It looked so absurd. Looking at his face, looking at his eyes, it appeared as if he was going to a higher realm of being, as if death was just a door to the divine, as if he was not going to die, rather as if he was being reborn. And he was not an old man – if you looked in his eyes, he was a child – only his body was old.”Well-being can be carried. Even when you are seriously ill you can remain in the inner well-being. You know the other thing – even when perfectly healthy you remain in the non-well-being. You know it, that the other is possible – perfectly healthy and you are miserable; perfectly young and alive and as if on your deathbed, somehow carrying the whole business of life as a burden, a dead weight on the heart. You are alive because you cannot do anything else. What can you do? You are alive, you have found yourself alive, so you carry on. But life is not an ecstatic phenomenon, you are not joyful about it, not celebrating it.It is such a great blessing to be alive. Even for a single moment to be alive and aware is too much. A long life is given, many lives, and you are not thankful, because unless you celebrate how can you feel any gratitude, any thankfulness? Perfectly young, alive, but inside you carry the misery.Dying, a man who knows will carry this well-being. Laughter will be coming from his inside, from the very core of his being.Don’t try to synthesize the opposite poles of life. Just be integrated. And when I say just be integrated I mean, whatsoever you feel in loneliness carry into the marketplace; whatsoever you feel in your meditation carry it into love – because in love the other will be present, in meditation you are alone.Sooner or later things will settle of their own accord. You need not settle them; you simply settle yourself. Get settled yourself, and things will fall into their own arrangement – they always fall, they always follow you. Once you are settled, the whole world is settled. Once you are in harmony, the whole world is in harmony. Once the inner accord is reached, there is no discord in the world.My emphasis, total emphasis, absolute emphasis is – Get settled. Don’t try to find any harmony in the opposites. You can never find it, and if you try too much you will get more and more disturbed – because it is impossible!Another thing also you have asked – that while with me you feel well-being, you feel a silence, you feel everything is possible. That too can become a dependence. Then when you are not with me, things seem to be more impossible, things seem to be not so much in accord. You are confused.While with me you feel silence because you are less. While with me, sitting with me, for moments you become egoless, for periods you are not there, you are simply with me. The barrier is broken, the wall has disappeared. In that moment I am flowing in you. Everything seems possible. Away from me you gather your walls again. You are there. Things are not so beautiful then. So just try to understand what is happening, and carry it when you go away from me. What is happening? When everything seems possible, even the final enlightenment seems possible, what is happening? You are not there. Without you everything is possible. With you everything is impossible. You are the problem.Listening to me you forget. If you forget, you are not there – because your being there, the ego, is just a mental phenomenon. You have to create it every moment. It is just like pedaling a bicycle. You have to go on pedaling; if you stop for a single moment the cycle stops. There is a momentum, a little momentum; the cycle will go a few yards and then it will stop. If you want the cycle to continue you have to go on pedaling. It is a continuous process. The cycle moving is not something permanent, it has to be created every moment. The ego has to be pedaled every moment – and you are pedaling it.When you are here the pedaling stops. You are more concerned with me. Your total focus and attention moves. It is just like a small boy cycling. He is curious about everything. He looks at a tree with hundreds of parrots chattering there, and he falls from the cycle because the attention has moved. He stops pedaling, he forgets that he is on the cycle and that he has to continue pedaling it.Small children find it difficult in the beginning to cycle just for one reason – because they are so curious about everything. No country allows driving licenses for children, only because they are so curious. They will forget. Any moment their total attention can go anywhere and they will forget that they are driving, that they have a dangerous tool in their hands and others’ lives are in danger. They are unfocused. Their consciousness is flowing everywhere.While you are here you are so much concerned with me, so much involved in it, you forget the pedaling. And for certain moments, when you forget yourself completely, silence descends on you, a bliss arises, everything seems possible. You become divine – that’s why everything seems possible. Only for a god is everything possible. For a god nothing is impossible. In that moment you become godlike.Away from me, you turn back again – your mind starts thinking, you start pedaling, and you pedal more because you have to compensate. You have not pedaled your cycle for a few moments, so you pedal more just to compensate. Intense ego comes back. You lose contact with your self.With me, what is really happening is that you are more in contact with your self. The ego is not there. You are in deep contact with your self; your inner source is available to you, flowing. There is no block in energy.Away from me, all the blocks come back, old habits return. Then things don’t seem so good. Then the whole phenomenon of being with me seems like a dream. You cannot believe it. It looks like a miracle – and you think that I may have done something. I have not been doing anything. Nobody can do anything to you. It happened because you allowed it.When you move away from me, carry this feeling. Whatsoever you are feeling here, carry it with you. Then I will be needed less and less. Otherwise I can become a drug. Then every morning you awake and you start hankering for me. Then you are getting ready to come to me, a deep urge…. Then I can become a drug. Then you will become more and more dependent on me. That’s not the way to reach satori, samadhi or enlightenment. That’s not the way. If you become dependent on me I am a drug, then I am destructive. But it is you who can convert me into a drug.Whatsoever you feel near me, in my presence, with me, carry it with you. You must come to a point when whether with me or without me you remain the same. Then I am a help, then I am not a bondage. Then I am a freedom to you – and I must become a freedom to you. When I say I must become a freedom to you, it means you must come to a point when you are freed from me also. If it is a constant dependence and you are not freed it is not helping, it is simply postponing things.A real master will always make his disciples free of him. That is the goal. Come to me, go away from me, but carry the feeling with you. You remain the same. Move between the polar opposites always remaining the same. Then everything is possible, because you are the source of all the energies.You have the source of all life within you. All that is happening in life is happening from the same source from which you have happened. You are related to it, you are one with it. If birds can be so happy and singing, you can be, because the same source supplies them with the happiness, the singing. The same source is available to you, but somehow you have created blocks. If the trees are so green, so at home, not worried, you can be the same, because the sap that comes to the trees is coming to you. You may have forgotten it, but it is there.All that has happened in life, all that is happening around you, all this mystery, is your heritage. Claim it. It is wasting away unclaimed just by your side while you go on begging. The empire is there, and the empire goes on wasting and waiting and you go on begging. Claim it!This is the way it can be claimed – remain the same while moving into opposites. This is what Krishna says in the Gita: “In pain or pleasure, be the same; in success or failure, remain the same.” Whatsoever happens, let it happen – you remain the same. This sameness will give you integrity.One thing more you have asked: that I say to you to live in the world, not renounce it, and yet be completely mad and ecstatic. It seems difficult, because how can you then live normally in the world, in relationship with people? Yes, I say this to you.Renouncing the world is ugly to me, because that means renouncing the gift that existence has given to you. You have not created life. You are not there because of your choice. It is a gift. Renouncing it is going against the whole. All renunciation is against the whole. It is saying no. That’s why those who renounce become more egoistic. The moment you renounce you are saying: “I am wiser than life, I am wiser than the divine source from where everything comes.” When you renounce you say: “I choose.” When you renounce you use your will – and will creates ego.When I say don’t renounce I am saying: Don’t be a will, don’t be a chooser. Whatsoever is happening is not happening because of you, so who are you to choose this or that? Let it happen. What can you do? Let it happen; don’t be disturbed by it.Renunciation is just an escape. Because you get hurt, because you get disturbed, you renounce. You renounce the situation, you don’t renounce the attitude that gets hurt. You don’t renounce the heart that is with so many wounds that anybody can hurt it. You don’t renounce the mind which is ill, which is always ready to get disturbed. You renounce the world – which is easier. You escape to the Himalayas, but all that was within you will be with you. It will not make any difference. This is a deception.Remain integrated, remain silent, remain happy, and allow the world to happen. Who are you to renounce or not renounce? Wherever you find yourself, be there. Be integrated and silent and happy. Don’t go to the Himalayas, create a Himalaya within – that’s what I mean when I say don’t renounce. Don’t go to the hills, create that silence within, so wherever you move the hills move with you.Relationship is beautiful because it is a mirror. But there are stupid people – they see their face in the mirror and they see it is ugly so they destroy the mirror. The logic is apparent: this mirror is making them ugly, so destroy the mirror and then they are beautiful.Relationship is a mirror. Wherever you are related with a person – a wife, a husband, a friend, a lover, an enemy – a mirror is there. The wife mirrors the husband. You can see yourself there. And if you see an ugly husband, don’t try to leave your wife – the ugliness is in you. Drop that ugliness. The mirror is beautiful; be thankful to this mirror.But stupid and cowardly people always escape and renounce; brave and wise people always live in relationship and use it as a mirror. Living with someone is a constant mirroring around you. Every moment the other reveals you, exposes you. The closer the relationship, the clearer is the mirror; the more distant the relationship, the less clear is the mirror. That’s why all renouncing becomes really the renunciation of love, of the wife, the husband – it becomes the basis for breaking the relationship, because twenty-four hours living with a person in the same house, twenty-four hours being related….Even when a wife is not talking, not saying anything to her husband, she is mirroring. Even when the husband is just reading his newspaper, he is mirroring. The way he is holding his newspaper, the wife knows that the newspaper is just creating a wall. He is hiding behind it. He may be pretending to himself that he is reading. He may be reading the same news twice, thrice. He may not be reading at all, but just going through the words mechanically. But the way he is hiding himself behind the newspaper becomes a mirror. He is avoiding the wife, he is fed up with the wife, he doesn’t want her to be here, he doesn’t want to look at her, to see her. Her presence, the very presence is heavy. He wants to escape somehow.When you are in love language is not needed. Gestures – even silence becomes eloquent.A constant mirroring goes on, and everybody is ugly because beauty is something which happens only by and by, when your inner being becomes revealed. Ego is always ugly. So only when the ego is not does one become beautiful. It is the ego that is mirrored.Whosoever continuously reminds you that you are ugly becomes the enemy – you want to renounce. But is it wise to renounce the mirror? It is foolish. Even if nobody mirrors you, you will remain the same. You may even grow more in the same direction when nobody reminds you. The mirror is beautiful and good. It helps you. And if you are alert, by and by you can drop the ego. Then in the mirror of the other your beautiful self will be revealed.Once you are a nothingness, a white cloud, then all the lakes of the world will reveal your whiteness, then all the lakes of the world will reveal your floating let-go. So I say there is only one thing to be renounced and that is renunciation, nothing else.Live where God, or the whole is – if you don’t like the word God, there is no problem, it is only a word. So God or the whole – wherever you find the whole has placed you, be there. The whole never places anybody in renunciation – never. The whole always throws you into relationship, because nobody is born alone, nobody can be. At least the mother, the father will be needed; a society, a family will be needed. The whole always throws you into relationship. That’s why I say renunciation is going against the whole.Gurdjieff has many insights. One of his insights is that all religious people are against God. This is strange but true. And I fully approve of him; he is right. All religious people are against God, because they set themselves up as judges – this is wrong, that is right; and this should be done, that should not be done; and one should move away from the world. God throws you into the world, and so-called religious preachers teach you to renounce it.I am not that kind of religious man. I am with God, with the whole. Wherever it leads you, move like a cloud; move with him, and give yourself totally to the whole. The only thing to remember is the opposites – the silence, the equilibrium, the balance, the integrity.You say it will be difficult. Yes, it will be difficult. If you are ecstatic it will be difficult in a family which is pathological – and every family is pathological. It will be living just as if you are forced to live in a madhouse – it will be difficult, because everybody will be mad there.So what can you do? If you are thrown into a madhouse – you are not mad and everybody else is mad – what will you do? If you are really not mad, you will act madly. That’s the only wise way there, so nobody comes to know that you are sane, because if they come to know they will create trouble. In a madhouse a really wise man will act more madly than any madman can do. That is the only safe state there.So in this life everybody is mad. This whole planet is a madhouse, a big madhouse. Everybody is pathological, ill, diseased, abnormal – what can you do? Act! Don’t try to create unnecessary trouble with people. When you feel to, just act, and enjoy the act. With people, act – For yourself, be madly ecstatic. What do I mean? I mean if somebody has died in the neighborhood, what will you do? Be madly ecstatic there? Then you will be beaten.Weep and cry, act beautifully – because that is what is needed in that whole pathological situation where death is not accepted, where death is evil. Don’t create any trouble for anybody. If you are wise, act – and act so beautifully that nobody cries like you. Enjoy it! That is your inner thing. Make it an ecstasy! But for the outer, for people who are around you, act it beautifully.Be an actor in the world. When you are an actor you are not disturbed, because then you know this is just acting. The whole of life is a great psychodrama. Be an actor there, and inside remain in your non-egoistic blissfulness.

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My Way The Way of White Clouds 01-15Category: RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS

My Way The Way of White Clouds 12 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The first question:Osho,You have talked to us about total surrender to the master, but often our minds come up with reasons for not following the instructions literally. We say things like: “The master doesn't know what conditions are like now.” Or: “The master doesn't realize what the practical conditions are in the West.”Should we follow everything the master says to the letter, or are there times when we should use our own discretion?You should follow either absolutely, or not at all. No compromise should be made, because anything halfhearted is not only useless but harmful. Anything halfhearted divides you – that is the harm. You should remain an undivided unity.So either surrender totally – then there is no need to think on your part; follow blindly. I emphasize the word blindly – as if you have no eyes. Somebody who has eyes is leading you. Then you will remain an undivided unity; and undivided, integrated, you will grow.Or, if you feel this is impossible and cannot be done, don’t follow at all. Then follow yourself completely. Then too you will remain undivided. To remain undivided is the end, the aim. Both will do, the ultimate result will be the same. If you can be alone, without a master, if you can follow your own consciousness wheresoever it leads, it is the same, the result will be the same. So it depends on you.But the mind always says: “Do both.” The mind says: “Follow the master, but think about it.” Follow only those things which you think right. Then where is the following? Where is the surrender? If you are the judge, and you are to decide what to follow and what not to follow, then where is the surrender, where is the trust? Then it is better to follow your own consciousness. But don’t deceive – at least there should be no deception; otherwise you go on following yourself and you think that you are following a master.If you are the deciding factor, if you have to choose, if you have to discard something, accept something, then you are following yourself. But you can create the impression around yourself and you can deceive yourself that you are following a master. Then nothing will come out of it. You will not grow, because through deception there can be no growth, and you will get more and more confused.If you are capable of deciding what is to be done and what is not to be done, if you have to choose from your master’s guidance you will create a chaos. Because whenever a master guides you his guidance has an organic unity about it. Every instruction is related to another. It is a compact whole. You cannot discard something and follow something; you will become a ruin, a wreck. Even if a single thing is denied, then the whole has been disturbed. You don’t know how things are interrelated.So this is my suggestion to you: Remain a unit, undivided. Decide. If you have to decide, then decide: “I will follow myself.” Then don’t surrender – there is no need.This is what Krishnamurti has been saying continuously for forty, fifty years: “Don’t follow. People can reach without following anybody” – but the path is arduous and very long because you are not ready to accept any help or guidance which can be given to you – which is possible and which can cut many unnecessary difficulties on the path. This is what Krishnamurti has been saying – nobody has done it.This is the problem of the mind. The mind can accept this – not because it has understood, but because it is very ego-fulfilling not to follow anybody. Nobody wants to follow anybody. Deep down the ego resists.So around Krishnamurti all the egoists have gathered. They are again deceiving themselves. They think they are not following anybody because they have understood the fallacies of following, they have understood that the path has to be traveled alone, they have understood that no help is possible, nobody can help you, nobody can guide you; you have to travel alone. They think that they have understood this, that’s why they are not following anybody. That is not the real thing – they are deceiving. They are not following because their ego won’t allow it. And, still they go on listening to Krishnamurti. For years together they go, again and again.If no help is possible, why do you go again and again to Krishnamurti? If nobody can guide you, what is the point of listening to him again and again? It is pointless. And even this attitude, that you have to travel the path alone, is not discovered by you – it has been revealed to you by Krishnamurti. Deep down he has become your master. But you go on saying that you don’t follow – this is a deception.The same deception can happen from the reverse side. You come to me, you think you have surrendered, and still you go on choosing. If I say something that suits you – that means it suits your ego – you follow it. If I say something which doesn’t suit your ego, you start rationalizing: “This may not be for me.” So you feel that you have surrendered, and you have not surrendered.People around Krishnamurti think they are not following anybody, and they are following. Around me you think you are following me and you are not following me. Mind is always a deceiver. Wherever you go it can deceive you, it will deceive you – so be alert.I say to you: You can reach without following, but the path will be very, very lonely, very long – it is bound to be so. One can reach, it is not impossible – people have reached. I myself have reached through not following; you can also reach. But remember that not following should not become an ego-fulfillment; otherwise you will never reach.Master or no master, that is not the basic thing. The basic thing is the ego, your ego. No ego – then even without a master you can reach. With ego – even a buddha cannot lead you. Either follow totally or don’t follow totally, but be total. So it is for you to decide. Remain undeceived by the mind and look deep within yourself. Be aware of what you are doing. If you are surrendering, then surrender.I remember: It happened once with a group in Gurdjieff’s life. He was working with a few disciples. Absolute surrender was needed – and Gurdjieff had said that whatsoever he said, they had to follow. He was helping them to practice a certain exercise; he used to call it the stop exercise. So whenever he said: “Stop!” you had to stop whatsoever you were doing. You were walking, one foot was above the ground, and when he said: “Stop!” you had to stop there. You were talking and your mouth was open and he said: “Stop!” you had to stop with an open mouth. You were not to change it, you were not to make your posture convenient, because that would be a deception, and you were not deceiving anybody except yourself.One day, suddenly, in the morning when people were doing some exercise outside the camp, and a few people were passing through a canal that was running by, he suddenly said: Stop! – He was inside the camp. So people stopped. Four people were crossing a canal. It was dry, the water was not running, so they stopped.But suddenly somebody opened the canal and the water started coming. So they started to think: What to do? Gurdjieff was inside the tent, he didn’t know that they were standing in a canal and the canal was flowing. But they waited –because for a moment mind can wait.When the water came up to their necks, one jumped out. He said: “This is too much. He does not know.”Then the canal flooded more. Two others jumped out when the water came just near their noses – because now they would be drowned and the rationalization was simple and easy. You would have also done the same. They were going to die – and the master was inside the tent and he didn’t know!Only one remained. The water was flowing above his head and he was standing. Then Gurdjieff rushed out of his tent and brought him out of the canal. He was almost unconscious. The water had to be brought out of his body; he was just on the point of death. But when he opened his eyes he was another man. The old man really died. This was a transformation. He was totally different.What happened in that moment of death? He accepted the master. He rejected his own mind and the rationalizations. He rejected his own life-lust. He rejected his own innermost biological urge to survive. He rejected everything. He said: “The master has said stop! I have stopped. Now nothing can move me.”It must have been very, very difficult – almost impossible. But when you do the impossible you are transformed. Dying, he would not allow the mind to interfere. Death was there, but he accepted death rather than his own mind and judgment.He was never the same man again; nobody ever met the old man again. Then the others realized that they had missed a great opportunity. The three who had jumped out of the river, out of the canal missed a great opportunity.This is total surrender. It is not a question of whether it is appealing to your mind or not, whether your mind says yes or not. When you surrender you have surrendered all possibility of saying no. Whatsoever the situation, you will not say no. The total yes means surrender. Difficult! That’s why transformation is difficult. Not easy – that’s why spiritual birth is not easy.But I don’t say that you cannot reach alone. You can reach alone and you can reach with a master; you can reach in a group, you can reach as an individual. All the possibilities are open. I am neither for this nor for that. It is for you to decide, and to decide without any deception.Remember, it is not a question of East and West. The mind is the same deep down; all the differences are superficial. Eastern and Western – these are just surfaces – cultural, racial impressions, but they are on the surface. Deep down the human mind is the same. From where you come is irrelevant.Surrender or remain absolutely alone, but both paths can be traveled only by persons who are total. Alone, Buddha reached enlightenment; following Buddha, many reached the same enlightenment.I am not partisan. I don’t say, as Krishnamurti says: “This is the only way.” I don’t say, as Meher Baba says: “This is the only way.” I know well why they say this is the only way – to help you, because once you become aware that another can also be the way confusion arises in you. Then you start swaying – sometimes you think this, sometimes you think that. That’s why masters have been saying: “This is the only way” – just to make your mind unconfused. Otherwise the opposite will also attract you and you will go on changing your standpoint. To make you total, masters go on emphasizing.But I say both are ways. Why? – because that emphasis has become old, and you have heard it too much that this is the only way. It has become a dead cliché. It doesn’t help now. It used to help in the past; it cannot help now, because the world has become so much one. The earth has become just a global village, and every religion is known to every other religion and all the paths have become known. Now humanity is acquainted with all the paths – all the paths, all the possibilities, all the alternatives.In the past people knew only one path, the path into which they were born. It was good to emphasize that this is the only way – to make their minds confident about it, trusting about it. But now this is not the situation at all. A Hindu reads the Koran, a Christian comes to India to seek guidance, a Mohammedan is aware of the Gita and the Vedas. All the paths have become known. Much confusion exists, and whosoever says that this is the only path is not going to help now because you know other paths are there. You also know that from other paths people have reached and are reaching. Hence I don’t emphasize any path.You can take my help if you surrender, you can take my help if you don’t surrender – but you have to be clear about it. If you choose the path of surrender, then you have to follow me totally. If you choose that you are not going to surrender, then decide that. I can be a friend on the path, there is no need to make me a master. I can be just a friend on the path – or not even a friend. I can just be ….You are searching and you meet somebody absolutely unknown, a stranger, and you ask him: Where is the river? Which path leads to the river? When he has spoken you thank him and you move. I can be just a stranger. No need even to be a friend, because with a friend also you get involved. You can take my help – my help is unconditional.I don’t say: Do this, then I will help you. I don’t say: Surrender, only then will I help you. But this much I must say: Do whatsoever you like, but do it totally. If you are total, the transformation is closer. If you are divided, it is almost impossible.The second question:Osho,When Wakuan saw a picture of the bearded Bodhidharma, he complained: “Why hasn't that fellow got a beard?”Osho, why don't you have a beard?The tradition of Zen is really beautiful. Bodhidharma has got a beard, and a disciple asks: “Why has this fellow not got a beard?” The question is beautiful, but only a Zen disciple can raise it – because the beard belongs to the body, not to Bodhidharma. That fellow is beardless, because body is just an abode. The question looks absurd, but it is meaningful, and such questions have been asked many times.Buddha talked continuously – morning, afternoon, evening, in this village, in that village, moving – forty years continuously talking. One day Sariputra asked: “Why have you remained silent? Why don’t you talk to us?” Patently absurd! Buddha laughed and said: “You are right.” And this man was talking – nobody has talked as much as Buddha. But Sariputra was right, because this talking happened only on the surface and Buddha did remain silent.One Zen monk, Rinzai, used to say: “This man Buddha was never born, he never walked on this earth, he never died – he is just a dream.” And every day he would go to the temple and bow down before Buddha’s statue.Then somebody said: “Rinzai, you are just mad! Every day you go on insisting that this man was never born, never died, never walked on this earth, and still you go to the temple and bow down.”Rinzai said: “Because this man was never born, never walked on this earth, never died, that’s why I go and bow down.”The questioner persisted: “We can’t follow you. Either you are mad or we are mad, but we cannot follow – what do you mean?”Rinzai said: “The birth of this man was just a dream to him. Walking on this earth was just a dream to him. Death was not real to him – just an end to a long dream. And this man, the center of his being, remained beyond birth, beyond death.”It is said that Buddha always remained in the seventh heaven. He never came down – only his reflection was here. And this is true! This is true for you also. You have never come down, only the reflection – but you have become so identified with the reflection that you have forgotten. You think that you have come down. You cannot come down – there is no way to fall down from your being.You can look into a river and you can see the reflection, and you can become so identified with it that you can think that you are under water. You can suffer because of it; you can feel suffocated, and you can feel you are going to die. And you are always standing on the bank, you have never come down to the water – you cannot come.So I say to you: Not only Buddha, nobody has come down from the seventh heaven, ever. But people get obsessed, identified with their reflections. This is what Hindus call the world of maya, the world of reflections. We remain in the brahman, we remain in the ultimate reality, rooted there eternally. Nobody ever comes down. But we can get identified with the reflection, with the dream.So you are right in asking me. This fellow is also beardless. If you look at my body, you are not looking at me. If you look at me, then you will understand. The beard cannot grow on a soul. The beard can grow only on the body. And this beard is really very symbolic – soul is alive, body is half dead and half alive, beard is almost dead.Your hair is a dead part of your body. That’s why you can cut it and you don’t feel any pain. Cut your finger, you will feel pain. Your hair is part of your body, but if you cut it you don’t feel any pain. It is dead cells of the body. So sometimes it happens that in a graveyard…. If you go to a Mohammedan graveyard and dig up a body, the man may have died beardless but there will be a beard now. Even on dead bodies beards can grow because beards are dead, just dead cells.It is good to grow a beard, because then standing before a mirror you can see all the three layers of you: the completely dead, the half dead, half alive, and the absolutely alive. Beard is material, matter; body is matter and spirit meeting. The meeting is always difficult, but body is just a meeting ground of matter and spirit. Whenever the meeting breaks the balance is lost – you are dead – matter reabsorbed in matter, spirit reabsorbed in spirit.This fellow is also beardless.The whole question is: Why is Bodhidharma not matter? And the answer is: Because spirit cannot be matter.Zen disciples ask in a peculiar way. Nowhere else can such questions be asked. You cannot ask a Christian pope: “Why is this fellow Jesus beardless?” The very question will be thought profane; you cannot be so intimate with Jesus. You cannot call him this guy or this fellow; that will not look holy. Your behavior will look insulting. Not so with Zen – Zen says: If you love your masters you can laugh about them. If you love them there cannot be any fear, even the fear of a man who is holy. If you love them, fear disappears.So when for the first time Christian theologians became aware of the tradition of Zen, they couldn’t believe that such a religion could exist, because Zen monks go on laughing about Buddha. Sometimes they use such words you cannot believe. They can say: “This stupid fellow” – for Buddha! And if you ask them, they will say: “Yes, he was stupid, because he was trying to say something which cannot be said and he was trying to transform us who are impossible. He was a stupid fellow – he was trying to do the impossible.”Zen masters have used terms and words that no religion can use. But because of that I say that no religion is as religious as Zen, because if you really love, where is the fear? You can joke, you can laugh, and an enlightened man like Buddha will laugh with you – there is no problem. He will not feel hurt. If he feels hurt, he is not enlightened at all. He will not say: “Don’t use such profane language” – because for Buddha all language is profane, only silence is sacred. So whether you call him a stupid fellow or one who has awakened, both are the same for him. Language as such is profane. Only silence is holy. So whatsoever you say is the same.This disciple, Wakuan, is asking: “Why has this fellow Bodhidharma not got a beard?” Bodhidharma is the first master of Zen. Bodhidharma created this ever-flowing, ever-renewing river of Zen.Bodhidharma went to China fourteen hundred years ago. When he entered China he was carrying one of his shoes on his head. One shoe was on his foot, one shoe was on his head. The emperor had come to receive him. He became embarrassed: What manner of man is this? He had been waiting so long, and he was thinking a great holy man, a great saint and sage is coming – and this man is behaving like a buffoon! The emperor was disturbed, he felt uneasy. And the first opportunity he got, he asked Bodhidharma: “What are you doing? People are laughing, and they are laughing at me also because I have come to receive you. And the way you have behaved is not a way to behave; you should behave like a saint.”Bodhidharma said: “Only those who are not saints behave like saints. I am a saint! Only those who are not saints behave like saints” – and he is right, because you care about your behavior only when it is not spontaneous.The emperor said: “I cannot understand this carrying one shoe on your head; you appear like a buffoon.”Bodhidharma said: “Yes, because all that can be seen is buffoonery. Only the unseen…. Your standing here like an emperor, robed in a special dress, crowned, is buffoonery. Just to say this to you I was carrying one shoe on my head. All this is acting and buffoonery. The real is not there on the periphery. Look at me, don’t look at my body. This is very symbolic that I carry one shoe on my head. I say that in life nothing is sacred and nothing is profane. Even a shoe is as sacred as your head. I carry this shoe as a symbol.”It is said the emperor was impressed, but he said: “You are too much. Just one thing I wanted to ask you and that is how to put my mind at ease. I am so impatient, so disturbed, uneasy.”Bodhidharma said: “Come in the morning at four o’clock and bring your mind with you. I will put it at ease.”The emperor could not follow. He started thinking: “What does he mean, this man – bring your mind with you?” When he was going down the steps of the temple where Bodhidharma was staying, Bodhidharma again said: “Remember, don’t come alone, otherwise who will I put at ease? Bring the mind with you. Come at four o’clock – and alone, no guards, nobody else with you.”The whole night the emperor couldn’t sleep. He was thinking: “This man seems to be a little crazy. When I am there, my mind will obviously be with me. So what is this insistence – ‘bring your mind with you?’” Sometimes he thought: “It is better not to go, because, who knows, alone this man may start beating me or something. You cannot believe – you cannot predict this man.”But at last he decided to go, because the man was really magnetic. He had something in his eyes, a fire which doesn’t belong to this earth. He had something in his breath, a silence which comes from beyond. So the emperor came as if hypnotized, and the first thing Bodhidharma asked was: “Okay, so you have come. Where is your mind?” And he was sitting there with a big staff.The emperor said: “But when I have come, my mind has come with me. It is inside me – it is not like a thing I can carry.”So Bodhidharma said: “Okay, so you think the mind is within you. Then sit and close your eyes and try to find out where it is. You just point and I will put it right. This staff is here – and I am going to make your mind silent, don’t worry. The emperor closed his eyes and tried to look, and Bodhidharma was sitting just in front of him. He tried and tried and tried, and time passed and then the sun was rising and his face was absolutely silent. Then he opened his eyes and Bodhidharma was sitting there. He asked: “Could you find it?”The emperor started laughing and he said: “You have put it right – because the more I try to find it, the more I feel it is not there. It was just a shadow, and it was there because I never penetrated within. It was just my absence. I became present inside and it disappeared.”This Bodhidharma is really a very rare being. His disciples could joke about him, laugh about him – he enjoyed it.An enlightened person is a continuous laughter. He is not a serious man, as is ordinarily thought. Wherever you see seriousness know well something is wrong, because seriousness is part of a diseased being. No flower is serious unless it is ill. No bird is serious unless it is ill. No tree is serious unless something is wrong. Whenever something is wrong, seriousness happens. Seriousness is illness. When everything is okay, laughter arises.Bodhidharma is continuously laughing, and his laughter is a belly laughter, an uproar. His disciples used to ask questions nobody except a Bodhidharma can answer. And I tell you: That fellow was without a beard, and this fellow is also without a beard.The third question:Osho,Goso said: “When you meet a Zen master on the road you cannot talk to him and you cannot be with him in silence. What are you to do?”Osho, when we meet the master of masters on the lawn what to do?Yes, it is true. When you meet a Zen master on the road you cannot talk with him, because what can you talk with him about? Your worlds are so different; your languages belong to two different dimensions. What can you talk with him about? What can you ask? Is any question really worth asking? Is any question really meaningful? When you meet a Zen master, what will you talk about? All that you can talk about belongs to this world, this mundane world – the market, the house, the family. All that you can talk about, all that you are is so futile.It is true. When you meet a Zen master on the road – and you always meet a master on the road because the master is always moving. You never meet him anywhere else. Remember, you always meet a master on the road, because he is always moving. He is like a river, never static, never standing. If you cannot move with him you will miss him. He is always on his feet. You always meet him on the road.What can you talk to him about? You cannot be silent either, because to be silent is almost impossible for you. You cannot talk, because the master belongs to a different world. You cannot be silent, because the world you belong to is never silent. Your mind goes on chattering. Your mind is a constant chatterbox. Consistent, inconsistent – thoughts go on and on and on and there is no end to it, they move in a wheel.You cannot be silent and you cannot talk – then what to do? If you start talking it will be absurd. If you start being silent, it will not be possible. It is better not to decide on your part. Ask the master what to do. Tell him: “I cannot talk because we belong to different worlds. Whatsoever I ask will be useless, and whatsoever you can answer I cannot question. Whatsoever I question is useless, it is not even worth answering. And I cannot be silent because I don’t know what silence is. I have never known it; silence has never happened to me. I know a sort of silence – the silence that comes between two thoughts as a gap, the silence that exists between two words, just as a gap.”Our silence is just like the peace which happens between two wars. It is not really peace; it is just preparation for another war. How can that be peace, which bridges two wars? The war simply goes underground, that’s all. It is a cold war, it is never peace. Our silence is like that.So tell the master: “I cannot be silent and I cannot talk – so tell me what to do.” Don’t start anything on your own, because whatsoever you start will be wrong. Talk or silence – whatsoever you start will be wrong. Just leave everything to the master, and ask him: “What am I to do?” If he says: “Talk” – then talk. If he says: “Be silent” – then try to be silent. He knows, and he will ask only that which is possible for you.Ultimately he will ask the impossible, but never in the beginning. He will ask the impossible in the end because then it will have become possible. But in the beginning he will ask only the possible. By and by he will push you toward the ultimate abyss where the impossible happens. If he says talk, then talk. Then even your talking will be a help. But then you are not really asking – just talking as a catharsis. You are bringing your mind out, you are acting your mind out. You are opening yourself. You are not asking, but exposing. This exposure will help. You will be relieved of much burden.When a master is near you, if you can be really frank and say all that comes to you, irrelevant, inconsistent, not bothering about yourself, not managing and manipulating it….When a master is near you, you can say totally whatsoever comes to your mind. It will become a gibberish; if you don’t manage it, it will be like a madman talking. But when a master is near you, if you are frank, honest and true and bring your mind out, the master will penetrate you from the back door. From the front door your mind is going out; from the back door the master is entering you.So when near me on the lawn be sincere and true. Don’t bring questions which are intellectual – they are useless. Metaphysics is the most useless thing in the world. Don’t bring any metaphysical questions; they are not true, they don’t belong to you. You may have heard about them, read about them, but they are not part of you. Bring your nonsense out, whatsoever it is, and don’t try to manipulate it. Don’t try to rationalize it and polish it. Let it be as raw as possible – because before a master you must be naked. You should not wear clothes and you should not hide yourself.That is an exposure, and if you can talk as an exposure – not as an inquiry, just opening your heart, not asking for anything – then silence will follow, because when you have exposed your mind and you have passed through a catharsis, silence comes to you. This is a different type of silence, not a forced silence, not a controlled silence, not a silence with any effort on your part.When you have exposed your mind completely, released all that is there, a silence comes, descends on you, overwhelms you – a silence which is beyond understanding, a silence which is beyond you, a silence which belongs to the whole and not to the individual. Then you can be both. Now you can talk with a Zen master on the road and you can also be silent.

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My Way The Way of White Clouds 01-15Category: RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS

My Way The Way of White Clouds 13 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The first question:Osho,Yesterday you told us very clearly that we need to follow the master's word to the letter. But we cannot consult you on every detail. How can we choose the right path when the mind is always looking for the easy way?The real problem is not consulting the master but how to be more meditative, because the physical part of the master is not the significant thing. If you are more meditative you can consult the master every moment. The physical presence is not necessary, it becomes necessary only because you are not meditative. Because you are identified with your body, so in your mind the master is identified with his body. Because you think that you are a body, you also think that the master is a body. The master is not a body, and when I say this, that the master is not a body, I mean that he is not confined in time and space.It is not a question of being in his presence. Wherever you are, if you are meditative, you are in his presence. Even when the master is dead he can be consulted. Buddha is still consulted even today – and the answers are received. It is not that Buddha is sitting somewhere and giving you the answers, but when you are deep in meditation you are the Buddha. Your buddha-nature arises and your buddha-nature answers you, and now Buddha is no longer confined anywhere. That means, for one who is blind he is not to be found anywhere; but for one who can now see it means he is everywhere.You can be in contact with your master wherever you are. The way is not to go to the master, the way is to go within. The deeper you reach into yourself, the deeper you have penetrated the master.Answers will be coming, and you will come to know and feel that those answers are not given by your mind. There will be a total difference in quality. The quality changes so absolutely that there can be no confusion about it. When your mind answers you feel you are answering. When the mind is not there, you are simply meditative; the answer comes as if from someone else, not from you. You hear it. That is the mystery of the Koran. Mohammed thought that he heard it – and he was right.When your mind is silent, the answer arises from the very depths of your being. And it is so deep, so beyond your so-called mind, that you feel that you have heard it. It has come to you, it has been revealed to you.You are always identified with the surface and the answer comes from the depth. You don’t know your own depth – that’s why you will feel God is answering, or that the master is answering. In a way you are right – because when the answer comes from your depth it is from the master.Hindus have always been saying that your real master is within you, and the outer master is just trying to bring your inner master up, to make your inner master functional. Whenever your inner master has started functioning, the work of the outer master is done. The outer is just a representative of the inner.I am your depth. Once your depth has started functioning I am not needed. Once I feel your depth has started answering you I will stop answering you. All my answers are not really concerned with your questions; all my answers are concerned with how to create the response within you so your inner depth starts speaking to you, so your own consciousness becomes your master.Be more meditative. Be more silent. Allow more and more stillness to penetrate you.What is to be done? How to be more meditative? In a sense, nothing can be done directly, because whatsoever you do directly the mind comes in. If you try to be silent you cannot be, because the mind is trying. Wherever mind is, disturbance is. Mind is the disturbance, mind is the noise. So if you try to be silent, mind is trying to be silent. You will create more noise which is now concerned with silence. Now you will try, and think, and do this and that, and you will get more and more uneasy.Nothing can be done about silence. Silence is already there, you just have to allow it. It is just like sunlight. Your windows are closed and you cannot bring sunlight into your house in bundles, in buckets. You cannot do that. If you try you will be foolish – and many are doing that.Simply open the windows, open the doors. Allow the breeze to blow. Allow the rays to come in. Invite and wait. You cannot force. Whenever you force, things go ugly. If a man forces himself to be silent his silence will be ugly, tortured, forced, artificial, just on the surface. Deep down there will be turmoil.So what is to be done? Open your mind and wait. Look at the trees, look at the parrots screeching. Listen to them, don’t do anything. Whatsoever is happening around you, just be a passive alertness. The light on the water, the river flowing, the noise, the children playing, laughing, giggling – you just be there, a passive presence, open, listening, seeing, not thinking. The birds are there in the trees, making a noise, singing – you just listen.Don’t think, don’t create a second series in your mind about what is happening. Just let it happen, and sooner or later you will feel that the mind has disappeared and a silence has come to you. You will actually feel it descending on you, penetrating every pore of the body, reaching deeper and deeper.In the beginning it will be only for moments, because you are such a habitual thinker – addicted to thinking like a man who is addicted to alcohol or some drug – that only for moments will there be a gap – and again you will start thinking. You may start thinking about this silence that is descending upon you. You may start thinking: “Oh! This is the silence that the masters have always been talking about” – and you have destroyed it. You may start thinking: “This is the silence the Upanishads say is the goal to be achieved, this is the silence that poets have been talking about, the silence that surpasses understanding” – you have missed it.The poets have entered, the masters have entered, the Upanishads have come. You have missed it, you have lost it. Now you are again disturbed; now you are not a passivity, now you are not alert. Now those singing birds are no longer there for you. Your mind has come in. Now those beautiful trees have disappeared. The sun is no longer in the sky and the clouds are no longer floating. You are not open now – closed, your windows are closed, your doors are closed.Thought, thinking, is the way to close the mind. Non-thinking, no thought, is the way to open it. Whenever you are not thinking you are open; whenever you are thinking a wall has been raised. Each thought becomes a brick and the whole process of thinking becomes a wall. Then you are hidden behind the wall, crying and weeping – why is the sun not reaching you? It is not the sun – it is you who are creating walls around you.Be more meditative. Whenever you have any opportunity, any space, any time, just allow things to happen around you. Look deeply, attentively, but don’t be active – because activity means thinking. Sitting quietly, allowing things to happen, you will become silent.Then you will come to know that silence is not a quality of the mind. Mind cannot be made silent. Silence is the quality of your inner soul, of your inner being. It is always there but because of the chattering, the constant chattering of the mind, you cannot hear it. Whenever you become passive, non-thinking, you become aware of it. Then you are unoccupied. In that unoccupied moment meditation happens.So whatsoever the situation – sitting in a marketplace – don’t think that the singing of the birds is a must. It is not. The humming of a marketplace is as beautiful as the humming of the birds – people carrying on their work, talking, chattering, noise all around – you just sit there passively.Remember this word passive, and another word, alert. Passive alertness is the key. Remain passive – not doing anything, just listening. Listening is not a doing. To listen to anything there is nothing to do, your ears are always open. To see you have to open the eyes – at least that much has to be done. To listen not even that much has to be done. Ears are always open, you are always listening. Just don’t do anything and listen.And don’t comment, because with commentary, thought starts. A child is crying: don’t say anything inside about why he is crying. Two persons are fighting – don’t say inside: “Why are they fighting? Should I go and do something so that they don’t fight?” No, don’t say anything. Just listen to what is happening. Just be with what is happening – and suddenly there is silence.This silence is totally different from the silence which you can create. You can create silence – you can sit in your house, you can close the doors, you can take a rosary, a mala, and you can go on turning its beads. A silence will come to you, but that will not be the real silence. It will be just like a child who has been given a toy to play with, so he goes on playing and becomes absorbed in his play; then he is not mischievous.Parents use the toy as a trick just to make the child less mischievous. So he sits in a corner and goes on playing, and the parents can continue their own work and he is not a continuous nuisance. But the child has not transcended mischief; his mischief has been directed toward the toy, that’s all. The mischief is there; the child is there. Sooner or later he will become fed up with the toy. Bored, he will throw it away and the mischief will be back.Rosaries are old men’s toys. Just as you give a toy to a child, children give rosaries to old men so that they are not mischievous. They sit in a corner and they go on turning their rosary. But they also get fed up; they get absorbed, but they also get fed up – then they keep changing rosaries. They go to another master and ask for another mantra because the old one is not functioning. They say it functioned in the beginning.Many people come to me and say: “We have been doing a mantra; in the beginning it was helpful but it is not helping any more. Now we don’t feel anything, it has become boring. We do it as a duty, but the love has disappeared. If we don’t do it, we feel that we have missed something; if we do it nothing is gained.”This is what addiction means. If you do it nothing is gained; if you don’t do it you feel that something is missing. This is what a smoker feels. If he smokes, he knows nothing is gained. He is doing something silly, just a stupid thing – taking smoke in and throwing it out. But that too is just like a rosary. You take the smoke in, and then you throw it out. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale – it becomes a rosary; you go on changing the beads. You can make it a mantra; when you inhale the smoke, say Ram; when you exhale, say Ram. It becomes a rosary.Anything that you can repeat continuously becomes a mantra. Mantra means a repetition of a certain word, a certain sound, anything. A mantra helps the mind to be absorbed – it is a toy. For a few moments you feel good because the mischief stops, and you are so absorbed that the mind cannot function. This is a forced silence. It is pathological, it is not good. It is negative, it is not positive. This silence is like the silence that happens in a graveyard, the silence of death.But the silence I am talking about is totally, qualitatively different. It is not a diversion of mischief, it is not a forced occupation, it is not a mantra hypnosis. It is a silence that happens to you when you are passive and alert, not doing anything, not even moving your rosary – totally passive, but alert.Remember, passivity can become sleep. That’s why I emphasize the word alertness – because you can be passive and go to sleep. Sleep is not meditation. One quality of sleep is there, that of passivity; and one quality of waking is there, that of alertness. Relaxed as if you are asleep, alert as if you are awake.One quality of sleep is not there, that is unconsciousness – that should not be there, because meditation cannot be unconscious. And one quality from your waking state is not there, that is occupiedness, because if you are occupied then the mind is working, you are enclosed in thoughts.While you are awake there are two things: alertness and occupiedness. While you are asleep there are two things: passivity and unconsciousness. One thing from wakefulness, one thing from sleep – alertness and passivity – they make meditation. And if you take the other two ingredients, occupation and unconsciousness, you become mad. Those two ingredients, occupied and unconscious, make madness, make the madman. Passivity and alertness make the meditative man, a buddha. You have all four ingredients. Mix two and you will become mad. Mix the other two and you will become meditative.Remember this: I say again and again that silence, the bliss that pervades you when you are open, is not something to be done by you. It is a let-go. It is a happening to you, it comes to you.People come to me and they say: “We are searching for God – how to reach him?” And I tell them: You cannot reach him and you cannot search for him – because you don’t know him. How will you recognize that he is God? You don’t know him. How will you move? How will you choose the path? You don’t know him. How can you decide if this is his house, this is his abode?No, you cannot, you cannot search for the divine. But there is no need because the divine is always near you, within you. Whenever you allow him, he searches for you, he reaches you. God is in search of you. God has always been in search of you. No search on your part is needed.Seek and you will miss.Don’t seek. Simply remain passive and alert so whenever he comes you are open. Many times he comes and knocks on your door but you are fast asleep – or even if you hear the knock you interpret it in your own way. You think it is just the wind blowing fast and strong. Or you think: “Some stranger has knocked and he will go by himself; there is no need to disturb my sleep.”Your interpretations are your enemies, and you are great interpreters. Whatsoever is, you immediately interpret it; your mind starts functioning and grinding it and you change it immediately. You color it; you give it a different meaning that was never there. You project yourself into it. You destroy it.Reality does not need any interpretation. Truth does not need any thinking about. No one ever reaches the truth through thinking. That’s why the whole of philosophy is false – bound to be false, no philosophy can be true. Philosophers go on fighting, they go on struggling to prove that their philosophy is true. No philosophy can be true. Truth needs no philosophy. Philosophy means thinking about, rationalizing about; philosophy means interpretation of the facts.Religion says: That which is, allow it to happen. All that you can do is: Please don’t disturb, just allow it to happen. Remain alert and passive and then there is no need to come to me – I will come to you. Many times I have already reached you – whenever you were silent. So this is not a theory; many of you even know it from experience, but you interpret this also.People come to me and they say: “This morning, meditating, I suddenly felt you, but I thought it must be a projection of my mind.” Or they say: “Last night suddenly I felt a presence, I became alert, and then I thought it must have been someone passing by, or the wind may have entered the room and fluttered the papers, or just a cat has passed.” So, many of you have already felt what I am saying. That’s why I am saying it; otherwise I would not say it.Don’t interpret. When you feel the presence, allow it to happen. If you allow it to happen, it will materialize more and more. It is possible that I will be there as real as I am here, sometimes even more so – because it depends on you how much reality you allow to happen – and your questions will be answered. Be more meditative and then you are nearer to me. Once you are totally meditative you are me. Then there is no difference.One thing more: the more you meditate, the less there will be to be asked. Questions will drop, because questions belong to a non-meditative state of mind. They arise in a non-meditative state more and more. One question is answered, ten more arise out of the answer. Mind is a great question-creating force. It goes on creating questions. You give the answer and the mind jumps on it, tears it down, and creates ten more questions. When you are meditative, less and less questions will be there.This will look paradoxical to you, but it is true and I have to say it. When there are questions there will be no answers; when there is no question the answer is there. The answer comes only when you are not questioning. Non-questioning will happen to you through meditation.Don’t think that there are as many answers as there are questions. No, there is only one answer. Questions are millions, the answer is one. Diseases are millions, medicine is one. Only one – and all is solved. But that one cannot happen to you because you don’t allow it to happen. You are so afraid of allowing anything to happen.This has to be learned. This is the only discipline I want you to do – losing your fear, dropping your fear, and allowing things to happen. The river is flowing; don’t push it! There is no need, it is flowing by itself. You just wait on the bank and let it flow. If you are courageous enough, then drop yourself in the river and flow with it. Don’t swim, because swimming means fighting – just float.Then, of course, you cannot follow any goal, because your goal and the river’s may not coincide. Then there will be frustration. You can follow a goal if you are swimming, fighting. You can even swim upstream; then there will be a great fight. And when you fight your ego is strengthened, you feel alive against the river. But that aliveness is momentary; sooner or later you will be tired. Sooner or later you will be dead and the river will take you.On the banks of the Ganges, the villagers bring their dead and leave them in the Ganges. But when you are dead, leaving you in the river is useless; when dead you will float with the river, but then there is no meaning because you are no more.What I am doing is dropping you alive in the Ganges. If you can float alive, conscious, fully aware, you will become the river, and wherever the river reaches will be the destiny, will be the goal. Then you are not concerned where it reaches. Every moment the very flow becomes ecstatic; every moment the very flow, the very aliveness, becomes the goal. Then every moment is the goal. Means become ends, the moment becomes eternal.Yes, you have to follow the master totally. There may be times when you cannot consult him physically, and sooner or later the master will disappear from the body. Then there will be no possibility to consult him physically. It is better to get attuned to him non-physically; otherwise you will be crying and weeping.My body can disappear any moment. Now there is really no need to carry it – it is being carried for you. If you don’t get attuned to my non-physical existence, sooner or later you will get very much depressed, sad, much anguish will be there. Then it will be very difficult to be attuned to me non-physically.So I go on dropping physical contact with you more and more – just to make you alert and aware that you have to be attuned non-physically. You can get attuned, it is not difficult. Be more meditative and it will start happening to you.The second question:Osho,We have quite a few questions about female energy. Some women say that since they've met you, although their physical desires continue, a mortal man is no longer satisfying enough for them. Other women say that since they have met you they feel more loving. Gurdjieff is reported to have said that a woman cannot attain except through a man.Would you talk to us about female energy?Yes, Gurdjieff has said that a woman cannot attain except through a man – and he is right. He is right because female energy differs from male energy. It is just as if someone says that only a woman can give birth to a child. A man cannot give birth to a child – he can give birth to a child only through a woman. The physical structure of the woman carries a womb; the physical structure of a man is without a womb. He can only have a child through a woman. And the same in reverse order happens in spiritual birth. A woman can only get enlightened through a man. Their spiritual energy differs also, just like their physical part.Why? Why is this so? Remember, this is not a question of equality or of inequality – this is a question of difference. Women are not lower than men because they cannot attain directly; man is not lower than woman because he cannot give birth to a child directly. They are different. There is no question of equality or inequality, there is no question of evaluation. They are simply different, and this is a fact.Why is it difficult for woman to attain enlightenment directly? And why is it possible for man to attain enlightenment directly? There are basically only two ways which lead to enlightenment. One is meditation and the other is love. You may call them gyana yoga and batik yoga – the path of wisdom and the path of devotion. The basic ways are only two.Love needs another; meditation can be done alone. Man can achieve through meditation – that’s why he can achieve directly. He can be alone. He is alone deep down. Aloneness comes naturally to man. For a woman, to be alone is difficult, very difficult, almost impossible. Her whole being is a deep urge to love, and for love the other is needed. How can you love if the other is not there? You can meditate if the other is not there – there is no problem.Woman, the female energy, reaches the meditative state through love; and the male energy reaches love through meditation. A buddha becomes a great loving force – but through meditation.When Buddha came back to his palace his wife was very angry, naturally, because for twelve years he had not shown his face. One night he had simply disappeared, not even saying anything to her. While she was asleep he escaped like a coward.It is true that Yashodhara, the wife of Buddha, would have allowed him. She was a brave woman. If Buddha had asked she would have allowed him; there would have been no problem about it, but Buddha would not ask. He was afraid something might go wrong, she might start crying and weeping or something. But the fear was not because of her – the fear was deep down in himself. He was afraid it would be difficult for him to leave Yashodhara weeping and crying. The fear is always of oneself. It would be very cruel and he could not be so cruel, so it was better to escape while his wife was asleep. So he escaped.After twelve years he came back. Yashodhara asked many things. One of the things she asked was: “Tell me, whatsoever you have attained there, could you not attain it here living with me? Now that you have attained you can tell me.”It is said that Buddha remained silent. But I answer: Buddha could not have attained, because a man deeply in love – and he was deeply in love with Yashodhara; it was a very intimate relationship. If there had been no relationship with Yashodhara, if she had simply been a Hindu wife, no love relationship, then Buddha could have attained even living with her.Then really there is no problem. The other is there on the periphery, you are not related. If you are not related, the other is only a physical presence moving on the boundary.But Buddha was in deep love. And it is difficult for a man to attain meditation when he is in love – this is the problem. Very difficult, because when he is in love, whenever he sits silently, the other arises in the mind; his whole being starts moving around the other. That was the fear, that’s why Buddha escaped.Nobody has talked about it before, but Buddha escaped from that house, from the wife, from the child, because he really loved. And if you love a person, then whenever you are occupied you may forget him, but when you are unoccupied the other will come to the memory immediately, and then there is no gap for the divine to enter.When you are occupied, working in a shop, or…. Buddha was on his throne and looking after the affairs of the kingdom, then it was okay – he could forget Yashodhara. But whenever he was not occupied, there was Yashodhara – the gap was filled by Yashodhara and there was no passage for the divine to enter.Man cannot attain to the divine through love. His whole energy is totally different from female energy. First he should attain to meditation – then love happens to him. Then there is no problem. First he must reach the divine, then the beloved also becomes divine.After twelve years Buddha comes back. Now there is no problem, now the god is in Yashodhara. Yashodhara was too much before, and it was difficult to find the god. Now the god is totally there, there is no need, there is no space left for Yashodhara.Totally the opposite happens to a woman. She cannot meditate because her whole being is an urge toward the other. She cannot be alone. Whenever she is alone she is in misery. So if you say that to be alone is bliss, to be alone is ecstatic, a woman cannot understand it. This emphasis on being alone has existed all over the world because of too many seekers who are men – a Buddha, a Mahavira, a Jesus, a Mohammed. They all went into loneliness, and they only attained in loneliness. They created the milieu.A woman, whenever alone, feels anguish. If there is a lover, even in her mind, she is happy. If someone loves, if someone is loved – if love exists around a woman, it nourishes her. It is a nourishment, it is a subtle food. Whenever a woman feels that love is not there she is simply starving, suffocating; the whole being shrinks. So a woman can never think that loneliness can be blissful.This female energy has created the path of love and devotion. Even a divine lover will do – there is no need to find a physical lover. Krishna will do for Meera, there is no problem, because for Meera the other exists. He may not be there, Krishna may be just a myth; but for Meera he is, the other exists – and then Meera is happy. She can dance, she can sing, and she is nourished.The very idea, the very notion, the very feeling that the other exists and there is love, and a woman feels fulfilled. She is happy, alive. Only with this lover, with this love will she come to a point when the lover and the beloved become one. Then meditation will happen.For female energy, meditation happens only in the deepest merger of love. Now she is never alone. Then she can be alone, then there is no problem; the beloved has become merged, it is within. Meera or Radha or Teresa, they all achieved through a lover – Krishna, Jesus.This is my feeling, that whenever a male seeker comes to me he is interested in meditation, and whenever a female seeker comes to me she is interested in love. She can be made interested in meditation if I say that love will happen through it. But her deep desire is for love. Love is God for a woman.This difference has to be understood, deeply understood, because everything depends on it. Gurdjieff is right. Female energy will love, and through love the meditative state, the samadhi will flower. Satori will come, but deep down in the roots will be love and satori will become the flower. For male energy satori will be in the roots, samadhi will be in the roots, meditation will be in the roots, and then love will flower – but love will be a flowering.When female seekers come to me it is bound to happen – they will feel more love, but then a physical partner will be less satisfying. Whenever there is deep love a physical partner will always become unsatisfactory, because the physical partner can fulfill only the periphery, he cannot fulfill the center. That’s why, in ancient countries like India, we never allowed love – we allowed arranged marriages. Once love is allowed, the physical partner is going to be unsatisfactory sooner or later, and then there will be frustration.Now the whole West is disturbed. Now there will be no satisfaction at all. Once you allow love, an ordinary man cannot fulfill it. He can fulfill sex, he can fulfill the superficial, but he cannot fulfill the deep, the depth. Once the depth is functioning, once you have disturbed the depth, only God can fulfill – nobody else.So when female seekers come to me, their depth is shocked. They start feeling a new urge, a new love arising. But now their husbands or their boyfriends, their partners will not be able to satisfy it. Now this can be satisfied only by a much higher quality being. This is going to be so.So either your boyfriend, your husband, has to become more meditative, create higher qualities of being –only then will he be fulfilling. Otherwise the relationship will break, the bridge cannot remain; you will have to find a new friend. Or if it is impossible to find a new friend – as it would have been for Meera – difficult, then you have to love the divine. Then just forget the physical part – now it is not for you.The same happens to male seekers in a different way. When they come to me they become more meditative. When they become more meditative, the bridge between their old partners is broken, becomes shaky. Now their girlfriend or their wife has to grow; otherwise the relationship is on the rocks, it cannot be maintained.Remember this, that all our relationships, so-called relationships, are adjustments. If one changes, the adjustment is broken – for the better or for worse, that is not the point. People come to me and they say: “If meditation brings higher qualities, then why is the relationship broken?” That is not the question. The relationship was an adjustment between two persons as they were. Now one has changed, the other has to grow with them; otherwise there will be trouble, things will become false.Whenever a man is here, he becomes more meditative. The more meditative he is, the more he wants to be alone. The wife, the beloved, will be disturbed by it. If she is not understanding then she will start creating trouble – this man wants to be more alone. If she is understanding then there is no problem, but that understanding can only come to her if her love grows. If she feels more loving then she can allow this friend to be lonely, alone, and she will protect his aloneness. She will try to see that it is not disturbed – this will be her love now.And if this man feels – if Buddha feels that Yashodhara is protecting, safeguarding, seeing, caring, that his meditation is not disturbed, that his silence is helped, then there is no need to escape from this Yashodhara. But only if Yashodhara’s love grows.When a man’s meditation is growing, a woman’s love should grow. Only then can they keep pace, and a higher harmony will arise and it will go on, higher and higher. And a moment comes when the man is totally in meditation and the woman is totally in love – then only the perfect meeting, then only the real, supreme orgasm between two persons. Not physical, not sexual – total. Two existences meeting into each other, dissolving. Then the lover becomes the door, the beloved becomes the door, and they both reach to the one.So whosoever comes to me should come perfectly aware that it is dangerous to be near me. Your old arrangements will be disturbed. And I cannot help it – I am not here to help your adjustments. That is for you to decide. I can help you grow – grow in meditation, grow in love. To me, both words mean the same, because they reach to the same end.

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My Way The Way of White Clouds 01-15Category: RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS

My Way The Way of White Clouds 14 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The first question:Osho,You said every child is born a god, yet my two children were very different right from birth. One is very serene and god-like, but the other seemed disturbed before she was influenced by any conditioning. How should we deal with the difficult one?This raises a very basic question. Existence itself is divine; so from where does the evil come? From where does the bad, the immoral, the unacceptable come? The good is okay because we have made it synonymous with God – good means God. But from where does the bad come? This has puzzled humanity for centuries. As far back as we can go, this problem has always been there in the mind of man.The logical solution, the solution that the mind can find, is to divide existence, to create a duality, to say that there is God, which is good, and there is evil, the devil, Beelzebub, Satan, which is bad. Mind thinks the problem is solved – so all that is bad comes from the devil, and all that is good comes from God. But the problem is not solved; the problem is only pushed back a little. The problem remains the same. You have pushed it back a step, but nothing is solved – because from where does the devil come?If God is the creator, then he must have created the devil in the beginning, in the first place. Or God is not the supreme creator – the devil has always been there, just as an enemy, the antagonistic force – then both are eternal. If the devil is not created then the devil cannot be destroyed, so the conflict will continue eternally. God cannot win – the devil will always be there disturbing.This is the problem for Christian theology, Mohammedan theology, Zoroastrian theology, because all these three theologies have followed the simple solution that mind suggests. But mind cannot solve it. There is another possibility which doesn’t come from the mind and will be difficult for the mind to understand. That possibility has arisen in the East, particularly in India, and that possibility is that there is no devil, there is no basic duality – only God exists, there is no other force. This is what advait – the non-dual philosophy – means: only God is. But still we see the evil is there!Hindus say that the evil exists in your interpretation, not in itself. You call it bad because you cannot understand it or because you are disturbed by it. It is your attitude that makes it bad or appear bad. There is no evil. Evil cannot exist. Only God exists, only the divine exists.Now I will take your problem against this background. Two children are born – one is good, one is bad. Why do you call one good and why do you call the other bad? Is it really, is it reality – or your interpretation? Which child is good, and why? If the child is obedient the child is good; if the child is disobedient the child is bad. One who follows you is good, one who resists is bad. Whatsoever you say, the one accepts it. If you say: “Sit silently” – the one sits. But the other tries to disobey, tries to be rebellious – the other is bad. This is your interpretation. You are not saying anything about the children; you are saying something about your mind.Why is the obedient one good? In fact, the obedient ones have never been brilliant, have never been very radiant; they have always been dull. No obedient child has been a great scientist or a great religious man, or a great poet – no child who is obedient. Only disobedient ones have been great inventors, creators; only the rebellious one transcends the old and reaches to the new and into the unknown.But for the parents’ ego the obedient one feels good, because it helps your ego. When the child follows you, whatsoever you say, you feel good; when the child resists and denies you, you feel bad.But a really alive child will be rebellious.Why should he follow you? Who are you? Why should he follow you just because you are a father? What have you done to be a father? You have been just a passage – and that too very unconscious. Your sex is not a conscious act, you have been pushed by unconscious forces to move into it. The child is just an accident. You were never expecting, you were not consciously aware to whom you were giving an invitation to come. The child has suddenly come as a stranger. You have fathered it, but you are not the father.When I say you have fathered it, it is a biological thing. You were not needed, even a syringe can do that. But you are not a father because you are not conscious. You have not given the invitation, you have not asked a particular soul to enter the womb of your wife, your beloved. You have not worked for it.And when the child is born, what have you been doing to it? When you say the child should follow you, are you confident enough that you know the truth that he should follow you? Are you confident enough, certain that you have realized something that the child should follow?You can force yourself on the child because the child is weak and you are strong. That is the only difference between you and your child. Otherwise you are also childish, ignorant; you have not grown, you are not mature. You will get angry just like the child, you will get jealous just like the child, and you will play with toys just like the child. Your toys may be different, a little bigger, that’s all.What is your life? Where have you reached? What wisdom have you gained so that the child should follow you and should say yes to you whatsoever you demand?A father will be conscious; he will not force anything on the child. Rather, he will allow the child to be himself, he will help the child to be himself. He will give freedom to the child, because if he has known anything, he must know that only through freedom does the inner grow. If he has experienced anything in his life, he knows well that experience needs freedom. The more freedom, the richer is your experience. The less freedom, the less is the possibility to experience. If there is no freedom at all then you can have borrowed experiences, imitations, shadows, but never the real thing, never the authentic.Fathering a child will mean giving him more and more freedom, making him more and more independent, allowing him to move into the unknown, where you have never been. He should transcend you, he should go ahead of you, he should surpass all the boundaries that you have known. He must be helped but not forced, because once you start forcing you are killing, you are murdering the child.The spirit needs freedom – it grows in freedom and only in freedom. If you are really a father you will be happy if the child is rebellious, because no father would like to kill the spirit of the child.But you are not fathers. You are ill with your own illnesses. When you force a child to follow you, you are simply saying that you would like to dominate someone. You cannot do it in the world, but this small child – at least you can dominate him, possess him. You are being a politician to the child. You want to fulfill some unfulfilled desires through the child – domination, dictatorship. At least you can be a dictator to the child; he is so weak, he is so young and helpless, and he depends on you so much, that you can force anything on him. But by forcing you are killing him. You are not giving birth to him, you are destroying him.The child who follows will look good – because he is dead. The child who is rebellious will look bad because he is alive.Because we have missed life ourselves, we are against life. Because we are already dead, dead before death, we always want to kill others. Subtle are the ways. In the name of love you can kill. In the name of compassion you can kill. In the name of service you can kill. We find beautiful names– deep down, the murderer is sitting.Realize this, then you will not think in these terms – that this child is good and that child is bad. Don’t interpret. Every person is unique, every person is different. The divine creative force is such that it never repeats.So only say this much, that this child is different from that child. Don’t say this is good and that is bad. You don’t know what is good and what is bad. This child is obedient, that child is disobedient; but no one knows what is good.And don’t force. If this child is obedient in his own spontaneity, then it is good. This is his nature – help it to grow. And if that child is rebellious, disobedient, this is his nature – help him to grow. Let one grow to be a deep yes-sayer; let the other grow to be a deep no-sayer. But don’t interpret, because the moment you interpret you start destroying. This is his nature to say yes, and that is his nature to say no. Both are needed.Life will be very flat and dull if there is nobody to say no. If everybody is a yes-sayer, it will be absolutely dull and stupid. The no-sayer is needed, that is the polar opposite. Obedience will be meaningless if there is nobody to rebel. Don’t choose; simply feel the difference and help. And don’t force yourself on them, don’t be violent.Every father is violent, every mother is violent, and you can be violent because you are violent in the name of love. Nobody is going to criticize you, because you say you love your child so much that you have to beat him, you love him so much that you have to put him right. You say because you love him, that’s why you are trying to put him right – he’s going wrong.Are you certain what is wrong and what is good? Nobody is certain, nobody can be certain – because the phenomenon is such that a thing which is good in this moment becomes bad the next; the direction that seems bad in the beginning turns out to be good in the end. Life is a flux, every moment changing.So a real father or a real mother will give his or her children only awareness, not morals, because morals are dead. You say: “This is good, follow!” But the next moment the thing becomes bad, then what is the child supposed to do? The next moment life changes. It is changing, it is a continuum of change, and your morals are fixed – you say this is good, this has to be followed. Then you become dead. Life goes on changing and you go on, fixed with your morals. That’s why religious persons look so dull, their eyes vacant, superficial, with no depth – because depth is possible only if you move with the river of life.So what should a father or a mother give as a gift to their children? – Only awareness. Make the children more aware. Allow freedom and tell them: “Be alert and move with freedom. Even if you have to err, don’t be afraid, because life learns through errors also. One becomes alert through errors also – so don’t be afraid. It is human to err.“If you err with alertness only one thing will happen: you will not commit the same mistake again and again. Once you commit the mistake you will experience it, you will become alert about it and it will disappear. It will make you richer and you will go ahead, unafraid. Just remember one thing, that whatsoever you pass through, be more conscious. If you say yes, say it consciously. If you say no, say it consciously.”Don’t get hurt when a child says no – because who are you to fix a child? He comes through you, you are just a passage. Don’t become a dictator. Love never dictates, and if you never dictate then this goodness and badness will disappear. Then you will love both. Your love will flow unconditionally. That’s how God’s love is flowing in this world – unconditionally.I have heard…. Somebody said to Junnaid, a Sufi mystic: “A very evil man comes to listen to you and you allow him so much closeness and intimacy. Throw him out, he is not a good man.”Junnaid said: “If God does not throw him out of existence, who am I to throw him out? If God accepts him…. I am not superior to God. God gives him life, God helps him to be alive; and that man is still young and fresh and he will live long, longer than you. So who am I to decide? God is showering on both, the good and the bad.”The situation is absolutely clear, crystal clear – that for God there is no good, no bad. And when I say God, I don’t mean a person sitting somewhere up in the sky. That is an anthropocentric attitude – we conceive of God in our own image. There is nobody sitting there. God means the whole, the totality of existence. A bad man breathes as beautifully as a good man; a sinner is as accepted by existence as a saint. Existence makes no distinction. But because of dualistic thinking – Christian, Mohammedan, Zoroastrian – we think in terms of conflict.There is a story: There was a town, Sodom, in old Israel. The people were very perverted in that town, sexually perverted – homosexuals. So it is said that God destroyed the town. The whole town was destroyed. A great fire descended and everybody was killed.After many, many centuries, one Hassidic saint, one Hassidic mystic, was asked: “When God destroyed Sodom there must have been at least a few good persons in the town?” – all were destroyed. So the questioner asked: “We can accept that the bad were destroyed because they were bad – but why the good?”Now look at the cunning mind. The Hassid thought it over and said: “He destroyed the good also so that they could be witnesses that these people were bad.” This is a cunning calculation, this is just saving face. The real thing is that for God there is no good, no bad. When he creates he creates both; when he destroys he destroys both – unconditionally.This is really foolish, this attitude of good and bad. A person smoking cigarettes becomes bad, a person enjoying alcohol becomes bad, a person who has fallen in love with somebody else’s wife becomes bad. And We think that God is sitting there and calculating: “This man smokes, this man is an alcoholic, this man has fallen into adultery. Let this fellow come and I will see.” This is foolish if God is calculating about such trivial things. This is our tiny mind.For existence there is no interpretation and no division. Good and bad are human conceptions, not divine. Every society has its own conceptions of good and bad, every age changes and has its own conceptions of good and bad. There is no absoluteness about good and bad. Good and bad are relative – relative to society, to culture, relative to us.God is absolute; for him there is no distinction.If you are deep in meditation where thoughts disappear, then also there is no distinction – because good and bad are thoughts. When you are silent, what is good and what is bad? The moment the idea arises that this is good, that is bad – the silence has been lost. In deep meditation there is nothing – no good, no bad.Lao Tzu is reported to have said: “A hair’s distinction, and heaven and hell are set apart.” In the mind of a meditator, if even a slight distinction arises then the whole world is divided.Meditation is non-distinction, no distinction. You simply look, and you see the whole and don’t divide it. You don’t say: “This is ugly, that is beautiful; this is good, that is bad.” You don’t say anything. You simply are. You don’t say anything, you don’t make any division. The non-dual is there.In meditation you become a god. People think they will see God in meditation. This is wrong; there is nobody to be seen. God is not an object. In meditation you become God, because all distinctions disappear. In meditation you become one with the whole, because in meditation you cannot divide yourself from the whole – because all divisions have fallen.You are so silent that no boundary is there. Every boundary is a disturbance. You are so silent there is no I, no thou. You are so silent that all boundaries have blurred and disappeared. One exists, unity exists. This is what Hindus call the brahman – the one, the unity, the ultimate unity of existence.It is mind that divides, makes distinctions, says this is this, that is that. In meditation there is undivided isness. You are a god when you are in meditation, and only in meditation will you come to know unconditional love.If you are a father, both your children will be just children – strangers coming from an unknown world, moving into an unknown existence, growing, maturing. And out of your love you give to them; you share your life, your experiences, but you never force anything. When you don’t force, then who is obedient and who is disobedient? When you don’t force, how can you decide who is good and who is bad?Now I come to the last point. When you don’t force, how can one be obedient and another disobedient? The whole phenomenon disappears. Then you accept the other – the child, the wife, the husband, the friend – as he is, as a fact. If we can accept each other as facts, without any oughts, shoulds, without any good and bad, life will become paradise this very moment.We reject. Even if we accept somebody, we accept in part. We say: “Your eyes are good, but everything else is just dirty.” Is this acceptance? We say: “This act is good, but all else is bad, cannot be accepted, and I accept only that which is good.” That means: “I accept only that which is according to me.”You may not know how you are destroying each other, because whenever the parents say to the child: “We accept only this part, not anything else” – when a wife says to the husband: “I accept only this in you, not the other” – what are you doing? You are creating a division in the other’s mind also.When the father says: “Don’t do this, I don’t accept this, I am angry about this” – when he punishes a child because he thinks he has done something wrong, what is he doing? When he appreciates the child, gives him a toy, brings flowers for him, sweets, and says: “You have done well, you have done something good which I approve of” – what is he doing? He is creating a division in the child. By and by the child will also reject the part that the parents have rejected, and he will be divided: he will become two I’s.You may have observed little children – they even punish themselves. They even say to themselves: “Bobby, this is not good. You have done a bad thing.” They start rejecting the part that has been rejected by their parents. Then a division is created. The rejected part becomes the unconscious, the suppressed part; and the accepted part becomes the conscious, the conscience. Then their whole life will be a hell, because the rejected and the accepted will go on fighting; continuously there will be a turmoil.The rejected cannot be destroyed. It is you, it is there. It is always working within you – you may have put it in the dark, that’s all. But once you put part of you in the dark that part becomes more forcible, because it works through darkness and you cannot see it, you cannot be aware of it and it takes its own revenge. Whenever there is a weak moment and your conscious part is not very strong, it will come out. You may be good for twenty-three hours, but for one hour, when the conscious is tired, the unconscious asserts itself.So even saints have their sinner moments, even saints have to give leave to their sainthood. They are on holiday, sometimes they have to be. So if you catch a saint on his holiday don’t be too disturbed; everybody has to have a holiday. Everybody gets tired – unless one is whole. Then there is no tiredness because there is no other part which is constantly fighting, creating trouble, asserting itself, taking revenge.So we have two words: one is saint, the other is sage. The saint always has the sinner hidden within him; the sage is whole. The sage cannot be on holiday because he is always on holiday – there is no rejected part; he lives as a whole totality. He moves moment to moment as a whole; he never rejects anything. He has accepted himself completely.Rejection is created by the parents, by the society. A small child is always a great discoverer, and of course he begins his discovery with his own body; that is the nearest existence to him. He cannot go to the moon, he cannot go to Everest; they are very far away. Some day he may go, but right now the nearest part is his own body. He starts discovering it. He touches his body, he enjoys it.Observe a little child touching his toes – happy, as happy as you can never be, even if you go to the moon. He has discovered his body! He touches his toe, enjoys it, brings it to his mouth, because these are the ways he discovers. He will taste it, smell it, touch it. But when he comes to his sexual parts, parents become disturbed. That disturbance is in the parents, not in the child. He does not make any distinctions; the toe or the sexual organ are the same. There is no division in his body up to now. The whole body is there: fingers, eyes, nose, sexual organs, toes – all are one flow. There is no division of lower and higher.Hindus have a division; all over the world all the cultures have divisions. Hindus say: Never touch below the navel with your right hand, because that part below the navel is dirty. Touch below the navel with your left hand; touch above the navel with your right hand. The body is divided, and the division has gone so deep in the mind that by right we mean good – we say: “You are right.” By left we mean bad. So if you want to condemn somebody, just say he’s a leftist, a communist. The left is bad.A child doesn’t know which is left, which is right. The child is whole, he is a unity. He doesn’t know which is lower, which is higher – the body is an undivided flow. He will come to discover his sexual parts, and parents become disturbed. Whenever a child, boy or girl, touches the sexual organs, immediately we say: “Don’t touch! Remove the hand.” The child is shocked. You have given an electric shock to him. He cannot understand what you are doing.This will happen many times. You are hammering into the child that something in his body has to be rejected – the sexual part of the body is bad. Psychologically, you are creating a complex. The child will grow, but he will never be able to accept his sexual organs. If you cannot accept your body in its totality there will be problems, there will be trouble.The child will make love, he will move into the sexual act, but there will be guilt – something wrong is going on, something basically wrong is happening. He is condemning himself. While making love, the most beautiful thing in the world, he is condemning and feels guilty. He cannot make love totally, he cannot move totally into the other, because he is holding back. Half is moving, half is being controlled. This creates a conflict and love becomes a misery.This happens in all dimensions of life. Everything becomes miserable because in everything the parents have created a division: this is good and that is bad. This is why you are miserable – because of your parents, the society.Don’t do the same to your children. It will be very difficult. Because you are divided, you would like to divide the child – it is unconscious.But if you become alert – if you are really meditating you will become alert. Don’t create the same schizophrenia in your child; don’t divide, don’t make a split. You have suffered enough; don’t create the same suffering for your child. If you really love you will not divide him, because division creates suffering. You will help him to remain whole, because wholeness is holy, and wholeness gives possibilities for ecstasy, opens doors for peak experiences.How can you help a child to remain whole? One thing – remain alert so you don’t divide him unconsciously. Don’t condemn a thing. If you feel it is harmful, tell the child that this is harmful but don’t say it is bad – because when you say harmful you are stating a fact; when you say bad you have brought a valuation into it.Parents have to say many things to children, because children don’t know. You have to say: “Don’t go near the fire” – but say: “This is harmful. If you get burned you will suffer, but then still it is up to you. This is my experience, that whenever I was burned, I suffered. I tell you my experience, but even if you want to do it you can do it. This is harmful.”Say what is harmful, say what is beneficial, but don’t say good and bad. If you are alert, you will drop the words good and bad from your vocabulary – because with good and bad you are bringing your valuation to things. Say harmful – and still allow freedom, because your experience cannot become the children’s experience. They will have to experience themselves. Sometimes even harmful things will have to be done; only then can they grow. Sometimes they will have to fall and get hurt; only then will they know. They have to pass through things, get hurt and scarred, but that is the only way one grows.If you protect the child too much he will not grow. Many people remain children, their mental age never grows beyond that of a child. They become old – they may be seventy, but their mental age remains at about seven, because they have been so protected.Look at very rich families. Their children are protected too much, they are not allowed any freedom to err, to experience, to go astray, to go off the road. Almost every moment somebody is following them – the servants, the tutor, the governess; they are never left alone. Then look what happens to them. Rich families almost always produce mediocre children, stupid, silly. Great minds have never come from rich families – it is difficult. Innovators never come from them, adventurers never come from them – they cannot. They are so protected, they never grow.For growth unprotectedness is needed. Protectedness is also needed – both are needed. Look at a gardener working with his trees: he helps them, he protects them, but still he gives them freedom to move in the sun, in the rains, in the storms. He will not take those trees inside the house to protect them from the storm and from the sun and from the dangers that are always there outside. If you take the tree inside it will die. A hothouse plant is unnatural, and we all become hothouse plants because of over-protective parents.Don’t protect the children, don’t leave them unprotected. Follow them like a shadow. Look after them, be careful and create a balance, so whenever it is so dangerous that they may die you protect them; but whenever you feel that it is not going to be so dangerous you allow them. The more they grow, the more you allow. By the time a child becomes sexually mature you should give him total freedom – because nature has made him a man now. Now no need to be so worried. Sometimes accidents will happen, but they are worth it.Give the child wholeness. Make him infectious to your awareness. Love him, tell him what your experience is, but don’t try to make him follow your experience. Don’t force. If he follows of his own accord, it is good; if he doesn’t follow, wait – there is no hurry.It is difficult to be a father or to be a mother, the most difficult thing in the world. And people think it is the easiest.I have heard…. One woman was coming in a taxi to her home from the market, and the taxi driver was just crazy. He was going zigzag; any moment there would be an accident. And he was going so fast. The woman was very, very nervous, sitting on the edge of the seat, and many times she said: “Don’t go so fast, I’m scared.” But he wouldn’t listen. Then she said: “Listen! Twelve children are waiting for me at my house. If something goes wrong, what will happen to the twelve children?So the driver said: “And you are telling me to be alert!”Difficult to follow it? He is saying: “You have given birth to twelve children – you were not alert, and you are telling me to be alert in driving.”It is easy to give birth to many children; there is no problem, even animals do it easily. But to be a mother is very difficult, the most difficult thing in the world. To be a father is even more difficult – because to be a mother is natural, to be a father is not so natural. Father is a social phenomenon. We have created the father – he doesn’t exist in nature. Mothers exist in nature. To be a father is still more difficult, because there is no natural instinct for it. It is difficult because this is the most creative of acts, to create a human being.Be alert. Give more freedom. Don’t make distinctions of good and bad; accept both, and help both types to grow. Soon this helping the children to grow will become a deep meditation for you – you will also grow with them. And then your child flowers into a yes-sayer, or a no-sayer – because there have been beautiful no-sayers….Nietzsche is a no-sayer – but beautiful. His genius to say no is such a wonderful and beautiful phenomenon that the world would not be so rich if there were not people like Nietzsche. He cannot say yes. It is difficult for him. No is his whole being.Buddha is a no-sayer. He said: “There is no brahman, there is no soul, there is no world.” You cannot find a greater no-sayer. He left nothing. He says: “There is nothing.” He goes on saying no, goes on eliminating. It is very difficult to find a yes from him – impossible. But what a beautiful being evolved out of that no. That no must have been total.There have been yes-sayers, the devotees – the bhaktas – Meera, Chaitanya or Jesus or Mohammed, these are yes-sayers. And there are two types of religion, of course: one which is around a no-sayer, the other religions which are around a yes-sayer. You also will belong to one or the other. If you are a no-sayer, then Buddhism will be a great help to you. If you are a yes-sayer, then Buddhism cannot help you at all; it will be destructive. Christianity can help, Hinduism can help.Both are needed. When I say this, I mean they always exist in proportion, just like men and women – almost always the number is the same. The whole world is divided – half men, half women. And how nature keeps this proportion is a miracle. In every other dimension the same proportion is maintained: always half no-sayers and half yes-sayers in the world, always half who can follow the path of knowledge and half who can follow the path of love. Love is yes-saying; knowledge is always no-saying. And this proportion is always maintained by nature.So if you have two children, one is a yes-sayer and the other is a no-sayer, this is the proportion. This is good that you have both in your home. You can create a harmony out of them. Don’t try to destroy the no-sayer, don’t try to push and help only the yes-sayer. Create a harmony between the two. These two children are representative of the whole world, the yin and yang, the opposites, the poles. Create a harmony between them and your family will really be a family, a unit, a harmonious unit.But don’t interpret, don’t condemn, don’t be moralistic. Just be a father, a mother. Love them and accept them and help them to be themselves. This is the base of all love – to help the other to be himself. If you want to pull, manipulate, you are not in love, you are destructive.The second question:Osho,In the West, most of our growth methods tend to be group-oriented like encounter groups and psychodrama. In the East, although there are ashrams where seekers live together, the emphasis seems to be on the individual. Would you tell us about the two approaches?There are two types of growth methods. You can work on your spiritual growth alone, or you can work through a group, through a school. Both types have always existed, even in the East. Sufi methods are group methods. In India group methods have also existed, but were never so prevalent as in Islam or Sufism. This is a new phenomenon as far as quantity is concerned – that the West is totally group-oriented. Never before have there been so many group methods, and so many people working through them, as exist now in the West.So in a way we can say that the East has remained with individual efforts, and the West is now growing toward group methods. Why is this so and what is the difference? And why this difference?Group methods can exist only if your ego has come to a point where it is a burden to carry it. When the ego has become so burdensome that to be alone is to be in anguish, then group methods become meaningful, because in a group you can merge your ego.If the ego is not very evolved then individual methods can help you. You can move to a mountain, you can be isolated, or even living in an ashram with a master you work alone. You do your meditation, others do their meditation, you never work together.In India, Hindus have never prayed in groups. With Mohammedans, group prayer entered India. Mohammedans pray in groups; Hindus were always praying alone. Even if they went to the temple, they would go alone. It is a one-to-one relationship – you and your God.This is possible if the ego has not been helped to grow to a point where it becomes a burden. In India it has never been helped to grow – from the very beginning we have been against the ego. You grow in ego, but the ego remains vague, blurred; you remain humble, you are not really an egoist. It is not a penetrating peak in you, it is flat ground. You are egoistic, because everybody has to be, but not absolute egoists. You always think it is wrong and you always go on pulling yourself down. In certain situations you can be provoked and your ego becomes a peak – but ordinarily it is not a peak, it is flat ground.In India the ego is just like anger – if someone provokes you, you become angry; if nobody provokes you, you are not angry. In the West the ego has become a permanent substance. It is not like anger, it is now like breathing. There is no need to provoke it – it is there, it is a constant phenomenon.Because of this ego, the group becomes a very helpful thing. In the group, working with a group, merging yourself in the group, you can put your ego aside easily. That’s why not only in religion, but in politics also, a few phenomena can only exist in the West.Fascism, for example, could exist, could become possible in Germany, which is the most egoistic country in the West, the most Western. There is nothing like the German ego all over the world. That’s why Hitler could become possible – because everyone is so egoistic, everybody is in need of merging.Nazi rallies, millions of people marching – you can lose yourself; your self need not be there. You become the march, the band playing, the music, the sound, the hypnotizing Hitler, a charismatic personality. Everybody looking at Hitler, the whole mass around you like an ocean – you become just a wave. You feel good, you feel fresh, you feel young, you feel happy. You forget your misery, your anguish, your loneliness, your alienation. You are not alone. Such a great mass is with you and you are with it. Your individual private worries drop. Suddenly there is an opening – you feel light, as if you are flying.Hitler became successful not because he had a very meaningful philosophy – his philosophy was absurd, it was childish, immature – not because he could convince the German people that he was right. That is not the point. It is very difficult to convince German people, one of the most difficult things, because they are logicians, they have logic in their minds, rational in every way. It is difficult to convince them, and to have been convinced by Hitler would have been impossible. No, he never tried to convince them. He created a hypnotic group phenomenon; that convinced them.It was not a question of what Hitler was saying; it was a question of what they were feeling when they were in the group, in the mass. It was such an unburdening experience that it was worth it to follow this man. Whatsoever he was saying – wrong or right, logical, illogical, foolish – it was good to follow him. They were so bored with themselves that they wanted to be absorbed by the mass. That’s why fascism, nazism and all types of group madness, became possible in the West.In the East only Japan could follow, because Japan is the counterpart of Germany in the East. Japan is the most Western country in the East. The same phenomenon was there, so Japan could become an ally to the Hitlerite madness. The same is happening in other fields also – in religion also, in psychology also. Group meditation is happening, and group meditation will happen for a long period to come. When a hundred people are together – you will be surprised, particularly those who don’t know the Western mind will be surprised – just holding hands, one hundred people sitting just holding hands, feeling each other, and they feel elated.No Indian will feel elated. He will say: “What nonsense! Just holding hands with a hundred people sitting in a circle, how can it be an elation? How can you become ecstatic? At the most you can feel the perspiration of the other’s hand.” But in the West a hundred people holding hands are elated, ecstatic. Why? – Because even holding hands has become so impossible because of the ego. Even wife and husband are not together. The joint family has disappeared. It was a group phenomenon. Society has disappeared. In the West now, no society exists really. You move alone.In America – I was reading the statistics – everybody moves within three years to another town. Now, a man in a village in India remains there – not only he, his family has remained there for thousands of years. He is deeply rooted in that soil. He is related to everyone, he knows everybody, and everybody knows him. He is not a stranger, he is not alone. He lives as part of the village, he always has. He was born there, he will die there.In America people move every three years, on average. This is the most nomadic civilization that has ever existed – vagabonds – no house, no family, no town, no village, no home really. In three years how can you get rooted? Wherever you go you are a stranger. The mass is around you but you are not related to it. You are unrelated, the whole burden becomes individual.Sitting in a group, in an encounter group or in a growth group, touching each other’s bodies, you become part of the community. Touching each other’s hands and holding each other’s hands, just lying near each other, or lying on top of each other in a pile, you feel oneness, a religious elation happens. A hundred people dancing, touching each other, moving around each other, become one. They merge, the ego is dissolved for a few moments. That merger becomes a prayerful thing. Politicians can use it for destructive ends, religion can use it for very creative phenomena – it can become a meditation.In the East people are in the community too much, so whenever they want to be religious, they want to go to the Himalayas. Society is too much around. They are not fed up with themselves, they are fed up with the society. This is the difference. In the West you are fed up with yourself and you want some bridge, how to be communicative with the society, with others; how to create a bridge, how to move to the other so you can forget yourself. In the East people are fed up with the society. They have lived with it so long, and the society is all around so much, that they don’t feel any freedom. So whenever somebody wants to be free, to be silent, he runs to the Himalayas.In the West you run to the society, in the East people run from the society. That’s why lonely methods, individual methods have existed in the East; group methods are in existence in the West.What am I doing? My method is a synthesis. In the first steps of Dynamic Meditation you are part of the group; in the last part the group disappears, you are alone. I am doing this for a particular reason – because now East and West have become irrelevant. The East is turning toward the West; the West is turning toward the East. By the end of this century there will be no East and no West – one world. This geographical division has existed too long; this cannot exist any more.Technology has already dissolved it, it is already non-existent, but because of a habitual attitude in the mind it continues. It continues only as a mental phenomenon; actually it is no more. By the end of this century there will be no East, no West – just one world. It is already there. Those who can see, can see it already. A synthesis will be needed – group and individual both. You work in a group in the beginning; in the end you become totally yourself.Start from society and reach to yourself. Don’t escape from the community – live in the world but don’t be of it. Be related but still remain alone. Love and meditate, meditate and love.Whatsoever happens before is not the question; whatsoever follows is not the question. Meditate and love if you are a man, love and meditate if you are a woman – but don’t choose. Love plus meditation is my slogan.

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My Way The Way of White Clouds 01-15Category: RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS

My Way The Way of White Clouds 15 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The first question:Osho,You have said to us that we should not concern ourselves with others. But most of us from the West have friends and relatives with whom we would like to share what we've found.What should we tell them about sannyas? What should we tell them about you? How can we explain the unexplainable?There are things which cannot be told, you cannot share them verbally. But there is a way to share them and that is through your being. Be a sannyasin; that is the only way to tell others what sannyas is. If you are a sannyasin your whole being will say that which cannot be said. Then your whole way of life will tell stories which cannot be conceptualized.Language is impotent. It cannot say that which is alive, it can say only dead things. You can say something about sannyas, but it will not be true. How can you say anything about sannyas? It is an inner flowering, it is an inner freedom, it is an inner ecstasy, a benediction. You can share it of course, but the sharing will be through your being, through your very being – the way you walk, the way you sit, the way you look, your eyes, your body, your very breath. The silence that surrounds you, the bliss that goes on and on being thrown all about you, your vibrations – they will tell and only they can tell.Be a sannyasin; that is the only way.And what is sannyas? It is a freedom from the mind. It will be difficult to understand sannyas if you don’t understand what mind is. Mind is the accumulated past. All that you have experienced, all that you have known, all that you have lived through is accumulated in the memory. That accumulated past is the mind. So mind is always dead because it belongs to the past. Mind is always dead, never alive. Whenever a thing has become dead it becomes part of the mind. It is just like dust that a traveler gathers. You are here and now, and mind is always in the past. Mind is your shadow that follows you.Sannyas is getting free from the past, living in the moment – not carrying the past in the head, not being burdened by it. Moment to moment, die to the past as if it never existed, as if you are born anew. Every moment be fresh and young. Put aside the past. Don’t gather the dust. If you gather dust you will get duller and duller every day. Your consciousness will be covered, your mirror-like being will not be able to mirror anything. The longer you have lived with the past, the more the mirror will be covered. It will not reflect. You will become less and less sensitive. This is what has happened.Sannyas means a breakthrough. Looking at the past, understanding that it is useless because it is no more, understanding that it is useless, a burden, you put it aside. Then you are here and now this very moment, in the present, in the plenitude of the present.Sannyas means living without time: not being influenced by the past, and not being carried by the future – no burden of the past, and no desire in the future. Sannyas is a goalless, purposeless life.If somebody says that sannyas is a means to achieve God, he is talking nonsense. Sannyas is not to achieve anything. Sannyas is to live in such a way, as if you have achieved everything. It is not a desire, because it makes no difference whether you desire wealth, power, prestige, or you desire God, moksha – it makes no difference. The basic mechanism remains the same – you desire. And whenever you desire, the future comes in. Whenever the future is there, it is nothing but a projection of the past. Whenever the future is, it is nothing but the modified known. It is never the unknown. How can you desire the unknown? That which you don’t know, how can you desire it?God cannot be desired. If you desire, it is something else. God is the unknown, how can you desire it? God is the unexperienced, how can you desire it? You can desire sex, you can desire power, you can desire the ego, because you have known them. You have known them for many, many lives. But how can you desire God? How can you desire love? How can you desire ecstasy? You have never known them; desire is impossible. That’s why all the scriptures and all the buddhas say that God happens to you when you are desireless. Moksha comes to you, you never go to moksha. You cannot go because you don’t know. Nirvana happens to you when you are desireless.Sannyas is desirelessness, and desirelessness means living in the now. And remember, now is not part of time; now is beyond time. Time comes in only when you think in terms of the past, in terms of the future. This very moment is not part of time. This very moment is not recorded on your watch, because the watch is always moving in the future. It is always moving in the future, never here and now. It is coming from the past and moving into the future.The watch is representative of your mind; it is never here. The moment you say it is here, it has moved. The moment you see where it is, it has become past. From past to future it is jumping. If you look minutely at your watch, you will see that it is not moving, it is jumping. The minute hand looks as if it is moving because the jump is very slow, but the hand that records seconds, you can see it is jumping. It jumps from the past to the future; it is never here and now. And this is the way of the mind.Now is beyond time, it is timeless – or you can call it eternal. You never leave it, it is always there. You never go into it, you never come out of it – it is there. If you can live in such a way that your whole life is surrounded by the now, you are a sannyasin, you are desireless – you don’t even desire God.The moment you desire God, you have made God into a commodity. Then you will be exploited by the priests, because they sell that commodity. Then you will be exploited by temples and churches and mosques, because those are the shops where that commodity is sold. A sannyasin has nothing to do with temples and churches, because God is not a commodity.What happens when you are not desiring? It doesn’t mean that you kill yourself, suppress yourself; it doesn’t mean that you kill your desires. The point has to be understood deeply, because this has happened.Scriptures say that those who have known say that when you are desireless, the divine happens to you. Then the mind jumps – just like a cat jumping on a mouse – catches hold of this desirelessness and says: “Okay, if the divine can be attained through desirelessness, then I will desire desirelessness.” Now this becomes the desire, and again you have missed. Then sannyasins try to be desireless, so this state of desirelessness becomes the thing to be achieved in the future.So what can you do? You can kill desire and think that you will become desireless. Then desirelessness is not the death of desire, because when desire dies, you are also dead. This will look very subtle and difficult. If there is no desire, if you have killed all desire, you will also be dead. That is not the way for desirelessness to happen. It is not the death of desire but the transformation of desire. Desire moving into the future is one way of desire; desire remaining here and now and enjoying the present is another way of desire. The second way is desireless, because it is not moving into the future.A man who is desireless is not dead. He is more alive than you because his desire is concentrated here and now. If he is eating his food, you cannot even conceive how happy he is – eating his ordinary food, just bread and butter – because his whole being is here; he is not just throwing things inside.A man who lives in the future never eats well. He is just throwing food inside. He is not concerned with eating because his mind is concerned with the future. He lives in ambition. He cannot eat well; he can think of what he will eat tomorrow, but he cannot eat this moment. He can imagine what type of foods, where he is going to eat tomorrow, but today is vacant and empty. And every tomorrow, unfortunately, becomes today – he will miss his whole life.While he is making love he doesn’t feel anything, he is frustrated – but he thinks of other women that he is going to capture in the future. And the same will happen again with every woman, with every man, because the meeting is here and now and the mind always moves. He will not be able to make love, he will not be able to eat well, he will not be able to enjoy the bliss that nature gives, continuously showering all around.As if in autumn when leaves are falling down from a tree silently, bliss is showering silently every moment without making any noise around you. Everything is beautiful, everything is a benediction – but you are not present.So a sannyasin doesn’t mean a man who has killed his desires. A sannyasin means a man who has brought all his desiring force here and now. He lives totally. Whatsoever he is doing he is totally absorbed in it. Nothing is left standing behind. He is not divided. While eating he becomes eating, while making love he becomes love, while moving he becomes movement.Buddha has said – and very few have understood what he means – that when you move only movement exists, not the mover; when you talk only talking exists, not the talker; when you listen only listening exists, not the listener; when you observe only observation exists, not the observer. This is what a sannyasin is. The activity becomes so total that the actor is lost in the activity. There is nobody standing behind – no division. You have moved completely; you have flowed into the activity, whatsoever the activity. Then enjoyment becomes perfect.So a sannyasin, a man who is desireless, is not a man with dead desires. He is a man whose desiring forces, all the energies that can desire, have turned upon the present moment. They are not running in the future, they have turned upon the present moment. His desires are concentrated here and now. He has become a world. Everything moves back into him. Nothing goes into the future because future is false, it is non-existential.If your desires move into the future, it is as if a river is moving into a desert. It will be lost, it will never reach the sea, it will never enjoy the ecstasy that comes to a river when it meets the sea. When a river reaches an ocean the orgasm is felt all over the river – the dance, the ecstasy, the blessing. It will not come if a river moves into a desert and is lost. It will evaporate, it will die. There will be no communion with existence. When desire moves into the future, the river of desire has moved into the desert. Future is nowhere; it is always the present. Future is a creation of the mind – it is false, it is a dream. A sannyasin lives in the reality, not in the dream. He enjoys the reality.So remember this: I insist again and again that a sannyasin is not a man who is against life. Really, he is the man who is for life. And a sannyasin is not a man who has killed all his being and desires and has become a dead thing. He is life in abundance, he is a great source of aliveness.What happens? – this is subtle – what happens? What will the difference be? You feel hunger, you start thinking about food. You never feel the hunger in its totality; otherwise it has its own beauty. A person who cannot feel hunger is already dead. When hunger is there, hunger is in the present, but you start thinking about food. When food is there, you start thinking about some other food that you are going to get tomorrow.A sannyasin, a man who lives in the present, enjoys hunger when hunger is there. He is totally hungry, he becomes hunger. Every cell of the body waiting for food as if it has not rained for many days and the earth is waiting for the rains. Every pore praying, waiting, inviting; the whole body waiting, inviting, enjoying the hunger. Then food is there; then he enjoys the food and the satisfaction that comes to the whole being, spreads all over the body and mind and soul. He enjoys this contentment.One Zen master was asked: “What is meditation?”He said: “When I am hungry I am hungry, and when I feel sleepy I fall asleep.”The questioner could not understand. He said: “I am asking about meditation, not about you.”The master said: “This is all that we know meditation to be. When I feel hungry I feel hungry; there is no division. When I eat I eat, and when I feel sleepy I go to sleep.”No fight with life, no resistance, surrender, floating – becoming a white cloud. A sannyasin is a white cloud moving in the blue sky, enjoying every moment that existence has given, enjoying every grace that comes to him. If this is possible, and it is possible – this has happened to many, this can happen to you; only a deep understanding is needed – then no karma is accumulated. Then you don’t accumulate anything. You eat, you love, you do everything – but you do it so totally that there is no ego to accumulate any memory out of it. You never say: “I did this” – how can you say it? When the doing was there you were not there, so who can say: “I did this?”If you say to a sannyasin: “You were hungry and you have taken your food,” he will say: “I was not hungry, I have not taken the food. Hunger was there and the hunger has taken the food; no action on my part, I was not there.” If you are not there, if the actor is not there, who will accumulate karma?That’s what Krishna says to Arjuna: “Do whatsoever happens to you. Whatsoever the situation demands, do it, and forget the doer. Don’t think that I am doing; rather think that God is doing through me.”This is another way of saying the same thing: “Existence is doing through me. I am just a nimitta – an instrument, a passage, a vehicle. I am just a flute, hollow within, nothing substantial. Existence goes on singing and bringing new tunes, creating new songs. I am just a passage, a bamboo flute.”A sannyasin is a bamboo flute, a passage. He is not there. Much happens around him, much happens through him, but he is not there. Become a sannyasin.This must come to your mind, that you have to share. This is beautiful. You are here; your mother will be waiting at home – your wife, your husband, your children. And love always shares…. You will go back. You will not be taking any visible thing with you – not a present to your mother or your wife, some ornaments or something from this country – you will be taking something invisible. This invisible cannot be talked about, because you are not taking a philosophy with you.I am not giving you a philosophy, I am not giving you any ideology, I am giving you a different type of life, a way of being.It will be difficult to tell them. If they ask directly it will be difficult. Don’t try to say anything, because that will not be of any help, it may create more problems. Rather, be open to them so they can share. Rather, be vulnerable. Be with them – laugh, enjoy, eat, meditate – and tell them to share your being, this new way of life that has happened to you. Your very presence, your being which is laughing, enjoying, will become infectious – it becomes so – and they will feel it.This will take time. It will not be easy, it will be difficult. So before you go, be prepared. Be ready to share. They will not always understand. In the beginning there is going to be misunderstanding, more possibility of misunderstanding, because they have never thought about it. This is something unknown, and whenever the unknown knocks at the door the mind feels scared, because the mind cannot categorize it, the mind cannot tackle it. It is shattering and shocking. Mind always feels happy if it can categorize a thing, put it into a corner and say: “This is this – label it and be finished.” Mind is always happy if it can analyze a thing – divide it, cut it, look into it, and be finished with it.Sannyas cannot be categorized. It is not a category. It is such an altogether different quality of being that no category exists for it. It cannot be analyzed; it cannot be broken into fragments. It is not a mechanism; you cannot break it, take the pieces apart and put them together again. No, it is an organic unity. If you analyze it, it is no longer there; and you can never put it back together again, it is impossible.Sannyas is a live force – organic, just like a flower. Analyze the flower, take each petal away, break it, look inside it, be satisfied that you have inquired, then try to put it back together. By that time the flower is gone, the petals are dead, and they can never be put back again in the same way, because it was an organic unity, it was not a mechanism.Sannyas is a flowering, a flowering of human consciousness – just as flowers coming on a tree show that now the tree has come to a completion and sooner or later fruits will follow. Flowers are just indications that the tree is ready to bear fruit. The tree is ready, it is fulfilled. Flowers are just the ecstasy of the tree before it starts giving fruit – because fruit means the fulfillment. The tree has come to its peak, its climax; it has achieved the crescendo of its being. It is happy, it enjoys – its life has not been futile; now fruits are going to come. The tree is ecstatic and gives flowers.Sannyas is a flowering, and moksha is the fruit. Sannyas means now your inner being, your inner tree, has come to a point where the jump, where the explosion is going to happen. Before it happens, the whole being enjoys it. You are fulfilled. It has not been a waste. Many, many lives you have waited – and it has come now. So long a waiting, so much patience – but it has been meaningful.You have achieved, you have reached – The whole being flowers.Hindus have chosen red, orange, ochre, as the color of sannyas because of flowers. Green and red are the basic colors in nature. Green is the tree, red is the flower. Your being has come to a flowering. Soon the fruits will follow. Soon the seeds will be coming. Take this flowering with you.It is good that you think how to share with loved ones, with friends, with wife and husband, with the family – how to share it? It is beautiful, it is good. It is virtuous to think of sharing such a beautiful thing. But you can share only if it has happened to you. If you have only been listening to me, thinking about flowers and you have not flowered, you cannot share. If you take my words they will not be real flowers, because words cannot be real – they will be plastic flowers. You can carry them, you can give them to your friends, but there will be no fragrance in them. They will not say what I have been saying to you, they will not convey anything. There will be no communication through them.So if you want to share sannyas, meditation – be meditative, become more and more deeply involved in this way of life. Desireless, still enjoy every desire when it comes. Whatever happens, keep enjoying it as a gift, as a grace, but never asking for it, never demanding it, never planning for it, never thinking about it. Live totally, and not through thought.Thought is the corrupting force. It corrupts everything and corrupts absolutely, because thought is cunning – it is cunningness personified. The more you think the more you will become cunning. You will think it is cleverness, you will think it is intelligence. It is not, because if there is intelligence, then thought is not needed. Intelligence is enough; thought is not needed. You need thought because intelligence is not there. If intelligence is there then you respond moment to moment. You need not think about what you should do next, because when the next moment comes intelligence will be there and you will respond.A mirror never thinks: When another man comes in front of me, what am I going to do? There is no need. The mirror is there, so it mirrors. If intelligence is there you never think about the next problem, because when the problem is there, and you have intelligence you will respond. You can rely on it.Because we don’t have intelligence, we think about it. Thinking is a substitute. Greater intelligence, less thinking. When intelligence is perfect, no thinking. A buddha never thinks – there is no need. Whatsoever life brings before him, he responds. You think because you cannot rely on your intelligence, so you have to plan beforehand. When the moment comes then you will follow the blueprint that you prepared in the past. What type of living is this?You live out of the past. That’s why so many errors are unnecessarily committed and everything goes stale and dead – because you always act out of the past. Life goes on, new every moment, river-like, changing. The change never stops, but you have stopped in the past. You carry a blueprint. Whenever life gives you a problem you look in your memory – the blueprint, the planning – and then you act out of it. You have missed. Life is always new, blueprints are always oldLife is just like birds flying in the sky – they never leave any mark. There is no path. When they have flown, the sky is as vacant as it was before. It is not like earth where people walk, and through their walking, through their footprints, paths are created. Life is like the sky – no paths are created.A sannyasin is like a bird flying in the sky, following no footprints, following no paths, because no paths exist. He moves moment to moment through his present intelligence, not his past memory.Look: we have done something quite the contrary – we have made everything a planning. Even a husband coming back from his office, from his work, thinks how he has to meet his wife; he plans inside, talks with himself. He will say this, he will touch her hand this way, he will give her a long kiss – or something. What is the need to plan it? Don’t you have any love?If love is not there then planning is needed, because you cannot rely on yourself, you may completely forget. If you have not planned it beforehand, you may reach home and you may completely forget that your wife has been waiting the whole day – preparing food for you, washing your clothes, just surrounded by you, by love. She has been waiting and waiting and waiting and getting impatient.Now you have come, and you don’t even look at her. You sit in your chair and you start reading your paper, or you put on your radio or TV as if the wife does not exist. You are afraid of this, you can’t do this, so you plan. You make it a point to remember. You have to remind yourself how to behave with your wife, with your beloved. What type of love is this which cannot respond without planning? If love is there, there will be no thinking about it.The same is true about intelligence: if intelligence is there, there will be no thinking about it. Thinking is a substitute. Thought is very clever and cunning. It can create the illusion of the real – that is the cleverness.You can smile without smiling. A smile comes to your lips but it is only on the lips, just a painted smile, not related to you at all. There is no bridge. It is not bubbling from the center of your being. It has not come from you; you have just put it on, it is a mask. Thought can do that and then by and by you go on becoming more false. Cunningness means creating a pseudo-life around yourself.A sannyasin is real. If he smiles his smile comes from his being. If he is angry, anger comes from his being. If he loves he loves from his being. He is not pseudo, he is not a phony. He is real and authentic. You can rely on him. If he loves, he loves. If he is a friend, he is a friend. If he is not, you can rely on him – he is not. But he is not deceptive.This is what I mean by a really virtuous man – authentic, reliable. Whatsoever is, is really there. He wears no masks, he uses no false faces. He lives with the real. And remember: you can come to the real only if you are real. If you are false you can never come to the real. If you are unreal then the world that you see is going to be unreal, because the unreal can be connected only with the unreal. You are unreal; that’s why the world is illusory, a maya. If you are real the world disappears; it becomes divine, it becomes real.The word maya is beautiful. It means that which can be measured. Maya means that which can be measured. Mind is the measuring phenomenon. Mind goes on measuring things, mapping out, analyzing. Mind tries to measure everything. That’s why Hindus have called the world maya – that which can be measured by the mind.What is your science? – Nothing but measuring. Hindus call science avidya. They call it not knowledge but anti-knowledge; it is not real knowing, because that which is real cannot be measured. It is immeasurable, it is infinite. It has no beginning and no end. The real is immeasurable, the unreal is measurable. And with measure comes reason, logic; with the immeasurable, logic drops, reason drops. Mind is very clever and cunning: it has created the world of illusion.Then what is a sannyasin? He is not a mind; on the contrary, he is innocence. He is innocent like a child just born – with no past, with no idea of the future. A sannyasin, every moment, is a child just born. This is the process – that every moment he dies to the past. Whatsoever has passed he throws it away, he renounces it, because it is a dead thing, dust; no need to carry it. He cleanses himself; his mirror becomes again fresh. He goes on cleansing the mirror. This cleansing I call meditation.People ask me: “When will we be able to drop meditation?” You will not be able to drop it. It will drop one day when you are not, but you will not be able to drop it, because you will need cleansing. You become continuously dirty, every moment the dirt gathers – it is the nature of life. Every moment you need a bath, a cleansing. When you are not there, then nothing – then there is no problem because there is no one there who can get dirty. But you are there, so meditation has to be continued. It is an effort to remain innocent.If you are innocent, there is nothing you are lacking. If you can look with innocent eyes toward the sky, you become the sky. With mind you start measuring. You say this is beautiful or not beautiful, or today’s sky is clouded, or tomorrow’s sky will be better, or yesterday’s sky was more beautiful. You start measuring.But if you are innocent, not a mind but just a being looking at the sky, there is nothing to say, nothing to think. The sky is there, and you are also like a sky. The inner and the outer meet. Both the spaces become one and there is no boundary. The observer becomes the observed. That’s what Krishnamurti goes on saying: “the observer becomes the observed.” The outer and the inner lose their boundaries, become one.If you look at a tree with innocence, with no mind measuring, what happens? There are not two, the tree and you; somehow the tree has entered you and you have entered the tree. Only then do you come to know what a tree is. You look at the stars, you look at a river, you look at a line of birds flying against the blue sky…. Boundaries go on merging. All differentiation is lost, all distinction is lost. Unity arises. It is not a unity made by thought, it is not the unity of philosophers, it is a totally different unity. You don’t think that it is one; you suddenly know that it is one. You don’t say inside your mind that this is one because the Upanishads have said so, because the Vedas have said so. It is one.If the Vedas and the Upanishads are in your mind, you are not innocent, you are cunning. Measurement is continuing. You are measuring, applying mind and thought, comparing. You are clever and cunning, you are not intelligent, and howsoever clever you are, a clever mind is mediocre. Intelligence is needed. A child is born intelligent, not clever. He looks at the world with clear eyes; his perception is absolutely clear, unclouded.When I say innocence is sannyas, I mean your perception should be clear, with no thoughts to become barriers. You should look – you should become the look. You should observe, but there should be no observer behind you manipulating. This innocence is possible, and only this innocence goes beyond time and space. Only this innocence reaches to the ultimate, to moksha, the absolute freedom. Become a sannyasin – an innocent one, reborn, cleansing, moving moment to moment into the unknown. Then you will be able to share.The whole process of human education, culture, conditioning, is just the opposite – it teaches you how to be cunning and clever. It teaches you mind, it never teaches you innocence. It teaches you “automatization” – this word has to be remembered – it makes you more and more automatic, because if you are more and more automatic you are more efficient.You learn driving: in the beginning it is difficult. The difficulty is not in the driving or in the car or in anything else – the difficulty is in you, because you have to be alert. In the beginning you have to be alert; the danger is there. You have to be continuously conscious of what you are doing. You have to be alert to the traffic, to the people passing, to the mechanism; you have to be alert to the clutch, to the gears, to the wheel and everything. You have to be alert to so many things that your mind cannot continue its routine inner chattering. It has to be alert. That creates the trouble.Later on, after a few days, you become automatic. Now the hand goes on working, the legs go on working, the car and you have become one mechanism, and your mind can continue its inner chattering. There is no problem, your mind is not needed. This is what I mean by automatic. Now your body is a mechanism, it functions.You will be needed only in certain rare cases. If there is going to be an accident, suddenly you will be needed. Then your thinking process will have to stop. Suddenly there will be a shock, your whole body mechanism will shiver, and you will have to be there, you will have to be alert. But these are rare moments. Otherwise you can continue – you can smoke, you can sing, you can even talk with somebody, you can listen to the radio or you can continue your inner talk, the inner dialogue – there is no need to be there. You have become automatic, but this is more efficient.If you need to be continuously aware you cannot be very efficient, you cannot go very fast – because you don’t know how to be aware. Because of this factor, because people are not aware, they live unconscious lives. Society has learned a trick – make everybody more and more automatic. The whole of schooling is nothing but making you automatic. Language, mathematics – everything becomes automatic. You can do it without being worried about it. It becomes mechanical.When I say become innocent, it means a de-automatization. It means whatsoever you do, do fully conscious. If you are driving a car, then only drive – become driving, but don’t do anything else; don’t continue the inner talk. Just become so deeply involved and alert that there is no driver – only driving, fully conscious. It will be difficult – that’s why societies have not bothered about it. Only individuals can pass through such an arduous path. Do everything consciously. By and by your body-automatism will dissolve, you will become de-automatized. Then innocence will flower.A child is innocent because nothing is automatic yet. He has not learned anything, he is not conditioned yet. Sooner or later we will condition him. He will learn things; then more and more mind will be there and less and less he himself. Less and less being and more and more mind will be there. Then he will become just an automaton, a mechanism – efficient, working well, serving the society, but dead.Serve, help the society work, but don’t become automatic. As you have already become automatic, de-automatize yourself. By and by, bring more and more consciousness. Whatsoever you are doing, bring more consciousness, because whatsoever you are doing, if you are less conscious it becomes automatic. That is the way of automatization – being less and less conscious, doing things like a mechanism.More and more conscious doing, not like a mechanism but a presence, then innocence can flower in you. And that innocence is the greatest thing that can happen to a human being.Innocent, you are divine. Innocent, you have become gods.

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Ma Tzu The Empty Mirror 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

Ma Tzu The Empty Mirror 01 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,When Nangaku first saw Ma Tzu, he recognized him by intuition as a vessel of the dharma.He visited Ma Tzu in his cell where he was meditating, and asked him: “In practicing sitting meditation, what does your reverence aspire to attain?”“To attain buddhahood” was Ma Tzu's reply.Nangaku then took up a piece of brick and began to grind it against a rock in front of Ma Tzu's cell. Ma Tzu asked, “What are you grinding it for?”“I want to grind it into a mirror,” responded Nangaku.Amused, Ma Tzu said, “How can you hope to grind a piece of brick into a mirror?”Nangaku retorted, “Since a piece of brick cannot be ground into a mirror, how then can you sit yourself into a buddha?”“What must I do then?” Ma Tzu asked.Nangaku replied, “Take the case of an ox-cart: if the cart does not move, do you whip the cart or do you whip the ox?”Ma Tzu remained silent.“In learning sitting meditation,” resumed Nangaku, “do you aspire to imitate the sitting Buddha or do you aspire to learn the sitting Zen? If the former, the Buddha has no fixed postures. If the latter, Zen does not consist in sitting or lying down.“The dharma goes on forever and never abides in anything. You must not, therefore, be attached to, nor abandon, any particular phase of it. To sit yourself into Buddha is to kill the Buddha. To be attached to the sitting posture is to fail to comprehend the essential principle.”Maneesha, we are starting a new series of talks: Ma Tzu: The Empty Mirror. Ma Tzu is also known as Baso. I am not using the name Baso, because our second series is going to be on the Japanese Basho – the great mystic poet of Zen. And the name Ma Tzu is itself more meaningful than his popular name, Baso.Before I discuss the sutras, a biographical note on Ma Tzu is absolutely needed, because he is not known to the world. He is one of those unfortunate geniuses whom the world tries in every way to ignore, to forget that they even exist. Even the idea that they exist hurts the ego of the crowd. It has been doing harm to every genius, because the very existence of a genius reduces you to a retarded being. Every enlightened master is evidence that you are living in darkness, that you have to transform your darkness into life, into light.It seems to be such a great task – it is not, but it appears to be a great task – to transform your blindness into clear perceptive eyes; to transform your darkness into beautiful morning light. It is a simple thing, the simplest in the world, but just because it is simple, it does not appeal to the mind. Mind is interested in doing great things. The desire behind every ambition of the mind is to be special. And you can be special only with special achievements.The problem with Zen is that it wants you to be utterly simple, not special. It goes against the very desire of the mind, which is not a small phenomenon – it is a four-million-years-old desire, which everybody is carrying in different lives. Mind cannot understand why you should be simple when you could be special, why you should be humble when you could be powerful. And mind is heavy, it has the great weight of the past. The moment the mind sees anyone humble, simple, natural, a buddha, it immediately condemns him, because such a man goes against the whole makeup of the human mind.And in a way the mind is right. To be a buddha you will have to drop the mind completely, you will have to become an empty mirror.Ma Tzu was born in China in the year 709. He was the most important figure in the history of Zen after the sixth patriarch, Eno. Eno told Nangaku, who would become Ma Tzu’s master, about a prophecy that Nangaku would have “a spirited young horse” of a disciple who would “trample the whole world.” In Chinese, the ‘Ma’ of Ma Tzu means ‘horse’. As a child, Ma Tzu joined a local monastery; before he was twenty, he was already a professed monk.He was a born genius, and even had prophecies about him by other masters – that he is not to be taken as just xyz, he has a possibility of becoming a great master – and the prophecies were fulfilled.Sometimes it is possible, if a master looks at a child when the child is still uncorrupted by the society, that he can see his potential clearly. And that’s what another great master, Eno, said to Nangaku.Eno was the sixth patriarch, the sixth great master after Bodhidharma. He told Nangaku, “This child is going to become a great master; be careful.” And finally Ma Tzu became not only a great master, but the second most important master after Eno. Eno’s prophecy was fulfilled more than he had expected. Ma Tzu proved himself to be a greater master than the prophecy had said.But it is his strange fate that he is not known to the world. Perhaps he was too much ahead of his time; perhaps he was too far away from the ordinary crowd; perhaps his way of teaching was so subtle that the ordinary mind was incapable of comprehending it.But whatever the cause, we are resurrecting Ma Tzu. We want him to be accepted in the history of consciousness, in the place that belongs to him.The story Maneesha has brought:When Nangaku first saw Ma Tzu, he recognized him by intuition as a vessel of the dharma.A master is nothing but clarity, transparency. To him, things which are invisible to you are visible. Your potentiality is something very invisible, the mystery of your being. But to the master it is almost an open book; he can read it. And to have such a master, who can read your potentiality and can help you grow according to your potentiality – not according to his ideology – is the greatest blessing one can have.When Nangaku first saw Ma Tzu, he recognized him by intuition as a vessel of the dharma.These are metaphors. “A vessel of the dharma” is to say that he will become a presence which will send a radiation all around. People will come from thousands of miles away, pulled by an invisible force, like gravitation, not knowing why they are being pulled to a certain person. They will understand only when they have reached to that person – felt his energy, quenched their thirst. Then they will know that some subtle force was pulling them to fulfill their destiny.Just a few days ago, I came to know that trees have a certain sensibility about water. The scientist who was exploring it was amazed to see that there was a tree with no water around, except that two hundred feet away there was a water pipe. But the tree sent its roots to the water pipe, forced it to break, and was relishing and nourishing itself from that water.The scientist was worried because he could not find any water around the tree, and he had not thought that it was carrying the water from a water pipe that it had broken with its roots. He was puzzled – how did the tree know about the water pipe two hundred feet away? And it had not sent its roots anywhere else, just directly to the water pipe.The tree cannot live without water. Certainly it must have a certain sensibility, a certain hidden knowledge where water is, even though the water is inside a pipe, and two hundred feet away.The same is the situation with you, if your quest for truth is honest, not just a curiosity. From thousands of miles away, you will start getting pulled to a place where your thirst can be quenched. Existence makes a thirst only after it has created water to quench it. If there are disciples, seekers, searchers, existence manages that they should find a master who can see in them what their possible future is, and can help them to be themselves.The master has no ideology, the master is not a missionary, the master does not program you. On the contrary he de-programs you; he takes away all your ideologies, your prejudices, your very mind, so that the pure emptiness of your being starts growing.The masters have been lost, the whole world of that golden quest for truth has become a memory. And at times one thinks, “Perhaps all these buddhas are just our imagination” – because they have disappeared from our mundane world.Your purpose in being here is to bring that golden quest back into the world. And I am trying from all different angles – all these masters are different angles, different approaches to the truth – hoping that something may click in you and open the door that has been closed for years, for centuries.He visited Ma Tzu in his cell where he was meditating, and asked him: “In practicing sitting meditation, what does your reverence aspire to attain?”Just take note of it: Nangaku was a well-established master and Ma Tzu was just a young disciple, but he addresses him as “your reverence.” For the master, your present is not only the present, it is also your future. He knows you, that one day you will become a buddha. It does not matter that it takes a few days, or a few years, or a few lives. Because Nangaku can see his buddhahood, he addresses even a disciple as “your reverence.”It reminds me about Gautam Buddha’s past life, when he was not yet a buddha, and he heard about a great master who had become enlightened. He went to see, just out of curiosity, what this phenomenon of enlightenment is, and how it makes a difference in a man.He touched the feet of the man, although he had no intention of doing so; but just as he came into his energy field, spontaneously he touched his feet. He wondered why he was touching his feet, because he had not come there to be a disciple. But the very area, the very atmosphere, the very milieu – and something in his heart started ringing a bell, that perhaps he had come close to his home, without any conscious intention.Just spontaneously he touched the feet of the man. It was a miracle to him, because he had never touched anybody’s feet. He was not a man of faith or belief; he was a young man, and very argumentative. This was a strange act that he had done, but stranger than this was that when he stood up, the master touched his feet.He said, “What are you doing? In the first place, I had no idea, no desire, no intention of touching your feet – but it happened. I was just watching it happening in spite of me. And now you are touching my feet! – I am nobody, I don’t know even the abc of enlightenment. I have just come here out of curiosity.”The master said, “You may not know what is contained in your seed, but I know. I can see that one day you are going to become the buddha. Yesterday I was not a buddha, today I am a buddha; today you are not a buddha, tomorrow you will be a buddha. This small time difference does not make any difference.”Nangaku said to Ma Tzu, who was meditating in his cell, “In practicing sitting meditation, what does your reverence aspire to attain?”“To attain buddhahood” was Ma Tzu’s reply.It has to be understood that buddhahood cannot be attained, it is already your nature. If you try to attain it, you will miss it. You have just to relax and see within yourself, and the buddha is already there in its absolute splendor.The use of the word attain means that something has to be done, you have to go somewhere. There is a possibility of failure – you may succeed, you may not succeed. And attainment is always of the outside world, of the objective world – riches, or fame, or power….But buddhahood is not an attainment. It is simply a remembrance, as if you had forgotten something, and suddenly in a silent relaxed state you remember it.I think every one of you must have come at one time or other to the experience when you know that you know something, and you say that it is just on the tip of your tongue, but still you cannot remember. A very strange and weird feeling arises at that time. You know somebody’s name – you are absolutely sure that you know, you can even close your eyes and see the person – you feel that the name is just on your tongue, but you are stuck there, it is not becoming expressed.It is a very weird feeling – that you know it, and you know that you know, and yet you cannot express it. It is just on the tip of your tongue, but the more you try, the more it becomes difficult.The reason is that every effort makes your mind tense; and the more the mind is tense, the more it becomes closed. What is needed…you should go into the garden, and start digging or watering the plants, and forget all about this fellow who you remember and who is just sitting on the tip of your tongue. Just simply spit it out. Get engaged in something simple – watering the roses; and while you are watering the roses, the mind will start relaxing. The closedness will start opening, and suddenly, from nowhere, the name has bubbled up to the surface.While you were trying it was not possible for you to get it. But when you were not trying, and you simply dropped the idea of getting it, it came back with such a rushing force.To be a buddha is exactly like that.All that I teach you is not a philosophy, it cannot even be called a teaching. I simply help you to relax to such a point where you can remember what you have forgotten completely.That remembrance will make you aware of your buddhahood.That remembrance is not an achievement because the buddha is already within you; hence the word attainment is not right. But Ma Tzu’s reply can be understood with a little more compassion. He does not know what exactly buddhahood is, he just has a feeling that there is something to be found, there is something missing in his life, to give it meaning and significance.The word buddha simply signifies that he is searching for awareness. But because he does not know that what he is searching for is within himself, it is absolutely possible for him to use the word attainment. He is using the wrong word, but his longing is right. He is on the right path, he is just using a wrong word. And you have to forgive him because he is only a seeker, he is not a master yet.Nangaku then took up a piece of brick and began to grind it against a rock in front of Ma Tzu’s cell. Ma Tzu asked, “What are you grinding it for?”This will give you some feel of how Zen masters have been unique in their efforts to awaken their disciples. This is a strange way, but spontaneous, because nobody else has done it before, nor afterwards. Only Nangaku did it.Ma Tzu asked, “What are you grinding it for?”“I want to grind it into a mirror,” responded Nangaku.Amused, Ma Tzu said, “How can you hope to grind a piece of brick into a mirror?”Nangaku retorted, “Since a piece of brick cannot be ground into a mirror, how then can you sit yourself into a buddha?”“How can you – remaining yourself, sitting here in the cell – become the buddha? Neither the brick can become a mirror, nor just by sitting can you become a buddha. You can have the same posture as the buddha, the same lotus posture, but just sitting like him does not mean that you become him. Your effort is as futile as my effort of making a brick into a mirror.”What he is saying in fact is that you cannot become the mirror just by grinding your mind. What are you doing here? Just grinding your mind, and trying to make a mirror of it. The buddha is the mirror; the buddha simply reflects, he does not react. He is always empty like a mirror. Things come and go before the mirror, but they don’t leave any trace on the mirror.“What must I do then?” Ma Tzu asked.Nangaku replied, “Take the case of an ox-cart: if the cart does not move, do you whip the cart or do you whip the ox?”Ma Tzu remained silent.“In learning sitting meditation,” resumed Nangaku, “do you aspire to imitate the sitting Buddha or do you aspire to learn the sitting Zen? If the former, the Buddha has no fixed postures”– sometimes he stands up, sometimes he walks, and sometimes he sleeps also –“If the latter, Zen does not consist in sitting or lying down. The dharma goes on forever and never abides in anything.”It has no particular form, it has no particular place; it goes on moving into different forms. You will not be able to find it in any form, in any body, in any posture. You will have to look within. It is only found in the emptiness, because emptiness cannot sit, cannot stand up, cannot lie down. Emptiness is just emptiness; it is eternally empty. That is the only thing that is eternal – your empty heart.“The dharma goes on forever and never abides in anything. You must not, therefore, be attached to, nor abandon, any particular phase of it. To sit yourself into Buddha is to kill the Buddha.”It is the majesty of Zen to say things directly, straightforwardly. No other religion has that courage.Nangaku is saying to Ma Tzu, “…to sit yourself into Buddha” – taking the buddha posture – “is to kill the Buddha.” Don’t murder…Before dying Gautam Buddha said to his disciples, “Don’t make statues of me, because that will give a wrong impression to people. They will think that if you sit in this posture, you will become a buddha.”But who hears? Today there are more statues of Buddha than of anybody else. In fact, in languages like Arabic, Persian, Urdu – because Mohammedans are against statues – the word for statue is but; and but is just a form of buddha. In Sanskrit budh is the original root of buddha – to be aware. From buddh it is very easy to make but.This happened because Mohammedans came across more statues of Buddha than of anybody else. And they were destroying statues; wherever they went they were destroying statues. They destroyed beautiful pieces of art. To be against statues does not mean that you have to destroy statues.You can see in this way how the unconscious mind moves from one extreme to another extreme. Gautam Buddha said, “Don’t make statues of me, because people may think that just by sitting in the lotus posture you can become aware. Just leave it like this – that awareness has no form, you have to find it within you. You cannot find it in a buddha statue. Do not distract them by outside statues – because man’s mind is such that it can be distracted by anything, it becomes attached to anything….”I have heard about a Buddhist nun who had her own small statue of Gautam Buddha, made of solid gold, and she used to carry it while she was traveling from monastery to monastery. But her problem was that every morning she would worship her buddha, and she would burn incense – but incense cannot be directed, it may go to some other buddha in the temple. Now this was very bad – her own buddha was sitting there, and the incense and the perfume that she offered had flown away to some other buddha.There used to be – there still are – temples with many buddhas. And she was so much attached to her own buddha that it became a problem. Her buddha and other buddhas…She finally found a strategy so that the incense reached to her buddha – because she was offering her incense, and the other buddhas were getting it. She made a small bamboo, just like a hollow passage, and she kept it on her incense burner, moving the perfume with the hollow bamboo towards the nose of her own buddha.But then there arose another problem: the nose of her buddha became black. She was in great distress; a gold buddha, a solid gold buddha, with a black nose – it does not suit. He looks almost like a nigger…!She inquired of the older monks, “What to do now? If I don’t put the bamboo there, the incense…nobody knows where it goes. It goes to all kinds of buddhas; but I am offering it to my buddha. And now because of this bamboo, the nose and a part of the face have become black. What should I do?”The monk she was asking laughed and said, “You are an idiot woman! You don’t understand the simple fact that all the buddhas are the same, they are statues of the same person. You have become attached to your buddha, and the whole teaching of Buddha is non-attachment.“It is perfectly right; Buddha has shown you that attachment makes you dirty. So beware of it! Just go to a goldsmith so he can clean and polish your buddha. But from now onwards, just think of the Buddha. Any buddha, whichever buddha gets the incense…perhaps he deserves it! And you should be happy that it has reached to somebody, because all those statues represent the same person.”Buddhists, the followers of Buddha, did not hear his last words, “Don’t make statues of me. Let me represent the formless; only the fragrance, not the flower.”And there has been another extreme. Mohammed was against statues, because if you worship a statue…it is a stone, and worshipping a stone is a barrier to the worship of God. So all barriers have to be removed.It was perfectly okay if somebody was willing to remove it, but Mohammedans started removing other people’s barriers. They forgot all about God. Their whole history became a destruction of statues.Neither by worshipping a statue can you reach to the buddha, nor by destroying statues can you reach to the buddha. You have to go withinwards; outside there is nothing that can give you the eternal, the ultimate, the truth that can quench your thirst.“To sit yourself into Buddha is to kill the Buddha. To be attached to the sitting posture is to fail to comprehend the essential principle.”The essential principle is never objective; it is your subjectivity. The essential principle has no form; it is absolute emptiness. The essential principle is a mirror; it only reflects, it does not make any judgment of good or bad, of beauty or ugliness.Chi-Hsien wrote:I possess potentiality;it is seen in a blink.He who does not understandcannot be called a monk.It applies to you exactly the way it was applicable to Chi-Hsien’s disciples. I possess potentiality; it is seen in a blink. It is not a far away phenomenon. Just close your eyes, and look silently, deep, and it is there. It has been there for eternity, just waiting for you to come home.Maneesha has asked:Osho,Are we all, the ten thousand buddhas, potential vessels of the dharma?Maneesha, as far as being potential vessels of dharma, nobody is an exception. You all have the potential – the same potential, the same highest peaks of consciousness, as any buddha. But you have to go inwards and find your treasures. Outside you are a beggar, everybody is a beggar.Alexander the Great came to India just three hundred years after Buddha had died. He wanted to meet some master. The name and the fame of Buddha had reached faraway shores – even to Greece and Athens.Alexander’s master was the father of Western logic, Aristotle. Aristotle had told him, “You are going to conquer the world, you must reach India. I don’t want you to bring anything as a present for me, just meet an enlightened master. I have heard so much, but it seems to be so ungraspable. And moreover, because I am a logician, I cannot accept anything unless it is rationally valid, with evidence, argument.”On his way back, Alexander remembered that he had to find a master. He inquired of people and they said, “It is very difficult. Even if you can find a master, we don’t think he will be agreeable to going with you to Greece.”Alexander said, “Don’t be worried about that. If I want to take the Himalayas to Greece, I can manage it!”Finally he found a master. Many people had said, “Yes, that person is a realized one. He lives naked by the side of the river.”Alexander reached to the man, and with his naked sword he said, “I want you to come with me! You will be given a royal welcome; every facility will be available to you. You will be a royal guest, so don’t be worried about anything. But I want you to come to Greece, because my master wants to see an enlightened man.”The old man laughed. He said, “In the first place, put your sword back into its sheath – this is not the way to meet a master. And get down from your horse!”Alexander had never heard such authoritative words – and from a naked man, who has nothing.And the man said, “Remember that you may conquer the whole world, but you are still a beggar. Now you are begging me to come with you. But as far as I’m concerned, I have come to the point where there is no movement. I don’t go anywhere, I have never gone anywhere. I have been always now and here. Time has stopped, mind has stopped….”Alexander was very angry. He said, “I will cut off your head if you don’t come with me!”The man said, “That’s a good idea. You can take the head, but I’m not coming. And remember: just as you cut off my head, you will be watching the head falling on the ground and I will also be watching. Watching is our secret, tell your master – and take my head.”Now it is very difficult to take the head of such a man, who is not afraid at all. Alexander said, “I have to go without a master.”The old man said, “Tell your master that enlightenment is not something that you can bring from outside. You cannot export it – you have to explore it within yourself. Drop all logic, all rationality, all mind, and go inwards as deep as you can. At the very end of your search you will find the buddha.“My coming will be of no use. I would not have refused, because there is no difference for me, where I am – but seeing me, do you see any enlightenment? Neither will your master be able to see any enlightenment. To see enlightenment, you need a little bit of the experience of enlightenment, at least some meditativeness. And I don’t think meditation has even entered into the consciousness of people in the West.”Strangely, even today – the twenty-three hundred years since Alexander have not been of any help – meditation is still an Eastern concept. It is still only in the East that people become thirsty to inquire within.My effort is to spread the fire all over the world, to destroy the distinction between East and West. But every hindrance is being created. You all have to take the fire of meditation to your countries. Just small beginnings, and soon it can become a wildfire.Except for meditation there is no way to know yourself – in your purity, in your utter innocence, just like a mirror. But you are all vessels of the dharma, of the basic principle. You may recognize it, you may not recognize it. You are carrying it, you are pregnant with it – whether you give birth or not, that is a different matter. Just a little relaxation, just a little looking inwards, and the doors of immense potentialities open up. You are no more a beggar. Without conquering the world you have conquered the whole universe.Just conquer yourself.The rains have come to hear your laughter. (A loud and familiar laugh is heard from the back of the auditorium.) And Sardar Gurudayal Singh has started it.Three sannyasin kids meet in the ashram and start talking together.“You know,” says the German kid, “my uncle is a priest, and all the people call him ‘holy father.’”“That’s nothing,” says the Japanese kid. “My grandfather is a Zen master, and even the emperor touches his feet.”“That’s nothing, you guys,” says the American kid. “My mother weighs three hundred pounds, and when she walks down the street, people take one look at her and say, ‘My god!’”Father Finger has a little trouble with a sixteen-year-old blonde and the police. He goes immediately to see his lawyer, Boris Babblebrain. “If you win the case for me,” says Finger, “I’ll give you a thousand dollars.”“Okay,” agrees Babblebrain, “get some witnesses.”Father Finger searches around his parish and manages to find two old drunks and a bag lady for his witnesses. They tell the right story, and he wins the case.“I won your case for you,” says Babblebrain. “Now, what about my thousand dollars?”“Okay,” replies Father Finger, “just get some witnesses!”At a chic cocktail party in Hollywood, Sheik Ali Baba, the fabulously rich oil millionaire, meets Brenda Babblebrain and falls madly in love with her.Sheik Ali Baba approaches her husband, Boris, the lawyer, and leads him into a quiet corner.“I must sleep with your wife,” says Ali Baba, “and in return, I will pay you her weight in gold.”Boris hesitates, and then he insists that he will need a few days.“To think the deal over?” asks Ali Baba, anxiously.“No, no!” cries Boris, “to fatten her up!”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent.Let your body be completely frozen.Close your eyes, and look inwards with as much urgency and totality as possible.Deeper and deeper…you are entering the space we call the buddha.This beautiful evening can become a great radical change in your life, if you are courageous enough to go on, just like an arrow, to the very center of your being.You are just a witness, an empty mirrorTo make it more clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax.Watch – the body is not you, the mind is not you.Only the watching, only the witnessing is you.This witnessing is your eternity.With this witnessing comes all the ecstasies, all the blessings that existence can offer to you.The deeper you are, the more watchful you are – the more silent, the more peaceful.It is a great event.Every evening you go a little deeper into your buddhahood.Look around this empty space within you; you have to remember it, twenty-four hours, when you come back from the inner journey.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back, but come back as buddhas – peaceful, silent, graceful, with a beatitude.Sit down for a few moments just as mirrors; remembering your inner world, collecting the experience so that it can become an undercurrent in your daily life.I don’t want anybody to escape from life; I want everybody to make life richer, more blissful, more ecstatic.I am all for life, because to me life is the only God.The buddha is another name for life.Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?

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Ma Tzu The Empty Mirror 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

Ma Tzu The Empty Mirror 02 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,After his first instructions from his master, Nangaku, on the meaning of the dharma, Ma Tzu felt as if he were drinking the most exquisite nectar. After bowing to the master, Ma Tzu asked him, “How must one be attuned to the formless samadhi?”The master said, “When you cultivate the way of interior wisdom, it is like sowing seed. When I expound to you the essentials of dharma, it is like the showers from heaven. As you are receptive to the teaching, you are destined to see the Tao.”Ma Tzu again asked: “Since the Tao is beyond color and form, how can it be seen?”The master said: “The dharma-eye of your interior spirit is capable of perceiving the Tao. So it is with the formless samadhi.”“Is there still making and unmaking?” Ma Tzu asked.To this, the master replied, “If one sees the Tao from the standpoint of making and unmaking, or gathering and scattering, one does not really see the Tao. Listen to my gatha:“The ground of the no-mindcontains many seedswhich will all sprout whenheavenly showers come.The flower of samadhiis beyond color and form.How can there be any moremutability?”It is said that at this, Ma Tzu was truly enlightened, his mind having transcended the world of phenomena. He attended upon his master for a full ten years. During this period, he delved deeper and deeper into meditation.Maneesha, a great master on his own authority, Nangaku, is working on a greater master, Ma Tzu, who is just a seed right now, but contains a great buddha.You are also seeds. It is up to you if you remain closed. Then you will never know your ultimate nature as a buddha. A little courage, a little opening, a little dying of the cover of the seed and the buddha starts sprouting in you.You cannot blame the climate. The rains are there. The clouds have even entered into the auditorium, they are just passing before my eyes. So close are the clouds…but the strange thing is that the closer the clouds are, the more the seed becomes afraid. Afraid of the unknown, afraid of…one never knows what is going to be outside. Hidden inside a cover, the seed feels safer, more secure.On the path of Zen you have to learn these important words: openness, joy in insecurity – a challenge from the unknown has always to be welcomed. That is the way of growing up. Most of the people in the world, who Wilhelm Reich has called “little men,” die as little men, although their destiny is not to be little men. Wilhelm Reich was perfectly right in respect of the masses, the crowd, to call his book Listen, Little Man. But he was absolutely wrong because he could not see that hidden in the little man is the greatest buddha.He simply condemned the little man because all the little men were condemning him. He was a genius; not a buddha but an intellectual giant, and he has been condemned by the crowds. Finally he was forced within the walls of a madhouse. And he was saying immensely sensible things. He was bringing a new territory to be explored.But all those fearful people, afraid of the unknown, afraid of losing the security and the safety of the bank balance, forced him into a madhouse. And he was not mad. In his madhouse days he wrote his best books. They are evidence that he was not mad. But the politicians and the crowd and the government all conspired to force him to live in a madhouse. They all laughed at his immensely valuable discoveries about human energy. Naturally he was angry.So when he wrote the book Listen, Little Man, it was not out of compassion, it was out of reaction. They had done harm to him, and he at least was able to condemn them. His book is beautiful in describing the little man. But the essential part of the little man is the seed, his potentiality, which Reich completely forgets in his anger.Otherwise he was very close to becoming enlightened. But in his anger, his reaction, he was incapable of seeing the point that the people were bound to condemn him – his being a genius was enough reason for their condemnation. They were bound to crucify him and it had to be understood as the natural course of things. But he could not take it as the natural course of things. He could not understand that it is something that has to happen to every genius who opens the doors of insecurity.And because of this great cloud of anger, he was completely blind, unable to see that the little man is a buddha, hidden deep down as a seed.Nangaku is instructing Ma Tzu.After his first instructions from his master, Nangaku, on the meaning of the dharma, Ma Tzu felt as if he were drinking the most exquisite nectar. After bowing to the master, Ma Tzu asked him, “How must one be attuned to the formless samadhi?”The first thing to understand is the meaning of dharma. Unfortunately the Sanskrit word dharma – or the Pali word which Buddha used, dhamma – has been wrongly translated as religion by the theologians, and by scholars it has been translated as law, the ultimate law. Both have missed the point.Dharma is not religion. In fact if you go to the roots of the words, religion means that which binds you, and dharma means that which frees you. They are absolutely contrary to each other. Dharma simply means your intrinsic nature. It is not written in scriptures and nobody can tell you what your dharma is. You have to find it yourself. This is a great dignity, conferred on the individual by existence, that you don’t have to live on borrowed knowledge. The living source of life is just flowing close by. Why not drink it and be quenched?Ma Tzu says, after understanding the meaning of the dharma, that…he felt as if he were drinking the most exquisite nectar. The deeper you go in your meditations, the closer you will come to the eternal stream of your life sources. It is pure nectar, because it declares your immortality, it declares your eternity. It declares that death is a fiction; it has never happened and will never happen to anyone. One only changes the house; one gets into another form or maybe into the formless existence.Ma Tzu’s statement that…he felt as if he were drinking the most exquisite nectar shows his tremendous understanding. He is very new in meditation, he is so young. But age has nothing to do with your realization. It is not that when you get old, you will be able to become a buddha easily. On the contrary, the older you become the more difficult it becomes for you to drop your lifelong habits, concepts, ideologies.Just two years ago Pope the Polack was in India and he was surprised to see that the very poor and the orphans who have been converted to Christianity were doing the same in their churches as they had been doing before: burning incense, bringing flowers for Jesus Christ. He could not believe what the priests were doing, because these people were doing exactly what they used to do in their temples. Instead of Krishna, now Christ is there, everything else is the same.But the priests told him that they had to make a few considerations, a few compromises. These people cannot understand a religion without incense, without flowers. And the pope conceded that for Indian Christians it is okay.As you become old, it becomes very difficult to change your ideology, your lifelong belief. It becomes hardened. The old man becomes hard, and in the same way everything around him becomes hard. The best situation in which to grow into your potential is childhood. Next to it is your youth. Most probably the childhood will be spoilt by the parents, by the priests.The authentic religion has to depend on youth, because youth has a certain rebelliousness natural to it. A young man can rebel against the whole past without any guilt. He can clean his heart of all the old dead scriptures and statues, and the challenge of the unknown stirs his heart. He wants to accept the greatest challenge, and this is the greatest challenge in life – to allow your seed to open to the unknown skies, to the winds, the sun, the rain; one never knows what is going to happen.There is nobody to guide the seed, there are no scriptures for the seed to read. The seed is taking a risk by coming out, and you should understand that the risk is not small. The risk is exactly a death. The seed has to die in the soil; only then the sprouts of the potentiality of the seed will start growing. Perhaps it will become a roseflower, or a lotus, or some other kind of flower. It does not matter. What matters is flowering, not the name of the flower. A wild flower is as beautiful as the most precious rose. They are brothers in one way, that they both have come to their flowering. They have both enjoyed the joy of growth, they both have seen with their own eyes what was hidden in their seed. They have both taken the same risk and the same challenge.In fact it is a death and a resurrection. The seed dies and resurrects into many flowers, into many fruits, into many seeds. It is said that a single seed can make the whole earth green. Just one plant is not its potential. On that one plant there will come thousands of seeds again, each seed again carrying thousands of seeds.Just a single seed can fill the whole earth with absolute greenness. Such tremendous possibility in a small seed! And you are a living seed, conscious. The most precious thing in existence is within you: consciousness. The seed is groping in the dark, still finding the way. And you are conscious, you have a little light, but you don’t move from your position, you remain a little man. In fact you hate all those who have gone to the other shore because their very going condemns you, that you have failed to fulfill your own destiny.After bowing to the master, Ma Tzu asked him, “How must one be attuned to the formless samadhi?”The master must have said to him that unless you become attuned with existence in utter silence, you cannot know the dharma, the very principle of life and existence. Ma Tzu’s inquiry is that of an honest seeker. He loved what was said, he felt it as if it was exquisite nectar – but he would not believe it. There are still things to be settled. His question is not the question of a student, it is the question of a would-be master.“How must one be attuned to…formless samadhi?”He cuts out all unnecessary questions and comes exactly to the right thing, how one should be attuned to the formless samadhi.Samadhi is a Sanskrit word, very beautiful in its meaning. It comes from a root which means, when there is no question and no answer, when your silence is so profound that you don’t even have the question; answers are left far away but you don’t have even the question. Such innocence which is just silent is called samadhi. And in this samadhi you can fall in tune with the heartbeat of the universe. Only in samadhi can you become one with the whole. There is no other way.Every day what we are doing in the name of meditation is moving towards samadhi. Meditation is the beginning and samadhi is the end. Ma Tzu’s question is that of a potential buddha. He is not asking about non-essentials, just the very essential.The master said, “When you cultivate the way of interior wisdom, it is like sowing seed. When I expound to you the essentials of dharma, it is like the showers from heaven. As you are receptive to the teaching, you are destined to see the Tao.”Tao is Chinese for what we call samadhi; the Japanese call it satori, the Chinese call it Tao. Tao is perhaps the best of all these expressions, because it is not part of language. It simply indicates something inexpressible, something that you can know but cannot say, something that you can live but cannot explain. It is something that you can dance, you can sing, but you cannot utter a single word about it. You can be it; you can be the expression of Tao, but you cannot say what it is that you are expressing.Ma Tzu again asked: “Since the Tao is beyond color and form, how can it be seen?”You have to understand this dialogue very deeply, because it will give you the right direction for what has to be asked. There are thousands of things to ask, but the essentials are very few and unless you start by asking the essentials, you will not come close to the truth.As Nangaku mentioned the Tao, Ma Tzu immediately asked: “Since the Tao is beyond color and form, how can it be seen?” – you are saying that if you enter into samadhi, you will see the Tao.”The master said: “The dharma-eye of your interior spirit is capable of perceiving the Tao. So it is with the formless samadhi.”It was for this reason that the East had to develop the concept of the third eye. These two eyes can see only the form, the color, but they cannot see the formless and the colorless. For the formless and colorless they are blind. In samadhi you close these eyes and a new perceptivity, which can be metaphorically called ‘the third eye’, arises in you; a new sensitivity which can feel and see what is not possible for your outer senses.The dharma-eye, which is the third eye of your interior spirit, is capable of perceiving the Tao. When I say to you in meditations, “Go deeper, look deeper,” I am trying in every way so that your third eye, which has remained dormant, opens up.Ma Tzu still asked,“Is there still making and unmaking?”Can we do something inside? Can we make a buddha inside? Is there still some creativity inside? It is a very profound question.To this, the master replied, “If one sees the Tao from the standpoint of making and unmaking, or gathering and scattering, one does not really see the Tao. Listen to my gatha:”He says that as far as your inner world is concerned your buddha is already there; you don’t have to make it. Everything is as it should be in your inner world.I am reminded of the Russian scientist, Kirlian, who brought a new vision to the objective scientist; its implications are immense. He was a great photographer and he went on perfecting and refining his lenses. His whole idea was that if something is hidden in a seed as a potential, then perhaps the photograph of the potential can be caught with a better lens.It was a very strange idea, but scientists and mystics and philosophers and poets are all a little bit crazy. Everybody tried to persuade him: “Don’t do such nonsense, how can you see the rose in the seed?”He said, “If it is going to be, then it must be present in some way – perhaps our eyes are not capable of seeing it.” And finally he succeeded. He managed to create lenses which could take a photograph of what was going to happen in the future. He would put the seed in front of his camera and a photograph would come of a roseflower.And then he would wait for the seed to die into the soil – and it was one of the miracles of modern genius, that when the real rose came, it would be exactly the same as the photograph. He has caught the future in his net.He became convinced that if it is true about the seed then it can be used in many things. For example, Kirlian photography has now become an absolute must in Russian hospitals. People come just to be checked, to see if there is any possibility of disease in the future.His lenses have become even more refined now after his death; a whole school of Kirlian photographers has been working on it. They can see at least six months ahead. If you are going to be sick in six months’ time, the photograph will show it – that after six months you will have cancer. There is no other way to find it out, but it can be treated although it has not become manifest. It is a tremendous blessing to medicine. We can cure people before they become sick.What we see with our eyes is not all. Even in the outside world our eyes have limitations. Kirlian photography has gone beyond our eyes into the objective world. In the same way the third eye opens in the inner world and brings you your whole potentiality in its fullness. You don’t have to do anything, you have just to recognize it. A buddha is not made, a buddha is only remembered.Nangaku said, “Listen to my gatha:” That is an ancient way; ‘gatha’ means poetry. “What I could manage to say in prose, I have said. Now listen to my poetry. Something that I have not been able to say in prose can be said in poetry.“The ground of the no-mindcontains many seedswhich will all sprout whenheavenly showers come.”They have come and now it is up to you to take the challenge.“The flower of samadhiis beyond color and form.How can there be any moremutability?”It is said that at this, Ma Tzu was truly enlightened, his mind having transcended the world of phenomena. He attended upon his master for a full ten years. During this period, he delved deeper and deeper into meditation.Kanzan wrote:In my house there is a cave,and in the cave is nothing at all –pure and wonderfully empty,resplendent, with a lightlike the sun.A meal of greens will dofor this old body,a ragged coat will coverthis phantom form.Let a thousand saints appearbefore me – I have thebuddha of heavenly truth!Once you have looked into your inner cave and found the light, the life, the very source of your being, then the so-called saints don’t mean anything. They are just moralists, following a certain system of morality, beliefs, but they don’t have the truth. If you have the truth then even a thousand saints cannot weigh more than your buddha. Your buddha is the ultimate and it is not borrowed. You have discovered it.Maneesha has asked:Osho,I love the expression, “Take one step towards Allah, and he will come running a thousand steps towards you.”It seems to suggest that receptivity is not a totally inactive waiting but requires a certain participation.Even to receive a flower, doesn't one need to hold out one's hand? Or am I on the wrong track again?Yes, Maneesha, you are on a wrong track again. That saying comes from Mohammedanism, “Take one step towards Allah, and he will come running a thousand steps toward you.”But in the world of Zen there is no Allah, and as far as your inside is concerned, just take one step and you are the Allah. Nobody comes running. On the contrary, you come to a standstill. Just one step, inside – that Mohammedan saying is still about the outside God – you take one step and God will come running towards you. But that kind of God does not exist, so don’t unnecessarily waste your step! Save it, you will need it to go in. And the moment you go one step in, you are the Allah. In the world of Zen that kind of statement is not applicable at all.Now the clouds have come, really with tremendous urgency! This year Pune is going to be flooded even without the Shankaracharya committing suicide. Just the laughter of ten thousand buddhas is enough to call all the clouds of the world. They don’t need any passport, any visa. They don’t have to pass any customs office. They are the free buddhas moving in the sky, and when they see ten thousand buddhas gathered, naturally they come running – particularly at the time when I am going to tell you the jokes.Where is Sardar Gurudayal Singh? Just laugh loudly. This book is going to be dedicated to Sardar Gurudayal Singh, the only man in history who laughs before the joke is told. What a trust! You should learn trust from Sardar Gurudayal Singh.Maggie MacTavish dies and leaves old Hamish a widower. It is such a relief for him that he rushes excitedly round to see Mr. Tomb, the undertaker.“How much to bury my wife?” asks Hamish.“Five hundred pounds,” replies Tomb, rubbing his hands together.“Five hundred?” splutters Hamish, clutching his purse. “Can’t you do it for less?”“Well,” replies Mr Tomb, “the cheapest I can manage is three hundred pounds.”“My God!” wails Hamish, counting out his money, “I almost wish she was still alive!”Magic Mushroom Melvin, the old hippie, is busy making lunch for his old buddy, Buffalo Grass.“Wow, man!” says Melvin, stepping back from the sink and sitting down to smoke a few reefers. “That’s the wildest recipe I have ever tried.”“Groovy, man!” says Buffalo Grass, in a cloud of smoke. “What is it?”“It is salad, man!” says Melvin.“Hey, cool, man – salad!” agrees Buffalo Grass. “How do you make it?”“Well, it’s really easy, man!” says Melvin, “you cut up lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots; then you throw in some LSD, stand back, and watch the salad toss itself!”Dilly and Dally are identical twin brothers, who live in a small town near the sea.Dilly is married and Dally is single, but he keeps a small rowing boat.One day Dilly’s wife dies, and a few days later, Dally’s rowing boat sinks.Walking in the street a week later, Dally meets Mrs. Godball, the bishop’s wife. Mrs. Godball mistakes Dally, the boatman, for Dilly, who has just lost his wife.“I’m sorry to hear about your terrible loss!” says Mrs. Godball.“Oh, thank you very much!” replies Dally, the boatman, “but I am not sorry at all. She was a rotten old thing from the start. She had a huge crack in the front of her and a big hole behind, which kept getting bigger every time I used her. She stank of old fish and used to leak water all the time. Her bottom was really badly scratched up, and whenever there was wind, it was not safe to go near her.“Last week, three men came around looking for some fun, so I hired her out to them. I told them to take it easy with her, but the three idiots all tried to get into her at the same time. Of course, she split from back to front. Now she is gone, and I am very happy about it!”Mrs. Godball faints.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent.Close your eyes,and feel your body to be completely frozen.Look inwards with absolute urgency.Deeper and deeper,until you reach the source of your very being.It is very close – just one stepand you are the buddha.Such a beautiful evening,and the dancing rains rejoicing in your silence,rejoicing in your samadhi.These cloud buddhas have come from so far away,don’t let them down.Deeper and deeper,there is no need to fear.It is your own space and it is your own birthrightto be a buddha.To make it absolutely clearthat you are not the body, nor the mind,Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax, and just be a witness.This witnessing is another name of the buddha.Witnessing makes you an empty mirror,reflecting everything without getting identified.And this is the miracle of meditation;it gives you freedom, it gives you the beyond.Gather the experience, the fragrance,because the time is close that you will be called back.Taste the nectar,the eternally running stream of your life,let it sink deep in your every fiber,because it is going to be a twenty-four hour lifestyle.Living or dead, you have to remain as a buddha.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back, but come back as a Buddhawith a samadhi,with a feel of the nectar.Sit down for a few moments,just to recollect the experienceof where you have been,what you have been.Every day it has to become deeper and deeper.Can we celebrate the buddhas?

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Ma Tzu The Empty Mirror 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

Ma Tzu The Empty Mirror 03 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,One day, when Ma Tzu was on his way home from Chiang-si, he stopped to visit his old master, Nangaku. When Ma Tzu had burned incense and made bows to Nangaku, Nangaku gave him this verse:“I advise you not to go home.If you do, the Tao is immovable.And an old womannext door to youwill talk of your infant name.”Ma Tzu respectfully accepted it and swore to himself never to go home, however often he might be reborn. Staying only in Chiang-si, he had disciples come to him from all parts of China.One day a monk called Ta-mei joined a training assembly of Ma Tzu. Ta-mei asked the master: “What is buddha?”Ma Tzu replied: “It is the present mind.”On hearing this, Ta-mei attained his full enlightenment. He took himself off into the mountains, and over the years hardly noticed the passing of time; he only saw the mountains around him turn green or yellow.One day, Ma Tzu sent a monk especially to test him. The monk asked Ta-mei, “When you once saw Ma Tzu, by what word did you become enlightened?”Ta-mei replied, “By Ma Tzu’s saying, ‘The present mind is the buddha.’”“Now his way is another,” the monk told Ta-mei.“What is it then?” asked Ta-mei.“Ma Tzu now says that this very mind which is buddha is neither mind nor buddha,” replied the monk.“That old fellow!” said Ta-mei. “When will he cease to confuse the minds of men? Let him go on with his ‘neither mind nor buddha.’ I will stick to ‘this present mind itself is buddha.’”When the messenger told Ma Tzu of this exchange, Ma Tzu commented: “The fruit of a plum has ripened.”Maneesha, one of the most important things to be remembered all along is that the Zen master is not a philosopher. He is not rational. Basically he is very irrational and absurd, but miraculously he manages – from his absurdity, from his contradictory statements – to make the message clear to you. Today he may say something and tomorrow something else. If you bring your logical mind into it, you will think that you are being confused. But there are different ways of saying the same thing. In fact even in contradictions the same message can be given.This is one of the great contributions of Zen, that there are no contradictions. Everything is expressing the same truth, the same reality. The smallest piece of grass and the biggest star are not in any way giving you a different message. Nobody is lower and nobody is higher in existence. There is no hierarchy. And as far as truth is concerned, fundamentally it is inexpressible. But if you want to express the inexpressible, then you can use even contradictory terms to indicate the same thing.Two different fingers, coming from two different angles, can point to the same moon. The mind may find it difficult. In fact the Zen master’s whole work is to make things so difficult for the mind that you become tired of the mind, tired of thinking, and you put it aside. And that moment of restfulness, when you have put the mind aside, brings you to the door of existence.This small anecdote is very significant.Ma Tzu stayed with his master, Nangaku, for more than ten years. On leaving him, he became abbot of the Kai-yuan Temple at Chiang-si.In his sermons, Ma Tzu followed closely the basic insights of the sixth patriarch, Eno – particularly, that there is no buddha outside of one’s own mind.This word mind can be understood as the ordinary mind, full of thoughts, emotions, sentiments and attachments. And this same mind can also be thought of as empty. You can empty it of all thoughts, of all emotions. And the moment this mind is empty, there is no difference between mind and no-mind. So there is no need to be confused.A few masters will use: “The present mind contains everything, even the buddha.” But the condition is that the mind should be empty. Then it, itself, is the buddha.Buddha’s own statement is significant. He says, “This very body, the buddha; this very mind, the lotus paradise.” But continuously he is saying that you are not the body, you are not the mind. Then what does he mean with this contradiction? He is simply saying that if you are not identified with the body, this very body is as much a buddha as anything in the world. If you are not filled with thoughts, this very mind is as spacious as the whole sky. He is not contradicting himself, he is simply using contradictory ways to indicate the truth.Eno was the man who had introduced Ma Tzu to Nangaku. Eno was getting old and Ma Tzu was very young, so he did not take the responsibility of guiding Ma Tzu into meditation. He gave the responsibility to Nangaku who was going to be his successor when he died. But the way Eno introduced Ma Tzu to Nangaku was so insightful: “Be very careful with this young man. He is going to be a buddha, and he is going to be your successor, just as you are my successor. Be very reverent, grateful, that you have got a man who is on the verge of becoming a buddha in your hands.”Ma Tzu remained closer to Eno’s teachings although Eno was not his master, but Eno had seen his potentiality – the possibility, the invisible future. And at the same time he had seen that his death was coming closer, so taking on the responsibility of a disciple at this moment would be wrong, and particularly of a disciple who needs tremendous care because he is on the very verge of exploding. Being very old he thought it would be better that Ma Tzu should be given into the hands of his successor, Nangaku.Nangaku was a master in his own right. His teaching was not just a following of Eno. In the world of Zen it is not necessary that a disciple should follow the master in details. All that is necessary is that the disciple should understand the master’s presence, his fundamental realization. It should not remain a belief to the disciple, it should become an actual taste. Doctrines and beliefs don’t matter at all. What matters is the master’s presence and his realization, and the splendor that the realization brings with it.Eno never asked Nangaku to follow him – Nangaku had his own approach – but he had chosen Nangaku to be his successor. This is very strange. It does not happen in any other place in the whole world. People choose successors to follow them in detail. But Zen is unique in every way. It is not a question of following, it is that this man is also realized. His methods may be different, his devices may be different, his approaches may be different, but he is a realized man, he can be a successor.But strangely, although Eno had given the responsibility of his initiation to Nangaku, Ma Tzu remained fundamentally close to Eno’s teaching, to Eno’s method of indicating the truth. Eno had caught a glimpse of his future. Nangaku took every care and helped him to become an enlightened master. But he was always more grateful towards Eno for this very reason: that he had refused to initiate him, because his death was very close; and he had put him in the hands of the right person, who would take care of him, because his spring was coming soon. He would be blossoming, and Eno would not be there.Certainly Ma Tzu and Eno, without any relationship of master and disciple, came very close in their hearts. Their hearts started beating in the same rhythm. His master’s teaching was in many ways different, particularly from Eno’s teaching that there is no buddha outside of one’s own mind.But remember it, when Eno says ‘mind’, you can translate it as ‘no-mind’. What he means is ‘empty mind’ which is equivalent to ‘no-mind’. What is left in an empty mind? – just a pure space. It depends on you whether you prefer to call it the empty mind or no-mind. But both are equivalent, not in the dictionaries, but in the existential experience.One day, when Ma Tzu was on his way home from Chiang-si, he stopped to visit his old master, Nangaku.He is a master now in his own right. He had gone to Chiang-si and was returning home from there, and… he stopped to visit his old master, Nangaku. When Ma Tzu had burned incense and made bows to Nangaku, Nangaku gave him this verse:….This too has to be understood. Even when a disciple becomes enlightened, it does not matter, his gratefulness becomes even fuller. It is not that now there is no need of the master. It is not that “Now I am equal to the master, now I am experiencing the same buddhahood as the master.” No, it is not thought of in that way, because that is the way of the ego. The ego has been lost long ago. The way of gratitude, the way of humbleness is that “Though I may have become a buddha, my master was the indicator towards the right path, and I will remain forever and forever in deep gratitude towards him.”Sariputta, one of Buddha’s chief disciples, became enlightened. With tears in his eyes he came to Buddha and he said, “I was avoiding enlightenment, but you went on insisting. Now I am enlightened and my eyes are full of tears because I know you will send me away from you, just to spread the fire. And I understand your compassion, that you are continuously aware of the many who can become buddhas; just a little support is needed. Those who have not gone very far away from themselves can be called back very easily.”Buddha said, “Then why are you crying?”He said, “I am crying because I will not be able to touch your feet every day as I have been doing for these twenty years.”Buddha said, “Do one thing. Keep a map with you, and remember in what direction I am dwelling. Just bow down in that direction. Touch the feet symbolically, touch the earth – because after all this body is made of earth, and one day it will go back to the earth. So touching the earth is not only touching my feet, but touching the feet of all the buddhas who have ever happened. They have all dissolved their bodies in the earth. So there is no need, and it does not look right, that an enlightened person should weep and cry.”Sariputta said, “I don’t care what people think, but the reality is that tears are coming. And according to your teachings, I should be spontaneous and authentic. Even if you say, ‘Don’t weep,’ I am not going to listen. Tears are coming, what can I do? I cannot be a hypocrite, smiling though the eyes are full of tears.”It is said that Sariputta, wherever he was, in the morning would look at the map, to find exactly where Buddha was, and in that direction he would bow down and touch the feet of Buddha. He came to have thousands of disciples of his own and they said, “It does not look right. You need not do such a gesture. You are a buddha yourself.”He said, “It is true, I am a buddha myself, but I would not have been a buddha if I had not met Gautam the Buddha. It is the meeting with this man that triggered something in me, burned all that was false and brought all that was true in its pristine purity and clarity. I owe so much to this man that there is no way to pay him. All that I can do is touch his feet from miles away.”He continued to his very last breath. Before he died – he died before Gautam Buddha – the last thing he said to his disciples was, “Forgive me because you cannot see those invisible feet. Let me touch the feet of my master for the last time.” And he bowed down, tears flowing from his eyes, and he died in that posture. He did not get up again. This is true humanity – humbleness, devotion, love, trust.Ma Tzu, visiting his old master, burned incense in front of him as you burn incense before a buddha statue and made bows to Nangaku. Nangaku gave him this gatha, this verse:“I advise you not to go home.If you do, the Tao is immovable.And an old woman next door to youwill talk of your infant name.”Ma Tzu respectfully accepted it and swore to himself never to go home, however often he might be reborn. Staying only in Chiang-si, he had disciples come to him from all parts of China.Very strange but meaningful advice. Nangaku told him not to go home. It implies many things. It implies that now you are homeless. The moment you become enlightened you don’t have a home, not even your body is your home. Now the whole existence is your home, so stop this old habit of going home once in a while. There is no home for you anymore. You are a homeless cloud floating in the sky, in total freedom, unattached to anything.If you do, the Tao is immovable.Nangaku is saying, “If you don’t listen to my advice and still go home, remember that your Tao, your empty buddha inside, never goes anywhere. So you are just acting; just a dead body, a corpse is going. Your real being is immovable; it never goes anywhere, it is always now and here.” And he said,“And an old woman next door to you will talk of your infant name.”Ma Tzu’s childhood name was Baso. Nangaku is making a joke about his name, that the old woman next door to his home will call him Baso. They will not recognize that he is no more Baso, that he is Ma Tzu, that he is a great master. In their eyes he will be just the same; they have seen him born, and they have seen him growing up. It is very difficult for them to recognize that he has become a buddha, and they will think it very insulting to the Buddha.Ma Tzu respectfully accepted it and swore to himself never to go home, however often he might be reborn.He is saying that even if he is born again – although an enlightened person is never born again – he is giving his promise that even if he is born again and again, he will never go home. He has understood his homelessness, his aloneness.Staying only in Chiang-si, he had disciples come to him from all parts of China.One day a monk called Ta-mei joined a training assembly of Ma Tzu. Ta-mei asked the master: “What is buddha?”Ma Tzu replied: “It is the present mind” – the teaching of Eno that he followed all his life.But remember that the mind is never in the present; it is either in the past or in the future. In the present is empty mind. You can call it the present mind if you are interested in using the positive words or you can call it no-mind, if you want to use the negative. The truth can be expressed both ways, negatively or positively. The present mind in fact means no-mind. For those who understand the presentness, all mind disappears. Mind can be in the past, mind can be in the future, but never in the present. Hence being in the present simply means being out of the grip of the mind.Ma Tzu replied: “It is the present mind.”On hearing this, Ta-mei attained his full enlightenment. He took himself off into the mountains, and over the years hardly noticed the passing of time; he only saw the mountains around him turn green or yellow.One day, Ma Tzu sent a monk specially to test him. The monk asked Ta-mei, “When you once saw Ma Tzu, by what word did you become enlightened?”Ta-mei replied, “By Ma Tzu’s saying, ‘The present mind is the buddha.’”“Now his way is another,” the monk told Ta-mei.“What is it then?” asked Ta-mei.“Ma Tzu now says that this very mind which is buddha is neither mind nor buddha,” replied the monk.This very mind is neither the buddha nor the mind. Now Ma Tzu is teaching this way.“That old fellow!” said Ta-mei. “When will he cease to confuse the minds of men? Let him go on with his ‘neither mind nor buddha.’ I will stick to ‘this present mind itself is buddha.’”He has understood clearly that Ma Tzu has changed his expression from positive to the negative. He can confuse an ordinary man, but he cannot confuse an enlightened man anymore.“That old fellow!” said Ta-mei. “When will he cease to confuse the minds of men?”There was no need to change, the old expression was perfect.“Let him go on with his ‘neither mind nor buddha.’ I will stick to ‘this present mind itself is buddha.’”You may think that he is not agreeing with his master, Ma Tzu, but then you will not have understood it. He is agreeing perfectly well. He understands that it means the same. He has just changed the expression from positive to negative. Only the expression is changed, not the expressed. So he says, “Let the old fellow do whatever he wants, but I am going to insist that this present mind itself is the buddha.”When the messenger told Ma Tzu of this exchange, Ma Tzu commented: “The fruit of a plum has ripened.”Ma Tzu understood perfectly well that Ta-mei had become enlightened. Any unenlightened man would have been confused because the unenlightened mind can never think that positive and negative can be of the same significance and have the same meaning. There is a place where yes and no are not contradictory.Ma Tzu said, “The fruit of a plum has ripened.”Ta-mei’s name, in Chinese, means ‘big plum’.Takuan wrote:The moon has no intent to castits shadow anywhere,nor does the pond design tolodge the moon.How serene the water of Hirosawa!Takuan’s monastery was near the lake Hirosawa. In this small poem is contained the whole essence of Zen. The moon has no intent to cast its shadow anywhere….Do you think the moon has any intention to cast its shadow and reflection into thousands of seas and lakes and ponds? It has no intent at all.And on the other side,…nor does the pond design to lodge the moon.Neither the pond, the lake or the ocean are desiring to lodge the moon, or are interested to reflect the moon.How serene the water of Hirosawa!It is not even disturbed by the reflection of the moon. It does not care. His poem is saying to you to live without intentions, without any goals, without any desire of achievement, any ambition. Just live spontaneously, moment to moment. Whatever happens, accept it joyfully, rejoicingly, without any complaint or grudge.Even if death comes, let it be welcomed. Dance, sing a song. That has been the tradition in Zen. Each master is expected – and they all have done it – that before dying they should write a small haiku containing their whole teaching.It shows two things: that they are perfectly aware of death, and that even in death they are not in any sadness. Their haiku says their joy, their fulfillment. Without your asking for anything, existence has given everything to you.A man who lives with intentions is bound to feel frustration. A man who lives with expectations is bound to feel frustrated because existence has no obligation to you. But if you live without intentions, without expectations, then miraculously you find that everything that you ever dreamed of is being fulfilled. The moon is reflected in the lake – the lake never asked it, the moon never intended it. Existence goes on spontaneously. Don’t bring your desire, your ambition and your expectation; they are the disturbing points. They create a chaos in your mind. But if there is no intention for anything, How serene the water of Hirosawa!The moon is reflected but the water is not even thrilled. Such a beautiful moon and the Hirosawa lake takes the reflection naturally, spontaneously. If it was not reflected, there would not have been any frustration. Moon or no moon, nothing matters. The lake of Hirosawa is silent. And that should be your inner consciousness – just a silent lake.Maneesha has asked:Osho,How amazing it would be if you turned up one evening in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium, and all you could see was a vast hall of empty mirrors, or rows and rows of juicy, ripe plums.Do you really think it's possible? Is anything happening? Or better: is nothing happening?Maneesha, it is happening every day. The whole hall is full of mirrors and full of big plums. Look at Avirbhava, a dancing plum.Now it has come to the point of laughter and Sardar Gurudayal Singh is sitting very close today. Now this is a series dedicated to him.Luscious Miss Willing is having trouble sleeping. Her dreams and her reality are so full of sexual activity that she cannot tell what is real and what is not. So she goes to see Doctor Feelgood for professional help.It is her first visit, so Feelgood hears her problem, then starts yakkety-yakking about all kinds of Freudian sexual terminology.“Wait a minute,” interrupts Miss Willing. “What is a phallic symbol?”“A phallic symbol,” explains Feelgood, “represents the phallus.”“Okay,” says the girl, “what is a phallus?”“I guess,” says Feelgood, a grin on his face, “the best way to explain it is to show you.” So Feelgood stands up, unzips his pants, and pulls out his machinery.“This, young lady,” says Feelgood, proudly, “is a phallus!”“Oh!” says Miss Willing, smiling. “You mean it is like a prick, only smaller!”The aging, dilapidated president, Ronald Reagan, is waiting to board the official presidential plane that is taking him to Europe.His personal secretary Reginald, who has come to see him off, leans up to Ronnie and whispers, “What’s your advice on the Homosexual Bill?”“Oh, yes,” says Reagan. “Tell him that I’ll pay him when I get back!”“I don’t see you at the gang-bangs any more,” says Marvyn, the Hell’s Angel, to his old friend, Pigpen. “What happened?”“I got married,” says Pigpen.“No shit, man!” says Marvyn. “Is legalized screwing any better than the regular kind?”“It is not even so good,” replies Pigpen, “but at least you don’t have to stand in line for it!”Fergus and Funky are lost in the baking deserts of the burning Sahara. They have been crawling on their hands and knees for days, in search of water. Almost at the end of their rope, they suddenly spot a man in the distance with a small stand, selling something.Fergus and Funky struggle and crawl their way up to the man, and with their tongues hanging out they shout, “Water! Please give us water!”“Sorry, fellas,” says the man, “I’d love to, but I don’t have any water. I’m selling neckties. Got some beauties if you’d like a sharp-looking tie!”“Neckties?” screams Funky, and he faints.“No,” says Fergus, “we don’t want any goddam ties – we need water!”And the two thirsty men drag themselves on.Three days later, off in the distance, a large building appears on the horizon. Inspired, the worn-out duo drag themselves up to it. It is the very exclusive Screwing Sands Hotel.Fergus crawls up to the doorman, who is standing stiffly in his three-piece uniform.“Water!” cries Fergus, with his parched lips quivering. “We need to come in and get water!”“I am sorry, sir,” replies the doorman. “But I am afraid you cannot enter without a tie!”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes.Feel the body to be completely frozen.Look inwards as deeply as possible.This is the way.At the very end of the way, you are the buddha.And the journey is very short – a single step.Just total urgency and absolute honesty is neededto look straight into your own being.There is the mirror we have been talking about.The mirror is the buddha.It is your eternal nature.Deeper and deeper.You have to go in until you find yourself.Don’t hesitate.There is no fear.Of course you are alone,but this aloneness is a great, beautiful experience.And on this path you will not meet anyone except yourself.To make it clear that you are just a mirror,a witness of your body, of your mind, of everything,Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax,and just be a watchful, witnessing mirror,reflecting everything.Neither do those things have any intentions to be reflected,nor do you have any intentionto catch their reflections.Just be a silent lake of Hirosawa,and all bliss is yours,and this evening becomes a benediction.This present moment becomes no-mind, no-time,just a purity, a space unbounded.This is your freedom.And unless you are a buddha, you are not free.You know nothing of freedom.Let this experience sink deepin every fiber of your being.Get soaked, drenched.When you come back, come back drenchedwith the mist of your buddha nature.And remember this space, this way,because you have to carry it out twenty-four hoursin all your actions.Sitting, standing, walking, sleeping,you have to remain a buddha.Then the whole existence becomes an ecstasy.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back,but bring with you all the experience,slowly, silently, gracefully.Sit down for a few moments,recollecting the place you have been to,remembering the joy and the silenceof being just a mirror,the immense freedom that comeswhen you are just a mirrorunattached to anything, homeless, alone.You become an Everest of consciousness.Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?

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Ma Tzu The Empty Mirror 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

Ma Tzu The Empty Mirror 04 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,One day, as Hyakujo was visiting his master, Ma Tzu, a flock of wild geese flew overhead. Ma Tzu asked, “What are they?”“they are wild geese, sir,” said Hyakujo.“Where are they?” asked the master.“They have flown away, sir,” replied Hyakujo.Ma Tzu suddenly took hold of Hyakujo’s nose and twisted it. Overcome with pain, Hyakujo cried out. Ma Tzu said, “You say they have flown away, but all the same they have been here from the very beginning.”At that moment, Hyakujo attained enlightenment.The next day, at a regular assembly, Ma Tzu had hardly sat down when Hyakujo came to roll up his mat, which made the master descend from the platform. Hyakujo followed him into his room.Ma Tzu said, “Just now, before I had begun my sermon, what made you roll up my mat?”Hyakujo said, “Yesterday your reverence twisted my nose and I felt acute pain.”“Where did you apply your mind yesterday?” Ma Tzu asked.All that the disciple said was, “I feel no more pain in the nose today.”Thereupon the master commented, “You have profoundly understood yesterday’s episode.”On another occasion, as soon as Ma Tzu sat down on the Zazen bench as usual, he spat.A monk asked, “Why did you spit?”Ma Tzu said, “When I sat here, there were mountains, rivers, and the whole natural universe in front of me. I spat because I didn’t like that.”The monk said, “But the universe is so splendid! Why don’t you like that?”Ma Tzu replied, “It may be splendid to you, but it is disgusting to me.”The monk continued, “What kind of mental state is this?”Ma Tzu said, “This is the state of a bodhisattva.”Maneesha, these are some of the great episodes in the history of Zen. They show your realization in your action. When a master acts in a certain way, the disciple spontaneously has to respond, not through thinking, but through his very empty heart.Zen is ultimately a device, thousands of devices, created by different masters to provoke awakening in you. Reading them one may think they are just anecdotes, stories, puzzles. They are not, they are communications, and communications of the greatest value.One day, as Hyakujo was visiting his master, Ma Tzu, a flock of wild geese flew overhead. Ma Tzu asked, “What are they?”“They are wild geese, sir,” said Hyakujo.“Where are they?” asked the master.“They have flown away, sir,” replied Hyakujo.Ma Tzu suddenly took hold of Hyakujo’s nose and twisted it. Overcome with pain, Hyakujo cried out. Ma Tzu said, “You say they have flown away, but all the same they have been here from the very beginning.”At that moment, Hyakujo attained enlightenment.To any ordinary rational thinker this will look like an absurd statement. But to a man attuned in meditation, this can become a tremendous awakening point. It is not that Ma Tzu does not know that the geese have flown away. It is not that he does not know that the geese were there. He is not asking for any knowledgeable answer. He is asking for the response which Hyakujo missed in the beginning, when Ma Tzu asked him, “What are they?” Obviously Ma Tzu knows what they are.So remember, it is not a question or inquiry about knowing the object. At this point Hyakujo missed. His response was through the mind; he said, “They are wild geese, sir.”That would be the response of anybody else in the whole world. It is not out of the empty heart. It is not out of the mirror of nothingness. It is just…any child would say it. The answer is right, but Hyakujo’s response was not through the heart, it was through the mind.“They are wild geese, sir,” said Hyakujo.Here he missed. He should have responded to the question without thinking of any consequences.“Where are they?” – the master gave him another chance – asked the master. “They have flown away, sir,” replied Hyakujo.He is just functioning on the mental level.Ma Tzu suddenly took hold of Hyakujo’s nose and twisted it. Overcome with pain, Hyakujo cried out. Ma Tzu said, “You say they have flown away, but all the same they have been here from the very beginning.”Where can they go? They have always been here and will be here. The here is vast enough – wherever they are, they are in the here. They cannot go out of the here. That’s what he was expecting from Hyakujo. But he had to take Hyakujo by his nose and twist the nose to make him aware that he was functioning through the mind. And the mind can only bring pain; the mind is pain.Ma Tzu’s twisting the nose of Hyakujo and giving him tremendous pain so that he cried out – don’t take it superficially, don’t take it as it appears on the surface. This crying out was not out of the mind. This crying out came as the spontaneous response of his whole being. At this moment the master could speak to him. He was in the right space now; he was no more in the mind, his whole being was awake because of the pain.Pain has a tremendous value in awakening. Pain has been used by many masters to awaken the sleeping disciple. All your old religions, on the contrary, console the disciple and help him to sleep well – God is in heaven and everything is okay on the earth, you don’t be worried! But Zen is not at all interested in consoling you. It is interested in awakening you.When Hyakujo cried out, Ma Tzu did not say a single word of sympathy. He did not give any explanation, why he had twisted his nose. On the contrary he said, “You say they have flown away, but all the same they have been here from the very beginning.”In that moment there was no thought except pain. The mind was empty, the nose was hurting – and Ma Tzu did not care about the nose or the pain; he simply stated a tremendously meaningful statement, that nobody, nothing, can go away out of here. Here is immense and vast, so is now. Wherever they are, they are here.Hyakujo was now in a right state to understand the meaning of the master – that everything is always here. Those wild geese were just an excuse to explain to Hyakujo that nothing moves, nothing goes anywhere.At that moment Hyakujo attained enlightenment.Seeing the point, the eternity and the wideness of now and here, he immediately fell into the emptiness of his heart and realized the truth. In an instant something was triggered in him by what Ma Tzu was saying, which Zen calls enlightenment. He became aware of his own hereness, of his own nowness. The wild geese were just an excuse.But such anecdotes have never happened anywhere else. They have no parallel, hence the difficulty of understanding them. They are anecdotes on the path of meditation. Only people of the path who have gone deep into meditation will be able to understand something which looks absolutely absurd as far as reason is concerned.The nose has nothing to do with attainment, otherwise it would be very easy. The disciple simply comes, gets a twisted nose, becomes enlightened and goes home. And Ma Tzu would not twist the nose of any disciple, any xyz.Hyakujo is ready. It is just a push. He is just on the boundary line, where anything can push him just that one single step inwards. It is such a great statement, that there is no time and there is no space – here is the only space and now is the only time.And it is not applicable only to the wild geese, it is applicable to you, to everything – the great statement and the silent watchfulness. Awakened by the twisted nose, Hyakujo attained enlightenment.The next day, at a regular assembly, Ma Tzu had hardly sat down when Hyakujo came to roll up his mat, which made the master descend from the platform. Hyakujo followed him into his room.Ma Tzu said, “Just now, before I had begun my sermon, what made you roll up my mat?”Hyakujo said, “Yesterday your reverence twisted my nose and I felt acute pain.”“Where did you apply your mind yesterday?” Ma Tzu asked.All that the disciple said was, “I feel no more pain in the nose today.”Thereupon the master commented, “You have profoundly understood yesterday’s episode.”This is a little more subtle than the first episode. Usually the Zen master gives the sermon and the chief disciple, when the sermon is over, rolls up the mat on which he was sitting and takes the mat to his room. But in this case Hyakujo came to roll up his mat, which made the master descend from the platform. Hyakujo followed him into his room.He has not even uttered a single word. Hyakujo has become an enlightened master himself. Yesterday’s experience…Now he is responding the way a master responds; he is saying, by rolling up the mat, “Now I don’t need any sermon. All I needed, I got yesterday.”Ma Tzu said, “Just now, before I had begun my sermon, what made you roll up my mat?”Hyakujo said, “Yesterday your reverence twisted my nose and I felt acute pain.”“Where did you apply your mind yesterday?”“Could you not have done something yesterday?” Ma Tzu is asking.All that the disciple said was, “I feel no more pain in the nose today.”He is saying, “I don’t need any consolation. I feel no pain in the nose today and I don’t need any sermon anymore. You said everything yesterday.”Thereupon the master commented, “You have profoundly understood yesterday’s episode.”On another occasion, as soon as Ma Tzu sat down on the Zazen bench as usual, he spat.A monk asked, “Why did you spit?”Ma Tzu said, “When I sat here, there were mountains, rivers, and the whole natural universe in front of me. I spat because I didn’t like that.”The monk said, “But the universe is so splendid! Why don’t you like that?”Ma Tzu replied, “It may be splendid to you, but it is disgusting to me.”The monk continued, “What kind of mental state is this?”Ma Tzu said, “This is the state of a bodhisattva.”This, the third part of the anecdote, is even more difficult to understand. Ma Tzu, spitting on the Zazen bench, is not really saying that he doesn’t like the mountains and the rivers and the stars. What he is doing is seeing whether the disciple remains silent and non-judgmental, or makes a judgment.Zen’s whole attitude is non-judgmental. Don’t judge…and at least the disciple should not judge the action of his master, he should simply witness, he should simply see that Ma Tzu has spat. Ma Tzu is provoking him; he is provoking his judgmental mind. And the monk has forgotten that the whole teaching is to never judge. Just watch, and particularly watch the actions of the master. Do you think that Ma Tzu does not understand that spitting on the bench is simply disgusting? But he wants you to remain unwavering, non-judgmental, just watching, as a mirror.If a mirror was watching, do you think the mirror would say “What are you doing? This is not good.” The disciple missed; this could have been a great opportunity to become enlightened. Remember it, devices don’t succeed all the time. Sometimes they fail.The master makes his wholehearted effort but the disciple may not be in the right space to understand it. Now it is very clear to a man of a little meditation that Ma Tzu knows that spitting on the Zazen bench is disgusting, so there is no need to ask any question. Perhaps he is provoking you, he is provoking your judgmental mind. And the moment the judgmental mind comes in, your watching mind disappears. Remember these two words – judgmental and watching. You can watch only if you don’t judge.But the disciple could not resist asking. He asked, “Why did you spit?” He forgot completely that here he has to learn watching, not making judgments, particularly of any action of the master.Ma Tzu said, “When I sat here, there were mountains, rivers, and the whole natural universe in front of me. I spat because I didn’t like that.”Still the disciple could not understand that there were no mountains, no rivers, no universe there in front of the Zazen bench; the master’s explanation is just to test him.He said, “I spat because I didn’t like that.”A meditative disciple would have slapped Ma Tzu, he would not have asked anything, and that would have been greatly appreciated by Ma Tzu. That would have been the disciple’s enlightenment. It is not a question of asking, it is a question of responding. The master obviously is doing something wrong, just to provoke. If the disciple had slapped the master without saying anything, the master would have laughed and blessed the disciple, saying, “You have understood it.” But because the disciple missed the point, he again said, “I spat because I didn’t like that.”He wants the disciple to say to him, “What happened to your non-judgmental mind?” But the disciple had forgotten completely about the non-judgmental mind, which is the very foundation of Zen.The monk said, “But the universe is so splendid!”He started arguing. With the master you don’t argue, you respond. You don’t start a verbal conversation – that will be missing the master and his great compassion.The monk said, “But the universe is so splendid! Why don’t you like that?”He has come down to the level of the mind and is on the point of discussing the matter. But Zen does not allow discussion. It is not a debate. It is pure awakening from the mind, pure freedom from judgment.Ma Tzu replied, “It may be splendid to you, but it is disgusting to me.”He is again and again trying to remind the disciple that he should slap him for being judgmental, that he has completely forgotten the foundation.The monk continued, “What kind of mental state is this?”He is continuing on the mental state.Ma Tzu said, “This is the state of a bodhisattva.”This is the state of a buddha. Now there is nothing else to be said. Ma Tzu has closed the conversation, seeing that the device has failed.So remember that a device will not always succeed, because there are two persons involved – the master who is enlightened, and the disciple who is not enlightened. And he will most probably behave in an unenlightened way, not knowing that this is the time to act spontaneously, not through the mind, but through the empty heart.Daio wrote in praise of Kannon:The cliffs are high and deep,the waters rush and tumble.The realm of perfect communionis new in each place.Face to face, the people whomeet her don’t recognize her.When will they ever be free fromthe harbor of illusion?Each moment in existence is a moment ready for communion. There is no special moment in which you can become enlightened. Every moment is special. Every moment is potential for your enlightenment – a beautiful sunset, a beautiful sunrise, a great sky full of stars, or just this silence. Anything will do, if you remember yourself to be a watcher – not getting involved, not getting identified, but just remaining a mirror, an empty mirror.Before the empty mirror no illusion can remain for long. All illusions will disappear; they remain only because you get involved with them.Daio is asking with great compassion, When will they ever be free from the harbor of illusion?Every moment the time comes for enlightenment. Every moment is the right season, the right climate; you just go on missing. Missing becomes your habit, and that habit has to be broken. You have to become stabilized, concentrated in the moment, at the center of your being; just watching without saying a single word of evaluation, good, bad or beautiful.Nothing has to be said, just watching is enough and all illusions disappear, all that is false disappears.Maneesha has asked:Osho,The story about Ma Tzu spitting brought home to me how everything you do and say seems to be only for your disciples' sake.You relate to such a diverse bunch of us – from dancing plums to hot potatoes, from German stoneheads to laughing sardarjis – and yet you are never other than yourself, just like water that takes the shape of whatever container it flows into and yet doesn't lose its essential nature.Is it that when you are nobody, you can be anybody?Maneesha, when you are nobody, you are already everybody. Nobody and everybody mean the same thing. And my calling some of you hot potatoes or dancing plums, German stoneheads or laughing sardarjis – they are all devices. And I know that you are in the right place and you will not misunderstand me. It is out of love and out of compassion that I call you any name. For example, I called Avirbhava a big ripe plum. She understood it. She waved me a kiss. And today she is sitting there, hiding an egg.Avirbhava, bring your egg here…bring it.(Avirbhava puts a big green egg in front of Osho, on the podium. She breaks it, and two baby chicks jump out and hop around while Osho chuckles.)Yeah, that is the right egg!Now the time for Sardarji has come. He is sitting exactly in the first row. From the very last row he has come to the first.Paddy is in a dark mood, so he goes to see the famous channeler, Madam Hippo.“Ah,” says the woman, staring into her crystal ball, “the signs are not good.”“Really?” says Paddy, wide-eyed. “What does it say?”“Well,” she intones, “it says that you will be a widower in one week!”Paddy wipes the sweat from his face and leans back.“I know that!” he says. “What I want to know is – will I get caught?”George Bush, the American vice president, telephones the Justice Department at three o’clock in the morning. He insists that he must speak to the chief justice immediately.Finally, the housekeeper decides to wake him up.“Well, what is it?” demands the chief justice.“Your honor,” exclaims Bush, “Ronald and Nancy Reagan have just taken poison together in the White House underground bunker, and they are both dead!”“Really?” says the judge, yawning.“Yes, really!” cries Bush. “The undertaker is here already to put them in their coffins.”“Really?” says the sleepy judge.“Yes, really!” shouts Bush, “and since I’m the vice president, I want to take Reagan’s place!”“Well, it’s okay with me,” replies the judge, “if it’s okay with the undertaker!”Walter and Peggy Sue are out on a date together in Walter’s new Ford Thunderbird. He is going so slowly that it is driving Peggy Sue bananas.“Listen,” says Peggy Sue, excitedly, “every time you speed up the car ten miles per hour, I will take off a piece of my clothing!”Walter immediately puts his foot down on the accelerator, and off come her shoes. Walter smiles, pushes on the gas, and off comes her blouse. Walter’s eyes bulge out, he stomps the pedal to the floor, and off come Peggy Sue’s bra, skirt, and finally, her lace panties.Walter gets so excited that he gets his machinery stuck in the steering wheel and loses control of the car. It skids off the road, and rolls over. Neither of them are hurt, but Walter is stuck underneath the car.“Quick!” pants Walter. “Go for help!”Frantic and stark naked, Peggy Sue starts running around in all directions. She picks up one of Walter’s shoes, holds it over her pussy, and runs to the nearest garage.There she bumps into big Rufus, the black guy, as he is fixing a car.“You have got to help!” Peggy Sue explains breathlessly to Rufus. “My boyfriend is stuck!”Rufus looks at the girl for a long minute.“Lady,” he replies slowly, “if he’s up that far, we’ll never get him out!”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent.Close your eyes.Feel the body to be completely frozen.Go inwards with your total energy,with a great urgency,as if this is the last moment of your lifeand you have to reach to the centerand the source of your being.Deeper and deeper,your life center is alsothe center of the whole universe.It is from your life centerthat you are nourished by existence.Just watch the silence, the peace,the immense splendor of your being.You are the buddha when you are watching;the same mind when empty becomes the buddha.The buddha is nothing but an empty mirror –no judgment, just a watchfulness, a witnessing,and you have arrived.To make it more clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax.Let go of the body, of the mind;leave them and just be a watcher.The body is not you,the mind is not you,you are only a pure witness.This is your buddhahood.Rejoice in it.Get soaked and drenched in the blessingthat spontaneously showersat the center of your being.This center of your being has to becomeyour circumference also.Slowly, slowlyyou have to bring the buddha outin your actions, in your words,in your silences.Day in, day out, the buddha has to becomejust your heartbeat.This immensely beautiful eveninghas become even more beautiful,with ten thousand buddhas just watching.The eternity of existence,like the wild geese,is always here.You have never been anywhere else.You have always been here and now.Remember it.When you come back,bring that remembrance with you.It has to become your very life,your very character.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back, but bring the buddha with you.Come back as an empty mirrorand sit down for few seconds as a buddha –remembering, recollectingthe great experience you have passed through.Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?

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Ma Tzu The Empty Mirror 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

Ma Tzu The Empty Mirror 05 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,Ma Tzu had three outstanding disciples who enjoyed a special intimacy with him. They were Nan-chu’an, Chih-tsang, and Hui-hai (otherwise known as Hyakujo).One evening, as the three disciples were attending on their master, enjoying the moon together, he asked them what they thought would be the best way of spending such a night.Chih-tsang was the first to answer. He said, “A good time to make offerings.”Hui-hai said, “A good time to cultivate one’s spiritual life.”Nan-chu’an made no answer, but shook his sleeves and went away.Ma Tzu turned to Chih-tsang and said, “The sutras will join the tsang.”(He was making a pun on Chih-tsang’s name, tsang, which in Chinese means ‘basket’, as in carrying the word of Buddha.)He turned toward Hui-hai and said: “Dhyana will return to the sea.”(Ma Tzu was making a second pun, since, in Chinese, hai means ‘sea’.)Then Ma Tzu concluded, “Nan-chu’an alone transcends the realm of all things, all by himself.”On another occasion a monk asked Ma Tzu, “What is the Buddha?”Ma Tzu answered, “Mind is the Buddha.”The monk then asked, “What is the Way?”“No-mind is the Way,” answered Ma Tzu.The monk then asked, “Are the Buddha and the Way somewhat different?”Ma Tzu replied, “The Buddha is like stretching out the hand, the Way is like clenching the fist.”Maneesha, before entering the sutras something has to be said about Ma Tzu himself, because it is very strange…No other Zen master has ever behaved the way Ma Tzu behaved – but it is very symbolic.Ma Tzu is said to have been a strange-looking man. It is said that he walked like a cow, and looked around like a tiger. He could touch his nose with his tongue, and had two rings on the soles of his feet.Ma Tzu’s way of teaching was most varied. He is said to have been instrumental in the enlightenment of one hundred and thirty disciples, each of whom became the master of a particular locality.Obviously this strange man, Ma Tzu, behaved according to his spontaneity, not caring about anybody in the world. That is the first thing to be understood. Only a man of tremendous courage can walk on all fours like a cow – a man who does not care a bit about the opinions of others. He knows the truth and that is the end.And walking like a cow is very symbolic. You cannot fall asleep standing up, it is very difficult. You have to lie down horizontally, so that the gravitational pull is equal all over the body. Standing, leaning or sitting, the gravitational pull will be different on different parts of the body. That is a disturbance in your harmoniousness. But when you lie down you come into a deep harmony with the gravitational field.There is a strange story in Zen circles – it is very ancient – that animals know our language perfectly well, but they don’t speak, they don’t show even a sign that they understand us.Once a Zen master said to a monkey – only a Zen master can do such a thing – “I know it perfectly well; my insight says that you understand my language but you are trying to hide the fact.”The monkey said, “Yes, sir. But please don’t tell anybody because I will not speak in front of anybody else. So keep it a secret. Every animal understands your language, but no animal wants to be enslaved by you. The moment any animal speaks, he is going to be put to do some work.”That ancient story reminded me of a child who never spoke until he was eight years old. Every effort was made, every test was made; his ears were perfect, there was no defect as far as physiology was concerned. It was a mystery why he did not respond. Finally they took him to a psychiatrist, but to no avail.One day he shouted at his mother, “Mummy, where is the salt?” He was taking his lunch. The mother could not believe it, and she was alone in the house, nobody would believe her. For eight years the child had been defying.The mother asked him, “Why have you been silent for eight years?”He said, “Everything was perfect until now. Just today the salt is missing. There was no need to speak before. Why bother?”But she said, “Will you speak in front of others?”He refused. He said, “This is just a secret between us. Don’t tell anybody, otherwise you will be thought to be lying. I will keep my silence again.”What is the reason why animals don’t speak and why they don’t grow their minds, their intelligence; why they are so contented, like a cow? It is because they are horizontal. There is no disturbance. In their physiology, in their psychology, everything is balanced. Gravitation is not disturbed. Man, by standing up on his two legs, has disturbed the whole balance. And his head started growing just because he was standing up.It is a scientific fact that man’s standing on two legs is the cause of his increasing intelligence. Mind, in a small head, is a very complicated phenomenon; one billion small nerves make it, and those small nerves are almost invisible. They need a very small quantity of oxygen in the blood. Just a little more blood and it is almost like a flood – just as in Bangladesh, right now, three fourths of Bangladesh is taken over by water. Animals have not grown their brain, their mind, because the flood of blood to every part is equal.Since man is standing up, it is very difficult for his heart, for his lungs, because it is going against gravitation to send oxygen and blood to the brain. The quantity became so small that this was the reason that man could grow very subtle nerves which can think, which can philosophize, which can even transcend thinking, which can make one a buddha.Ma Tzu’s habit of walking on all fours just like a cow…The first implication is that he is now a no-mind, just as all animals are; that he has joined the world and dropped his mind; that he is now in tune with the universe, not struggling against it but just floating with it. The second implication is that because he has dropped the mind, he has become an emptiness – and it automatically grows into compassion, into love, into humbleness, into egolessness. You cannot find another animal like the cow in its humbleness, simplicity, contentment – and yet he looked around like a tiger.That is the contradiction of Zen. You should be like a cow, utterly humble, but you should be as rebellious and revolutionary and radical as a tiger. So although he walked like a cow, you could see that his eyes were those of a tiger – he would jump on you and finish you! Whether it is symbolic or actual is very difficult to decide. But the contemporary sources all say that it is true.He walked like a cow, and looked around like a tiger. He could touch his nose with his tongue. Very rare people can do it. Only very rare people can move their earlobes. Try to move your earlobes. They are yours but absolutely out of your control – you have no control over them.I have come across only one man, a doctor in my village, and he was a student with me in the school and in the university. He is the only man in the whole world, perhaps, who can move his earlobes according to his will. It is a miracle to see how he manages it, because it is an impossibility if the earlobes are natural. They don’t have any nervous system, so you cannot manage them. You need a certain nervous system that can be controlled by the mind. But there is no nervous system, it is just pure flesh.Perhaps this doctor – his name is Manohar – has got, by some mistake of nature, a nervous system in his earlobes. There is no other explanation. In China it is ancient lore that you cannot touch your nose with your tongue. But near to your death, you can touch it. The simple reason is that your teeth have fallen out – it is nothing miraculous – and so the nose and the tongue have come closer.In India a similar kind of idea has been prevalent, which is more significant. Six months before your death you stop being able to see the tip of your nose because your eyes start rolling up. The moment you cannot see the tip, you can be certain that within six months you will be dead, because the eyes have started moving upwards. That’s why, when somebody dies, you immediately close his eyes. Because to see him…just the white of the eyes is showing, the black part has turned up, and it freaks you out to have somebody looking at you with pure white eyes! So in every culture the eyes are closed immediately after death.But everybody dies with open eyes. Nobody can die with closed eyes, because closing the lids of the eyes needs a certain willpower, a certain life energy. You cannot die with a fist, because the fist needs some life energy. You can die only with an open hand, because an open hand is relaxed, it needs no life, no energy. In the same way, everybody dies with open eyes. And not to make others freak out, immediately the older people pull the eyelids down. The old fellow who has died cannot now even open them again, because for that too some energy is needed. He may want to have a look – what is happening around? – but he cannot open them.So it is nothing special about Ma Tzu that he touched his nose with his tongue. The special thing is that people ordinarily don’t try it; otherwise everybody can touch. It is just that your teeth are the barrier. So whenever by chance your teeth fall out, and they will fall out one day, then try it and you will find that Ma Tzu was not doing some great miraculous thing, he was just very old.In India they have the idea that on the feet of a buddha, on the underneath of the feet, there are two rings. They are the signs, when a child is born, that the person will become a buddha. It is not necessary for every buddha to have those two rings, but any child that is born with those two rings is inevitably going to become a buddha.It is not inevitable for everybody. You may become or you may not become, it is your choice. But it is not a choice for a man like Ma Tzu. He had earned enough from his meditation in his past life, and was so close to buddhahood when he died that it was absolutely certain he would become a buddha.Perhaps Eno had seen those two rings on his feet when he said to Nangaku, “This young man is going to become a buddha. I am old, and he is asking for initiation, but you are going to be my successor, so it is better that you take care of him from the very beginning. Give him initiation, and remember, be respectful to him. He is already a buddha – just a little push and he will be on the other shore.”The story Maneesha has brought:Ma Tzu had three outstanding disciples who enjoyed a special intimacy with him. They were Nan-chu’an, Chih-tsang, and Hui-hai (otherwise known as Hyakujo).It is almost inevitable from the way ancient masters worked that there will be a certain intimacy between them and a few disciples. They may have thousands of disciples, but a few disciples will be intimate. From these intimate disciples will be chosen their successor.It is no more applicable as far as I am concerned because nobody is going to be a successor to me. The very idea of succeeding was an idea borrowed from the royal families. Just as kings were succeeded by their eldest sons, it reflected on the tradition of masters also that somebody would become their successor.I want to make a complete break. As far as I am concerned, you are all intimate to me. I can afford the intimacy of all of you, because there is no question of any succeeding. Nobody is going to be my successor. I want everybody to be a master unto himself.To be a successor is a little humiliating. It is against the dignity of an enlightened man. Neither has he anybody before him as his predecessor nor has he anybody after him who is his successor. He is alone, standing like an Everest; no one precedes him, no one succeeds him.His aloneness is a message to all who fall in love with him, that they also have to be alone. In your aloneness you are beautiful, pure. It does not mean that you have to renounce the world. It simply means that you don’t have to belong to the world. You can remain in the marketplace, but just be a mirror, a witness, watching whatever is going on.But traditionally they never understood that it is against the freedom of the individual to be a successor. It makes a spiritual experience almost like a treasury or a kingdom. It is neither. Nobody can succeed. Everybody has to be on his own, and that independence and the taste of that independence is so valuable that I want to bring a new kind of master and a new kind of disciple into the world. They are intimate in their love, in their trust, but they are not bound in any way – by any thread, visible or invisible. The master is himself, the disciple is also himself. And the function of the master is to prove to the disciple that to be oneself is the greatest glory in the world, the most splendorous thing.But Ma Tzu is old…part of the old world. He had these three disciples as intimate disciples – Nan-chu’an, Chih-tsang, and Hui-hai (otherwise known as Hyakujo). Nan-chu’an is better known as Nansen. He had a special place in the master’s heart, but in the line of transmission, Hyakujo became the successor of Ma Tzu.One evening, as the three disciples were attending on their master, enjoying the moon together, he asked them what they thought would be the best way of spending such a night.Chih-tsang was the first to answer. He said, “A good time to make offerings” – a good time to feel grateful to existence.Hui-hai said, “A good time to cultivate one’s spiritual life.”Nan-chu’an made no answer, but shook his sleeves and went away.Ma Tzu turned to Chih-tsang and said, “The sutras will join the tsang.”(He was making a pun on Chih-tsang’s name, tsang, which in Chinese means ‘basket’, as in carrying the word of Buddha.)Buddha’s sutras are divided into three baskets. Ma Tzu said to Chih-tsang, just making a pun on his name, “You will be one of the enlightened ones who will carry the Buddha’s sutras. You will be a basket to carry the Buddha’s sutras. You will be a great scholar.” And that’s how it came to be.A master’s insight, his clarity, is always, twenty-four hours a day, the same. He could see through this man although he is just making a pun on his name. But he uses even that opportunity to indicate to him that he will be a great scholar.He turned to Hui-hai and said: “Dhyana will return to the sea.”(Ma tTu was making a second pun, since, in Chinese, hai means ‘sea’.)Hui-hai had said that it was a good time for cultivating spirituality. And the way to cultivate spirituality is dhyana, meditation. His Chinese name ‘hai’ means ‘sea’. And every meditation is bringing your small river of life to the great ocean of existence, to the sea.So Ma Tzu was saying to Hui-hai, “You will reach the sea.” And Hui-hai became a great enlightened master. Then Ma Tzu concluded, “Nan-chu’an alone transcends the realm of all things, all by himself.” Nan-chu’an had not answered. On the contrary he simply left the place. His gesture shows that talking about scriptures is not the right way, talking about cultivating spirituality is absolutely absurd. You cannot cultivate it, it is already there. Hence he did not answer. And rather than answering, he shook his sleeves and went away. This was his answer.In Zen you have to understand that even a gesture is an answer. It is wordless, but he is answering. He is saying, “Keep your scriptures and keep cultivating your spirituality, I am leaving. This is not my place. I am already a buddha, I have nothing to do. Cultivating spirituality or becoming a great scholar, these are not for me. These are for ordinary human beings.”It is said in histories of Zen that Nan-chu’an, known as Nansen, had a special place in the master’s heart. He was a very beautiful man with great understanding. He went deeper into meditation and finally became an enlightened master. Everybody was thinking that Nansen would be chosen as the successor. But in the line of transmission, Hyakujo became the successor of Ma Tzu.It shows something very special, that it does not matter who is closer to your heart; what matters is who is closer to truth. Ma Tzu loved Nansen, and everybody thought that he would be chosen. But finally, before his death, he chose Hyakujo, because he was the man who was closest to the truth. He may not be close to his heart; it does not matter. It is not a personal transmission. It is a universal phenomenon, that the lamp of enlightenment should be transmitted to whomever is closer to the ultimate truth.On another occasion a monk asked Ma Tzu, “What is the Buddha?”Ma Tzu answered, “Mind is the Buddha.”Listen very carefully because these are very great statements.Ma Tzu answered, “Mind is the Buddha.”The monk then asked, “What is the Way?”“No-mind is the way,” answered Ma Tzu.Now he is being his strange self. First he says, “Mind is the Buddha.” And when asked, “What is the Way?” he says, “No-mind is the Way.” He is canceling mind and making no-mind the way. Mind becomes no-mind, if it is empty. No-mind is not some other entity. No-mind is the same entity as the mind; the difference is whether the mind is full of thoughts, or empty of thoughts. If empty, it is no-mind, if full of thoughts, it is mind.So he did well in answering slowly because a sudden answer may not be understood. He said, “Mind is the Buddha.” It feels consoling – you have the mind, so Buddha is not far away.The monk then asked, “What is the Way?”And then he plays his trick. He says, “No-mind is the Way” – you will have to empty the mind of all its content.The monk then asked, “Are the Buddha and the Way somewhat different?”Ma Tzu replied, “The Buddha is like stretching out the hand, the Way is like clenching the fist.”There is no real difference. My hand open, or my hand as a fist – it is the same thing, just different formations of the same thing. It is a very beautiful statement, that the Buddha and the way are almost the same. As you travel the path you become inch by inch, every day, a buddha. It is just like a sculpture. If you are making a statue of Gautam Buddha, you cannot make it completely in one stroke. You will have to take out, chunk by chunk, pieces that are not necessary, to cut the marble into the shape of Gautam Buddha.That’s exactly what you are doing with yourself. In meditation, every day, you are dropping something and gaining something deeper into your being. You are dropping some chunk of the marble and making clear at least a part of the buddha.Slowly slowly the whole buddha arises in its totality, and in that moment you disappear. In that moment only buddha remains in you, you are the buddha. The path, the traveler and the goal are only different stages of the same phenomenon.A poem by Ikkyu:What a naughty fellow he was,the man who was called Sakya!By him many people are driven to puzzling.Sakya is Gautam Buddha’s family name. Ikkyu is saying what a naughty fellow he was, that many people were driven by him to puzzling.It is true. For twenty-five centuries continuously Gautam Buddha has been harassing people. I am harassing you every night; whether you want to be a buddha or not, I am intent that you have to become a buddha.Ikkyu is saying it out of love, it is not derogatory. He is simply saying, “What a naughty fellow!” Twenty-five centuries after Gautam Buddha, people are still puzzling how to become a buddha. As long as man exists on the earth this is going to remain a puzzling matter, because nobody else in the whole sky of consciousness seems to have puzzled humanity as much as Gautam Buddha. He insisted on originality, he insisted on your authentic being, he wanted your total freedom. No man has loved humanity so much. No man has given more dignity to man than Gautam Buddha. He does not want you to become a follower, he wants you to become a buddha.All great religious teachers, compared to Gautam Buddha, fall very short. They want you to become followers, they want you to practice a certain discipline, they want you to manage your affairs, your morality, your lifestyle. They make a mold of you and they give you a beautiful prison cell.Buddha stands alone, totally for freedom. Without freedom man cannot know his ultimate mystery; chained he cannot move his wings into the sky and cannot go into the beyond. Every religion is chaining people, keeping some hold on them, not allowing them to be their original beings, but giving them personalities and masks – and this they call religious education.Buddha does not give you any religious education. He wants you simply to be yourself, whatever it is. That is your religion – to be yourself. No man has loved freedom so much. No man has loved mankind so much. He would not accept followers for the simple reason that to accept a follower is to destroy his dignity. He accepted only fellow travelers. His last statement before dying was, “If I ever come back, I will come as your friend.” Maitreya means the friend.Maneesha has asked:Osho,Who of us here would not like to “enjoy a special intimacy” with our master, to have a special place in his heart?What is it to be truly intimate with you?Maneesha, my heart is empty. And the more empty you become, the more you can be intimate with me. You will be intimate with me in becoming an empty heart. Then you will be falling into the same tune, the same dance, the same music. And this intimacy is not the old intimacy we talked about. It is a totally different intimacy, qualitatively different. I may not even know your name, you may have never met me personally, but still you can be intimate with me, because I am giving intimacy a totally new dimension. If your heart is empty, suddenly you will be in tune with me. And this intimacy will not create any jealousy.All those old intimacies were creating jealousies even in the masters’ assemblies. If three persons were intimate, do you think others were not offended? Do you think others were not jealous? Everybody wants to be specially intimate. That was not possible in the old way, but my definition of intimacy is such that the whole universe can be intimate with me without creating any jealousy in anybody.You can be intimate because it is not dependent on me, it is dependent on you. You empty your heart and in that emptying of the heart you will become my intimate. You may be on another planet, that does not matter. And in this dimension of intimacy, there is no limitation. Everybody can be specially intimate to me.Now it is time for something serious. Sardar Gurudayal Singh, you are getting old, but you will not leave your ancient habit!It is Ronald Reagan’s birthday, and Nancy wants to make him his favorite spaghetti sauce for dinner. So she goes to Giovanni and asks for some tomatoes.“Sorry,” says Giovanni, “we have-a no tomatoes.”“But you must have tomatoes,” insists Nancy. “It is Ronnie’s birthday, and I want to make his favorite spaghetti sauce.”“Sorry,” repeats Giovanni, “we have-a no tomatoes.”“But that’s ridiculous,” whines Nancy. “Can’t you call your wife, Maria? Maybe she has some tomatoes?”“Look,” insists Giovanni, “we have-a no tomatoes!”But Nancy keeps on whining.“Okay!” shouts Giovanni. “Tell-a me something. What do you get-a when you take the ‘pine’ out of pineapple?”“Apple,” replies Nancy.“Right!” says Giovanni. “And what do you get-a when you take the ‘gr’ out of grape?”“Ape,” says Nancy.“Good!” says Giovanni. “And what do you get-a when you take the ‘fuck’ out of tomatoes?”Nancy pauses, and then says, “But there is no ‘fuck’ in tomatoes.”Giovanni screams, “That is-a what I’ve been trying to tell you!”Paddy has been drinking a few whiskeys and needs to go to the bathroom. He gets up from the bar and staggers across the floor past Gorgeous Gloria, who is sitting at one of the tables in her new maxi-mini skirt.Distracted by her long, lean, bare legs, the drunken Paddy trips over her chair, stumbles, and falls to the floor. Gloria jumps up and stands over him trying to help him to get up.Paddy cannot help taking a look under her skirt.“Mister Murphy,” exclaims Gloria, crossing her legs, “I thought you were a gentleman!”“It is okay, Gloria,” murmurs Paddy, “I thought you were a blonde!”Little Ernie comes back from the movies.“What did you see?” asks his mom.“Linda Lovelace’s ‘Deep Throat,’” replies Ernie casually. “It was quite good.”“My God!” cries Ernie’s mother. “You saw ‘Deep Throat’? But that is an X-rated movie!”“Well, so what?” says Ernie. “They are all the same. In the G-rated movie, the good guy gets the girl; in the R-rated movie, the bad guy gets the girl; and in the X-rated movie, everybody gets the girl!”Moishe Finklestein goes into the Ritzy Glitz Restaurant and treats himself to a huge meal with lots of champagne, finishing up with a Havana cigar.Finally the waiter brings the bill on a silver tray. It comes to ninety-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents, so Moishe pays him with a hundred-dollar bill.About five minutes later, he calls the waiter back and asks for his change. Without altering his expression, the waiter leaves and returns a moment later with the silver tray. On it is a penny and a packet of condoms.Moishe is shocked, and demands an explanation. The waiter lifts his nose in the air, and says, “Sir, it is the policy of our restaurant to encourage customers like you not to reproduce!”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent.Close your eyes.Feel the body to be completely frozen.Now look inwards with total urgencyas if there is not going to be another moment.Only with such urgency,as if this is the last moment of your life,can your vision penetrateto your life sources,to your eternity,to your buddha.Deeper and deeper,because you are not going to be a loser,you are going to gain your lost kingdom.You have been living outside in a dream;inside you at the deepest centeris just a watcher,unclouded, unattached, unidentified,the mirror of your very beingwhich simply reflects.This mirror has been called the buddha.And you all have it.It is nothing personal,it is universal.To make it more clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax.Just let your body be thereand your mind,but remember that you are only a watcher.You are neither the body nor the mind,but only a mirror reflecting,without any judgment,a pure reflection of the moon in the lake.This is your ultimate reality.This is your very being.It is beyond words, but not beyond experience.It is your very sky, without any limitations.This fortunate evening,ten thousand buddhas have disappearedinto an oceanic awareness,just pure consciousness.The Buddha Auditorium has become just a lakeof reflecting consciousnesses.Rejoice in it.Let it go deepinto every fiber of your being,so that slowly, slowly your every action is filledwith your self-nature;so that twenty-four hours you are a buddha.The day you don’t need to meditateis the greatest day of your life.A buddha does not meditate, he is meditation.Gather the experience, remember the way –no-mind is the way –and remember the blessings, the ecstasythat is now in this momentshowering on you.All these flowers, all these roses,bring their perfume at least with you.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back,but come back as a buddha,carrying the buddha gracefully.Sit down just like the buddha.This moment you have made this place holy,this evening immortal,this moment your very eternity.Satyam, Shivam, Sunderam.The truth, the good and the beautiful.This is your original face.Can we celebrate the gathering of ten thousand buddhas?

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Ma Tzu The Empty Mirror 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

Ma Tzu The Empty Mirror 06 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,Ma Tzu was noted for his resourcefulness in finding expedient means of working with his disciples. This is illustrated by his conversion of Shih-kung, who was originally a hunter, loathing the very sight of Buddhist monks. One day, as he was chasing after a deer, he passed by Ma Tzu’s monastery. Ma Tzu came forward to meet him. Shih-kung asked him whether he had seen any deer pass by.Ma Tzu asked, “Who are you?”“A hunter,” he replied.“Do you know how to shoot?” queried Ma Tzu.“Of course I do,” replied the hunter.“How many can you hit with one arrow?” asked Ma Tzu.“One arrow can only shoot down one deer,” said Shih-kung.“In that case, you really don’t know how to shoot,” Ma Tzu commented.The hunter then asked Ma Tzu, “Does your reverence know how to shoot?”Ma Tzu replied, “Of course I do.”“How many can you kill with one arrow?” the hunter asked.“I can kill a whole flock with a single arrow,” answered the master.At this, Shih-kung said, “The beasts have life as you do: why should you shoot down a whole flock?”Ma Tzu said, “Since you know this so well, why don’t you shoot yourself?”Shih-kung answered, “Even if I wanted to shoot myself, I would not know how to manage it.”At this point, Ma Tzu remarked, “This fellow has accumulated klesa from ignorance for numberless aeons. Today the whole process has come to a sudden stop.”Tossing his arrows and bows to the ground, Shih-kung became a monk and a disciple of Ma Tzu.Some time later, when Shih-kung was working in the kitchen, Ma Tzu asked him what he was doing.“I am tending an ox,” the disciple answered.“How do you tend it?” asked Ma Tzu.Shih-kung replied, “As soon as it returns to the grass, I ruthlessly pull it back by its nostrils.”This won great approval from the master, who remarked, “You certainly know the true way of tending an ox!”Maneesha, there are two kinds of masters, not in any way different in their experiences, but different in conveying their experience to others.One is simply using old methods, well tried, which have given sure results. The other is a creative person, who does not follow any traditional method or device to transform a person, but responds to each person according to his need.Ma Tzu belongs to the second category, of very creative and inventive masters. He never repeats himself. In every situation he will bring a new device; he will function just as a mirror. And whatever comes spontaneously out of his empty heart, he will use it as a vehicle of dhamma.This type of master is very rare, because you don’t know whether a method is going to succeed; you don’t know what will be the outcome. You are simply trusting in your own heart, that your heart cannot let you down. This is an immense trust in one’s own enlightenment and awakening – that whatever comes out of your illumination is going to succeed, there is no question about it. Hence a man like Ma Tzu has a tremendous freedom.Other masters have thousands of methods given by the tradition, and they choose one of them; but it is a dead device, even though success seems to be more certain.With Ma Tzu success is not the point; success is the last point in the journey. All those masters in the first category are looking at the success – the method must succeed. And because the method has been used again and again, and has been successful, why bother to look for a new method? Their emphasis is on the end, the success.Ma Tzu’s method, his approach, is totally different. It depends on the first point of the journey, from where the arrow comes. If it is coming from your empty heart, then there is no need to bother about success. That is no more the question for Ma Tzu. His whole life he invented thousands of methods, according to the person confronting him. And he had tremendous success.But his success is the success of the empty mirror. He reflects the man so accurately that there is no need to fall back on old methods. He can go straight forward with the man who is confronting him, and make a situation in which the transmission happens; in which, heart to heart, something moves, something is inspired, something takes the light from one heart to the other heart.It is said about him:With Ma Tzu, Zen took on a truly Chinese flavor – open-hearted and not highly controlled. Under Ma Tzu, mysterious meditation and renunciation for the practice of Zazen in the mountains dropped.The speciality of Zen after Ma Tzu was nothing but the fragrance of intense living.He reduced everything to intense inquiry, intense living. Intensity became the focus of his whole teaching.One hundred and thirty persons became enlightened under Ma Tzu. Just as an example of his working…Ma Tzu was noted for his resourcefulness in finding expedient means of working with his disciples. This is illustrated by his conversion of Shih-kung, who was originally a hunter, loathing the very sight of Buddhist monks. One day, as he was chasing after a deer, he passed by Ma Tzu’s monastery. Ma Tzu came forward to meet him. Shih-kung asked him whether he had seen any deer pass by.Ma Tzu asked, “Who are you?”Now, it is out of the blue…Shih-kung is asking about the deer, and Ma Tzu changes the whole situation into a totally new dimension. Such was his resourcefulness.Ma Tzu asked, “Who are you?”This was not an answer, certainly, to the question asked.“A hunter,” he replied.“Do you know how to shoot?”He has changed the whole subject matter.“Do you know how to shoot?” queried Ma Tzu.“Of course I do,” replied the hunter.“How many can you hit with one arrow?” asked Ma Tzu.“One arrow can only shoot down one deer,” said Shih-kung.“In that case, you really don’t know how to shoot.”Do you see the shifting of the situation? Slowly he is bringing him to a totally different thing. Shih-kung has simply asked, “Have you seen any deer pass?” He has not come for renunciation, he has not come for initiation, he is not there for any inquiry into truth. But it does not matter – once you have come in front of Ma Tzu, you will not be able to leave that place unchanged. Just the very touch of Ma Tzu’s air is enough to make a difference.He said to Shih-kung: “In that case you really don’t know how to shoot.”The hunter then asked Ma Tzu, “Does your reverence know how to shoot?”Ma Tzu replied, “Of course I do.”“How many can you kill with one arrow?” the hunter asked.“I can kill a whole flock with a single arrow,” answered the master.At this, Shih-kung said…Now you see the climate changing – he has forgotten about the deer and the hunting.At this, Shih-kung said, “The beasts have life as you do…”Killing the whole flock, it is so life-negative – and for a master like you..“Why should you shoot down a whole flock?”Ma Tzu said, “Since you know this so well, why don’t you shoot yourself?”Searching for deer to shoot…the deer has life, you have life – why go just so far, why not shoot yourself? You are intelligent enough to understand that the whole flock should not be shot. But if you understand that much – that the whole flock should not be shot – why should one deer be shot? The principle is the same: don’t destroy life. And if you are intent on destroying life…“Since you know this so well,” said Ma Tzu, “why don’t you shoot yourself?”What does it matter whose life is lost – whether it is a deer’s life or your life?Shih-kung answered,“Even if I wanted to shoot myself, I would not know how to manage it.”Shooting oneself is almost impossible with an arrow. With a gun, that is a different matter: you can just put it to the side of your head, and you are gone! But for an arrow, space is needed; you cannot manage to shoot yourself with an arrow, it is almost an impossibility.At this point, Ma Tzu remarked,“This fellow has accumulated klesha from ignorance for numberless aeons.”Klesa is a Sanskrit word; it means, originally, evil, misery, suffering, torturing others and oneself.Ma Tzu said,“This fellow has accumulated klesha from ignorance for numberless aeons. Today the whole process has come to a sudden stop.”He cannot shoot himself, and he has been shooting for his whole life – perhaps for many lives.Tossing his arrows and bows to the ground, Shih-kung became a monk and a disciple of Ma Tzu.Do you see that no device has been used? It is not a device at all; just a simple conversation in which he turns the whole subject matter to a point where the hunter becomes aware that to kill life is ugly.Up to now he was boasting that he is a great hunter. To destroy his ego of being a hunter, Ma Tzu is saying to him, “The best way to prove that you are a hunter is: shoot yourself!”The poor hunter came to a full stop, because you cannot shoot yourself with an arrow. In that silence, in which he started thinking how to shoot himself, he forgot all about deer, he forgot that he was a hunter. In that small gap of silence, Ma Tzu entered into his heart. This is not visible in the story, it cannot be visible in words.In that full stop, his mind could not function anymore; and the non-functioning of the mind is the right time for a master to enter into the very heart of the disciple. It does not need any effort on the part of the master – it simply and spontaneously happens. Once the gap is there, the same light, the same awakening, enters into the man confronting the master.The hunter did not answer. He threw his bow and his arrows on the ground, and fell to the feet of Ma Tzu, and asked for initiation. He had come for a different purpose, and got caught in the net of Ma Tzu.It was not even a device, but this is how Ma Tzu was resourceful. He would convert any situation in such a subtle way that the person would not be even aware that he was being brought to a new space.Shih-kung saw the whole situation: that he had been destroying life, and to destroy life is absolutely wrong. He dropped his bow, his arrows…a sudden awakening, that it is time to search, not for the deer, but for himself, for the source of life itself. He became a disciple of Ma Tzu. He started working in Ma Tzu’s temple.Ma Tzu asked him one day what he was doing.“I am tending an ox,” the disciple answered.I have to explain to you that “I am tending an ox” does not mean exactly what it says. It is a symbolic saying in Zen.There are ten cards in Tao, just like tarot cards. Those cards are called “tending an ox.” The ox is a symbol of your own self. Searching for the self is the meaning of those symbolic cards.When those cards were brought from China to Japan, the last card was dropped for specific reasons: it needed tremendously great understanding for the tenth card. Those cards had been made according to Buddha’s own description.In the first card the ox has escaped into the forest. A man, the owner, is standing, looking all around, and there is no sign of the ox.In the second card, he finds the footprints on the earth. He follows the footprints.In the third card, he sees the ox’s back, his tail. He is hiding behind a big tree.In the fourth card, he sees the whole ox.In the fifth, he catches hold of him.In the sixth, he is fighting hard to take him back to the house.In the seventh, he is victorious.In the eighth, he is riding on the ox, coming back towards home.In the ninth, the ox is in its stall, and the man is playing a song on his flute.These nine cards were taken out of a pack of ten cards. In China originally, and in Buddha’s statement also, a tenth card is described. But it really needs guts to understand the tenth card. Even the Japanese masters thought it is better to drop it, because it is very difficult to make people understand it. Even Buddha said, “I am at the ninth card” – because the tenth is certainly difficult.The tenth shows that the man, feeling so happy that he has found his ox, takes up a whiskey bottle and goes towards the pub.Now that is very difficult – a buddha with a whiskey bottle going towards the pub!But I don’t want to drop the tenth card, because it is as symbolic as the other cards. You accept the ox as yourself; you accept the search and inquiry as your meditation. Part by part you become aware of your inner reality.The tenth is the ultimate point, when you become intoxicated with the universe. That whiskey bottle is not a whiskey bottle – just as the ox is not the ox – they are all symbols.Those masters who dropped that card were a little weaker. It was so simple to explain it: that when you have found yourself, you have found the ultimate nectar; you will be drunk twenty-four hours a day. You don’t need ordinary alcohol, you don’t need any drug – your very experience will be a drug.And you all know after your meditation, when you start moving towards the canteen – I have been watching – everybody looks drunk. A few get up early, but very reluctantly; a few are sitting still, utterly drunk, remembering finally that they have to go to the canteen. This drunkenness…By the way, I want to tell you that it is the only possibility for humanity to get rid of all drugs, of all alcohol, because they are very ordinary compared to the purity of the drunkenness that happens at the very source of life. Nothing is comparable to it. It takes you higher, it gives you tremendous euphoria – which is not hallucination – and it lasts. It is not a question of taking the drug in greater and greater quantities, of becoming addicted to it. You become the nectar itself, you become the euphoria, the ecstasy itself. You don’t need anything; just remembering your buddhahood is enough to live with immense ecstasy in your day-to-day life.So this “tending an ox,” you should remember, is an old metaphor for searching for the self. Otherwise you will not be able to understand the anecdote.The disciple answered, “I am tending an ox.”“How do you tend it?” asked Ma Tzu.Shih-kung replied, “As soon as it returns to the grass, I ruthlessly pull it back by its nostrils.”This won great approval from the master, who remarked, “You certainly know the true way of tending an ox!”As an anecdote in itself, if you don’t know its connotations, it is absurd. But if you understand it with all the metaphors…because these anecdotes carry a tremendous tradition.Shih-kung replied, “As soon as it returns to the grass…” Do you understand? We use the word grass for the mundane also; for the rude, for the primitive, for the uncivilized, uncultured.Shih-kung says, “As soon as it returns to the grass – to the mundane – I ruthlessly pull it back by its nostrils.” He is saying that he does not allow himself to be attracted by the grass. He pulls himself away from the grass, towards the great, towards the magnificent, towards the inner splendor.If you understand this connotation, then you will be able to understand why the master approved it.This won great approval from the master, who remarked, You certainly know the true way of tending an ox!”Soseki wrote:When the master without a wordraises his eyebrows,the posts and rafters,the crossbeams and roof tree,begin to smile.There is another place forconversing heart to heart:the full moon and the breezeat the half-open window.Soseki is a well known mystic poet and master. What he is saying cannot be said in prose.When the master without a wordraises his eyebrows,the posts and rafters,the crossbeams and roof tree,begin to smile.There is another place forconversing heart to heart:the full moon and the breezeat the half-open window.Just standing at the half-open window, the cool breeze and the full moon, and utter silence in between…A master is a door to the universe; a master in himself is an empty heart. You can see the whole universe through it. Coming closer to the master in deep love and trust, even his raising of his eyebrows triggers something in you.…The posts and rafters, the crossbeams and roof tree, begin to smile.Even the posts and the rafters, in the presence of a master, start to smile. The whole existence smiles in the presence of a master, for the simple reason that at least part of us has reached to the ultimate expression of our potentiality. And he is a symbol that we can also reach to the same height, to the same depth.The disciple’s heart immensely rejoices in the master’s presence – just his presence. He may not say a single word, he may remain silent, but just his presence takes you to another world of silence and peace, of love and joy, of blessings that you have not even dreamed of.Maneesha has asked a question:Osho,There could never have been a master more resourceful in finding expedient means of working with his disciples than you.Who else would create a concoction of zany anecdotes, serious sutras, wild dancing, automated animals, jokes, gibberish and silence such as you serve up each evening?In the context of you, somehow everything feels so absolutely right.Maneesha, it is absolutely right, it is just that in my context you become aware of it. It is as if all the lights go out: these ten thousand buddhas will be still sitting here, but you will not be able to see them. Then the lights come on, and suddenly you see ten thousand people sitting around you. You were not alone in the darkness.The context of the master is simply a light in your darkness. Everything seems to be true, everything seems to be beautiful – but it is not the master’s light that is making them beautiful. They are beautiful in themselves, but a light is needed to see them.If you grow your own light, the master’s context will not be needed.The master’s whole effort is that he should not be needed; that you should be enough unto yourself; that your own light should shine and radiate; that the existence should smile with your smiling heart.It is true that I am a little crazy. (Sardarji’s familiar laugh comes loudly from the back of the auditorium.) Now, Sardarji, I have not yet told the joke, don’t trust me too much!I use everything, that’s why I said that the Japanese masters who brought those ten cards and dropped one on the way were not very courageous. They were intelligent, but not geniuses. They could not find an explanation for the tenth card.And to me, without the tenth card the nine are useless. What is the point of searching for yourself? The whole point is to become a drunk! The tenth card is the most essential, but even Gautam Buddha was afraid. Although he described the ten cards, he said, “I am myself at the ninth,” just to avoid the complication of the tenth. The bottle of alcohol in the hands of a buddha simply does not look right. Even he avoided the tenth card – but I will not avoid it.In many countries, sannyasins wanted to take my picture with a bottle, to make the tenth card. I said, “It is perfectly okay, just fill the bottle with Coca-Cola! It is so simple, because in the photograph it won’t show that there is Coca-Cola, and your purpose will be served.”I am just a little crazy, not too much.You are right, that nobody has worked the way I work. And I love to work in every possible way – not denying anything – a total approval of life and all its turns, all its paths. I have accepted it in its totality, so I can use anything as an indicator. And from any point of view I can bring you to seek and search for the escaped ox.Now, Sardarji’s time has come at last!Before you go into your meditations, in search of the ox, it is perfectly good to go in a happy mood; not serious, but smiling. Remember it: existence smiles when you smile, and when you are serious you are alone. Existence does not bother about your seriousness. If you want the whole world with you, just smile, and look all around and you will see trees smiling, and the flowers smiling. And at least when you are entering into meditation, it is good to enter with a smiling heart.I have used jokes for the first time in the whole history of mankind, because such beautiful jokes…and nobody has used them for meditation. And they create such a good feeling all around, that one becomes courageous enough. A laughing heart is more courageous than a serious one. A serious heart doubts, hesitates, thinks twice. The laughing one is the heart of the gambler, he simply jumps in. And meditation is a question of jumping into the unknown.Friar Fruck, the Jesuit missionary, is in Africa looking for a few Christian converts. He is marching across the plains with his crucifix and Holy Bible in hand, when suddenly he comes face to face with a huge, ferocious lion.Friar Fruck’s eyes roll to the back of his head, and he drops to his knees in a near-faint.“Beloved God Almighty, King of Kings, all-knowing, all-seeing Father of the world,” pleads Friar Fruck, praying feverishly, “save my blessed ass!”The lion watches the Christian closely, and then he bows his own head, crosses his paws, and murmurs in a soft growl, “Beloved God Almighty, King of beasts and Lord of the jungle, please bless this poor food I am about to eat!”Angela Angelovitch, the greatest ballet dancer in living memory, is going to give her last performance.“Angela,” says Petrov, her manager, “for this performance, you must give everything, everything!”That night, when the curtains are drawn back, Angela is standing on a platform, high above the stage, wearing a small pair of wings. The orchestra is playing and Angela leaps into the air and lands gracefully on the stage, to loud cheers.Immediately, Angela jumps up and daintily climbs a ladder, and goes even higher than before. The orchestra plays loudly, and Angela springs into space. She spins through the air and lands on her tiptoes.A rope descends and, to thundering applause, Angela is lifted right to the roof. The drums roll and then there is a deathly hush.Angela jumps. She flies, spinning through the air, and lands in the middle of the stage with her legs apart, in a perfect split. The audience is hysterical.At last, the curtains close and the audience starts to go home. Angela is resting motionless on the stage. Her legs are still split wide apart.“Bravo! Encore!” shouts Petrov, her manager, walking onto the stage, clapping his hands.“Petrov,” says Angela, “will you do me a favor?”“Yes, my darling,” replies Petrov, “after a performance like that, anything!”“Okay,” says Angela, “then rock me a little, and break the suction!”Just take your time! Has everybody got it?Where is Haridas? – because he is the polar opposite of Sardarji. They both are great friends, and their friendship depends on one thing: Sardarji can get any kind of joke, Haridas never gets any! So he laughs – what else to do? Understanding is not his thing.Swami Deva Coconut is standing in his bamboo house watching the waters rise around his ankles. It has been raining constantly for four days and the sky is still gray and wet.As the water reaches his knees, Coconut climbs onto his suitcase, and when the water reaches to his knees again, he goes outside and climbs onto the roof of his bamboo house.Just then, Ma Mango Milkshake comes past on a small raft.“Come on, Coconut!” she calls out, “come for a ride!”“No thanks,” he replies. “I am just going to wait here, and watch.”Slowly, the water climbs up the side of the bamboo house, and starts to wash against Coconut’s ankles again.Swami Cleverhead, the group leader, rows up in a small rowboat. The boat is leaking water fast, but Cleverhead seems to be managing.“Come on, Coconut!” calls Cleverhead. “Let us go out of here!”“No thanks,” replies Coconut. “I’m just waiting here and watching.”A half an hour later, Coconut has water around his neck, on top of his bamboo house.Just then, Captain Cliffski and Captain Kurtski, the famous Polack pilots, fly over in a borrowed helicopter.Captain Cliffski sees Coconut, and leans out of the window.“Come on now, Coconut!” he shouts, “or you are going to be drowned!”Coconut waves back, “I am just waiting here and watching!” he shouts.Later, somewhere in the realms of the universe, Swami Deva Coconut meets Osho and he seems really pissed off about something.“I waited and I waited, I watched, I witnessed,” exclaims Coconut, “and you never came to rescue me!”“My God!” says Osho, “I sent you two boats and a helicopter!”Big Rock Hunk, the famous Hollywood movie star, walks into the lobby of the exclusive Screwing Sands Hotel, and accidentally hits Gorgeous Gloria on the chest with his elbow.“I’m extremely sorry,” says Rock, sweetly, “but if your heart is as soft as your breast, then I am sure you will forgive me.”“That’s all right,” replies Gloria, “and if the rest of you is as hard as your elbow, my room is number thirty-three!”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes.Feel your body to be completely frozen.Look inwards with absolute urgency.This moment may be the last moment.Always remember that every momentis possibly the last moment.Then your urgency remains total.Go deeper, as deep as you can,because it is your own space, your very life source – nothing to fear.At the very center of your being you are connected with the heart of the universe.Your empty heart becomes a doorto the ultimate heart of the universe.And the moment you feel you are connectedand rooted in the ultimate,everything in existence becomes beautiful, blissful.Not only life, but death alsobecomes a dance, a celebration.Just watch, witness.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax. Let the body lie down.Remember you are not the body,nor the mind.You are the witness, which is far away –even skies are underneath it.It is a watcher on the hills.Your body is in the dark valleys down below.The distance between your witnessand your body-mind structure is qualitative.It cannot be bridged.And people go on living in ignorance,because they go on thinkingthat they are the body, they are the mind.And because of this identificationwith body and mind,they have forgotten the language of their inner being,their inner nature, their universality,their eternity – the buddha.This beautiful evening.This dance of the rainaround the Buddha Auditorium,and ten thousand buddhas in utter silence,relaxed, centered…it becomes a miracle.It is a magic moment.I can see there are no individuals,but only an ocean of consciousness.This is the pointwhere one becomes ultimately drunk,drunk without any drugs.Let this drunkenness sink in every fiber of your being.Soon you will be coming back.Fill all your bucketswith the nectar of the living stream of life,and bring it with you.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Now, come back as a buddha.Silently, peacefully, with grace.Remember how buddha will sit down,and this remembrance has to becomethe very milieutwenty-four hours around you.Whatever you do, rememberthat the act has to show your self-nature,your original face, your buddhahood.Every gesture, every word, every silenceshould arise from your spontaneity.This is authentic religion.Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?

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Ma Tzu The Empty Mirror 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

Ma Tzu The Empty Mirror 07 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,Yakusan began his Buddhist studies in the school of Vinaya so he was well-versed in scriptural studies and ascetics by the time he was introduced to Zen. He began to feel that these things were not yet the ultimate goal of the spiritual life. He longed for true freedom and purity beyond the formulas of the dharma. So, seeking guidance, he called on Sekito.Yakusan said to the master, “I have only a rough knowledge of the three vehicles, and the twelve branches of the scriptural teaching. But I hear that in the south there is a teaching about ‘pointing directly at the mind of man and attaining buddhahood through the perception of the self-nature.’ Now, this is beyond my comprehension. I humbly beseech you to graciously enlighten me on this.”Sekito replied, “It is to be found neither in affirmation nor in negation, nor in affirming and negating at the same time. So what can you do?”Yakusan was altogether mystified by these words.Hence, Sekito told him frankly, “The cause and occasion of your enlightenment are not present here in this place. You should rather go to visit the great master, Ma Tzu.”Following the suggestion, Yakusan went to pay his respects to Ma Tzu, presenting before him the same request as he had addressed to Sekito.Ma Tzu replied, “I sometimes make him raise his eyebrows and turn his eyes; at other times I do not let him raise his eyebrows and turn his eyes. Sometimes it is really he who is raising his eyebrows and turning his eyes; at other times it is really not he who is raising his eyebrows and turning his eyes. How do you understand this?”At this, Yakusan saw completely eye-to-eye with Ma Tzu and was enlightened. He bowed reverently to the master, who asked him, “What truth do you perceive that you should perform these ceremonies?”Yakusan said, “When I was with Sekito, I was like a mosquito crawling on a bronze ox.”Ma Tzu, discerning that the enlightenment was genuine, asked him to take good care of the insight. He attended upon Ma Tzu for three years.One day, Ma Tzu asked again, “What do you see recently?”Yakusan replied, “The skin has entirely molted off; there remains only the one, true reality.”Ma Tzu said, “What you have attained is perfectly in tune with the innermost core of your mind, and from thence it has spread into your four limbs. This being the case, it is time to gird your waist with three bamboo splints, and go forth to make your abode on any mountain you may like.”Yakusan replied, “Who am I to set up any abode on any mountain?”Ma Tzu said, “Not so! One cannot always be traveling without abiding, nor always be abiding without traveling. To advance from where you can no longer advance, and to do what can no longer be done, you must make yourself into a raft or ferryboat for others. It is not for you to abide here forever.”Maneesha, it is absolutely necessary to say a few words before I discuss the sutras you have brought to me.The authentic master is not concerned with gathering a following, more followers, and becoming a great master because of his following. The authentic master is interested in the disciple and his potentiality. And if he sees that this is not the right place for him to flower, the right climate, then he will send him to another master. That used to be in the past a very common phenomenon. There was no rivalry between masters because they were all working for the same truth, for the same ultimate experience.But the pseudo masters are different and they have taken over the world. The pseudo master forces the disciple to surrender to him. He makes it almost a commitment and if the disciple leaves him, he will feel guilty for it, it will be called betrayal. And the pseudo master never sends his disciples to another master because he sees that this climate, this atmosphere is not perfectly suitable for his growth.I want you to see the distinction clearly. The pseudo master is interested in satisfying his own ego, how many disciples he has. He is not really concerned with the welfare of the disciple or his growth. His concern is political.Hindus are worried that the constitution of India allows Mohammedans to marry four women. Now Hindus are worried that sooner or later the Mohammedans will increase in population. The Hindu has only one wife. Even if he produces a child every year, he cannot compete with the Mohammedan. The problem is of the population, because the politics – who is going to be in power – will depend on the population.What authority has the Vatican pope about truth? What experience, what enlightenment? But still he has six hundred million Catholics around the world. Naturally he is the biggest religious leader. His greatness is not in his experience, his greatness is in the number of followers. And throughout the centuries all the religions have been killing others and converting others to their religion. “Either you come into my religion, or you cannot live.” That has been the attitude of the Mohammedans, that has been the attitude of the Christians. Nobody seems to be interested in the individual. They are all on power trips.Zen gives you a totally different climate. Sometimes masters have even sent their followers to other masters who are against them. It is a very strange phenomenon to the modern eyes, sending someone to your own opponent. But we have to look deep down: if the person can grow more easily in the climate that the opponent master has created, then there is no hesitation in sending him to the other master.It was a constant transfer of disciples from one master to another. And sometimes it used to be that a master would seem to the disciple too hard and the opponent master would look more soft. The disciple himself would escape to the other master’s monastery.One case I remember…A disciple escaped from his master’s monastery because the master was continuously beating, slapping. And he had heard about another master just a few miles away in the mountains who was very soft and very loving, very nice to be with. So he escaped. When he reached to the other master, the other master asked, “Why have you left your own master?”He told the reason, “He is too hard. He beats, he slaps. And I have heard you are so nice and so loving. That’s why I have come here.”The master immediately slapped him and told him, “You idiot, you don’t understand the compassion of your master. Just go back! Are you in search of a nice companionship? Are you interested only, urgently, in searching for the truth? Your master is a great man. We don’t agree in our principles, that is something aside. As far as his compassion and love are concerned, he is far greater than me. I can only be nice to you.“You are blind. You could not see when he hits you, with what love, with what care…how much he cares about you! Even though he is getting old, and in hitting you he hurts himself more than he hurts you, but his whole effort is to bring an urgency. He is not going to live long. As a man he is far greater than I am. As a compassionate teacher there is no parallel to him. You just go back. He is the right person as far as you are concerned.”The disciple could not understand. He had heard that this man is against his master, and he says, “I am in disagreement with your master on many points – but that does not mean that your master’s compassion is less, that your master’s enlightenment is not authentic. I am not so compassionate. I don’t hit you because I don’t see the urgency. Perhaps in another life you may become enlightened. My care about you is less than his care. He wants you to become enlightened in this life, this moment. I am a little careless, I don’t care, and you think it is nice. It is not nice, it is simply my carelessness – whether you become enlightened or not is not my problem. You can enjoy your life and there is eternity available. Sometime, somewhere, you may become enlightened. Why should I bother?”He came back to his master, touched his feet, and said what had happened. The master said, “Although we are traditionally opponents – our schools are different, our principles, which are nonessential, are different – I have always understood it, that that man is great, greater than people think. His sending you back here is a sign of his greatness. He has shown love towards you by slapping you. He does not slap ordinarily, but he knows perfectly well that a disciple who has been with me for years will not understand anything else than a good slap. Now go into your hut and start meditating on the sound of one hand clapping.”The disciple had been meditating on this koan for three years. Every day he was getting slaps, beatings, because he would think about it all the time, day and night, sitting. He would hear something in the night – the crickets…all is silent, only crickets – and he would get the idea that perhaps this is the sound. He would run to the master, knock on his door, and even before he had said anything the master would slap him and the disciple would say, “At least let me tell you…!”The master said, “The moment you open your mouth, you are going to say something wrong. So don’t unnecessarily waste my time. When you have got it, I will know without your saying it.”A few days passed and the disciple did not come back to report. He used to come every day – sometimes the wind blowing through the pine trees, sometimes the sound of the running water, anything…and he would immediately think, “Perhaps this is the sound that will satisfy the master as the answer to the question.”But seeing the situation, that he hits you without even listening to your answer…One day the master closed his door as he saw him coming. What kind of master…? He just looked at him and closed the door and said to him through the closed doors, “Go back to your hut and meditate. I am getting old and I cannot hit you every day unnecessarily. I have looked at your face, it is not the sound that you think. Just go.”But for a few days he did not turn up. The master inquired, “What has happened?” People said, “He is just meditating and he is so silent and so peaceful, he looks like a buddha.”The master went there, touched his feet, shook him and told him, “You have heard it. Now it is enough. Come back to the monastery, it is lunch time.”The disciple could not believe that the master touched his feet. And the master said, “You have got it. And you have been sitting hungry for so many days and I was concerned because I was waiting every day for you to come. I enjoy slapping you so much that without you…I was wondering continuously what happened to the great disciple? But I am satisfied. You have got it. Now it is lunch time. Come, follow me.”It was a different climate altogether when there was no rivalry between masters because the aim was the same. Their methods may be different, their devices may be different, but one thing was absolutely certain, they all agreed on one point: that the search for truth is the first priority, and every disciple has to be sent to the right place, to the right master. It does not mean that the master who is sending the disciple is not right; it simply means that his devices will not suit this kind of man. It does not matter even if he has to be sent to the opponent.These words I am saying with a deep concern because that whole climate of urgency for truth has disappeared from the world. Now there are thousands of pseudo teachers whose whole effort is how to gather followers. All the religions are doing the same. Have you ever heard of a Hindu shankaracharya telling to his disciple, “You go to a Mohammedan Sufi mystic,” or vice versa? Have you ever heard of any Christian pope sending somebody to a Zen master to learn meditation?These organized religions are political. Zen is a non-political religiousness. You cannot call it even religion. It is so individualistic and so emphatically concerned only with the potential of the individual. It does not want anything from the individual, it simply wants him to be himself.At the time of Ma Tzu, there was another great Zen master in China; his name was Sekito. You are perfectly well acquainted with Sekito; he is reborn here. Sekito means stonehead, and this time he is born as Swami Niskriya; I call him Sekito, stonehead. And I had to send him back to Germany, just for a few weeks, because only stoneheads can hit against other stoneheads in Germany, you cannot send anybody else. So he goes, and hits his head against other heads for a few days. When he gets tired of enlightening other people, he comes back to rest. Right now he is in Germany.Sekito was given the name by his master just because he was really a stonehead. Nothing penetrated into his head. You can do everything, nothing makes any difference, because who is hearing? His master used to beat him and he would laugh and he would say, “Do it as much as you can. Just as you are determined to make me enlightened, I am determined not to become enlightened. It is a question of dignity.”Because of this stubbornness – but with so much love, there was no hatred, there was no anger, it was just to show the master – he would say, “If you are stubborn, then don’t think that you alone in the world are stubborn; I am also stubborn. Hit me as much as you can. I am not going to become enlightened.” That’s why he was given the name Sekito. But poor Sekito finally had to become enlightened. You cannot escape a master once you are caught in his net.Ma Tzu and Sekito were such great masters that it was said that they divided the whole world between them. Their methods and their ways and their workings were absolutely different. They were completely free of any sense of rivalry. Even in such a situation where only two enlightened beings were there and the whole world was available, there was no rivalry. In fact they are reported to have cooperated with each other in bringing others to enlightenment. A case in point is Yakusan. That whole atmosphere, that golden age of search for truth is now just a memory, an echo in the mountains. But it had a beauty which has to be brought back.Men’s whole being should be concerned primarily in searching for his own life sources. But the modern situation is just the opposite. The Hindus have divided the world in a very beautiful way. They have divided the world into four ages. The first age they call the age of truth; the only concern of the people is truth, hence the name of the age is satyuga, the age of truth.The second they call treta, a tripod. The first had four legs, it was a table. One leg is lost, now it is a tripod. There is still the search for truth, but the urgency is less, the intensity is less, the balance is less. On four legs the balance is complete; on three legs the balance cannot be complete, but there is still the same search.The third age they call dwapar, two-legged. Now even the balance of treta, the second age, is lost. On two legs you cannot make a table, it will be unbalanced, but still half of the urgency is there.The last age, in which we are living according to Hindu calculations, is called kaliyuga; the age of darkness, the age of blindness, the age of no inquiry into truth. People are concerned with mundane things. They devote their whole life to things which prove finally to be junk.Their whole life could have been a great experiment in enlightenment, in searching for the roots of life, in being utterly fulfilled and contented. They could have gathered all the joy that the universe makes available to you. They could have danced, they could have sung, they could have rejoiced in all the beauties the universe is filled with. But because of their blindness they remained playing with toys; they never bothered that there is anything more than the toys.In a way this metaphoric division of time has a certain truth in it. Today it is very difficult to find people – I have found you, working for thirty-five years continuously – it is very difficult to find people who are really ready to take the jump into the universe at any cost. And only those are the fortunate few.Maneesha has brought a sutra:Yakusan began his Buddhist studies in the school of Vinaya.Vinaya is a Buddhist scripture. Its whole name is Vinaya Pitak. Buddha spoke for forty-two years continuously, morning and evening, so naturally a tremendous volume of literature has been collected by the disciples. He never wrote anything, these are all notes from the disciples. ‘Vinaya’ means humbleness, absolute egolessness.So the disciples who have collected Vinaya Pitak, the scripture, they have found Gautam Buddha’s teaching to be utterly humble, egoless, at ease with the universe, without any tension. It is one of the most beautiful books in existence. All the sutras lead to silence and peace and compassion.Yakusan began his Buddhist studies in the school of Vinaya, so he was well-versed in scriptural studies and ascetics by the time he was introduced to Zen. He began to feel that these things were not yet the ultimate goal of the spiritual life.He was in one school of Buddhism which is based on Vinaya Pitak. Then the master himself, who must have been teaching him about Vinaya Pitak, about compassion and love and egolessness, simplicity, humbleness, the master must have introduced him to Zen.He began to feel that these things were not yet the ultimate goal of the spiritual life.And when he was introduced to Zen, he became aware that it was all good, but it was not the ultimate goal of the spiritual life. On the contrary it was a kind of programming, a cultivation of certain habits, character, a lifestyle – do this and don’t do that. It was superficial.Just today Amrito was telling me that a great scientist was asked, “Do you believe in God?” It seems obvious that the journalist who was asking this was a leftist atheist. He did not believe in God, and he could not conceive that a man of such a caliber, a great scientist, would say that he believes in God. The scientist said that he believed in God; the journalist was shocked. He said, “You are a great scientist and you still believe in God?”The scientist said, “I have been programmed, it is not a question of my believing or not believing. I have been programmed from my very childhood that there is God – so continuously told by the parents, by the priests, by the teachers, everywhere, that it has become almost as if I know that God is. But it is only a conditioning.”All religions have been dependent on programming, not knowing exactly what programming is. The word is new in the world of psychologists, but the activity that has been done for centuries in the world by all the religions can be covered by this word programming. The word came into existence with the computer. You have to program a computer. Whatever you want, you can put into the computer’s mind. And it has a tremendous memory!All the books that exist in the world, in all the libraries of the world, can be put into a computer. There is no need to waste so much space. Just one small computer can carry all the knowledge and you can ask it a question at any time, any absurd question – if it has been programmed. The programming has to be remembered. If it has been asked, “What was the day when Socrates was married?” – certainly it was an unfortunate day, but what was the day? – if the computer has been given the date and day, immediately the reply will come. Because of computers coming into existence, the word programming has taken on tremendous meaning and implications.What we are doing with computers, that is what religions have been doing with human beings. Somebody is a Hindu, and somebody is a Christian; what is the difference between the two? Just a different programming. If you bring up a Christian child from the very beginning in a Hindu household, do you think he will ever think about Jesus or about the Holy Bible? Will he ever ask questions that Christian children are bound to ask? He will be a Hindu because his programming will be Hindu. He will not even bother to waste time about Jesus. The same is true about all religions; every religion is programming the child, behaving with the child as if the child is a computer. It is the greatest insult to humanity and the greatest crime against every human being.Every child comes with a clean slate. And then you start writing all over on it, the holy Bible, or holy Koran, or holy Gita, or holy Das Kapital – whatever you want. The poor child is in your hands, and he does not know yet and he cannot even think that his parents, who love him so much, will give him a wrong programming. But by the time he becomes aware of the word programming, the programming has gone to the very bones and marrow of the child. He cannot think otherwise.Now in Europe and America, because many young people have deviated from the orthodox churches, a new kind of profession has come into being, the deprogrammer.A child is no more interested in the old Bible, he does not go to the church, he becomes a hippie. He just goes against every norm that Christianity has been following. “Cleanliness is next to God” – and the hippie says there is no God and no cleanliness. It may be next, but neither of them exist. Just because the old society was insistent on cleanliness, the hippie has reacted, the youth has reacted against it.Now with all kinds of reactions around the world, the fathers and the priests are very much worried, so they have asked psychoanalysts to create a system in which these people can be first deprogrammed, a continuous method of hypnotization, telling them, “You have gone astray. God is, and Jesus is his son. He is his only begotten son. And your religion is the highest and the greatest religion in the world.” They put the person in a hypnotic sleep and they just go on repeating this. And it is a very simple thing to put a person into a hypnotic sleep; just tell him to gaze at anything that has radiating light. A candle will do; just concentrate on the candle and don’t fall asleep and don’t blink your eyes.Naturally the eyes want to blink. Resist their natural tendency to blink, force yourself as much as possible to concentrate on the flame of the candle or anything that is shining enough and attracts your eyes. Within three to five minutes a person will have to fall asleep, because you cannot keep non-blinking eyes for more than three minutes; three minutes is the maximum.When your eyes close automatically you cannot do anything because they are tired enough and bored also. Just watching a flame cannot be much entertainment, it cannot be a very interesting experience. There is no juice in it, so you are bored, the eyes are tired, you are forcing them to keep open. And the hypnotist by your side goes on saying, “You are falling asleep, you are falling asleep,” in a very sleepy voice. Soon you will find your eyes are closing and the hypnotist will be continuing, “Your eyes are becoming heavy, your lids are closing. You are going into a deep sleep.”It is a very simple method, but of profound significance. Once a person is just on the verge of falling asleep, the hypnotist says to him, “You will not hear anybody’s voice except mine.” And then the subject, the person, falls asleep, and he will not hear anything except the voice of the hypnotist. Now the hypnotist starts deprogramming him. If he has become a “Hare Krishna, Hare Rama,” then he has to tell him, “It is all bullshit. You have gone away from your original great religion. You have gone away from Jesus.” He will bring him back to Jesus.So a double process is going on. On the one hand he is deprogramming the person from Hare Krishna, Hare Rama, and on the other hand he is reprogramming him to his old childhood programming. His Christianity is still there in his unconscious, so it is very easy to bring that unconscious to the surface. After a few sessions the Hare Krishna, Hare Rama has been completely forgotten. Now he knows it is all nonsense. He starts going to the church, he has come back to the right religion. But all that has happened is that his programming has been changed. Just anybody can put Hare Krishna, Hare Rama back.My whole effort here is just to deprogram you and not to reprogram again; just to leave you as clean slates as when you were born, in your original nature, in your original face. Nowhere else is that being done. These people who are doing programming, deprogramming, reprogramming – they are all professionals, and the parents are paying them that their children should be brought back to the organized religion in which they were born.My understanding is that birth has nothing to do with religion. Your parents may be Hindus or Christians, that does not mean that the child has to be a Hindu or a Christian. The child is not your possession. The child comes into the world through you. If you have any sense of humanity, any sense of respect, you will respect the child, and you will leave him alone and allow him to grow in his clarity, intelligence, in his inquiry for truth, even if he goes out of the fold in which you are programmed. If you love your child, let him go according to his nature, wherever it leads.But no parent, no priest, is willing to give liberation to people, and everybody needs liberation from the priests. They are all against me for the simple reason that I am not a priest and I am not in favor of programming anybody.My whole effort is to deprogram you so deeply that everything that has been put in you from your childhood is taken out and you are left again back in your childhood innocence. From that innocence begins your real journey of growth.When Yakusan went to understand Zen, he immediately saw the difference. He was thinking while he was studying Vinaya that this is religion; but coming to the world of Zen, he saw that all that was nonessential. It is not the ultimate goal of life. That was really only programming, to tell you, “Be egoless, be compassionate, be loving to human beings, to living creatures.” In Zen all these things will happen, not because of programming, but because of your own enlightenment, your own awareness, your own intensity and clarity. Compassion will come, but it will not be a cultivation. Love will come, but it will not be a parrot-like imitation.Coming to the world of Zen he immediately realized that what he had been studying up to now was sheer wastage. It is not the ultimate goal. He longed for true freedom and purity beyond the formulas of the dharma. This is exactly what deprogramming means.He longed for true freedom and purity beyond the formulas of the dharma. So, seeking guidance, he called on Sekito.Yakusan said to the master, “I have only a rough knowledge of three vehicles”– there are three scriptures and three schools in Buddhism –“…and the twelve branches of the spiritual teaching. But I hear that in the south there is a teaching about ‘pointing directly at the mind of man and attaining buddhahood through the perception of the self-nature.’ now, this is beyond my comprehension. I humbly beseech you to graciously enlighten me on this.”Sekito replied, “It is to be found neither in affirmation nor in negation, nor in affirming and negating at the same time. So what can you do?”Yakusan was altogether mystified by these words.I will have to tell you something so that you are not mystified by these words. In the West, Aristotle has given a logic which has only a dialectical process. Either something is negative or something is positive. In other words, either you believe in God or you don’t believe in God. Yes and no – these two words are the foundation of Aristotelian logic.But Buddha believes – and he is far more significant than Aristotle – he calls this twofold logic, “yes and no.” If you ask Buddha if there is a God, he will say, “My first answer is yes, my second answer is no, my third answer is yes and no both.” This he calls threefold logic.It simply mystifies people – because what do you mean? Either you believe in God or you don’t believe in God; twofold logic seems to be perfectly right. What is the point of threefold?But he was not alone in this. His contemporary Mahavira had a sevenfold logic, and that is the last word, you cannot go beyond it – all possibilities, all angles. Yes and no are just two polarities, but you can be just in the middle. Yes and no both, or neither yes nor no – you can be just in the middle, not going to the extremes. And that was Buddha’s way, known as the middle way.Buddha says going to the extreme is wrong because you are choosing only one part; going to the other extreme is exactly in the same way wrong. Just be in the middle. The real is in the middle. But in the middle you cannot say yes, you cannot say no. Either you have to say both together, or you have to deny both together. That’s what Sekito is saying. Now hear it, and you will not be mystified by it.“It is to be found,” the truth has to be found, “neither in affirmation,” neither in saying yes, “nor in negation,” nor in saying no, “nor in affirming and negating at the same time,” nor in saying yes and no at the same time. Truth cannot be found in these three categories. The truth is beyond these three categories, it is the fourth. It is beyond logic, hence it cannot be expressed through any logical expression.Poor Yakusan was at a loss. Even Sekito asked him, “So what can you do? These are the three possibilities, none of them expresses the truth. What are you going to do?”Yakusan was altogether mystified by these words. It seems he has come to the end of the road.Hence, Sekito told him frankly– and this is the beauty of that golden milieu that has disappeared from the world –“the cause and occasion of your enlightenment are not present here in this place. You should rather go to visit the great master, Ma Tzu.”Ma Tzu and Sekito were the two opponent enlightened masters of that time. He is telling Yakusan to go to Ma Tzu although he is his opponent. “Your personality, your way of thinking…this place and the devices used here will not help you in growing up to your maturity. You should rather go to Ma Tzu. He will be a right atmosphere for you.”You can see the point. Sending a disciple to the opponent simply means that his interest is in the disciple and his growth, not in a growing following of his own. He looks at the person, feels his pulse, feels his heartbeat, and is clearly aware that “Here he will find it very difficult. Ma Tzu will be the right atmosphere for the man.”Following the suggestion, Yakusan went to pay his respects to Ma Tzu, presenting before him the same request as he had addressed to Sekito.Ma Tzu replied, “I sometimes make him raise his eyebrows and turn his eyes; at other times I do not let him raise his eyebrows and turn his eyes. Sometimes it is really he who is raising his eyebrows and turning his eyes; at other times it is really not he who is raising his eyebrows and turning his eyes. How do you understand this?”Yakusan must have been feeling he was almost going insane. Sekito talked about logic and mystified him, and now this fellow is saying strange things. About whom is he talking?At this, Yakusan saw completely eye-to-eye with Ma Tzu – seeing and listening to his words it became clear to him that there is something beyond the words. Sekito has indicated towards it and now, listening to this man’s almost crazy talk, one thing is certain, that truth cannot be explained in words. Both the masters have helped him to get rid of language. So rather than language, he saw completely eye-to-eye with Ma Tzu and was enlightened. He bowed reverently to the master.Now just reading these words will not help, because something has happened which is not written and cannot be written. Something transpired when the disciple and the master looked into each other’s eyes. In that silent moment some transmission, some energy…He has seen in the eyes of the master, “These are the eyes with which I can feel at ease. These are the eyes through which I can see the whole.” It comes as an instantaneous, spontaneous realization, so nothing is said. That’s what makes people worried about reading Zen.Yakusan saw completely eye-to-eye with Ma Tzu and was enlightened. Now just reading this sentence will not explain anything unless you have seen into the eyes of a master, unless you have been in deep intimacy with a master, unless you have felt the presence and energy field of a master. It is a totally different universe, a totally different dimension of communicating, of communion.He fell in love immediately. Those two eyes satisfied him absolutely: “This is the man I had been searching for for lives. I have come home.” The realization was so tremendous and so strong that he became enlightened.This is called in Zen “the transmission of the lamp.” It is just as if you bring two candles close – one candle lighted, the other candle unlit. But bring them closer, and there is a point when suddenly the flame from one candle will jump to the other candle. Exactly something like that happens between a master and a disciple, when they encounter eye-to-eye. Yakusan became enlightened. Nothing has to be done.What we are trying here is to bring your heart close to my heart, because that is the only way I can bring your heart to the universal heart. I am just a door to be passed, a bridge to be crossed.An authentic master is not in any way a bondage to the disciple. He is simply a way, absolutely open and unconditional; you enter into him and through him you reach to the universe.He bowed reverently to the master, who asked him, “What truth do you perceive that you should perform these ceremonies?”Yakusan said, “When I was with Sekito, I was like a mosquito crawling on a bronze ox.”Sekito was a man – stoneheaded, a very hard shell. Yakusan says, “I felt like a small mosquito crawling on a bronze ox. There was no way for me; I could not get into Sekito, Sekito was too hard.”Ma Tzu, discerning that the enlightenment was genuine, asked him to take good care of the insight. He attended upon Ma Tzu for three years.One day, Ma Tzu asked again, “What do you see recently?”Yakusan replied, “The skin has entirely molted off; there remains only the one, true reality.”Ma Tzu said, “What you have attained is perfectly in tune with the innermost core of your mind, and from thence it has spread into your four limbs. This being the case, it is time to gird your waist with three bamboo splints, and go forth to make your abode on any mountain you may like.”Yakusan replied, “Who am I to set up any abode on any mountain?”Ma Tzu said, “Not so! One cannot always be traveling without abiding, nor always be abiding without traveling. To advance from where you can no longer advance, and to do what can no longer be done, you must make yourself into a raft or ferryboat for others. It is not for you to abide here forever.”Ma Tzu was convinced that Yakusan had authentically become enlightened. Three years he had watched him, allowed him to be with himself. When it was certain, with all his gestures, activities, responses, that he had become a buddha, Ma Tzu told him, “Choose any mountain around, make your abode there.”He is telling him, “Now you are a master yourself, you need not be here. You have to become a ferryboat or a raft for others, those who want to go to the other shore. So make a temple, a monastery on some mountain, and those who are thirsty will come to you. You are not to be satisfied with your own enlightenment. That is very miserly. You have to spread the fire to those who are groping in the dark. You have to become a master of many who are blind. You have to give them eyes to see.”Ma Tzu is behaving exactly the way a buddha should behave on finding that another one has become a buddha. It is a wastage to keep him to himself. He should go now on his own, absolutely free to be himself, not to be under the shadow of a great master. It is almost like a gardener. He will remove a small plant from a big tree. Underneath a big tree the small plant cannot grow. It needs its own space. It needs its own sun, its own sky, and once the gardener sees the potentiality of the plant – that it is not a weed but a rose – he takes it to an open sky where sun is available, fresh air is available, water is available.Every master tries his best to give to his disciples independence, integrity, individuality, and a message – what you have gained, don’t keep it to yourself. Share it. The more you share, the more you have it. The less you share, the less you have it. It is a different economics of the inner world. In the outer world the more you share it, the less you have it.I have heard about a man who had just won a lottery, a million dollars. As usual he found the beggar standing by the side of the road. Today he was so happy, receiving one million dollars, he gave that beggar a one-hundred-dollar bill. The beggar looked at the bill, and he looked at the man, and he said to the man, “Soon you will be standing by my side.”He said, “What do you mean?”The beggar said, “This is how I came to this state. I went on giving to everybody. Now I am in a state – I don’t have anything, I have to beg. The way you are giving, it won’t take much time. You can always come to me. I am an experienced beggar by now.”On the outside, in the objective world, there is one economics. You have to hold on to whatever you have, you have to cling to it. Not only you have to cling to your own, if you can manage to cling to others’…George Bernard Shaw was asked once, “Can anyone live just keeping his hands in the pockets?”George Bernard Shaw said, “Of course one can. But the pockets must be somebody else’s.”In your own pockets you cannot live forever. In the objective world, if you share, you lose. But in the internal world just the opposite canon of thought is applicable. The more you share, the more you have; the less you share, the less you have. If you don’t share at all, that small flame can disappear. By sharing it becomes a great fire. It consumes you.A poem by Soko:Inhale, exhaleforward, back,living, dying:arrows, let flown each to each,meet midway and slicethe void in aimless flight –thus I return to the source.Go on throwing and throwing your experience, in life, in death. Soko says, Thus I return to the source. The more I give, the deeper I reach to the source. It is just like digging a well. If you don’t take out the water from the well, the water will become dead. The more you take the water out, the more fresh streams are opening up and bringing new water, fresh water from all sides.Maneesha has asked a question:Osho,If one has an authentic insight – not just an intellectual understanding – it seems to take root and affect the way one is, of its own accord: nothing needs to be done to preserve it.Is this so? And is the situation different after enlightenment?Maneesha, it is exactly as you describe it. If things start happening on their own accord, if you have found the source of your being, that is the source of spontaneous happenings. Then you don’t need to preserve it, you don’t need to guard it, you don’t need to do anything about it. It goes on happening.Sharing also comes as a happening: because you are so flooded, you are grateful to share. You are just like a rain cloud; it needs to rain. The rain is too heavy, it wants to unburden itself. So it is never a problem of preserving it. Finding your life-source existentially, not intellectually, you don’t have to preserve it.You are asking, “Is the situation different after enlightenment?”After enlightenment one is no more. One becomes just a flute on the lips of existence. Then existence is responsible for everything, a song or a silence. After enlightenment you are no more, only the existence is. Because you are no more, the other is also no more. For the other to be other, you have to be present. If you are absent, everybody is absent. That’s why I say, when one person becomes enlightened, for him the whole existence becomes enlightened. Now there is no question of doing anything, not even sharing, because that is also doing.It shares by itself.It rains by itself.Everything is now by itself.Now it is Sardar Gurudayal Singh’s time.Blackie the dog walks into the Sizzling Salami Restaurant, and orders a tofu-burger.“How would you like it cooked?” asks Sardar Gurudayal Singh, the waiter.“I want it well done, with crushed cherries on top. Then fry some onions and put them on the side. Then get some peanut butter and put it all over it, then soak the whole thing in Coca-Cola.”Sardar Gurudayal Singh brings the food.“Did you enjoy your dinner?” Sardar Gurudayal Singh asks, when the hungry hound is finished.“Very much,” replies the dog, licking his paws. “But, by the way, don’t you think this is all very strange?”“No,” says Sardar Gurudayal Singh, grinning, “I like my tofu the same way!”Bob and Betty are having a hot romance, and often go to the movies to cuddle in the back row.One night when they are showing “Dracula and the Body Snatchers,” and Dracula is about to sink his teeth into another Body Snatcher, Betty starts squealing and giggling.The manager comes over, “What is the matter, young lady?” he asks, shining his light. “Are you feeling hysterical?”“No,” giggles Betty. “He is feeling mine!”A man goes to apply for a job as janitor in a small office, and the boss asks him for his full name.“What?” asks the man. “You need my full name just for a janitor’s job?”“Yes,” replies the boss. “It is company policy.”The man is very shy about giving his full name, but finally agrees.“All right then,” he says, “my full name is John Dammit-and-Fuckit Smith.”The boss tries to keep a straight face, and then asks how he got such a name.“Well,” explains the man, “just as the bishop was about to christen me in the church, some idiot dropped the Holy Bible on his foot!”Fudski is working on the forty-ninth floor of a new apartment construction, when he feels the need to pee.“Is there a bathroom nearby?” he asks Luigi, the foreman.“Listen,” says Luigi, “with the wages we pay you, there is no time to go forty-nine floors down to get there. So do what everyone does: put a plank out over the edge. I’ll stand on this end of the plank, and you walk to the other end and relieve yourself. By the time it reaches the ground, it will have evaporated.”“Great idea!” says Fudski.He sets up the plank, Luigi stands on one end, and Fudski walks to the other end to pee.Just then the phone rings, and Luigi goes to answer it. Poor Fudski goes sailing wildly through the air towards the ground below.Luigi goes downstairs to see what has happened, but gets stopped on the way by Zabriski, who is working on the tenth floor.“Hey!” shouts Zabriski, “what kind of perverts have you got on this job?”“What do you mean?” asks a surprised Luigi.“Well,” replies Zabriski. “Some guy just came flying past here holding onto his prick and shouting, ‘Where did that asshole go?’”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent.Close your eyes.Feel your body to be completely frozen.Look inside with immense urgency,straight into your very center of being.It is just a single step,and your center is not only your center,it is the center of the whole existence.We are one at the center,we are separate on the circumference.Deeper and deeper,go like an arrow,finding the very life-source of your being,that is also the life-source of all.Remaining at the center,just be a witness of your body, of your mind,because this witnessis the only phenomenon in existencethat is eternal.Everything dies.Only this witness is beyond life and death.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax,and be a witness of the body and the mind.You have not to do anything,just watch, just be a mirror.To be just an empty mirror with nothing reflectedis the greatest experience in life.At this momentyou are in the same space as a buddha.Inch by inch you are going deeper and deeper.Soon the buddha will becomeyour twenty-four-hour experience.It will express itself in your activities,in your words, in your gestures,in your silences, in your songsand in your dances.It will be at the very centerof all that you do, just watching.But its watching will give a grace,a tremendous beautyto every action you do.A great spontaneity will arise.The same universe that you are acquainted withwill become tremendously beautiful.Your witnessing will open all the doorsof mysteries and splendor.This is a beautiful eveningand the gathering of ten thousand buddhasmakes it even more beautiful,even more blissful, even more silent.Invisible flowers are showering on you.Gather as many as you can.Soon you will be coming back,but don’t come back the same as you have gone in.Come out transformed,with a new light in your eyes,with a new joy in your heart,with a new sense of direction to your life.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back,but very silently and very gracefully.Showing your buddha-nature,sit down for a few momentsjust remembering and recollecting,you are a buddha.Buddha is not somewhere elsebut in the very center of your being.Can we celebrate the gathering of ten thousand buddhas?

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Ma Tzu The Empty Mirror 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

Ma Tzu The Empty Mirror 08 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,A monk once drew four lines in front of Ma Tzu. The top line was long and the remaining three were short. He then demanded of the master, “Besides saying that one line is long and the other three are short, what else could you say?”Ma Tzu drew one line on the ground and said, “This could be called either long or short. That is my answer.”On another occasion, a monk said to Ma Tzu, “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West?”Ma Tzu replied, “At this moment, what do you mean by ‘meaning’?”Again the monk asked the question, and Ma Tzu struck him, saying, “If I didn’t strike you, people would laugh at me.”E of Rokutan asked Ma Tzu the same question about Bodhidharma’s coming from the West.Ma Tzu said, “Lower your voice and come a little nearer!”E went nearer. Ma Tzu struck him once, and said, “Six ears do not have the same plan. Come another day.”Later, E went to the hall and said, “I implore you to tell me!”Ma Tzu said to him, “Go away for a time and come to the hall again when you have a chance, and I’ll publicly confirm it.”E thereupon was enlightened. He said, “I thank everybody for their confirmation,” and marched round the hall once, and went off.On a later occasion, another monk said to Ma Tzu, “Please transcend the four sayings and refrain from the hundred negations, and tell me the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West.”Ma Tzu said, “Today I’m tired and I can’t tell you. Go and ask Chizo.”The monk went and asked Chizo, who said, “Why don’t you ask the master?”“He told me to come and ask you,” said the monk.“I’ve got an awful headache today,” said Chizo, “so I can’t tell you; go and ask Hyakujo.”The monk then went to Hyakujo, who said, “Well, as to that, I myself really don’t know.”The monk reported all this to Ma Tzu, who said, “Hyakujo’s cap is black; Chizo’s cap is white.”Maneesha, before I discuss Ma Tzu and his statements, I have to inaugurate another god to Avirbhava’s Museum of Gods. This is a very important god. I will tell you about the god before Avirbhava brings it in front of you.The name of the god is horse. It has been worshipped around the world for centuries. Even today there are places where the horse is worshipped as a god.The horse or mare is one of the forms of the corn spirit in Europe.In Ancient Greece, Artemis and Aphrodite were associated with the horse, and Cronus is said to have taken the form of a horse.In Gaul, there was a horse goddess called Epona and a horse god called Rudiobus.The goddess mares, Medb of Tara and Macha of Ulster, were thought to have powers of the dead.Horse worship also existed in Persia, where white horses were regarded as holy. In the Teutonic regions they were kept in holy enclosures.Here, in India, in earlier times, horses were sanctified, and the cult exists still today. Koda Pen is the horse god of the Gonds.In ancient India horses were not only worshipped, they were also sacrificed to please God. It was not only horses who were sacrificed; cows were killed, even man was killed as a sacrifice. For cows, the ritual was called gomedh – go means cow. For horses, the ritual was called ashvamedha. Ashva means horse, medha means killing. For man the ritual was called narmedha. Nar means man and medha means killing.And these are the people who go on making a great fuss about stopping cow slaughter. They have slaughtered even man in the name of God. They themselves have slaughtered cows, horses, in the name of God. Sacrificing a living man in the name of God is very symbolic. To me it has more significance than just an ordinary sacrifice. The whole of humanity has been sacrificed by all the religions in the name of God.You are living a crippled life because of the religions. They have not killed you, but they have not left you alive either. They have crippled you. They have cut you into parts. Certain parts in you have to be removed. Certain parts in you are worshipped, certain parts are condemned. Your wholeness is not accepted by any religion in the world. These religions are thought to be very intelligent, and they are worshipping animals of all kinds!The first Hindu incarnation of God is the fish. Of course in Bengal, fish is eaten as something holy; rice and fish are their basic foods. The whole of Bengal stinks of fish. Every house has beautiful trees, even the poorest, and a beautiful pond in which they grow and cultivate fish. The scene is beautiful, very green. Nowhere is it so green as in Bengal, and every house has a pond, a big pond surrounded by big trees. You can know the riches of the family by the size of their pond. The richer families have vast ponds, and costly fishes are eaten in the name of God.It is so easy to kill anything in the name of God. The name of God is a very protective shelter.You will be surprised to know that when the Britishers came to India, they first captured Bengal, and Calcutta was their capital. Their first Indian servants, from the lowest to the highest, were all Bengalis. And because they were all stinking of fish, they started calling them “Babu.” Babu is a Persian word which means a man who stinks. But because they were government servants, on high posts, “Babu” became very respectable. Now to call somebody Babu is very respectful, honorable.The first president of India, Doctor Rajendra Prasad, was always called Babu Rajendra Prasad. And even that president had no idea that Babu is a dirty word. But people have forgotten the connotation. Bu means smell, and ba means really bad smell.In Hinduism not only the fish was an incarnation of God. There was the tortoise, there was the pig, there was the lion, and a strange lion – half lion, half man – narsimha; the upper part of the body is of the lion, and the lower part of the body is of man. And people have worshipped them. One just wonders whether humanity is mad. Something is certainly insane.And the last incarnation of God which is going to come is going to be a white horse. His name will be Kalki. And that white horse will save the virtuous and will destroy the sinners and will change the whole course of human history – a horse!And all these idiots who believe in these things will be sitting by the side watching. The tenth incarnation of God is called Kalki. He is to come to judge the world at the end of this yuga, the fourth and last cycle of one million, eight hundred thousand years in the Hindu concept of the world. He will destroy the wicked, reward the good, and enable Vishnu, the Hindu God, to create a new world.In Buddhism, the horse represents the indestructible, the hidden nature of things. The winged or cosmic horse, called “Cloud,” is a form of Avalokiteshvara. It is an incarnation of Gautam Buddha.I am allowing these animal gods in this campus to make you aware of your past. And it is not passed completely, it is still hidden in your mind.In Varanasi…it is a strange place, it is the ancientmost city in the world. Because of its being so ancient its streets are very small, because in those days there was no need for buses and trucks and cars to move. Even a rickshaw hardly manages to move through the streets.It is thought to be a great virtue to take an ox and leave it in the city of Varanasi. The city of Varanasi is thought to be the city of the God Vishnu, and he loves cows. So in the city of Varanasi you will find more cows than men, and you cannot remove a cow that is standing in the street. You go on honking your horn and those gods are not going to listen to such ordinary human beings. Go on honking…they will just stand there without bothering.You have to get down and push them to the side. You cannot hit them otherwise you will be killed. It will be hurting the Hindu religious feelings. They enter into shops, into vegetable shops, and they start eating. You cannot stop them. They are no ordinary people, they are VVIPs! Varanasi, in the whole world…(At this moment ripples of laughter spread through the assembly as a white horse enters the auditorium through the door to the left of the podium, gallops around it and disappears through the door on the right.)So, Avirbhava, you can come back, your horse is introduced. Come back to your seat.(Great applause from the audience.)Now, Maneesha’s statements about Ma Tzu and his work:Ma Tzu was one of the first masters to use a specifically Zen technique in teaching; that is, through living, not philosophical ideas. By indicating the absolute in the relative – a relative without religious dogma, romance, symbolism, or intellectualism, but with a deep sense of the existential value of a thing – Ma Tzu brought Zen into the realm of ordinary, day-to-day living.His contribution to Zen is immense. He brought it down from the heights to where you are. About Ma Tzu it can be said, just as it is said about Mohammed…Mohammed is reported to have said that if the thirsty will not come to the well, the well is going to go to the thirsty.To go to the heights of buddhas is really an arduous thing. They shine forth like a full moon in the sky, and a tremendous longing arises in you to reach to the same heights. But there is a great fear of insecurity, of danger, of those mountainous regions where you will be alone. Many who want to reach to those heights think twice before they take their first step.Ma Tzu saw this and he introduced something which was never known before. He came down from the mountains to the marketplace. He said, “The marketplace cannot change me, so why avoid it? I am going to change the marketplace. Sitting on my heights, I will not be able to change thousands of people. And if when it is possible I go to the people themselves, just as ordinary as they are, communication will be easier.”Hence he dropped all philosophical teachings. He brought new devices, more in tune with the earth, not in tune with the sky, more in tune with the ordinary human activities. Once he has got hold of you, he will take you to the heights. But the first question is to take hold of you.He is the first master in the history of Zen who has shown such compassion. He also introduced beating for the first time. That too is part of his compassion. His beating has to be understood because it will come again and again. He is beating you to wake you up. There is no need to go anywhere to find the buddha. The buddha is fast asleep within you. He just needs a little awakening. The beating was out of pure love and compassion.It is very difficult for other religions in the world to understand: “What kind of teaching is this? Teach about God, teach about heaven and hell and virtues and ten commandments.” To them it will look…it does look almost crazy.But Ma Tzu helped far more people to become enlightened than any other master. The end result shows that his devices worked.A monk once drew four lines in front of Ma Tzu. The top line was long and the remaining three were short. He then demanded of the master, “Besides saying that one line is long and the other three are short, what else could you say?”Ma Tzu drew one line on the ground and said, “This could be called either long or short. That is my answer.”It reminds me of an incident in a court of a great Indian emperor, Akbar. One day he came into the court and drew a line on the wall and told all the members of his court…and he had collected the most wise people from all parts of the country into his court; it must have been the richest court in the world as far as wisdom is concerned. He had all the great artists, musicians, dancers – anybody who was at the top was invited to be part of his court.He asked the court members, “Can you make this line smaller without touching it?” It looks like a Zen koan. How can you make it smaller without touching it? You will have to touch it, only then you can make it smaller. That seems to be obvious.But one man laughed. He was the court joker, Birbal. Every court in the ancient days used to have a court joker, just to keep the court playful, nonserious. There were serious problems, but the joker would always keep it cool; he would cut a joke, and all the heat would disappear, and people would come to their senses. Birbal perhaps is one of the most well known men, who had an immense sense of humor; but he was also a wise man. He stood up and he went to the wall and drew a bigger line above the small line that Akbar had drawn. And he said, “I have made it small without touching it” – because small, or long, or short, are all relative terms.In itself you can draw a line…that’s what Ma Tzu is doing, drawing a line. And he says, “You can call it either long or short.” It is a question of relativity. If you are comparing it with a longer line, it is short; if you are comparing it with a shorter line, it is long. In itself it is just what it is. Relativity is a comparison with something else.Why Ma Tzu did it has to be understood. And particularly now that Albert Einstein has introduced the theory of relativity in the scientific sphere, it has become more important to understand Ma Tzu’s meaning. He is saying, “Everyone is just himself, neither great nor small – because that greatness or smallness comes from relativity – neither beautiful nor ugly. Everyone is simply just himself.”You can bring a taller man by his side and he becomes smaller, but he remains the same. Only relatively, conceptually, intellectually, can you see that he is smaller, but he has not changed even an inch. You can bring a pygmy by his side and suddenly he has become taller, and he has not changed a bit. What he is saying is that relativity is a dangerous concept to be applied to human beings.It is relativity that makes some people big, great, famous, celebrities. Some people live in obscurity, some people are just nobodies. This is relativity; otherwise everybody is just himself, it does not make any difference. There is no question of inequality, everybody is unique. The person who is nobody is happy in his nobodiness. But this concept of relativity drives people mad. Everybody is trying to climb higher on the ladder, to become somebody special. And even the most special people are hankering for so many things which they are missing.For example, Napoleon was one of the world conquerors. But he was suffering from a great inferiority complex because of his height – he was only five feet five inches tall. Even his bodyguards were over six feet and he felt very much embarrassed – on both sides bodyguards, and bodyguards are chosen particularly to be strong, tall. He looked just like a small child in comparison to his own bodyguards, and this was very embarrassing.One day he was trying to fix a picture on the wall, but his reach was just a little bit short, he could not reach the picture. His bodyguard said, “Your honor, you need not bother about it. I am higher than you, I can do it without any difficulty.”Napoleon said, “I will shoot you. Change your word higher. You are simply taller than me, not higher.”The poor bodyguard could not see why he had become so angry. He had touched the very soft spot in his unconscious. Higher? – nobody is higher. At the most you can say, physiologically, that you are taller. But Napoleon suffered immensely. Every time he saw a taller man, he was in immense misery.You cannot have all the things in the world. There will be poets, there will be musicians, whose very touch is golden. There will be wrestlers whose bodies are almost a work of art. You cannot have all these things. Relatively, everybody is inferior in comparison to somebody else. You can find out to whom you are inferior, and you will find so many people to whom you are inferior. Somebody is a great flutist and you don’t know which side of the flute to put in your mouth. Somebody is a great mathematician…miraculous mathematicians have happened.In India, just in this century, there were two people; one was Shankaran, a rickshaw wallah in Madras. Just by chance a professor in the Madras university took his rickshaw and on the way the rickshaw wallah asked him, “What do you teach in the university?”He was an Englishman. He said, “I am a professor of mathematics.”The rickshaw wallah said, “Mathematics? That is my special subject. You just tell me any number, multiplied by any other number, and before you have ended your question I will answer it.” And he did it.The professor could not believe his own eyes and ears. The number that he had given to be multiplied by another number would have taken the greatest mathematician at least three minutes. Without going through the whole process, he had simply answered. And the professor had to work it out, whether his answer was right or wrong – and it was right.He took him to the university. Shankaran convinced all the professors that he had an intuitive grasp. Asked how he managed it, he said he did not know. “Just as you ask, a number appears on the screen of my mind, and I simply repeat that number. I don’t know any process, I am not educated.”The professor took him around the world as a show of intuitive mathematics – to Oxford, to Cambridge – and everywhere he was a celebrity. An uneducated rickshaw wallah – and great mathematicians like Whitehead, Bertrand Russell, they simply could not believe it.Bertrand Russell has written the greatest book on mathematics. Just to explain two plus two is four, he has taken two hundred and forty pages. And this man – you give him any number to multiply or any kind of question, and he immediately writes the answer on the board. He goes through no process.And then there is another woman, her name is Shakuntala, and I think she is still alive – and strangely from the same place, Madras. She has been around the world showing her intuitive capacity for mathematics.Even great mathematicians have felt childish next to these people; they are not educated, they know nothing of mathematics, but they can make the greatest mathematicians feel inferior.If you are going to compare, if you are going to think around, you will find thousands of people who will make you inferior. And you cannot do anything about it. You cannot be the greatest dancer, you cannot be the greatest mathematician, you cannot be the greatest poet, you cannot be the greatest painter; you cannot have all the greatness in the world at the same time.The very idea of thinking in relativity about human beings is absurd. You are just yourself. Just be authentically yourself, without any comparison. No inferiority arises; no superiority arises. You are simply relaxed as you are. And whatever you are doing, you do your best, with joy and creativity.Ma Tzu’s answer…he drew one line on the ground and said, “This could be called either long or short. That is my answer.”It depends with what you are comparing it. But why compare in the first place?Relativity is perfectly good in scientific fields. It is absolutely wrong in the world of humanity. Human beings are not mathematical digits; human beings are unique. Everyone – however he is, whatever he is – has just to bring his potentiality to its totality, its profundity, to clean it and bring it to blossom. It does not matter whether it is a wildflower or a roseflower. What matters is flowering, bringing your potentiality to its uttermost height.And that will bring you joy and peace, and a rest, a relaxation with the universe. You will be in tune, and there will be no turmoil in your mind – how to become this, how to become that. How to be the richest person, how to be the most famous – all that is garbage; and it is driving thousands of people mad, unnecessarily mad.They could be the most beautiful people if they were not thinking in terms of relativity. If they were satisfied with themselves and their potential, and they were working to bring their potential to its uttermost height, without any comparison to anyone – this is the only way a man can be psychologically healthy.On another occasion, a monk said to Ma Tzu, “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West?”This is a traditional question in Zen, asked thousands of times, asked to hundreds of different masters by thousands of disciples; and every time a different answer.Ma Tzu is not going to give any philosophical answer.The philosophically oriented masters can give much meaning to Bodhidharma’s coming from India to China – remember that in China, India is the West.Bodhidharma brought Gautam Buddha’s message, and he transformed the whole of China into a great love affair with Buddha. He did not create an organized religion, he simply spread the fragrance of Buddhism. No organized church, but everybody is allowed to drink from the well of Buddha, and quench his thirst. No priest exists in Buddhism – there is no need of the priest. He is a hindrance, not a bridge. You can be a buddha yourself, just by going within yourself. No priest is needed for that.China was so happy to hear the message, “You are a buddha; you just don’t understand your interiority, your subjectivity.”So much can be said about “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West?” ButMa Tzu replied, “At this moment, what do you mean by ‘meaning’?”Ma Tzu was a strange master with strange methods. Rather than answering the question, he turns the question into another question. He changes the whole thing. He asks,“At this moment, what do you mean by ‘meaning’?”Again the monk asked the question, and Ma Tzu struck him, saying, “If I didn’t strike you, people would laugh at me.”A strange anecdote, but Ma Tzu is right. He is saying, “The whole meaning of Gautam Buddha and his message is you. Bodhidharma came here to wake you up. Rather than philosophizing about it, I will do exactly the same as Bodhidharma did.At this moment, what do you mean by ‘meaning’?”That comes as a shock, because the monk was not thinking that somebody would ask this question.Again the monk asked the question, and Ma Tzu struck him, saying, “If I didn’t strike you, people would laugh at me – because you are the meaning, and you are asking it. You are the buddha, and you are asking where the buddha is. If I don’t strike you, for centuries people will laugh about me.”E of Rokutan asked Ma Tzu the same question about Bodhidharma’s coming from the West.Ma Tzu said, “Lower your voice and come a little nearer!”E went nearer. Ma Tzu struck him once, and said, “Six ears do not have the same plan. Come another day.”The man could not understand. He is asking a traditionally simple question, “What was the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming to China?” And Ma Tzu is answering it in two ways: first, “Lower your voice!”The man must have asked as if the answer is not possible. The man must have asked with a great ego, expecting that Ma Tzu is going to accept defeat.Saying to him, “Lower your voice!” simply means, “Be quiet, be silent, be humble, because in your humbleness you will find the answer; in your silence you will find the meaning.”And, “Come a little nearer!” The man did not understand the meaning of coming a little nearer. He is saying, “Be a little more intimate with me, come a little closer to my heart, be a little more open. Don’t just stand there closed, and with a great ego. Be humble and come closer.”But he did not understand the meaning either of lowering the voice, or of coming a little nearer. He went nearer – physically.Ma Tzu struck him once, and said, “Six ears do not have the same plan. Come another day – you have not understood today, but who knows? – Come another day. It is enough for today that I have given you a good hit. Think over it.”And “Six ears do not have the same plan.”Here you are thousands of ears, but behind your ears everybody has a different plan. So come another day and drop your plan. If you come with a prejudice, with an answer already within you, you cannot understand me.Here we don’t work philosophically. This is not the place for intellectuals. For that you can go anywhere, to any monastery where scriptures are thought to lead you to your inner nature. But if you want to hear the answer from me, come another day. For today it is enough.Later, E went to the hall and said, “I implore you to tell me!”Ma Tzu said to him, “Go away for a time and come to the hall again when you have a chance, and I’ll publicly confirm it.”E thereupon was enlightened. He said, “I thank everybody for their confirmation,” and marched round the hall once, and went off.Everything around Ma Tzu is very mysterious. The man did not go, he followed Ma Tzu to the assembly hall. And again in the assembly hall he repeated it, but now, just within a few moments, he was a different person. He said, “I implore you to tell me!”That old egoist of a few moments before is no longer there. The voice has become one of imploring, of humbleness.Ma Tzu said to him, “Go away for a time and come to the hall again when you have a chance, and I will publicly confirm it.”He has not given the answer, but he has given something else. He is asking him to go away, “and come here only when you have a chance of getting the answer. That means when you have meditated over it, dropped all your preconceptions, when you don’t have any idea what is the answer. That will be your chance. Then you can come, and I will publicly confirm it.”Because he has asked with humbleness, the man must have been of great intelligence. Time does not make any sense; why not do it now? So he dropped – that is not written in the anecdote, that cannot be written, it is something that is happening within him – he dropped all his notions. And as he dropped all his notions, there was no need for any answer for him.It is a strange situation. When the question disappears, there is no need for the answer either. That is all mental gymnastics. Seeing the truth, that the master is not going to get involved in intellectual conversation…Perhaps there is no way to intellectually explain the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming to the West. It is something that can be transmitted only when you are utterly silent and without any questions. Then a flame, a fire can jump from the master’s heart. And that actually happened.E thereupon was enlightened. He said, “I thank everybody for their confirmation,” and marched round the hall once, which is a sign of reverence, and went off.On a later occasion, another monk said to Ma Tzu, “Please transcend the four sayings and refrain from the hundred negations, and tell me the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West.”Ma Tzu said, “Today I’m tired and I can’t tell you. Go and ask Chizo.”Chizo was one of his nearest disciples.The monk went and asked Chizo, who said, “Why don’t you ask the master?”“He told me to come and ask you,” said the monk.“I’ve got an awful headache today,” said Chizo, “so I can’t tell you; go and ask Hyakujo.”Hyakujo was the second most intimate disciple of Ma Tzu.The monk then went to Hyakujo, who said, “Well, as to that, I myself really don’t know.”The monk reported all this to Ma Tzu, who said, “Hyakujo’s cap is black; Chizo’s cap is white.”Now the question is completely forgotten. Nobody has answered it. On the contrary, Hyakujo has accepted that he himself does not know what the answer is.The white cap and the black cap refer to an old story of two robbers. One of the robbers wore a white cap, while the other wore a black cap. As the story goes, the one with the black cap was more ruthless and radical than the one with the white. So it was that Hyakujo was said to be more radical than Chizo in his methods of dealing with young monks.Ma Tzu said that he was very tired. “Today I am tired and I can’t tell you.” The fact is, whether you are tired or not, you can’t tell it. The meaning of Bodhidharma is an experience, it is not an explanation. But to be humble, Ma Tzu did not say, “Nothing can be said about it.” On the contrary, he took the whole responsibility on himself. “Today I’m tired and I can’t tell you. Go and ask Chizo.”He took this opportunity also to check upon Chizo and Hyakujo. He knew that Chizo would not be able to answer, neither would Hyakujo. This question in Zen is one of those unanswerable things which can only be experienced. There is no way to bring them to words. The man went to Chizo, who said, “Why don’t you ask the master? Why bother me? I am just a disciple.”But the monk said, “He told me to come and ask you….”“I’ve got an awful headache today,” said Chizo, “so I can’t tell you; go and ask Hyakujo.”The monk then went to Hyakujo, who said, “Well, as to that, I myself really don’t know.”The monk reported all this to Ma Tzu, who said, “Hyakujo’s cap is black; Chizo’s cap is white.”That is referring to the story of those two robbers. The robber who used to use the black cap was a radical revolutionary. And Ma Tzu says that Hyakujo’s cap is black. It is a tremendous statement to say that you don’t know, it needs guts to accept your ignorance. Chizo’s cap is white. He is trying to hide – as if he knows, but because he has a great headache, today he cannot say it.Ma Tzu worked in strange ways. Now he has worked with a single question on three persons: on the monk who has brought the question, on Chizo, who is trying to hide his ignorance, on Hyakujo, who comes out with his radical answer, “I don’t know.”“I don’t know” is the greatest answer in the whole experience of humanity.Socrates said, “I don’t know,” at the very last moment of his life. His whole life he was teaching the truth, and at the last moment he said, “I don’t know.” At the last moment he becomes really humble, and he sees the greatness of truth and its miraculousness, its inexpressibility – and that what he had been doing was just playing with words all his life. Now, no more; he is going to die within a few minutes. The poison is being prepared. At least the world should know that Socrates, before dying, uttered his honest answer, “I don’t know. I don’t know anything about anything. I am just as innocent and ignorant as a child.”But this is the highest peak of wisdom. When you don’t know, the mind is empty, you have arrived at the empty heart. When you know, the mind is full. Knowledge is the greatest barrier in reaching to the universal, to the immortal, to the eternal truth. Knowledge is the greatest barrier, which is preventing you from recognizing your buddha-nature.Chizo was closer to Ma Tzu but he did not get the succession. Hyakujo was chosen to be the successor. When Ma Tzu died…before dying he declared Hyakujo. Nobody was expecting that; everybody knew that Chizo would be the successor. But Hyakujo was chosen for the simple reason that he had the guts to express his ignorance, his innocence.The statement “I don’t know,” is the greatest statement anybody can make. It makes your heart completely empty. Here in our meditations we are doing exactly this. My whole effort is to take away all your knowledge, because it is all borrowed, and unnecessarily you are carrying it. It does not allow your heart to be empty, and only an empty heart is capable of falling in tune with the universal heart. From that point life becomes a celebration.Soseki wrote,This piece of wild landhas no boundaries –north, south, east or west.It is hard to see even the treein the middle of it.Turning your headyou can look beyond each direction.For the first time you know that your eyeshave been deceiving you.When you go inwards there is no east, no west, no south, no north; just pure space, in all directions the same. You have gone to your very roots, and now you know for the first time that all these many lives your eyes have been deceiving you because they were keeping you attached to the objects of the outside. They were not allowing you to enter into yourself. You were kept engaged in something outside – money, knowledge, respectability.There are thousands of ways to keep you engaged so that you don’t turn inwards. Life is being managed by the society in such a way that from the very beginning you are forced to remain engaged. It becomes a habit. If you don’t have anything to do, you find something to do. I know people…on Sundays they are in the most uncomfortable position – nothing to do! They may open an old grandfather clock to repair it – it was working already. Or they may go to the car and open the bonnet, and the car is functioning perfectly well – but it is something to do. They may read the same newspaper again.I used to live with a relative for a few days. He was retired and he used to read the same newspaper from the morning till the night. And I would say, “How many times do you read your newspaper?”He said, “It is not a question of reading. The question is that I have nothing to do. My wife is dead. She used to keep me engaged – ‘Bring this, bring that’ – and she used to nag me. Now I miss her so much. At that time I used to think that it would be good if she died because she was a pain in the neck. But at least there was something to be engaged in. Now I am utterly useless.”Here you all know Maitreya who is lying in his samadhi. He used to keep all the newspapers – old newspapers. Once I looked into his room. I could not go into his room because he used to eat garlic so much that the whole room was stinking with garlic. He has been connected with me for almost forty years. He has been a member of the parliament. He always asked me to stay with him in his house in Delhi, and I always said, “No. Until you drop your garlic there is no way. I cannot enter your house.”He said, “It is very difficult for me to drop the garlic. I can drop everything” – and he dropped everything: he dropped his wife, he dropped his house, he dropped his membership of the parliament, he became a sannyasin – but garlic, that he could not manage. So I never entered into his room – he lived with me in my own house – just from the outside of the door I would have a look at how many old papers…they were going almost to the ceiling. And I asked him, “What are you going to do with these old newspapers? Are you mad or something?”And he would laugh and he would say, “Sometimes, when one has nothing to do, it is perfectly good to read some old newspapers. It is just an old politician’s habit.”His constituency was Patna. In Patna he insisted very much that I should stay in his home. I said, “I can stay in a hotel. But even if my life is at risk, I will not enter into your house. Garlic I cannot tolerate. It is so dangerous, the very smell.” When he died, I said, “My God, it is good. At least now nobody will be bringing garlic into this house!”And I have said that now nobody should be allowed to stay in my house who is a fan of garlic – and there are fans! This Sarjano, making all kinds of spaghetti, is a garlic fan. It is good that the government of Italy does not allow me to enter into Italy. I am so happy about it. And my sannyasins, Sarjano, Majid, and others, they go on forcing the parliament and I am much worried that someday…For two years continuously the parliament has been discussing it. Finally they agreed to give me a three-week visa, with conditions. That was very good. I refused; I refused completely. “With conditions I cannot enter into your country. Remove all conditions, then I will consider it.” So the government is still considering, and I hope that they will not allow me because I am certainly worried that the whole of Italy must be stinking of garlic. I know so many Italian sannyasins – I keep them a little far away.Maneesha has asked:Osho,I don't know the meaning of Bodhidharma's coming from the West, but there does seem to be a significance in his taking the existential religion of Zen to the East, and you – so many centuries later – bringing it back again to contemporary man. Through the two of you, Zen has made a full circle. Are you in partnership with Bodhidharma?Maneesha, that is an open secret.It is Sardar Gurudayal Singh’s time.Sardar Gurudayal Singh has a new job as a waiter in the swank Ken’s House of Pancakes. Two gentlemen have just finished their dinner, and Sardar Gurudayal Singh approaches them.“Tea or coffee, gentlemen?” asks Sardar Gurudayal Singh.“I will have tea,” says the first man.“Yes, I will also have tea,” says the second, “but make certain the glass is clean.”A few minutes later, Sardar Gurudayal Singh returns and says, “Here we are, two teas. Now, which one of you gentlemen asked for the clean glass?”Doctor Feelgood is at a psychiatrists’ convention in New York. During one of the breaks he goes into the cafeteria. He notices a beautiful woman sitting alone in the corner, drinking coffee. She is so beautiful and attractive that Feelgood cannot resist the temptation to talk to her.He goes up close to her and asks quietly, “Can I join you?”The young lady shrink looks at him for a few seconds and then replies, “Why, do I look like I’m falling apart?”Get it now?Walter and Larry, two Australian boundary riders, are drinking beer and discussing how smart their dogs are.“My dog Rex is so smart,” says Walter, “that I can give him five instructions at once and he will carry them out, one by one.”“That’s nothing!” replies Larry. “My dog Butch just needs one instruction from me, and then he anticipates the rest.”After a few more beers, Walter whistles for Rex. He tells him to run down the street, turn left at the traffic lights, go half a mile and bring back a black sheep from the field there.Ten minutes later, Rex is back with the sheep.“Not bad,” says Larry, “but watch this!” Then he calls to Butch.“Butch,” says Larry, “I am hungry!”Butch races away down the road until he sees a chicken shed. He digs a hole under the fence, lifts a hen off its nest, and picks up an egg from underneath it.Then he races back to Larry, puts down the egg, picks up a small pot, races off to fetch some water, puts the pot on the fire and then drops the egg in.Exactly three minutes after the water boils, Butch tips out the water, picks up the egg, delivers it to Larry and then stands on his head with his tail in the air.“That is incredible!” says Walter, “but tell me – why is he standing on his head like that, with his ass in the air?”“Well, he’s a smart dog,” replies Larry. “He knows that I don’t have an egg cup.”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent.Close your eyes.Feel your body to be completely frozen.Look inwards with great urgency.You have to reach, this very moment, to your center.Your center is your eternity.The moment you are at the center,you are just a witness –a mirror that reflects the body, the mind,but knows perfectly well it is utterly empty.The empty mirror…and the doors of all the mysteries of existenceopen for you.Deeper and deeper…Make this evening a milestone in your life.Recognize your Buddhaand then act it out twenty-four hours,round the clock –in every gesture, in every activity,peacefully, gracefully,with a watching heart, silently.This is the very essence of religion;all other things are onlynonessential commentaries.The word witness contains all the scriptures.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Make it clear that you are not the body, nor the mind,but just the watching consciousness,the witness.The evening is great,and your silence has made it greater.It is so beautiful,and your witnessing has addedimmense beauty to it.On the whole earth at this moment, this place,where ten thousand people are simply witnessing,has a unique character.In the past, many places like this used to be.Unfortunately, those golden days are past,but my effort is to bring those golden moments againin the future of humanity.You are going to be the vehicles.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back…but come back as a buddha,without any hesitation,without any doubt.This is the only trust I teach.You are the buddha.Sit down for a few moments,just to recollect the whole experience.The rains have come to welcome you.What a splendor, this moment.What a silence, this moment.Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?

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Ma Tzu The Empty Mirror 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

Ma Tzu The Empty Mirror 09 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,On one occasion, a monk called on Ma Tzu and asked him, “Who is the man who does not take all dharmas as his companions?”Ma Tzu replied, “I will tell you this after you have swallowed all the water in the West River.”Upon hearing this, the monk was instantaneously awakened, and he stayed for two years at Ma Tzu’s monastery.At another time, Ma Tzu said, “Every dharma is the dharma of the mind, and every name is a name of the mind. All beings are born of the mind, and so mind is the foundation of all beings.“As an example: the shadow of the moon reflected on the water has many shapes, but the real moon is not like that. Likewise there are various rivers, but the nature of the water is the same. Although there are myriad activities, there is no discrimination in the emptiness. Different things go through the different ways, but the liberated wisdom is one. All are based on one mind.“Every dharma is based on the dharma of Buddha. Each dharma is instantly the dharma of realization, and the dharma of realization is, things being as they really are.“All that come and go and have a rest, or sit and lie down, are the mysterious work, and they don’t need a process of time. The scriptures also say: ‘All around everywhere, instantaneously there are buddhas.’”Ma Tzu continued, “Cultivation is of no use for the attainment of Tao. The only thing that one can do is to be free of defilement. When one’s mind is stained with thoughts of life and death, or deliberate action, that is defilement. The grasping of the truth is the function of everyday-mindedness.“Everyday-mindedness is free from intentional action, free from concepts of right and wrong, taking and giving, the finite or the infinite…. All our daily activities – walking, standing, sitting, lying down – all response to situations, our dealings with circumstances as they arise: all this is Tao.”Maneesha, care of Anando…. She is here – where else can she be? But she is hiding behind a migraine. You have to remember yesterday’s anecdote. Master Ma Tzu was hiding behind tiredness: “I am too tired to answer this question today. You go to Chizo.” The reality was that the question could not be answered. Chizo said, “I am suffering from severe headache. It is better you go to Hyakujo.” Hyakujo simply gave up the secret; he simply said, “I don’t know.”The reason for Maneesha’s migraine is the question she has asked. When we come to the question, you will understand why she has a migraine.The story she has brought:On one occasion, a monk called on Ma Tzu and asked him, “Who is the man who does not take all dharmas as his companions?”Ma Tzu himself was the man who had said, “I am only the witness. All dharmas are just objects, I witness them. For example: compassion arises in me – I am not compassion. I can see it arising just like smoke arises out of fire, or flames arise out of fire. But I am not it.”Any dharma, any virtue, is as objective as anything else in the world. Only one thing is not objective in the world, and that is your very being – your witnessing self. It can never be made into an object; it is impossible to reduce it to an object. It will always remain the witness and can never become the witnessed.Except this, you cannot say anything more about it. And because it is not attached to any dharma, any attribute, it has an eternal life, it has an immortality, and it has a reach into the very depths of the universe.Ma Tzu was himself the man. The monk was asking Ma Tzu, “Who is the man who does not take all dharmas as his companions?”He must be angry, because there are other Buddhist schools which say that all the dharmas belong to the self. Compassion, love, truth – all the dharmas are attributes of your being, branches of your own being, flowers of your own being. And this is a far bigger majority opinion.Ma Tzu is unique in his understanding that only one thing – witnessing – is the nature of your being. Everything else that can be witnessed falls separate from you. It becomes the other. The moment it is objectified, it becomes the other.The man must have been in anger when he asked this.Ma Tzu replied, “I will tell you this after you have swallowed all the water in the West River.”Seeing his anger, rather than answering him, Ma Tzu said, “Just go to the river, and swallow all the water of the river. Even that much water may not be able to quench your anger. Then come back, and I will answer you.”Upon hearing this, the man suddenly must have become aware of his anger. That is the whole teaching of Zen. Whichever school one belongs to, watching is unavoidably part of the discipline.Suddenly he must have become aware that he has asked the question not out of a quest, but out of anger. He calmed down. Suddenly a tremendous coolness came to him, as if he had already swallowed the whole river.Upon hearing this, the monk was instantaneously awakened, and he stayed for two years at Ma Tzu’s monastery.Enlightenment is a question of a sudden realization – that you are neither anger, nor greed, nor love, nor compassion. Anything that you can name, you are not. You are the unnameable witness, hidden deep inside you, just reflecting everything that passes by, just a mirror.I have called this series Ma Tzu: The Empty Mirror for the simple reason that his whole teaching is: don’t react – just be, and reflect. Clouds will come and go, and the sky remains as empty as ever. Clouds don’t leave any mark on the empty sky. And just as outside there is this vast empty sky – it is immeasurable – on the other side, inwards, the same infinity exists. You are standing just in the middle between an outer infinity and an inner infinity. You can go in either direction – outwards, and you will not find any limit, or inwards, and you will not find any limit.Science has been struggling for three hundred years, because it was determined that there must be a boundary line to the universe. To the mind it is not appealing, it seems irrational that something can be without boundaries. How can it be without boundaries? The boundaries may be millions of miles away, millions of light years away; but that does not matter, it still remains limited.But finally, with Albert Einstein, science accepted its failure. Now we have immensely powerful instruments to find the farthest star, but even the farthest star is not the limit. Albert Einstein accepted it humbly that, rational or irrational – what can we do? – existence is unlimited. If anything, we can change our logic and rationality, but we cannot change the universe.The inward infinity is far more mysterious, just because it is more alive. The deeper you go, the deeper you are going into life, into abundant life. And the deeper you go, you find only one quality, that of the mirror. You reflect everything, and nothing affects you.Only at this point can a man like Ma Tzu come to live in the marketplace, because he knows that his mirror is not any conceptualization, it is now his experience. He knows that everything is reflected. People come and go, riches come and go, the poor become rich, the rich become poor; things go on happening, but your mirror simply mirrors.Ma Tzu has come to the very root of the problem. If you can understand him, then, in a single moment, instantaneously, the awakening can happen to you too.At another time, Ma Tzu said, “Every dharma is the dharma of the mind, and every name is a name of the mind. All beings are born of the mind, and so mind is the foundation of all beings.“As an example: the shadow of the moon reflected on the water has many shapes, but the real moon is not like that. Likewise there are various rivers, but the nature of the water is the same. Although there are myriad activities, there is no discrimination in the emptiness.”Ma Tzu uses the word mind, but you have to understand that his mind means empty mind, a mind which is emptiness. If the mirror is already full of reflections, it cannot reflect you. The mirror is no more a mirror, it has become a film of a camera. You can take one image on the film, and the film is finished, because that image remains on the film. The film is very much identified with the image; the film does not function like the mirror.Empty mind is the origin of all – all the dharmas, every name, all beings. Empty mind is the foundation of all things. Realizing that empty mind is the foundation of all things; all that you have to do is to throw away all the furniture that you have gathered in your mind. It is all junk. It is destroying your precious spaciousness.Have you ever thought about the word room? Do you know that the word room means spaciousness, roominess? When a room is full of furniture and all kinds of things, photographs, and flowers, its roominess is covered. It is less roomy, less spacious than its reality. If you remove everything from the room, it can be described as an empty room; but that is really repeating the word. Room simply means emptiness, spaciousness.That’s why Ma Tzu does not use the two words together: empty and mind.To him mind itself means emptiness, it is another name for emptiness. And out of this emptiness everything arises.It was thought to be a very mysterious idea, unbelievable, but now science has to concede that the philosophers and the objective scientists have been wrong, and the mystics have been right. Now they can see…and you can see it in everyday life. Have you ever taken a seed and cut it into two? Do you find any roses inside it? Or do you find any kind of foliage? You find simply nothingness.But the same seed, given the right opportunity and climate, the right soil and a loving gardener, will start sprouting as the spring comes. Those green leaves that come in the beginning…because you are so much accustomed to seeing all this, you don’t see the mystery of it. From where are those two leaves coming? You have looked into the seed, there were no leaves in it, no roses in it. And now there is a great foliage of thousands of leaves and hundreds of flowers. From where? From nowhere; from the emptiness of existence they arise.And then one day the flowers disappear, the leaves fall away, the tree disappears. Where? Where has it all gone? Again to rest, into emptiness.Now science is agreeing that even great stars…and their greatness is really shocking even to think of. We think of them as small stars, but they are not small. They are very far away, that is why they look small. Our own sun is a star. It is six hundred times bigger than our earth, and it is considered to be, in the universe of stars, a mediocre star, a middle-class fellow – because there are stars thousands of times bigger than this.And every day hundreds of stars are dying – but where do they disappear to? And hundreds of stars are born, so the balance remains. From where?Just within these last twenty years they have found things that make the whole of science such a mystery. They found black holes first; they found that there are black holes in the sky, and what they are exactly nobody knows. But if any star comes close to a black hole – the black hole has a gravity thousands of times greater than the earth – the star simply goes into the black hole and disappears. Just a moment before it was there in its immense glory, and just a moment afterwards there is just nothing but darkness. The star has gone back to rest, into emptiness.After the black hole, it was natural and inevitable to find white holes – because if the black hole takes stars into emptiness, there must be white holes from where new stars are born. And now they are agreed on the fact that there are white holes, which go on throwing out new stars.My own feeling is that perhaps it is the same hole – on one side black, on the other side white. So you jump through the door; from one side you are dead, from another side you come out smiling. This is my own feeling, I am not saying that it is scientific. I don’t care about science or anything, but this seems to be more possible, rather than black holes in one place, and white holes far away from them…that does not look right. They should be close enough, so as the old star becomes empty, from the white door it gains a new incarnation, and comes back again.But as far as emptiness is concerned, nothing makes any mark on it. It remains utterly empty.“Different things go through the different ways, but the liberated wisdom is one. All are based on one empty mind.“Every dharma is based on the dharma of Buddha. Each dharma is instantly the dharma of realization, and the dharma of realization is, things being as they really are.”To see things as they really are, you have to be absolutely empty – only a mirror. Your mirror should be clean, without any dust, without any thought, without any prejudice, without any religion. Just a pure reflective mirror, and you can see things as they are. And seeing things as they are, life becomes a festival, a celebration, a dance. The whole existence is dancing, rejoicing; it is drunk completely with blissfulness, except for man – who is unnecessarily keeping himself filled with junk in his mind, and preventing his mirror from reflecting the reality of existence.“All that come and go and have a rest, or sit and lie down, are the mysterious work, and they don’t need a process of time. The scriptures also say: ‘All around everywhere, instantaneously there are buddhas.’”I don’t care about scriptures, but I can see everywhere, all around, there are buddhas. It is not a quotation from any scripture, I can see it with my own eyes. You may not be aware, that does not matter. A man of clarity will be able to see your reality. And the function of the master is to point again and again to your reality. It is a kind of harassment to go on hitting on your head, the way a nail is hit into the wall, so that finally you scream, and you say, “Yes, I am a buddha!”Unless you scream, and say “I am a buddha!” the master is going to hammer the nail into your head. But most people, just seeing the hammer, immediately realize, “What is the point of unnecessary suffering? Why not be a buddha?”That’s how I became a buddha. Seeing that other fellows are becoming buddhas instantaneously, why should I waste time? And the day I recognized that there is no need of any effort, that I am a born buddha – since that time, not for a single moment has any doubt arisen. I have tried myself to doubt the fact – “Just think twice, you may not be a buddha” – but I have been a failure. That instantaneous experience of buddhahood has gone so deep that now no doubt arises. On the contrary, every day I go on becoming more and more beyond doubt, beyond any question. And strangely enough, since the day I became aware of my buddhahood, all misery has disappeared, all suffering has disappeared. I don’t have any tensions. I don’t think about tomorrow.Just after harassing you a little, I will go to sleep, not even thinking that there is going to be another sunrise. In the morning, when Nirvano wakes me, I say, “My God, again? The whole day…and in the evening the same harassment of poor buddhas.”An unnecessary effort, if you understand; just recognize it yourself – don’t let me harass you!Ma Tzu continued, “Cultivation is of no use for the attainment of Tao.”Call it Tao, or the buddha, or the dharma – it is the same. Cultivation is of no use…Don’t try to cultivate, just be! For one day try it at least, not cultivating; just for twenty-four hours give me a chance! Be a buddha whatever happens. And I don’t think you will come back again to be a non-buddha. Twenty-four hours, if you can maintain your buddhahood whatever happens…Your wife escapes, don’t be worried! A buddha does not get worried. At the most you can do one thing, which is proper; go to the post office and report that your wife has escaped. Don’t go to the police station, because the police station is a dangerous place – they may bring your wife back! And the one she has gone with is your best friend.Just relax and enjoy it, “How grateful I am to the universe. It happens to very few, rare individuals!” The wife, and escaping? Most wives cling so hard that they take all juice out of you. You are just moving without any juice. To be a buddha it is perfectly good, it is absolutely necessary, that somebody should escape with your wife.One of my friends, who presented me with my first car, asked me after one year, “Do you get angry sometimes? Because I have never seen a driver who will not get angry on the Indian roads.”I said, “Let it be on record, because no buddha before has ever driven a car. I simply see the things as they are: the road is rotten, and it is going to be more rotten tomorrow.”In forty years of independence it has been going down and down and down. Nobody seems to be interested that roads have to be repaired. Nobody follows the traffic laws because it is a free country! You are blessed if you come back home alive. You can just go in Pune and see the traffic – that’s why I lie down in my room. Why unnecessarily get into trouble?But I told my friend that I don’t get angry – what is the point? Getting angry at the road? I don’t get angry with the strange traffic that goes on around. It is a free country, everybody is free to follow his own ideas. So somebody follows to the left, somebody follows to the right, and there are people who follow in the middle.But it’s not much of a problem. In countries where traffic rules are very strict, the rate of accidents is greater than in India – that is a miracle. It has been found that in America, where traffic rules are very strict and you cannot drive more that fifty-five miles per hour, more people die in accidents than in India, where you can drive anywhere you like, and where on the road it is not just the twentieth century, but all the centuries together: a bullock cart is going, somebody is driving a camel cart, an elephant is moving; and dogs have freedom in India as they have nowhere else in the world, and children are playing football in the road.Still, one goes to the office, one comes back alive. I don’t go anywhere, but every morning I am surprised, “My God, again!”But there is no anger, there is no complaint, there is no grudge. I will enjoy one day more. There must be one morning that I will not wake up; I will enjoy that too. I simply enjoy the idea that you are all trying to wake me up, and I simply don’t wake up! The same game that I have been trying so long: trying to wake you up, and nobody is waking. One day, you will be in the same position.Ma Tzu says,“The only thing that one can do is to be free of defilement. When one’s mind is stained with thoughts of life and death, or deliberate action, that is defilement.”You can see, his use of ‘mind’ is equivalent to ‘no-mind’. When the mind becomes defiled with thoughts of life and death, or deliberate action, that is defilement. Then the mind is full of imagination, of thoughts, of emotions, of sentiments, of past memories, of future utopias. And the mirror is completely lost in layers of dust. You don’t have to cultivate anything, you have just to drop all this dust that has gathered on your mirror.The grasping of the truth is not something special, it is the function of everyday-mindedness.Just keep your mind undefiled, and the whole world looks so clean, so pure, so immensely beautiful, that you cannot but be grateful.“Everyday-mindedness is free from intentional action, free from concepts of right and wrong, taking and giving, the finite or the infinite…. All our daily activities – walking, standing, sitting, lying down – all response to situations, our dealings with circumstances as they arise: all this is Tao.”Ma Tzu is against, just as I am against, those who escape from the world, renounce the world. Those people are not saints, they have simply chickened out! They could not encounter the existence with a right, clean mirror. They escaped, being afraid that they would be defiled by others. Nobody can defile you. It is up to you; if you allow dust to gather on your mirror, there will be defilement. If you don’t allow dust…There is a Zen story:A Zen master sent his chief disciple to a caravanserai for his last examination. The disciple said, “What kind of examination is this? What am I to do in that caravanserai?”He said, “You just go and watch whatever is happening there, and bring the news to me. That is going to decide whether you are going to be my successor or not.”He went to the caravanserai, he watched everything. It was a question of tremendous importance, and what he brought made him the successor.He brought this: “I saw that the owner of the caravanserai cleans the mirror in the evening – each evening – and again in the morning he cleans the mirror. So I asked him, ‘You cleaned it just a few hours ago, why are you cleaning it again?’ The owner said, ‘The dust goes on gathering every moment, so clean the mirror whenever you have time. You will always find some dust which has gathered.’“And I have come to the conclusion that you were right to send me to the caravanserai. This is actually the case with the mind – clean it every moment, because every moment, just by its nature, dust goes on gathering.”If you can avoid defilement, there is no need of any cultivation; you will realize the ultimate truth, the Tao.A Zen haiku:Entering the forest,he moves not the grass.Entering the water,he makes not a ripple.He is talking about the full moon. A full moon entering into the forest moves not even the grass. So silent…its movement is so graceful that not even the grass is disturbed. Entering the water as a reflection, he makes not a ripple.And that is the state of the awakened man, the buddha. Even entering into the marketplace he makes no ripples. Wherever he is, he is just an undefiled mirror. Nothing disturbs it, nothing becomes attached to it – like a cloud. Everything comes and goes, and the mirror remains all the time empty. If you can be empty, you are enlightened. Such a simple and obvious phenomenon, it does not need any cultivation.Now, the question that has created in Maneesha a migraine, so that Anando has to represent her. She has asked:Osho,A situation that occurred last night was such a vivid illustration for me of how you are – as we have heard of Ma Tzu – a living teaching master of Zen, a man of Tao.When the horse came trotting into the hall, anyone in your place who was anything less than enlightened would have been disconcerted to find that the attention had moved from them. They may have felt distracted, thrown off center; afraid of looking foolish because they could not see what the cause of the laughter was.You simply stopped talking and allowed events to take a new course. You looked so vulnerable, so innocent and unknowing, in those moments. Your immense power and extraordinary fragility, your absolute presence and your utter absence were so apparent.This is not really a question; I just wanted an excuse to make sure the incident did not go unrecorded.This question – which is not a question – has created in poor Maneesha a migraine. She must have felt, how is she going to read it to me? But she is perfectly right, and she need not be worried that just for the record she has asked a question which is not a question.In Maneesha I have found a better recorder than Ramakrishna had in Vivekananda, or even Socrates had in Plato. She records everything perfectly well, that’s why she has become shy – it is not a migraine. Tomorrow she will be here again.There is no need to be afraid, you can ask me anything. You can give any record of events. I enjoyed last night’s episode. It is not that I was annoyed, I was enjoying it so tremendously because it was such an unexpected phenomenon. I thought perhaps Kalki, the white horse, had come; because his time is close – just twelve years more. By the end of this century Kalki is going to come. So I thought if he has come here it is a really great moment, and here there will be no need for him to make any judgments because all are sinners!And he came a little early, because inside him was great Avirbhava, and Avirbhava’s associate, Anando, and naturally inside that horse you cannot remain long. One must be feeling suffocated. So they came a little early. It was Anando who was pulling Avirbhava back, “This is not time!” – but Avirbhava jumped in.It would have been a great accident if the horse had fallen in two. That would have been absolutely against the tradition, and somebody would have put a case against me, that their religious feelings are hurt – Kalki breaking down in the middle.But they both managed perfectly well.Now, soon I will be sending Avirbhava to find…There are coats available for lions, for tigers, for elephants. You just have to be a little patient, and don’t run off the track, don’t enter the crowd. In most of the circuses where you see the lions roaring, you just watch a little closely; so many lions are not available….I have heard about one case:A man asked for employment in a circus. The manager said, “It is a very dangerous job. One lion has died, so you will have to enter into his skin and behave like a lion; and you will be surrounded by real lions. It is a dangerous job, I make you aware from the very beginning.”He was so desperate that he accepted the job; the salary was good. But as he entered into the skin of the lion, and was led into the cage, he freaked out. There was another lion just roaring, so he started shouting, “Help me!”The whole crowd that had gathered to see had never seen such a scene, that a lion is asking for help, in perfect English! And the other lion said to him, “You idiot! Don’t freak out, otherwise we both will lose our jobs.”He used to be the headmaster, and this other fellow used to be the teacher in the school; and they had both lost their jobs.You can find, Avirbhava, good lions, tigers, elephants, crocodiles, and all kinds of weirdoes. Your Museum of Gods has to become one of the richest museums in the world. In fact there is no comparison anywhere; nobody has bothered to collect information about ancient gods, modern gods.Today you heard the noise on the street – it is for the elephant god. It is such a humiliation of man, that he has been forced to worship all kinds of animals. Rather than helping him to become a buddha, they are forcing him to become lower than animals. Our effort is to expose all those religions who have exploited man, insulted man, humiliated mankind.Maneesha, your recording is perfectly good. Next time when you feel the migraine, still come. When people do two minutes’ gibberish, throw away your migraine – somebody will catch it! Just throw it far away. Everybody is trying it a double way: he is throwing his things out, and moving his hands to protect himself, because others are also throwing out all kinds of bullshit. One has to protect oneself – just exchanging your bullshit will not help.It is time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh.“Oh, it is such a sad story,” sobs Jablonski into his beer at the Fried Fisherman pub.“What is the matter?” asks his pal, Klopski.“It is my kid, Albert,” says Jablonski. “For years, day after day, little Albert and his dog went to school together, until, sadly, the day came when they had to part.”“What happened?” exclaims Klopski.“Well,” says Jablonski, “the dog graduated!”It is that fateful night, when Jesus has been nailed to the cross. He has been up there for about five hours, when he looks down with surprise.“No! No!” he shouts. “Get away, get away!”But it does no good.Then he starts really freaking out. He screams again, “Go away!”But it does not work.The cross starts shaking and leaning, and, as it falls over, Jesus cries, “Fucking beavers!”Doctor Skinbag’s patients keep calling him in the middle of the night. So, one weekend, he has a talk with his wife, Sally.“Listen,” says Skinbag, “I am completely worn out. I need some peace and quiet. If any of my patients call, just tell them that I am out of town at a medical meeting.”That night, the phone rings at two o’clock. Sally Skinbag answers it, and tells the caller that Doctor Skinbag is out of town.“But, Mrs. Skinbag, my granddad is coughing and spluttering, and I don’t know what to do!” says Mrs. Klutz, the caller.“Just a minute,” says Sally, covering the phone, and asking Doctor Skinbag what to tell Mrs. Klutz.“Tell her to put the old guy into his iron lung,” says Skinbag.“Mrs. Klutz,” says Sally, into the phone, “put your granddad into the iron lung.”“Oh, thank you, Mrs. Skinbag,” replies Mrs. Klutz, “but for how long?”“Just a minute,” says Sally, as she turns to Skinbag again.“Tell her for half an hour,” says Skinbag.“Put him in for half an hour,” repeats Sally into the phone.“Oh, thank you,” replies Mrs. Klutz. “But I just have one more question for you. Is that guy you are in bed with also a doctor?”Old lady Muffet’s proudest possession is a beautiful white Persian cat named Conrad. But Grandma Muffet notices that Conrad has been missing for two days. When she goes to the freezer that night for dinner, she nearly dies of shock. There is Conrad, sitting on a plate, frozen solid.Grandma frantically calls her vet, Doctor Ratso, and asks what she should do.“There is still a chance to save the poor animal,” says Dr. Ratso. “Give it two teaspoons of gasoline.”With trembling hands, Grandma Muffet cracks open Conrad’s frozen lips, and carefully spoons in the doctor’s strange prescription.The seconds tick by, and nothing happens.Grandma is just about to give up hope, when suddenly the cat’s eyes pop open, it lets out an ear-piercing scream, and flies across the room at three hundred miles an hour.It runs over all the furniture, scratches up and down the walls, and dashes across the ceiling. The cat streaks around the apartment like a furious hurricane, then suddenly stops dead in its tracks – not moving a muscle.Quickly, Grandma phones Dr. Ratso again.“What do you think happened?” she cries.“Simple,” replies Ratso. “He just ran out of gas!”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent.Close your eyes.Feel your body to be frozen.Look inwards with absolute urgency,as if this is the moment of life and death.Without a total urgency, you cannot reachto the innermost center of your being.Remember, there may be no other time;this may be the last moment.Deeper and deeper, without any fear,move into the center like an arrow.It is your own life-source,and it is also the life-source of the whole universe.This is the ultimate home –the buddha, the empty mirror of Ma Tzu.Just be a witness, a clean mirror reflecting everythingwithout any judgment.To make it more clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax,and see that your body is not you,your mind is not you,you are just a witness.This witness I have called the mirror.This is your eternity,this is your ultimate nature of buddhahood.Once you have tasted it,once you have walked the path to the life stream,you will never be the same again.Finally you have to awaken as a perfect buddha.To the eyes of a buddha,the whole existence becomes enlightened.The green of the trees become greener,the fragrance of the roses takes a new nuance,the full moon in the night reflects in your mirrorwithout creating any ripples.The whole of life becomes a festival,a ceremony, a rejoicing.This evening and this silencemake it a beautiful experience.You are all dissolvedinto one oceanic consciousness;separation is forgotten, oneness is remembered.Carry this ecstasy, this drunkenness,twenty-four hours around the clock.Except this there is no other religion.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Now come back,but come back as a buddha,without any hesitation,silently and peacefully,with the grace and beauty of a buddha.Just recollect the experience.You have to live it moment to moment,day and night,speaking or in silence,working or resting;but the buddha remainsa constant undercurrent in you.Then you don’t need any morality,you don’t need any religion,you don’t need anything.You have got the very key –the master key –that opens the doorsof all the mysteries of existence.Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?

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Ma Tzu The Empty Mirror 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

Ma Tzu The Empty Mirror 10 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,Ma Tzu was one day teaching a monk. He drew a circle on the ground and said, “If you enter it, I will strike you; if you do not enter it, I will strike you!”The monk entered it slightly, and Ma Tzu struck him.The monk said, “The master could not strike me!”Ma Tzu went off leaning on his staff.On another occasion, Ho Pang said to Ma Tzu, “Water has no bones, but it easily holds up a ship of a thousand tons; how is this?”Ma Tzu said, “There’s no water here, and no ship - what am I supposed to explain?”One day, Impo was pushing a cart, and Ma Tzu had his legs stretched out across the path. Impo said, “Please, master, pull in your legs!”“What has been stretched out,” said Ma Tzu, “cannot be retracted!”“What goes forward cannot go backwards!” said Impo and pushed the cart on.Ma Tzu’s legs were cut and bruised. When they went back, Ma Tzu entered the hall, and said, lifting up an axe, “Come here, the monk who hurt my legs a while ago!” Impo came out and stood before Ma Tzu and bent his neck to receive the strike.Ma Tzu put down the axe.Ma Tzu never lost an opportunity to make a point, usually in an enigmatic way. Even during his last illness he made his well-known response to someone who inquired about his health. He said, “Sun-faced buddhas, moon-faced buddhas.”One day, Ma Tzu climbed Mount Sekimon, the mountain close to his temple at Chiang-si. In the forest he did kinhin, or walking meditation, for a time. Then, seeing a flat place in the valley below, Ma Tzu said to the disciple who had come with him, “Next month, my carcass must be returned to the earth here.” At that, he made his way back to the temple.On the fourth day of the next month, after bathing, he quietly sat down with crossed legs and passed away.Ma Tzu had lived at Chiang-si for fifty years and died at the age of eighty.Maneesha, I have asked you to throw your migraine, and you did it. But you did it too close by, on poor Anando. She is my only link with the world. She is my news media, my television, my radio, my newspapers. I don’t read anything, I don’t hear anything, I don’t see anything on the television. And because we were talking about the empty heart, your throwing was perfectly good – but it reached into the wrong place, in poor Anando. It had to reach her head, but it has reached into her heart.Her empty heart has received your migraine. Now, there is no such sickness in the whole world, and Doctor Indivar will be in immense difficulty to pull out the migraine from the heart. It is perfectly okay to have the mirror in the empty heart, but it is not right to have a migraine. There exists no medicine for it; Doctor Indivar will have to invent something-and I need her back urgently, because every morning, every evening she is my only contact with the world.So as far as Anando is concerned, it is Indivar’s priority. And just because she received the migraine with the open heart, she has earned great virtue. The next series that begins tomorrow will be dedicated to her. She did perfectly well in keeping the heart open, even when you were throwing your migraine away. Most people will close their windows and doors in such situations. But she is a great disciple, and she understands intelligently what it means to have an open heart, to live in insecurity, to live without any safety, to be homeless.But Anando-you must be hearing me from your room-remember, no buddha has said, “Keep your heart open when somebody is throwing a migraine.” You have done a miracle. There is an automatic system-if somebody is throwing dust at you, your eyes will close without any effort, on their own. And if somebody is throwing a migraine, naturally the heart will close. It will not receive it. But you dared to keep your heart open. You showed great courage. I can rely on you, that whatever happens you will keep your heart open. It may be painful, it may create anxiety, but that is only the beginning part.Gautam Buddha is reported to have said, “What is bitter in the beginning is sweet in the end, and what is sweet in the beginning is bitter at the end.” It is an immense statement about all those who are the people of the path.The story Maneesha has brought:Ma Tzu was one day teaching a monk. He drew a circle on the ground and said, “If you enter it, I will strike you; if you do not enter it, I will strike you!”This is something very special in Zen. In different ways masters have used that device. If you say something, I will strike you; if you don’t say something, I will strike you. In any case you will get the hit. The same is the situation here.Ma Tzu says, “if you enter this circle, I will strike you; if you do not enter it, I will strike you all the same!” The monk entered it slightly, and Ma Tzu struck him.What is the point of this strange anecdote?The monk said, “The master could not strike me!” Ma Tzu went off leaning on his staff.– not even bothering to answer the disciple.In any devices that are similar, in either case you will get the hit. It simply means that the hit is meant to awaken you. What you do is not relevant-whether you enter the circle or stay out of it, it does not matter, I am going to hit you! This simply means that whatever you do is not important; what is important is your awakening. The hit is to wake you up. If the disciple can understand what is being asked, he will be enlightened. The master is asking him to be enlightened, so that he does not need to be hit.But the disciple missed. He said to the master, “The master could not strike me!” Ma Tzu went off leaning on his staff, leaving the student behind to meditate over what has happened. Ma Tzu used all kinds of devices spontaneously, but there is always a hidden secret. In the strangest incidents the awakened person will immediately see the hidden secret.On another occasion, Ho Pang said to Ma Tzu, “Water has no bones, but it easily holds up a ship of a thousand tons; how is this?”Ma Tzu said, “There’s no water here, and no ship - what am I supposed to explain?”He is saying, “Don’t bring intellectual, philosophical questions to me. I am here only to bring existential experience to you.”I am reminded of a small story.In a court there were two friends who were known in the whole city to be great friends, always together, but finally they were caught fighting and brought to the court by the police. And the magistrate asked, “What is the problem that created the fight?”They both looked at each other and said, “You say it.”The other said, “Please, you say it.”The magistrate said, “Anybody can say it but just say it.”They said, “We are very embarrassed. We are ready to take any punishment if you allow us not to say it.”The magistrate said, “This is strange. I cannot punish you unless I know the crime. What was the reason for your fighting and creating chaos in the crowd?”Finally they had to say it. One of them said, “Please forgive us. It is very philosophical, airy, abstract. We were sitting on the river bank and my friend told me that he was going to purchase a buffalo.“I said, ‘I have no objection. Just remember that I am going to purchase a big farm. Your buffalo should never enter into my farm. I am a very strict person.’“The other man said, ‘Your farm? Nobody can stop my buffalo. And I will see how you can stop my buffalo. You are my friend, you should welcome my buffalo; on the contrary you are going to stop it. What kind of friendship is this?’“I said, ‘Friendship does not come into it. Business is business.’“The man who was going to purchase a buffalo, he said, ‘Okay, I will see. Purchase the farm.’ And I made a square on the sand with my finger and said, ‘This is my farm. Where is your buffalo?’“The other man with his finger entered into my field and said, ‘This is my buffalo. Let us see what you can do.’ That’s how the whole thing started.”The magistrate said, “But where is the farm and where is the buffalo?”They said, “That is the problem that we were embarrassed to tell you; it is a very philosophical thing. Nothing is there-no buffalo, no farm, just hot air. But we forgot completely that we were fighting about imaginary things.”You can laugh at it, but do you think…? People have been fighting over the existence of God-is it in any way different from the buffalo? People have been fighting over how many hells there are. The Hindus believe in one hell; the Jainas believe in three hells, because according to them one hell is not justified for all kinds of criminals. Somebody has just stolen a chicken, and somebody has killed a man. You cannot put both the men in the same hell. That will be unjustified. So they have three hells, according to your sin.But Gautam Buddha had seven. He says that in three you cannot categorize all the crimes; at least seven are needed. But you will be surprised, another philosopher, contemporary to Mahavira and Gautam Buddha, Ajit Keshkambal, had seventy-seven. He said, “Unless you have that number of hells, it will be very difficult to categorize.”Now, nobody knows where this hell is…and they were fighting tooth and nail! And for centuries their philosophers have been fighting, trying to explain their position. For example Hindus have explained that the hell is one, but we can make divisions in the hell. You can make as many divisions as you want in one hell, what is the need of seventy-seven hells? Just make seventy-seven divisions in one hell. But you don’t think that these people are idiots; these are great philosophers. But their problems about God…Nobody has met God, it is purely a concept.And there are religions who don’t believe in God. Jainism has no God, Buddhism has no God, Taoism has no God. God is not an essential phenomenon for any religion to exist. And then there are different descriptions of God. The Old Testament says that God is a very angry God, very jealous and very temperamental-don’t annoy him. And God himself is reported to have said in the Old Testament, “I am a very jealous God. And remember it, I am your father, not your uncle. Don’t expect any nice things from me.”And Jesus says, “God is love.”Hindus say, “God is pure justice”-because love cannot be just; it may love someone and forgive him, it may not love someone, or even dislike someone and punish him unnecessarily for sins that he has not committed. Love is not reliable. God has to be just, a magistrate with no likings, no dislikings.This anecdote, when Ma Tzu says, “There’s no water here, and no ship - what am I supposed to explain?” has all these implications. Then don’t get engaged in abstract concepts-those arguments and philosophical discussions are unending, and nobody has come to any conclusion.The Christian God has a small family: the only begotten son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost-a strange family with no woman in it, unless this Holy Ghost is capable of functioning as a woman also. But certainly the Holy Ghost is not a woman because he is responsible for making Mary the virgin pregnant with Jesus Christ. And on the other hand, the Christians say that the Holy Ghost and God are one. So why separate them just for the sake of saving God from corrupting and raping an innocent girl? If they are one, then why not say, “God impregnated Mary”; why not make it straightforward? Why should God go via the Holy Ghost? Sometimes I think the Holy Ghost must be God’s sexual machinery. So he is one, yet he remains outside and the Holy Ghost does the whole work.Hindus say that their God has three faces, three heads on one body. Now nobody has seen…Perhaps in a circus you may see a distorted child, a freak who has three heads or four hands. But why should God have three heads? The reason given by the Hindu theologians is so that he can see in three directions. If man can manage with one head…perhaps God’s neck is fixed, he cannot move this way or that way. Obviously he will need three pairs of glasses. And the weight of three heads on a body which looks exactly like a man’s-it will be too much. He will not be able to stand up, and lying down also will be very difficult. Just think, how will he manage his three heads on one pillow?-unless those three heads are only attached and you can unscrew them, and put them off for the night and go to sleep.But I don’t think that such surgery has developed even today. And God has been there for eternity, and no scripture describes any surgeon who takes care of God’s heads. The screws must have got rusted. And from where can he get a screwdriver? And you can be sure that three heads may not agree on any point, they will all have their opinions. I don’t think that God can move even a single inch because the other two heads will not be ready. So he will remain fixed in one position.But strange ideas…Hindus also have the idea that God has one thousand hands. Now, three heads and one thousand hands, who are you kidding? Even if you just visualize him, you will become afraid. He will look like an octopus, or something like it.Buddhism and Jainism, seeing the difficulty of how to visualize God, simply dropped the idea; they don’t have any God and they are perfectly living religions.Ma Tzu is saying that he is not interested in anything that is not existential. That is Zen’s special contribution to human consciousness. Don’t be bothered about imaginary conceptual philosophical things, just pin down everything to existence.One day, Impo was pushing a cart, and Ma Tzu had his legs stretched out across the path. Impo said, “Please, master, pull in your legs!”“What has been stretched out,” said Ma Tzu, “cannot be retracted!”“What goes forward cannot go backwards!” said Impo and pushed the cart on.Ma Tzu’s legs were cut and bruised. When they went back, Ma Tzu entered the hall, and said, lifting up an axe, “Come here, the monk who hurt my legs a while ago!” Impo came out and stood before Ma Tzu and bent his neck to receive the strike.Ma Tzu put down the axe.Reading such anecdotes, one feels it is a very strange religion. It is not. Everything that is happening in these anecdotes has something essential, so that you can become aware of it.First, Ma Tzu said, “What has been stretched out, cannot be retracted!”A father was telling to his son, “Everything is possible in the world”-he was quoting Alexander the Great.The child said, “I don’t accept the idea, and I will show you why.” He went into the bathroom and brought the toothpaste and said, “I will bring the toothpaste out of the tube, and you put it back. You say nothing is impossible. This is impossible. I have tried.”Ma Tzu is saying, “What has been stretched out, cannot be retracted!” In other words, he is saying that what has become exposed cannot become a secret again; what has come into the open cannot go back into the hidden. He is simply making a point that there are situations where you cannot go back.When Henry Ford made his first car, it had no reverse gear. It could not move backwards, it could go only forwards. He had not thought about it, but it was a very difficult task. If you have moved just a few yards away from your garage, you have to now go around the whole city to come back to your garage. He added the possibility of backing the car later on.A story is told that when Henry Ford died there was a great encounter between him and God. God said, “You are a great inventor and a man of great intelligence. Do you approve of my existence?”Henry Ford said, “No, sir. Your existence is the worst possible, because you cannot go back in time, just forward. This is stupid. I had committed this stupidity myself, but it is not expected from you. Somebody wants to visit his childhood again-there should be some possibility to go back in time, or to go forward in time if somebody wants to know in advance what kind of old age, what kind of death is going to happen, and when. You have left man stuck in the middle; he can neither go back, nor can he go forward. He has no freedom of movement in time. I have great complaints, but this is my most basic complaint to you.”Ma Tzu is saying that if you have become a young man, you cannot become a child again. If you have become old, you cannot become a young person again. If you are dead, you cannot open your eyes and ask for a tea. He used every situation; and he used this situation to see whether the disciple is courageous enough to pull the cart over the legs of the master. Impo proved worthy.“What goes forward cannot go backwards!” said Impo and pushed the cart on.Ma Tzu’s legs were cut and bruised. When they went back, Ma Tzu entered the hall, and said, lifting up an axe, “Come here, the monk who hurt my legs a while ago!” Impo came out and stood before Ma Tzu and bent his neck to receive the strike.This is courage and this is trust. It was not in any way insulting to Ma Tzu. By pushing the cart forward he was not in any way humiliating Ma Tzu, he was simply sticking to his own opinion. If Ma Tzu is sticking to his opinion-and Ma Tzu’s whole work was to give independence to the disciples…They should not take anything for granted from anybody else; they should decide themselves their lives, their actions, their gestures. Certainly he was following Ma Tzu when he pushed the cart over his legs.Ma Tzu had one thousand monks in his monastery. He went to the hall for the assembly meeting. He had no idea who the monk was that had pushed the cart over his legs.He simply said, lifting an axe, “Come here, the monk who hurt my legs a while ago!” Impo came out immediately and stood before Ma Tzu and bent his neck to receive the strike.He did not hide. He could have, because there were one thousand monks and it would have been very difficult to decide who was the person. But he came out, and if the master wants to cut his head, he is ready. He has come to the master to have a resurrection, to be enlightened, to go beyond death. If this is the way the master chooses, it is perfectly okay.Seeing this humbleness and this trust, Ma Tzu put down the ax.Ma Tzu never lost an opportunity to make a point, usually in an enigmatic way. Even during his last illness he made his well-known response to someone who inquired about his health. He said, “Sun-faced buddhas, moon-faced buddhas.”It is a famous saying in Zen circles. Whether you are facing the sun, which means life, day, or whether you are facing the moon, the night, which represents death-it does not make any difference to your buddhahood. Whether your buddha is in darkness or in light, it does not matter. Your self-nature remains the same. “Sun-faced buddhas, moon-faced buddhas.” In a very short aphorism, even at the point when he was going to die, he said, “There is going to be no change. Just the sun is setting and the moon will be rising. As far as I am concerned, I am eternal. Whether the sun is in the sky, or the moon is in the sky, I am always here.”The master knows no death. He knows eternity.One day, Ma Tzu climbed Mount Sekimon, the mountain close to his temple at Chiang-si. In the forest he did kinhin, or walking meditation.If you go to Bodhgaya, where Gautam Buddha became enlightened, you will find a temple raised in the memory of his enlightenment. And also, by the side of the temple, there are stones in a long line, and behind the temple is the bodhi tree where he used to sit. His meditation had two positions, sitting and walking. One hour you sit, silently watching your thoughts; then one hour you walk slowly, again watching your thoughts-alternate sitting and walking meditation.It is a beautiful experience because soon you become aware that whether you are sitting or walking, whether you are awake or asleep, something in you remains constantly aware, the same. It does not become different when you walk, it does not become different when you sit. It does not become different even when you sleep; something like a small candle or light goes on burning in your sleep too. Your awareness has become a twenty-four-hour circle. This is the perfect enlightenment.This walking meditation in Japanese is called kinhin.Then, seeing a flat place in the valley below, Ma Tzu said to the disciple who had come with him, “Next month, my carcass must be returned to the earth here.” At that, he made his way back to the temple.On the fourth day of the next month, after bathing, he quietly sat down with crossed legs and passed away.The master lives with awareness and dies with awareness. Even a month before, he was aware that death is coming close; his perceptivity, his clarity of perception, is total. So he showed the disciple where his dead body has to be brought, where his samadhi, his grave is going to be. One month before, he told the disciple, and the next month…On the fourth day…After bathing, he quietly sat down with crossed legs and passed away.Death is just a game, moving from one body to another body, or perhaps moving from the body to no body, to the universal oceanic existence.One night a thief entered into Mulla Nasruddin’s house. He saw that Mulla Nasruddin was fast asleep and he collected everything that he felt was valuable. But Mulla was not asleep, he just did not want to interfere in somebody’s work. He looked by opening one eye and then rested. As the thief was going out with all the valuables, he followed him. The thief looked back and became very afraid. He said, “Why are you coming with me?”Mulla said, “Have you forgotten? We are changing our house. You are taking everything, so why leave me here alone? I am coming with you.”The thief said, “Just forgive me. Take all your things, sort them out, because I have brought things from other houses also.”Mulla said, “I don’t want to sort it out. Either I come with you, or everything has to be put back in my house.”The thief said, “My God, you seem to be a greater thief than me! And why did you remain silent when I was collecting things?”Mulla said, “I never interfere in anybody’s work.”The thief had to leave everything-with tears in his eyes, because he had stolen many beautiful things from other places. He said, “Such a man I have never seen in my life…and to take you to my house, perhaps you will become the master and I will be the servant. I have my wife…”Mulla said, “There is no problem, we can share everything. We are partners. Don’t miss this opportunity of having a wise man as your partner.” But the thief escaped leaving all the things.As far as any master’s death is concerned, he is simply changing his house. There is not even a single ripple of sadness, but on the contrary an immense curiosity about the unknown that is opening its doors. This body he has lived in long enough-seventy years, eighty years-it is time to change. The body has become old; it is becoming more and more non-functional. It is time to have a fresh new body.The master is not at all disturbed by the fact that he is going to die. He dies with grace and beauty, he dies in silence and peace-just the way he has lived. He lived in silence, in utter beatitude, he dies in tremendous benediction.Ma Tzu had lived at Chiang-si for fifty years and died at the age of eighty.A haiku:Both plains and mountains have beencaptured by the snow - there is nothing left.A haiku is a special form of poetry which exists only in Japan. It has very few words but it tells much. Its beauty is that it is a condensed philosophy. And what cannot be said in prose, can sometimes be said in poetry.Both plains and mountains have been captured by the snow - there is nothing left.He is describing his own being. Everything has been taken away. Even he has disappeared into the vastness of the universe; nothing is left behind. Just as a dewdrop disappears into the ocean, a man of enlightenment disappears into the universal consciousness. Nothing is left behind.Maneesha has asked:Osho,During the last few weeks, whenever you have said the words, empty, or empty heart, or empty mirror, it has felt like a trigger, a reminder that does not just tickle my mind but goes right to that space of emptiness in me.I heard you say recently that one could not hate or love enlightenment. Is it all right to love the space of emptiness?No, Maneesha. If you love the space of emptiness, you will never become empty. You will remain aloof. Emptiness will become an object of love, but you will be there, the lover. The whole effort of meditation is that you should disappear. In your disappearance you cannot say, “I love emptiness.” In your disappearance there is love. But it is not your love, it is just a universal phenomenon-spontaneous, blossoming in the emptiness, filling the whole emptiness with the fragrance of love and compassion and truth.But nothing is yours. You are no more. Unless you are no more, emptiness is not emptiness. You have to dissolve into the vastness of existence. You have not to be; then there is emptiness. And in that emptiness many things blossom, many roses and many lotuses. Much love and much compassion and much beauty, much truth; all that is great, all that is majestic, all that is splendorous arises of its own accord. But it is not your possession. In fact you were the barrier. It is because of you that emptiness could not function. Now you are no more; emptiness functions spontaneously, it blossoms into thousands of flowers.Now it is Sardar Gurudayal Singh’s time.Three little babies are being pushed in trolleys through the supermarket, while their mothers do the shopping.“Ah God!” gurgles baby Gilbert. “Do you see that? She’s buying canned baby food. I hate that stuff!”“Oh no!” squeaks baby Sally. “Mine is buying spinach. That stuff is the worst!”“Jesus Christ!” cries baby Boris, seeing his mother and one of her boyfriends at the liquor counter. “You guys don’t have anything to complain about. My mother wakes me up at four o’clock in the morning, pushes a cold wet tit into my mouth, and it always tastes of cigarettes and cheap brandy!”Little Ernie and his mother are walking through the park one day when little Ernie sees a large, pregnant woman walk by.“Hey, mom!” says Ernie. “How did that lady get such a big belly?”Ernie’s mother becomes a bit flustered.“Well, dear,” she says, “she got that way from eating too much chocolate.”“Really?” says Ernie with surprise.Later, waiting at the bus stop, Ernie sees the same pregnant woman standing next to him.“Hey, lady,” says Ernie, poking her belly. “I know what you’ve been doing – and isn’t it far out?”An elephant and a mouse are walking through the jungle, when the mouse falls into a swamp. He is about to drown, but the elephant straddles the swamp and slowly lowers his prick. The mouse grabs onto the huge piece of machinery and the elephant lifts him to safety.A few weeks later, the mouse and the elephant are walking through the jungle, when the elephant falls into a swamp. Quick as a flash, the mouse runs off and comes back driving a brand-new red Ferrari sports car. He backs up to the swamp, attaches a rope to the car, throws the other end to the elephant, jumps back into the Ferrari, and slowly pulls the huge elephant out of the swamp.…Which just goes to show that if you have a red Ferrari, you don’t need a big prick.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent.Close your eyes.Feel your body to be completely frozen.Now look inwards as deeply as possible.You have to reach to the very center of your being.Deeper and deeper…Your center of being is alsothe center of the whole universe.The deeper you go, the richer you are.The deeper you go, the more awakened you are.At the very center of your beingyou will find your buddha nature.The buddha is hidden in everyone,we just have to go deep down enough.To make your witness,your mirror,your buddha,more clear to you,Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax.Watch the body, it is not you;the mind, it is not you.Only the witnessing is you.The watcher is youand the watcher has no opinions,no ideas,it is just a mirror.I have called this seriesMa Tzu: The Empty Mirror.Every meditation is nothing butthe search for the empty mirror,which reflects but remains utterly empty.Rejoice in this emptinessand roses will start appearing.The experience of buddhahood has to becomeyour moment-to-moment response around the clock.Acting or not acting,working or not working,speaking or not speaking -you should remember you are the eternal soul,the buddha.As this remembrance deepens in you,reaches to every fiber and cell of your being,your life will become a dance,a poetry, a music, an eternal beauty, a great grace.Remember this moment,the space you are in.This space has to become your very life,your very death.This blissfulness has made this eveninga great beauty, a great truth.Ten thousand buddhas disappearinginto the oceanlike dewdrops.This is the greatest miracle in the world.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back, but slowlygathering your experience -nothing should be left behind-silently and gracefully.Sit like a buddha for a few moments,just watching, just being a mirror.If you have understood the meaningof the empty heartand its becoming just a mirror,Ma Tzu has not been a failure to you.These people like Ma Tzu,or Gautam Buddha, or Lao Tzu,they don’t belong to different centuries.They are all contemporaries.The moment you enter into this emptiness,this mirrorlike reflection,a silence that knows no boundaries,you have become a contemporary of Ma Tzu,of Chuang Tzu, of Gautam Buddha.These people are beyond time.They don’t belong to any century,to any country, to any language.They are all one in the sensethat thousands of riverscan enter into the oceanand they all become one.Can we celebrate the gathering of ten thousand buddhas?

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The Miracle 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

The Miracle 01 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,An old master said:Turn your heart round and enter the origin. Do not search for what has sprung out of it! When you have gained the origin, what has sprung out of it will come to you of itself.If you want to know the origin, then penetrate your own original heart. This heart is the source of all beings in the world and outside the world. When the heart stirs, various things arise. But when the heart itself becomes completely empty, the various things also become empty. If your heart is driven round neither by good nor bad, then all things are just as they are.Master Otsu, commenting on this emptying of the heart, said:The heart becomes empty, the situation quiet, and the body just as it is. When someone succeeds in reaching this point, the mirror of his heart shines clearly and his nature opens wide and clear. He leaves error and does not attach himself to truth; he dwells neither in error nor awakening. He is neither worldly nor saintly. All worldly desires fall away, and at the same time, the meaning of saintliness is emptied without residue.Such detachment from everything is what Master Rinzai called “The complete taking away of both, of man and situation.” Here is experienced absolute not-ness, since self and object allow themselves to come to nothing.Genuine Zen experience consists exclusively in this “taking away of man and object.” this complete not-ness is the original place from which all thinking and knowing spring. But even if one is permitted to speak of a “place” at all, such terminology is only provisional.Even if one wanted to characterize it as unborn-ness, or as nirvana, or as truth, one could never hit it. It lies beyond all terminology and expression; thinking cannot reach that far.Maneesha, there are four possible ways to explain the unexplainable. Unconsciously, man has made philosophies out of those four ways.Man is a crossroads, where four ways meet. The first way is that of matter. The atheist takes that road, the scientist takes that road: “Man is nothing but matter.” From the days of the charvakas to the days of Bertrand Russell, there have been great, eminent thinkers who have chosen that path. And almost half of the world today is on that path, because communism does not believe in anything else but matter – mind is only an epiphenomenon. Epiphenomenon means just a shadow: when the man disappears, the shadow disappears. There is nothing beyond death, and there is nothing before birth. You are complete between birth and death; that’s all you have.The second road defines man as a duality between matter and mind. Most of the philosophers of the world have chosen that definition because it seems completely rational. All that we know about man is that his body consists of matter, and we know that he has thoughts which are not material. These things can be observed from outside. Hence, man is basically matter with an addition of a shadow that is his mind. As the body dies, mind also dies. On this path also, life extends only between birth and death.The third possibility, which has been accepted by all religions, is that man is not just matter or just mind; he is also a soul. Matter is his outer expression, soul is his inner expression, and mind functions as a bridge between the two. On the third path there is a possibility of a life beyond death. The people who have accepted it have created on this foundation the idea of reincarnation: birth after birth, one changes houses but the essential soul remains.Zen has a fourth standpoint. Man is not matter, although he is covered with matter. He is not mind, although he is covered with mind. Nor is he an individual soul. He is a pure nothingness. Man, from this fourth standpoint, which is the standpoint of Zen, is almost like an onion. You go on peeling it, one layer after another layer, hoping that you are going to find something. Finally, when you have peeled all the layers off, your hands are full of emptiness; nothing is left. The onion was only layers and layers and layers and layers. Behind those layers was emptiness, nothingness, which will not be visible to the eyes, which will not be tangible to the hands.Zen has taken the ultimate standpoint about man, you cannot go beyond that. Here ends the whole journey, the pilgrimage of the seeker.Zen wants you not to stop at matter. Respect it, it serves you; care for it, it cares for you. You are not the mind – don’t make it a master. It is a good servant – use it. Use it so that you can reach beyond it. It is a ladder to go beyond, but don’t get caught up with it.The “soul” is simply a consolation to people, because if you say to them that meditation will end up in nothingness…In a million, perhaps one person will become interested in meditation. And if you tell them, “All your effort will come to a vast nothingness,” you will frighten them. You will create a question in their minds: “Then what is the purpose? We are – at least, we are. Doing meditation, we will not be.” It is going to be the ultimate death. Yes.Gautam Buddha was continually asked, “Why do people go on coming to you when you offer nothing but nothingness?”And Buddha said many times, “Nothingness is not just no-thing-ness. It has its own universality. It is becoming as vast as the whole universe, unlimited. Your personality is too small.”The people who are afraid of nothingness, of dissolving not only their personality but their individuality too, remain with the third standpoint.The third is very consoling. At least it gives you something to hang on to. Zen does not give you anything; it simply takes away all the layers of the onion and then says to you, “Look, this is you – just pure nothingness.”But the purity of it is so overwhelming that you are not, but your laughter is. You are not, but your joy is. It has become cosmic. You are not, but your ecstasy is, and now it is not confined to a small area of your personality or individuality; now the whole of existence is ecstatic. The birds flying and the flowers opening and the clouds showering – everything is happening in the deep nothingness of your realization of the cosmic emptiness as the source of all things.Perhaps Zen alone has given a very scientific answer to the question. “From where do things come, and to where do they go back?” Even science shrugs its shoulders the moment you start asking them questions about the origin. All that has been said about the origin by the religions, by the scientific people, is simply guesswork. Nobody was a witness, obviously. How can there be a witness when existence has not started yet? You will come later on; you cannot come before. And, in fact, if there was a creator, existence was already there; otherwise how can the creator exist?But people don’t go to such depths. They don’t bother about that, believing in a God who created the world. Why don’t you ask who created God? When did he start to be? His family, his nationality, his race – any trace? Suddenly he comes and starts creating the world. Such a stupid idea, and millions have believed in it, and still believe in it.Zen is very clean and clear, saying that there has been no beginning at all; hence the question of creation does not arise. And there is not going to be any end; hence the question of anybody destroying it, God or Devil, does not arise. It is always here, it has always been here, and it will always be here. It just goes on playing in many forms. It is a tremendous drama.If you understand the fourth –that everything comes from nothingness…If you can return to nothingness consciouslyyou have found the source.That’s what I call meditation:returning consciously to the very sourcenot only of your beingbut of the very cosmos.There you find an eternal flame.Things come, things go.Waves arise, and waves disappear.But everything remains,rooted in nothingness.This nothingness is very miraculous because one would think that things should be rooted in something. But if you ask the Zen masters if things should be rooted in something, they will simply laugh and ask, “In what will your something be rooted?”You cannot ask the same question about nothingness. Nothingness simply means nothingness, there is no question of any roots. It neither comes nor goes. Nothing happens to it; it simply remains, utterly silent.You touch this nothingness when you are deep in your being, because that being is already rooted in this nothingness. You are driving your life, moment to moment, from that nothingness.The flowers may not understand from where they have come. The branches may not know from where they have come. The trunk of a tree may not know from where it has come, because the roots are hidden underground. The roots are hidden for security purposes, otherwise you could be harmed very badly.You cannot take even your very intimate friend into your nothingness; you cannot invite anybody there – no party! You have to go alone. It is such a sacred place.In the old Jewish tradition…It is significant to understand, because Jews, their rabbis, will not be able to give the explanation. Zen can give an explanation for many things in other religions also, because it has gone to the very root, it has traveled the whole path. It has not chosen one path, it has accepted all paths, and still it has gone beyond all paths. So it knows more than anybody else and yet it is absolutely innocent because it knows nothing.In the great temple of Jerusalem there used to be a festival once a year. The temple had an inner sanctum, a small room, and only the chief rabbi was allowed to enter into it. He would enter, close the doors, and in that silent, small chamber he was allowed to whisper the word God. It has a beauty of its own, why it was done in such a way. To use the word God as a mundane word makes it also like a thing. Jews have avoided it…you can only whisper in silence. Perhaps you don’t even have to whisper; you can simply feel the presence of nothingness.Judaism is the only religion which does not write the whole word God. They leave the o out: G-d The o in between is left out, they don’t write it. It is sacrilegious to pronounce the name of God; something of it is bound to remain beyond words. In fact, the most important part – the middle part – is missing. You have touched only one side or another side, but you have not touched the heart of it. In the word also, you are making it clear that unless you touch the heart of God…and the only way is to touch your own heart. You don’t know your own heart. Your heart has roots in the universal heart from where it gets its life. And as the universal heart withdraws man dies, but the life that was is not finished. It may move into a new ripple, into a new flower, into a new cuckoo…millions are the ways. Or it may remain silent in the ocean of the cosmos.Because it has chosen the fourth, Zen’s standpoint is the most superior, the most delicate, and the most intimate one.An old Zen master said:Turn your heart round and enter the origin. Do not search for what has sprung out of it! When you have gained the origin, what has sprung out of it will come to you of itself.We are born looking outwards. Our eyes open outwards, our hands reach outwards, all of our senses are ready to receive the outward vibrations. But we don’t have any sense available which gives us information about our inner being.Meditation is the search for that hidden eye that can see your origin. It is called the buddha-eye. But a great turning is needed. You have to close off the world completely, even if just for a single moment, and give a turn to your whole being, to look inside the well from where you are coming.And don’t think about anything else, because this experience of looking into yourself will explain everything that was a question to you. Thousands of answers were there, but no answer was able to satisfy it.If you want to know the origin, then penetrate your own original heart. This heart is the source of all beings in the world and outside the world. When the heart stirs, various things arise. But when the heart itself becomes completely empty, the various things also become empty. If your heart is driven round neither by good nor bad, then all things are just as they are.Zen has no idea of judgment. It never judges that somebody is a sinner or somebody is a saint. These are only waves; there is no need to waste your time on waves. If you know the ocean, you will not bother about the waves. One wave turns in one way, the other in another way, but they all belong to the same ocean and they all dissolve finally into the same ocean.So the only thing worth consideration is not what is good and what is bad, but what is the origin from where your heart has come. It is an existential approach – not theoretical, not philosophical.Master Otsu, commenting on this emptying of the heart, said: The heart becomes empty, the situation quiet, and the body just as it is.Everything remains the same, nothing changes. This does not mean that the man who has approached the very origin of existence becomes somebody special. Everything remains the same. But on the other hand, everything starts looking different. Now he can see the beauty of the flower that you cannot see. His eyes are so fresh that he can see the beauty of a sunset that you cannot see. Your eyes are so full of dust, you are hardly able to see. You cannot penetrate to the very origin of a flower.But a man who knows his origin knows the origin of everything. He never makes any judgment. This is a great contribution to human consciousness: not to make judgments. That is a very low kind of morality, a very low kind of religion, which goes on making judgments about good and bad.In Zen everything is, as it is, a manifestation of the cosmic soul. It has to be loved and respected. It does not matter what the manifestation is doing. What matters is that the man who is a thief or a murderer is also coming from the same source as you are, and he will be going to the same source as you are.So behind the curtain you will find great saints sharing experiences with great sinners. On the stage it is one thing; behind the stage it is totally different. And once you have touched the origin of things, you have gone behind the stage. On the stage it is all acting. On the stage it is simply drama. Behind the stage it is pure silence, nothingness. A rest, a relaxation – everything has moved into total tranquillity.When someone succeeds in reaching this point, the mirror of his heart shines clearly and his nature opens wide and clear. He leaves error and does not attach himself to truth.These are great statements. The day you understand them as your experience, you will dance with joy.Master Otsu is saying that the moment a person enters into the origin of things, he leaves all dualities behind: truth and untruth, love and hate. He enters into the oneness of things. He is neither worldly nor saintly.That’s why it is very difficult to find an authentic man of meditation. You will find people who are worldly; you can see them. You can find very easily people who are other-worldly, saints. They have renounced the world; that is very easy. The world is so crazy, so insane, that one wonders why everybody is not renouncing it! The problem is where to go? If everybody renounces it, everybody will reach to another place, but the same faces, the same people…the buses will start going to Everest, restaurants will have to be opened; everybody is coming to the hills, renouncing the world.There is no way to renounce the world. And there is no point, either. But that’s what all your religions have been valuing the most: renouncing the world. So there are saints, and those who are still attached to things are sinners. But for a man of cosmic consciousness – and that’s what the ultimate of meditation is – all waves are just drama.It is a beautiful drama. You cannot take away the sinners; otherwise it will lose all salt. The saints and the sinners both are needed to make the drama. Love and hate both are needed. If everything is goody-goody…finished! All taste is lost. If everybody looks alike – very saintly, very pious – the world will become a boredom. It is good that a few people are cheats, a few people are cutting your pockets. If nobody cuts the pockets, what is the point of having pockets? To make the drama richer….Just the other day, Anando brought me news: A man has reported to the police station that his wife was missing. The police officer asked, “When did you find that she was missing?”He said, “I don’t remember. It may be a few weeks, or maybe a few months. She is certainly missing, but there is no hurry to find her.”A great man of insight.I have heard another version:A man came running into a post office, tears coming down, and he said to the postmaster, “My wife is missing – find her immediately!” He would not even give the postmaster a chance to say anything. He was so much in misery and suffering, and tears rolling down, that the postmaster said finally, “Listen, this is the post office.”He said, “I know.”The postmaster said, “The police station is just opposite, on the other side of the road.”The man said, “I know.”The postmaster said, “If you know, then why are you bothering me? For half an hour crying and weeping…Just go to the police station.”The man said, “Once before it also happened, and I went to the police station and those idiots brought my wife back! Now I’m not going. You have to write it down, just for my consolation, that at least I reported it. To whom I reported it does not matter.”The postmaster said, “Okay, I can take the report, but that will not help.”The man said, “That’s what I want, that it should not help. You just write the report. Those police officers are such idiots. I told them that there was no hurry, but they brought my wife within six hours and again the old drama started.”But it is a beautiful world where wives run away, where husbands run away, where people forget to come back home, enter into another home and are gone.Rather than making it a miserable place, Zen gives it color. And that needs a very great heart, to accept that the drama needs many kinds of people, many kinds of acts, many tragedies, many comedies. There is no need to make judgments.Such detachment from everything is what Master Rinzai called “the complete taking away of both, of man and situation.”What is the difference between you and the other person? – a certain situation. You were born into a different family; that is a situation. You were educated in a different school; that is a situation. What is different between man and man, man and woman? – just a situation.Rinzai is saying,The complete taking away of both, of man and situation. Here is experienced absolute not-ness …He is not using the word nothingness because you misunderstand it. To emphasize that it is not nothingness, he says it is simply not-ness, it is pure emptiness.… since self and object allow themselves to come to nothing.Everything comes to relax into nothing, and then arises, rejuvenated, back into some manifestation. The way Zen looks at the world, it does not make anybody feel guilty; neither does it make anybody feel superior. The source is the same, the game is the same. Of course, different players have to play from different sides.Genuine Zen experience consists exclusively in this “taking away of man and object.” This complete not-ness is the original place from which all thinking and knowing spring. But even if one is permitted to speak of a “place” at all, such terminology is only provisional.You cannot call it even a place; it is only space.Even if one wanted to characterize it as unborn-ness, or as nirvana, or as truth, one could never hit it.One has just touched on it. No word can reach to the very heart of existence.It lies beyond all terminology and expression; thinking cannot reach that far.But silence can divulge as much depth as you have courage for. What words cannot manage to express, your silence can express, your laughter can express, because laughter is coming from the depth of your heart. It is just like a flower.Words are first put into you just the way computers are fed full of all the information that they have. Then you can ask them and they will repeat it. That does not make them very great learned scholars. But that is what your learned scholars are. They have not a single word of their own to say.The cosmic origin of things is beyond our intellect, our mind, our words. But in deep silence we reach it. We feel the dance of it, we hear the music of it, we feel the unknown fragrance of it.There is a Zen saying:Ten years of dreams in the forest!Now on the lake’s edge laughing,laughing a new laugh.Ten years of dreams in the forest! – because a meditator does not just one day become a meditator; dreams follow, for years. Even if you go into the deepest forest, those dreams haunt you. But slowly slowly those dreams settle down because there is no point. You are no more interested in them; on the contrary you simply sit there watching.This watchfulness makes you so silent that when sitting by the lake’s edge, laughing…laughing about what? Laughing about the whole world; that you have it within you and still you are searching for it. laughing a new laugh. A meditator laughs a new laugh. Its freshness comes from his depths.Another Zen saying:For ten years I could not return;now I have forgotten the roadby which I came.He is saying that he has reached his origins. It took ten years to find it, and now he has forgotten the road, how to come back – the road by which I came.Please, don’t you do that! Every day I take you to the very origin of things, but I don’t leave you there long enough. I keep Nivedano alert. Somebody may forget the way back; then I will be responsible. But Nivedano has a good drum, and he is finding some other, better instruments. So in spite of yourself, you are suddenly awake. Before you know it, you have come back.There is not much distance between you as you are and as your original being is. The difference is so slight – just a drum beat, a hit on your head by Master Niskriya, anything can bring you back.This Zen master who remained for ten years and could not come back must have been searching alone, without a master. Otherwise the master gives you a certain rope; he does not allow you to go beyond that. He gives you a taste of your being – that is enough – and a remembrance of it. He takes you through the rose garden and the fragrance of the roses hangs around your clothes. That much is enough. You know who you are and your actions express your sincerity, your every gesture becomes a buddha gesture. Just two minutes are enough to reach the origin of your being.I go on watching: when I say die, I have to watch whether somebody is really dying. Otherwise I will be proved a criminal, that I ordered him to die and he died. So I have to keep watch. And the only way is, I have to feel your heart throbbing – ten thousand hearts throbbing. And my arithmetic is not good, but somehow I manage. At least up to now I have managed. One never knows about tomorrow, or even tonight.Sardar Gurudayal Singh is laughing, and he is one of the fellows who may become lost and not come back. He may not care about Nivedano’s drum. He may listen, but may not care.But I have other ways also.(Sardar laughs heartily.)Do you want to see my other ways?(Osho begins to make tickling gestures towards Avirbhava, as he did the previous evening, and waves of laughter rise and fall as he “tickles” again and again.)This way is purely imported – Hollywood, California. A real buddha! And I have my substitutes….(He turns to Anando and provokes more laughter.)Nobody can die here. Even if you have died, you will have to laugh at least. That’s why I am at ease in ordering you to die. Otherwise who orders anybody to die – and die completely and totally? Because I know that I have ways to wake you up even if you are dead. Every night I have to do it. A few people really die.And another Zen master:He sees only the windingof the streamand the twisting of the path.He does not know that alreadyhe is in the land of the immortals.A tremendously significant statement. You see only misery and suffering – all non-essentials. You don’t see that on this very earth, immortal buddhas have moved, lived, loved. You don’t see the heights that human consciousness has reached many, many times. You remain confined to very small things.At least every evening with me, you have to reach the heights. And don’t get lost; come back down to the marketplace. My whole message is: Touch the heights of consciousness and bring those heights to the marketplace.Maneesha has asked:Osho,You seem to embody the miracle of Zen – how full emptiness can be!Maneesha, there is no end to the fullness of emptiness. Because if there were a limit, then the emptiness would not be really empty; it would have boundaries. Total emptiness means the whole cosmos, unlimited, in your hands. And if, out of meditation, you cannot bring a new juice, a fresh fragrance, a new life and a new laughter, your meditation has not been authentic. You played the game but not totally.Otherwise…every night, ten thousand people are becoming buddhas. When the same buddhas come again they have forgotten what has happened last night. They wake up and start looking for their rented bicycles. This is very strange – buddhas never have used rented bicycles. And so quickly!Just take time, don’t be in such a hurry.But I am introducing in the world a new kind of buddha who can have a girlfriend, and can change his girlfriend as many times as he wants, because we don’t take this world seriously. So I see my buddhas moving with new girlfriends every day. Nobody exactly knows…(Osho begins to “tickle” Avirbhava again, and we laugh along with him.)Maneesha, this is the miracle you are talking about! Another miracle is…(He turns to “tickle” Anando.)I have got only two miracles. But I think two are enough to make ten thousand buddhas laugh. And they do nothing. They sit so buddha-like. But still they trigger you.And I have got, just behind Maneesha, Stonehead. Now he has cut all his hair, removed his beard, and left a small Chinese mustache. You all have to see him in his whole glory. Germany has never seen a Zen master…Do you want to see him in his full glory?(“Yes!” We respond, laughing and clapping.)Stand up Zen Master Sekito Niskriya.(Niskriya stands up and, grasping his Zen staff, raises his arms high above his head. He turns slowly to greet the assembly, who respond with uproarious laughing, cheering and clapping.)That’s great! Now we can…. To welcome Zen Master Sekito Stonehead Niskriya, a few laughs because we don’t have anything else to offer.It is ten o’clock at night when Og and Beep-o, two Martian pilots, land on earth in the middle of a city. Og is sent out to make contact with whatever he finds, while Beep-o watches him on a TV screen.The first thing Og runs into is big Olga Kowalski taking her dog for its nightly walk. The dog is sniffing enthusiastically at a lamppost as Og approaches them.Five minutes later, a battered Og returns to his flying saucer. “What happened to you out there?” cries Beep-o.“Well,” says Og, “there was a little hairy creature on a rope that kept smelling me, and then it watered my feet…”“Yes,” interrupts Beep-o. “But what about that big, ugly beast on the other end of the rope?”“Oh, that!” exclaims Og. “Be careful of that one. While the little hairy beast was washing my feet, that big one walked up to me, stuck a silver coin in my mouth, then beat on my face and screamed, ‘Shit! There is never any fucking Coca-Cola in these machines!’”Paddy decides to have his old Ford car completely computerized and automated at O’Grady’s Garage.After the job is done, he drives over to Kowalski’s house. An hour and ten beers later, Paddy shouts, “Hey, Kowalski! Come and listen to my new automatic compact disc player!”Kowalski grabs his can of beer, staggers across the yard and gets into the car.“How about some Irish music?” slobbers Paddy, selecting a tiny silver disc and pushing several buttons on the dashboard.Five minutes later the speeding Ford car rounds a corner on two wheels, knocks down a policeman and four pedestrians, overturns a fruit-cart, slices a telephone pole in half, flattens one hundred yards of bushes, rolls over three times, and flies through the open door of the pub – finally coming to rest against the shattered bar.A dazed Paddy opens the crumpled door of the back seat and staggers out. Then an equally dazed Kowalski rubs his eyes and peers at Paddy through the dust.“Jeezus Christ!” Kowalski cries. “Can you get all that on a tiny compact disc?”Spudski, the Polack farmer, is hiring someone to help him run his farm.Clodski applies for the job and goes for an interview.“Now show me,” says Farmer Spudski, “how you blow your nose.”Clodski is puzzled, but obligingly clears his nostrils, one at a time into the air, making a disgusting noise.“Okay,” says Spudski, “you are hired.”“You mean,” asks Clodski, “that’s all you want to know about me? Why?”“Well, you see,” explains the farmer, “the last guy that worked here had a disgusting habit. He used to blow his nose into little rubber bags and leave them in my wife’s bed!”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes.Feel the body absolutely frozen.Gather your consciousness inwards.This is what is meantby turning the heartfrom outside to inside.Look deeply. Find your roots.This silence is the miraclethat you are carrying within yourself.Deeper…and deeper…and deeper,without any fear – it is your own sky.Open your wings and flyto any heights you want.There is no obstruction anywhere,just the courage is needed.Blessed is this evening.Ten thousand people are enteringinto a deep silence,into nothingness.Precious are these moments.Feel the splendor and the beauty of silence.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax. Let go.Die completely and totally.This is just to make clearthat within you is a consciousnessthat can never die,a consciousnesswhich is connected with the cosmos.It is eternal.It has no personality,no individuality.It is sheer joy not to be.When you come back,bring this joy and this fresh laughter,these fresh roses and their fragrance,with you. Slowly, slowlythey will become your very breathing.Unless meditation becomesa natural, spontaneous phenomenon,you have not touchedeven the periphery of meditation.Deeper and deeperDie to the past, die to the future.Only this moment becomejust like an arrowgoing to the very depths.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back…Sit down like buddhas.In deep silence, in great joy.Can we celebrate the gathering of ten thousand buddhas?

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The Miracle 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

The Miracle 02 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,Dogen wrote:Now, when we see the followers of an enlightened Zen master, we realize that they have many difficulties in hearing his true teachings. True aspirants of Buddhism amount to twenty or thirty – nay, to one hundred or to one thousand. In this case, if a master tries to lead every one of them, he will find the days and nights too short. Further, they have no ear for his teachings, however hard he may try to lead them. But when they give ear to him, his sermon is already finished.When an old Zen master laughs loudly, clapping his hands, beginners and later-day trainees in Buddhism seem to have difficulty even in having a chance to find themselves among the attendants. Some of them realize the innermost depths of the master, and others, not. Some hear the core of the master’s enlightenment, and others, not.Time flies faster than an arrow; life is more transient than a dewdrop. Some may have the master, but regret that they cannot hear his teachings. Some wish to listen to his teachings, but regret that they cannot see the master himself.On another occasion, Dogen said:My own master never easily permitted new monks to stay in his temple, usually saying, “Those, who, lacking in the bodhi-mind, behave themselves merely from force of habit must not stay here.” Having turned them out, he said, “They are lacking in the bodhi-seeking mind. What are they going to do? Such fellows only disturb others. They are not worthy of being allowed to stay here.”Dogen continued: “Seeing and personally hearing this fact, I said to myself, ‘Living as they are, in this country, what sin or crime in their previous existence, prevents them from living with my master? Under what a lucky star I was born that, coming from a far-distant foreign country, I am permitted to stay here to worship his venerable body and listen to his sermon! Foolish as I am, I have been able to form a good and fruitful connection with him.’”Maneesha, Dogen is dealing with one of the most important aspects of Zen. His statement is not as exact as it could be, but anyway he comes very approximately near to the truth.He does not mention, and perhaps no Zen master has ever mentioned, that there are three potentialities. When a seeker comes to a master he may be only a student, most of them are. They are in search of more knowledge because knowledge brings power, knowledge brings respectability, knowledge brings honor and dignity. But these are not the true seekers.The second category that comes to the master is the disciple. Zen masters have reached very high as far as human consciousness is concerned. But they have stopped at the second category of seekers, the disciple and the master.There is another category which Zen is not aware of, because it was not needed. To be a disciple was enough…to meditate, to watch the master, and to create a connection of consciousnesses. It has worked well for Zen but I can see that something is missing, and that is the devotee.The third category of seekers did not happen in Zen. The masters have reached to the highest peak, but the disciple cannot reach to the highest peak unless he becomes a devotee. And the difference is great. The disciple is satisfied if he is connected with the master – watches his movements, listens to his words, listens to his silences. Slowly slowly he starts growing an individuality of his own. He may jump from disciplehood into mastership.Zen knows disciples and masters. But a more ancient tradition in India, which has almost disappeared, makes it clear that unless a disciple first becomes a devotee there is no way of becoming a master.And what is the difference between the disciple and the devotee? The disciple seeks connection, the devotee seeks dissolvement; the disciple seeks individuality, the devotee seeks the ocean. Personality is borrowed, it has to be dropped; individuality is your own, but if you can manage to drop it also then the whole ocean is yours. Otherwise, a dewdrop is beautiful in the sunlight or in the moonlight, but the roaring reality of the ocean and the eternity of the ocean are missing. The dewdrop has no song to sing; the ocean has millions of songs to sing and millions remain unsung.Although the dewdrop can reflect the moon as much as the ocean, the depth of the reflection cannot be more than the circular dimension of the dewdrop. In the ocean the same moon penetrates to the very depths, miles deep.Being a devotee means dropping even individuality, dropping even the feeling that, “I am”…just merging with the universe. It is the ultimate quantum leap. From personality to individuality is a very small jump, available to many, but from individuality to no-individuality is a very rare occurrence. And that’s what makes a disciple a devotee.Because Zen tradition knows nothing about the devotee, there is something missing in it. It brings the individual to realize the truth, it brings the individual back home; but the separation of the individual from the master and the separation of the individual from existence still remain in a very subtle form. The disciple still is. He has not forgotten himself completely, he has not dropped even his being.A devotee is a miracle. He simply disappears into the whole, leaving behind not even a trace.Gautam Buddha is reported to have said that the authentic seeker is just like a bird flying in the sky, leaving no footmarks behind. When the bird becomes one with the sky…not only in tune, because in tune you still remain separate. The disciple is in tune with the master but they are two different instruments, meeting deeply with each other, but the separation line is still there. The devotee simply disappears, only the master remains. The master himself becomes just a window for him to jump into the beyond.Because the devotee is not at all a part of the Zen tradition…and there are reasons why the word has not appeared. The reasons are that devotees – the very word devotee has become contaminated with the idea of God, with worship. To devote yourself, to dedicate yourself, to surrender yourself…but all these words are not the essence of the word devotee. Because of these misconceptions about the devotee, Zen has not used the word at all – because there is no God to be devoted to and there is no worship to be done; you have to be just yourself.My own experience is that just to be yourself is great, but not great enough. There is one step more – not to be. Let the pine trees stand in their beauty under the full moon, let the birds sing, let the sun rise and set, but you will not be found anywhere. You are no more, existence is. This ultimate step makes the disciple a devotee…no worship, no question of any God. And according to me, unless one is a devotee, not in tune with the universe but one with the universe, he cannot be a master.Hence the master is one of the most miraculous phenomena. He is and he is not. He is to you, from the outside; he is not at all from the inside. Inside is pure space. This you have to remember before I talk about Dogen, because he is talking about the difficulties of the disciple.Dogen wrote:Now, when we see the followers of an enlightened Zen master….In fact a Zen master has no followers. That is the beauty of Zen: he has lovers, he has people as fellow travelers, but not followers. Others have followers – following means imitating, following means preparing oneself step by step in a discipline. It is more or less creating yourself in the image of your master, but that again is hypocrisy.I will not say,…followers of an enlightened Zen master. If there are followers then the master is not enlightened. If the master is enlightened there are only lovers, fellow travelers. The question of following does not arise.I make this statement with absolute authority, that Dogen has missed the point.He says:… we realize that they have many difficulties in hearing his true teachings. True aspirants of Buddhism amount to twenty or thirty – nay, to one hundred or to one thousand. In this case, if a master tries to lead every one of them, he will find the days and nights too short. Further, they have no ear for his teachings, however hard he may try to lead them.Dogen does not understand the working of a master. Perhaps these statements were made by him before he himself became a master. There is a difficulty, because in those days there was no printing, no writing, just disciples taking notes. So it is very difficult to know whether it is Dogen’s own mistake or the mistake of the person who was taking the notes.But anyway we don’t know who took the notes. One thing is certain, that Dogen must have said something to create the fault.First, True aspirants of buddhism. He is still talking in terms of “isms” and Zen is not an “ism”. Zen is freedom from all “isms” – Buddhism included. And aspirants are for the truth, not for Buddhism, not for Hinduism, not for Christianity. These are not aspirants, these are conditioned people who are following their conditioning. They may find a certain solace, a consolation, but they will never find the truth, because truth is not part of any theology.Dogen’s statements are very amateurish. true aspirants is enough; don’t say of Buddhism. Why should anybody be an aspirant of Buddhism? Everybody is a buddha himself. So it is better to say: “Seekers, aspirants, searchers of one’s own being.” Why bring theologies in? That is not the Zen way.And he does not know that a master can have thousands of disciples. He may not know even their names, he may not have even met them – it does not matter. He works in a totally different way than things are done in the ordinary world. He simply creates an atmosphere, he does not work with “A” and “B” and “C”.Then naturally, according to Dogen, a man’s life is very short; if he becomes enlightened – as Gautam Buddha became enlightened – at the age of forty…. He lived up to eighty-two. In forty-two years, if he had worked day and night without sleeping, without eating…even then, how many people would he have been able to bring to the consciousness that he had achieved?And that is a very foolish way, there is no need. The very mastery, the art of being a master is to create an atmosphere in which things start happening on their own. What are we doing here? I don’t know many of you, I don’t know your names, I don’t meet you personally. I simply create an atmosphere in which you can drown, in which you can drink the very juice of life. There is no need for me to work on individuals – that is a very poor and primitive way. I work by creating an atmosphere, an energy field, and every day that energy field becomes more and more powerful. Every one of you contributes to it. You are not just on the side of taking; you are also a giver.Here your presence, your consciousness, certainly creates a chain reaction. Just the man sitting by your side…you may not know him at all, but in your silence you meet with him. When everybody becomes silent there is simply a lake of buddhahood – one consciousness, one existence, one dance. You are not in tune with existence, you are it.So, for his first mistake, he thinks that life is too short and a master cannot work on many people. That is absolutely wrong. A single master can work on the whole world. And he need not go out of his room; he can radiate enough energy, invisible rays, to surround the whole globe.Many times it has been reported to me that some sannyasin has come from New Zealand or some sannyasin has come even from the Soviet Union, for the reason that he simply saw my picture. A friend had my picture, and seeing the picture a tremendous longing arose in him somehow to reach me – irrational, but life is irrational.Somebody has read a few words in a book and those words become a magnetic force so that he has to come here. Somebody has heard how I have been condemned, criticized, and thinks, “If so many people and so many magazines and so many politicians are against this man, there must be something to him.”Nobody is opposed on such a vast scale. I cannot enter twenty-one countries, their parliaments have passed laws.Just today I received a beautiful note from Vimal, who has gone to England. He had taken his girlfriend, who is an Indian, to the British High Commissioner’s office in Bombay. They would not give a visa to the Indian woman. They interrogated her for hours and finally refused.But Vimal is not a person who will accept any refusal so easily. He asked to see the highest authority. He did not want to deal with an assistant commissioner; he wanted to see the High Commissioner himself: on what grounds is he denying a visa just for three weeks?The High Commissioner said, “To be frank with you, your girlfriend has nothing – no bank account, no home, no particular reason why she should come back to India again.”Vimal said to him, “Don’t be afraid about that. We have not been saying it to you, but we are Osho’s disciples. She has every reason to be here. She has no reason to be anywhere else.”And Vimal has written a note to me, “The British Commissioner immediately gave the visa. He said, ‘If she is Osho’s disciple, then there is no problem.’”It is the first time that my name has been of help – because that makes it certain that she will not remain in England. “She can go have a three week trip, or if you want, three months…any time. We were worried that she may not come back. But if she is a disciple of Osho, there is no worry.”Life is very strange. They were hiding my name, but they forgot that my name has to be kept secret if you are coming from England. If you are going to England it is a different story. The High Commissioner was perfectly satisfied; there was no question of asking any more about the woman. She will come back to India.I have come across many sannyasins who just heard my name and something started – a longing, a desire…as if a forgotten language suddenly is remembered. A master does not work on individuals. He creates an atmosphere and that atmosphere itself goes on becoming every day richer, more dense. Its pull, its gravitation, goes on bringing new people from faraway places.In Rancho Rajneesh in America…now even the Oregon newspapers are accepting the fact that our presence has made Oregon a world-famous place. In fact the news media – television, radio, newspapers, magazines – they all missed. They had a tremendously beautiful story, with all the colors of the rainbow, with all the rumors that you can manage. We gave them so much material and we allowed them to invent whatever they wanted to invent. We enjoy it anyway, we don’t make much fuss whether it is true or not. We kept the whole news media busy.It is almost unbelievable that I was, for two years, the first man…. I was a tourist whose tourist visa had expired years before, and I was chosen the man of the year in Oregon because I was discussed more than the president himself.Many times my people said to me, “These allegations…we should drag them to the court.”I said, “Stop – don’t bother! Let them make as many allegations as possible. Help to create rumors yourself! Let the whole of America be concerned with you.” And we made, within five years, the whole of America concerned.Now the politicians are missing me. One of my attorneys came a few days ago. He said, “Now, in Oregon, the politicians are missing you very much.”I said, “Why?”He said, “Because you were a good reason for them to collect the votes of the Oregonians, because they all were against you. Now there is no reason why they should be chosen.” And he added, “The newspapers are missing you, the television is missing you.”The man Ed Meese said in a press conference, “All that we want is to silence Osho absolutely. He should not be heard anywhere, he should not be seen anywhere. We will close all the doors to his voice.”Anando has sent him just now…. Here we are, ten thousand sannyasins, and poor Ed Meese has been kicked out of his Attorney General’s job because he has been found guilty of doing many criminal acts.And Anando, as my secretary, has written to him – with a photograph of ten thousand sannyasins, that means twenty thousand hands raised – saying, “Osho is still being heard – where are you?” It is only a question….In the Soviet Union, where it is almost impossible for anybody to enter, I have my sannyasins. They have never seen me. They meet in basements. They have been terrorized, harassed, by the Russian intelligence, their books have been burned. So those poor Russians have to type the books and, from hand to hand, those books are moving around.Now that America has banned me from entering for five years, Russian intelligence has relaxed. Before they used to think that I must be in favor of America and America’s capitalism. Now at least that much is proved – that America has closed its doors to me.Now even sannyasins in Russia have started feeling that they can invite me sometime. Things are getting better, the police are no more harassing them.I am sitting here in my room, and I am being discussed, for and against, in almost all the parliaments of the world. Articles arrive every day from Holland, from Germany, from England, from places of which I have not even heard – small places…Bolivia. And just now I have received their congratulations for my birthday. My sannyasins in Bolivia, in Yugoslavia, in Czechoslovakia…it is a contagious phenomenon.To be a master is almost like a dangerous disease moving like winds, like clouds…it does not carry a passport, it does not believe in any boundaries. A master’s existence is always universal. His focus cannot be on individuals. That will take ages to bring enlightenment to the world. No, it is not a retail work – it is wholesale. When I make you every night enlightened it is wholesale.And whatever vibrations you are gathering, you will be spreading without your knowing, wherever you go. I don’t make anybody a missionary. I don’t want you to convert anybody. I want you just to be converted yourself – converted not to any ideology, converted to your own truth. And suddenly you will start radiating a fragrance for which many are thirsty.Sannyasins have reported to me that, “It is very strange. We have dropped the orange, we have dropped the mala just so that nobody recognizes us,” because the governments, the airports…everywhere the Americans influence, blackmail, because they are all indebted to America. The sannyasins say, “It is very strange. We are immediately recognized, it has made no difference. Even if we say we don’t know who Osho is, they say, ‘We know you are a man concerned with Osho . Your very eyes show it.’”Now, I cannot take away my people’s eyes. I can give you sunglasses, but then you will be recognized by your sunglasses. Then nobody else in the world will be able to wear sunglasses. We can have a hilarious time: whoever wears sunglasses is a sannyasin.Dogen does not understand that the work of a master is very subtle, very fine. And it is not in the realm of the visible, it is in the realm of the invisible, so you don’t see it but you know it is spreading.So much fear in politicians of a man who has no nuclear weapons, not even a vegetable cutting knife…I have not seen with my own eyes a vegetable cutting knife. I don’t know who cuts my vegetables.Why this fear? It seems the very air is ready for me. The young people around the world are searching for something. They are not satisfied with their own churches, they are not satisfied with their religions or their leaders. There is an immense discontent all over the world. That is the fear of the politicians: that I can catch up with the youth – with the young, with the fresh, with the intelligent. It is better to avoid me. But the more they try to avoid, the more they make it clear to their people that if these politicians are afraid of a man who has not done any harm to anybody, then it is worthwhile to go to that man.Half of my people here are from Germany. It is because of the German politicians who are working in my favor by making laws against me. The intelligent youth can see that if these politicians are so much afraid of a man, then it is better to go and not to miss the opportunity.A master functions like free air – it goes on around the earth like radiation.Dogen must have said these things when he was not himself a master. But a few points of what he is saying are, by chance, important. true aspirants – I drop off the of Buddhism. A true aspirant does not remain stuck being a student because as a student he can only be burdened with borrowed knowledge. He can see that it is not his experience. A true aspirant wants to know things as his own experience. He immediately becomes a disciple.But the disciple has a few difficulties; it depends on both the master and the disciple how great those difficulties will be. First,…they have no ear for his teachings. According to me, there are no teachings, but only a presence. You don’t need ears, you need a heart which can drink the presence of a master.And he is saying,…they have no ear for his teachings, however hard he may try to lead them. Sheer nonsense! A master never tries hard. When a thing can be done very easily, only idiots try hard. And when you understand the way an energy phenomenon works it is only a question of triggering. It is not a hard job. It is the most easy job, otherwise I would not have chosen it.I am myself an example: a lazy man who has never done anything. I saw that it seems enlightenment is perfectly in tune with laziness and I immediately became enlightened. I did not have second thoughts. For thirty years I have been enlightened and not for a single moment I have doubted. In fact I am so lazy I will not doubt; doubting also takes effort. And once I have become enlightened, why unnecessarily bother?You go on doing hard things. You become enlightened, you become unenlightened. And next day when you see me you again remember that you are a buddha. In this hall only buddhas sit. It is so easy to be silent, it is so easy to be watchful; it is not an arduous thing. But all old masters made it seem like a very arduous thing.It is true that very few have the courage to open their hearts so the master can pour himself into them. But it is not a question of any teachings; no master worth the name has any teachings. He certainly has some insights to share. He does not argue, he does not want to convince you. He has no investment in convincing you. He is not interested in converting you to be a follower. It is his joy to share the bliss he has, because the more he shares it, the more he has. It is not out of compassion; it is out of a simple understanding that the more you share your joy, the more there is. It is a strange arithmetic: the more you give, the more is received by your heart from the unknown sources of existence.Dogen is certainly very immature. But when they give ear to him, his sermon is already finished. That is true. If the master is only concerned with teachings, then by the time the person is ready to listen to him the sermon is over. But the authentic master is a teaching himself. He simply provokes in you a synchronicity. He brings you closer to his heart, his being, because that is the door to the universal heart. It is an alchemical transformation; it is not a scholarly job.When an old Zen master laughs loudly, clapping his hands, beginners and later-day trainees in Buddhism seem to have difficulty even in having a chance to find themselves among the attendants.When the old Zen master laughs…if you start thinking about why he is laughing you have missed. He is simply enjoying it. And if you understand the point, you should join him in his laughter. You will find that you are laughing in a very fresh and new way. You have laughed before; it was very ordinary. This time it seems to be very precious. It has reflected the laughter of the master also. It has joined hands with a tremendous energy, it has reflected the full moon.Your laughter has been a laughter in dark tunnels. You have laughed because you wanted to hide your misery. You laughed because you did not want to expose your sufferings to others. Your laughter was a defensive device.But when a master laughs it has nothing to do with anything to hide. On the contrary, he is laughing because he can see his buddhahood and he can see your buddhahood, and he cannot believe how you buddhas can manage to be in suffering. This is the most unbelievable thing: that a buddha is in misery. Carrying essentially the buddhahood, how can you be in misery? How can you be in suffering? How can you be dry and not blossoming?Zen is a participation with the master’s being. He laughs and you join in his laughter, not even bothering why he is laughing. The question “why?” is the most stupid question. Why are the roses so beautiful? Why are the clouds today silent? Why do the bamboos go on growing?Everything simply is. At the moment the master feels like laughing he does not ask himself why. His laughter is just like a flower. The bush does not ask, “Why has this rose arisen in me?” The bush enjoys the dance of the rose, its beauty and its fragrance, without any questioning. Existence has no rationality in it. It is beyond reason, hence there is no question of any teaching. The question is only of sharing.Some of them realize the innermost depths of the master, and others, not. Some hear the core of the master’s enlightenment, and others, not.You can see the statement seems to be a footnote by a disciple, because a master does not speak about great things as if he has heard about them. He has seen them. He is talking about things that may be happening. Some people hear the master and some people don’t hear.Time flies faster than an arrow; life is more transient than a dewdrop. Some may have the master, but regret that they cannot hear his teachings. Some wish to listen to his teachings, but regret that they cannot see the master himself.Unfortunately, Dogen is still not a master. I have just finished a series on Dogen. Those were the statements when he must have become a master. But these statements, without any doubt, show that he has taken notes but has no authority of his own. A master speaks with authority, the authority that comes out of his own experience.On another occasion, Dogen said:My own master never easily permitted new monks to stay in his temple.Now it is impossible for a master to do such an unkind act. Everybody has to begin someday. Everybody is new…even those who are old disciples started one day as new disciples. Now, not to permit the new monks to stay in the temple is sheer unkindness, and that is not a sign of a master. Perhaps Dogen has stayed with a teacher.And when he rejected people,… usually saying, “Those, who, lacking in the bodhi-mind, behave themselves merely from force of habit must not stay here.” Having turned them out, he said, “They are lacking in the bodhi-seeking mind. What are they going to do? Such fellows only disturb others.”Not only was Dogen not a master at the time these words were written, his master also was not a master.The very miracle of the master is to transform the disciple. I cannot conceive that a master will reject anyone. The very foundation of Zen is that everybody is a buddha, whether he knows it or not. The function of the master is very easy: just to help the person to remember his self-nature. There is nowhere one has to go, no discipline has to be enforced, no self-torture…just a silent searching within oneself. And the master creates the atmosphere.You see the miracle every day. The new person comes and as he joins in this energy field he becomes as old as you are. His laughter is as deep as yours. Perhaps one day he may hesitate, but the next day he will see that everybody is laughing – “Why should I hesitate?” Perhaps one day he will not die, but when he sees another day that everybody here dies and comes back, then there is no fear in dying…one can die.The newcomer becomes very soon an old disciple, just within days. I can see when the newcomer for the first time enters the Buddha Hall he is hesitant, worried what is going to happen, cannot understand how he is going to do gibberish. But any child can do gibberish, it doesn’t need any training. From the very first moment you are almost trained. Gibberish needs no training, nor does laughter need any training.If you can do the gibberish you are cleansing your mind of all kinds of dust that goes on gathering. And as the mind becomes silent…there is nowhere to go other than inwards. All roads are forgotten, there remains a single one-way traffic.Just for a day or two you may hesitate to go that much inside. Who knows whether you will be able to come back or not? That’s the whole purpose of creating an energy field – so that you can see that so many people are coming and going, becoming enlightened, unenlightened. It is a playful, joyful exercise; there is nothing to be worried about, you can go as deep as you want. And when everybody else is going, in that tremendous storm it is so easy to join. Alone you may find it difficult to do gibberish, but when ten thousand people go simply with their wings, not knowing Chinese but speaking Chinese, not knowing what they are saying but saying it very emphatically, not bothering at all who is listening….Nobody is listening, so you can say anything you want, you are not going to offend anybody. There is nobody other than you. Such an absolute freedom you will not find even when you are alone. And everybody helps to trigger everybody else. When you see your neighbor is going nuts the resistance drops. Everybody is going nuts and everybody is enjoying it so much, why not take a little step and be nuts, only for two minutes?That will make you saner than you have ever been, because you throw so much garbage that you were holding. Do you think your gibberish is coming from the sky? You are carrying all that garbage, throw it! And don’t be worried that, “What will the others say?” They are throwing their garbage, nobody is interested in anybody else. Although thousands of people are doing it, everybody is doing it on his own.Just one thing I have to warn you: don’t sit silently when people are throwing garbage, because that garbage tends to find new spaces again, some new house. So outdo each other, don’t be worried; it is a great competitive phenomenon. If you are just a little polite you are in a danger. It is not a question of being polite, because people are throwing all kinds of poisons. To keep their poisons from entering in you, you have to be on top of it. Such a joy, and with no ticket! You will not have such a joy even in a madhouse!Just do it totally, enthusiastically. Don’t be bothered whether it is Arabic or Hebrew or Chinese, you are allowed to speak any language that you don’t know. Just avoid the language that you do know, because the language that you do know will not bring your nonsense out, it will be very grammatical.Just be careful that you are not writing a meaningful poetry or prose. Meaning is not at all the requirement. Just for two minutes give an opportunity to your existence to be meaningless. And you will be immensely shocked to know that just within two minutes you become so light, so ready to enter into silence.A master’s function is not to reject anybody, because anybody who is coming is a buddha in disguise, you have just to help him to discover his buddhahood. He knows in his deepest being but he has forgotten the way. Meditation is just to help him to find the way. And the way is not very long, it is very short. From the head to the heart how many inches? From the heart to the being how many inches? And from the being to the universal being…just a single step. The reality is so close to you, you are just standing on the boundary of it.The master – any master worth his salt – will not reject anybody, because to reject anybody is to reject a buddha. He may be hiding himself, he may be thinking himself somebody else, but it is a great joy to remind him.The master is just a reminder.Certainly Dogen was not with a master, because that master used to say, “Because they are not yet buddhas, I will not accept them.” That is almost like telling a sick person, “The doctor will not accept you because you are sick. When you are healthy come back!”When one is healthy one does not come back to the doctor.You are all buddhas, whether you know it or not…but I know it, so it is only a question of creating a certain climate in which you also become part of the knowing that I am ready to share with you.Dogen continued: “Seeing and personally hearing this fact, I said to myself: ‘Living as they are, in this country, what sin or crime in their previous existence, prevents them from living with my master?’”Now he is thinking that the master is right, and these fellows who are being rejected must have committed some grave sins in their past lives, that’s why the master is not accepting them. The truth is, the master is not the master.There is a Tibetan story…. An old master refused his whole life to accept any disciple. His name became more and more famous, people from all parts of Tibet used to come to him to be accepted as a disciple. It had become almost a craziness in all the seekers to see who was going to be accepted first. But he never accepted anyone.But on the day he was dying he simply called his servant and told him, “Just go to the marketplace and tell whoever wants to be a disciple that I am ready, come! – because today I am going to die.”Even the servant could not believe, “Has he gone insane or senile or what? Because his whole life he has been refusing – even kings had been rejected – and now he is saying, ‘Go to the marketplace…tell anybody!’”The servant said, “Are you in your senses when you are saying this?”The master laughed, he said, “Don’t waste time, because this evening is my last evening. I was rejecting the disciples up to now because I was not a master. Just this morning as the sun was rising I became the master, I became enlightened. Now I can see the buddhahood of everyone. So don’t be worried, just go! Go around the town and declare, ‘Whoever wants to become a disciple, come soon, the master will not be available tomorrow.’”People could not believe the servant, they thought, “It must be some kind of joke – that old fellow has rejected even kings.”One man’s wife had died and he was thinking, “What to do now?” Getting married again meant getting into another tragedy. Somehow existence has saved him, one tragedy has ended…but sitting without doing anything looks crazy. And he thought, “What is the problem? The old man is going to die tonight. If he can make me enlightened today there is no harm, and tomorrow I will be free to choose whether I want to remain enlightened or not.”So a few people…somebody was there on a holiday, somebody was unemployed and just sitting because there was no job – thirteen people in all. The servant brought a very strange company. One man was going to commit suicide but he thought, “It is better first to become enlightened, suicide can be done afterwards.”One man was a known thief; he thought, “It is a good opportunity, it must be a great gathering. In a big gathering you can cut a few pockets, there is no harm in it, and if you happen to become enlightened….”Nobody thought about it, and nobody took it seriously, but they had some free time…. The servant went inside the cave where the old master lived and he said, “I have brought thirteen people, but I cannot say they are aspirants. They are just a useless lot, I know every one of them. One was determined to commit suicide, I told him, ‘You can commit afterwards, what is the hurry?’ One is a thief at night, so in the day he is free. I am ashamed,” the servant said, “to bring this lot, but what can I do? You told….”The master said, “There is no problem. Bring each one of them, because they are all buddhas.”And he called that random selection of thirteen and he said to them, “You are all buddhas. I was refusing up to now because I was not enlightened myself, and I could not accept a disciple because that would be a deception. This morning I have become a buddha and this evening I am going to disappear into the universe. Meanwhile, if any of you want to share my being, just sit silently around me.”They looked at each other…whether to sit around him or not? But now that they had come so far into the forest, into the mountains, they thought, “It is worth trying, and anyway he is not asking any fee or anything.”The story is…the man died and those thirteen people became enlightened, because when an enlightened master dies he radiates tremendous energy around himself. They had entered into the cave very ordinary people, they came out of the cave brilliant buddhas.Dogen must have been in the company of a man who himself was not a master but a pretender. Because he was accepted by the master he thinks,“Under what a lucky star I was born that, coming from a far-distant foreign country, I am permitted to stay here to worship his venerable body and to listen to his sermon! Foolish as I am, I have been able to form a good and fruitful connection with him.”You don’t make a fruitful connection with a master. In fact, either you dissolve into the master or you remain yourself. Connection is a wrong word. Connection means that the two remain two; they just found a way of relating to each other that they call a connection. I will not say that you are connected with me or I am connected with you. Here there is only one consciousness!You have to understand that to be with a master is not to be connected, it is to be dissolved, just like ice dissolves.Shiki wrote:Midnight sound –leap up:a fallen moon flower.He must be meditating. These haikus are expressions of certain silences, sounds made out of silences.Midnight sound – leap up: a fallen moon flower.They are not to be understood the way we understand poetry.Kikaku has written:Full autumn moon –on the straw mat,pine shadow.In a certain silence you start feeling yourself part of the world…the autumn moon, the straw mat, the pine shadow. It does not matter what it is, it has become part of you, you have become part of it.A haiku by Basho:Harvest moon:around the pond I wanderand the night is gone.Have you even seen night going? Very few people even become aware of things which are happening every day. Have you ever seen the evening coming? The midnight and its song? The sunrise and its beauty? We are behaving almost like blind people. In such a beautiful world we are living in small ponds of our own misery. It is familiar, so even if somebody wants to pull you out, you struggle. You don’t want to be pulled out of your misery, of your suffering. Otherwise there is so much joy all around, you have just to be aware of it and to become a participant, not a spectator.Philosophy is speculation, Zen is participation. Participate in the night leaving, participate in the evening coming, participate in the stars and participate in the clouds; make participation your lifestyle and the whole existence becomes such a joy, such an ecstasy. You could not have dreamt of a better universe.Maneesha has asked:Osho,You seem to be throwing us back to ourselves more and more lately, reminding us that you have disappeared, so there is no one to relate to. By what may we gauge if we have a “good and fruitful” connection, when we are connecting with no one?Maneesha, don’t commit the same mistake that Dogen committed. There is no need of any connection, because connection means you are separate; drop all ideas of connecting. Just like a wave disappears into the ocean, let this place be an ocean where you all disappear.You cannot have any connection with me, because I am not there. But you can dissolve into the same silence and the same space where I used to be once; where for thirty years I have not been. If you want to enter into an uninhabited house, it is up to you. It is dilapidated, but if you want to enter the space…the walls may have fallen, the roof may have fallen, but the space is still there and has been always there. When the walls were standing, it was there; now the walls are not, it is still there. You cannot connect with it but you can join, you can participate.Remember, Dogen’s thought was not a mature thought of a master. Your question has arisen out of Dogen’s good and fruitful connection with the master. With the master you don’t have any connection at all, because the master is the name of an absence. He is no more! Just an open sky…what connection can you have with the open sky? You can disappear into it, but it will be participation, and only participation is significant.Before we enter into this evening’s meditation, into a great participation, dissolving ourselves into an ocean of consciousness…just to make you light, just to make you playful, not serious…Ronald Reagan has gone deaf, so he calls in the White House doctor.Doctor Spook immediately looks in the President’s ear. “Why do you have that suppository in your ear?” he asks.Reagan says nothing.“Why do you have that suppository in your ear?” shouts Spook.“What?” replies Reagan.Doctor Spook pulls the suppository out of the President’s ear and shows it to him.Reagan’s face lights up. “A-ha!” he says, “now I know where I put my hearing aid!”Jerry Jablonski, the traveling salesman, phones home.“How are the kids?” he asks.“Well,” replies Jezebel, his wife. “I have got some good news and some bad news.”“So tell me the bad news,” says Jablonski.“Okay,” says Jezebel, “the bad news is that Jerry junior grabbed your pet Doberman dog, and chopped it up for fishing bait.”“What?” shrieks Jablonski. “That’s ghastly! What could the good news possibly be?”“Well,” says Jezebel, “we have got three giant catfish for dinner!”Rufus, the big black guy, is fed up with living in Mississippi, so he goes to the station to catch a bus north to Chicago.Looking around the bus station, he suddenly notices a weighing scale that tells your weight and also your fortune.Rufus goes over to the scale, steps on it, and drops in a quarter. A little card shoots out that reads: “You weigh one hundred and fifty pounds, you are black, and you need to go to the bathroom.”“Mmm,” says Rufus, “I guess I do.” He goes to the bathroom, but all he does is pass wind.He decides to try the machine again, so he digs out another quarter and drops it into the slot. The little card shoots out and Rufus reads it. It says, “You weigh one hundred and fifty pounds, you are black, and the waitress in the snack bar would like to meet you.”So Rufus goes to the snack bar, strikes up a conversation with the waitress, and they end up screwing behind the counter.Very pleased, Rufus returns again to the machine for another try. This time the card shoots out and reads, “You are still one hundred and fifty pounds, you are still a nigger, and with all this fucking and farting around you have missed your bus!”Nivedano, just give the beat and everybody goes into gibberish….(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent…close your eyes,feel your body to be frozen.No movement.Gather your energy inwards,deeper and deeper.You have disappeared,only the buddha remains.Just a pure consciousness,the very origin of existence.You are not your body,you are not your mind,you are this consciousness,this awareness, this watchfulness.To make it more clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax…let go…die completely.Remember this peace,this silence, this blissfulness.These are all your flowers.You are no more,but the existence is.Rich, radiant.When Nivedano calls you back,come back with a great splendor,joy, ecstasy,and sit down for a few moments,remembering that you are a buddha.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back,Slowlyremembering.You have been to a new space within yourself.It makes you a participantof an oceanic consciousness.Feel fresh,unburdened of past and future,let this moment be just a pure watching.You are blessed to be here,you are blessed to enter into your own being.Remember it twenty-four hours,not as a thought, but as a heartbeat,and it will transform your whole existence.You don’t have to do anything,just this watchfulnessand you will find everythingslowly, slowly changing.We have to fill this whole worldwith buddhas…not Buddhists, but buddhas.Can we celebrate the buddhas?

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The Miracle 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

The Miracle 03 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,On one occasion, Rinzai said:Students of today fail to achieve their ends. What is their fault? It lies in not having faith in themselves. By lack of faith you fall into a state of uncertainty, in which you conform to all the fluctuations in your surroundings, subjecting yourself to their myriad revolutions, so that you are unable to achieve freedom. If you, however, succeed in stopping the mind, as it momentarily dashes hither and thither in its search, you then become indistinguishable from the patriarchs and buddhas.Do you want to know who are the patriarchs and buddhas? All of you listening to my teaching here before me are such.You followers of the Way, there is no need for you to devote effort to the Buddhist teaching. Only do the ordinary things with no special effort: relieve your bowels, pass water, wear your clothes, eat your food, and, when tired, lie down. The simple fellow will laugh at you, but the wise will understand.An ancient said:All those who strive outwardly are stupid. Suffice it to be one’s own master wherever one may happen to be, and reality will prevail everywhere. Thus one will remain unshaken under all circumstances.Rinzai said on another occasion:In your red heart, there is a true man of no fixed position, who comes in and goes out through your forehead. I urge those who have not experienced this, to try to see it.Maneesha, Zen is for the simple, for the ordinary, for the natural. But the mind of man is for just the opposite; it wants to be extraordinary, it wants to be special, it wants to be known. Respectability, reputation, honor, riches – they are all desires for making you special.But to be special is against nature. In nature everything is as it is. Nobody is feeling any inferiority complex, and nobody is suffering from any superiority complex. The roses are beautiful because they don’t claim any superiority. There are thousands of flowers but there is no competition, everything is unique in its simplicity. They are not running a marathon race, competing with each other to come first; they are immensely satisfied as they are. In the whole animal kingdom – and all the trees, all the clouds, all the stars – nobody wants to be something else. Because even if you try to be something else, it will be only phony.In this sense all the religions have committed a great crime against humanity, because they all want you to be saints, great saints. They have categories of austerities, they have categories of respectability. The so-called religions of the world are part of the same game that is being played in the marketplace, that is being played by the politicians. Everybody wants to have a position. He is ready to lose himself, to sell himself, for a position. That’s what has happened, and everybody has lost his simplicity.I came first in the whole university in my post-graduate examinations. My grandfather was a very simple man…knowing nothing of Zen, but he was a man of Zen. When I told him that I got the gold medal for being the first in the whole university, he looked at me and he said, “That simply means you were studying with fools; otherwise how could you manage to be first?” Rather than being happy, he was angry with me, “Don’t you feel ashamed?”I said “My God, I was thinking that you would appreciate…”He said, “I would have appreciated it if you had given the chance to somebody else, but you grabbed the gold medal yourself. This is very ungainly, ungraceful.”I said, “You will be happy to know that I have not brought the gold medal home.”I had dropped it in the university well. I had told the vice-chancellor that it did not matter to me, and to prove it I threw it in the big well that supplied the water to the whole university. Everybody thought I was crazy. Even the vice-chancellor said, “This is carrying the argument too far.”I said, “It is not an argument. I’m simply telling you that I don’t believe in a system of education which creates categories: first class, second class, third class. Everybody is just himself, this classification is a dangerous phenomenon.”My grandfather said, “That is good, if you have thrown that gold medal. You did well. And never again do such a thing.”I said, “I have done nothing. They simply gave it to me; it was not my fault. I had done everything not to have it.”I was not attending the classes, I was prohibited from attending the classes. I never purchased a single book that was prescribed by the university. I was purchasing strange books which had nothing to do with the examination. Even my professors were worried. They loved me. They said, “You are losing a great opportunity. You have every chance to be the first in the whole university, but we never see you reading anything that is prescribed.”How strange are the ways of life. It was because of this I came first – because all the other students’ answers were repetitive. Only my answers were original – original in the sense that I was answering them not only for the examination, not for any gain, but just to enjoy the answering…just as I enjoy answering your questions. I even said, “This question is absolutely wrong, it does not deserve any answer. And if I can find the man who asked it, I will hit him.”Later my professor said, “That examination was prepared by me, and I have read your answer. I understand that you are right, the question was stupid.”The question was, “What is the difference between Indian philosophy and Western philosophy?” And naturally I said, “Philosophy is not geographical. Philosophy is simply philosophy. What does it have to do with East and West? It is a thinking process, you can do it anywhere. It has nothing to do with place, with geography. Your question is absurd, hence I’m not going to answer it. And if I could meet you, I would hit you.”He said, “It is good that that examination was made by me, because anybody else would have become very angry. You answered beautifully and freshly, your answers were simply answers; everybody else was quoting the text books. You had no idea what was written in the text books, you have never seen them. Obviously, you had to be original.”An old professor, who was from Pune, was the head of the philosophy department of Allahabad University, Professor R. D. Ranade. He was a world-famous authority on Indian philosophy, and he was also famous for not passing anybody. It was said that in his whole career he had passed only three persons. My professors were worried: “If Ranade fails you, it will be very difficult. Even if everybody else passes you, it will not make any difference. Because Ranade is such an authority, he carries more weight than the three other examiners.”But he gave me a ninety-nine percent grade, and wrote a note to the vice-chancellor, “Convey to this student my message that I loved his answers. For the first time in my life I wanted to give a one hundred percent score, but that would have been a little too much. Not to look too favorable, I cut one percent. But I’m sorry, he deserved one hundred percent – I have always wanted answers so direct to the questions, not crammed from text books, and I have always wanted answers as condensed as possible.”I had been warned that this was what he wanted.I had said, “Don’t be worried…I can answer almost telegraphically – just one-liners.”They said, “You are mad! We are not saying that you have to answer in one line.”I said, “I will see.” And I answered with one-liners. Within fifteen minutes I was finished. The professor who was in charge in the examination hall tried to force me to stay seated.I said, “This is strange. It is my right to get out now I’m finished giving answers.”He looked at my answers and said, “My God, these are answers? You are giving maxims!”I said, “I want to test Ranade. For his whole life, he has been wanting short, simple, direct and original answers. Let him enjoy to his heart’s content. It does not matter whether I fail or pass, anyway I’m going to be a vagabond. I’m not going to be in any government service, I’m not going to be doing any business. I’m going to remain in the ancient business of the buddhas.”They said, “You are mad. That’s not a business.”I said, “Anything that keeps you busy is business.”Ranade was very happy, but his note shocked the vice-chancellor. And because of Ranade’s ninety-nine percent mark, I came first in the whole university. Life is very strange, it is a mystery.Later on I met Ranade. He was retired, very old. I said to him, “Perhaps you will remember a man who deserved one hundred percent, but you gave him only ninety-nine percent.”He said, “Of course I remember, because this happened only once in my life. I had never gone beyond thirty-three percent. Are you the person?”I said, “Of course I am the person. And I have come to say to you that you did not prove your greatness. You should have given me one hundred and one percent. What was your fear? Were you afraid that people would think you were favoring me? You didn’t even know me.”He said, “Nobody talks to me this way. I am an old, retired, respected professor.”I said, “That does not matter. You showed your weakness in cutting me by one percent.”He said, “You are strange. Nobody fights with me, especially after ten years. Now what can I do?”I said, “You can at least say ‘I’m sorry.’”There were at least twenty professors who were sitting with him. He had become almost a holy place, where every kind of professor and intellectual gathered. They were all shocked.I said, “Don’t be worried about these idiots; it’s because of them you cut my one percent.”He looked at me and he said, “I am sorry, and I say it publicly. You deserved one hundred and one percent.”I said to him, “Now I can forgive you.”I was speaking in Allahabad University. He had never come to listen to any lecturer visiting the university, but he was sitting just in front of me when I entered the hall. Everybody was surprised that Professor Ranade also had come to listen. I hit hard on the education system and on the professors who were supporting it.He listened carefully, and as I came down from the podium he came to me and said, “Son” – he was almost ninety years old – “you are right. We did not have the courage to fight. We all know that our educational system is producing only clerks, secretaries, postmasters, stationmasters. Our whole education is based on the idea of creating servants. And what you want is to create masters. I absolutely agree with you.”Zen wants everybody to be a glory unto himself. It is not an achievement, it is not competition; it is simply originality. And the originality is already there, you have just to throw away all the rubbish that you have been collecting from others. However valuable it may be, it is destroying your original being, covering it with dust; and you will never be happy unless you find your original being. The very finding of your original being is such a dance, such a joy, that you can bless the whole world yet you will remain overflowing.On one occasion, Rinzai said:Students of today fail to achieve their ends.In the first place, Rinzai is a great master and cannot commit this mistake. This must be the translator. He must have said, “Disciples of today,” not “students.” Students go to the universities, to the schools, to the colleges, not to the monasteries. Students have a totally different interest, exactly opposite to the area of Zen. They accumulate knowledge. Zen wants you to drop all knowledge so that you can become utterly pure and innocent, so that you can say with tremendous beauty, “I don’t know.”Not knowing, just being, and all the mysteries of existence open their doors to you. To the knowledgeable they are closed, to the innocent they are open. He could not have said, Students of today; he cannot use that phrase. I am absolutely certain because I know Rinzai, and whatever else he is saying is absolutely right.And it is not that in his time disciples…fail to achieve their ends. Anybody who has an end to achieve is bound to fail. In the world of Zen there is nothing to achieve. Whatever has to happen has already happened, you have just to discover it. It is not an achievement. It is not a goal somewhere far away, that you have to travel to that place. It is just in your very being, in your very silence. You don’t have to achieve it. It is a miracle that you have forgotten it…in what ways you have forgotten yourself.All your religions and all your educational systems – the whole society is bent upon distracting every small child from his original being, making him something other than what he is. We have not been able to create a world up to now where a person is accepted as he is, without any conditions. Not only that, we have created such conditioning that the person himself does not accept his originality. He is doubtful about it, uncertain about it, hesitant about it. It is better to repeat a sutra from Gautam Buddha, because that cannot be wrong. To be original is dangerous – you can be wrong. But a person who cannot risk being wrong can never be right.Rinzai’s complaint is:What is their fault? It lies in not having faith in themselves.That faith has been taken away by the parents, by the teachers, by the professors, by the priests – they all have imposed the idea, “Have faith in Jesus Christ.” No Christian is being told to have faith in himself, but is told to have faith in Jesus Christ, to have faith in his representatives.Just now a research book has been published, explaining that the pope is the world’s greatest Mafia leader. More heroin, more opium, more drugs are sold through the Vatican than through any other place. All the money that comes to the Vatican bank – the pope’s bank – is heroin money. But his is a special situation. That tiny area in the middle of Rome is an independent, sovereign country, and the pope is the head of the state as well as the head of the religion. The police are his, the Vatican armies are his, and they are all involved in transactions which are illegal anywhere.Just a few months ago, the government of Italy issued an arrest warrant for the manager-in-chief of the bank, but they could not enter into the Vatican. They waited outside, if he came outside he would be arrested. Rather than arresting him or helping the Italian government to catch him – because they have found that he is turning dirty money into clean money by the millions – the pope promoted him. And now it has been found that the pope is behind the whole scene.He makes all those trips around the world for a stupid reason: to kiss the earth. You can kiss the earth anywhere – as much as you want, to your heart’s content; there is no need to waste millions of dollars. Visiting Australia, he wasted eight million dollars. What is the purpose? – to kiss the ground at the airport. Where is this money coming from?And these are the people…all the politicians of the world are corrupt, but just because they are in power nobody can say that they are corrupt. You will be crushed. It is almost impossible to be in power and not be corrupted. Corruption is the force that leads you: whoever is more corrupt reaches the higher posts.Every child is being destroyed by his own people. They don’t know consciously what they are doing. Parents are projecting their own unfulfilled desires onto their children. The father wanted to be a doctor but could not; he ended up being something else. He could not pass the examinations and became just a chemist, but he imposes the desire to become a doctor onto his son. He sends him to school with great hope that his child will achieve what he could not achieve. He is doing it all out of his unconscious love, but unconscious love is not love – it is blind. With all good intentions, it does harm. The child who is being forced to become a doctor, if he was left alone to grow according to his own nature…one never knows what kind of beauty or joy, what kind of individuality, he would have contributed to the world.Zen’s whole approach is just to be yourself – very ordinary, unknown, unnamed, but utterly content. To have faith in yourself you don’t need to have faith in Jesus Christ or in Krishna or in Moses. To have faith in yourself is simple – just to have faith in yourself. Know perfectly well that you are moving into an unknown territory. There may be dangers ahead, you are moving into insecurity, but to take the challenge of being yourself makes you really alive. And when you attain, when you discover yourself, you are on the highest peak of consciousness.The presidents and the kings and the queens and the prime ministers will never know about it. Knowing it, being it, there comes a tremendous relaxation. You are not going anywhere, you are just here. You have been always here. Your consciousness is unpolluted. Whatever has happened to you has not left any marks on your consciousness. All those marks are just on the mind, and the mind is not you.By lack of faith you fall into a state of uncertainty…Obviously – if you don’t have faith in yourself you will have to have faith in somebody else. How can you know that the other is right? How can you know that Jesus Christ is the only begotten son of God?I have often told of a small incident that happened in Baghdad. A man declared, “I am the latest prophet after Mohammed. I bring the latest dispensation from God himself.”Now it is impossible for Mohammedans to accept anybody after Mohammed. Before Mohammed you can talk about Buddha, about Jesus – it doesn’t matter. But Mohammed is the last word. The man was caught and brought before the Khalif of Baghdad. He repeated again, “Nobody is listening to me, but I say unto you that I am the last prophet! Now times have changed, God sends new messengers. I bring the latest message. Mohammed is out of date.”In fact he was right. Mohammed is out of date, everybody is out of date. But his insistence that he is a prophet sent by God himself…. Mohammedans are not very liberal or compassionate people. They don’t believe in argument either, they believe in the sword. That is their only argument: whoever can cut off the other’s head is right.Naturally Omar, the Khalif, said, “Take this man and put him in jail, and for seven days give him the real treatment. Unless he confesses that he is not the prophet, that Mohammed is the only and last prophet, torture him. After seven days I will come to visit.”They bound the man to a pillar and for seven days they beat him; blood was oozing out of his every pore. He was given no food or water. After seven days the Khalif came and asked the man, “Have you changed your mind or are you still insistent?”The man said, “When I came here God’s last message was, ‘Remember, you will be beaten, you will be stoned, you may be crucified.’ So all these seven days you have only been proving that I am the prophet! Only prophets are treated in such a way.”Omar said, “This is a difficult case.”At this moment another man, bound to another pillar, who had been tortured there for one month, shouted, “That man is wrong, Omar. Don’t believe him! I have never sent anybody after Mohammed! I have come myself.”He was God himself. He had been jailed one month earlier.If you don’t have faith in yourself, you are going to have faith in some madman who proclaims to be God’s messenger or God himself, or proclaims that he is a reincarnation. But deep down there will be doubt – how can you believe that that man is not mad?Rinzai is saying:By lack of faith you fall into a state of uncertainty, in which you conform to all the fluctuations in your surroundings, subjecting yourself to their myriad revolutions, so that you are unable to achieve freedom. If you, however, succeed in stopping the mind, as it momentarily dashes hither and thither in its search, you then become indistinguishable from the patriarchs and buddhas.Patriarchs are equivalent to the master, founders of some school of Zen.When your mind is silent and all the vibrations of thoughts are no more there, you are one with the buddhas and with the masters. There is nothing to divide. In this position sometimes even the sanest men have declared that they are the buddha, that they are God, but this is a totally different situation. A madman shows every sign of madness, he does not radiate buddhahood. He does not have the fragrance of those heights, nor can you see in his eyes the pacific depths.There are moments in meditation when you are a buddha. The only distinction between a madman and the man who is a real buddha is that the buddha is compassionate, loving, and is not declaring that he is the only begotten son of God. He is saying, “I am a buddha and you are a buddha, whether you know it or not.” The madman declares, “I am the only buddha – you are just ordinary human beings, made of mud. God breathed in you and you started running hither and thither.”The English word Adam means mud. God made man out of mud. In America we had our commune, Rancho Rajneesh. Before we went there it was called the Big Muddy Ranch. I always wondered, perhaps God took all the mud from this Big Muddy Ranch and created humanity. There wasn’t any mud at that Big Muddy Ranch, it was a desert. And certainly it was big, one hundred and twenty-six square miles.All the words…for example human being – human comes from humus, and humus means mud. Religions have degraded man into puppets, made of mud. That is the distinction – the madman who is declaring himself as the prophet or the messiah or the Christ does not say that you are also Christ. He wants to be special, that is a sure sign of madness.A buddha is absolute sanity. He knows that he is a buddha and he knows you are also a buddha. You are just asleep. Perhaps you have not decided yet to wake up, but it is your freedom to do so.Do you see the difference? The madman wants to be special; the buddha is not special. He is declaring the buddhahood of every living thing – not only of human beings, but even of pine trees and rosebushes. They are on the way to buddhahood; sooner or later they will also be human beings. But whether they know it or not, it does not matter. As far as their innermost nature is concerned, it remains the same.The difference between the buddha and the rest of existence is simply that the buddha has awakened to his reality. So the buddha is continuously trying to wake you up; creating devices, methods, knowing perfectly well that you are asleep, that you only need some cold water thrown into your eyes. But the madman does not believe that you are also a buddha.Jesus Christ belongs to the category of madmen, because of his statement that he is the only begotten son of God, and you are just sheep. He is your shepherd; he will lead you and, if he is leading you, you are on the right path – have faith in him! If you go astray you will be lost. In fact he is saying, “Don’t have faith in yourself. Give your faith to me, I am the only one who is connected directly with God. Have trust in me.” No buddha will say that.In the eyes of a buddha this is sheer nonsense. This is the difference between Christianity, Hinduism, Jainism, Mohammedanism – all the religions of the world on one side – and Zen, standing alone, in utter sanity. Zen says that you all have the universal consciousness. Nobody is special. A few people are asleep and a few people are awake, there is not much of a difference.Do you want to know who are the patriarchs and buddhas? All of you listening to my teaching here before me are such.I can accept Rinzai as an authentic master. He knows what he is saying, because he is not putting himself over others. He is just saying that we are all part of one consciousness.You followers of the way, there is no need for you to devote effort to the Buddhist teaching. Only do the ordinary things with no special effort: relieve your bowels, pass water, wear your clothes, eat your food, and, when tired, lie down. The simple fellow will laugh at you, but the wise will understand.An ancient said: “All those who strive outwardly are stupid.”The very idea of becoming a buddha is stupid, because you are a buddha. The question is of waking up, not of becoming.Suffice it to be one’s own master wherever one may happen to be, and reality will prevail everywhere. Thus one will remain unshaken under all circumstances.Rinzai said on another occasion:In your red heart, there is a true man of no fixed position, who comes in and goes out through your forehead. I urge those who have not experienced this, to try to see it.A footnote: “In China, the heart is believed to be the seat of thought, or intelligence, and its western equivalent is mind. A true man of no fixed position is the mind which, according to Huang Po, also known as Obaku, has neither location nor direction because it is as immense as space.”This footnote must be from the translator. The red heart does not mean the mind. In Zen tradition the red heart is simply the one that the physician and the physiologist know, the one that is running the body. That heart is the center of the body. To complete the distinction, behind this heart there is another heart which in China they used to call the “inner heart.”In India just a few years ago, there was a man, Brahma Yogi, who had practiced for almost half a century to bring his breathing to a complete stop. His heartbeat disappeared, his pulse disappeared. He was capable of remaining in this position for ten minutes. He had been tested at many medical institutes, and doctors around the world had given him a death certificate. In those ten minutes they could not find any sign of life. It was his agreement that he would go out of the body, and, “If you find no sign of life, you have to write a certificate for me just the way you would for any dead person.”They could not believe that this man could come back. He had gone too far away: no pulse, no heartbeat, no breathing. He was examined with very accurate instruments, but there was no sign of life. Yet after ten minutes he started kicking again. Slowly breathing came back, the heart started functioning again, the blood started running. These doctors could not believe it, but they had to believe. He was given many hundreds of death certificates, no man in the world got so many death certificates, and from very prominent people. Ordinarily one is enough!Obviously he proved beyond doubt that what you call death is not real. Only his outer heart stopped. The inner heart, which you have not found yet, has the capacity to go out of the body. Sometimes accidentally, in deep hypnosis, it happens that you suddenly find yourself floating above your body. Your body is lying down on the floor, and you can see your hypnotist sitting there by your dead body.If a certain doubt arises in this moment, then death will happen. But if you are under hypnosis, doubt cannot arise. You have trusted the man to hypnotize you, and because doubt does not arise, when the man calls you to come back, your body – the astral body, the inner body, the self – slowly comes down and enters into your physical body.It is a tremendously beautiful experience, but dangerous too. If somebody tries to wake you up while you are out, he will think that you are dead and start preparing for the funeral. If you become afraid you may forget how you came out; then how to get back? Coming in and out of the body is not part of knowledge, it is not a technique. Yes, if you make it a point to practice it, it can become possible for you to come out of the body and return whenever you want, but not ordinarily. Sometimes in a car accident your inner self is so much shaken that it leaves the body. But because of your desires you are attached to the body, and you will be pulled back into it.If a meditator who is finished completely with all desires is in such an accident, he may not return to the body at all. Everybody will think it was an accidental death, but it was not accidental, it was very intentional. The person decided not to return. But nobody can catch hold of him to take him to the court.Here in this Buddha Hall it may happen many times, but don’t talk about it to anybody. If you feel sometimes that you are hovering, don’t be worried. Just one hit of Nivedano’s drum and you will jump back into your body. That’s why it’s so safe to tell you to die, because I know you cannot go far away in two minutes. You will be just here, hovering. Just a good drumbeat and you will hurry back, “Everybody is coming back, what am I doing out here? My body is there.” Be quick, because somebody else may enter.That is the only problem I have to keep watching for – that nobody enters into somebody else’s body. So if some day you feel like floating, then float, but stay close by. Don’t go out for an evening walk, just to see what is happening outside the gate – that could be dangerous. By the time you come back somebody else may have entered. You can also enter, but it is a very difficult situation when there are two spirits in one body.Once in a while those cases happen, then you say the person is possessed by a ghost. But the reality is that the ghost lost track of his body after some incident, or does not know how he came out of his body.My first experience out of the body was falling from a tree. I used to meditate just behind the university, where there was a beautiful hillock and three tall trees, very silent, and nobody used to go there. I used to sit in one of the trees and meditate. One day suddenly I saw that I was sitting in the tree and at the same time my body had fallen down and was lying on the ground. For a moment I could not find how to enter into it again. It was just a coincidence that a woman who used to bring milk to the university from the nearby village saw my body falling down, so she came close. She must have heard that in situations when the inner body becomes separated from the outer body, if you rub between the eyes, the third eye, that is the door. The spirit that has left will be able to enter.So she rubbed my third eye. I could see her rubbing my forehead, and the next moment I opened my eyes and thanked her and asked her how she knew to do that.She had simply heard about it. It was a primitive village, but she had heard the traditional idea that the third eye is the place from where one leaves and where one can come back.In your red heart, there is a true man of no fixed position, who comes in and goes out through your forehead.That place in the forehead is called in yoga the third eye.I urge those who have not experienced this, to try to see it.Rinzai is saying it is a tremendously significant experience, because then no argument is needed for you to be convinced that you are not this body – that you are astral, invisible. Within this body is hiding another body; behind this heart is beating another heart, which medical science may one day discover. The mystics have always insisted it is there. It is in your hands if you want to experiment.Just meditating, feel your body lying there. Feel that from your forehead your spirit is moving up, hovering in the air; but don’t go too far. And always remember the forehead, the third eye, is the door through which you go out and come back in. This experience creates a conviction. Then it is no more faith. Then you know that you are immortal, that this body is just a bag, a cage.The poet, Juo, wrote:Beyond the snatch of time,my daily life.I scorn the state, unhitchthe universe.Denying cause and effect,like the noon sky.My up-down career: buddhasnor patriarchs can convey it.He is saying that causality is the basis of science, but your being is not within the area of causality. You are not caused by anything, you are here from eternity to eternity. And the experience of this is something even buddhas cannot express. He is saying, “I am a poor poet. Don’t expect me to express what I have experienced. Even great buddhas find themselves utterly helpless as far as expressing it is concerned.”Shutaku wrote:For all these years, my certain Zen:neither I nor the world exist.The sutras neat within the box,my cane hooked upon the wall,I lie at peace in moonlight,or, hearing some watersplashing on the rock, sit up:none can purchasepleasure such as this:spangles across the step-moss,a million coins!To be in absolute simplicity, to be in such silence…You are no more mortal human beings. Every day I am reminding you about your immortality, about the fiction of death. It never happens, it has never happened.You are beyond destruction.Maneesha has asked:Osho,I imagined that our tendency to put ourselves down was a product of our conditioning, and something peculiar to modern man. But even in Rinzai's time it appears that was the chief obstacle to self-realization too.Can a society of unenlightened people exist only if everybody is made to feel inadequate?Yes, Maneesha. This kind of society can exist only if it makes you feel inadequate. This kind of society, the structure, needs people who are suffering, or made to suffer, from inferiority, who deep down are carrying a conditioning that they are unworthy, undeserving. This kind of society can exist only if it makes every child inadequate, because this society needs exploitation, this society has invested itself in exploiting human beings. It does not and it cannot allow everybody to be himself, because if everybody is himself there cannot be any religious organization to exploit you – no Christianity, no pope, no kings or queens, no leaders. Because then an individual is enough unto himself, he does not need any leader.All these so-called great people – politicians, priests – exist because every child has been crippled, has not been allowed to become an individual in his own right. Otherwise he will not follow anybody. He will follow himself, he will move in directions which are of his own choosing. He will not need any guide and will not need any map and will not need any dictators. This kind of society can exist only if the children en masse are forced to feel inadequate.And my effort here is to give you your forgotten dignity. This is the most revolutionary step, because if you can remember your forgotten dignity, your spirituality, your eternity, you will be freed from all the churches, from all the nations. You will be freed from all kinds of stupid ideologies and superstitions. Your consciousness will be such an explosion of light that everything that is false will disappear.Then this explosion creates a chain reaction – and that is my effort. It is possible to make a chain reaction.I am making every effort to have small groups of sannyasins radiating in every country. The whole world can be transformed if we have just a few people everywhere who can become aflame. Then their flame will move like a wildfire, destroying all kinds of slaveries and all kinds of chains and imprisonments – creating a new sky, a new freedom for man.You are right. In Rinzai’s time also the same was the case. The whole past of humanity is a past of psychological slavery, physical slavery. Only a few people like Gautam Buddha or Rinzai or Basho, in thousands of years amongst millions of people, have been able to escape from psychological bondage. These people were always thought dangerous by the society.Now so many parliaments in the world, without ever defining what kind of danger I am, have an unconscious feeling that this man is dangerous and should not be allowed in their country. They don’t know exactly what danger they are talking about. I am utterly amazed that in these big parliaments not a single person raises the question, “What danger do you mean? What danger is this man to anyone?” No, it is simply accepted. It is taken for granted that, “This man is dangerous.”But I know they are right. They are calling me dangerous without knowing it. I call myself dangerous because I know I am dangerous. I am preparing a situation far more dangerous to the whole society than the nuclear scientists are creating. Their nuclear weapons most probably will never be used; sooner or later they will be thrown into the ocean. But I am creating a totally different kind of explosion – not an atomic explosion, but an explosion of cosmic consciousness. If this fire spreads, suddenly you will see that those great leaders are just ordinary people, just like you, but pretenders, impostors. You will see that your kings and queens are all bogus, exploiting the society for thousands of years. You will see that your priests are lying and lying continuously about everything.This vision, if it spreads, is bound to create a new man and a new society.A new man can only be an enlightened man.A new man can only be a buddha.And if there are just a few buddhas around the world, we can create the wildfire.It has never been tried, but it is just like…nobody knew about atomic energy until it was tried at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nobody could imagine that a small atom that you cannot see is carrying so much energy that it can destroy a great city like Nagasaki, with a population of one hundred thousand people, or Hiroshima, an even bigger city. In the whole of history nobody ever dreamt that atoms are carrying so much energy.Now I am saying to you that if material atoms can explode and destroy so much…how much more creative a conscious explosion of living beings can be. It can explode millions of people suddenly into a new era of enlightenment.All their potentialities should become actualities. You will see thousands of poets, you will see thousands of musicians, you will see thousands of sculptors, thousands of scientists who were fast asleep and were just clerks or schoolmasters – who never knew that their potential is that of a buddha.We have to create what I call the chain effect, the trigger effect. Now you are all sitting so silently, and I can give just a trigger…(Osho makes a tickling gesture towards Avirbhava who screams. Everybody laughs.)Before we do our meditation, a few laughs. And this laughter has a beauty, because it has no cause.(Laughter continues.)I have not told the joke yet!(More hilarious laughter.)Have you ever heard such laughter before the joke? Today you have surpassed Sardar Gurudayal Singh. Even he is looking puzzled. Now be quiet, so that I can read the jokes!Mr. Samosa, one of Pune’s most successful businessmen, is a rubber-ware manufacturer.He invites guests from an International Management Conference for a tour of his factory. Proudly, he introduces his different products, everything from tractor tires to baby-bottle nipples. He is especially proud of his fully automatic condom making machine, with a special electronic leak-proof tester.By the side of the machine, a man is sitting and carefully punching holes in the condoms with a needle.“What is he doing that for?” asks one of the visitors, “Is it part of the quality test?”“No,” replies Samosa, proudly, “we are trying to promote our Hindu baby products.”Gertie Gusher has been fooling around with other men, and her husband, Gary, the Texas oil millionaire, takes her to court and demands a divorce.“On what grounds?” asks Judge Grump.“Breach of contract,” replies Gusher.“Please,” says the judge, “you don’t own your wife, so you can’t treat her like a piece of property.”“Maybe not,” growls the oilman, “but I sure have the exclusive drilling rights!”Two worms, Wilbur and Wallace, share a little hole underneath the Sunnyvale Golf Course.One day, they plan to go for a wriggle across the course, so Wilbur goes up to see what the weather is like.Around this time, two women are playing golf just overhead, and one of them urgently has to pee.“Don’t worry,” says the partner, “there is no one around, you can pee right here.”So the woman squats down and starts peeing. Just at that moment, Wilbur pops his head out of his hole.Soaked by the flood of urine, Wilbur quickly wriggles back down into the ground.“I see it is raining,” says Wallace to his dripping friend.“It certainly is,” agrees Wilbur, drying himself on his towel. “In fact, it is raining so hard that the birds are building their nests upside-down!”Old Mrs. Grumblebum, the wealthy hypochondriac, goes to ask her doctor to cure her latest imaginary illness.Doctor Spook is completely fed up with the old bag, and tries to tell her she is perfectly well. But Mrs. Grumblebum insists that there is something wrong with her. Despairing, Doctor Spook tells her he will have to make some tests, so he gives her a small plastic cup and tells her to produce a urine sample.When she comes back five minutes later, he asks her next to produce a feces sample in the same cup.“Good,” says Spook when Mrs. Grumblebum returns. “Now stick your finger in the cup, stir it around and then drink all of it.”Obediently doing as the doctor tells her, Mrs. Grumblebum downs the concoction.Immediately, she is violently sick.“Ah-ha!” shouts Doctor Spook. “Just as I suspected. Upset stomach!”Now, Nivedano…beat the drum.(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent.Close your eyes.Feel your body completely frozen.Collect your consciousness, your awareness,within your heart,the red heart of Rinzai.It is there your buddha is hiding.The discovery is very simple.Just go ondeeper and deeper.Don’t be afraidbecause there is nothing to fear in the world.And particularly when you are going inwardyou are not going to meet anyoneon the way.You will be meeting only yourself.Let this meeting be a rejoicing,a homecoming.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax.Let go.Just be dead. This is simply a wayto concentrate your energyat the very center of your being.This moment you are the buddha.Let this moment stretchthrough all your life.Just go on reminding yourselfwho you are.And this remindingis going to bring a revolution;not only to you,but anybody who comes around youis going to feel the beauty,the grace,the bliss and the fire.In this fireeverything that is false burns away,and only the pure gold flowersin their uttermost beauty remain.A dance arises in youfor no particular reason.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back.Sit down for a few momentsremembering the space you have been in.Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?

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The Miracle 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

The Miracle 04 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,Dogen wrote:Quietly consider the fact that if this were a time when the true dharma had not yet spread throughout the world, it would be impossible for us to come into contact with it, even if we were willing to sacrifice our lives to do so. How fortunate to have been born in the present day, when we are able to make this encounter!We are now able to come in contact with the Buddha Sakyamuni and hear his teachings due to the compassionate kindness that has resulted from the constant practice of each of the buddhas and patriarchs. If the buddhas and patriarchs had not directly transmitted the dharma, how could it have come down to us today?The true way of expressing this gratitude can be found only in our daily practice itself.How transient our life is! To utter two or three words of the buddhas and patriarchs completely is to express the buddhas and patriarchs themselves fully. Why is this so?In their realm there is no gap between body and mind, so every word of their uttering is their warm body and mind.Therefore, when we become the buddhas and patriarchs, we transcend them.This is the practical expression of two or three words of buddhas and patriarchs.So I strongly urge you to pursue the practice of the buddhas and patriarchs.Maneesha, obviously these statements of Dogen were uttered before his enlightenment. He is a beautiful scholar, a learned man. He has a rare intellect; from the age of seven he was able to translate Buddha’s words from Chinese to Japanese. At the age of four he was able to learn Chinese. He was a rare child, a rare intellect, a genius. But that is a barrier as far as Zen is concerned. It must have been a difficult time for him to later change gears from mind to heart.These sutras are just from the mind. Whoever has compiled these sutras does not know that a master does not speak the way Dogen is speaking. This is the way of the scholar.I have to remind you that at some point Dogen must have become a master. We have discussed the sutras written when he had become enlightened. It is a good comparison…to see in a single man what enlightenment brings and what the impediments are. Even to a man like Dogen with such immense and unique intelligence…the problem arises that his intelligence is so great that it is very difficult to take the jump out of it.Sometimes things which are blissful, fortunate, become unfortunate, dangerously preventing the quantum leap. You can see why I call him still a scholar.Dogen wrote: Quietly consider…What is consideration? It cannot be meditation. There is no place for consideration in meditation. Consideration is of the mind, consideration is another name for thinking. And how can you consider something which you don’t know?Just the fact that he is asking,Quietly consider the fact that if this were a time when the true dharma has not yet spread throughout the world, it would be impossible for us to come into contact with it.Sheer nonsense. If Gautam Buddha could become a buddha when there were no precedents, then what is the problem for you to become a buddha? Whether Buddha existed or not – he may be a myth, a fiction, it makes no difference, because it is not Gautam Buddha that has to be taken into consideration. It is your own being which I am calling the buddha. And your own being is always with you, whether Buddha has existed or not, whether so many enlightened people on his path have existed or not.I don’t have a master, I don’t know Chinese. I don’t know Japanese, in which the original Zen teachings are written, and I don’t care! In fact, listening to me, if the scholars see that I am saying something different from what is in their books, then they should change their books, correct their books.It happened…Bhikkshu Anand Kausalyayan has just died. He was one of the most prominent Buddhists of the contemporary world. I used to stay in Nagpur in a friend’s house when I was traveling around India, and that friend was intimate with Bhikkshu Anand Kausalyayan. He said to me, “Anand Kausalyayan wants to meet you. I have talked about you so many times, and he has also heard about you.”I said, “I will be very happy to meet him. I have read his books. You bring him to your home.”So that evening Anand Kausalyayan came to see me and it became a Zen encounter. I had to, because the first thing I asked him was, “Are you a Buddhist or a buddha?”He looked at the host with whom I was staying, and I could see that he understood, but he was caught in a net. I was staring into his eyes, so he could not lie! He said, “I am sorry, I am still a Buddhist.”I said, “What is the point of being a Buddhist? You are getting older every day. Any moment death will take you away, and your Buddhism will not help. Why don’t you become a buddha?”He said, “My God, I had come to see you to have a polite conversation.”I said, “With me nothing is polite, either this way or that way. If you are not a buddha, then how is a conversation possible? I am a buddha, you are a mere scholar.”He said, “That seems to be true. When I heard you for the first time in a Buddhist conference in Bodhgaya you told a story. I loved the story, but I have been searching in Buddhist scriptures – that story is not there! Now almost five years have passed and I am still looking in every nook and corner, because Buddhism has many scriptures…maybe somewhere that story is. But there is no trace.”I said, “You are doing a wrong thing! You just write the story down in any of your scriptures. A buddha himself is speaking. And you can at least understand that that kind of story can happen only to a buddha. So it does not matter whether it happened to Gautam Buddha or to some other buddha, the taste of it is just like the ocean – taste it anywhere and it is the same. Don’t be bothered about who is telling the story, don’t be bothered about the bamboo from which the song is flowing. It is not the bamboo but the hollowness of the bamboo that allows the singer to sing.”“Meditation makes you a hollow bamboo and the same universal spirit starts singing through you. So don’t bother with unnecessarily looking into dead scriptures, write it down here, now, and add it to any Buddhist scripture.”He said, “That is very difficult. Nothing can be added, that would be very unholy.”I said, “Do you like the story?”He said, “I immensely like it.”I said, “Do you think anybody who is not a buddha can manage that story?”He said, “No, I don’t think so.”“Then,” I said, “be a little courageous. Scholars are always just like mice, no courage at all. Be a lion!”The story was a simple story I have told you many times, and I don’t care whether it happened or not. It makes sense, it makes you understand something of the inexpressible, that is justification enough. If it did not happen, it should have happened. If I ever meet Gautam Buddha I will force him to correct the omission.Anand Kausalyayan said, “I have another appointment.”I said, “I know you must have another appointment, that our conversation is not going to happen. But remember that all your scholarship and all your fame all over Asia, wherever Buddhism prevails, is worth nothing, because you don’t have the courage to be a buddha. And being a buddha is not somebody’s monopoly. Being a buddha is not being a Buddhist. A Buddhist is a follower, a buddha knows. A buddha has no need to follow anybody.”The story was that Gautam Buddha and Ananda, his disciple, were passing through a forest. They had just crossed a small stream. Buddha is an old man, and he says to Ananda, “I am feeling very thirsty, you just go back and from that stream bring me some water in my bowl.”Ananda took the bowl and went back. But meanwhile a few bullock carts had passed through the stream and had disturbed its water completely; it had become muddy. Dead leaves which were silently asleep on the bottom had surfaced to have another look at the world. The water was not drinkable, and Ananda was in a difficulty: what to do? This water he cannot take for his master. So he went back. Buddha was sitting under a tree and asked, “Have you brought the water?”He told what happened. Buddha said, “You are stupid. You just go there and sit by the side of the stream. When we came it was not muddy. The dead leaves were asleep on the bottom, the water was crystal clear. So just go there and wait, it needs only patience. Soon the leaves will be gone; because the stream is flowing, they cannot stay there. The dirt will settle – gravitation is continuously pulling everything towards itself. Everything is being done, soon the water will be clear.”Ananda did not want to go, because he had seen that it had become so dirty that it would take days to have that same crystal-clear quality that Buddha remembered.He said, “Don’t be worried. I will bring water, but I will have to go in the other direction. Ahead there is a big river. It will take a little longer time, because it must be four miles from here, but it will be fresh water, drinkable water. You rest here.”Buddha insisted, “Don’t change your mind, just go back.” And when the master says, “Just go back…” Unwillingly, deep down resisting, Ananda went back and was surprised and shocked that meanwhile the leaves had gone and the dirt had settled. He had not even to wait, the water was as crystal-clear as it was before! All that was foreign – the dirt, the dead leaves – had all gone. The water had come to its purity. He filled the begging bowl of Gautam Buddha.But insistently he was aware of the question, “Why was Buddha so adamant that I have to come back here to bring water? He needs water…I could have brought it from another stream. Why this stream? There must be some reason.”And as he came back towards Buddha the reason became clear. Just as the leaves and the dirt, which are not natural to the stream – which are foreign visitors, tourists – are bound to leave sooner or later…. Suddenly he realized what Buddha meant – that your thoughts, your emotions, your sentiments, all are foreign to your buddha nature. If you just wait patiently they all will disappear without any effort on your side. Your purity will assert itself on its own accord. The buddha arising in you is a spontaneous phenomenon.This was the story I had told in the Bodhgaya conference. Anand Kausalyayan was interested; the story was really beautiful. It was an absolutely clear explanation of Buddhist meditation. You have just to wait, don’t do anything – otherwise you will make things muddled. Just wait by the side, watch and be patient, and it is going to happen.He said, “The story really impressed me, but now that I know that it is not in the scriptures…”I said, “Does it interest you or not? Because it is not in the scriptures, has it lost its significance?”He said, “I have never encountered a person like you, who says, ‘What I am saying, put it down into your scripture.’ I would love to do it, but it is not according to tradition, and nobody will accept it.”I said, “It does not matter, you accepted.”He considered, wavered a little – looked at his host again for help, because he had entered into the lion’s den unnecessarily. All his scholarship was useless. In the face of truth all scholarship is always useless; but the scholars find it immensely difficult to take the jump beyond their mind, because their mind is so precious to them. It contains so many beautiful scriptures, it is their respectability, it is their honor, it is their dignity, it is the whole treasure they have.It is a strange fact that the more you know, the more you are filled with borrowed knowledge, the less is the possibility of your knowing the truth. The less you know, the less knowledgeable you are, the greater is the possibility to drop your mind, because it is worthless anyway. You don’t know anything, you have nothing to lose. But a scholar has much to lose.It is good, in a way, that we discussed Dogen after he became enlightened and now we are discussing his difficult times, when he must have been a man of great scholarship. His language shows it:Quietly consider the fact that if this were a time when the true dharma had not yet spread throughout the world, it would be impossible for us to come into contact with it.Now this is stupid. If Gautam Buddha could come to realize it without any Buddhism anywhere, it simply shows that each individual is capable of realizing himself without any tradition. It is good, and encouraging, that there have been buddhas before. To your weak hearts it gives a certain nourishment, a certain trustfulness. But it is not a scientific fact.Even if there had been no buddha before me, I would have been a buddha anyway, because the buddha simply means an awakened soul. Why can’t I wake up? Do I need somebody else to wake up first? And that, too, thousands of years before? Because Gautam Buddha woke up thousands of years before Dogen, does that help a sleeping person in any way now? In fact the sleeping person does not even know that somebody has become awakened. In what way can it help?This is just a scholar’s mind. He is making a logical and rational statement: because Buddhism has spread all over the world, that has made us capable of becoming enlightened. That is sheer nonsense – scholarly, of course.… even if we were willing to sacrifice our lives to do so.How did Buddha attain to be a buddha? By risking all. Anybody anywhere – in any time, in any country – if he is ready to risk everything, his mind, his body, and just be a watcher, unidentified, he is bound to become a buddha; it does not matter whether Gautam Buddha really existed or not.He is saying:How fortunate to have been born in the present day, when we are able to make this encounter!Just a foolish scholarly statement. Every moment is blessed for the courageous one, who can come out of the sheep’s skin and give a good lion’s roar.You are all hiding, because to be a sheep is secure; the crowd is unafraid of the sheep. Be a lion and all the crowds around the world become afraid. And to tell people that they also are lions is the most dangerous thing to all the vested interests. As sheep they can oppress you because you are ready to be oppressed. They can enslave you because you need, deeply need, to be enslaved. Alone you feel almost as if you are dying. You need a crowd around you, it feels cozy and warm.Have you watched sheep? They always move in a crowd, a big crowd, almost stepping on each other. Just the feeling that everybody else is there, there is no need to be afraid…. But nobody has seen a lion moving in a crowd of lions. A lion moves alone. The very word crowd is dishonorable.These scholars want you to understand that you can only be a follower. And of course to be a follower a master is needed. I want to tell you that a master is helpful, but is not an absolute necessity. A master is helpful only in the sense that seeing a bird fly, its small children gather courage and start fluttering their own small wings. They are sitting on the edge of their nest, the sky seems to be so vast and they are so small. But their parents flying around the nest are simply encouraging them, “Don’t be afraid, if we can fly, you can fly also.”I used to live in a place where there was a mango grove. Cuckoos like mangoes very much. In a mango grove you will find cuckoos singing day and night. When the newborn comes out of the egg – I have watched – trembling, hesitating, he wants to fly, just as the mother is doing, but he feels afraid because he has never done it, and who knows whether he will be able to do it or will fall to the ground and die?The mother goes to a nearby tree and gives a call. Watching them I started learning their language. I could distinguish the call of a lover to his beloved, and the call from a mother to the child, and a call from the child to the mother – small differences, but you can decipher them. The mother’s call is simply to tell the child, “Come up close to me, it is not far away, just look!” She goes around the tree again. And I have seen that if the child cannot gather courage, just flutters but remains on the edge of the nest, the mother has to push him.It is worth seeing when the mother pushes the child. He is so afraid, it is just as if somebody is pushing you into ice-cold water and you don’t know swimming. But he flutters his wings, he cannot do anything else, he has to flutter; he has seen what the mother was doing. And within seconds the transformation – he has gone to the other tree from where the mother was calling him and gives a call in response, “Now you can come!”Every day he goes farther and farther and a day comes that he says good-bye and never comes to the nest again, the whole sky is his.The master is certainly a tremendous help. His very presence gives you a guarantee, his very authority takes away your fear of the unknown, but he is not absolutely necessary. You can take the jump without any master. Gautam Buddha did, then why can’t you? Why does Dogen have to wait for Buddhism to spread all over the world to be able to become a buddha?I don’t want you to be a buddha tomorrow. There is no need to wait. The buddha is your nature. All that is needed is to be acquainted with it.Now sitting here is Rajendra Anuragi. He has a high post in Madhya Pradesh, deputy-director of communications. And because he has come here…He is only on leave; after the leave finishes he is going to take retirement.But rumors must have spread, and the government is threatening his wife, “You vacate the government house,” and, “We are going to cut off the electricity, telephone, water.”But Rajendra Anuragi is made of a different mettle. I know him from my very childhood. I have sent him a message, “Don’t be worried by such political pressures, just tell your wife and your children that if the government takes the house, ‘Here is your home, you can come here.’”But Rajendra Anuragi is not to go back. Going back is very cowardly. And all these threats – they have not taken the house, they have not cut the telephone – all these threats are simply so that his wife becomes afraid. She has had a heart attack, she has been hospitalized, the children must be worried – naturally the government must be thinking that Rajendra Anuragi, seeing the situation, will come back.For a courageous man, no situation exists which can change his mind. He has come here and if the government wants the house – although it is illegal, he is only on leave – they can take the house, they can take the telephone and the electricity and the water, but not before his retirement.But they cannot threaten a man…. This is how the crowd goes on threatening everybody and keeps everybody as sheep. Religions force you to be sheep. All the religions want followers, but this place is for the masters. Here is no crowd, but an assembly of lions, just meeting together. A few lions are asleep…(There is a loud belly laugh from Sardar Gurudayal Singh.)It does not matter, it’s just an old habit. They will wake up when they will hear Sardar Gurudayal Singh.I don’t want you to be a follower, I want you to be yourself, absolutely, categorically. Only then you can find your buddhahood. It is not something that comes from outside or from tradition, it is something that has to be discovered within yourself.At the most, the master can be a help. But the master is not a necessity. And I have to remind you, the master can also become a hindrance, because you may start thinking that because you have a master you don’t have to do anything, the master will take care. There are people who are saying this.Jesus goes on saying, “Believe in me” – don’t believe in yourself – “Believe in me and I will take care.”Krishna says, “Believe in me and I will take care. Whenever there is some problem I will come back.” Five thousand years have passed and there have been problems and problems and I am waiting to see the guy come back! But not even a postcard! He has not left even a phone number! These people have deceived millions of people for thousands of years. People become believers, they think that that’s all that is needed of them.So in a sense a master can be a hindrance – if he promises you, “I will do anything for you.” You have to find a master like me who is so lazy…I can promise you: I will never do anything for you! I don’t do anything for myself either.But there are times when I need to hit you. I had to call back from Germany a solid stonehead; he is sitting there with his staff. But I don’t order him to hit, because a German hit can be dangerous. Rather than making you enlightened it may make you hospitalized, because Germans don’t know that these Japanese masters were not really hitting, they were just using very light bamboos. I have never heard that anybody’s head was broken or that anybody got a fracture, so naturally I conclude that those hits were just playful.The master can be a help if he is just a friend, a presence in which you can learn to be yourself, a presence which can encourage you to fly into the sky. But he can be a hindrance if he promises, “I will deliver you from your sins.”Jesus was continually asked when the day of judgment would come, because on the day of judgment all the souls will wake up from their graves and God will decide who is a sinner and who is a saint. And Jesus said, “I am his only begotten son, I will point out who are my people. For them a special concession…they will enter into paradise without any difficulty.”It has been asked in the Bible again and again…because the disciples were worried, “When is this day of judgment going to happen?”And he used to say, “Soon.” Two thousand years have passed, he himself has passed, and the day of judgment has not happened. And I tell you it will never happen, because there is no God to judge and there is no time where existence comes to an end. And what crimes have you done? Every crime that you have done reflects God and his work.Now psychologists are becoming more and more clear that if somebody murders it is not a crime, it is just hormonal, his chemistry is wrong. And our stupid judiciary goes on hanging these poor people who are suffering from a wrong chemistry for which they are not responsible. If you want to hang somebody, hang God! He is the only murderer, the only man who has raped, the only man who has been stealing, because all these things are built into your biology.Somebody becomes a thief because of a certain biology; what he needs is not imprisonment, but treatment, psychological and physiological. Nobody is a criminal, who are you going to judge? But making people afraid…”The day of judgment is very close, be quick and have faith in me and I will recognize you as one of my people. Otherwise you will be lost in a crowd of millions of skeletons, all around the world.” And God can not refuse his only begotten son’s followers, he has to accept them.These people like Jesus or Krishna who have made it a point that following them, having faith in them, is going to save you…they are criminals, utter criminals, because they have been deceiving millions of people for thousands of years. Nobody can save you except you.An authentic master is going to emphasize in thousands of ways that you are your own savior. In fact this should be the criterion of whether the master is true or a fraud. If he says, “I am going to save you,” he is a fraud, because he is keeping you away from yourself; he is preventing you from discovering your buddhahood; he is putting himself above you – superior, savior, messenger, God’s son, God’s incarnation. And you? You are just poor animals, just monkeys who have accidentally fallen from the trees and in falling have lost their tails.This was a very great problem for Charles Darwin. When he proposed his thesis that man is a descendant of the apes, the question was necessarily asked, “Where is man’s tail?” But fortunately or unfortunately, there is a place in your backbone which shows that there used to be something attached which is now missing. A monkey without a tail is impossible; the tail is his glory. But Darwin found on skeletons the place where the tail must have been attached, otherwise why is this place left there? Something is missing.Charles Darwin was not making an effort to prove that you are a buddha, he was trying his whole life to prove that you are just monkeys gone astray. You lost your tail in the meantime and now have forgotten completely how to jump from tree to tree. All the monkeys must be laughing, seeing these idiots standing on two legs. This is not natural – abnormal monkeys, stubborn…adamant outcasts, unfit monkeys rejected by the society perhaps.Jesus says you are sheep and he is the shepherd. All these people are consistently trying to take away your dignity as human beings.I say to you that you are the ultimate consciousness. You are not the body and you are not the mind; you are the buddha, the awakened one. It is just a question of sleeping or waking, not much of a difference. The sleeping person is not inferior just because you are awake and cannot sleep. His sleep simply shows that he is relaxed, while you are unnecessarily making efforts to wake him.I sometimes wonder whether I am doing the right thing. Sleeping people, rejoicing in their misery, in their suffering…and I am unnecessarily pulling their legs to get them out of their misery. They think misery is their blanket and they cling to the blanket. But whether I am right or wrong, I enjoy pulling legs.Dogen said:We are now able to come in contact with the Buddha Sakyamuni and hear his teachings due to the compassionate kindness that has resulted from the constant practice of each of the buddhas and patriarchs.You can see the language, it is that of a scholar and he is making absolutely wrong statements. It is not because of the buddhas in the past that you can become a buddha. You can become a buddha because you are essentially a buddha. The past buddhas may help you as a reminder, but not more than that. There is a danger also that you may start worshipping them, and once you start worshipping you will never remember your own buddha.It is such an absurdity that a living buddha is worshipping a stone buddha, praying to a stone buddha made by human hands. It is so hilarious that all over the world, in all the temples of the so-called gods, people are worshipping toys.I have told Avirbhava, “Collect all kinds of toys. We will make a beautiful museum and I appoint you the director general.” She has brought me a beautiful bear which walks, which makes sounds very similar to Avirbhava, and when he makes the sounds he waves his tail. It is really a beautiful toy.But all the gods are not even that much alive. The bear at least moves, waves its tail and makes sounds – and strangely enough those sounds are exactly like Avirbhava makes. Tomorrow you will see; Avirbhava will bring it herself.(Osho is laughing so much that he has difficulty speaking. Avirbhava is also laughing loudly.)Now this is…give it a try…how he walks and makes the sound…You will just be missing the tail, otherwise you are perfect.We are going to make a museum of all kinds of toys which humanity has been worshipping, so when visitors come you can show them that “These are your gods!”But as far as I am concerned, it is not needed at all for any buddhas to have preceded me or to precede you. I don’t accept any followers and I don’t accept any predecessors. Successors or predecessors are not needed, you are enough unto yourself. It is just a question of awakening. So everybody will wake up – how long can you sleep? We will go on harassing you.If the buddhas and patriarchs had not directly transmitted the dharma, how could it have come down to us today?Absolute bullshit! – but very scholarly, supported by the scriptures. Dharma is your very nature, that is the meaning of the word dharma. Just as coldness is the dharma of ice and heat is the dharma of fire, buddhahood is your dharma. Awareness is your dharma, your fire, your coolness, your nature. It has nothing to do with anybody who has become enlightened before you.Even if the whole history is completely erased, it won’t affect in any way people becoming enlightened. Because it is their nature, sooner or later they will blossom. They may go astray a little bit here and there and that is nothing wrong…just going for a morning walk, or being lost in a bazaar, in a shopping mall. But finally you will have to come home. You will have to realize yourself. Hence I cannot support Dogen’s idea.He says:The true way of expressing this gratitude can be found only in our daily practice itself.Gratitude for what? He is asking you to be grateful for Gautam Buddha, for Bodhidharma, for other patriarchs and masters. Gratitude is a by-product. He is not aware about the very psychology of man. Gratitude comes after you have become a buddha. Then you feel gratitude towards existence; then you feel the miracle that you have not asked for anything and you have been given everything, all the mysteries.Dogen goes on saying:How transient our life is! To utter two or three words of the buddhas and patriarchs completely is to express the buddhas and patriarchs themselves fully. Why is this so?In their realm there is no gap between body and mind, so every word of their uttering is their warm body and mind.Therefore, when we become the buddhas and patriarchs, we transcend them.He has not yet become a buddha. He does not know transcendence, he is still talking about it.This is the practical expression of two or three words of buddhas and the patriarchs.So I strongly urge you to pursue the practice of the buddhas and patriarchs.This is the way of a teacher, of a priest, of a professor; but these are not the words of a man who is awakened. The awakened people speak in a very different way – the same words, but they have a different nuance to them.A haiku by Basho:Along the mountain roadsomehow it tugs at my heart:a wild violet.Now, he is saying more than any scholar can say.A wild violet.Somehow it tugs at my heart:along the mountain road.A man of silence and understanding, a man of consciousness, understands the beauty of existence, even of a wild flower.A haiku by Kikaku:May he who brings flowerstonight,have moonlight.Because the same flowers in moonlight suddenly have a different splendor. In the silence of the night with the full moon, if somebody brings even some wild flowers they have such immense beauty.But this beauty and this silence are not for the mind to understand, they are for the being to experience.Ryota writes:That there is only oneis unbelievable tonight.This harvest moon!He is saying that there is only one buddha – that’s what the tradition says – who can save the world.That there is only oneis unbelievable tonight.This harvest moon!In the beauty of this harvest moon, in this silent sky full of stars, it is unbelievable that in the whole history of mankind there was only one man who became a buddha.And I absolutely support Ryota. There have been many buddhas in many different places, of different races, from different countries. They may not have been called buddhas, they may have spoken different languages, they may not have spoken at all; their existence may not have been recorded. But it is impossible to believe that in four million years there has been only one man who attained to the highest peak of consciousness.At least I can say: Forget the one, because I have touched the same peak. From now onwards remember two buddhas! I cannot say anything about any other buddhas; they may have been pretenders, they may have been just imitators. But I can say with absolute authority that I have known myself and I have known myself more than Gautam Buddha himself, because he got stuck at a point.He himself describes it in a beautiful way…In China there are ten pictures, just like Tarot cards, which are called, “The Ten Zen Bulls.”In the first card the bull has escaped from his owner. In the second card the owner is searching for him but does not know which way he has gone. In deep mountains, valleys, forests…which direction has he taken? In the third he finds the footprints of the bull.In the fourth, following the footprints he finds the bull hiding behind a tree, just his back is seen in the picture. In the fifth he has seen the whole bull.In the sixth he catches hold of the bull. It is a struggle, the bull does not want to go back home, he has found the freedom of the forest and the mountains and the rivers. But in the seventh the owner is dragging him back. In the eighth he has conquered the bull. In the ninth the bull is in the stable and the man is sitting under his roof, playing a flute. In the tenth, the man is going towards the pub with a bottle in his hand.Buddha has described that there comes a point when a buddha forgets his enlightenment. It becomes so natural that there is no need to remember it. The tenth is the transcendence beyond buddha.When this pack of cards came to Japan they dropped the tenth card because it looks very irreligious. It is perfectly good that the bull has been found – the bull represents the truth – that the buddha is at ease playing his flute. But the tenth seems to be very dangerous. So in Japan they dropped the tenth, they brought only nine cards. They were not courageous enough to see a buddha sitting in a pub sipping beer.But I would like the tenth card to be added again. It is beyond Buddha himself, because he himself said, “I am at the ninth stage. The tenth stage is just to become ordinary and simple, so simple that you can even get drunk. Just a cup of wine, sitting with your friends enjoying…”The Japanese priests became aware that this is a very dangerous card; every drunkard will start saying that he has transcended Buddha. But being so afraid of the drunkards…Anyway they think they have transcended everything, they don’t wait for your card. Just look at a drunkard, he believes already that he is a god.Because of these drunkards they have dropped a very significant point. The bottle and the pub were only symbolic, symbolic of being very ordinary – just being simple as everybody else is. Once in a while if a buddha takes a little wine, just to give company to other buddhas who may be asleep, I will not object.Maneesha has asked:Osho,What is it about man today that he is not only lacking in the simplicity and innocence of the people we hear about in these Zen discourses, but that he is so wary of commitment?It is as if we are afraid to have all our eggs in one basket; or are obsessed with experiencing simply everything that is available. So we end up having tasted everything and not being nourished by anything.Maneesha, as far as man’s inner pilgrimage is concerned, time is not a consideration. In every age, in every time, the same was the problem – and the same was the solution. We are not in any way encountering something new. It is the same old sleep, the same old unconsciousness, the same old mind full of thoughts which does not allow us to move beyond it.Nothing has changed as far as discovering the buddha is concerned. It is not relative to time or to space. Any time, in any space, it is available. And the hindrances are the same: your mind weaving thoughts day and night, dreaming, imagining, hallucinating. You are caught up in this hole, so badly entangled that it seems difficult to get out of it. But the way is simple – you don’t have to get out of it. You simply don’t cling to it, and it will drop on its own accord.That’s what I call meditation. You simply stand aloof and just see the mind disappearing, like a cloud on a faraway horizon, leaving the sky clean and pure. And in that state arises your consciousness in its full glory, in its full celebration.It is not without any reason that I want you to end up your meditation every day with celebration, with rejoicing. Slowly slowly, as meditation becomes deeper, your celebration will have more splendor, it will become more majestic, more miraculous.Before we enter into our daily meditation, just to wake up the sleeping and snoring buddhas…The third world war is just starting, and after two thousand years Jesus Christ arrives, unannounced, in New York. He has come to give a speech to the United Nations Assembly.It is late and he is tired after his journey. He looks around for a hotel, but finds that none of them has a room. Finally, in a little back street, Jesus sees a sign which reads, “The Camel and Cow Inn – Vacancy.”He ties his donkey to a lamppost, goes inside, and walks up to the receptionist. Putting his hand in his pocket, Jesus pulls out some old, rusty nails and throws them on the desk.“Excuse me,” he asks, “can you put me up for the night?”Chester Cheese walks into the American Express Bank. “I want to open a goddamn current account,” snarls Chester.“I beg your pardon, sir?” replies Mabel, the teller.“Listen, damn it,” repeats Chester. “I said I want to open a goddamn current account.”“I am sorry, sir,” says Mabel. “But we don’t tolerate language like that in this bank.”Then she leaves the window, walks over to the bank manager and whispers in his ear. The two of them return to where Chester is waiting.“What?” says the manager icily, “seems to be the problem here?”“There is no fucking problem,” insists Chester. “I just won ten million dollars in the lottery and I want to open a goddamn current account!”“I see, sir,” says the manager. “And you’re getting trouble from this bitch?”Larry Lurch, a New York yuppie, goes into the Fussy Pussy pub in Greenwich Village.He finds a beautiful girl he has dated before sitting in a corner, sobbing into her Pina Colada.Larry sits down opposite her.“Lulu,” he asks her sympathetically, “what is wrong?”“Oh! Everything,” she sobs. “My cat, Tiddles, has disappeared, I got fired from my job, I am being thrown out of my apartment, and the doctors tell me I have terminal diarrhea.”“That is terrible,” says Larry in a concerned voice. “What about if I take you out on Saturday night and cheer you up?”Lulu shakes her head and sobs, “I have decided to kill myself on Saturday night.”“Oh!” says Larry, “Well what about Friday night?”Now, Nivedano…beat the drum.(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes.Feel your body completely frozen.No movement…Go in, deeper and deeper.This moment you are all buddhas.This moment you are not,only the buddha is.One consciousness,one oceanic consciousness,and you are drowned in it.Drink this experience as much as you can.Let it sink into your every cell,into your breathing,your heartbeat,so that it remains twenty-four hours with you,just like an undercurrent.This momentthere is no time, no space.This momentyou have transcended history, mind.This momentyou are only pure consciousness,just a light unto yourself.This is what is meant by being a buddha.To make it absolutely clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax, let go.The body is dead,the mind is gone far away.You are left only with a small center,but this center is the door to existence.From this centeryou are joined with the universal heart.Never forget the way.It is very simple,from mind to heartand from heart to beingand from being to pure space.This pure space isthe buddha.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back from your inner journey,silently, slowly.There is no hurry. Sit down for a few moments,reminding yourself you are a buddha.This reminding every daythat you are a Buddhawill become just like breathing.You don’t have to remember;just like the heartbeatyou don’t have to remember.One becomes simple,nobody,just a pure joy.Can we celebrate the assembly of the buddhas?

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The Miracle 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

The Miracle 05 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,Dogen wrote:Successive patriarchs personally transmitted the dharma from master to disciple. Without the personal transmission, not a single patriarch, master or disciple, could be a buddha or a patriarch.It is just as if we were making innumerable small rivers join a great one, or keeping the light from going out, making countless lights one after another: eventually, they become one. And there is no gap in the function of the transmission between master and disciple.So successive patriarchs spent their daily life face-to-face with Sakyamuni Buddha and watched by his face. How many days they had passed, I don’t know. We should think calmly and be glad of this. Their eye and face are the Buddha’s because they made bows to the Buddha’s face and transferred his eye into their own, and vice versa.It is through the transmission that the eye and face had been incessantly transmitted till now.There is no gap in the transmission between master and disciple, just as one vine coils round another; that is to say, we open our eyes and present them with themselves, they receive themselves. The same can also be said of our face, mind and body.Unless a disciple sees his master, he cannot be said to be a disciple; unless a master sees his disciple, he cannot be a master.Both of them have got the transmission and succeeded to the dharma by seeing each other. That is an appearance of the transmission of the patriarchs. Therefore, they could directly touch the buddha’s fine face.At the time of the transmission, our face will change completely. The skin itself will be a great mirror of the buddhas, which has no flaw inside or out. The great mirror gives the transmission to the great mirror itself. Those who have been correctly given eyes true enough to see Sakyamuni Buddha personally, are more intimate with him than he is with himself. Everyone, regardless of self and others, who sees the correct transmission or the real study of this new transmission of the Tathagata should preserve it carefully.Maneesha, before I enter into the serious statements of a scholarly Dogen, I would like Avirbhava first to inaugurate.It is not a bear, as I said yesterday – because around the world I have so many cases against me, accusing me of hurting people’s religious feelings. And the bear is worshipped by men.It is really a pig. I had to ask Anando to research whether somebody’s heart feelings would be hurt if we inaugurate the Museum of the Ancient Dead Gods with a pig. Avirbhava is going to be the Director General. She is completely ready – with the ears of a pig, and a tail too.(Avirbhava is dressed in pig ears and a curly tail.)About pigs: “In the ancient world pigs were considered the embodiment of the ‘Corn Spirit,’ Osiris. He was the great Egyptian god of the underworld and judge of the dead.In Greece pigs were sacred to Demeter, the goddess of the fruitful soil and agriculture. And today they are considered sacred in New Guinea.In China the pig is considered a great delicacy and, as in many other countries in the past too, was traditionally served at banquets and feasts, notably marriage ceremonies. While people ate the roasted pork, they could view the stuffed pig in the center of the banquet table. Great care was always taken to choose a pig’s head that had a pleasing face.Pigs were particularly popular at marriages because they represented virtue and fertility. Generally, in China, pigs are venerated because they represent good fortune.”So it is absolutely appropriate for Avirbhava to inaugurate the museum with her own hands.Avirbhava, bring your pig…and inaugurate!(Avirbhava places a cuddly soft pink pig on the podium and it proceeds to waddle across the marble in front of Osho’s feet, making grunting noises as its snout and tail wriggle.)That is good.Now we can turn to the serious matter.Even this inauguration will hurt many people’s religious beliefs, so there will be a few more cases. But this has been the right ancient god with which to inaugurate this museum, where we are going to collect all the dead gods that have been worshipped by a stupid humanity.Buddhas have been forced to worship pigs and nobody has objected. Stones, monkeys, elephants – you name it, they have all been worshipped somewhere or other. But nowhere in the whole history of mankind has man been given the dignity of a god. I am for the first time giving you the dignity of a god, and I want you to make a plaything of all the so-called gods worshipped by humanity. It is such a degradation, such a humiliation. But man has accepted slavery without revolting against it.If the crowd was worshipping the pig they followed the crowd, because the crowd gave them security and coziness and they had not the courage to revolt. Our museum will be specially devoted to all those idiots who have worshipped animals rather than searching for their own super-human consciousness, their own buddha; looking into mosques and synagogues and temples rather than looking into themselves.It will create legal problems, but that does not matter. I have faced legal problems my whole life. I tremendously enjoy the stupidity of the judiciary around the world. They are still protecting those people whose feelings are hurt if you say anything about the pigs. In the name of religion all kinds of nonsense has been forced on man’s mind.My basic function is to take away all this nonsense from you so you can come out in your full glory – a full moon, a buddha, sufficient unto yourself. I don’t teach any prayer, I simply teach exploration of the inner world. There is the treasure; not in the scriptures, as Dogen is saying.Dogen wrote:Successive patriarchs personally transmitted the dharma from master to disciple.It is a half truth, and a half truth is more dangerous than a lie. A lie is at least complete. Half truths are very dangerous because they hide the lie behind them, so on the surface it looks as if what is projected is true.What he is saying – that Successive patriarchs personally transmitted the dharma from master to disciple – has a little truth in it. That has been so with most of the masters, that they have received the essence, the experience, in the presence of a master. It has been a transmission between two energies. But it is not an absolute principle that he is making:Without the personal transmission not a single patriarch, master or disciple could be a buddha or a patriarch.This is so obviously stupid – because who was the master of Gautam Buddha himself? From where did he get the transmission?According to Dogen he needed to have a master – but he had none. It is only a half truth. But the other half is more important, for the simple reason that you may not find a master, but the universal spirit is always available everywhere.The really courageous people simply take the jump into the universal being without being pushed by a master. It simply depends on your courage.To be a buddha is your birthright. Just a little courage and you can declare yourself a buddha. But the mind hesitates, the mind thinks a thousand and one things – what will happen to my smoking? What about the girlfriend? And what about the bank balance?These small things I allow you to have. You can be a buddha and smoke – that will just simply show that you are a stupid buddha! But stupid or not stupid, nobody can take away your buddhahood. You can have a girlfriend – even Sardar Gurudayal Singh is having girlfriends and he is a well-known buddha, ancient. I don’t think he himself knows how old he is! But there is no time for him to get old. Girlfriends continuously keep him so engaged, he has no time to grow old. One needs time to grow old.I allow you every concession that you want except unawareness; that I cannot allow because that is fundamental to buddhahood. If you are alert and aware and conscious there is no need of any master. Universal energy itself transmits the light, the arrow that penetrates to your very center, and you become connected with the whole.A master is a small window from which you can see the starry sky. But that does not mean that first you need a window, only then you can see the starry night. Why don’t you come out of the door?Mulla Nasruddin died…his grave still exists in Iran. He used to carry his door wherever he would go, and people would ask, “What is the matter? Why are you carrying that board? Have you become a Christian?” But even Christ was carrying only the cross, not a board. “Is it some improvement on the cross?”He said “No, it is just a security measure. Nobody can enter into my house except through the door. So I carry the door.”When he died his disciples wondered what to do about the door. He had left a written will in which he mentioned it: “Just put the door in front of my grave, lock it and put the keys in my hand inside the grave.”They are still there, the door and the grave; and the skeleton must have the keys. He is saying, “If the door is closed and the keys are with me, nobody can disturb my sleep until the judgment day, nobody can enter into the grave.” He has taken security measures. Even after death, the door is locked. You may think it seems to be utter foolishness, but the man was laughing about you in all his acts, all his statements.This act is also simply laughing at your stupidity. What do you think about your security, your bank balance? You can go bankrupt. What do you think of your security, your husband, your wife? If either of you is intelligent enough, he will escape.There is no security. Even if you carry the door there is no security; in fact it makes you more vulnerable. Thieves don’t bother about entering through the door. In fact they never enter through the door; they just make a hole in the wall on their own accord.But the most hilarious part is…one cold winter night a thief entered into Mulla Nasruddin’s house. Mulla Nasruddin opened one eye and looked at the thief. The thief started trembling – a man asleep with one eye open? Now he can neither go in, nor even get out. He was so much afraid, but Mulla said, “Don’t be worried, I’m coming with you.”He said, “Where?”Mulla said, “Into the house where you are going.”The thief said, “You seem to be mad! I am a thief!”Mulla said, “I don’t care who you are. For thirty years I have been looking around in this house, and I haven’t found anything. Now let us have a partnership – whatever is found we split fifty-fifty. You came at the right time, because I was becoming discouraged.”The thief said, “My God!”But he had to go in, and there was nothing. Mulla followed him with his lamp to show him the way everywhere. The thief wanted to escape somehow, because with the lamp Mulla would see his face. Tomorrow the whole city would know that he is a thief.Mulla said, “Don’t be worried, that’s why I had opened only one eye. I’m not looking at you. My concern is our partnership.”He said, “What partnership? There is nothing to be found.”He said, “That’s what I was trying to tell you, but you wouldn’t listen.”The thief said, “I want to go!”Nasruddin said, “Where?”“I’m going to my house.”Nasruddin said, “I’m also coming. Partners should live together!”The thief said, “My God, this is a difficulty. I have a wife.”Nasruddin said, “Don’t be worried about that, I will take care of her. You just do your job and I will take care of your wife.”This man whose house was empty was carrying the door all around, wherever he was going, making a statement in his own way. The man was of immense intelligence. He is saying that it is only a door and nothing else. Just look through the door and the whole sky is open. By carrying the door he was saying that he is a master, a door to the divinity. But he was a unique person.Dogen is still a scholar. I wonder how he could not see the simple point when he said:Without the personal transmission, not a single patriarch, master or disciple, could be a buddha or a patriarch.What about the first buddha? And if it can happen to Gautam Buddha without any master, why can it not happen to anybody else?To become enlightened is everybody’s birthright, it is not a monopoly of Buddha’s. These statements show that Dogen is still learning scriptures. He’s not a buddha yet.He became a buddha finally, after he had gone unnecessarily astray carrying the load of Buddhist scriptures. Finally, when he got finished and fed up with the scriptures and dropped them, he was surprised to realize that from the very beginning there was no need to search. You are it. The seeker is the goal. If you go on seeking other goals, you are going away from yourself. Seeking has to stop.It is just,says Dogen,as if we were making innumerable small rivers join a great one, or keeping the light from going out, making countless lights one after another: eventually, they become one.Partly he is right, but only partly. But buddhas don’t make partial statements. Their statements are categorically absolute.And there is no gap in the function of the transmission between master and disciple.So successive patriarchs spent their daily life face to face with Sakyamuni Buddha and watched by his face.Now at the time of Dogen, Sakyamuni Gautam Buddha had been dead for fifteen hundred years. What does he mean by living face to face with Sakyamuni Buddha? He had only stone statues, utterly dead.In my village there was, very close to my house, a temple of Shiva, and Shiva is represented with the Shivalinga. You must have seen Shiva temples: just any beautiful round stone is placed and that is Shivalinga, which means, “The prick of the Lord Shiva.” Now the devotees of Shiva are going to be freaked, but what can I do? I’m simply translating the word Shivalinga.One of my friends’ father lived just in front of that temple, and he was a great devotee of Shiva.I told him, “You are wasting your time. That Shiva is absolutely worthless.”He said, “What do you mean? You are hurting my religious feelings.”I said, “That is going to be my profession my whole life. This is just the beginning. I have seen rats urinating on your Shiva. He cannot do anything to the rats, what is he going to do for you?”He was so angry that he told me, “You get out of this house!”I said, “I will get out, whether you say it or not. But whenever you go to the temple I will be standing there by your side, watching your stupidity. I will not say a single word, but you will understand why I’m standing there.”He said, “You are a strange boy.”From that day, for almost six months, I followed him regularly. Whenever he would enter the temple he would look all around. I was able to see the temple from my house, so immediately I would enter and stand there without saying a word.And he would say, “My God, have you come?”I said, “It is better to stop this stupidity. Don’t you see so many rats in this temple?”He said, “It is true. And it is also true that I have seen those rats urinating over the Shiva. But this is just a statue, a representation, a symbol of the real Shiva.”I said, “Have you seen the real Shiva? Is he just a prick?”He said, “Listen! You are not allowed to come into my house anymore!”I said, “I have no intention. If you stop coming to this temple, I will stop coming to your house. It is an agreement. But if you come to this temple, nobody can prevent me coming to your house and provoking you. I will do everything to make you aware that you are being very idiotic.”He said to his son, “You drop your friendship with this boy, because this boy is going to spoil you. He’s spoiling me, because sometimes I start thinking that perhaps I am being stupid. On all rational grounds the boy is right. I have not seen Shiva, and I have never bothered about the meaning of Shivalinga.”He said, “You have started coming in my dreams.”I said, “If you prevent me coming to your house, then that is the only way I can wake you up.”The old man finally decided not to go to this temple. He went to another temple, but that was a temple of an elephant god. What difference does it make?Dogen is talking about Sakyamuni Buddha as if the Buddha is alive and you are watching him.There are certainly more statues of Gautam Buddha in the world than of anybody else. And his last statement before he died was, “Don’t make any statues of me, because I will not be in my stone statues.” But just as nobody listens to the master…They resisted making statues for three hundred years, but then finally they gave up. First they started worshipping the grave of Gautam Buddha, but it is not much joy to worship a grave. Then somebody suggested worshipping the tree under which Gautam Buddha became enlightened. That was a better idea, a tree is at least a living phenomenon…a beautiful tree with great foliage. But after all a tree is a tree, it cannot be a substitute for Gautam Buddha. Nothing can be a substitute except your own consciousness.All these statements made by Dogen simply show that he does not know.How many days they had passed, I don’t know. We should think calmly and be glad of this. Their eye and face are the Buddha’s because they made bows to the Buddha’s face and transferred his eye into their own, and vice versa.It is through the transmission that the eye and face had been incessantly transmitted till now.There is no gap in the transmission between master and disciple, just as one vine coils round another; that is to say, we open our eyes and present them with themselves, they receive themselves. The same can also be said of our face, mind and body.I said to you that it is a half truth. It is true that if you are living with a living master – not with a statue – then gazing into his eyes or just watching his presence, his gestures, you will see how awareness functions. And as you become more and more aware of your master, simultaneously you will be becoming aware of yourself.The master finally proves to be a mirror. In the mirror you can see your face – your original face, not the painted one which the society has given to you. You can see your original heart – not the one which is used for pumping the blood in the body, but the original heart which is hiding behind it.Watching your master in his day-to-day life, something is transmitted. Some energy, some light, some fragrance reaches to you, but it cannot happen with a statue.There are many Buddhist temples in China, in Japan, in India. Buddhists have disappeared from India, but all the beautiful places like Ajanta are nothing but Gautam Buddha’s statues in different postures: sitting, lying, standing, sleeping, waking.And in China Buddhists have done an almost impossible thing. There is a temple which is called, “The Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas.” A whole mountain has been carved into ten thousand buddhas. First the whole mountainside was carved into big caves. Then the statues were carved in those shaded caves. It must have taken thousands of years for thousands of sculptors, and of very fine potentialities, because the statues are so beautiful.But it was a futile effort. In the time you can carve a buddha in marble, in that very time you can become a thousand times a buddha. So I consider it an absolute wastage of time.Unless a disciple sees his master, he cannot be said to be a disciple.Obviously. Scholars are so foolish. If a disciple has not seen the master, it is obvious that he is not a disciple. A disciple exists only in reference to a master. A master can be alone, he is not dependent on disciples. His mastery depends only on his own awakening. But a disciple cannot be a disciple on his own accord; he has to be in deep trust, in love with someone who has arrived home.He is saying it right, but he does not seem to know that at the time Buddha had already been dead for fifteen centuries – and now it is twenty-five centuries. Dogen cannot be a disciple of Buddha. All the Buddhists are living in the fallacy that they are disciples of Buddha. You need a living master to transmit the radiation that wakes up your sleeping buddhahood. No statue can do that.Therefore, they could directly touch the Buddha’s fine face.He is still talking about statues. No disciple will dare to touch Buddha’s face when he is living.The East knows that the disciple’s reach is up to the feet of the master. There is a certain science in it. As the disciple touches the master’s feet, the master touches the disciple’s head; it becomes a circle. From the feet the energy moves into the disciple and from the hand the energy moves into the disciple. And somewhere at the center of the disciple’s heart, the master’s energy creates enough fire to wake up the sleeping potentiality of the disciple.It is not just a gesture of gratitude to touch the feet of the master. It has a subtle science about it. But you can touch the Buddha’s fine face only if your Buddha is a stone statue. And by the way, I have to remind you that the face of the Buddha in the statues is not his. Because Buddha was born on the boundaries of Nepal and India, most probably he was Nepalese – it was just on the boundary where the two countries meet – he cannot have this face that appears in the statues.By a strange coincidence, when his statues were first being made, Alexander the Great was visiting India. It was Alexander the Great’s face that inspired the sculptors. Certainly the Greek face has a beauty of its own, and Alexander was one of the most beautiful men the earth has seen. So the face you see on Buddha is not even his.In those days there were no photographs, so it was very easy to put anybody’s head on anybody else’s body. Even the body does not seem to be Buddha’s. It seems to be almost seven feet tall; Nepalese are not that tall. Even in India seven feet is very, very rare. Nor was Buddha as athletic as the body seems to be; he had been in continuous self-torture for six years, the body would have become just bones.The statue is absolutely false. And by touching this statue’s face, you cannot get any transmission. If you do it is imagination, it is hallucination. You are deluding yourself.At the time of the transmission, our face will change completely. The skin itself will be a great mirror of the buddhas, which has no flaw inside or out. The great mirror gives the transmission to the great mirror itself.Once in a while he says something beautiful. He was a great scholar at the time he was making these statements. It is true that when the transmission happens between a master and a disciple, the face of the disciple starts changing to a new grace, a new beauty, a new compassion, a new love, a new joy, a new dance. He starts reflecting his master’s being on a smaller scale.But it is possible only if the master is alive. I am against all statues because they are deceptive, they are deluding millions of people who may have been seeking and searching the truth. Every milestone shows them the way towards a temple or a synagogue or a mosque. The way is inwards, not outside.A great Sufi master is known to have gone through a great transmission. His name was Junnaid. He was the master of al-Hillaj Mansoor. Al-Hillaj Mansoor is more known to the world because he was crucified just like Jesus, but in a more cruel way. Part by part he was cut – the American way, in installments.Junnaid was a very poor man. And it is said that unless at least once in your life you make the pilgrimage to Mecca, where the stone Kaaba is representing Mohammed’s place…It is from that stone that, sitting on his horse, he simply went upwards to paradise and took his horse too. If you are an authentic Mohammedan, you have to visit that place at least once in your lifetime. So even the poorest Mohammedans collect money, sell their houses, their farms, because it is an absolute necessity that before they die they must go to Kaaba.Junnaid was getting old and he was very poor, so he collected money from his neighbors. Nobody refused because the money was for the journey to Kaaba; and everybody is told that if you support a Mohammedan on his pilgrimage, you also partake in the virtue of the great pilgrimage. So people gave him money, gave him some food, clothes, so that he could go. He had to travel…but people were surprised: the next day he was back. It was expected that he would be back in about six months, three months going and three months coming. This was too quick! – people could not believe it. And also, he looked absolutely transformed, so radiant, so blissful.They said, “What happened?”Junnaid said, “Kaaba itself came to meet me outside the village.”They said, “This is sheer nonsense. That big stone?” It is an asteroid that has fallen from the sky…huge.They asked him, “At least tell us in detail what really has happened.”A Sufi master, Bayazid, was sitting under a tree at the crossroads outside the village. Junnaid asked him, “Which way should I go? I want to reach Kaaba at the pilgrimage time.” At a certain time every year Mohammedans from all over the world try to reach Kaaba.Bayazid said, “Nonsense! Bring out all your money!” And he said it with such authority that poor Junnaid brought all the money that he had gathered.And Bayazid said, “There is no need to go anywhere! Just make the seven circles around me. I am the Kaaba!”Junnaid could not believe it at first, but what to do? The man was so…his eyes were so penetrating, his presence was so fragrant. He circled him seven times, as Mohammedans are supposed to go round the Kaaba stone seven times.And Bayazid said, “Now give me all the other provisions you have for the journey and go home! Your pilgrimage is complete.”He could feel that something had changed. He was no longer the old person who had come just a few minutes before. So he told the villagers, “I met a man who said, ‘I am the Kaaba!’ and he took all my provisions and all my money and told me to make the seven rounds.” A few people laughed. Those who were stupid laughed, but those who were wise understood because they could see the transformation that had happened.It does not matter who the man was, but certainly the man was a man of realization. Just going around him seven times, Junnaid himself became a master.But it cannot happen by going around a stone seven or seven hundred or seven thousand times.Those who have been correctly given eyes true enough to see Sakyamuni Buddha personally…Now what nonsense he’s talking! Buddha has been dead for fifteen hundred years, there is no way now to personally connect with him. Yes, you can connect with somebody else who is still alive and has the same taste of buddhahood. But he is not talking about that, he is talking about stone buddhas.Everyone, regardless of self and others, who sees the correct transmission or the real study of this new transmission of the Tathagata should preserve it carefully.The word study shows that Dogen is still a student, a scholar, although he is talking as if he knows. In the world you will come across people who are talking about God as if they know, and millions of people believe in them. It seems our minds have lived so long in slavery that we have forgotten even to question. Dogen is not told that what he is talking about is sheer nonsense.A fifteen-hundred-year gap cannot be filled. You have to find a living buddha. Of course, the living buddha will have the same taste and the same blissfulness and the same aura and the same energy as the original Gautam Buddha. But this is possible only with a living master.The search for truth is basically the search for a living master. It is very rare that you can find the way without a master. But I allow the exception. I allow the exception because I myself never had any master.I have met with many so-called masters, but they all wanted to get rid of me, because my presence was such a danger to their respectability. I raised questions that they could not answer. Other disciples started disappearing, and they would say, “Please, you go on and find somebody else; don’t disturb our disciples. They never asked such questions before you came; now they have started asking strange questions about which we know nothing.”There are around the world many who pretend that they know. But you can see in their eyes, in their gestures, in their silences, in their words, whether they know or they are just tape recorders, quoting scriptures.It is not very difficult – just scratch a little bit and you will find the scholar and the scripture. They cannot transmit truth, they cannot help you to open the door to existence; they can only create faith in you in some dead god, in some dead prophet. They are a great consolation, but a consolation is not a revolution.Consolation is very dangerous. It prevents you from searching more, it prevents you from searching deeper.A Zen poet wrote:I intend to transmit it to you,but you cannot take it.You may yearn to imitate me,neither can this succeed.If you purposely turn back,you are the one who ismeddling;if I part with you, you wouldthink me destitute of sentiments.These are words of a master. He’s saying, “If you turn away on your own you are missing an opportunity. If I turn you away, I’m not compassionate.” And it is intrinsic in being a buddha to be compassionate.But you cannot imitate me and you cannot intend to have it transmitted to you; nor can you take it. It is not something which can be given. It is not something which has to be found somewhere. It is just a sleeping buddha waking up, just as every morning you superficially wake up. A day comes when you wake up in the very innermost core of your being, and once that waking has happened you never lose it.Jakuan wrote:Perfect melody – like windamong the pines of far-off slopes.Mind is washed sky clean:hear it beyond itself.These are people of meditation, people of the path. They are not quoting scriptures, but their words become scriptures.Another Zen poet:You must see for yourselfthe reed-flowers drenchedin moonlight.You cannot believe in somebody else’s eyes; You must see for yourself the reed flowers drenched in moonlight.The beauty is such that no description can be adequate. No explanation is possible.The same is true on a far greater and far wider scale about your own being: you should see its beauty with your own eyes. Never have faith in anyone except yourself. Have trust in yourself, and if that trust finds a way and you fall in love with a certain energy, with a certain master…Don’t make any effort, just let it happen silently, without making any noise of footsteps.If you are fortunate you may find someone. But don’t feel destitute if you cannot find a master; the universal spirit is available to you directly. Just a little more courage…Either a little more courage or a master – both are possible at any time, in any age.Maneesha has asked:Osho,Are you not the exception to what Dogen says – in that you did not have a personal transmission from a master?I have a transmission from the universe itself. The moon has come to my window on its own.As you did not have a master, how were you tickled?I am being tickled by my disciples. Do you want a little tickling session?On their fiftieth wedding anniversary, mean old Hamish MacTavish decides to treat his wife, Maggie, by taking her out to lunch at the Bawling Bagpipe Restaurant.They order their food, and when it arrives Hamish starts eating – but Maggie just sits there watching.The waiter becomes anxious, and goes over to the old couple. “Is there something wrong with your food, Mrs. MacTavish?” he asks.“No, no young man,” replies Maggie. “I’m just waiting for my husband to finish. He’s using the teeth first!”Paddy gets sentenced to thirty days in jail for being drunk and disorderly. When Judge Rumcake has finished pronouncing the sentence, Paddy asks if he can say something.“Why, of course!” says the judge.“If I called you a son-of-a-bitch,” suggests Paddy, “what would you do?”“What?” says Rumcake, “I would hold you in contempt of court and give you an extra week in jail.”“I see,” says Paddy. “And if I thought you were a son-of-a-bitch, what would you do?”“In that case,” replies Judge Rumcake, “I’d do nothing, because there’s no law against thinking.”“Oh! Well in that case,” concludes Paddy, “I think you are a son-of-a-bitch!”Milarepa, Devageet and Sarjano find themselves sitting outside Pythagoras Clinic waiting to see Doctor Azima.“What are you guys here for?” asks Devageet.“It’s-a my prick,” admits Sarjano, nervously. “It has turned bright-a orange!”“What?” exclaim Milarepa and Devageet together. “That is what I’m here for,” says Milarepa. “And me too!” exclaims Devageet.So the three swamis enter the clinic together.Undressing, Milarepa and Devageet expose their bright orange machinery, and Sarjano unrolls his sausage.“My God!” says Azima. “That is amazing!” And he starts to make his examinations.“How is your sex-a life?” asks Azima. “Do you make-a love once a night?”The three swamis look at each other and shake their heads in silence.“Well-a, how-a about twice a week?” continues Azima.“There was a time…” reflects Milarepa. Devageet and Sarjano nod quietly.“Well-a, how about twice a month-a?” asks Azima.“I wish!” says Devageet, dreamily.“Once a month?” suggests Azima. There is another silence.“Well, that’s okay then!” says Azima. “Don’t be worried. It is just-a rust!”Ronald and Nancy Reagan are invited to dinner with Ed Meese and his wife, Pope the Polack and his bishop, and Rajiv and Mrs. Gandhi.They go to a nice restaurant downtown and are seated immediately at the celebrity table. With full pomp and circumstance, head waiter Reginald the homosexual serves them cocktails and takes their orders.He returns to the kitchen and hands the order slip to Jablonski the cook.“Hey, wait a minute,” says Jablonski. “This order says ‘Give Nancy Reagan her favorite chicken parts.’”“Yes, that is correct,” agrees Reginald gaily. “What about it?”“Well,” says Jablonski. “What the hell are Nancy Reagan’s favorite chicken parts?”“I don’t know,” says the waiter, “but as far as I can tell, they must be right wings and assholes!”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent.Close your eyes.Feel your body to be completely frozen.Use this moment of silenceto go in without any fear.This is your temple,this is where every Buddhahas found himself.In this silenceyou are no more yourself; you have becomepart of an oceanic consciousness.This is what being a buddha means.Deeper and deeper…Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax.Let go.Leave the body and the mind aside.Just keep yourself as a watcher,a witness.And suddenly lights, flames, blessingsand flowers of the unknownstart showering on you.This is your sky.You can go as deep,as far as you want.You will not meet anyone on the way.There is no need to be afraid.You can only be encountered by yourself,your authentic and original being.What a blessed evening.Ten thousand buddhas together,rejoicing in silence,tasting immortality.In a single moment,the whole eternity is condensed.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come backslowly and gracefully.Remember,you have been in the land of the buddhas.Sit down for a few moments,collecting your memory,so that it can become an undercurrenttwenty-four hours in your life,of joy…and bliss…and ecstasy.Can we celebrate ten thousand buddhas?

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The Miracle 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

The Miracle 06 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,Seigen said:If now you comprehend it, where is that which you did not comprehend before? What you were deluded about before is what you are now enlightened about, and what you are now enlightened about, is what you were deluded about before.There are only two diseases: one is riding an ass to search for the ass; the other is riding an ass and being unwilling to dismount. You say that riding an ass to search for the ass is silly, and that he who does it should be punished. This is a very serious disease. But I tell you, do not search for the ass at all. The intelligent man, understanding my meaning, stops his error of searching for the ass, and thus the deluded state of his mind ceases to exist.But if, having found the ass one is unwilling to dismount, this disease is most difficult to cure. I say to you, do not ride the ass at all. You yourself are the ass. Mountains, rivers and plains are all the ass. Why do you ride on it? If you ride, you cannot cure your disease. But if you do not ride, the universe in all directions becomes one wide expanse. With these two diseases expelled, nothing remains to affect your mind. This is spiritual cultivation. You need do nothing more.Maneesha, Seigen is raising a very important question. And he not only raises the question, he also gives the answer. That is the way of a master. To raise a question is very easy, but to give the right answer is very difficult, because the right answer is only one. Millions of questions are possible, but millions of answers are not there.Before I read you the sutra, I would like to tell you the essence of it. Because it is old Zen language, it looks complicated, but it is not.All that he is saying is that searching for the self is stupid. It is a disease, and almost incurable. But if by chance you find the self and become enlightened, you have jumped from one disease to another.Your enlightenment is not a cure. Your enlightenment is now another possession. Now you will be bragging about it. It will not give you freedom but new fetters – just more shiny, more beautiful, more up to date.Seigen is saying that you have to be free from ignorance and you have to be free from enlightenment. This is called the lion’s roar. Even enlightenment is not going to be his imprisonment. He wants the whole universe without any limits.An enlightened person has a tiny flame. But if that tiny flame makes him feel special, greater and better than others, it has already become a fetter. This is not the great enlightenment. It is simply changing dark-colored chains for light-colored chains. The great enlightenment is to not have any chains.So ultimately the enlightened, the awakened, the buddha, drops his buddhahood too. He becomes absolutely ordinary and simple. In his simplicity radiates the whole cosmos. In his silence is contained all the music and all the rainbows and all the flowers possible. He is himself the universe, there is no more division.Now he cannot distinguish between the ignorant and the enlightened. To him now the whole universe is nothing but an immense enlightenment in which everything is drowned. A greater dance is not possible.Seigen said:If now you comprehend it, where is that which you did not comprehend before? What you were deluded about before is what you are now enlightened about, and what you are now enlightened about, is what you were deluded about before.The object of your delusion and the object of your enlightenment remain the same. It is not a great transformation as far as your subjectivity is concerned.There are only two diseases…Nobody in the whole history has brought the issue to such clarity.There are only two diseases: one is riding an ass to search for the ass; the other is riding an ass and being unwilling to dismount.One is searching for enlightenment, the other is finding it and not relaxing.As you bragged about your so-called ignorant knowledge, now you brag about your enlightenment. But your ego remains the same. Get down from the ass! Get down from your enlightenment and mix with the simple existence that is eternal and immortal. Don’t keep yourself apart.The second disease is more difficult. The first disease you yourself wanted to drop. The second disease is difficult, because now the chains are made of gold. To drop chains of gold feels as if you are dropping your beautiful ornaments, and nobody wants to drop their ornaments. It becomes more difficult to get out of a cage made of gold because even the cage seems to be so valuable. And what is there beyond the cage? Just an empty sky as far as you can see. The cage not only makes you special, it also gives you security.Seigen is saying:You say that riding an ass to search for the ass is silly– that is obvious –and that he who does it should be punished. This is a very serious disease. But i tell you, do not search for the ass at all. The intelligent man, understanding my meaning, stops his error of searching for the ass, and thus the deluded state of his mind ceases to exist.This is how you can determine whether a man really knows. Even from his words you can see some glimpses. Compare it with Jesus’ statement, “Seek and ye shall find.” Seigen will say, “Seek and you shall never find.”The seeker has already gone away from himself; in search of himself he has left himself far behind. Jesus says, “Ask and you will be answered.” Who is there to answer? It is your own mind game. One part of the mind raises the question, another part of the mind supplies the answer. Otherwise this whole universe is utterly silent.All prayers are in vain. And they don’t show your religiousness, they simply show your IQ – your intelligence quotient. They show that you are still a child, that you still want someone else to take the responsibility. There is nobody in the sky to take the responsibility. For Jesus there is a God, but for Seigen and any Zen master there is no God to answer. You are the answer – just don’t ask! Be silent! Don’t ask! And there is the answer.Jesus says, “Knock, and the door shall be opened unto you.” The very language indicates that the door is somewhere outside you – you have to knock. But the reality is, you have to go in. There is no question of knocking. Stop all knocking on the doors outside you! Just relax into your center and you have found it. And you will be surprised that you were searching for something which has always been there inside you.But if, having found the ass one is unwilling to dismount, this disease is most difficult to cure.Only a master can say that enlightenment is also a disease. Perhaps a better, a cleaner disease. But remember the meaning of the word disease – it does not mean sickness, it does not mean illness, it simply means “dis-ease”. And to be at ease with the universe you cannot think yourself enlightened and others unenlightened. To be at ease with the universe you have to dismount from your enlightenment and just be simple…nobody. And the whole universe is yours.I say to you, do not ride the ass at all.In the first place, riding the ass you are getting into difficulty. Don’t seek enlightenment, because that will ultimately end up in your finding it. And it will be very difficult for you to get free of enlightenment. It will become a new disease, a new imprisonment – so cozy and so special for the ego that who wants to just be? Dismount from it! You have been in search for so long and now you have found. Your whole search…you have invested your whole life!But a real buddha, a man of existential knowledge will say, I say to you, do not ride the ass at all! You yourself are the ass!The ass is just a symbol.Mountains, rivers and plains are all the ass. Why do you ride on it? If you ride, you cannot cure your disease. But if you do not ride, the universe in all directions becomes one wide expanse. With these two diseases expelled, nothing remains to affect your mind. This is spiritual cultivation. You need do nothing more.Enlightenment is the last disease, the last barrier.There have been wise friends who used to say to me, “You are a blessed soul.”I said to these people, “Don’t make distinctions.” Let me remain simply a nobody, with no power, with no domination. Because every subtle desire to be special is a desire for power. You gather money to be powerful, you go into politics to be powerful, you search for enlightenment again for power. Enlightened you will be worshipped. Perhaps enlightenment is the most dangerous disease of all, because who wants to be unenlightened once he has become enlightened? – except my people who become enlightened every day. They never tire of it; the next day again they are here.Gurudayal Singh is laughing. Because he is my ancientmost sannyasin, he has become so many times enlightened! But the next day when he wakes up he thinks, “Enlightenment is not difficult. One can become enlightened any way, any day, any time. Just a little more enjoyment around the world – enlightenment can wait!”It is not something that is far away. Once you have known it, you know it is there. Then just be ordinary, simple. In that simplicity is purity and joy and a laughter like a child; and a glory and a splendor that the whole existence pours on such innocence.A Zen haiku:Every man has beneath his feet,ground enough to do zazen on.You don’t have to go anywhere. Wherever you are, you have enough ground under your feet and you can become enlightened. You can do the meditation, it does not have to be in a certain holy place.But even people like Moses would not pass the test set by this haiku poet. When Moses went to meet God on Mount Sinai…In the first place the whole idea of meeting God is absolutely imagination. He must have been asleep. In a dream he must have gone up the mountain, because thousands of people have gone to the mountain before and after, and God has never been found there. Still people go on thinking that it is a holy place. It was a special concession to Moses that God met him on Mount Sinai. It is strange how he knew that he would be at that moment on Mount Sinai. He had no phone call from him, no letter, no communication of any kind. But he met God on Sinai – that’s what the Old Testament says. As a metaphor it is beautiful, but religions turn every metaphor into factuality, and then it becomes a superstition.Moses approaches God…and what is God? A fire is burning inside a green bush and the bush is still green. Flames are coming out of the bush just like branches, flowers. With those flowers and branches and leaves the flames are coming out. This can be a beautiful metaphor, that life is nothing but fire. But as he approached the bush, somebody shouted from the bush, “Moses take off your shoes! You are on holy ground.”These kinds of metaphors have proved to be very dangerous. It is beautiful to see God as flames…certainly cool, because they are not burning the leaves, the flowers, the bush. On the contrary they are nourishing it, dancing with its branches. But, “Take off your shoes, this is holy ground,” is a dangerous statement. That means other ground is not holy.This Zen master says, Every man has beneath his feet, ground enough to do zazen on. You don’t have to go to Sinai or to Kaaba or to Kashi, you don’t have to go anywhere. Wherever you are, you are in the holy universe. There are not certain places which are holy and certain places which are not holy. If the whole universe is divine then everything is holy.Another haiku:The bamboo shadows are sweeping the stairs,but no dust is stirred:the moonlight penetrates deepinto the bottom of the pool,but no trace is left in the water.Saying things which cannot be said, Zen has such a unique way of indicating aesthetically that it seems unbelievable. The master is saying, The bamboo shadows…not the bamboos themselves, because bamboos are clumsy and they will make much noise. The bamboo shadows are sweeping the stairs, but no dust is stirred. This is our actual situation. In our innermost consciousness no dust is stirred. All our thoughts are nothing but bamboo shadows.The moonlight penetrates deep into the bottom of the pool, but no trace is left in the water.When you become aware you are surprised…all your actions in the past, your thoughts in the past – nothing has left any trace. Awakened, you are left completely silent as if there has been no past at all. Just like in the morning when you wake up, just for two or three minutes you remember the last part of a dream. You have been dreaming the whole night, six hours. If you are sleeping eight hours, then six hours you have been dreaming. But when you wake up you remember just the last dream, and that too only when you are half asleep and you can feel it. When you are really awake no trace remains of any dreams.This was the reason why the mystics called the world just a dream. All your desires, all your possessions, all your thoughts, all your religions, all your anger, love and hate – everything that makes up your world, your mind, is found to be as if it has never been there. When you wake up, you are absolutely a clean slate. Nobody has ever written anything on it.Another Zen master:If you wish to know the roadup the mountain, you must ask the manwho goes back and forth on it.A man who has become enlightened has reached to the highest peak of the mountain, and then he comes down and becomes a simple man. He knows the peak is there, it is his own being. If you want to ask, ask a man who has been to the mountain and has come down. If he is still on the mountain your question will not be answered. If he is still on the way going towards the mountain all that he can say will be mere words.You have to find a man who has been to the ultimate peak and then came down to be amongst you. Then he is at ease, he has no tensions, he is at home. Ask such a person, perhaps he may indicate the way.Maneesha has asked:Osho,None of the masters whose sermons we have been hearing are a patch on you. It's not just that you are as great as one would expect this far down the line; and I'm sure it's not just because you are my master: you are a quantum leap away from any master who has ever been. It seems no fluke that one such as you has come when the world is in about as sticky a mess as can be imagined.Osho, just exactly who are you?Maneesha, I don’t know.I will tell you a few jokes. Perhaps you may find something of me. A smile, a laughter, a shadow of the bamboos, a moon reflected in the river…but leaving no trace behind.Kowalski is standing on the train platform and he sees Paddy waving good-bye to Seamus, who is on a train that is pulling out of the station.“Good-bye!” shouts Paddy. “Your wife was a great screw! Good-bye! Your wife was a great screw! Good-bye!”Kowalski is stunned. He walks over to Paddy and asks, “Hey Paddy, did I hear you correctly? Did you just tell that guy that his wife was a great screw?”“It’s not really true,” shrugs Paddy. “But I don’t want to hurt his feelings!”Donald Dickstein is about to be married and he is bragging about all the virtues of his beautiful bride-to-be.One of his closest friends, Albert Arse, exclaims, “You can’t be serious! That girl has screwed every guy in San Francisco!”Donald looks at Albert for a minute. Then he says, “Ah, San Francisco isn’t such a big town!”Father Finger, the novice priest, goes to see Sally Sellzit, the prostitute, and says, “I know nothing about sex. Will you teach me?”“Okay,” says Sally. “But it will cost you fifty dollars.”Father finger agrees and pays the money in advance. Then Sally undresses slowly, and next she undresses the priest and tells him to lie down.“I’m going to start your lesson with the sixty-nine position,” she says. But when she climbs on top of him, she accidentally farts in his face.“Sorry,” she says, and climbs back on. But she farts in his face again.“Holy Jesus,” shouts the priest, as he jumps up off the bed.“What’s the matter?” asks Sally.“Well,” replies Finger. “I want to know about sex, but I don’t think I can take another sixty-seven of those!”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent…Close your eyes.Feel your body to be frozen.No movement.Get into the deepest space you are capable of.This is the holy land.This is where fire does not burn,but is cool.This is where you will find your buddha.Deeper and deeperdon’t be afraid,it is your own universe.You are just a ripple of this vast ocean.To make it clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax…let go.You are not the body nor the mind,but just a watcher, a witness,a pure consciousness unscratched.And this consciousness has no boundaries.It is one with the universe.At this moment your heartbeatis the heartbeat of the universe.There is no distinction.Rejoice in it. Remember it.Slowly slowlyit is going to become an undercurrentrunning twenty-four hoursin all your activities,transforming your actions,your individuality, your responses,giving you a new birth.It is from this place buddhas have arisen.Sink deep in the experience.Drink as much as possible.Every cell, every nerve of you,should be drenched with buddhahood.It is your nature.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back.But slowly, silently…keeping in touchwith the center you have found.Sit for a few minutesknowing that you are the Buddha.It is only a question of recognizing,of being courageous and declaring to yourselfthat you have found your home.You don’t need anybody’s certificate.You don’t need anybody’s recognition.You are complete unto yourself.This is the miracle of Zen.Can we celebrate the gathering of the buddhas?

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The Miracle 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

The Miracle 08 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,Yun-Men said:My duty compels me to attempt the impossible. Even in telling you to look directly into yourself and to be unconcerned about other things, I am already burying the real thing under verbiage.If you proceed from thence and set out in quest of words and sentences, cudgeling your brains over their logical meanings, working out a thousand possibilities and ten thousand subtle distinctions, and creating endless questions and debates, all that you will gain thereby is a glib tongue, while at the same time you will be getting farther and farther away from the way, with no rest to your wandering….To follow the intentions and vagaries of your mind is to be separated from your self as far as the earth from the sky.But if you have really found your true self, then you can pass through fire without being burned, speak a whole day without really moving your lips and teeth, and without having really uttered a single word, wear your clothes and take your meal every day without really touching a single grain of rice or a single thread of silk. Even this talk is but a decoration on the door of our house. The important thing is your experiential realization of this state.Maneesha, before I discuss the great matter of Zen, Avirbhava has brought a few ancient gods to be inaugurated into her Museum of Gods. Her assistant, Anando, has also brought a few small gods. Before I tell them to show you what they have brought…The research on the subject of the rat as an object of worship…The rat is a very ancient god, but still prevalent, not dead. The research was done by the appropriate person, Sardar Gurudayal Singh.“The rat is the charioteer of the elephant god, Ganesh. According to myth it is worshipped all over India, and especially in Maharashtra.Rats are said to consume more grain than all the people of India. They are one of the causes of India’s poverty, and their growth rate is far greater than that of the Indian people.During Indira Gandhi’s rule there were suggestions brought to parliament about how to tackle this problem. Immediately, opposition leaders from Morarji Desai’s party argued that a poisoning of rats was out of the question because that would hurt the religious feelings of Maharashtran people. The only solution to this menace of rats destroying the grain stocks that was considered was to make the rats aware of birth control. But how to get this message to the rats? The opposition claimed that they had done their duty by suggesting this great solution; the implementing of birth control upon the rats would be the ruling party’s affair. That was the end of the debate.”Since that time Morarji Desai himself has been a prime minister and again the question was brought up. Now he was in a difficult situation. As a Gandhian he is against birth control. Instead of birth control, celibacy is the solution. In the first place he should have considered that teaching rats birth control is going against Gandhian philosophy. They should be taught how to be celibate.Secondly, when he was in opposition he had himself proposed that birth control was the only solution. They cannot be killed, even though because of them the whole of India is suffering from poverty. Now that he was in the ruling party, the prime minister, he could not go against his word. He was in a difficult situation. And by this time the rats had grown far bigger and far more numerous than at the time of Indira.Right now they are eating three times more than the Indian population. Soon they will starve the whole population, but the politician cowards will not take any step. Morarji put it aside into the file, saying that an investigation should be made of how to introduce birth control to the rats. This is the way of the cunning politicians – always create an investigation committee which does great work in two, three years; then take their report and file it away. By that time most probably the prime minister is gone, and the new prime minister has no obligation to be bothered with any report that had been asked for by the previous one.It is strange that people can see human beings dying, but they cannot hurt their stupid feelings, which they call religious feelings. The whole idea is so stupid!The elephant god Ganesh is a myth. The story is that Shiva’s wife was taking a bath. It seems she must have been taking a bath for the first time in her life, because so much dust and rust came off her body. In the bathroom she became playful, and made a statue from that rust and dust. And because she is a goddess, she was able to breathe life into the statue. That is how Ganesh was born.And she told Ganesh, “I am taking a bath, so you sit down outside on the steps. Your father is out, don’t allow anybody in.” But he had no idea of the father…Who is the father? In fact nobody has any idea who the father is. It is not only Ganesh; everybody simply believes, and often their belief is not the case.Shiva came, and Shiva is a very angry god…Ganesh stopped him, saying, “My mother is taking a bath.”Shiva said, “Your mother? I have been gone. How have you been born?” In a rage he cut off the head of Ganesh, and threw the head into the valley – they lived in the Himalayas. He entered the house and asked his wife, “What is the matter? Who was this fellow sitting outside. I cut off his head and threw the head into the valley.”His wife was very angry. She told the whole story of how she had made him. He said, “My God, I have killed my own son!”He went in search, but how to find where that head had gone? He just found a small elephant, so he cut off the head of the elephant and put it on top of the child’s body. Being a supreme God, he managed to glue them together perfectly. But because the child was small and the head was too heavy, the child needed some kind of horse or vehicle to carry him, he could not walk with all that weight. And these stupid ideas have prevailed with millions of people.So Shiva looked around and found a rat, and Ganesh rides on the rat. Such a poor fellow, the rat is carrying such a load…And he is loved and worshipped all over India, most particularly in Maharashtra. Morarji Desai should consult Shiva about how he managed to teach the rat to carry Ganesh.So nobody can say that it is a simple matter, “just kill those rats.” Anybody who says that most probably will be killed. Particularly no politician is going to take the risk, because then who is going to vote for him? Being against the rat, no politician can win. And the rat has been doing so much harm that just ten years more and he will finish everything and leave this country a graveyard. But still the politicians will not take any step.More about rats: “The rat has been used as a symbol of the cosmos. The head, neck, and body signify the upper planes of atma, which means self; buddhi, which means intelligence; and higher mans, the awareness, consciousness. Each leg of the rat represents a different plane: the lower mans, the lower mind, the astral mind, the ethereal mind, and other physical aspects.”These idiots who go on making such metaphors and symbols should be imprisoned and punished, but they are worshipped and respected as great scholars.“The Dakotan explanation for why the moon wanes is that it is eaten by a multitude of rats. In Germanic belief, the soul assumes the form of a rat or mouse, and in this form may come forth from a sleeper’s mouth.”So beware! Never allow your mouth to open in your sleep. The rat may escape.I have heard a story that Nancy Reagan phoned her doctor, “Come quickly! A rat has entered into snoring Ronald’s mouth!”The doctor said, “I am coming, but it will take a few minutes. Meanwhile you do one thing, hold a small piece of cheese over his mouth. Perhaps the rat may come back out.”When the doctor arrived after ten minutes, he could not believe his eyes. Nancy was waving a cat over Ronald’s face. He said, “My God, this way the rat will go even deeper! I told you to hold a piece of cheese!”She said, “I did, but the rat pulled the cheese in! Now I am holding the cat to pull the rat and the cheese both out. Now that you have come, I can relax, you do the work!”But this really was a religious belief in Germany.Obviously the soul must enter from somewhere and must get out from somewhere; some door is needed, and the mouth seems to be the right place for it. If you are sleeping with somebody else, then it is even more dangerous – somebody else’s rat may enter your mouth. Always keep your mouth shut, for safety and security. Neither allow the inner one to go out, nor allow an outside one to come in!“The name of the rat is taboo in some parts of Europe. In Bohemia a white mouse should not be killed, it should be taken out of the trap and fed. Otherwise luck will desert the house and other rats will increase in number. Sometimes spells are used to keep down the number of rats.Elsewhere four pairs of rats are married and set adrift – with the idea that this will cause the other rats to go away.”When they see that the others are going on their honeymoon…just get your own boat and go on a honeymoon too. Why are you wasting your life unnecessarily in those dark holes, when others are enjoying the fresh air on the river? The idea seems to be good.“Rats are an omen of death in Austria. In other places they are a good omen.In Zoroastrianism the rat is an evil animal, and the killing of one rat equals in merit the slaying of four lions.”So don’t be worried – if you are a rat, you are equal to four lions. If your wife calls you a rat, she is saying, “You are equal to four lions.”“In Jewish folklore, eating anything gnawed by a rat causes loss of memory. Thus cats, which eat rats, don’t remember their masters.”Rats destroy the memory system; that’s why cats go on forgetting who is their master. Dogs never eat rats so they always remember their master.And simultaneously Anando is also contributing something to Avirbhava’s Museum of Gods, the monkey.The monkey has also been a problem in India. You cannot shoot a monkey – a monkey can shoot you, there is no constitutional law against that.In the capital of North India, Lucknow, there is a very beautiful temple of the monkey-god Hanuman. Surrounded by great trees, it is a very ancient temple, and hundreds of monkeys live on those trees. People go with food, flowers, sweets, and those monkeys…of course Hanuman is just a stone monkey, but the real monkeys are all around and they are flourishing, becoming stronger.Something happened suddenly in 1955. Nobody knows the actual cause, but the monkeys became violent at the sight of any kind of uniform. So the policeman, the postman, the military man, the sannyasin…none of them could pass down that street. Those monkeys would jump on them and hit them hard, tear away their clothes and they would have to run naked, oozing blood, down a main street in Lucknow. And the assembly of Lucknow could not decide what to do.It is something strange that both monkeys and dogs are against uniforms – both seem to be very revolutionary. Uniformed people are very orthodox, all just imitating each other. Dogs immediately start barking when they see the postman or the policeman or the sannyasin; anybody who wears a uniform provokes dogs and monkeys to fight against this traditionalism.It used to be that monkeys only made faces and threatened from the trees. But in Lucknow – perhaps somebody had hurt them, nobody knows the cause – for fifteen days they made such a chaos that the whole market had to be closed. And the government could not decide to shoot those monkeys, because if they were shot the whole Hindu population’s religious heart would be hurt. But since nobody came on that road anymore, those monkeys came to their senses – because now no more food was available. So finally they decided not to harm people any longer. They could see the point – if nobody passes on the road, nobody comes to the temple, they don’t get any food or flowers. Otherwise they were the blessed monkeys, very rich.Seeing the situation, after fifteen days they had to surrender. Slowly, slowly people started opening their shops again, moving on the street, cautiously at first. And the government had alerted the people that nobody should shoot a monkey. Rather than calling the army to shoot the monkeys, they ordered people, “If you shoot a monkey you will be thought a criminal, and you will be treated just as if you have shot a man. No distinction will be made!”These poor politicians are ruling all over the world, and they are ruled by all kinds of superstitions and stupidities.“Zoolatry, or the worship of animals, is not uncommon in the East. The monkey is among those animals worshipped, like the tiger and the snake, out of fear.It is said that the monkey is a symbol of the lower mind which imitates or reflects the higher, or represents the automatic mind. The monkey god, Hanuman, son of Vayu, the god of winds, is worshipped today in India. He is a symbol of the intellect which comes from the higher mind, Vayu.And in the orthodox villages in India the monkey is always free from harm and is magic. Its magic influence is implored against the whirlwind, and it is also invoked to avert sterility. The bones of monkeys are said to pollute the ground. Mentioning a monkey brings starvation for the rest of the day, but it is regarded as lucky to keep one in the stable.It is seriously believed in Africa and South America that monkeys can talk, but do not for fear of being made to work.”That is really good…if they talk there is every danger man will force them to work. It is better to keep quiet.I have heard about a small child who would not talk. He was taken to this psychologist, to that psychiatrist, to a psychoanalyst…nobody could get him to utter a single word. He could hear perfectly well; he was checked, his ears were perfect. But he would not show even a sign from his eyes or face that he had heard anything.But one day at the dining table he said to his mother, “Where’s the salt?”The mother said, “My God, you have never spoken before.”He said, “Nothing was ever missing before, why should I have spoken? I heard all those psychoanalysts and psychiatrists and all the nonsense they were talking. But to speak means going to school, and I hate school. It’s just because of the salt that I had to speak now, in spite of myself. But this is just between me and you, don’t tell anybody. I am never going to speak again, so nobody would believe you anyway.”There was not a witness, either. The mother was at a loss. She told her husband, but the husband said, “It is not possible, six years silence and suddenly…You will have to give me proof. Make him speak again.”But he would not speak, he had made the point clear that speaking meant going to school.This idea in South America and South Africa – both faraway places – is that monkeys understand your language, but they will not speak just out of fear that they would be forced to work.“Another story suggests that apes carry off women to the woods. In many places respect for the monkey is based on the belief that it is the abode of the human spirit.Among the Hottentots, the killer of a baboon has to sacrifice a sheep or goat and hang the lowest vertebrae around his neck, or he will suffer from lumbago. In China the monkey is regarded as lucky in that it keeps sickness away, while in Java an offering made to the king of the monkeys is believed to cure sterility.”Now, Avirbhava, bring your rat, and Anando, your monkeys.(Avirbhava puts a big, black toy rat at Osho’s feet. It starts dancing and making comical sounds. She also puts a clockwork monkey on the podium which wanders around Osho’s feet. Anando sits a small rubber monkey on the podium.)Very meditative monkey!Well, where are your small monkeys?(Many little monkeys are put on the podium. Meanwhile Avirbhava’s monkey is running away and Avirbhava has to jump to catch it. Everybody is laughing.)Just give a good clap, too.Now, remove your gods. Just ask all the sannyasins around the world to find out about all the animals that have been worshipped by human beings – to show to everyone what kind of past we have had. And there are still people who are worshipping animals.Religion has been reduced to such nonsense. And the harm is that people become involved in these absolutely absurd ideas and forget completely about themselves. The only religion is the religion of being conscious. All other religions are simply toys for children.But we go on living unconsciously, without seeing what people are doing. They celebrate monkeys, elephants, they worship even rats. This is such an undignified state of affairs that it has to be changed completely.So Avirbhava’s Museum of Gods will be immensely significant for visitors – to show them, “This is your past, this is your religion, and this is still your present. You cannot simply say that it is past. And do you want to realize yourself through rats?”This museum will provide a great insight to anybody who comes here without any prejudice. But it will bring many law cases against me, although we are not harming their gods – they will be taken care of – we are just putting them in a museum, where all your scriptures and all your ideologies also belong.We want a complete break from the past so that man can have his wings to fly into the sky of consciousness, absolutely free. That is the revolution of Zen.Yun-men said:My duty compels me to attempt the impossible. Even in telling you to look directly into yourself and to be unconcerned about other things, I am already burying the real thing under verbiage.This is the way the authentic master speaks, even knowing perfectly well that he is doing something wrong. Speaking about the truth is not right, but it is absolutely necessary to give some indication. Words are used not for themselves, but to indicate the wordless; sounds are used to indicate the soundless, the silence.Yun-Men says:I am already burying the real thing under verbiage.He is asking your forgiveness.If you proceed from thence and set out in quest of words and sentences, cudgeling your brains over their logical meanings, working out a thousand possibilities and ten thousand subtle distinctions, and creating endless questions and debates, all that you will gain thereby is a glib tongue, while at the same time you will be getting farther and farther away from the way, with no rest to your wandering.To follow the intentions and vagaries of your mind is to be separated from your self as far as the earth from the sky.But if you have really found your true self, then you can pass through fire without being burned, speak a whole day without really moving your lips and teeth, and without having really uttered a single word, wear your clothes and take your meal every day without really touching a single grain of rice or a single thread of silk. Even this talk is but a decoration on the door of our house. The important thing is your experiential realization of this state.He is saying that in your innermost being the unknown, the miraculous, the buddha, lives. It cannot be burned. Your consciousness cannot be burned or destroyed by any other means. It is indestructible. He is not referring to your body. Your body may be burned, you cannot pass through fire; you may be drowned in water. He is referring to your innermost being – of which you are unaware – which is the source of your life.In meditation you have to find that space, that clear sky, and then a metamorphosis, a revolution, happens on its own accord. You start changing without any effort because of the new clarity, the new light, the new experience, the new acquaintance with yourself. The whole existence becomes new.A man who knows himself cannot worship rats, a man who knows himself cannot worship monkeys or elephants, a man who knows himself cannot worship at all! – because worship is outward. He cannot pray at all, because all prayers are addressed to somebody else. He can only meditate, he can only be silently drowned in his own splendor – which is not his own. Slowly, slowly as meditation deepens he becomes aware that it is the splendor of our whole universe.We are not only parts, we are one with the whole. The whole expresses itself in many ways, then everything becomes divine; the very earth you are sitting on becomes divine, and whatever you are doing becomes divine. But first you have to find the divine element within yourself. It is not a belief system; it is an inquiry, it is as scientific an investigation as any science can claim.In fact no science is as scientific as meditation, because all sciences deny the existence of the scientist. They are experimenting with things, but they don’t want to say anything about who is working inside them, about what it is. On that point they remain absolutely silent because it cannot be made objective, it cannot be put on their table so they can dissect it and find all the elements in it; it is non-material.Hence the scientist is bound to remain with the superstition that the world is only objective, that the world has only the outside. Can you see the irrationality in it? The outside can exist only if there is an inside. If you deny the inside you cannot accept the outside, they both come together. The mystic is more scientific in the way he accepts the beauty of the world, the universe, and the way he accepts the beauty and splendor of his own being.Ryokan wrote:If you speak delusions,everything becomes a delusion:if you speak the truth, everythingbecomes the truth.Outside the truth there is no delusion,but outside delusion there is nospecial truth.Followers of Buddha’s way!Why do you so earnestly seek thetruth in distant places?Look for delusion and truth inthe bottom of your own hearts.Don’t go anywhere, just go in.And Ekon’s haiku, so small, but so immensely beautiful:Joy in the morning,sleep in the evening,what else?If you can feel the joy in the morning, if you can feel the joy of being alive, every breath becomes a blessing, is a blessing. If you can see sleep as a great rest and relaxation in the evening, what else do you want?In your insight everything becomes a joy and everything points to the same moon, the same truth.Maneesha has asked:Osho,I can't remember when you last paused to look at your watch to decide whether to speak further or not.Does that mean we have been juicier to be with lately?Maneesha, it means many things. It certainly means that my assembly of buddhas has become juicier, it has become more alert, less judgmental, more experimental. It also means that when you are all so deeply involved, I don’t have to look at my watch. When I see somebody disturbed, fidgeting, feeling that it is too late, only then have I looked at my watch. I haven’t looked at it for years.Sometimes it doesn’t show the time at all, there is nothing to look at. One day Shunyo reminded me, “Your watch…it is seven and your watch is saying four.”I said, “It does not matter.”As my days are becoming fewer and fewer on this earth, nothing matters except one thing: that I should pour myself into you as much as possible. Tomorrow I may not be here, so I should complete the celebration today. Tomorrow you may have to celebrate alone.The whole credit goes to Ronald Reagan. Poisoning me he has taken away from you at least twenty years of my life. I am fighting with the poison and it has been a good challenge for me, but for you it can be a loss any moment. I am just living on the fringe. So when I go to sleep I say good-bye to the world, because I don’t know for certain that tomorrow morning I will wake up. When I wake up I am amazed that there is one more day, one more celebration, one more day to laugh with my people, to be part of their silences, to have my heart beat with their hearts. Looking at the watch has become irrelevant.I go on wearing the watch so that you don’t become afraid. Because if I don’t wear the watch, you can be certain that my time is up.Now something really serious:Magnus Marx wants to buy a talking parrot for his wife’s birthday. He hears that a rare Brazilian banana-parrot is being auctioned, so he goes to the salesroom to have a look at it.The auctioneer puts the bird up on the stand in front of the crowded sales room.“Twenty-five dollars,” bids Magnus.“Thirty-five!” comes another bidder.Magnus bids again, “Forty dollars!”“Fifty!” cries the other bidder.Ten minutes later, a sweating Magnus hands over two hundred dollars to the auctioneer.“That’s a wonderful parrot you have bought, sir,” says the auctioneer as he pockets the money.“I know he is beautiful,” agrees Magnus. “But there is just one thing I forgot to ask before – does this bird talk?”“Talk?” repeats the auctioneer. “For the last ten minutes he has been bidding against you!”Sluggo, the deaf-mute gangster, is discovered to be stealing money regularly from the local Mafia godfather. Sluggo runs to the priest and begs in sign-language for protection.Father Finger agrees to protect him, then arranges a meeting with the Mafia godfather. The Mafia chieftain, upon seeing Sluggo, becomes so enraged that he pulls out his pistol, puts it against Sluggo’s head and says to Father Finger, “Tell him that if he does not say where that million dollars is, I will finish him right here!”“Did you say one million dollars?” asks Father Finger.“Yeah, that’s right,” shouts the fuming gang-lord, waving his gun madly. “Now tell him to talk, or die!”Finger turns to Sluggo and signs him a message. The deaf-mute, trembling with fear, signs back to the priest that the money is hidden in a cardboard box in the basement of his apartment building.“Really?” exclaims Father Finger aloud.“Well?” roars the Mafia godfather. “What the hell is he saying?”“He says,” replies Father Finger quietly, “that you don’t have the balls to pull the trigger!”Larry and Lottie Loveditch, the middle-aged suburban couple, are spending Saturday afternoon gardening.Lottie looks tense and uneasy until suddenly she throws down her clippers, stomps over to her husband and kicks him hard on the bum.“What is that for?” asks a puzzled Larry.“That is for being a lousy lover!” screams Lottie.Larry rubs his backside and goes back to digging the weeds. Five minutes later he drops his shovel, storms over to his wife and kicks her into the bushes.“You monster!” screams Lottie. “What was the reason for that?”“That,” replies Larry, “was for knowing the difference.”Nivedano, give the beat…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent,close your eyes,feel the body to be frozen.No movement…Just settle in,deeper and deeper.This is the only temple.This silent space is the only buddha.This is it! Remember.To make it more clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax, let go,just be a watcher. The body is there,the mind is there,you are simply aware of them.This awareness is beyond life and death.This awarenessis the meaning of the word buddha.Drink as much of it as possible,be drenched,carry out this awareness around the clockand your life will become a beatitude,a great bliss,an ecstasy, a revolution.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back…Slowly, gracefully…Carrying the experience with you.Forgetfulness of this experienceis the only sin in the world,and to live in awareness is the only virtue.All else is commentary.The simple truth is to be, and to be aware,and you have come home.Can we celebrate the gathering of the buddhas?

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The Miracle 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

The Miracle 09 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,Ejaku said:Let each and every one of you turn the light inwards upon himself, and not try to memorize my words. Since time without beginning, you have turned your back upon the light and run after darkness. The habits of erroneous thinking are so deep-rooted in you that it would be extremely difficult to uproot them overnight. This is why one is compelled to resort to the use of make-believe expedients in order to strip you of your crude ways of thinking.This is on a par with what a parent sometimes would do in order to stop his little child from crying – giving him some yellow leaves, making believe that they are precious coins. It is also like a man setting up a store stocked with all kinds of goods for daily use, as well as articles of gold and jade, to accommodate customers of different abilities. As I have often said, Sekito’s is a gold shop, while mine is a general store, selling all and sundry…. But business depends on demand. If there is no demand, there is no business.If I dealt only with the essence of meditation, I would be left all alone. Even a single companion would be hard to get, to say nothing of a community of five or seven hundred monks. If, on the other hand, I talked about things of East and West, people would come in flocks, pricking up their ears to catch every bit of my tales. That would be like showing an empty fist to little children, pretending that there are candies in it. This is just humbug.Now, let me tell you in all plainness:Do not divert your mind to the holy things; rather, direct it to your self-nature, and cultivate yourself with your feet on the ground. Do not desire the three “gifts of vision,” and the six “supernatural powers.” Why? Because these are only accidentals of holiness.The one thing essential now is to recollect your mind to attain the fundamental, the very root of your being. Having arrived at the root, you need have no worry about the accidentals. In time you will find that you are self-provided with all these accidental gifts and powers. On the other hand, so long as you have not got at the root, you will not be able to acquire such gifts and powers through study and learning.Maneesha, basically there is only one way of discovering the buddha, the truth of your very being. But there are thousands of people with different states of consciousness; hence for them, different devices, different small streets joining to the main way, have to be created. That’s what all the Zen masters in the fourteen-hundred-year history of Zen have been trying very diligently to do.No one is being left out; everybody is shown a way that may fit them. But finally, whatever fits you will lead you to the ultimate way: turning in. Every device is dedicated to the simple task of turning in.As the situation is, man is born with five senses which all go outwards. Nature has not given you a special sense that goes inwards.Your eyes open outwards; if you close them there is only darkness. Or even with closed eyes you will still see things of the outside world as imagination, as dreams. Ears can hear only the music that comes from the outside; they know nothing about the music that is continuously happening within you. Nobody is born with an ear to hear the inner music. Your hands stretch outside. Even the smallest child starts grabbing outside things.Obviously this state of affairs, that all our senses open outwards, has been exploited. We have been given every kind of theology, religion, truth, from the outside, because that is what we are demanding. We want a God to be there above in the sky. We want anything and immediately there will be a supplier. You just have to ask and somebody will create a system of beliefs to satisfy you.Zen cuts all this rubbish like a sharp sword in one single blow. It has nothing to do with anything that takes you away from you; it may be God, it may be hell, it may be heaven – all kinds of rewards and all kinds of fears about punishment. All the religions are living on the exploitation of your senses because they open outwards.The work of a real master is to close all these doors so that your life energy, your consciousness, does not leak out. There is no naturally given way to go inwards, but it is not needed. If enough consciousness is gathered in, it will create its own way, just as water creates its own way – no map, no guidelines, just enough quantity and the water will start flowing towards an unknown sea. It has never heard about, knows nothing about, where it is going.The same is true about consciousness. Enough consciousness gathered inside immediately makes a way upon which nobody has ever trodden, and starts moving inwards. Outward senses are closed; that’s what I mean when I say in your meditations to close your eyes, to leave the body completely behind…because all the senses are joined with the body. Just be a watcher of the mind, so the mind cannot take your energy outside. With body and mind both closed energy gathers upon itself spontaneously, and at a certain point it starts moving inwards. You don’t have to do anything except to close all the doors that lead you away from yourself.It is one of the simplest things because you don’t have to do it. But just because of its simplicity, its obviousness, it has become difficult – the most difficult, because nobody can teach you; nobody can indicate to you where to move, how to move. The master can only create a situation in which the spontaneous movement of the energy will happen.That’s what I call meditation. It is not your doing. You have to stop doing everything. It is your non-doing.And the moment when you are not doing, all your energy that was involved in doing a thousand and one things is released. It gathers to a point where it starts flowing inwards, and the innermost center is not far away.Meditation is, in a way, going beyond nature. Hence it is called transcendental. Nature has not provided any automatic way, like it has provided eyes, hands, ears; it has not provided any way for your energy to go in. Meditation is transcending the natural gifts, moving beyond nature. It is not against nature, it is simply towards a greater nature, more overwhelming, more universal.And once you have found the way and you have touched your own being, you have gone through a magic. You will never be the same person again. Not only that, the world that surrounds you will never be the same again. Now your love will have a new fragrance – not the old possessiveness, domination. Your friendship will be more friendliness than friendship. It will not have any bondage, any conditionings. Your vision of the world will become immensely intense and sharp. You will see things which have been there always, present, but you were not present.Each flower is showing something of the divine. Each star is shining, showing something of the divine. The whole existence in its multitude of expressions is showing only the divine, but you will recognize it only on the condition that you have recognized it within yourself. Then you know that your center is not only your center, it is the center of the whole universe.We are all joined in this center.It is said about Bacon – a great scientific thinker, perhaps the most important, because he turned the whole human mind from religion to science…He used to say, “If I can find the center of the world I can move the world according to me.” But he never found the center of the world, and I say unto you he has never heard that in the East we have been searching not the center of the world but the center of ourselves. Finding the center of ourselves we have found the center of the universe. But then the desire for change drops. The universe is so beautiful, nothing needs to be changed; everything has to be rejoiced and celebrated.These statements of a great master Ejaku are very fundamental.Ejaku said:Let each and every one of you turn the light inwards upon himself, and not try to memorize my words.Only a very great master can say that – don’t bother about my words, because they don’t contain the truth. No words can contain it, so don’t memorize them. I am saying to you, Turn in. But you can do two things: you can memorize the words turn in or you can do another thing…existentially, you can turn in. That’s what Ejaku is saying: “I am not saying these words to you so that you can memorize my words.”Since time without beginning, you have turned your back upon the light and run after darkness. The habits of erroneous thinking are so deep-rooted in you that it would be extremely difficult to uproot them overnight.It is obviously true, but with great respect to Ejaku I disagree.However many lives you may have been wandering outside, it does not matter. You can come to yourself in a single moment. It is just like a man asleep. He may be anywhere in the world, visiting Moscow or Peking or Tokyo or going to the moon – just wake him up. Do you think he will say, “Wait, I have to catch a train to come back from Tokyo?” Or, “From Moscow I have to take a plane; I cannot just wake up immediately.” He does not say that, he simply wakes up and wonders…instantaneously. The projection is a dream. All our projections – of greed, lust, power, anger – are simply dreams.Ejaku is right as a common-sense approach. But I don’t agree, because I know you can be a buddha this very moment. All the wanderings in past lives into darkness cannot prevent you. It is like saying a room has been dark for centuries and you bring a small candlelight…the darkness cannot say, “I will not go so immediately. I have been here occupying this room for centuries. It goes against the constitution of India; you cannot throw away the occupant in a single moment. Go through a proper channel. First go to the court, claim that you have the right.” But the darkness does not say anything. You just bring a small candle, and the darkness disappears.In fact the darkness has no substance. It is an absence. So when you bring the light, the absence disappears; it was the absence of the light.If you can go in, pushing aside the whole crowd of habits – just like an arrow, with force, gathering your whole energy inwards – you can prove Ejaku wrong. Although what he is saying is out of compassion, perhaps most people will have to follow what he is saying.The habits of erroneous thinking are so deep-rooted in you that it would be extremely difficult to uproot them overnight.I say unto you it is extremely simple to throw them this very moment. Those habits have been formed in darkness and unconsciousness; they don’t have any substance in them.I was talking to a friend. He was a professor in the same university I was, and he was continuously harassing me – “Do something! I want to drop this habit of smoking. Many times I try: one hour, two hours, three hours, and then it becomes too much. The urge…I think, ‘It is better to have a cigarette. Next time we will try in better conditions; right now I am too tense.’ So many times I have decided, but it fails. Every time, rather than being a success it has been a failure, and now it has become written in my memory that I cannot succeed. Just show me how to drop it.”I said, “Are you ready?”He said, “I am ready to do anything.”Then I said, “Do one thing. Come with me to my home, and I will not let you out until this habit is gone.”He said, “What do you mean? Are you going to torture me or something?”I said, “No torture, just chain smoking. Sitting before me you have to smoke to your heart’s content.”He said, “I never heard such a thing from anybody else. I have been talking about dropping this habit.”I said, “You have been bragging. All this talk about dropping this habit is just a strategy of the mind to brag that ‘I am trying, but what to do?’ But today you are caught in a lion’s den. Just come and sit behind me in my car and forget the world. On the way we will purchase cigarettes – as many as the car can contain.”He said, “My God, you will kill me!”I said, “It does not matter. Either you will leave dead or you will leave the habit!”Hesitantly, afraid, he said, “I always have heard that you are a strange type, but I never thought that just by telling you I would get trapped. Do you really mean it?”I said, “Just sit down in the car, and on the way I will fill the whole car….”He was looking at me and he said, “What are you doing? That much smoking will kill me!”I said, “There is no way out now. Chain smoking means chain smoking. When you drop one cigarette, immediately take another; take the fire from the first cigarette to the second cigarette. And I will be watching.”Just after three or four packets he said, “Can I go home, before…”“No way! Either your dead body will go out, or you will have to drop this habit that you have been bragging about.”He said, “I promise.”I said, “I don’t want to interfere in anybody else’s life, but you offered yourself.”He burned his lips, he burned his hands. It must have taken about six hours, and after six hours he was so tired…smoking and smoking. And a crowd of the neighbors gathered, and they started talking – “Is this man mad or something?” And all over, cigarettes and ashes. Finally he said, “Let me go!”I said, “I will not let you go. Do you see my guard? He will put you back in your place, and if you don’t smoke he will force you to smoke. This time or never!”He said, “It is better I drop this habit. But let me go home!”I said, “Be a man of your word. If you are found smoking again you will have to commit suicide – hara-kiri. A man of his word has no other way. If he goes against his word, he has to commit hara-kiri.”He said, “I promise. I will commit hara-kiri, but at least right now let me go home!”I followed him for many days. He tried to escape, he wouldn’t look at me. But when I take something into my hands I do it.I used to go every day to his home to ask his wife how things were going. She was of course on my side; she was my detective in his home. Even the small children of the poor professor were all working for me. They would say, “Uncle, you have done a miracle! He is so afraid. Even to mention the word cigarette and he starts perspiring. That experience you have given him…Since that experience – we don’t know what experience, he simply says, ‘Since that experience I am finished. Because that man is so dangerous, if I even touch a cigarette he will force me to commit hara-kiri. And I want to live, cigarettes or no cigarettes.’”The question is, if you have really decided, if you are in an honest search for yourself, then you can prove Ejaku wrong. And I would like you to prove him wrong, although he is making a very common-sense statement. Ordinarily it takes lives to drop old habits. But that simply means you are not really wanting to drop them. If you want to drop, it takes only a simple, single moment, because all old habits are your own projections.This is why one is compelled to resort to the use of make-believe expedients in order to strip you of your crude ways of thinking.This is on a par with what a parent sometimes would do in order to stop his little child from crying – giving him some yellow leaves, making believe that they are precious coins. It is also like a man setting up a store stocked with all kinds of goods for daily use, as well as articles of gold and jade, to accommodate customers of different abilities. As i have often said, Sekito’s is a gold shop, while mine is a general store….Sekito is sitting here in front of me, behind the camera. In this new reincarnation he is called Niskriya, the Stonehead. Sekito means the Stonehead. He was a great master.Ejaku says that Sekito has a gold shop – only very refined people can become his disciples. Ordinary ones are simply given a good beating and thrown out. They never come back to Sekito’s temple. Only very rare, extraordinary seekers will take all the beatings but will not leave the steps. Sometimes it happened that a person would sit there for months before Sekito would allow him to come in. It may be raining, it may be winter, it may be summer, but unless Sekito is convinced that the man has a will, that he has not come just out of curiosity but in every way he wants to seek and search himself……while mine is a general store, selling all and sundry.Ejaku was a different kind of master – not hard, he never hit anybody. He never slapped any disciple. Naturally he attracted the wishy-washy people. But in a general store you cannot find great shoppers like Avirbhava. Now she has gone to Hong Kong to find other gods worshipped in the past, because there is going to be a fair of toys. She is not here today. Yesterday she did her show of the great rat. Now she has gone in search of finding something even greater.Ejaku is saying, “I serve all and sundry; even the curious ones are accepted. One never knows: today the person may be curious, tomorrow he may become really a longing. A chance has to be given.”Both are right. Sekito works on the very special ones; Ejaku works on everyone, of any category. Both are needed.If I dealt only with the essence of meditation, I would be left all alone.To deal with the essence of meditation alone…that’s what I am doing. But even dealing only with meditation, I don’t have a general store. I have my ways of choosing the best and the most intelligent. Just because of my words, those who are curious will not stay here. There is nothing for them here.Those who have stayed with me have stayed because they started feeling the essence of meditation, slowly slowly, like a cool breeze or a full-moon night or a roseflower in all its beauty. They have found something, and now they are certain there is much more. This certainty creates trust. And without this trust, Ejaku is right: if a man simply deals with meditation he will be left alone, because who wants meditation? And when there is no demand, what is the point of keeping the store open?I have tried in a unique way to call forth from all over the world the most intelligent ones. I am not alone. It is not only that you are here – there are two million people around the earth who are meditating, whose only concern is meditation; everything else in life has become meaningless.But Ejaku is making a common sense statement: if you deal only with meditation, people will desert you. Seeing this, masters deal with scriptures, mantras, to keep you engaged. Some day may come the right moment that you can be introduced into meditation.I am totally different from Sekito or Ejaku, although I am doing the same work. But neither do I hit you, nor do I push you away, nor do I wait. I make the atmosphere available to you. All kinds of people, in this atmosphere, can have a little experience. And that little experience starts growing just like a seed grows into a huge cedar, aspiring to the stars.Those who were more concerned with non-essentials have come and gone. In these thirty years thousands of people have passed – but now, as we are coming to the most precious experience, deeper and deeper, only those who are authentically interested in digging for the gold have remained.Now this assembly has become one of the greatest assemblies of seekers that has ever been on the earth.Ejaku says: If I dealt only with the essence of meditation, I would be left all alone.Ordinarily that is true.Even a single companion would be hard to get, to say nothing of a community of five or seven hundred monks. If, on the other hand, I talked about things of East and West, people would come in flocks, pricking up their ears to catch every bit of my tales. That would be like showing an empty fist to little children, pretending that there are candies in it. This is just humbug.He is very honest. He is saying, “I have to create all kinds of things, but all those things are just humbug.” Just as you can engage a child with toys and he forgets that he was crying, you can engage thousands of people…in fact they are engaged. What are the churches doing, what are the synagogues doing, what are the temples doing? Dealing with non-essentials. And flocks of millions of people…And these holy places and these so-called great priests go on watching what the need of the people is. They immediately supply their need, so that they remain entangled in the net of Hinduism or Christianity or Judaism.I have heard that three rabbis were talking about their congregations. The first rabbi said, “My congregation is the most up-to-date. You can even smoke cigarettes inside the synagogue. You can play cards and gamble.”The second one said, “That is nothing. In my synagogue I have already entered the twenty-first century. People can make love and do whatever they want to do. They can drink wine, they can dance. After all, one has to have a congregation; otherwise we will lose our profession, our salaries. So whatever they want to do, let them do.”The third one said, “That’s nothing. In my synagogue there is a sign in front of the synagogue on which it is written, ‘This synagogue is closed on Saturdays and all Jewish holidays.’” What more do you want? This is the most ultra-modern! People are happy, very much rejoiced, to be members of a synagogue which is always closed, which does not bother them at all with old sermons.But all the religions have been keeping people engaged with the non-essentials.Ejaku is very sincere. He says, “It is not in my capacity to deal only with the essential Zen. I know that I will not find even a single companion. So I go on giving them devices, scriptures, mantras and all kinds of things – a general store. But it is all humbug.”Do you know what “humbug” means? It was Charles Darwin’s sixtieth birthday, and he was very friendly with children. So all the children of the neighborhood decided, “Precious presents will be coming to the great scientist. We poor children, what can we do? But something has to be presented to the great scientist who is our friend.” So one small boy came up with a great idea, and they managed it. They found all kinds of insects…because that was the interest of Charles Darwin. Working out his theory of evolution, he was looking into insects, into animals, in every place.What they did was cut up all those insects and made a new insect. The body of one insect, the legs of another, the face of a third, the tail of a fourth…and they made it so perfectly and beautifully that anybody could be deceived. They brought their present to the great Darwin and asked him, “Uncle, can you say what it is? You are such a great scientist, you must know the name.”He looked and he could not imagine…. He had never come across such an insect. He looked again and again, and then finally he saw that it was not one insect – the legs are different, the tail is different, the head is different. But the boys had done a great artistic job, so he said, “This is a humbug. Its name is humbug.”Most of the people are humbugs. They are carrying something from somebody, something from somebody else. They are not themselves, they are many people, a multitude. They are a crowd.Says Ejaku:Now, let me tell you in all plainness: do not divert your mind to the holy things; rather, direct it to your self-nature, and cultivate yourself with your feet on the ground. Do not desire the three “gifts of vision,” and the six “supernatural powers.” Why? Because these are only accidentals of holiness.The one thing essential now is to recollect your mind to attain the fundamental, the very root of your being. Having arrived at the root, you need have no worry about the accidentals.All the virtues come on their own as you become conscious, so don’t cultivate those virtues. They will be artificial and they will become preventive, hindrances on the way to your own self.Don’t ask for miracles. A man of meditation is himself a miracle. Whatever he does is a miracle. It is a beauty, it is magic, but it is all spontaneous. It is not practiced, it is not rehearsed.But most people are interested in supernatural powers, healing people with supernatural powers, or creating things out of nothing, just as Satya Sai Baba is doing. All kinds of frauds…but people become interested in them, thinking that here is a man of miracles. And what is the miracle if you can produce a Swiss watch which was hiding in your sleeve…?One old Parsi woman came to me in Bombay. Satya Sai Baba used to stay at her place, and she told me, “One day when he had gone into the bathroom, just out of curiosity I looked into his suitcases. They were all full of watches! I could not believe that this man was deceiving.” She said, “I kicked him out. I told him, ‘Never again come in my house!’ I cannot be a partner to any kind of fraud.” She told me, “I am an old woman. Nobody listens to me, they think I have gone senile. I have come to you…perhaps you can do something about it.”I said, “I have been challenging Satya Sai Baba, saying that this is stupid. When the country is dying of starvation, produce more food out of your miracles. He should bring rain to Hyderabad”…where the Shankaracharya of Puri is going to force a woman to be burned alive on her husband’s funeral pyre, and only then rain will come. And Satya Sai Baba is not far away from Hyderabad. Bring rain to Hyderabad – do some real work! All that he produces is ash, and he gives you the ash and you think it is great. It is so simple that any street magician can do it. In fact the more experienced street magicians can do it in a far better way, and can do many more things than he is doing.I have no objection to him as a magician, but he should not pretend to be a spiritual man. It is not only a question of a single person pretending to be spiritual when he is not. The question is that he attracts thousands of people, mediocre people, who believe that this man of miracles may impart something to them, may lead them to the ultimate truth.Ejaku is right: don’t bother about supernatural powers, three “gifts of vision.”The one thing essential now is to recollect your mind to attain the fundamental, the very root of your being. Having arrived at the root, you need have no worry about the accidentals. In time you will find that you are self-provided with all these accidental gifts and powers. On the other hand, so long as you have not got the root, you will not be able to acquire such gifts and powers through study and learning.A very honest man, saying simply two things: one, turn your lights in; second, don’t be concerned with accidentals, non-essentials. As you become an enlightened man, miracles follow you like a shadow. You don’t have to do them, they happen around you, in your very air.And the greatest miracle is that whoever comes in contact with the awakened one tastes for the first time the sweetness of awakening, the grace of awakening, and a longing arises in him which he has never thought about – to be a buddha himself.The greatest miracle in the world is to bring people to the recognition of their buddhahood.A Zen poet wrote:In the bottomless bamboo basketI put the white moon;in the bowl of mindlessnessI store the pure breeze.These are true miracles. They happen on their own in your silences of the heart.Seigensai wrote:This grasped, all is dust –the sermon for today.Lands, seas.Awakened, you walk the earth alone.Everything is dust once you understand yourself. And the moment you understand yourself you find your aloneness so beautiful, so precious, that you don’t get lost in the crowd and its stupid ideologies. You become for the first time an individual on your own; you are no more a Hindu or a Mohammedan or a Christian. You simply belong to the universe. You are a universal man. This is the greatest miracle.Another Zen poem, by Nensho:Only genuine awakening results in that.Only fools seek sainthood for reward.Lifting a hand,the stone lantern announces daybreak.Smiling, the void nods its enormous head.What Nensho is saying is: Why are you trying to be a saint? – because saints will be rewarded in heaven. All your virtues are just making a way towards paradise, where you will be provided all kinds of pleasures. What are your saints torturing themselves for? Hoping that the more they torture themselves, the closer is paradise. And what does paradise provide? Naked young women, rivers of wine, no work; everybody is given a harp…drink the wine, find a girlfriend, play on the harp, Alleluia! That’s all that is happening in paradise.And I say to you that your saints will look very hilarious. Here they have been torturing themselves, they have become ugly, rotten. And those girlfriends in heaven are plastic, because they have been serving since eternity. I have never heard that anybody goes into retirement. They remain always stuck at the age of sixteen. Time goes on, but they don’t grow old – only plastic can do that. Plastic never grows old, never dies.And the descriptions in the scriptures make me convinced, because those girls don’t perspire. Skin is bound to perspire, that is its very life, it is its breathing. Every pore of the skin is breathing. And there is a reason why it perspires: perspiration keeps your temperature the same so that whether it is cold outside or hot outside, it doesn’t matter. Your life is dependent on your temperature. From ninety-six degrees to one hundred and eight – just twelve degrees is your life span. If you go beyond one hundred and eight, you have gone beyond. Perspiration keeps you below that level, because it keeps the heat engaged – the perspiration becomes evaporated, so the heat becomes engaged in evaporating the perspiration and forgets you completely. It is a miracle.When it is cold, you start shivering, even your teeth start chattering. Do you know what for? This is all to keep you warm.I have heard stories – I don’t believe them – that people will leave their false teeth in the bathroom, and in the cold those teeth, out of old habit, start chattering. I don’t know…but there are stories on record. Perhaps just an old habit….Your shivering keeps you warm. Otherwise your temperature will fall and that will be again death. Your life span is just within those twelve degrees.Now those beautiful ladies in paradise never grow old, they always remain young. I cannot conceive that they have been serving all the saints for millions of years, and still nobody calls them prostitutes! They are the only eternal prostitutes. And these saints are dreaming about them. Here it is prohibited, you cannot drink wine; it is a sin according to many religions. But the same religions provide rivers of wine – there is no need to drink, you can drown! Here, every religion goes on working on every child: “Do something; otherwise you will be a hobo.” And what are all your saints doing in paradise? – hobos, playing on their harps. Hippies were simply imitating your saints in paradise, playing their guitars and doing nothing.It is such a boredom to conceive that for millions of years you will be just playing on your harp. There is nothing else to do. You can have as many women as you want, you can drink as much alcohol as you want. Perhaps to make it up-to-date, God may have provided new drugs – LSD, heroin, hashish – because the saints have earned them by their virtue; this is their reward.A genuine search is not for any reward. It is just to know who I am, why I am, what I am. It is a pure search to be acquainted with oneself, because that is the only way to find some connection with the universal spirit.Nensho has a beautiful metaphor. He says, “All these saints, what they are doing in declaring their saintliness is like lifting a hand with a stone lantern, announcing daybreak.” But all over, there is darkness. It is not daybreak. These saints are just stone lanterns, they are not the sunrise.And the universe smiles at these fools: the void, the immense void, nods its enormous head, smiling.Maneesha has asked:Osho,If you were to use just one word to describe the essence of true religiousness, one word that is the key to being able to drop whatever has been and simply live one moment at a time – what would that one word be?Maneesha, that one word is in. Just in.Go in and all the mysteries open before you.But before you go in…because nobody knows whether you will return or not. It is a miracle that everybody returns every day. What more miracles do you want? Jesus raised only one man from death. I have to do double the work! First I have to tell you to die – ten thousand sannyasins die every night – and then the great work has to be done to bring you back to life. And the miracle is, you all come back! Not a single one is left behind.So before that inward journey – the dangerous journey, as one may not like to come back – a few laughs are necessary. So on your inner journey you go laughing…at least smiling.When pretty Angela Carrotti goes out on her first date, her parents tell her to be home by nine o’clock.She gets in at nine-fifteen with her hair messed up and her make-up smeared. Momma Carrotti asks her how the evening was. Angela rolls up her eyes and says breathlessly, “Mamma mia!”The next night, Angela goes out again with the same boyfriend. Her parents tell her to be back by nine. At ten-thirty Angela gets home with her clothes disheveled and her hair in tangles.Poppa Carrotti tells her off for being so late and asks her if she has had fun.Rolling her eyes up, Angela says, “Mamma mia!”The following night, Angela gets home at two in the morning. Momma and Poppa are furious.“So!” cries Momma. “Now what-a you have to say for yourself?”Angela looks down and says, “Me-a mamma!”Feenie and Frankie, two Italian school friends, graduate from college at the same time. Feenie’s dad gives his son a solid gold wristwatch, and Frankie gets a pearl-handled pistol from his father.The friends meet and admire each other’s presents so much that they decide to trade them. That evening at dinner, Frankie checks the time.“Where did you get-a that gold watch?” asks his father. He listens to Frankie’s story with a look of disbelief on his face. “Whassa matter with you?” shouts his dad. “Some day you get-a married. And some day you find-a your wife in bed with another guy. And what are you gonna do? Look at your watch and say-a, ‘Hey! How long you gonna be?’”“Darling,” whispers Johnny, “you are the only one for me. I love you. I need you. I can’t live without you.”“Please!” gasps Julie, pushing him away.“Why? What is wrong?” asks a stunned Johnny.“I am in such a playful, happy mood,” says Julie, “and I don’t want to get serious.”“So?” smiles Johnny. “Who’s serious?”Old Grandpa Goldberg walks into the Saint Jones Cathedral, looks around anxiously, and then sits down in the dark confessional box.“Father,” says Goldberg to the priest. “I have been screwing a juicy blonde nymphomaniac nineteen-year-old girl twice a day for the past three weeks.”“Good Lord, Mr. Goldberg!” says Father Fungus. “But aren’t you Jewish? Why are you telling me?”“Why am I telling you?” replies Grandpa. “I’m telling everyone!”Now, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent.Close your eyes.Feel your body to be completely frozen.Close all the doors going outwards.Collect your whole energy in.Deeper, deeper….In the very center of your beingis the heart of the whole universe.We are not separate islands,we are all one in this inner space.This inner space is eternal, immortal,knows nothing of life or death.Be well acquainted with it,so that you can remember.In your day-to-day activitiesdon’t forget the buddha within.Express your buddha in all your actions,in your words, in your silences, in your songs.But always remember: you are a buddha.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax.Let go of the body, of the mind.You are just a watcher,a small light at the center of your being.But that light is connectedwith the center of the universe.It is from this center you get your life.This is the rootthat connects you with the universal soul.Blessed is this moment…ten thousand buddhasdrowned into one consciousness.Blessed is this this-ness, this suchness, this silence.Feel the silence.Feel the beauty of it.Feel the joy of it.Feel its universality.And in a single momenthere nowyou can prove Ejaku wrong.You can be a buddha.You are a buddha,just you have forgotten.Remember…Remember.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back,gathering your experience,remembering your experience.Sit down like a buddha.This is your true nature.This is the meeting point with the universe.Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?

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The Miracle 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

The Miracle 10 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,Eno said:Good friends, my teaching of the dharma takes meditation and wisdom as its basis. Never under any circumstances say mistakenly that meditation and wisdom are different; they are a unity, not two things. Meditation itself is the substance of wisdom; wisdom itself is the function of meditation. At the very moment when there is wisdom, then meditation exists in wisdom; at the very moment when there is meditation, then wisdom exists in meditation.Good friends, this means that meditation and wisdom are alike. Students, be careful not to say that meditation gives rise to wisdom, or that wisdom gives rise to meditation, or that meditation and wisdom are different from each other.To hold this view implies that things have duality – if good is spoken while the mind is not good, meditation and wisdom will not be alike. If mind and speech are both good, then the internal and the external are the same, and meditation and wisdom are alike.The practice of self-awakening does not lie in verbal arguments. If you argue which comes first, meditation or wisdom, you are deluded people. You won’t be able to settle the argument, and instead will cling to objective things, and will never escape from the four states of phenomena.Eno added:Good friends, how then are meditation and wisdom alike? They are like the lamp and the light it gives forth. If there is a lamp there is light; if there is no lamp there is no light. The lamp is the substance of light; the light is the function of the lamp. Thus, although they have two names, in substance they are not two. Meditation and wisdom are also like this.Maneesha, the understanding of mind ultimately ends in the understanding of meditation. The function of the mind is to divide things. Duality is its territory: darkness and light, life and death. The mind cannot conceive anything which has not its opposite.But existence is not obliged to function according to the mind. In existence day and night merge into each other, every evening, every morning. They are not separate. Neither are life and death separate. If they were separate it would be possible for someone to go on living, and not to allow death to enter into his house.An ancient Chinese story will help you to understand the great Zen master Eno. His every statement is a scripture in itself.The ancient story is that a great emperor, being afraid of death, created a palace with a single door. No other doors, no other windows, no way of entering into the palace except from one small door where he had placed a complete row of guards. Guard number one was to be guarded by number two, and guard number two was guarded by number three, and guard number three was guarded by number four…seven guards watching each other! More protection is not possible.A neighboring king heard about it, and he wanted to see this most secure palace. He was welcomed. The owner of the palace took him in, showed him all the facilities inside, that there was no way for any enemy, for any thief, for any killer to enter.The king was very much impressed. He said, “I will immediately order the same. Just give me the names of the architects, to make the same palace for me in my kingdom.”Talking with each other, they came out to where the chariot of the king was waiting. And when he said, “I’m going to make exactly the same palace. I loved it, the very idea. It is so safe and secure…” a beggar by the side of the road started laughing madly.Both were stunned. For a moment there was silence.They both asked the beggar, “Why are you laughing?”He said, “I’m laughing because there is a loophole in all this, and I know the loophole. I have been sitting in this place for years, begging, so I have been watching the building of the palace.”The emperor asked, “What is the loophole?”He said, “That one door!”The emperor laughed. He said, “I have placed seven guards on it. They are guarding on each other, nobody can betray. What is the fear?”The beggar said, “With due respect, I want to tell you that death will enter and your guards will not be able to see it. And death is the only insecurity. What else? Do you have any protection against death?”The emperor was at a loss.The beggar said, “My suggestion is that if you want really to be secure, tell your builders to raise a wall in place of that door! I still cannot guarantee that death will not enter – but at least you have made as much effort as possible; close the door and be inside.”The emperor said, “But that means I’m already dead! It becomes a grave, not a palace, if I cannot come out.”The beggar said, “If you think just by closing one door your life will be finished, don’t you think that by closing other doors, parts of your life are finished? By closing the windows, other parts of your life are finished? You are going to live at the minimum, while the maximum was available.”Both the kings were surprised to see the intelligence of the beggar. They came close to him and they asked him, “From where have you come?”He said, “You will not understand. Your fathers were my friends. Once I also used to be an emperor. But seeing the whole unnecessary trouble, I made myself completely secure – I dropped all walls, all worries, opened all windows. Now for almost half a century nobody has harmed me. I’m just a beggar – why should anyone harm me? I have nothing to be stolen. I sleep as I have never slept before.”If you really want to be living at the maximum, don’t listen to the duality of the mind.The only security in existence is going beyond the mind.The beggar was a great Taoist master. His name was Lieh Tzu. But people had forgotten that fifty years before he had dropped his kingdom.He said, “The only security I have found is in being silent, in being myself, where all duality disappears. Where you and the universe are one, then death cannot do anything.”You have disappeared on your own accord; now there is no way to harm you. There is nobody to harm you. The body is not you, the mind is not you. You are just a guest in a house. Don’t get identified with the house, just remember the guest.This statement of Eno is tremendously beautiful:Good friends, my teaching of the dharma takes meditation and wisdom as its basis. Never under any circumstances say mistakenly that meditation and wisdom are different; they are a unity, not two things.But all the so-called intelligent people of the world have taken them as two things. Meditation is for the mystics and wisdom comes from accumulating knowledge from the scriptures, from the old traditions. They have degraded wisdom to knowledge – borrowed knowledge.Eno is saying that wisdom is the fragrance of meditation; they are not separable. You cannot have wisdom without meditation and you cannot have meditation without wisdom. In fact, they are two names for one phenomenon.To be yourself, silently and fully aware, is to know without any doubt that meditation and wisdom are one.Meditation is the source and wisdom is the radiation. Meditation is your understanding and wisdom is your action according to that understanding. Meditation is your inner experience and wisdom is its outer expression.A man of meditation cannot do anything wrong. And a man of so-called wisdom alone is just a parrot. He goes on repeating, but his heart is not touched by his own repetitions.A priest had two parrots. They were very good, saintly, with their rosaries in their hands, repeating Ave Maria. But once in a while they would become very sad, both of them at the same time. So he thought perhaps they needed a companion.He went to the pet shop, thinking certainly they need a companion, because both are male; they need a female at least to share with. So he bought a female, and as he put the female parrot into their cage, one parrot said to the other, “Johnny, now drop the rosary! There is no need of it, our prayers have been heard!”The priest could not believe that these idiots had been praying for their own reasons, not for the Christian religion. They both dropped their rosaries.A man who thinks that through borrowed knowledge he is wise, is not only befooling himself but others also. His wisdom is just a memory, not a knowing, because knowing blossoms only through meditation.Eno says:Never under any circumstances say mistakenly that meditation and wisdom are different; they are a unity, not two things. Meditation itself is the substance of wisdom; wisdom itself is the function of meditation. At the very moment when there is wisdom, then meditation exists in wisdom; at the very moment when there is meditation, then wisdom exists in meditation.Good friends, this means that meditation and wisdom are alike. Students, be careful not to say that meditation gives rise to wisdom, or that wisdom gives rise to meditation, or that meditation and wisdom are different from each other.To hold this view implies that things have duality – if good is spoken while the mind is not good, meditation and wisdom will not be alike. If mind and speech are both good, then the internal and the external are the same, and meditation and wisdom are alike.The practice of self-awakening does not lie in verbal arguments. If you argue which comes first, meditation or wisdom, you are deluded people. You won’t be able to settle the argument, and instead will cling to objective things, and will never escape from the four states of phenomena.Eno added:Good friends, how then are meditation and wisdom alike? They are like the lamp and the light it gives forth. If there is a lamp there is light; if there is no lamp there is no light. The lamp is the substance of light; the light is the function of the lamp. Thus, although they have two names, in substance they are not two. Meditation and wisdom are also like this.Eno is making a significant statement. You are standing on a road – inwards is the realm of meditation. And if you reach to the point where you touch your very being, then outwardly you can express your meditation in everything that you do. All your gestures, all your actions, even your silences – not doing anything, just sitting – will also express the radiance, the fragrance, the beauty, the joy of meditation. This is wisdom.But people have been misled by parents, by teachers, by priests, by everyone, to accumulate wisdom. You can accumulate great wisdom and yet you will be just a learned idiot. Your behavior will show it, your actions will show it; just your words will be in consonance with the scriptures.The authentic wisdom does not come from outside. The authentic wisdom comes when you have gone deeper into your being and found the center of your life – then suddenly an explosion. Everything that you do or don’t do expresses your wisdom.Wisdom is just the fragrance of a rose. Find the rose first and the fragrance will be found on its own accord. Don’t even make the distinction of which comes first, because they are not two. They are one, looked at from two sides – one from inside and one from outside. Whatever is your enlightenment expresses itself inside as meditation, and outside as wisdom. Neither comes first, they are one. The outer and the inner both are together.But mind always creates distinctions, separations. And it is because of the mind that you get into unnecessary troubles: philosophic conflicts, theological arguments. You waste your time on books looking for something that may help you to find yourself.You cannot find, anywhere, anything that will help you to find yourself. You have to be clear about it: you are not to be found, you are already here. You have just to recognize the fact.A master does not teach you to be yourself; he simply makes you recognize what is hidden behind your heartbeat. In his presence a certain synchronicity happens. You simply be close to a master, silently, and you start feeling a rush of energy flowing towards you, making you afire. It is invisible to the spectators; only the participants are the blessed ones.Once you know yourself, you are in meditation and your actions will show wisdom.A Zen poet wrote:To have the sun and moon in one’s sleeve;to hold the universein the palm of one’s hand.And his haiku is complete. Just remember one hand, just remember one sleeve.To have the sun and moon in one’s sleeve,to hold the universein the palm of one’s hand.When you open your hand, don’t you have the whole universe in your palm? Just don’t close it. The closed hand is the poorest; it has nothing in it.It is a strange thing, that every child is born with a closed hand, and everybody dies with an open hand. It has never been heard of that anybody has died with a closed hand, because to close the hand you need energy. The open hand needs no energy, no tension. A closed hand will get tired. The dying man cannot afford the energy to close his fist.But it is beautiful to go deeper into the question of why every child is born with closed hands. It signifies that every child is born with great hopes and expectations and desires. Those closed hands are showing that he has to make something of himself – to be successful, rich, politically powerful. It is an unconscious, very deep-rooted expression of his being. He comes into the world with great secrets; soon he will start getting frustrated. No success succeeds.In fact, every success ends up in failure, in a deep frustration, because what you wanted is not found.The old man dying has nothing to hold on to. No desire, no expectation…he moves into death just like a beggar.When Alexander the Great died, he told his ministers, “Keep my hands hanging outside of the coffin.”They said, “Strange idea!” It had never been heard of. Nobody had done it. A dead man should behave and keep his hands inside the coffin.But Alexander said, “It is my order and it has to be fulfilled! It is my last wish. It does not matter that nobody else has done it; it’s going to be done to me. Keep my hands hanging outside the casket!”They said, “But why this idea?”Alexander said, “Millions of people will come to see. I want to make it clear to them that I had come into the world with closed fists, with great expectations, with great secret desires – I am going from the world utterly frustrated, with open hands. I’m not taking anything with me. All that I had has proved to be just a delusion.”Meditation makes you an open hand. Mind is very secretive; mind goes on keeping your desires, your angers, your frustrations, your miseries, all secret – a closed fist. Meditation is an opening of the fist. And then the whole universe is in your hands. A small haiku with a great meaning…Ikkyu wrote:Should you seekthe way of the buddhaall night long,searching, you will enterinto your own mind.You can go on searching not only the whole night but the whole life of unconsciousness and darkness, searching for Buddha. You will always end up with your mind.You will not find the buddha because the buddha is not to be found by searching. The buddha has to be simply recognized. Without making any effort to seek and search, just look in. You are the buddha.And immediately all your actions, all your ways of life, all your functions, will change – immediately. They will all carry the fragrance of a buddha.Another haiku:However much we pour in,never to brim over;to ladle out, never exhausting;moreover, not to know the reason for it –this is called the hidden light.The light within you is perfect. You cannot take anything out of it, nor can you add anything to it. It is a perfect circle, it is a perfectly opened lotus. You cannot do anything to it; you can only rejoice. You can dance, you can sing a song, in praise of the lotus that has blossomed within your being.Particularly, I want my people to know that meditation is not just being silent – that is only one part of it. Finally, it has to be creative. And when a poetry comes out of your inner silences, or a painting, it has a flavor which is not of this world.Maneesha has asked:Osho,When you say each evening during the meditation, “Go in, go deeper and deeper like an arrow to your center,” is it that there is actually nowhere to go and nothing to do because we are already in?Is all we can do just be aware of how and when we perpetually go out, further and further from ourselves?Yes, Maneesha. There is nowhere to go. You are already there, where you needed to be. And once you recognize it, then you carry your consciousness wherever you go. Then time makes no difference, nor does space. You are a buddha in the temple and you are a buddha in the shop; you are a buddha sitting silently, deep in meditation, and you are a buddha having a good laugh with Sardar Gurudayal Singh.It is midnight in Miami, and Glamorous Gladys arrives for a winter holiday to find that all the hotels are full.The receptionist at the four-star Screwing Sands Hotel suggests that he can put her in to share a room with a nice man on the fifth floor, named Donald Dickstein.Gladys likes the idea and takes the room.She enters the room quietly, takes a peek, and sees Donald sleeping in one of the beds. Then she turns on the bathroom light, leaves the door open, and begins to slowly and seductively take off her dress.Then she ever so slowly removes her bra. Bending in the light, she takes her sweet time slipping off her black lace panties.Finally, she saunters around the room completely naked, and gets into her bed. Then she leans over and whispers to Donald, “Would you like to come in my bed?”“No thanks,” replies Donald, wide awake. “I’ve already come in mine!”There is an explosion at a Polack salami factory, and one of the salamis gets blown right to heaven. It lands at Saint Peter’s feet.“What a funny-looking thing,” says Saint Peter, picking it up. And he goes to show it to Jesus.“Did you ever see such a thing?” Saint Peter asks Jesus.“No,” replies Jesus. “I’ve never seen one before.” So, Saint Peter takes it to show to Mary.“Mary,” he asks, “did you ever see something like this?”“Oh!” exclaims Mary. “You know, if it didn’t have that funny smell, I would swear it was the Holy Ghost!”Caroline Kratz goes to visit her local channeler to find out about her late husband, Caruso.“What’s it like up there?” asks Caroline, anxiously, when she gets the right channel.“Marvelous!” replies Caruso. “I get up late, go swimming, then have sex, sleep, eat, take a rest, go swimming, have sex, sleep, eat again, have sex….”“Ah!” cries Caroline, “but down here you only made love to me once a month!”“I know,” admits Caruso, “but down there I was not a duck!”Old Rubenstein is passing the local pet shop one day, when he sees a sign advertising a parrot that can speak many languages.Since he considers himself an expert on languages, Rubenstein goes inside and starts to question the parrot.“Parlez-vous francais?” asks Rubenstein.“Parlez-vous francais?” replies the parrot.“Habla espanol?” asks the old Jew.“Habla espanol?” comes the reply.“Speak English?” asks Rubenstein.“Speak English?” replies the bird.Old Rubenstein goes closer to the parrot, and asks confidentially, “Tell me, my friend, if you are so smart, do you speak Yiddish?”The parrot fixes Rubenstein with its beady eyes: “Tell me, my friend,” says the bird, “you think I should not speak Yiddish with a nose like this?”Okay, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent…Close your eyes.Feel your body to be frozen.Gather all your energy inside.Deeper and deeper…Take this energyto the very center of your being.Your body is only a circumference.Find the center of your consciousness.Once you have found the centerof your consciousness,you are a miracle, a buddha…the greatest mystery in existence.Don’t hesitate…Take the jump.There is nothing to fear.It is your own world.Finding the center of your consciousnessis finding the center of the universe itself.After that,you exist spontaneously –without any effort,with great grace and bliss.Meditation ultimately brings wisdomto your life.To make it absolutely clear that you are not the body, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax…fall dead.Collect yourself as deepwithin your innermost core as possible…You are discovering the buddha…This moment is the most precious momentwhen one discovers the buddha in oneself.Then all theology and religion and philosophyare just commentaries,non-essential.You have got the essential thingright in your hands.This buddha-nature knows no death, no birth –it knows only eternity.No beginning, no end.No boundary.It becomes oceanic…The whole universe becomes its home.For the first timethere is not even a fencebetween you and the universe.You are the universe.This is the meaning of finding the buddha.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back, slowly, silently, gracefully,carrying the experience,recollecting it.Sit for a few moments as a buddha.And carry outyour twenty-four-hour activities,remembering that you are a Buddhaand all your expressions should be of wisdom.Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 01 (Read, Listen & Download)

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I have called you here; you heard my call, and you have come. But this coming, this outward coming, is not enough. Now, I will call you again, on a different journey: the inner one. And if you cooperate, if you are ready to move inward, that will also happen.The most important thing to remember is that the inner journey requires deep courage. It is an adventure into the unknown. The sea is uncharted; it needs courage to take a plunge. What is this courage? – the courage is to leave your past and to take a jump.If you are not courageous, you go on continuing with your past. You go on repeating the past again and again. You move in a wheel, in a circle. Then your whole life becomes just a repetition. Courage means the courage to come out of this vicious circle, to break the continuum – to be discontinuous with the past, to be new, to be reborn.This meditation camp is going to be a happening for a rebirth. There will be much pain, much suffering, because every birth is a painful phenomenon. If you are ready then even that pain will become happiness, because when the morning is the darkest, when the night has become darkest, the sunrise is just nearby. When your suffering comes to a climax, you are just near the boundary from where the dimension of happiness and bliss starts. You will have to pass through suffering. Be ready for it because unless you pass through it you will never go beyond it. Don’t suppress suffering. Rather, move through it.The meditation experiments that will be done here will bring your suffering to the surface. These experiments will bring your suffering from the unconscious to the conscious; and once suffering becomes conscious, it can evaporate.From the unconscious, nothing evaporates. You go on pushing and forcing away your pain, anguish, anger, violence. You go on pushing and forcing everything inside you into the unconscious. Your unconscious has become a wound, it has become a hell. It has to be brought out. If you really want to enter a heavenly dimension, you will have to pass through the hell. Courage will be needed: courage to move through the hell, courage to be reborn.When I say it is a rebirth, I mean it. You will pass through a death and then you will be reborn. Meditation is a death: dying to the past, dying completely as an ego.What to do? How to die so that a new life is born unto you? How to die so that you can be resurrected again?Jesus says that unless a seed dies it cannot become a tree, it cannot grow. You are like seeds, seeds of a divine flower, and unless you die as seeds the flowering will never happen. You have been carrying your seed for lives and lives, for millions and millions of years. Every moment is the right moment. If you are ready, the seed can die and a new life resurrect, a new life arise out of it.If you have come, if you have heard my call, now be courageous. Don’t withhold yourself! Whatsoever I say, move into it as totally as possible. If you are ready to be courageous I can do much. Much is possible if you cooperate with me. If you just cooperate and become open, I can enter you. I can change you: I can make new adjustments, a tuning.And once you are tuned, the whole of existence becomes different, because now you can listen to the cosmic harmony, the cosmic music. Once tuned to the infinite, you will never be the same again. If you are tuned for even a single moment, you will not be the same again.Through all these experiments, my effort will be to tune you. But your cooperation will be needed. You can create barriers, you can create hindrances, you can resist me. If you resist, nothing will happen. Then you will say that nothing has happened – and you will be responsible, because that means you didn’t allow, you were not in a let-go.Remember these words for this whole camp: let-go. Remember not only the words, but the feeling. Remain in a surrendered attitude, ready for whatsoever happens, and for whatsoever I do: allowing, vulnerable, open. Even if death occurs, be ready. Only then will life happen to you.If you can trust me, only then is something possible. And trust always means… Ultimately it means that you are leaving everything in my hands. Even if death occurs, you will not complain. If your preparation is this much, then you will not return from this camp the same man. You will go back a new man, totally new. And the whole world becomes new when the insight into the infinite has happened.Throughout this camp, feel a deep surrender. The first words to remember: let-go, surrender.The second word to remember continuously is: now. N-O-W, now. Don’t move to the past, and don’t move to the future. Remain with the moment. Whenever you feel that your mind is going back again – thinking about the past, moving into memories – bring it back to the now. Or, if you feel your mind is moving, projecting into the future, bring it back to the now. If you are eating, then eat – don’t do anything else. If you are walking, then walk – don’t do anything else. If you are listening, then listen – don’t do anything else. If you are meditating, then meditate – don’t do anything else. Remain with the moment, here and now. It should be a constant effort. In the beginning you will feel it as a strain, just because of your old habits, but as you move deeply into it the strain will disappear. For the first time you will feel totally non-tense, because in the now no tension is possible. Just this moment is existential; everything else is either memory or projection. The past exists not, the future exists not – only the present.The second thing to remember: remain with the now. Don’t go here and there, just remain with the present moment. It is difficult, but once you have the feeling of it, it becomes very easy, simple, natural.And the third thing: in the techniques, in the meditation techniques bring your total energy. Halfhearted efforts won’t do. You will simply be wasting time and energy. A certain peak is needed, only then are you transformed into another dimension. Only after a peak… Just as when you heat water, at 100 degrees it evaporates. Even at 90 degrees it is just hot water, and if you leave it at that it will again cool down. The heat has been wasted; nothing has happened.So bring your total energy to every technique that we are going to practice here. Only then will a certain degree be achieved, where you are no longer the old one. The old one will have disappeared, evaporated, and a new phenomenon will have come into being. So don’t withhold, don’t divide. Move totally. Bring your whole mind and body into it; don’t leave anything behind. And then I promise you that you will not leave here as you came. You will be a new man, resurrected. The unknown will have happened to you. It is certain, it is scientific – but you have to fulfill the conditions.Tomorrow morning we will start the first meditation technique. It will be of four stages…The first ten minutes: fast, chaotic breathing – forgetting yourself completely, as if you have become just the breathing process.Second: for ten minutes, catharsis, acting out your emotions. Whatsoever is hidden and suppressed has to be brought out, thrown out – screaming, weeping, crying. Whatsoever happens, allow it to come out, help it to come out. Act it out completely, it is an unburdening.In the third ten-minute step we will be using a mantra, hoo. You have to use this mantra hoo as forcibly, as strongly, for as long as possible. This is going to hammer your inner energy.The energy lies just near the sex center. This hoo penetrates to the very sex center, hammers the energy, and the energy starts moving upward; when it starts moving upward it is called kundalini. When the energy moves downward it becomes sexual. The same energy, when it moves upward, becomes spiritual. The energy is the same, only the dimension is different.After these three steps the fourth will be of total silence.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 02 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Three sutras, basic for life transformation, are ultimate in a way. The first: be non-ambitious.Kill out ambition.Totally. Unless ambition is killed you will remain in misery. Ambition is the source of all misery.What is ambition? A wants to be B, the poor wants to be rich, the ugly wants to be beautiful. Everyone longs to be something, someone else, something other than what he is. No one is content with himself. That’s what ambition is.Whatsoever you are, you are not content with it. That is ambition. Then you are bound to be in misery, because you cannot be anything else. You can only be yourself, nothing else is possible. All else is just futile, harmful, dangerous. You can waste your life, your existence.Whatsoever you are, you are. Accept it, don’t desire otherwise. This is what non-ambition means. Non-ambitiousness is basic to all spiritual transformation, because once you accept yourself many things start happening.The first thing… If you accept yourself totally, the first thing that happens to you is a non-tense life. There is no tension. You don’t want to be anything else, there is nowhere to go. Then, you can be here and now. Then, there is no comparison. Then, you are unique, yourself. Then, you are not thinking in terms of others.Then, there is no future. Ambition needs future, ambition needs space to grow. Ambition cannot grow here and now, there is no space. The moment is so small, so atomic. Ambition needs the future; and the greater the ambition, the greater the future that is needed.If your ambition is such that it cannot be fulfilled in this life, then you will create an afterlife. You will create heaven, you will create moksha, you will create the concept of rebirth. I am not saying that there is no rebirth. I am saying that you believe in rebirth, not because it is there – you believe in it because your ambitions are so great that they cannot be fulfilled in one lifetime. Your belief in rebirth, reincarnation, is not because it is a fact. It is because of ambition and desire. Reincarnation may be a fact, but for you it is just a fiction. For you it is just more future, more space to move in.Remember, you cannot be ambitious in the present moment. Impossible! There is no space. The present moment is so atomic, so small, that you cannot move in it. You can be in it, but you cannot desire in it. It is long enough to be, but it is not long enough for desiring. To desire, you need future, time. Really, time exists because of desire.For the trees here, there is no time. For the birds singing here, there is no time. For the stars and for the sun and for the earth, there is no time. Time exists because of human desire. If humanity was not on this earth there would be no time: there would be no past and no future.So don’t think that the past, the future and the present are parts of time; they are not. The past and the future are parts of a desiring mind. Time consists only of the present, the herenow. Time consists only of eternal moments, the eternal moment. Your desire creates the future. Your memory creates the past. They are parts of your mind. Don’t desire, and the future disappears. And when there is no future, how can you be tense? How?There is no possibility of being tense if there is no future. And if there is no past – if you know that it is simply memory, the dust collected on the way – how can there be any anxiety? With the past, anxiety enters. With the future, plans, imagination, projections, tensions exist. With the past dropped, the future not opened, you are here, now. No anxiety, no tension, no anguish.Non-ambition means accepting yourself as you are. That doesn’t mean that there is no possibility of growth. No, on the contrary, when you accept yourself as you are, the transformation sets in. You start growing, but the dimension differs. Then the dimension is not in the future, the dimension is in the eternal.Know well this distinction. You can move in two ways: if you move into the future, you are moving into the mind – a fiction, a dream world. If you don’t move into the future, then a different dimension becomes open for you. From this very moment you are moving into the eternal.The eternal is hidden in the moment.If you can be here right now, in the moment, you have entered the eternal. If you go on thinking of the future and the past, you are moving in the temporal. The temporal is the world, and the eternal is nirvana.Buddha is reported to have said again and again that if you can be in the now, there is no need of any technique to meditate. It is enough. It will do all that is needed. But how can you be in the now if you are ambitious?The ambitious mind cannot be in the now. It can be anywhere else, but it cannot be in the now. The ambitious mind always moves away from the present. It is thinking of that which is to come, it is thinking of tomorrow. It is thinking of an afterlife, it is not interested in the life that is here. It is interested in something that should be. It is not interested in the is; it is always interested in the ought, in the should. That interest is non-religious. A religious mind, a religious consciousness, is interested in existence as it is. The first sutra is: Kill out ambition totally, so that you can be here and now, so that you can enter the eternal.The second sutra:Kill out desire of life.Kill out desire of life. Life’s laws are very paradoxical. If you desire life, you will miss it. That is the surest way to miss it. If you desire life, you will miss it; if you don’t desire it, abundant life will happen to you.Through desire you move against life. It looks paradoxical. It is. But this paradoxical law has to be understood deeply. Why, when you desire life, do you miss it? It should not be so. Logically, mathematically, it should not be so. If someone desires life, why should he miss it? The mechanism is such that when you desire, you have again moved into the future – and life is here! Life is already the case, how can you desire it? Only that which is not, can be desired. And life is. How can you desire it? It already is, it has happened already. You are life. So if you desire it, you will miss it. Through desire, you are moving away. Every desire leads you further and further away. That’s why there is so much insistence on desirelessness. Not that Buddha or all those who talk about desirelessness are against life; really, on the contrary, they are for life. But they say “Don’t desire,” and to us it looks as if they are against life, life-negative. They are not.We are missing life through desire. They say “Don’t desire.” Then what happens if you don’t desire? What will happen? Life will happen to you. It is already happening, but you cannot look at it – your eyes are fixed on the future. You are somewhere else, your mind is not here. Life is here and you are not here, so the meeting has become impossible. Life will always be here and you will never be here; then there will be no meeting. Then you will hanker for life, you will desire life – and you will go on missing it.Allow life to happen to your consciousness. What can be done? – be attentive, here. Don’t be somewhere else.The moment you start desiring life, you become afraid of death – it is bound to be, because the desire for life creates the fear of death. There is no death. In reality, nothing dies: nothing can. It is impossible. Death never happens, death is not. Then why do we feel death so much, and why are we so afraid of death, which is not? – because of the desire for life. The desire for life creates a counter fear: the fear of death. We don’t know life, but we desire life. Then the fear comes that life is going to be destroyed.We see death happening… Someone dies – have you ever observed the fact that it is always someone else who dies, never you? It is always someone else who dies. You see death from outside, you have not seen it from inside. You just see someone dying, you don’t know what is happening to him in his innermost core. You just know what is happening on the periphery. The periphery has died: it is no longer alive, the man cannot breathe. But what has happened in the core, in the very being, in the center? You don’t know.No one has witnessed death. And no one can, because there is only one way to witness it: if you move to your own innermost core and witness it there. But death never happens there. That is why a Buddha laughs at death, a Krishna laughs.Krishna says to Arjuna in the Gita, “Don’t be afraid. Don’t think that someone is going to die. No one dies; you cannot kill anyone. It is impossible.” In this world, nothing can be destroyed. Existence is eternal. Nothing can be destroyed, not even matter can be destroyed. Destruction is not possible, only change is possible.Life goes on moving. One wave dies, appears to die, and arises as another wave. Only forms disappear and new forms appear, but nothing dies and nothing is born.If nothing dies then nothing is born, because death is possible only if something is born. Birth and death are two fallacies. You existed before your birth, otherwise birth would not have been possible. You will exist after your death, otherwise it would not be possible for you to be here and now. But the desire to cling to life creates the fear – the fear of death.If you drop the desire for life, immediately the fear of death disappears. And when the fear of death disappears, you can know what life is. A mind trembling in fear, in anguish, cannot know. Knowing needs a very calm, unafraid, fearless consciousness. Desire for life means fear of death.The sutra says: Kill out desire of life, so that the fear of death disappears. And when there is no death, and no clinging to life, you will know what life is, because life has already happened to you. You are it! It is not something extrinsic, it is something intrinsic. It is happening already. You are breathing in it. You are just like a fish in the ocean of life, but not aware of it because your attention is obsessed with the future. Desire means obsession with the future. No desire means living here and now.And the third sutra:Kill out desire of comfort.Desire for happiness – kill it out. It appears very gloomy, sad, life-negative. It is not. The more you desire comfort, the more discomfort will be felt. The more you desire comfort, the more discomfort you are creating for yourself because discomfort is relative to the desire for comfort.The more you ask for happiness, the more you will be in suffering. The suffering is a shadow. The greater the desire for happiness, the greater will be the shadow. Ask for happiness and you will never get it. You will suffer frustration. Why? – because there is only one way to be happy, and that is to be happy here.Happiness is not a result, happiness is a way of life.Happiness is not the end result of desire. Happiness is an attitude, not a desire. You can be happy here if you know how to be, and you will never be happy if you don’t know how to be and you go on desiring it. Happiness is an art. It is a way of life. If you can be silent and aware of the life that is around you and within you this very moment, you will be happy. The birds are singing, the wind is blowing… The trees are happy, the sky is happy; everything in existence is happy except you.Existence is happiness. It is an eternal celebration, a festivity.Look at existence! Every tree is in a festive mood, every bird is in a festive mood. Except man, everything is in a festive mood. The whole of existence is a festival, a constant, continuous festival. No sadness, no death, no misery exists anywhere, except in the human mind. Something is wrong with the mind, not with existence. Something is wrong with you, not with the situation.Why is man unhappy? No animal is so unhappy, no bird is so unhappy, no fish is as unhappy as man. Why is man so unhappy? – because man desires happiness, and the birds are happy right now, the trees are happy right now. Man desires happiness – he is never happy here and now. He always desires it, and goes on missing it, because happiness is here. It is happening all around you. Allow it to enter within. Be part of existence. Don’t move into the future. Existence never moves into the future, only the mind does.This is what I call meditation: be here, don’t move into the future. Be non-ambitious, kill all desire for life, don’t desire happiness. And then you will be happy, and no one can destroy your happiness. Then it becomes impossible for you to be unhappy. Then you will be deathless and eternal life will have happened to you. It has already happened but you are not aware of it. Then you will be fulfilled. Non-ambitious, you will be fulfilled.You are unique. Everything, every peak experience that is possible to anyone, is possible to you also – but it will happen only in a unique way.It has happened to a Buddha, to a Jesus, to a Zarathustra, it will happen to you also. But it never happens in the same way. It is not going to happen to you like it happened to a Buddha. It is not going to happen to you like it happened to a Jesus. It will happen in a unique, individual way to you. It will happen to you. It will be absolutely new. The innermost core of the experience will be the same – the same bliss, the same silence, the same enlightenment – but on the periphery everything will be different.So don’t imitate anyone. That is part of ambition. Don’t imitate Jesus, don’t imitate Buddha. Try to be yourself. Rather, even trying is futile. Just be yourself. When you are yourself, you are open to all possibilities. When you are yourself, the whole existence starts helping you. You are not fighting it.When you are not fighting… This is what trust means. When you are not fighting, existence will happen to you. If you are fighting with it you are simply destroying yourself: your possibilities, energy, life, your existence.Don’t fight! Surrender to existence.Accept yourself as the whole wishes you to be. Don’t try to be anything else, and enlightenment can happen any moment. It can happen this very moment. There is no need to wait. But these three basic sutras are to be remembered.Now we will start our morning meditation.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 04 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The fifth sutra:Kill out desire for sensation.Learn from sensation and observe it, because only so can you commence the science of self-knowledge, and plant your foot on the first step of the ladder.Kill out desire for sensation. We live for sensations, we hanker for sensations. We go on seeking newer and newer sensations; our whole life is an effort to get new sensations. But what happens? The more you seek sensations, the less sensitive you become. Sensitivity is lost.It looks paradoxical. In sensations, sensitivity is lost because then you ask for more sensations and the “more” kills your sensitivity more. Then you ask for even more, and a moment comes when all your senses become just dull and dead.Man has never been so dull and dead as he is today. Before, he was more alive, because there was no possibility to fulfill so many sensations. Now, science, progress, civilization, education have created so many opportunities to go on moving further and further into the world of sensation. Ultimately, you come out a dead person; your sensitivity is lost. Taste more foods – stronger tastes, stronger foods – and your taste will be lost. Look at many things – go on looking at more and more beautiful things, move around the world – and you will become blind. The sensitivity of your eyes will be lost.Change your love object every day – your girlfriend or boyfriend, your wife or husband – change them every day, and your sensitivity to love will die. You are moving into dangerous terrain. You will never move in depth; you will only be moving on the surface, the periphery. And the more you experience things, the less your capacity to experience becomes. Then in the end, when everything has gone dead around you, you ask for the divine. You ask for bliss, you ask for truth. A dead man cannot experience the divine.To experience the divine you need total sensitivity. You need aliveness.Remember, only the similar can meet the similar. If you want the divine – and the divine means the most alive, the ever-alive, the ever-young, the ever-green… If you want to meet the divine, you will have to be more alive. So what to do? Kill out… all …desire for sensation. Don’t seek sensation, seek sensitivity. Become more sensitive.The two are different. If you ask for sensations, you will ask for things, you will accumulate things. If you ask for sensitivity, then all the work has to be done on your senses, not on things. You are not to accumulate things. Now, you have to deepen your feelings, your heart, your eyes, your ears, your nose – every sense should be deepened in such a way that it becomes capable of feeling the subtle.We cannot even feel the gross, and we must become capable of feeling the subtle. The world appears to be gross only because we cannot feel the subtle. Everywhere in the visible, the invisible is hidden.Look at these trees. You look at the gross, the body of the tree. You never see, you never feel the life within, the growth. The tree is not growing, the tree is just a body. Something else – the invisible – is growing in it. And because of it, the tree grows. The inner is growing and, because of it, the outer grows. But you look only at the tree and only the outer is seen.Look around you. Look into your friend’s eyes. You only look at the eyes, not at the one who sees through them. Touch your friend’s body. You touch only the gross, you never feel the subtle within. Only the body, the material, is felt because your eyes, your senses, have become so dull that they cannot feel the inner, the invisible.More sensitivity is needed. Ask for fewer sensations and grow in sensitivity.When you touch, become the touch. When you see, become the eyes. When you hear, your whole consciousness must come to the ears. Listening to a song or listening to the birds, become the ears. Forget your whole existence, as if you are only the ears. Come to the ears with your total being. Then your ears will become more sensitive.When you are looking at something – at a flower, at a beautiful face or the stars – become the eyes. Forget everything else, as if the whole of your body has gone out of existence and your consciousness has become just eyes. Then your eyes will be able to look more deeply, and you will become capable of also looking at the invisible. The invisible can also be seen, but you need more penetrating eyes to see it.Kill out… all …desire for sensation, and grow in sensitivity: fewer things – and more sensitivity. Think less of the world, think more of your senses. Purify them, and they are purified. When you don’t ask for sensations they become purified. When you ask for more and more sensations, you are killing your senses.The man who finds the divine is the man whose senses are totally alive to their maximum capacity. Then, I say, it is not only that you can see the divine: you can taste the divine, you can smell the divine. From all the senses the divine can enter you. Only when the divine enters you from all the senses, only then – the realization. If you can only see the divine, it is just a partial realization. Then you are not really enlightened, only partially enlightened. If you cannot touch the divine, if you cannot taste it…To use such words looks illogical. To taste God? You will think, “Is he a food?” Yes, he is everything! You can taste him, but then you need a very subtle capacity to taste. Then your very food will become divine. Through food, the divine will be felt. The Upanishadic rishis have said that food is Brahma: “Anna is Brahma.” They must have tasted him, they must have eaten him.But we think that God is a logical problem, so we go on arguing about and about, for or against. We go on arguing whether God exists or not. This is irrelevant! God is not a question of argument, of logic, of reasoning; God is really a question of sensitivity.If you don’t feel him, become more sensitive. No logical thinking will be of any help. Become more sensitive. If you are sensitive, he is here. He has always been here, but you are not sensitive. Things dull you, sensations dull you. Kill out desire for sensation.The sixth sutra:Kill out the hunger for growth.This sutra is very revolutionary, very dangerous.Kill out the hunger for growth. It looks absurd, because if we kill all hunger for growth then what is the need to grow into the divine? Then how can one grow into the divine, how can one reach the truth, and how can one become enlightened? Then why this meditation and all this fuss? We will have to go deeply into this sutra.Kill out the hunger for growth. There are two types of growth: one which you can do something about, and the other which you cannot do anything about. For one your effort is needed and for the other your effortlessness is needed.Spiritual growth is of the second type. Your effort will be of no help, it will only create barriers. You cannot do anything about it. You can do only one thing, and that is surrender. That means non-doing. You can do only one thing: allow existence to work within you. You can simply cooperate, that’s all. You can simply float – your swimming is not needed – a deep let-go. This is what is meant by: Kill out the hunger for growth.Grow as the flower grows, unconsciously, but eagerly anxious to open its soul to the air. So must you press forward to open your soul to the eternal.But it must be the eternal!But it must be the eternal that draws forth your strength and beauty, not desire of growth. For in the one case you develop in the luxuriance of purity; in the other you harden by the forcible passion for personal stature.I will repeat: But it must be the eternal that draws forth your strength and beauty, not desire of growth – because every desire is a hindrance, even the desire to reach the divine. Every desire is slavery, even the desire to be liberated. Desire, as such, is the problem, so you cannot desire the divine. That is contradictory. You can only desire the world; you cannot desire the divine because desire is the world, desire is sansar. You cannot desire moksha: when you are in a state of no desire, moksha happens to you. When you are in a state of desirelessness, liberation happens to you, the divine happens to you.Allow the divine to bring forth all that is hidden in you.Don’t seek growth. Surrender so that growth happens. Growth will happen, but this growth is not going to be through your effort but through the grace of existence. It is going to be through it. There are reasons for it…Whatsoever you do will never be greater than you. It cannot be. Whatsoever you do will be lower than you. The doer is always greater than the deed, otherwise is not possible. The painter is greater than his painting, and the meditator is greater than his meditation.Whatsoever you do will be lower than you, so how can you reach the divine? The divine is not lower than you, so through your own efforts you cannot reach it. If there was any possibility that through your own effort you could reach God, that God would be lower than you; he could not be higher than you. That God would be just a commodity – something in your hand, something that you have achieved. So remember, godliness cannot be achieved through your efforts. Godliness can happen to you, but not be achieved.Then what is to be done? What can you do on your part? On your part you have to make a negative effort. That negative effort is: don’t create barriers, don’t create hindrances. Remain open. Remain open and waiting and ready to move, ready to grow. If the magnet starts working, allow the magnet to work.Then what is the meditation I am emphasizing so much? It is just to destroy your barriers, it is a negative effort. Through meditation you will not reach the divine, but through meditation you will become available for the divine to work. Through meditation you will become open; through meditation your prayerfulness will reach to it, indicating that now you are ready, that now you will be cooperative.That’s all that is needed on your part: allowing, let-go, surrender. Through will, nothing can be done. In the dimension of the divine, nothing can be done through will, only through surrender. But then, everything happens.Through these meditations we are just breaking barriers. That’s why I emphasize to be like children. Go back – be like children. Forget your civilization, your culture, your manners, your postures, your personalities, your faces; all that is a facade. Throw it off! Become like small children.But it will look like madness. Through your mind, going back to your childhood will look like madness. So be mad! But whatsoever the cost, be like children again.Jesus says, “Only those who are like children will enter the kingdom of my God.” I also say the same. Move back to the point where civilization started to corrupt you, to the point where education started to corrupt you, to the point where society entered. Move to the point where you were unsocial or pre-social, when there was no society forced on you; you were innocent and pure. Move to that point. Unless you move back to that point again, barriers will remain.Become children again. In the process you will feel madness, because you are throwing out all your adult values: education culture, religion, scriptures, manners. You are throwing out everything. You are moving back to the point where you were yourself, no society had yet corrupted you.The whole process will look like madness. It is not. It is a catharsis, and if you can go through it, you will come out saner, less mad. The madness will be thrown out. You will become more pure, more sane.Now, be ready for the meditation.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 05 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The seventh sutra:Desire only that which is within you.It looks absurd, paradoxical, illogical: Desire only that which is within you. Desire is basically for that which is not within you. Desire means the desire for something that is not within you. If it is already within you, what is the need to desire it?We never desire ourselves, we always desire something else. No one desires himself, there is no need. You are already that, you are not missing anything. We desire something which is missing.This sutra says: Desire only that which is within you, for many reasons. One, if you desire something that is not within you, you may get it but it will never become yours. It cannot. You can never really become the master of it; on the contrary, you will become a slave. So whatsoever you desire in the outside world, if you get it you will not be the master of it, you will become just the slave. The possessor is always possessed by his possessions.You may think that you own your house. That is not true: the house owns you. Things become masters because you cannot live without them. They can live without you, so they are the masters. You cannot live without them so you are not the master. The master is that which can live without the other; the slave is one who cannot live, who has become dependent. The greater the number of possessions, the greater is the slavery that is created.You are possessed by your possessions, and you desired mastery! Frustration sets in because all your hope is frustrated. You come to a point where the things you wanted are there, whatever you desired has happened, but you have become the slave. The kingdom now appears to be nothing but an imprisonment and whatever you possess – or think that you possess – is not really possessed, because it can be taken away at any moment. Even if no one takes it away, death is bound to take it.In religious terminology, that which can be taken away by death is not yours. Death is the criterion. If you have something, there is only one criterion to judge whether you really possess it: judge it against death and think whether you will be capable of having it after your death. If death takes it, you never possessed it. You were just in an illusion.Is there something that death cannot take from you? If there is nothing, then religion is pointless, meaningless. But there is something that death cannot take over, and that something is hidden within you: you already possess it. It is your innermost nature. It has come with you, you are born with it. Or rather, it will be better to say, you are it. Not that you possess it, because if you possess it, it can be taken away.You are it. It is your very being. It is your very ground, it is your existence. That is what is called atma. Atma means that which you are already. No one can take it away from you, not even death can destroy it.This sutra says: Desire only that which is within you. Desire atma, desire your innermost self, desire the center, which you already possess but have forgotten completely.Why does man forget? It is just part of a necessity: to survive, attention has to be paid to the outside world. To survive, to exist, to remain in life, you have to continuously pay attention to things: to food, to shelter. The body needs attention. The body becomes ill, the body is prone to suffering. The body is continuously in a struggle to survive, because for the body there is death and a continuous struggle with death. So you have to pay attention to it. The body is always in a state of emergency because at any moment death can occur. You have to be continually aware and conscious of this fight – this fight against death – so your whole attention moves outward. No energy is left to move within. This is a survival necessity. That’s why we go on forgetting that a center exists within us that is deathless, a center exists within us that is eternal, a center exists within us that is absolute bliss.Pain attracts attention, suffering attracts attention. If you have a headache, your attention moves to the head – then you become aware that you have a head. If there is no pain, no ache in the head, you forget about it. You become headless, as if you have no head.To me, the body is felt only when it is ill. If your body is absolutely healthy you will not feel it; you will become weightless. Really, you will become bodiless. This is the only criterion of authentic health: that the body is not felt at all. Wherever the body is felt it means that there is an illness, a disturbance, and your attention is called.There are so many problems outside that your attention is constantly engaged and occupied there. That’s why you forget that something exists just in the very center of your being that is deathless, that is divine, that is blissful.This sutra says:Desire only that which is within you.For within you is the light of the world – the only light that can be shed upon the path. If you are unable to perceive it within you, it is useless to look for it elsewhere.The eighth sutra:Desire only that which is beyond you.Desire only that which is beyond you. Always desire the impossible, because only through that desire do you grow. And what is impossible? Climbing Mt. Everest is not impossible, neither is going to the moon. Both have become possible – someone has reached Everest. Even when no one had reached there, it was not impossible; difficult, but not impossible. It was within human capacity to reach. The moon is within our capacity to reach and man will also reach other planets. That is not impossible, only difficult, but it will become possible. Only one thing is impossible, one thing is beyond you, and that is your innermost self.Why? I say that the moon is not so difficult to reach – and the moon is so far away – and I say that your innermost self is more impossible to reach, and it is just within you. Why is it, then, so difficult to reach? Because it is within you, that’s why. You only know how to reach what is without. Your hands can reach for that which is without, your eyes can see what is without. Your senses open to the outside, you have no senses for within. Your mind is a movement without, your mind cannot move within. That’s why the mind has to be thrown out. Only then can you enter meditation.The mind is basically a movement toward the without. You can observe this very easily: whenever you think, you are thinking of something that is outside of you. Whatsoever you think, it is always something outside you. Have you ever thought about anything that is within? There is no need to because you can experience that which is within. There is no need to think about it; thinking is a substitute.Thinking is a substitute. You can realize that which is within you, just around the corner, if you move your head, you change your direction. From without, you turn within. You can experience it – what is the need to think about it?But we go on thinking even about the within. We think about what atma is. We think “What is this self?” and we create philosophies and systems. We go on creating theories that the self means “this,” the definition is “this,” and no one tries to feel it. It is so near to you, what is the need of theories?Theories are needed for the far away because you cannot reach it right now – you have to create a bridge. Theories are needed to reach the moon, theories are not needed to reach the center within you, because there is no gap. There is nothing to be bridged, you are already there. Just a change of attitude and you realize it. Your attention turns and you realize it. There is no need of theorizing, of philosophizing. But we go on creating philosophies. We have created thousands and thousands of philosophies, and philosophers go on wasting their lives thinking about that which was already just within them. They could have jumped within at any moment!But it is beyond – beyond the senses, because the senses cannot open toward it, they open in the opposite direction. Beyond the mind, because the mind cannot lead you there, it always leads you somewhere else. The mind is an instrument for the world; the mind is a mechanism to move without, to move away from you. It is meant for that. That’s why there is so much emphasis that in samadhi there is no mind. Samadhi is a state of no-mind, the mind ceases.In our meditation techniques, our effort is this: how to cease to be a mind, how to drop the mind, how to drop thinking; how to come to a moment where no thinking exists, and simple attention exists, simple awareness, exists. “No thinking,” means no clouds in the sky, just the sky. “No thinking,” means no clouds of the mind, just consciousness. In that consciousness, you are within.In the mind, you are without; in no-mind you are within. This transfer from mind to no-mind is the whole journey.The transfer from mind to no-mind is the whole journey.If you can add “no” to your mind, you have reached. That’s why it is called beyond.Desire only that which is beyond you – beyond your senses, beyond your mind, beyond your ego. “You” will not be there. Your innermost center is not you; you are just the periphery. The periphery cannot be at the center. When you move toward the center you leave the periphery. The periphery cannot exist at the center. It belongs to the center but it exists outside the center, just around it.Whatsoever you know about yourself is just the periphery: your name, your identity, your image. You are a Hindu or a Mohammedan or a Christian; you are black or you are white; you are this and that. Your nation, race, culture, is all just on the periphery, all your conditionings are just on the periphery.The world cannot enter your center. It can only cultivate the periphery, it can only touch you on your boundaries. Only your boundary can be Hindu, only your boundary can be Christian, only your boundary can be Jaina. You are not, you cannot be.Only your boundary belongs to India or to Pakistan or to America. You cannot belong to any nation, to any race. You belong to existence itself. All divisions are false at the center, but they are meaningful on the periphery.So, whatsoever you know about yourself is your ego. Ego is just a utilitarian word. Your whole periphery means you, and this you will drop when you start moving inward.This you will drop by and by; this you will disappear; this you will evaporate. Then a point will come when you are authentically yourself; your old self is no longer there. That’s why it is said: Desire only that which is beyond you. It is beyond you because when you reach it you have lost yourself.The ninth sutra:Desire only that which is unattainable.Desire only that which is unattainable. What is unattainable? Look around – everything is attainable. You may not have attained it, but it is attainable. If you make an effort you can attain it. Potentially, it is attainable.Alexander created a big empire… You may not have created one, but what Alexander can do, you can do. It is not impossible, it is not unattainable. You may not have gathered as many riches as a Rockefeller or someone else, but what Rockefeller can do, you can do. It is human, it is within your capacity. You may even be a failure, you may not be able to attain it, but it was attainable. Your failure is your own failure, but potentially you could have been a success, so it cannot be said that the thing was unattainable.What then is unattainable? That which cannot be attained? If that is the meaning, then what is the point of desiring it? If it cannot be attained, then the desire is futile. Why desire that which is unattainable? What is meant by it?The meaning is very deep, esoteric. The meaning is that your innermost self is unattainable because it is already attained. You cannot attain it because you are it. You cannot make it an achievement. It is not something that has to be attained. It is already there, you have never been away from it. You have never lost it; it is your very nature. It is you, your innermost being. You cannot achieve it, you can only discover it. You cannot attain it; you can only uncover it, you can only recognize it.There is no possibility of inventing it, it is already there. It is not to be earned, it is already there. You just have to give your awareness to it. You have to focus your awareness on it and, suddenly, the unattainable is attained. Suddenly, that which was never lost is found.When Buddha attained enlightenment someone asked him, “What have you attained?”Buddha said, “Nothing, because whatsoever I have attained, now I know that it was always there. It was never lost, so I have simply discovered it. I have known some treasure which was, already, always within me.”Desire only that which is unattainable.It is unattainable, because it forever recedes. You will enter the light, but you will never touch the flame.It is unattainable in another sense, also. You will never be able to say “I have attained it,” because who will say that I have attained it? That “I” which can claim, is no longer. That ego – the periphery – is no longer. In attaining, in discovering, it has to be lost. The ego has to be thrown away, cast away. You can reach only when you have become egoless. You cannot reach with the ego, because the ego itself is the barrier.So who is there who will make the claim? It is said in the Upanishads that if someone claims that he has attained, know well that he has not attained, because the very claim is egoistic. If someone says “I have known God,” know well that he has not known God because once God is known, who is there to claim it? The knower is lost in the very phenomenon of knowing. Knowing happens only when the knower is not. When the knower is absent, the knowing happens – so who will claim it?There was a Zen monk, Nan-in. Someone asked him, “Have you known the truth?” He laughed, but kept silent.The man said, “I cannot understand your mysterious laughter. Nor can I understand your mysterious silence. Use words. Tell me! And be clear – tell me yes or no. Have you known the truth, the divine?”Nan-in said, “You are making it difficult for me. If I say yes, the scriptures say that one who says ‘I have known,’ has not known. So if I say yes, it means no. And if I say no, it will not be true. So what am I supposed to do? Don’t force me to use words. I will laugh again and keep silent. If you can understand, it is okay. If you cannot understand, it is also okay. I will not use words. Don’t force me to, because if I say yes it means that I have not known, and if I say no it will not be true.”You will reach, but in your purity. In that purity, your ego will not be there. The ego is the impure, foreign element within you – just the dust gathered all around you. It is not you. Naked, you will reach. Your ego is just like your clothes, it will not be there.Desire only that which is unattainable.Now get ready for our meditation.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 06 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The tenth sutra:Desire power ardently.And that power which the disciple shall covet is that which shall make him appear as nothing in the eyes of men.We will be moving more and more into contradictions. The language of religion is bound to be contradictory. On the face of it, it looks irrational. In a way it is, because it goes beyond reason, it transcends reason. This sutra says: Desire power ardently – but that power which makes you nothing. You become a non-being.We desire power to become something. The power that wealth can give, the power that politics can give, the power that prestige can give… We desire power to be something, and this sutra says: Desire power ardently – but that power which makes you nobody, nothing.There are two types of power. One: that which you can accumulate from others – that which can be given to you by others or can be taken by you from others. It depends on others. The power that depends on others will make you somebody in the eyes of others. You will remain the same as you were, but in the eyes of others you will become somebody. This somebodyness is what is meant by the ego – and the ego is the barrier.Desire that power – the second type – that allows you to feel that you are nobody. It is difficult to feel “I am nobody.” Everyone thinks that he is somebody, whether others agree or not. Everyone thinks that he is somebody. This is ordinariness: every ordinary mind thinks that he is somebody. The moment you come to realize that you are nobody, you have become extraordinary, rare, a unique flower, incomparable.This feeling of nobodyness creates space within you.The ego dissolves, your false center is no longer there. You have become roomy, now the eternal can enter you. Now, this space, this emptiness, can allow existence to flower in you.You are filled with your somebodyness: you are this and that. The mind is so cunning that you can even create this somebodyness through nobodyness. I will tell you an anecdote:An emperor, a Mohammedan emperor, was praying in the mosque on a religious day. He was talking to the divine and saying, “I am nobody. I am nothing. Have mercy on me.”Then suddenly he heard a beggar who was also praying nearby. He was also saying, “I am nobody. Have mercy on me.”The emperor felt offended. He looked at the beggar and said, “Listen, who is trying to compete with me? When I say ‘I am nobody,’ who else dares to say ‘I am nobody’? Who is trying to compete with me?”You can be a competitor even in nobodyness. Then the point is missed. The emperor could not tolerate someone else claiming nobodyness for himself in front of him. When he is saying to God that he is nobody, he doesn’t mean that he is nobody. Through nobodyness he is creating somebodyness. You can create ego out of nothing also.Remember that ego is power in the world; ego is impotence in the divine dimension. All that looks to be power in the world is impotence in the divine dimension. There, powerlessness is power.Jesus goes on saying to his disciples, “Be poor, be poor in spirit.” Not only poor, because you can be poor without being poor in spirit. Then, even poverty will become a sort of richness. If you feel egoistic about it then your poverty is not poverty. It is not poverty in spirit.So Jesus goes on repeating, “Be poor, be poor in spirit.” Otherwise you can be a beggar on the street – you have left everything – but now you cling to having left everything. You cling to it; you have made a richness out of your poverty. Now you are arrogant.Look at sannyasins, monks, bhikkhus. Look in their eyes. They have a deep arrogance about having left the world, from having renounced. They have renounced the world, but now this renunciation has become a bank balance. They are arrogant about it, they feel superior because of it. When Jesus says, “Be poor in spirit,” he means don’t be superior to anyone. He doesn’t mean to be inferior, remember. This is the problem. He doesn’t mean be inferior because if you are inferior – if you feel that you are inferior – it is again superiority standing on its head, nothing else. Superiority standing on its head becomes inferiority. If you feel yourself inferior, there is a longing to be superior.So when Jesus says, “Be poor in spirit,” he doesn’t mean, “Don’t be superior.” He means that, but he also means, “Don’t be inferior, just be yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others, just be at ease with yourself.”Then you will be nobody, because somebodyness needs comparison. How can you be somebody if there is no comparison? You are more beautiful, never simply beautiful. You cannot be simply beautiful; you are always more beautiful in comparison to someone else. You are rich in comparison to someone else, you are more knowledgeable in comparison to someone else. Superiority and inferiority are always comparisons. You are somebody when compared to others. If there is no comparison then who are you? You cannot be just beautiful, can you? You cannot be just wise, can you?Think about this: you are alone on earth and the whole of humanity has disappeared… What will you be? Wise or foolish? Beautiful or ugly? A great man or just an ordinary man? What will you be? Alone on the earth – the whole of humanity has disappeared – you will just be yourself. You will not be able to say “I am this or that.” You will not be anybody. You will be nobody.Real sannyas, real renunciation means it is as if the whole universe, the whole of humanity, has disappeared and you are alone. There is no possibility to compare. Then who are you? – nobody. This nobodyness is power: power in the world of the divine.Jesus says, “Those who are first in this world will be last in the kingdom of God, and those who are last here will be first in the kingdom of God.” That which is power in the world is powerlessness in the divine journey, and that which is powerlessness in the world is power in the divine journey.This sutra says: Desire power ardently, but remember the meaning of power. It is powerlessness. It is a feeling of nobodyness, nothingness, of emptiness. And that power which the disciple shall covet is that which shall appear as nothing in the eyes of men.The eleventh sutra:Desire peace fervently.The peace you shall desire is that sacred peace which nothing can disturb, and in which the soul grows as does the holy flower upon the still lagoons.Desire peace fervently. No one desires peace. You go on talking about it, and go on deceiving yourself that you desire peace, but no one desires it – because once it is desired, peace happens. And that has not happened to you.No one desires peace. Even if you say that you desire peace you don’t desire it, because this is one of the ultimate laws: if you desire peace it happens. Then where have things gone wrong?Many people come to me…A student came to me – he was just going to appear in his final MA examination. He asked me, “How can I be peaceful? How can I be silent? Help me. I desire peace. I am so disturbed, so tense.”I asked him, “Why do you desire peace?”He said, “I want to achieve the gold medal. The examination is about to happen. I am a first-class student but this is going to be my last examination, and I desire the gold medal. If my mind is so tense, how can I achieve it? So help me to be peaceful.”Look at the contradiction! And this is what is happening to everyone.I told him, “If there was to be no examination, if you had no desire to achieve the gold medal, if you had no ambition to be first-class first, would there be any disturbance within you? Would your peace be disturbed?”He said, “No. Why should it be? Then there would be no problem. I would be at peace. But right now the examination is there and I desire the gold medal. So help me to be peaceful.”Now, ambition is destroying his peace. He goes on clinging to his ambition – and still he desires peace. Peace in the service of ambition is impossible; peace in the service of ambition is contradictory. Ambition cannot be peaceful. The greed to succeed cannot be peaceful.If you desire peace, desire peace for itself: don’t make it a means to something else. It cannot be made a means.When this sutra says: Desire peace fervently, it means peace as an end, not peace as a means. No one desires means; ends are desired and, because of the ends, means are desired. But peace can never be made a means. All that is beautiful, all that is true, all that is good, all that is deep in existence cannot be made into a means – it is always the end. But we desire even God as a means. No one desires directly: we desire something else. Then the desire is false.That’s what I mean when I say that no one desires peace unless he desires it for its own sake. You can attain it easily if it is desired as an end. Desire it for itself and it happens, because in the very desire for peace, ambition falls away; in the very desire for peace, anxiety disappears; in the very desire for peace, anguish disappears. But if you go on being ambitious – desiring success, desiring to be this or that, to be somebody – then peace will not happen to you. Then you will remain anxious, anxiety-ridden, tense. You will remain in anguish and whatever you do will not be of any help. So, be clear about it. If you want peace, desire it directly as an end. Then the very desire for peace transforms you.Really, peace is natural. It is not something to be desired. You disturb it; it is already there. Peace is natural to you, it is your very being. You disturb it by ambition, you disturb it by greed, you disturb it by anger, you disturb it by violence. It is always there, but you have disturbed it.Don’t disturb it! If you really desire it, you will not disturb it. Then you will feel it. To attain peace, one has to remove through negation. Just look at why you are not at peace. Why? Then, remove the cause. Find out why you are not at peace. If ambition is disturbing it, then remove the ambition and peace will happen. Peace is already there, you need not try for it. Just be aware of why you are disturbing it, and don’t disturb it, that’s all. And it will happen. That’s why I say that when peace is really desired it happens immediately. Not even for a single moment does one have to wait.The twelfth sutra:Desire possessions above all.This sutra seems very dangerous: Desire possessions above all. Possessions? The very word will create a disturbance in your mind because all the great teachers have taught: don’t desire possessions. Buddha says, “Be nonpossessive.” Mahavira says, “Aparigraha: nonpossession.” Jesus says, “Leave all riches, all possessions.”Jesus says, “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to pass through the gate of the kingdom of my God.” This sutra says: Desire possessions above all. But the sutra is beautiful. It means the same thing that Mahavira and Buddha and Jesus are saying, but it says it in a very contradictory way.It says that all those things that you think are possessions are not possessions because you cannot really possess them. Can you possess things? Can you possess others? Can you possess anything in the world? You can only deceive yourself that you possess something. You cannot really possess anything because death will destroy everything.Another thing: whatsoever you possess becomes your possessor. The possessor is possessed by his possessions. You become a slave, you are never the master. So what is the use of saying that you possess the world? No one possesses anything. Only one thing can be possessed and that is your own self. Nothing else can be possessed.You can become master only of your own self.If you try to be the master of someone else you will be just a slave. You may call this slavery mastery, you may label it mastery. You can deceive yourself, but deceptions are deceptions. Nothing is changed by just changing the label.Look at your possessions, at whether you possess them. If your house is destroyed you will weep, you will scream, you will go mad; but if you die, your house is not going to weep, it is not going to go mad. So who was the real owner? The house owned you. It doesn’t care a bit about you, whether you live in it or not. Really it will feel very good if you leave; it will be more at ease. It is not dependent on you. You are just disturbing its peace. If you are dead the house will feel good. So who is the possessor?This sutra is meaningful in this sense that only the self can be possessed and nothing else. And if you cannot possess yourself, what do you think you can possess? So be a master – the master of your own self – and don’t make any effort to possess anything.I don’t mean to leave everything. That’s not the point. Use everything, but don’t think in terms of possessions. Use the house, but don’t be the owner. Use wealth, don’t be the owner of it. Use the whole world, but don’t think that you possess it. You are just a traveler passing through it. Tired, you rest under a tree. You don’t possess the tree, and if you don’t possess it, you will feel deep gratitude toward the tree. When you leave in the evening, you will thank it. You will feel gratitude because when you were tired and the road was hot, the tree gave you shade, the tree was cool. But don’t possess it, otherwise you will not feel gratitude.When you possess, you don’t feel gratitude. Don’t possess your wife, don’t possess your husband. When you are tired, your wife gives you her love; feel grateful.And if you don’t possess your wife, you will not be possessed by her. Relationship happens only when there is no possession. If there is possession, there is always conflict. Husbands and wives go on fighting – you cannot find more deeply related enemies. They are intimate enemies, they coexist just to fight with each other. The whole relationship is poisoned, just because the husband is trying to possess the wife and the wife is trying to possess the husband – and no one can possess anyone, possession is impossible!You can only possess yourself. That’s all that is possible, everything else is impossible. But when one tries to do the impossible and to possess, everything goes wrong; the relationship is poisoned. Life becomes a misery.All relationships are just like the tree. You are tired, and someone gives you love. You are miserable, and someone takes you close. Feel grateful, feel deeply grateful, but don’t try to possess. Possess yourself. Your life will become bliss if you possess yourself and don’t try to possess anyone else. Your life will become a hell if you don’t possess yourself and then try to possess the whole world.Even if you are capable of creating the illusion that you possess the world you will not be happy. Only truth can make you happy – and this is the truth: no one can possess anything. Possession is the wrong dimension; it leads to hell, it leads to misery, it leads to nonsense, it leads to a poisoned life.Desire possessions above all.But those possessions must belong to the pure soul only, and be possessed therefore by all pure souls equally, and thus be the especial property of the whole only when united.All those possessions must belong to the purest being within you, to the purest existence within you. Love, beauty, truth can be possessed; they belong to the purest being. But what is happening? – we try to possess a beautiful person, not beauty itself. Beauty can be possessed but you cannot possess a beautiful person. Beauty can be possessed because beauty is a quality of your own soul.You cannot possess riches but richness can be possessed, because richness is a quality of the pure soul – not riches, richness.A buddha is rich, incomparably rich. Look at a buddha passing through the streets begging. He has a begging bow – he is a beggar – but look inside: the earth has not seen again such a rich man. But his richness is part of his inner soul, he is rich not because of richness. He is rich because he possesses his soul. He is an emperor without an empire.When Swami Rama went to America people were very puzzled because he used to call himself Emperor Ram – Ram Basha – and he was a beggar! The president of the United States came to meet him and asked, “But why do you call yourself an emperor, Ram Basha? Why do you call yourself an emperor?”And Ram said, “Because I am – but without an empire. This kingdom is of the within. To you I look like a beggar but to myself I look like an emperor.“And this kingdom is such that it cannot be destroyed, you cannot take it away. Alexander is nothing compared to me – because his kingdom is of the world and can be taken away. You cannot destroy my kingdom; even death cannot destroy it. It is my own self.”Now be ready for the meditation.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 07 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The thirteenth sutra:Seek out the way.Pause and consider awhile. Is it the way you desire, or is it that there is a dim perspective in your visions of great heights to be scaled by yourself, of a great future for you to compass? Be warned. The way is to be sought for its own sake, not with regard to your feet that shall tread it.Seek out the way. The way is not known, and the way cannot be made known to you by others. The way cannot be given; the way cannot be stolen; the way cannot be transferred. You have to seek it.Ordinarily, we think that we have to seek the goal – the way is already given. “There are so many ways,” people go on saying, “and they all reach the same goal. The goal has to be discovered, the goal has to be reached – but the way? The way is available. In fact, it is too available, there are too many ways.”But it is not so, because the goal and the way are not two things. The way becomes the goal. The first step is also the last, because the way and the goal are not two things. The way, as you proceed on it, transforms itself into the goal. The real thing is not to think about the goal, the basic thinking has to be about the way. Discover the way: Seek out the way.But our minds are so conditioned that everyone thinks that he has been given a way by birth. Someone is a Christian, someone is a Hindu, someone is a Mohammedan: they think that the way has been given to them by society, by the culture, by their education. No, the way cannot be given by anyone. Neither the society nor the culture nor education can give you the way.You will have to seek it because, through seeking, you will be transformed.A borrowed way is a dead way. You cannot travel on it, it will not lead you anywhere. You can believe in it, you can have consolation in it, you can postpone because of it – because you know the way, you can travel on it any day – but the moment you start traveling, the way that is borrowed, given, will be of no help.You will have to seek your own way.It is difficult to seek it: errors are possible. But nothing is gained without errors, so be courageous enough to err. You may move on the wrong paths, but it is better to move on wrong paths than not to move at all, because at least you will learn movement, and you will learn what is wrong. That too is good, because elimination will help. You will move on this path and find “This is wrong.” You will move on another path and find “This is wrong.” And through knowing what is wrong, you will come to understand what is right.So don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid to err; don’t be afraid to move on the wrong path, because those who are too afraid of being in error and of moving on the wrong path become paralyzed. Then they remain where they are, they never move.Be courageous and seek your own path. And don’t imitate anyone else’s path. Don’t imitate. Imitation will not lead you to freedom. It is not a question of following, it is a question of seeking. Be a seeker and not a follower – and know the distinction well.A follower is an imitator. A seeker also follows, but he is not an imitator. A seeker also follows, but he follows in order to seek, to discover. He remains alert, he remains aware.A follower becomes blind, a follower becomes dependent: spiritually a slave. A follower throws his responsibility on someone else’s shoulders, and then hangs on. A seeker is responsible for himself. He is alert, responsible: discovering every day, experimenting every day, unafraid, vulnerable, open to any new light, ready to move into any dimension that comes to his vision. Unafraid but always ready to change. If he feels “This is wrong,” he will not say “But I have invested so much on this path. Now I cannot change.” He will throw away the path, all the investment in it; he will move to his previous state and start learning again from A-B-C.A seeker is always ready to change; a follower is stubborn. He will close his eyes rather than see the light because he has invested so much.A Jaina monk came to me and he said, “I have been a Jaina monk for thirty years and I know well that I have chosen a path that is not for me, but now I cannot change it, because then what would I do? I have no education. I was initiated into monkhood when I was just a child, and these thirty years of monkhood have made me totally dependent on others. I cannot do anything, I cannot do any physical labor.“And I am so respected, even big capitalists come to me and bow down their heads. Leaders come to me and they bow down their heads. If I leave this monkhood – and I know now that this is not for me – the same people who touch my feet will not employ me even as a peon. So what am I to do?”There was much investment: all the prestige, respect, honor was at stake.So I told him, “If you are really a seeker, throw all this away! Be a beggar or be a peon, but don’t be false. When you know this path is not for you, then throw away all that which comes to you through this path. Don’t be false, don’t be inauthentic.”He said, “I will think about it, but it seems difficult.”He has been thinking about it for three years. He has not come back to see me. He won’t come: he is a follower, he is not a seeker. A seeker can throw away everything the moment he comes to realize that something is not for him. There is no hesitation.This sutra says: Seek out the way. Be a seeker, don’t be a believer.The fourteenth sutra:Seek the way by retreating within.Whenever you find something that appeals to you, to your reason, to your logic, to your mind – that looks rational, looks to be true – that is not enough. Your reason may say it is true, but it may not be. Unless you experiment with it, unless you experience something through it, nothing has been discovered. Nothing is discovered by using only logic. Logic is a help, but don’t make it the ultimate criterion. The ultimate criterion is always within: experiment and experience. And unless you experience something, don’t believe that you have found it, that the way has become revealed to you. Only through experience do theories become truths.Seek the way by retreating within. Whenever you have found a technique, a way, retreat within, go within. Experiment with it there, in your subjectivity, in your heart. Experience it. Don’t just go on thinking about what meditation is. Do it! Only then will you know what it is. A technique may not give you any experience, then throw it away and try another. There are hundreds of meditation techniques; one technique is bound to fit you.Humanity has been struggling for millions of years, and every type of man has attained liberation. Every type of technique has been found. You are not new, you have been before. And many like you have been before and they have traveled the path. Many techniques have been discovered. Try a technique, but be authentic, sincere when you try it. And try it with your total energy. If nothing comes out of a particular technique, then throw it away and move to another.In the old days, when disciples came to a teacher, the first thing the teacher would try to observe would be whether the disciple suited him, and whether he suited the disciple. If the teacher thought that the disciple was not meant to be with him, if he felt that the disciple would be helped more by someone else – even by someone who was against him – he would tell the disciple, “Go to that master!”The disciple would say, “But I have heard that he is against you. He says that you are wrong.”The teacher would say, “Don’t bother about what he says. He will suit you, his way will suit you. First go there and try.”Go on trying different techniques, but try with your total heart. Otherwise you may throw away a technique that was right for you. So try with your total heart. If something happens, good. Move on it, move deeply. If nothing happens and you have tried with your total mind, then throw it away; it is not for you. But don’t throw it away before you have tried it – before you have tried it with your totality. Seek the way by retreating within.And the fifteenth sutra:Seek the way by advancing boldly without.Even if you experiment and experience something within, there is every possibility that it may be just a delusion. It may be just a projection of the mind, it may be just a dream, may be just wish fulfillment. Don’t think that you have achieved the way. Now, whatsoever you have achieved within, try it without. Whatsoever you know within your heart, now transform it into your character; now live it. You have experienced it, now live it, make it your life.If you feel that silence has occurred to you through an experience, now allow that silence to move, allow the ripples of the silence around you to move beyond you. Let your silence reach others. Let others also feel that you have become silent.If you go on being angry outwardly and you say “I am a great meditator,” you are in a delusion. Don’t delude, don’t deceive, because only you will lose, no one else. Whatsoever has happened within you, if you feel that you have experienced the inner light… What is the criterion to know whether it is a delusion or a reality? – the criterion is that your outer life will change accordingly.If you have really experienced the inner light, sex will disappear. Love will happen to you, but sex will disappear, sexuality will disappear. Love, a very loving personality, will take its place. There will be no desire for sex. If the desire for sex remains, you have not experienced the inner light. Then the inner light is just a projection of the mind.And so on and so forth. Whatsoever you have experienced within must come out. It must be allowed to move into your life because the real test, the real criterion is there. If you have come to a deep silence, hatred will go. If hatred remains, and it has not been totally transformed into love, then you have not felt the inner silence because with hatred, inner silence is impossible. So you may have felt something cultivated, you may have cultivated a stillness.If you go on repeating a mantra you will create a stillness that is cultivated, false, but your outer life will remain the same. If the inner changes, the outer must change. The reverse is not true: you can change the outer, there is no necessity for the inner to change. That’s what hypocrisy means. You can change the outer: you can be outwardly very loving, and filled with hatred within. You change the outer, you create a false mask, a facade.You can see it everywhere, particularly in this country where so much religion has been taught. The only end result is a hypocritical society: masks, not real faces. Look at any face and you will find that it is unreal. Something else is hidden behind it, something quite the contrary.You can change the outer and there is no necessity for the inner to change. But if the inner changes, it is inevitable that the outer must change. When the inner changes, the outer automatically changes. If it is not changing, then your inner change is just a delusion.These three sutras are very meaningful:Seek out the way.Seek the way by retreating within.Seek the way by advancing boldly without.The whole nature of man must be used wisely by the one who desires to enter the way. Each man is to himself absolutely the way, the truth, and the light….Seek it by the study of the laws of being, the laws of nature, the laws of the supernatural: and seek it by making the profound obeisance of the soul to the dim star that burns within. Steadily, as you watch and worship, its light will grow stronger. Then you may know you have found the beginning of the way. And when you have found the end, its light will suddenly become the infinite light….Be not appalled and terrified by the……inner darkness……keep your eyes fixed on the small light and it will grow. But let the darkness within help you to understand the helplessness of those who have seen no light, whose souls are in profound gloom.The whole nature of man must be used wisely by the one who desires to enter the way. This is very significant. The whole of you must be used. Any fragment that is used will create a problem; any fragment that is not used will create a problem.You can discard something within you, but then you will never be a total man. You can discard anger, for example, or sex, for example. Many teachings, many religions, have taught one to discard sex. They say that sex is the enemy: “Discard it!” You can discard it, but then you are discarding a very significant part of your being. And if you discard it, how will it be transformed? Then you will always be half a man. Whatsoever you become, you will never be total, and without being total, you can never be free. The discarded part will take its revenge. The suppressed part will go on bubbling within, trying to find a way out, and you will always be in trouble.The wisdom of the ages says: “Use all your energies. Create a harmony.” Every energy can be either destructive or creative: nothing is bad in itself. Everything can be used in such a way that even poison becomes medicine. Wisdom will never discard anything, it will use it in a creative way. It will use your anger, use your sex, use your hatred.How can you use them? How can you use your sex? It looks as if it is your archenemy. How can you use it?Three things will be meaningful to remember. One: why this hankering after sex? Why do you hanker for it? What do you gain through it? Observe it. By and by, as the observation deepens, sex will dissolve.What is the real meaning of it all? Why do you hanker for it so much? – because it gives you a moment of deep meditation. It is a natural process of meditation. In sex, your thoughts cease, your mind dissolves – for a single moment, of course. For a single moment you are no longer a mind. You are there without the mind; you are mindless. That mindlessness gives you a glimpse of bliss.Observe sex, don’t discard it. Be aware of it. Move into it with full awareness and go on trying to find out what is the innermost core of it. You will come to this innermost core: that sex gives you a sort of natural meditative moment. You become thoughtless, and that gives you bliss. Once you have found it, you can move into this thoughtless moment without going into sex. This innermost core can be attained without moving into sex. And if you can attain this, by and by, sex will disappear. Now the same energy will move into meditation, the same energy will become spiritual.Every energy has to be used wisely. Nothing is to be discarded.This is one of the basic things I teach: nothing has to be discarded, nothing whatsoever. You have to enter into spirituality with your total being. We will change your energies, we will change their arrangement. We will make new arrangements, new harmonies. New symphonies will be created – but nothing will be discarded.Right now you are a puzzle: fragments with no coherence, with no inner unity. And every fragment is fighting with the other. You are a crowd – many notes but no melody. These notes can be put into a melody, and unless you do this, you will remain in misery.This sutra says: The whole nature of man must be used wisely by the one who desires to enter the way. If you really want to enter the way that leads to the ultimate, you have to use your total energies. Nothing is to be suppressed or discarded. Everything has to be accepted in deep gratitude.Now get ready for meditation.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 08 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Look for the flower to bloom in the silence that follows the storm; not till then.One of the most basic laws of life has to be understood. Life is based on polarity, everything exists with its polar opposite – and otherwise is not possible. Mind exists because of matter, matter is the polar opposite. Consciousness exists because of unconsciousness, the day exists because of the night, life exists because of death, happiness exists because of unhappiness, and so on and so forth. Everything exists with its polar opposite. You cannot experience happiness unless you have deeply experienced unhappiness, and you cannot come to the ultimate ecstasy if you have not been thrown into the ultimate agony. Hence the meaning of the world, hence this whole suffering: it is not meaningless.People come to me and ask, “Why did God create this suffering world? Why is there so much suffering if God is compassion?” Yes, God is compassion, therefore there is so much suffering. Unless you pass through suffering, you will not reach the ultimate ecstasy. It is a basic training. Unhappiness is a basic training for the ultimate flowering of happiness.How can you reach ecstasy if you have not known agony? Even if you were to reach the world of ecstasy without knowing what agony is, you would not be able to recognize it. The recognition would be impossible. Only through darkness can light be recognized. You may be living in light, but if you don’t know darkness you cannot know that you are living in light.A fish in the sea cannot know that the sea exists. Only if the fish is thrown out of the sea does it come to know, come to recognize the sea. If it is thrown back into the sea, the fish will be totally different and the sea will be totally different: now she will be able to recognize it. Sansar, the world, is just a training ground. You must be thrown deeply into matter, only then can you come back to the other pole, to the peak of consciousness.This sutra says: Look for the flower to bloom in the silence that follows the storm: not till then. The real, authentic silence happens only after you have passed through a storm. Only when the storm is over can the silence explode within you, never before. You can create a false silence before the storm, but then you are deluded. You can create stillness – artificial, cultivated, forced from without – but it is not spontaneous, it is not of your inner being.There are many tricks to still the mind. You can use a mantra. You can sit silently in a Buddha posture and go on repeating, “Aum, aum, aum.” Go on repeating it. If you go on and on and on repeating it, you will get bored, and that boredom will look like stillness. When you get bored, the mantra will drop. A sort of sleep will be created within. Hypnos, hypnosis, a sort of sleep, will be created within. You will feel good, but that sleep is not dhyana, that sleep is not silence. That sleep is simply negative. You have become dull because of the repetition. Every repetition creates dullness: you have simply become dull. Through dullness you cannot experience misery, you cannot experience suffering. The dullness is an anesthetic – it has made you unconscious.This is negative. Now you will be less tense, but not more alive. A silence, to be real, must be more alive and more sensitive. It must not be a sort of dullness. Through mantras you can create a facade of silence on the periphery, and you can live in that facade for lives, but you are living a false silence. A real silence comes only after the storm. Don’t force the storm to disappear.Rather, live it, allow it to happen. Act it out, throw it out. Allow the storm to disappear from you, evaporate from you. Don’t suppress it. Suppressed, it will remain with you. Suppressed in the unconscious, it will persist and it will wait for the right moment to explode. You will always be afraid of it exploding; you will have to continuously fight it. And you can never be victorious, because that which is suppressed has to be fought again and again, has to be suppressed again and again. Your stillness will be on top of a volcano, and that volcano can erupt at any moment.Then you will always be afraid of life, because life can create situations in which the volcano can erupt. You will negate life, you will try to escape from life. You will want to go to the Himalayas, because there, there is no one to provide an opportunity for your volcano to erupt. But the volcano is still there, and the Himalayas cannot help unless the volcano is thrown out.And it is good to throw it out. You are missing the basic experience of completely throwing out the volcano, of totally releasing the madness, of acting out whatsoever is there: the storm within. Allow it to move without and don’t resist, don’t suppress. Allow it to move out totally. Then a moment will come when the storm has gone.In that moment, real silence happens to you – real in the sense that now it is not cultivated, it is spontaneous. The stream is flowing. It is not anything that you have created; it is not anything that is happening because of your effort. Rather, on the contrary, you are not there, only the silence is. And this silence is fearless. Nothing can disturb it because that which could be a disturbance has been thrown out. The storm has disappeared.Hence my insistence – so much insistence – on throwing out your madness. Within, it is dangerous. Thrown out, it disappears. Your heart becomes empty, a certain space is created. Only in that space can silence happen. Then you have room for it, you’re ready for it, open to it.Look for the flower to bloom in the silence that follows the storm: not till then. What is that flower? The flowering of your being will happen only when real silence has happened to you, never before. You cannot force the flower to open, it opens by itself. You cannot force your being to open; there is no possibility of it. You cannot rape it, you cannot be violent toward it. It will simply be destroyed.The flower opens by itself. The only soil needed is authentic, real spontaneous silence. With a cultivated silence, the flower will never open. With a cultivated silence, you will simply become dull. Your being will be less alive, that’s all. With less life you will be in less trouble. That’s okay, but remember: that trouble is a training. You should not try to have fewer troubles. Be with your troubles, be in your troubles and move through them. Don’t leave them, don’t escape from them. A moment will come when you have gone beyond them, but that moment always comes from passing through them. Pass through the storm and allow a real silence to come. Then your being will flower, not till then.It shall grow, it will shoot up, it will make branches and leaves and form buds, while the storm continues, while the battle lasts. But not till the whole personality of the man is dissolved and melted… Not until the whole nature has yielded and has become subject unto its higher self can the bloom open.Don’t think that the storm is your enemy. It is not. That storm is your greatest friend, because without it – no silence; without it – no flowering; without it – no liberation. So never think in terms of enmity. Nothing is an enemy to you: the whole of existence is friendly. Even that which appears to be against you, even that is not your enemy. Jesus says: “Love your enemies.” These arethe real enemies that you have to love – not your neighbor nor the enemy of your country, they are not your real enemies. These are your real enemies: the storm, evil, the world, sexuality, anger, passion, hatred. These are the real enemies.Jesus says: “Love thy enemies as thyself.” Why? Christianity could never understand it. Jesus’ teaching has been completely lost; whatsoever exists in the name of Christianity doesn’t belong to Jesus Christ. It belongs to St. Paul. He is the real founder of the so-called Christianity that exists on earth.Jesus is very esoteric. When he says “Love thy enemies as thyself,” he means that you will pass through the polar opposite, through the enemy. Experience it in its totality so that you can transcend it. Any experience that is total becomes transcendental. Any experience, I say. Experience with your totality and you have gone beyond it. It will never cling to you; you have moved away, above it. You have passed through it, you have learned everything about it.Knowing is revolutionary. It creates a mutation, it transforms you.While the storm lasts… Don’t think that the storm is your enemy, because meanwhile, underground, hidden in darkness, the flower will grow.…it will shoot up, it will make branches and leaves and form buds, while the storm continues, while the battle lasts. But not till the whole personality of the man is dissolved and melted… Not until the whole nature has yielded and become subject unto its higher self, can the bloom open.When the storm has gone, the bloom will open. But it was getting ready while the storm was there. Through the storm, it was getting ready to bloom. It was gathering energy, life, vitality. It was getting ready to burst forth. The storm is the soil, without it the flower cannot bloom.Then will come a calm such as comes in a tropical country after the heavy rain. And in the deep silence the mysterious event will occur which will prove that the way has been found.Only by passing through the storm will you come to a spot within you which comes …in a tropical country after the heavy rain. Remember this deeply. It will be of much help to you.With every suffering, you are creating the possibility of ecstasy. Ecstasy will follow right after it. But if you are too engaged with the suffering, you may miss it. If you are ill, after the illness a moment of health, a moment of well-being, will come to you. But you can be too concerned with the illness, so that when the moment comes you are so engrossed, involved in the past illness – which is no longer there – you may miss that moment. And the moment is momentary; you can miss it very easily. It is atomic.After every pain, the moment comes and visits you. After every suffering, ecstasy comes to your door and knocks, but you go on missing it because the past is so heavy. You are still ill even after the illness has gone. It continues in your memory, it clouds your mind, and you miss that atomic moment.Remember this: whenever you are depressed, wait for the moment that the depression goes. Nothing lasts forever: the depression will go. When the depression leaves you, wait – be aware and alert – because after the depression, after this night, there will be a dawn, the sun will rise. If you can be alert in that moment, you will be happy that you were depressed. You will be grateful that you were depressed because only through that depression, this possibility; only through that depression, this moment of happiness.But what do we do? – we move in an infinite regression. We get depressed, and then we get depressed because of the depression: a second depression follows. If you are depressed, that’s okay, nothing is wrong in it. It is beautiful because through it you will learn and mature. But then you feel badly: “Why do I get depressed? I should not get depressed.” Then you start fighting with the depression. The real depression is good, but the second depression is unreal – and this unreal depression will cloud your mind. You will miss the moment that would have followed the real depression.When depressed, be depressed. Simply be depressed. Don’t get depressed about your depression. When depressed, simply be depressed. Don’t fight it, don’t create any diversion; don’t force it to go. Just allow it to happen, it will go by itself. Life is a flux, nothing remains. You are not needed: the river moves by itself, you are not to push it. If you are trying to push it, you are simply foolish. The river flows by itself – allow it to flow.When there is depression, allow it to be. Don’t get depressed about it. If you want to remove it sooner, you will get depressed. If you fight it, you will create a secondary depression, which is dangerous. The first depression is beautiful, God-given. The second depression is your own. It is not God-given, it is mental. Then you will move in mental grooves – they are infinite.If you get depressed, be happy that you are depressed and allow the depression to be. Then, suddenly the depression will disappear and there will be a breakthrough. There will be no clouds and the sky will be clear. For a single moment, heaven opens for you. If you are not depressed about your depression you can contact, you can commune, you can enter this heavenly gate. And once you know it, you have learned one of the ultimate laws of life: life uses the opposite as a teacher, as a background.Nothing is wrong, everything is good and for the good. This is what I call a religious attitude. You may not believe in God – that makes no difference. Buddha never believed in God, Mahavira never believed in God, but they were religious. There is no need to believe in an afterlife – no need. You can still be religious. There is no need even to believe in a soul; you can be religious without believing in it.Then what is religion? Religion means this trust: that everything is for the good. This trust that everything is for the good is a religious mind. This is religiousness. And if you trust that everything is for the good, you will come to realize the divine. The divine can be realized through such a trust.Even the storm is for silence. Evil is for the good; death is for more life. And suffering and agony are just situations in which ecstasy can happen.Look at life in this way, and the moment will not be far away when suffering will disappear completely, when pain will disappear completely, when death will disappear completely for you. Because one who thinks – and knows – that agony is for ecstasy, cannot be agonized. One who knows and feels and realizes that suffering is for happiness, cannot be made to suffer – impossible. He is using suffering itself to be happier, and he is using agony itself as a step toward ecstasy. He has gone beyond the clutches of the world. He has gone beyond; he has taken a jump out of the wheel of sansar.The opening of the bloom is the glorious moment when perception awakes: with it comes confidence, knowledge, certainty….When the disciple is ready to learn, then he is accepted, acknowledged, recognized. It must be so, for he has lit his lamp, and it cannot be hidden.These written above are the first of the rules which are written on the walls of the hall of learning. Those that ask shall have. Those that desire to read shall read. Those who desire to learn shall learn.Peace be with you.Two more things to be understood: The opening of the bloom is the glorious moment when perception awakes: with it comes confidence, knowledge, certainty. Unless you experience you cannot be certain. Unless you experience, you have not known. Unless you experience, there cannot be faith. Before you have experienced, all belief is false; before it all certainty is just a facade; before it all knowledge is just information and nothing else. Remember: before your own experience don’t be too certain, because too much certainty is just a trick of the mind to hide the uncertainty within. Before your own experience, don’t say that you know, because your knowledge is just a trick to hide your ignorance.You may have read the Gita, you may have read the Koran, you may have read the Bible. Then you know “about,” but you don’t know. You can know much about God; it doesn’t mean anything unless you know godliness. “About” is not knowledge. You can know what Jesus says, but it is borrowed, secondary, useless. You can repeat what Krishna says but it’s just mechanical. You can memorize it, you can know it by heart, but it is never in the heart; it remains in the memory. Memory is mechanical, memory is not knowledge. Knowledge comes only through experience – your own.Insist on your own experience. If you insist, you will gain it. Those that ask shall have. But you never ask; you become contented with borrowed knowledge. You never say, “I must be allowed to know myself.” If you ask, existence is ready to give. But you are contented with books, with scriptures – with borrowed information. You never ask for the real.Ask for the real. And the real means your experience, your own. Buddhas are of no help. They can just show the way, but you have to travel by your own feet. Insist on your own knowledge, your own experience. Never be content before that.Those that desire to read shall read. If you are very insistent on reading the ultimate laws, they will be opened unto you. The real Bible is not in the Bible, the real Gita is not in the Gita. The real Bible or the Koran or the Gita is written in existence, in life itself. If you don’t believe in the scriptures, the real scripture will be opened unto you.Insist that “I want to read in existence,” and the moment will be given to you. But if you don’t insist, if you carry a dead book and are content, then existence is not going to force you. Existence is absolutely nonviolent, it will not force you. You can remain with your scriptures, and if you are happy it is okay. But you are living in a false world, you are living in words.Open the book of existence! Throw out all scriptures so that the real scripture can be encountered.Those who desire to learn shall learn. Learning is difficult because learning means yielding, learning means surrendering, learning means becoming like a womb, becoming feminine, allowing existence to enter you. But: Those who desire to learn shall learn.We also desire, but not to learn. We desire to collect more information. That’s not learning. Many people come to me and they say “We come to the meditation camps because many new things become known to us here.” They collect information, they collect some words, and then they go away happy. They are stupid, and their happiness is suicidal because whatsoever I say is of no use unless you experience it.You can carry my words – then you are carrying a dead weight. You will be burdened by it, you will not be freed. My words cannot free you. They may even imprison you, they may become fetters for you. If they only become part of your memory, it would have been better if you had not come. Whatsoever I am saying is not to be remembered, it is to be experienced. And if you experience it, then it becomes your own. Then those words don’t belong to me anymore. Now, that experience has become your own. Now, you know something through your own eyes; now, you feel something through your own heart. This is knowledge, and this gives certainty and this gives faith.Peace be with you – because only in peace does the divine become possible.Now get ready for our meditation.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 09 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The spiritual search starts as a seeking for eternal bliss, as a seeking for eternal liberation, as a seeking for divine light and divine life. But you remain the center. In the beginning it is self-centered: whatsoever you are seeking you are seeking for yourself.This self-centeredness will ultimately prove a barrier, because you cannot be in total ecstasy if you are self-centered. This self-centeredness is a deep hindrance. But in the beginning it is bound to be so, it is natural that one should start the search for oneself. There is no other way – you cannot start for someone else.It has to be self-centered in the beginning, but it must not be so in the end. In the beginning it is okay. In the end it is dangerous. A point comes where your self-centeredness must cease, only then will your being flower into total bliss.It is just like this: you take a breath in, you inhale – this is half a breath. Then you have to exhale – that is the other half. And both breaths – inhaling and exhaling – make it a circle, a total breath. If you think only to inhale, and you see no point in exhaling – “What is the use?” – you will die. Inhaling, which is necessary for life, will become dangerous for life if there is no exhaling. The breath must be released.The same happens when you start receiving blissful moments, when you start receiving ecstatic moments, when the eternal starts pouring on you. The first thing is inhaling: you will inhale blissfulness, but then, exhale it. Otherwise, you will die of your own blissfulness. That blissfulness will become poisonous. Exhale it, distribute it, give it to others.When you feel that you are filled with bliss, express it. Share it, don’t try to conserve it within you. Don’t force it, don’t make it a point that it is your own. Don’t monopolize it. Allow it to be shared with everyone. Really, celebrate it in such a way that the whole of existence shares it. Just as a flower blooms and the perfume spreads – the winds take it away, far away, to the far comers of the earth – allow your perfume, your bliss, to be taken far away from you, to be shared, to be shared by existence itself.Why? – because then bliss has become total: both inhaling and exhaling. It becomes a circle. And the more you distribute it, the more you get. The more you throw it away, the more you find it, because now you are in contact with the infinite source.Don’t be a miser. Don’t be a miser, otherwise you will kill the whole process. In the beginning it is okay to be self-centered, but when the bliss starts happening, it is dangerous.This sutra is concerned with this exhaling:Out of the silence that is peace a resonant voice shall arise. And this voice will say: “It is not well; thou hast reaped, now thou must sow.” And knowing this voice to be the silence itself thou wilt obey.You have reaped – you have reaped bliss, you have reaped ecstasy – now sow it for others. In the world, you sow first and then you reap. In the spiritual dimension, everything is just the reverse. First you reap, and then you sow.You have reaped what Buddha has sown, what Jesus, Krishna and Mohammed have sown. They have sown seeds and you have reaped them. Now, sow them for others. And remember well that sowing is just exhaling. It is part of the whole process. You will remain half, incomplete, imperfect, unless bliss has started flowing from you toward all.This is a very necessary law, and when you become silent, you hear it. No one else is saying it to you. Your own heart, your own innermost being gives you this indication. This teaching, this message is not from without, it is from your own innermost self. That’s why: thou wilt obey. There is no possibility of not obeying it, it is your own. But if you know it well, it will be easy.It will be easy if you know that it is part of the process: that bliss should be distributed and shared, then it will grow more. If you don’t know about this law, your miserliness, your old self-centeredness may delay the completion of the process.It can only be delayed, it cannot be disobeyed forever. But why delay it? So remember this: whenever you feel any moment of bliss happening, share it.That’s why my insistence, so much insistence, that after meditation you must express your bliss, you must celebrate it. You must make it a point that whatsoever happens to you, allow it to be shared. Dance and sing. These are symbolic, just to serve as a continuous remembrance.After you have gone from here, many things will happen if you continue meditation. But whenever something happens to you, don’t keep it to yourself. Share it. Even if you cannot do anything else, just smiling, smiling at a stranger, may be enough. Just taking the hand of a stranger in your hand and feeling the friend within him will do it, or sharing anything, just as a token. Or, if there is no one there and you are sitting under a tree, then dance and feel that you are dancing with the tree. Sing, and feel that you are singing with the birds. And sooner or later you will come to understand that when you share, even a tree is ready to share.Some research has been done recently in a Russian university… A psychoanalyst, Pushkin, has come to conclude through many experiments that trees have similar emotions to man. Not only that – trees can be hypnotized. Not only that – if a person is hypnotized under a tree, and under hypnosis it is suggested to him, “You are very sad,” then the person becomes sad, and simultaneously the tree becomes sad.These are experimental conclusions. There are now mechanical recording devices that can record whether you are sad or happy, whether you are depressed, whether you are angry, whether you are sexual, because with every emotion, a different electrical wave is released from your mind. That electrical wave can be recorded.But this has been a very strange conclusion: that the same wave is recorded from the tree. You are dancing under a tree, happy… Your mind will give an indication that you are happy and it will be recorded. If the device is also connected to the tree, the tree records the same wave. So, Pushkin says that if you are dancing under a tree, very happy, the tree shares it. It is happy with you.And if a tree can share it, why not birds? They are more alive. Why not animals? They are still more alive. And why not the whole of existence? Sooner or later we will find that even stones share. Their soul may be hidden very deep, but it is there, and one day we are going to find instruments that will give us indications that even a stone, a rock, has emotions.So wherever you are, whenever you feel that some ecstatic emotion has happened to you, dance to its tune, sing to its tune, and share your happiness in whatsoever way happens to you, in whatsoever way you feel to share it. But share it! It will grow. With sharing, it grows. With miserliness – with not sharing – it dies away, it shrinks.Death is shrinkage. Shrinking is death; life is expansion. Allow it to expand. And once you know the feeling of expansion you will follow, because it is your own innermost self dictating.Thou who art now a disciple, able to stand, able to hear, able to see, able to speak, who hast conquered desire and attained to self-knowledge, who hast seen thy soul in its bloom and recognized it, and heard the voice of the silence, go thou to the hall of learning and read what is written there for thee….To hear the voice of the silence is to understand that from within comes the only true guidance; to go to the hall of learning is to enter the state in which learning becomes possible. Then will many words be written there for thee, and written in fiery letters for thee easily to read. For when the disciple is ready the master is ready also.To hear the voice of silence is to understand that from within comes the only true guidance. When you are silent, really silent after the storm has passed, when you have fallen into silence spontaneously – you have not cultivated it; it has come to you, it has arisen spontaneously in you. In this silence you will come to feel and understand and realize that now the true guidance is possible from your own innermost being. Now the master, the inner master will appear to you.Your own innermost center is your real master. Outer masters can help, but their help is basically directed toward finding this inner one. And when the inner one is found, there is no need for the outer master. You have become master in your own right.But this happens only when you have come to realize total inner silence, without any thought, without any word, without any imagination, without any ripple of any kind. When you have come to understand and feel a ripple-less silence, a thought-less silence, non-moving – this silence becomes your inner master. Now, out of this silence, guidance will be given to you.For when the disciple is ready the master is also ready. When you are ready to receive the inner guidance, the inner guidance comes naturally, automatically. But the disciple must be ready.What is meant by the disciple being ready? – it means to become totally receptive, humble, egoless, surrendered, in a deep let-go. When you are not saying anything but are just receptive to listen, when you are not imposing any theories upon truth – naked, vacant and ready to allow the truth to reveal itself in its own way; you are not in any way, consciously or unconsciously, forcing anything upon the truth; you have stopped forcing, you are ready to be carried away to wheresoever the truth leads you – then, you are a disciple.There is a difference between a student and a disciple. A student is hankering for information. A disciple is not hankering for information; his search is for knowledge, authentic experience. He is not interested in what others say; he is interested in what he can feel. The student will collect information. He will train his memory, and the more his memory is trained, the more information is accumulated, the more egoistic he will become. A student can never be humble, a scholar can never be humble. His basic search is egoistic.Someone accumulates riches and someone else accumulates knowledge. There is no difference. Every accumulation feeds the ego. Whatsoever you accumulate, the greater the quantity, the more egoistic you will feel. So a student or a scholar is not a disciple. The very dimension is different.A disciple is not in search of accumulation. Rather, on the contrary, he is ready to throw out all accumulations. If the truth happens, only in that emptiness he is ready to throw out all accumulations, all knowledge.Socrates is reported to have said in his old age – he was a disciple – he is reported to have said, “Now I can say that I do not know anything. I am ignorant.”It happened that a seer declared Socrates the wisest man in Athens. Those who heard the seer came running to Socrates and said, “Socrates, have you heard? The seer has said that you are the wisest man in Athens.”Socrates said, “There must have been some error. Go back and tell the seer that Socrates says he knows nothing. He is absolutely ignorant.”The people went back to the seer and told him, “Your prophecy has been denied by Socrates himself. He says, ‘I do not know anything. I am ignorant.’”The seer laughed and he said, “Because of this I say he is the wisest man, because only a perfectly wise man can say, ‘I do not know.’”Ignorant people always claim knowledge. The more ignorant, the more they claim they know. This is part of ignorance. A student, a pundit, a scholar all claim knowledge. They are not disciples.And remember, if you are a student you can become a teacher but never a master. Only a disciple can become a master. If you are a student, a scholar, you can become a teacher – never a master. Only a disciple can become a master. Discipleship means egoless surrender. And once you surrender, your innermost self is revealed to you. That is the master who is waiting for you. He has been waiting for you for lives and lives.In any moment of surrender, the master will be revealed to you. And that master is no one. It is your own innermost self, it is your own atma. So really, this can be said: when you are a perfect disciple you have become a master. You are no longer a disciple at all. Discipleship achieved, you are transformed into a master.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 10 (Read, Listen & Download)

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These are the sutras achieved by ultimate wisdom. They are deep and sometimes very complex, even contradictory, but they are the ultimate flowering of wisdom.When a Buddha becomes a Buddha or a Christ becomes a Christ, these sutras are then revealed. If you can understand them, even understanding will transform you. If you can feel the reality hidden in them, you will be an altogether different man. So try to understand them very deeply.The first sutra:Stand aside in the coming battle, and though thou fightest be not thou the warrior.He is thyself, yet thou art but finite and liable to error. He is eternal and is sure. He is eternal truth. When once he has entered thee and become thy warrior, he will never utterly desert thee, and at the day of the great peace he will become one with thee.Stand aside in the coming battle, and though thou fightest be not thou the warrior. We are in a constant fight with ourselves. A struggle continues night and day. The whole of life is a battlefield, but you reach nowhere. You are neither totally defeated nor are you victorious. The struggle continues, and life energy is unnecessarily dissipated. You just waste yourself and your existence. What is the cause? Why are you never victorious? Why does the struggle never end?You fight with sex, you fight with anger, you fight with greed. You fight with everything, but still you remain in the grip of those things you are fighting. The more you fight sex, the more you are in its grip and the more you feel you have to fight more. It is a vicious circle. You fight more and then sex becomes more attractive, sex becomes more magnetic. You take many decisions not to be angry, but every decision is a failure. And the total result is that in the end you feel you are guilty, inferior. In the end you feel that you are not capable of doing anything, you feel an inner defeat.This has happened to the whole of humanity. Humanity is so sad now – not because of anything else that has happened in this age but only because so many ages of religious fight, so many centuries of continuous religious struggle have proved to the human mind that nothing can be achieved. The human mind feels a deep failure. That failure creates sadness and depression.Hope has become hopeless. There seems to be no way out of it. You can struggle, but everything is futile, a waste: no one achieves anything. It has not happened because the human mind is incapable of victory. It has happened because the base of the struggle is wrong, the whole effort of the struggle is wrong. Why? – because you are fighting with yourself. How can you win?If I create a conflict between my two hands, left and right, I can go on fighting but there will be no victory and no defeat, because both hands belong to me. The urge for sex belongs to me and the urge to go beyond sex also belongs to me: they are both my hands. I can go on fighting, I can go on changing parties, sometimes being with the right hand, sometimes with the left – but nothing is going to happen because I am within both. How can there be defeat or victory? For defeat and victory at least two are needed, and I am alone, fighting with myself. This whole fight is a shadow fight, nonsense.What to do? This sutra gives you the key: Stand aside in the…battle, and though thou fightest be not thou the warrior. Stand aside. Be a witness.Remember this word witness. This is one of the key words in the search for spirituality. If you can understand this word and practice it, you don’t need anything else. Even this one key will open all the doors of paradise. This is a master key, any lock can be opened by it. What does it mean to stand aside?When sex arises in you, you get identified with it. Then, when you have moved through the sex act, depression sets in because you hoped for so much and nothing has happened. You longed for too much, you expected too much, and nothing has happened. The whole thing has just been a fraud. You feel betrayed, deceived. Then, repentance sets in and you start thinking in anti-sex terms. You start thinking about how to be a brahmacharya, how to be a celibate. You think in terms of being a monk: you go against sex. Then you get identified with that “anti” attitude.Witnessing means: when sex arises, stand aside and look at it. Don’t get identified. Don’t say, “I have become sex,” say, “Sexual desire has arisen in me. Now I must observe it.” Don’t be for it and don’t be against it. Remain quiet and calm – just an observer.That doesn’t mean suppress it, because suppression will not allow you to know what it is. Don’t suppress it. Suppression means that you are identified with the “anti” attitude. Remember this: if you suppress, you are identified with the “anti” attitude. Don’t suppress and don’t get identified. Allow it to happen. Don’t be afraid, just wait and watch.Move in the sex act but with a watchful eye, knowing well what is happening and allowing it to happen. Not disturbing it, not suppressing it – allowing it to become manifest in its totality, but standing aside as if you are watching someone else.The act will move to its peak. Go with it, but always standing at the side. Know whatsoever is happening in detail. Be alert, don’t lose awareness. Then, from the peak, you will start falling down and the “anti” attitude will set in. Be alert again. Don’t get identified with the “anti” attitude. Look at what is happening: the wave has gone up to a peak, now the wave is falling down. Sex is the wave arising. Brahmacharya, the “anti” attitude toward sex, is the wave falling down.Be aware, be alert. Don’t be for or against, don’t condemn, don’t make any judgment. Don’t be a judge, just be a witness. Don’t say, “This is good, that is bad.” Don’t say anything. Just be alert and watch what is happening. Be true to the facts; don’t give any interpretation. That’s what witnessing means.If you can be a witness with sex and the anti-sex attitude, you will come to a great understanding. That understanding will tell you that sex and anti-sex are two poles of one wave. They are not really “anti,” they are just the rising and falling of the same wave. They are one, so there is nothing to choose. If you choose one you have already chosen the other, because it is part of it – the hidden part. If you choose one you have already chosen the other because the other cannot be separated from it. They are one, so there is no choice. Then, choicelessness happens to you.That choicelessness is the path of victory. Now you don’t choose; there is nothing to choose. And a miracle happens: when you don’t choose, both fall away. Sex and brahmacharya both disappear and for the first time you are not in their clutches. For the first time you are not in the hold of the opposites. You have fallen out.Witnessing is the beginning, and witnessing is the end. The first step and the last step are one. Witnessing is the means and witnessing is the goal. Then the fight goes on, but you are not the warrior. Now the fighting is on a different level. What is that different level of fighting?Now, sex and anti-sex are simultaneously present to you. This simultaneous presence of the opposites is the fight. They fight with each other, and you remain a witness. Because they are opposites, anti-poles, they destroy each other completely and both disappear. They are of the same strength and the same energy. They cut each other out, they negate each other.This is the fight. But you are not the warrior, you are just a witness. You are just looking from above: a watcher on the hills. Down in the valley the fight will go on, but now you are just a watcher on the tower. You just look down and you know they are fighting, the opposites are fighting. They negate each other because they are of the same strength.Remember this: only a very deeply sexual person can become a brahmacharya. Strong sexual desire can be converted into brahmacharya. If you are just ordinarily sexual you cannot become a brahmacharya because to become a brahmacharya much energy is needed. And the opposite energies are always equivalent, so only very deeply sexual persons become brahmacharyas. Ordinary persons, with ordinary, natural sex, never move to it, they cannot. The energy to move comes from sex. Opposite energies are equivalent.You need not fight, you need not take part from this side or that side. That is the way of defeat. Just remain aside, get out of the circle – be a witness.It is difficult because the mind wants to choose; the mind always chooses. The mind is the chooser because, without choosing, there will be no mind. You will fall out of the mind if you fall out of choice. That’s why it is so difficult not to choose.Even what I am saying… Many of you may choose to follow what I am saying, but you will choose to do so for a reason. People come to me and when I say, “Be a witness,” they immediately ask, “If I become a witness, will sexuality disappear?” They cannot become a witness because they have already chosen. They ask, “Will sexuality disappear if I become a witness?” They are even ready to become a witness if sexuality will disappear!But they have chosen, they have chosen to think that sexuality is bad and brahmacharya is good. They ask me, “If I become a witness will I become brahmacharya, will I become celibate?” They are missing the whole point. I am saying, “Don’t choose,” and they have already chosen. They want to use witnessing as an instrument for their choice. You cannot use witnessing that way.A man came to me… He was a seeker, a serious seeker, but stupid. There are many stupid seekers – serious. And when I say stupid, I mean they can’t understand what they are doing. That man came to me and I told him…The man was suffering from sex – everyone is suffering because of sex. The suffering has gone so deep that you don’t only suffer because of your own sexuality, you also suffer because of others’ sexuality. This seems to be madness. You suffer because of your own sexuality and you also suffer because of others’ sexuality, because of what others are doing.Enough misery can be created by your own sexuality. Why be concerned with others? But that misery doesn’t seem to be enough for you, so you go on collecting what others are doing: who is doing wrong and who is being good. Who are you to decide? From where have you got the right? Who are you to become a policeman?The man who came to see me was a policeman. He was suffering because of what everyone else was doing. But I told him, “Don’t be worried about others; the real problem must be within you. You have not yet come to terms with your sexuality – that is the problem. Why suffer because of others? Why create other problems? Just to escape from your own? Just to be occupied? Who has appointed you to be a policeman? Why waste your life? Somewhere you must be deeply sex-obsessed, that’s why you are concerned with others.”So he said, “You have touched the right wound. I am now sixty-five, and I am still suffering. As I become older, I suffer more. It seems that sexuality is growing with my age. The energy is less, but the sexuality is more. As death is coming near, I feel to be more and more sexual. My whole mind, twenty-four hours a day is obsessed with sex.”I told him, “You have been continuously fighting sex.” He was a great seeker; he had remained with so many saints, so many gurus. I told him, “They have destroyed you. You have reached nowhere. Whatsoever you have been doing is wrong. Now, don’t fight sex anymore.”The man became afraid. He said, “I have been fighting sex. And this is the result: even with fighting I am so sexual. Now you say, ‘Don’t fight it!’ Then I will become completely mad.”So I told him, “You have tried fighting – now try the other. You have reached nowhere. Now, don’t fight!”“Then what,” he asked, “am I supposed to do?”I told him, “Be a witness.”He asked, “Will the sexuality disappear then?”I told him, “If you become a witness with a partisan view – for brahmacharya, against sex – you cannot become a witness. And if you cannot become a witness, sexuality cannot disappear. Become a witness: sexuality will disappear, but remember, brahmacharya will also disappear with it. There is no need of brahmacharya when sexuality disappears. It is part of the same game. What is the need of brahmacharya? When sexuality has disappeared, when the disease has disappeared, what is the use of the medicine? It is part of the game! You will throw out the medicine with the disease. Or will you carry the medicine? – because ‘The illness has disappeared but I will carry the medicine’” So I told him, “Brahmacharya will also disappear. But remember not to choose.”He said, “I will try.”After three months – I told him to come back after three months – he came and he said, “But sex has not yet disappeared.” This is what I call stupidity. “Sex has not yet disappeared, and I have been practicing witnessing for three months.”The unconscious choice remains: sex must disappear. Then you cannot be a witness. Witnessing means no choice, choiceless awareness.This is one of the most fundamental keys for all the diseases of the human mind. If you can become a witness, the opposites fight against each other, kill each other, and both are dead, both disappear. But if you choose one of them, you cannot be a witness.The second sutra:Look for the warrior and let him fight in thee.Look for him, else in the fever and hurry of the fight thou mayest pass him; and he will not know thee unless thou knowest him. If thy cry reach his listening ear, then will he fight in thee and fill the dull void within.Look for the warrior and let him fight in thee. Don’t be the warrior, there is no need. The warrior is the phenomenon of simultaneously presenting to your consciousness both of the opposites.Ordinarily, only one is present. When sex is present you are not thinking of brahmacharya. When brahmacharya is present, you are not thinking of sex. One is present and the other is hidden. This is the misery.Bring out the other simultaneously, and this will become the warrior for you. Bring them out simultaneously. When you are filled with anger, immediately bring in repentance. You always repent, but later on. When you are angry, you are angry. When the anger has done its devastation, then repentance comes in and you start taking oaths: “I am not going to be angry again.” But the anger and the repentance never meet. Allow the opposites to meet. They will negate each other.If you go on moving from one opposite to another, you will never be victorious. You have wasted many lives, and you can waste infinite lives. But this is the secret: bring the opposites out simultaneously, allow them to be simultaneously present before you. Don’t follow one. If you follow one, the other is waiting for you. When you are bored, when you get fed up with one, the other will catch hold of you.If they cannot meet, they cannot negate each other. You need not do anything. This is the miracle, this is the inner chemistry. Bring the opposites together and just watch them. They will fight. Allow them to fight. You need not get involved in it, just remain at the side. They will disappear together. Once present together, they will not persist: they will disappear together.So a Mahavira is not a brahmachari. Sex and brahmacharya have both disappeared. He is just innocent, he is just like a child. A Buddha has not become non-angry: both anger and non-anger have disappeared. He is innocent: neither are there. A Krishna is neither a sansari nor a sannyasin: he neither belongs to the world nor belongs to the other, anti-world of renunciation. Both have disappeared, he is innocent.The perfection, the wholeness of consciousness is in innocence. And when I use the word innocence I mean absence of the opposites. Absence of opposites is purity. If you have chosen one, you are not pure. The other is hidden in the unconscious: both are there.If one is there, both will be there. The other cannot be separated, it can only be hidden. If one is there, both will be there, and if the one is not there, the other cannot be there. Both will disappear, and when both disappear the whole field of opposites disappears. Then you are innocent. That innocence is liberation, that innocence is divine, that innocence is nirvana.The third sutra:Take his orders for battle and obey them.Obey him not as though he were a general, but as though he were thyself, and his spoken words were the utterance of thy secret desires; for he is thyself, yet infinitely wiser and stronger than thyself.Find the witness, and then obey him. First find the witness and then obey him, because to find the witness means to find one’s own innermost core.We live on two layers, two levels. One is the periphery, the world of action. The other is the innermost being, the world of no-action: the world of existence, not of doing.All that we do is on the periphery and all that we are is at the center. We have to continuously move from the center to the periphery to do something. Whenever you are doing, you are on the periphery. Whatsoever you are doing, you are on the periphery. When you are non-doing, not doing anything, then you are at the center.Witnessing is a non-act. Meditation is a non-act.We are doing meditation here… For thirty minutes you are on the periphery. You are doing something: breathing, catharsis, the hoo mantra. You are doing something: you are on the periphery. When I suddenly say “Stop!” I mean, now be in the non-act, non-doing. When you suddenly stop you are thrown from the periphery to the being, to the innermost center, because when you are not doing anything you are not needed on the periphery. You need to be on the periphery only while you are doing something. When you are thrown back to your center… That center is your witness.Once you know this center, once you recognize this center, once you have felt this center – follow the orders. You will be directed, you have found your master. Now follow whatsoever is said to you from the center and don’t listen to the periphery, because the periphery is cultivated by others and your center is untouched, virgin: it is from the divine.The periphery is from the society. That’s why we say that a sannyasin goes beyond society. Not against society, beyond society, because now he follows his own, innermost center. He is not following anyone else. Now all orders from others are meaningless.You have found your own being, and now that being can direct you. That being is …infinitely wiser and stronger than thyself. The you on the periphery is a weakling; the you at the center is infinitely potent. The you on the periphery is just a worldly thing; the you at the center is godliness itself.So, first find…Jesus has said, “First seek ye the kingdom of God. Then all else will follow.” “First seek ye the kingdom of God, and then all else will follow.” Don’t bother about other things. First find the innermost core of the kingdom of God. Then you need not worry about anything; all else will follow.Just follow the inner voice. But how? You don’t know what the inner voice is, you don’t know what the inner is. Society has deeply confused you. It goes on saying that its own voice is your inner voice. It has placed many voices in you, just to control you from within.It is a social need; society controls you in two ways. One: by outer arrangements – the policeman on the street, the court, the judge, the law, the government. This is the outer arrangement, but it is not enough because you can deceive the law, you can manipulate the court. And the policeman is, of course, a human being… So that arrangement is not enough. You can do whatsoever you like and you can play tricks with the law; you can find loopholes because human-made laws can be violated by other humans very easily. All that is needed is more intelligence, more intelligence than the law-makers. Then you can deceive it. So society cannot rely on the outer law because are there intelligent people, more intelligent than law-makers. They will find loopholes, and they will be illegal in a legal way, and you cannot do anything. And the more laws you create, the more loopholes.Then society tries another way – and that is a more effective thing. It creates a conscience in you: the inner policeman, the inner court. It gives you a feeling “This is wrong” – and from the very childhood it goes on reinforcing it: “This is wrong. Don’t do this. Don’t be a thief. Don’t deceive your wife. Don’t love another’s wife,” it goes on saying.This becomes an inner conditioning, so whenever you feel an attraction toward another’s wife, the inner voice… This is not the inner voice. This is society’s voice playing within you. The voice comes: “This is wrong, this is a sin!” and you start trembling. This is the social trick: the policeman outside and the policeman within.I am not saying go and love someone’s wife – I am not saying that. I am simply saying that this is a social mechanism, a social device to make you a slave through yourself. And it is more successful, remember. It is more successful.Today’s world has become less moral because this “inner voice” is not so strong; society has become incapable of reinforcing it. The outer law is greater, more complex, but the inner law has weakened, for many reasons: when people, societies lived aloof and alone it was easy to create the inner conscience. Now, the whole earth has become a village, with many societies, many inner voices conflicting. Now no one can rely on… Every child knows that whatsoever you say is “good” in India is “bad” in Pakistan.Whatsoever you say is good for a Hindu is not good for a Jaina. Whatsoever you say, the contradictory is also true somewhere: it is not absolute. Now that we have become aware of the whole complexity of the human conscience, we know that conscience is just a social product. So many societies exist together that the hold has become weak. That’s why human societies are less moralistic now, because the inner policeman is dead, almost dead. You know that what it says means nothing: “Don’t bother about it, just observe the outer law. And try to find a way around it!” This inner policeman and its voice is not your inner voice – that’s what I am saying. Find the witness. Only then will you find out the inner voice.The inner voice will direct you. Those directions will be absolutely different from what society says – absolutely different. But for the first time you will become religious, not simply moral. You will be moral in a much deeper sense.Morality will not be a duty, morality will not be something imposed upon you. Morality will not be a burden; it will be spontaneous. You will be good, naturally good. You will not become a thief – not because society says, “Don’t be a thief,” – you will not be a thief because you cannot be. You will not kill because it becomes impossible. You love life so much that now violence becomes impossible. It is not a moral code, it is an inner direction.You affirm life, you revere life. A deep reverence comes to you, and through that reverence everything follows. That is what Jesus says: “Find the kingdom of God first, and then everything will follow.”Find the inner voice, and then everything will follow.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 11 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The fourth sutra:Listen to the song of life.Look for it and listen to it first in your own heart. At first you may say, “It is not there; when I search I find only discord.” Look deeper. If again you are disappointed, pause and look deeper again. There is a natural melody, an obscure fount in every human heart. It may be hidden over and utterly concealed and silenced – but it is there.Listen to the song of life. Life is a melody. Existence is musical, for so many reasons. Existence is harmony, it is not anarchy. It is not a chaos, it is a cosmos. It is a unity: so complex, so vast, but still united. And life pulsates – from the lowest atom to the highest star. Wavelengths differ, pulsations are of different frequencies, but the whole pulsates in a deep unity, in a harmony. Plotinus has called this “The music of the spheres.” The whole of existence is music. In another sense also it is musical. Yoga, Tantra and all the schools that have been working esoterically for the inner journey of human consciousness say that life consists of sound; existence consists of sound.Science differs, but not very much. Science says that the basic particle of existence is electricity, not sound. But science also says that sound is a mode of electricity, a sort of electrical expression. Sound consists of electrical particles.Yoga says that the basic element, the basic unit of existence is sound, and electricity is a mode of sound. That’s why we have the myth that, through music, fire can be created. Through music, fire can be created. If fire is nothing but a combination of sounds, then fire can be created.This difference between the scientific attitude and the Yoga attitude is worth understanding. Why does science say that sound is nothing but electricity, and Yoga say that electricity is nothing but sound? – because science’s approach is through matter, and Yoga’s approach is through life.The deeper you penetrate within yourself, the more you will find a new world of sound and silence. When you reach the innermost core of your being, you will find the soundless sound. That’s what Hindus have called nad: anahat nad – sound which is uncreated, which is your very life. It is not created by anything, it is not produced. It is there. It is cosmic.Om is the symbol of that sound. If you go deeply within, when the ultimate core is reached you hear om. It is not that you produce it. It is simply there, vibrating. It is the basic element of life.This sutra says: Listen to the song of life. But you cannot listen to it unless you have already heard it within your own heart. Whatsoever you can see must be seen first within your own heart; otherwise you cannot see it, you cannot hear it. The basic experience must be inner. Only then can the outer be experienced.Whatsoever we know in the outer world is nothing but a reflection or a projection. If you are filled with love, the whole of life appears to be filled with love. If you are sitting with your beloved or with your lover, the whole of existence is okay. Nothing is wrong, there is no misery. The whole of existence is filled with a deep music, because you are filled with a deep music. There is no discord within you; your heart feels a deep harmony. With your beloved or with your lover or your friend you are so one… This oneness spreads all over.But if you are in deep agony – suffering, sad, depressed – the whole of existence seems to be depressed. It is you, not existence. Existence remains the same. The climates of your mind change. In one climate existence appears sad. In another climate existence seems to be celebrating. It is not: existence is always the same. You go on changing, and your mind goes on being projected. Existence works as a mirror, and you are mirrored in it.But if you think that whatsoever you interpret is fact and not just a projection, you will fall into deeper and deeper illusions. If you can understand that it is not fact but a fiction of the mind – it depends on you, not on existence itself – then you can change. You can go through a mutation, an inner revolution can happen, because now it is up to you.The world can be a chaos if you are a chaos. The world can be a cosmos if you are a cosmos. The world can be dead if you are inwardly dead; the world can be alive, abundantly alive, if you are alive within. It depends on you: you are the world. Only you exist really, nothing else. Everything else is just a mirror.I remember an anecdote…An emperor, a very powerful emperor, created a palace, a palace of mirrors. All around, all over the palace there were mirrors. The emperor was a very beautiful person, and he was so infatuated with his own beauty that he was never attracted in any way to anyone else. He was a Narcissus. He loved only himself and he thought that everyone else was ugly.Finally he barred everyone else from entering his palace. He lived there alone, looking at his own face everywhere in the palace. There were mirrors everywhere, thousands and thousands of reflections of his face.But then, by and by, he got bored, fed up. He started disliking himself, because he kept meeting himself the whole day, encountering himself. He became ill, he became very sad and very depressed. He became so dull that he was almost on the verge of death – just fed up with himself.Then suddenly he remembered: “This palace is my own creation. I need not be here. There is no one forcing me to be here.”So he broke a mirrored wall – he threw a chair through it – and for the first time in years, the sky looked in. It was a full-moon night and the full moon peeped within. A fresh world, a new world, alive… He came into contact with it.He jumped out of his hellhole, out of the prison. Now he was not dead, not dull, not on the point of death. He started dancing, he started celebrating. He forgot his face completely. And it is said that he never looked in a mirror again.This is what is happening to each one of us. It is not an anecdote about some unknown emperor. It is about you. You live in a mirrored house.When you look at your wife’s face it is not her real face that you see. It is a projection: it is your own face reflected in your wife’s face. When you look at a flower, it is not the flower you are looking at. It is your own mental flower projected onto the real flower that you are looking at.Everywhere, you move with your own mirrors, your own images. And then, of course, you are bored, you are fed up with the whole thing, and you say “Life is misery.” You say “There seems to be no meaning to it.” You say “It would be better to commit suicide. There seems to be no purpose to life. I’m going nowhere, moving around and around in a circle. It leads nowhere. Every day is the same, the same repetition.” But it is not because of existence, it is because of you.Throw out those mirrors, break those mirrors! Come out of your palace, come out of your imprisonment, and look at the world, not through thoughts, not through moods. Look at the world with a naked eye, listen to it with a naked ear. Don’t allow any mental state to come between you and the world.This is what I call meditation: looking at the world without the mind. Then everything is new, fresh. Everything is alive, eternally alive; everything is divine. But to come to this point you will have to make deep contact, a deep penetration into your own heart, because there, life’s juice is awaiting you. You may call it an elixir. It is awaiting you.This sutra says:Listen to the song of life.Look for it and listen to it first in your own heart. At first you may say: “It is not there; when I search I find only discord.” Look deeper. If again you are disappointed, pause and look deeper again. There is a natural melody, an obscure fount in every human heart. It may be hidden over and utterly concealed and silenced – but it is there.When one tries to enter within for the first time, one encounters noise: crowds of thoughts, madness – everything but silence. But don’t be disheartened. Be indifferent to all the noise that you encounter within.When I say be indifferent, I mean: don’t do anything about it, just be indifferent. Don’t say “This is bad.” Don’t ask “How can I stop it?” Don’t try to stop it; you cannot. Allow it to flow – just as if clouds are floating in the sky and you are watching them. Or, just as if traffic is going by in the street and you are watching. Just stand aside and watch the traffic moving, or stand on the bank and look at the river flowing. Don’t do anything; just stand there indifferent, not interested, not involved in any way.If you can do this, this is what witnessing is. If you can do this, by and by you will penetrate deeper and deeper. Don’t be disheartened because ultimately, finally, a deep musical source, a deep harmony, a deep rhythmic existence is waiting within you. Penetrate this crowd and you will reach it.At the very base of your nature you will find faith, hope, and love. He that chooses evil refuses to look within himself, shuts his ears to the melody of his heart, as he blinds his eyes to the light of his soul. He does this because he finds it easier to live in desires. But underneath all life is the strong current that cannot be checked; the great waters are there in reality. Find them…At the very base of your nature you will find faith, hope, and love – these three things. If you can make contact with your inner music, these three things will flower spontaneously within you: faith, hope and love. But these words have very different meanings. They don’t mean the ordinary things we mean by them.When we say faith, what we mean is belief. Belief is not faith. Belief means a forced thing. Doubt is there, hidden, but you have wrapped yourself in a belief and pushed the doubt within.For example, you say “I believe in God.” What do you mean? Is there really no doubt? There is doubt. Belief cannot cancel doubt, belief can only hide it. Really, you believe because of the doubt. You are afraid of the doubt. If you don’t believe, if you are doubtful, you will feel inconvenienced. Belief gives you convenience, comfort, solace, consolation. You feel at ease. But the belief is just a mental, intellectual facade. Behind it, doubt is always lurking.You will find doubt hidden within every belief. If you say “I believe strongly,” that means you have very strong doubts behind it. Those who say “We believe absolutely,” have absolute doubts within them. What is the need of belief? – the need is because there is doubt and you feel inconvenienced by it.That’s why so many people are theists and so few are atheists. But in reality, the world is full of atheists, and to find a theist is very difficult – it is impossible. The whole thing is just false. People say that they believe in God, because it seems difficult not to believe, inconvenient. Socially, formally, it is good to believe.Not that they believe, they doubt. They know they doubt, but they deceive themselves. Their life remains untouched by their beliefs; their religion remains a Sunday religion. Their life is not touched at all. They go to church on Sunday and pray as a social formality, as good manners. Then, outside of church, they are again the same. For six days they remain irreligious, for one day they become religious. Is it possible? Six days you remain ugly and one day you become beautiful? Six days you remain evil and one day you become good? Six days you remain evil and suddenly one day you become saintly? Is it possible?It is impossible. The seventh day must be the false day, the six days are real. The seventh day is just a trick to deceive oneself and others. Belief is false. It is helpful, utilitarian, but untrue.Faith is totally different. Belief means there is hidden doubt; faith means doubt has disappeared. This is the difference.Faith means the doubt has disappeared. Belief means the doubt is there and you have created a belief against it. You doubt whether God exists or not, but you say “I believe,” because your wife is ill and if you don’t believe, who knows? – God may be there. Or your job is in danger of being lost. Who knows? – God may help. And if you don’t believe, then he will not help. Utilitarian: it has some utility for you. But doubt is there.Faith means doubt has disappeared. It is the absence of doubt. But it can disappear only when you have known something within: when belief has not been given to you, it has arisen in you. When you have come to know, to realize, then faith arises.And hope – this hope is not that of desire. This hope doesn’t mean hope for the future. This hope doesn’t in any way mean concern about the future. This hope means simply a hopeful attitude about everything, an optimistic view about everything, a hopeful attitude, looking at the golden side of things. Whatsoever happens you remain hopeful, you are not depressed.Depression comes only if you look at the wrong side of things. Everything has two sides: the wrong and the right. You can look at the wrong and then you will be depressed, or you can look at the right side, the golden side, and you will be happy. So, it depends.The person who is hopeless always looks at what is wrong, first finding what is wrong. If I tell him “This man is a beautiful flute player,” he will first look at him and say “No, I cannot believe that he can play the flute because he is a thief.” What is the concern? – a man can be a thief and a good flute player. But he will deny the possibility. He will say “No, he cannot be. He is a thief, a well-known thief. How can he be a good flute player?”This is the hopeless mind. With a mind which is filled with hope, if I say “This man is a thief,” he will say “But how can he be a thief? – he is such a good flute player!”How do you look – with hope or with hopelessness? Ordinarily, unless you have touched the inner music, you will look at the world with a hopeless attitude. Then everything is wrong and whatsoever is done is wrong. And you will derive misery from everywhere. You will become an expert at being miserable. Anything will help you to be miserable – anything.When you touch the inner silence, the inner music, you become hopeful; you become hope. You see whatever is. You always touch the innermost core of it, the heart of it. And then there is no depression.And love. Ordinarily, love is a relationship. But when you touch the innermost being, love becomes your state, not a relationship. It is not between you and someone else. Now that you have become love, you have become loving; it is not a relationship. Even if you are alone, sitting under a tree, you will be loving. Lonely, alone, with no one there, you will be loving.It is just like a lonely flower that grows on an unknown path. No one passes, but the flower goes on spreading its perfume. It is its state. It is not that when a king passes the flower will give its perfume. It is not that if a beggar passes the flower will not give its perfume. If a beggar passes, the flower gives its perfume. If a king passes, the flower gives its perfume. If no one passes, then too, the flower goes on spreading its perfume. The perfume is the flower’s very state of being. It is not a relationship.Our love is a relationship, and when love is a relationship, it creates misery. When love is a state of being it creates bliss.A buddha is also in love, but he is not trying to love you. Simply because of the way he is, love spreads. Love becomes a perfume and goes to the far comers of the earth.These three qualities will evolve: faith, hope and love. And if these three are there, you don’t need anything else. These three will lead you to the ultimate peak of life and existence.…know that it is certainly within yourself. Look for it there, and once having heard it, you will more readily recognize it around you.If you can feel your inner music, inner truth, inner faith, inner love, inner hope, you will start recognizing it around you. The whole universe will change for you because you have changed. And whatsoever you feel within, will now be felt all around.The world remains the same, but when you change, everything changes. With you, your universe becomes different. If you are rooted in the divine, the whole of existence is rooted in the divine. If you are rooted in evil, the whole universe is a hell. It depends on you. It is you, magnified.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 12 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The fifth sutra:Store in your memory the melody you hear.Only fragments of the great song come to your ears while yet you are but man. But if you listen to it, remember it faithfully, so that none which has reached you is lost, and endeavor to learn from it the meaning of the mystery which surrounds you. In time you will need no teacher. For as the individual has voice, so has that in which the individual exists.Store in your memory the melody you hear. There are moments – rare, unique, but still there are moments when you come nearer to the melody of existence. The situations may differ, but the melody is the same.A child running after a butterfly, a child picking flowers in a garden, a child just lying relaxed on the grass feels a certain harmony in existence, feels a certain melody. In that moment, lying relaxed on the grass or running – running after a butterfly, or running to gather flowers – or, not doing anything, just playing with pebbles on the shore… In that moment, the child is totally one with existence. There is no regret, no negativity. The child accepts existence as it is and is accepted by existence.When you accept existence, existence accepts you. When you reject, you are rejected. You are echoed by existence: whatsoever you do with it is done with you.The child accepts. There is no past for the child, no future. The moment, the present moment is enough. The child exists here and now. Then he feels a certain harmony; a melody is felt.That is why, later on, even when you become very old, you go on remembering childhood, you go on saying childhood was a paradise. Why? – because many moments happened when you as a child were totally accepting. And a child is totally accepting. The moment the child starts rejecting, he is no longer a child. Childhood is lost, paradise is lost.Remember some moments of your childhood when you had the feeling that life was bliss, that to be was ecstatic. Just to be, just to breathe, was enough. You didn’t need anything to make you blissful. Whatsoever you were was enough to be blissful.Gather those moments. Remember them, relive them. Sometimes forget your age. Close your eyes and move back, regress. Be a child again – not just remembering, but reliving. Be a child again. In your memory run as a child, sit as a child, play as a child. Just replay your childhood again, and you will get a new light, a new awakening. New life energy will run through you.When you were young, you loved someone… Again, there was ecstasy. Again, you felt absolutely okay. Nothing was wrong. Life was good; everything was as it should be. Again, a moment – gather, nourish such moments. Go into them again and again.Then you were older: sitting in a temple meditating, or in a mosque praying, or in a church, and again you felt silence entering you.Collect all these moments, because they will make you more capable and sensitive to hear the greater music of the spheres. They are only fragments, but you have heard something in them that goes beyond you. Whatsoever the situation, if a certain happiness descended upon you, cherish that moment and make a part of your heart vacant of all other memories. Just collect those memories of blissful music that you have sometimes heard; it will be helpful.You cannot suddenly hear all the music; you can hear it only in fragments, because the mind is such a small thing. The aperture of the mind is very small, and the sky is very big: you can only see fragments. But collect those fragments. Create a unity in them, feel a certain oneness in them, and you will become more capable, more sensitive, more alive to receive more. You will become more receptive.But look at the human mind. It collects miseries, it collects sufferings, it collects pains. It never collects happy moments. It goes on collecting misery upon misery, and then life becomes a hell. It is your collection, it is your way of looking at things.You go on saying that happiness is momentary. Your teachers, your so-called religious preachers go on saying that happiness is just momentary, but no one says that suffering is momentary, no one says that anguish is momentary! You go on feeling that anguish is permanent, suffering is permanent, and that happiness is just momentary. This is wrong: they are similar and equal. Both are momentary.And ultimately, the reverse is true: suffering proves to be momentary and bliss proves to be eternal. But right now, with this mind, everything is momentary. Suffering comes and goes, bliss comes and goes – but you go on collecting suffering so it appears to be permanent. You never collect, you never cherish and nourish happiness and happy moments, so they look momentary.It is your choice. Change the choice – because with too much suffering collected, you will gather more suffering. Suffering will increase; you are helping it to increase. Then a moment may come when you are so clouded with suffering that you cannot see that any bliss is possible. Then you will become totally negative.Do quite the contrary. Only that will be a help for your meditation. Whenever suffering happens, don’t collect it. Allow it to happen, but don’t nourish it. Why go on talking about it? Everyone talks about his suffering. Why is there so much emphasis on it? Why give so much attention to it? Remember one of the laws: that whatsoever you pay much attention to grows. Attention is a growth-helping element. If you pay attention to something, it grows.Now, biologists say that a child grows more if he is loved because through love he gets more attention. Even a plant grows more if the gardener gives attention to it. If it is neglected, if everything else is given to it – the right soil, fertilizers, rain, sun rays, everything is given to it but conscious attention – it takes longer to grow. Now, this is a scientific fact, observed and found correct: if you love the plant and you pay much attention to it, if you talk to it, if you sometimes say to it “I love you,” it grows faster. Attention is a vitamin.Attention is the most vital thing in existence. That’s why there is so much hankering for love. It is not really for love, it is for attention. If no one loves you, you start withering away. If no one pays attention to you, death settles in; you want to die. If someone pays attention to you, you become alive again. Attention is life, élan vital.If no one loves you, you will commit suicide, because you are not capable of loving yourself. If you were capable of loving yourself, if you were capable of giving attention to yourself, you would not need anyone’s attention. A buddha can live alone on this earth. You cannot. You would immediately commit suicide if you were alone. You would say “What is the use? Why live? Who will love me? Whom shall I love?”The law also applies inside – psychologically. If you pay much attention to suffering, you help it to grow. If you pay attention to happiness, you help it to grow. Don’t be your own enemy. If you are immersed in suffering it is because of your attention: you have paid attention to the wrong things. Shift your attention. Even if you have only one memory of a blissful moment, it is enough. Pay total attention to it, it will grow. The seed will grow and it will become a big tree. Then you can rest in its shade, you can dance in its shadow. You can relax under it.This sutra says: Store in your memory the melody you hear. Wherever you have heard the melody of life, wherever… Happiness means a melody. Suffering means an anarchic experience, a chaotic experience. Suffering means a crowd of unrelated experiences: noise, with no music in it. Happiness means music: not noise but an inner harmony, not chaos but an inner unity.Store in your memory the melody you hear, and then it will grow and one day you will become capable of hearing the whole of the universal music. Then you will need no teacher. Then you will not need to learn from anyone else. Then you will be directly in contact with the divine and no mediator will be needed.A teacher is a mediator. You cannot hear, and he can hear. You cannot see, and he can see. You cannot feel, and he can feel. He is needed only up to the point when you yourself have become capable of hearing, seeing, merging. Then the teacher is of no use. Then you are immediately, directly, in contact with the universal force. Then you are in the river itself.And once you have become capable of remaining blissful, once you have become capable of remaining in the melody, once you have entered the river, God can talk to you directly.I remember a Sufi mystic, Bayazid, who remained in a village for many years. One day the villagers said to Bayazid, “We have been seeing you and hearing you for at least five years. You were praying and talking to God. Now we see that you never talk, you never pray. Why this change? Have you become an atheist? Have you lost your belief in the divine? You never talk now to God, you never pray.”Bayazid laughed and said, “Before, I was talking and praying. Now God has started talking to me, so I have to be silent and listen. Now the whole process has changed. Now I need not talk. Now, he talks to me!”This moment comes. But this moment comes only when your heart is filled with melody, when a divine silence has come into you – there is no more noise. Wherever you look you feel the music, wherever you look you feel the unity, wherever you look you feel the one in different forms. Now, you have become aware of the sea, waves have disappeared for you. There are no waves, only the ocean exists. Then the divine talks to you directly.It is not a metaphor. Existence speaks to you directly: it is not a metaphor, it is not a poetic expression – it happens! But you have to be ready, and that readiness means a heart filled with music, a heart filled with silence.The sixth sutra:Learn from it the lesson of harmony.Life itself has speech and is never silent. And its utterance is not, as you that are deaf may suppose, a cry; it is a song. Learn from it that you are part of the harmony; learn from it to obey the laws of the harmony.As you are right now, life appears to be a cry. It is not. It appears to be a cry because you are disturbed. Life is a song, but to hear the song you must become a song yourself, because only like can understand like.You are a cry – that’s why the song of life appears like a cry and like a scream. It is because of you. You destroy it, you disturb it, you distort it. When it comes to you it comes as a song, but when it hits you it becomes a cry, because you are a cry. You are ill, you are diseased. You are fragmentary, you are not total. The song is destroyed within you.Become a song yourself, and then the whole of life appears as a song. Then there is no negativity. When you are positive, the whole of life becomes positive.This is what I mean by a theist. Theism doesn’t mean a belief in God, theism doesn’t mean believing in a theology. Theism means a total yes to existence, saying yes to existence.But when can you say yes? You can say it only when you have heard the song. How can you say yes to a cry? How can you say yes to a noise, a mad noise? How can you say yes to the insanity that appears all around? Death, misery – how can you say yes? But it is there because of you, because of your eyes. Your eyes are a distorting factor. It is because of your heart. Your heart is filled with suffering and misery, it cannot find anything else. It is your own echo.This sutra says:Learn from it the lesson of harmony.Whatsoever beautiful moments, whatsoever ecstatic moments, happy moments you have had, collect them, cherish them, live with them, live them. You will become more sensitive to happiness. Happiness will be more attracted toward you, love will happen to you more, meditation will come to you more easily. Life will become a benediction; existence will become a celebration. But you have to create a heart, a happy heart.And then, in the fragmentary experience of bliss, find the common note. A child picking flowers, a young man loving a girl, an old man sitting under a tree meditating – they all say it is blissful. Then there must be something common to all of them. On the periphery, from the outside, nothing appears to be common: a child picking flowers, a young man loving a girl, an old man chanting a mantra. There seems to be nothing in common between them. But if they all say “This was blissful!” there must be something in common. Find that common element. Find the one thing that is always there and without which they cannot say that all these moments are blissful moments.It may be that the old man will deny any common element. He may say “This young man is just foolish. There is nothing in girls – only bones and flesh and everything dirty. This young man is just foolish. He is wasting his time.”Or the young man may say “This small child picking flowers is living in a fantasy. It is not real. When he becomes more knowing he will throw these flowers away. This is stupid! Collecting flowers is useless, he is wasting time. He is ignorant.”But, still, there must be something common to all of them. If the old man says that the young man is foolish, or the young man says that the child is foolish, this simply means that for the old man life has not yet become a unity. It simply means that the old man is still angry with his own childhood. He couldn’t absorb it into his life current. That means the old man is still repentant, angry with his youth. His youth has not become a part of his life. The old man is fragmented, divided.If the old man is really undivided, if he has been searching for the common element in all experiences… Because that is wisdom: to find the common element in all experiences is wisdom. That is the essential. One must realize it. If the old man has come to really realize, he will see that when he was sitting with a girl in deep love, the same thing was happening that is now happening in his meditation. When he was picking flowers in the garden as a child, or playing with pebbles on the seashore, it was the same thing.What is the common element? – attention, deep attention, absorption.The child was absorbed with his stones, playing with them. All of existence was forgotten; the child forgot himself. Nothing existed in that moment, no mind existed, the child was totally absorbed. Because of that absorption, that total annihilation of the ego, bliss happened. It became a meditation.The young man was absorbed in his beloved. All of existence dropped away, as if it never existed. Only the beloved existed. Even that disappeared: the lover and the beloved disappeared. Only love existed. A moment existed that was eternal, a moment that was eternity itself. No past, no future, the now was all. It was a meditation. Love is a meditation. And then bliss happened.Now the old man is chanting under a tree, or sitting in a temple listening to the bells of the temple and feeling very happy, ecstatic. What is happening? – the same thing is happening in a different situation, in a different age, in a different experience. The same thing is happening: the world disappears. The old man is no longer, the temple disappears. The present moment becomes total. He is here and now. The bells go on ringing. They don’t ring in the future, they ring in the present. No past memory enters, no future desire. The old man is here and now.Whenever you are here and now, bliss happens.As a child playing with stones, as a young man playing with your beloved, or an old man playing with chanting and meditation – if all three experiences can be felt as harmonious, you have found one of the ultimate laws of life. You have become wise. Wisdom has happened to you.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 13 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The seventh sutra:Regard earnestly all the life that surrounds you.Regard the constantly changing and moving life which surrounds you, for it is formed by the hearts of men; and as you learn to understand their constitution and meaning, you will by degrees be able to read the larger word of life.Reverence for life, regard for life. Ordinarily, the so-called religious are life-negative. They are against life. Look at their faces, look at their eyes: they are condemning everything. This negativity has created a denial of life all over the earth. Religion became – or appeared to become – an ally of death, not a friend of life. It appears that religion is against life because it constantly goes on telling you “Leave life, transcend it. Move to some other life which is beyond.”God seems to be against you being in life. Life has been taken as a punishment: “You are here because you sinned. You would not be here if there was no sin in your life.” But this whole attitude is ill, pathological. Really, the divine and this life are not two things. Rather, they are an extension of one phenomenon.Here and there, this and the beyond are not two things. Really this here, this life is a step toward the beyond and if you deny it, you will not reach the other. You cannot go beyond. To go beyond, no denial is needed.To go beyond, a deep insight into life is needed. How can you create a deep insight into life? Unless you have reverence for life it is impossible. Revere life wherever you find it, help it to grow. Be creative toward it, don’t be destructive.But we are destructive in many ways. Look around you: everything that is deeply connected to life is condemned. Sex is condemned, love is condemned, because they are the source of life.A person who is religious must be a monk, a celibate. Why? Why should a seeker of the divine be a celibate? What is the need? Why is there so much propaganda against sex, against love, against life? – it is because sex seems to be the source of this world; it seems to be the original energy that moves this world. Those who are against the world are bound to be against sex. “Cut out sex completely from your life!” – that is their teaching. But if you cut out sex, you cut off all of life. If you are against sex, you cannot revere life. You have gone against life itself.These sutras are very meaningful. They say to revere life in all its forms because the more reverence you have, the deeper you can go. God is not really beyond but, rather, within this life. Godliness is the center, the very center, and life is just the periphery. Move deeply into life and you will reach to the very center, the very ground of life itself.God is not the creator; he is the very creativity. Christian concepts about “God the creator” have created much confusion. These attitudes are a little childish; good if you are talking to children, but nonsense if you are talking to people of understanding.It appears from the Christian – and Mohammedan – dogma that God created the world somewhere in the past. He created the world in six days and then, on the seventh, he relaxed. And after that, he has not done anything. The world started running on its own.This concept creates a divisive attitude: that God and the world are two different things. That’s not true. God has not created the world and made it separate from himself. It is not like a painter. A painter paints a picture – then the painter is one thing, the picture is something different. The Hindu concept is deeper. Hindus say that God is not like a painter but, rather, like a dancer: Shiva the dancer – like a dancer, because the dance and the dancer are not two. You cannot separate them. The painter can be separated from his painting, but the dancer cannot be separated from his dance. Dancer and dancing are one.God is not the creator, a separate entity. God is the very creativity, the very life. If you are against life, you are against God.Gurdjieff is reported to have said a paradoxical but very true statement. He has said that the so-called religions are all against God because they are against life.Authentic religiousness is always for life, never against it.If you move deeper into the dance, you will reach the dancer. The dance is just the form: if you move deeper in the dance you will reach the very heart of the dancer. If you move deeply into life, you will reach the life-originating principle: godliness.God is creativity. Or, if you allow me to say it, I would like to say that God is the very existence itself. God is life. Jesus has said “God is love.” That was one of the reasons he was crucified – because he called God “love.” Love is condemned, it is a sin, and he called God love? He must have looked very rebellious, he must have seemed too much in favor of the life on earth. The old Jewish mind, the old religious mind couldn’t tolerate it: “This is sacrilege! Jesus talking about God in terms of love? God is beyond life and love! You must leave everything: life, love, everything. Only then can you find him. And this man Jesus – he brings God down to earth and he talks in terms of love.”Really, God is life, God is love. God is this very world. Don’t create a division, don’t create a dualism. Only then can you revere life. Whenever you see life anywhere – a seed sprouting, a tree flowering, stars moving, a river flowing, a child laughing – remember, godliness is near you. When a child laughs, look at the laughter. Enter it, and you have entered the very temple. When the river flows, watch lovingly. Be one with its flow, be in a deep reverence.Hindus have called all rivers goddesses, they have called all hills deities. They have made the earth holy. It is one of the most beautiful things that has happened in human consciousness. Hindus call the Ganges “mother.” This is reverence for life. They call hills “gods.” This is reverence for life. They worship trees. Those who have become intellectually sophisticated think they are stupid, superstitious people, but they are not. The tree is not the thing: when they are worshipping a tree or a river, they are worshipping life.A tree is more alive than any temple, than any church; a river is more alive than any mosque. The stone idols in your temples are dead, a tree is more alive. You may be superstitious, but the person who is worshipping a tree is not. He may not be aware of what he is doing, but he is revering. There is a deep reverence for life in all its forms there, a deep respect.And, celebrate! Wherever you feel that life is growing, celebrate it, love it, welcome it – and a great transformation will happen to you. If life is revered in all its forms, you become more alive. You become more receptive to life, and life begins to flow abundantly in you; it overflows in you. That is what bliss is: life overflowing.But you are more interested in death and less interested in life, more interested in destruction, in hate, more interested in wars than in love, in life. And that makes you dead and dull. Before you are really dead, you are dead many times over. When death really occurs to you, you are already dead.Whatsoever you revere you will become. If you revere life, you will become life and more life. If you revere death, you will become death and more death.Remember this:Regard the constantly changing and moving life which surrounds you, for it is formed by the hearts of men; and as you learn to understand their constitution and meaning, you will by degrees be able to read the larger word of life.The eighth sutra:Learn to look intelligently into the hearts of men.Study the hearts of men, that you may know what is that world in which you live and of which you will to be a part.We never look directly into anyone’s heart. It is dangerous, insecure, because then you may become involved; you may have to do something. So we never touch anyone. We just remain aloof, far away, removed.We move without touching anyone. And when I say this, I don’t mean only physically but psychologically also. We move without touching anyone physically; we are very afraid to touch anyone physically or to have anyone touch us. Psychologically also we live in a shell: enclosed, encapsulated.There are reasons for it. If you penetrate somebody’s heart, you will have to do something about it. You will be filled with love, you will be filled with higher, superior values. Then you cannot remain as mean as you are, you cannot remain as unkind as you are, you cannot remain as self-centered as you are. If you look into the heart of the other, you will have to melt. The very looking into the heart of the other will become a merging of your egos.So, no one looks at anyone. We don’t even look into the hearts of our friends. We take them for granted. We never even look into the hearts of our wives and husbands, our lovers and beloveds. We create an image and we live with the image. We never talk to each other directly, because if you talk directly you don’t feel safe, you become vulnerable. Remember this: if you penetrate anyone’s heart, simultaneously your own heart becomes vulnerable. Otherwise is not possible. If I look deeply into you, I become available to you. You can also look deeply into me.But that feels dangerous. I don’t want anyone to look deeply within me, because on the surface I am different, a false person. Deep down, I am someone else. On the surface I go on smiling – very kind, very loving – and deep down there is much hatred, much ugliness. So I don’t want anyone to penetrate me.But if I penetrate you, the very effort to penetrate you simultaneously makes me available to you. We are afraid. We don’t want anyone to trespass, to look within us. So it is better not to look into anyone’s heart and to be looked into by anyone. We become encapsulated, dead. We go on moving within an imprisonment.How then can you know life? If even a human heart is strange to you, and you have not looked into it, how can you move deeply into the greater heart of the divine, the very center of existence? Learn to look. From looking into the hearts of others you can learn to look deeply. The heart is the thing you can look deeply into: it is the person’s depths. The depth of the person is his heart.We talk through the mind. It is not the depth. The mind is on the surface, on the periphery. We talk, we discuss; we communicate only with words, we never remain silent for even a few minutes. Even those who are in love go on constantly talking, because if you are silent the heart can be penetrated. So we go on talking and talking.The husband comes home and he starts talking nonsense, saying irrelevant things – about what happened in the market, what happened in the shop, what was in the news, what came on the radio. He goes on talking, and the wife also goes on talking – what other wives are talking about in their houses, and so on. They go on talking, they go on talking until they fall asleep. Why so much talking? What is the purpose of it? Are they really interested in communicating something? No. They are afraid to communicate. If they are silent then their hearts will start communicating, so they go on talking. Talking creates a barrier. They meet mind to mind so that they will not meet heart to heart, because a heart-to-heart meeting is possible only in silence.This is the way we are living. Then we say that we are living in misery. What else is possible? Misery will be your fate. But it is not your destiny; it is your own created misery, it is you who have created it. Encapsulated, you will be in misery. Open, vulnerable, you will become capable of being blissful. This opening is to be learned through reaching, reaching into the hearts of others.This sutra says:Learn to look intelligently into the hearts of men.Intelligence is impartial; no man is your enemy; no man is your friend. All alike are your teachers. Your enemy becomes a mystery that must be solved, even though it takes ages; for man must be understood. Your friend becomes a part of yourself, an extension of yourself, a riddle hard to read.The sutra says: Learn to look intelligently… By intelligently is meant: be impartial. If you are partial, you cannot reach the heart. All partiality focuses you in the mind; only an impartial consciousness comes to the heart.The heart is impartial, the mind is always partial. The mind is always party-bound, sectarian, for this and against that. The heart is neither for nor against. The heart is simply an opening, a receiving, a welcoming. It has no enemies and no friends; only the mind has enemies and friends. By intelligence is meant impartiality. Only then are you intelligent.If you are partial, you are not intelligent. You may appear to be so: you may appear to be sophisticated, educated, logical, but you are not wise, not really intelligent. Intelligence has the quality of no prejudice, no partiality, no feeling for and against, because only then can you look at the whole.For example, if I say that you are my friend, it will be impossible for me to enter your heart. Or if I say that you are my enemy, then too it will be impossible to reach your heart. When I say you are my friend I have taken you for granted. Obviously, I understand that I have understood you. Otherwise, how is friendship possible? When I say you are my friend, I show my partiality: I’m saying that I like you. And when I say I like you, I have become partial. Then I cannot reach your heart. My liking will become a barrier.When I say I like you, I am really imposing myself upon you, my likings. I say you are good because how you are is according to my liking. Now that I have entered you, I have imposed myself upon you, I cannot reach your heart. I cannot know you as you are – because of my liking.When I say you are my enemy, I am saying I don’t like you, I dislike you. This dislike becomes a barrier. When I say I like you, I will try to find out things which I like. When I say I dislike you, I will try to find out things which I dislike. Then I am just trying to prove myself, not trying to know you as you are. Liking-friendship, disliking-enmity are my interpretations, my fictions. The naked fact of you, the naked facticity of you is forgotten.Intelligence means that you are neither my friend nor my enemy. You are you, I am I. I am not going to impose myself upon you. Now, I will try to understand what you are. Not my likes and dislikes, but what you are. Every man is a mystery, every man is a riddle. If you can try to solve the mystery of even one single individual, if you are capable of solving even one single riddle, you will have become capable of much more, because even that one individual would have been understood through the heart. You have come to know the art of how to penetrate the heart.And the same technique, the same method, will help you to penetrate the divine heart. The divine heart is greater, infinite, but the human heart is a glimpse of it. The human heart is a fragment of it, alive. So don’t be dead toward the humanity around you. Learn to love it, revere it. And – Learn to look intelligently into the hearts of men.This learning will make you more mature; this learning will make you more sensitive toward a higher learning, which is divine. The heart of the divine can be penetrated only by those who have become capable of knowing the human heart for what it is.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 14 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The ninth sutra:Regard most earnestly your own heart.For through your own heart comes the one light which can illuminate life and make it clear to your eyes.Only one thing is more difficult to know – your own heart. Not until the bonds of personality be loosed can that profound mystery of self begin to be seen. Not till you stand aside from it, will it in any way reveal itself to your understanding. Then, and not till then, can you grasp and guide it. Then, and not till then, can you use all its powers, and devote them to a worthy service.Regard most earnestly your own heart. The most basic thing to be understood is: you cannot understand your own nature, your own heart, your own being, because of your personality, because of a false entity that you have created around you.We live encased in personalities. Personalities are false. They are simply masks, faces – faces to be shown to others. But the practice becomes so deep that you completely forget your original face. Showing your false faces to others, you by and by get identified with them and you begin to think that they are yours. Then your original face, your real face, remains hidden.Whatsoever you do, howsoever you act, whatsoever you say, remember well whether it comes from your heart or from your personality. Make the distinction clear, because that will be a great help for the inner search.When you say to someone “I love you,” from where are these words coming? From where? What is the origin of them? Are they coming from your heart? Is your heart really filled with love? Or are they just coming from your personality, just from your false face? Are you saying them just as a way of manners, a formality, an etiquette, or are you saying them as a means to something else?You may desire someone’s body, you may desire sex with someone, but you say “I love you.” Saying this is just a deception. It would be better if you said “I desire sex with you, but I have no love for you. Your body is attractive to me, your body is magnetic to me, but there is no love. It may grow, but right now there is no love. I am only interested in your body.”But if someone says “Only your body is attractive to me,” you are not going to be in love with such a man. You are going to escape! You will ask “What nonsense are you saying?” The false face of love must be there. Only then can the body be given or taken.So you go on cultivating your personality. When you are feeling hurt within, sad, even then you go on smiling. Consider whether your smile is just a painted smile on the face, just on the lips, an exertion by the lips, or whether it is coming from deep down and spreading onto the lips. Is the source rooted somewhere deep, or is there no source. Is it just a painted smile? When you smile, observe it and you will come to know when the smile is false and when the smile is real.When someone is sad or someone is in misery, or someone has lost a friend, a beloved, a husband, a wife, you go to him. Your face looks sad and sorrowful. Remember, and consider deep within, whether this sadness is real or whether you are just displaying it, and deep down you are simply bored, deep down you are simply preparing a way to leave. Deep down you are thinking of other things, not at all interested in the person: his misery, his suffering – not at all. Go on considering this, and you will come to know two different layers within you – one, which is the false, the personality…The word personality is very significant. It comes from a Greek word persona. Persona means “the mask.” In Greek drama the actors used masks, false faces. Those false faces were called personae. And from that, the word personality comes. It is beautiful. It means that you are acting through a false face, it is not you. You are hiding behind a false face because you cannot reveal your real face.I am not saying to necessarily – or unnecessarily – go on revealing your real face everywhere. There is no need: in some places the persona is needed. But be clear that this is the persona; this is not you. Inside, you must know when you are acting and when you are real. You must not be deceived by your acting. You must not become identified with your acting. I know that faces are needed; otherwise it will be difficult to live in society, very difficult. Faces are good in a way. They facilitate, they work as lubricants. And in a big society, with so many people, you need not reveal your reality everywhere.Someone meets you in the morning, and you feel disturbed by it… You think “Why have I seen this man’s face this morning? His face may destroy my whole day.” But, outwardly, you smile and say “Good morning. How happy I am to see you!” Inwardly, you are not happy at all.But this is okay as far as manners are concerned. It would not be good to say to the man “I am feeling very unhappy. You have destroyed my morning. Your face is dangerous. I am afraid that seeing you will ruin my whole day.” This would not be good. Unnecessary – unnecessarily disturbing to the other man; there is no need.But you must know what is a mask and what is real. You must be aware of what is going on within. That is your real being. And what is going on, on the face is just a social utility. If you can make a clear-cut distinction between you and your personality, then the personality becomes just like clothing. You can drop it at any moment and become naked.If you cannot drop it, it means that you are so attached to it that the distinction is not there, the separation is not there: there is no gap. A gap is needed so that at least in your room, in your bathroom, you can put your personality away and become real. At least in meditation, you can throw off the personality and become real, because there it is not needed.Meditation is non-social. It is not concerned with anyone else, it is concerned only with yourself. So no mask is needed, you can be authentic. But you cannot be authentic because you don’t know the distinction. Even in meditation I feel that you are doing many false things.Freud became aware – when he first started psychoanalysis he was not aware of it, but by and by he became aware – that patients would say things that were not real, just to make him happy, to confirm his theories. Because when Freud was happy, they also felt happy. Later, only after twenty years of psychoanalysis did he become aware that what they were saying was not real.For example, Freud says that sex is the root of every mental disturbance. Patients would come to him and tell him about their disturbances. Then they would reveal that sex was the root of their disturbances. So Freud thought that his theories were confirmed by thousands and thousands of examples. Later on he became aware that many of them were lying just to make the psychoanalyst happy: “My theory is okay.” They were conforming to his theory.Sometimes I feel the same thing. When I say “Go mad!” and you go mad, I know that you are going mad just to make me happy. But there is no need. I am already too happy! There is no need. Don’t do anything that is not real. It is not going to help anyone. Be authentic, be real, at least in your meditation – because there, you alone are concerned.Tillich has said somewhere that religion is the concern of the individual, a totally personal concern with oneself. It is not concerned with anyone else, so you need not think of anyone else while meditating, not even of me. Be real. Throw off the mask. Anything authentic will help you to move inward, anything unreal will help you to move outward.That is why Shankara calls the world an illusion. The more you move away from yourself, the more you are moving into illusion; and the more you go inward, the more you are moving into reality. Your personality is the gateway toward illusion, toward an unreal, dream world. Throw away that gate, throw away that bridge completely – at least in meditation.I am not saying for you to go and move in society and be authentic. You will be in difficulty. If you feel happy to do it you can do it, but I’m not saying that; don’t put the blame on me. Society will create troubles for you. It doesn’t want your real faces, it wants your unreal faces.And it is okay as far as the society is concerned. Use an unreal face when you go out, but when you go within, throw off that face completely. Don’t get identified with it, and don’t carry it inward. A day may come when you become so strong that you would like to move with a real face even in society, but that depends on you. One day you may become so happy with the real that you may be ready to lose the many conveniences that the unreal face can give, but that is up to you. First, look inward and, at least momentarily, put aside your personalities.For through your own heart comes the one light which can illuminate life and make it clear to your eyes.Only one thing is more difficult to know – your own heart. Not until the bonds of personality be loosed, can that profound mystery of self begin to be seen.The personality works as a barrier, and the light from your heart cannot come to you. Discard the personality, even momentarily, temporarily, and the light will flood you, and you will enter a different world: the world of the heart.Not till you stand aside from it, will it in any way reveal itself to your understanding.You have to put yourself aside: your personality, your ego.Not till you stand aside from it, will it in any way reveal itself to your understanding. Then, and not till then, can you grasp and guide it. Then, and not till then, can you use all its powers, and devote them to a worthy service.And before that moment – when you yourself have come into deep contact with your innermost heart – you cannot do anything that is good, that is worthy. You cannot be of any service to anyone. Whatsoever you do, even with good will, will create evil, because the doer is ignorant. What you do is not significant. Who you are is more significant.If you are ignorant, living in total darkness – if the light from the heart has not penetrated you, has not yet filled you – you may have good wishes, goodwill, but whatsoever you do will result in evil, because nothing good can come out of a dark heart.So, don’t try to be of any service to anyone unless you have come to the inner light. Then your whole life will become a service. Then there will be no need to make it a duty; then you will not serve anyone as a duty. Then service will spontaneously flow out of you. And when service becomes spontaneous, with no concept of duty in it, when service becomes love – when you cannot do anything else but serve; when there is no question of making others happy; when really the contrary has happened: you are so happy that now happiness overflows in you and reaches others – only then does good result from whatsoever you do.It has happened that even without any goodwill, good happens – if you are filled with light and happiness. But much of goodwill is without the inner light and is dangerous for others. People who are engaged in service toward others without any inner sadhana create much mischief. The whole society is suffering from those mischievous people who go on serving others without in any way being realized in their own inner light. Remember this: the first thing is your own self-realization. Service is secondary. And don’t think that through service you can realize yourself. Through realizing yourself you can move into service, not vice versa.It is impossible to help others till you have obtained some certainty of your own. When you have learned the first fifteen rules and have entered the hall of learning with your powers developed and senses unchained, then you will find there is a fount within you from which speech will arise.These notes are written only for those to whom I give my peace; those who can read what I have written with the inner as well as the outer sense.Remember this: It is impossible to help others till you have obtained some certainty of your own. Resist the temptation to help others. It is evil unless you have obtained some certainty of your own.Don’t try to be a guru, don’t try to be a helper, because you will disturb, you will create more problems. Remember well that you cannot help, you cannot guide anyone unless you have got the inner light. When the inner light is there the help, the guidance, will flow from you.But resist the temptation. The temptation is great, because the ego feels very fulfilled. Someone comes to ask your advice… There is temptation to give advice – without knowing what you are doing, without being aware that you don’t know. If someone asks you whether God is, you are not strong enough to say “I don’t know.” You will say something. Either you will say “Yes. God is. I am a believer,” or you will say “No, God is not. I am a disbeliever,” but in both cases you give advice. In both cases you confirm something that you don’t know.Remember this – for the spiritual seeker a very basic, very significant point – confirm only whatsoever you really know. If you don’t know, it is better to say “I don’t know.”Someone once asked Albert Einstein, “What is the difference between science and philosophy?”His reply is one of the wisest. He said. “If you come to a scientist and ask a hundred questions, about ninety-nine he will say, ‘I don’t know.’ Only about one will he say, ‘I know. But this too is only relative knowledge: tomorrow it can change, it is not absolute.’If you go to a philosopher and ask one question, he will give a hundred answers. And with absolute conviction that this is so! If someone says something else, he can be condemned to hell: “He is wrong!” That’s why philosophy leads nowhere: answers and answers and answers leading nowhere. Answering so much, and not even answering a single question because the basic thing is lacking: the philosopher is not strong enough to say “I don’t know.”The scientist is stronger. He can say “I don’t know.” And even when he says “I know,” he says “Up until now this has been true. But I cannot say anything about tomorrow. Things may change, many new facts may become known, and then the truth will have to be readjusted.”I would like to tell you that Yoga is also a science, it is not a philosophy. Meditation is a science, it is not a philosophy. Remember this: don’t guide anyone unless you have a certain knowledge, a certain experience. And even then, tell others: “This is my experience; it may not be so for you. It is how I have come to it. Your way may differ, it may not prove true for you. So don’t blindly take my advice. You can experiment with it. It is an open experiment.”Then you can be of some help, otherwise you can create disturbances. Don’t get tempted. Don’t advise unless you really know. Don’t guide. First be a disciple, don’t try to be a master. Mastership will come. When your discipleship has become complete and total, the master will emerge within you – but not before that moment, not before then. Wait for it. It happens.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 15 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Having obtained the use of the inner senses, having conquered the desires of the outer senses, having conquered the desires of the individual soul, and having obtained knowledge, prepare now, O disciple, to enter upon the way in reality. The path is found; make yourself ready to tread it.Having obtained the use of the inner senses… We know about our outer senses, but each sense has a double dimension. For example, eyes: they can look out. This is only one dimension of their functioning. They can also look inward, that is their other function. Or, ears: you can hear what is happening outside. That is one function, one dimension. You can also hear what is happening within. That is another function, another dimension.Every sense has two doors. One opens into the outer world, the other opens into the inner world. Each sense is both outer and inner, but we only use our senses in one way. We have become fixated, we have forgotten that those same senses can be used to reach within.Having obtained the use of the inner senses… Having obtained the hidden dimension of the senses, many things can become possible because a new world opens before you. The inner is as vast as the outer, the inner is as great as the outer. You are standing just in between, you are standing just in between the inner and the outer – two universes.The outer is vast. They say it is infinite, endless, beginningless: there is no boundary to it. The same is also true for the inner: no boundary – the inner space is, again, infinite. The outer is being searched by scientific methods and the inner can be searched through yogic methods.Science has developed much, and has come to know much about the outer world. But the inner has become forgotten; it is no longer remembered. We are rich now as far as the outer world is concerned, outer experiences are concerned, and we have become absolutely poor, beggars, as far as the inner is concerned. But what is the use of gaining the whole world if, in gaining it, you lose yourself?If the self is lost, what is gained? Even if you gain the whole world, nothing is gained. If you lose yourself then the very meaning of life, the very significance – the beauty, the truth, the good, everything – is lost. Man can accumulate things, can accumulate powers, at the cost of losing himself. Then the whole point is missed.Science tries to magnify the outer senses. Now, through mechanical devices we can look far away into space, the eyes are magnified by scientific method. Now we can hear over long distances, scientific technology magnifies your ears.The same is also possible for the inner senses. Through meditation, through Yoga, through Tantra – the inner technologies – your inner senses are magnified. And once they are magnified, many things are revealed to you.Unless they are revealed to you, they appear like myths, superstitions. We hear, we read, many things about Buddha, Jesus, Krishna, which cannot be believed. Mohammed, Zarathustra, Moses look mythological now because whatsoever they say, we cannot ourselves experience. We have lost the touch. Moses says that he heard the voice of God on Mount Sinai. How can we believe it? We have never heard anything like it.If you go to a primitive tribe and tell them that we hear voices traveling over long distances on a radio, they will not be able to believe it: “What are you talking about?” Or, if you say that we see pictures traveling over long, long distances on television, they will not believe it, because they have no experience of it.In the same way, we have become primitives as far as the inner is concerned. Moses says he hears God. Jesus talks with his father who is in heaven. They look neurotic to us. They must be mad. There are many psychological studies on Jesus that say he must have been insane. “What does he mean, talking with God? Where is God? How can you talk to him? And how can God talk to you? Jesus must have been insane. He must have had illusions and believed in them. He was neurotic.” He looks neurotic because we have become primitives as far as the inner world is concerned.If your inner senses are penetrating, if your inner senses are alive, if you have come to know how to use them, you can also attune yourself to the divine. You can hear, you can listen, you can see, you can touch the mysteries. They are always there. Moses is not neurotic – we have become primitive. Jesus is not mad – we have lost contact with the inner.Having obtained the use of the inner senses, having conquered the desires of the outer senses – because if the desires of the outer senses are still alive, you cannot move within. Desire means the way to go out; desire is the path that leads you outward. If your mind still desires, you cannot move within.That’s why there is so much insistence on desirelessness. It is not a moral concept. Desirelessness is a very scientific concept: if you want to move within, your mind must lose all desire to move without. Otherwise, how can you move within? It is simple mathematics. If you want to go to the left, you must leave behind the desire to go to the right. Otherwise, one leg moves to the right, the other moves to the left. You will become mad, you will go insane. You cannot move simultaneously in two directions. Desire leads without; desirelessness, within.…having conquered the desires of the outer senses, having conquered the desires of the individual soul… If you are still self-centered, you always think in terms of your own ego; you always think in terms of your own individuality, your own selfishness. The deeper truths of existence cannot be revealed to you. You are not yet capable of it, you are not worthy of it. And, it is also dangerous.Try to understand it: for example, science has now revealed some very basic mysteries of matter. Science has forced matter to reveal certain secrets about atomic energy. Now it has become destructive. Man was not yet capable, not yet worthy to know such a great secret. Science forced matter; science is aggressive.Einstein is reported to have said, “If I was born again, I would not want to be a scientist. Rather, I would like to be a plumber. Whatsoever I have done is destructive. Whatsoever I have revealed, my whole life is wasted. It seems that I may be one of the persons responsible for the destruction of the whole of humanity.”His last days were of deep suffering. A secret had been revealed, but man was not yet ready, not yet worthy of the revelation. Man is childish, stupid, foolish. Such a great power – atomic energy – cannot be given into his hands.And now, politicians have captured the secret. And politicians are bound to be stupid; they cannot be anything else, because any person who has political ambitions is an egoist. The desire to capture power is the desire of the ego, and the ego is the most foolish thing possible. It can force you to do anything, it is mad. Political ambition is an obsession with the ego.Scientists have revealed certain secrets and politicians have captured those secrets, then they destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And now they are ready to destroy the whole planet. The whole earth could be destroyed any moment. We have more destructive force now than is needed to destroy the earth – seven times more. We can destroy seven earths like this, this is nothing. And we are developing more and more destructive powers. For what? Why is there so much hankering after death and destruction? Einstein says that it was foolish on the scientists’ part to reveal, to force nature to reveal certain secrets for which man was not yet worthy. But you can do it, because matter can be forced.You cannot do it inwardly. Consciousness cannot be forced. No inner secret can be revealed to you unless you are ready for it. Unless it is going to be beneficial to you and others, it cannot be revealed. So this sutra says: having conquered the desires of the individual soul – ambition, ego, power-lust, thinking yourself to be the center of the universe – unless you have conquered these, the innermost secrets of consciousness cannot be revealed to you.…having conquered the desires of the individual soul, and having obtained knowledge, prepare now, O disciple, to enter upon the way in reality. Whatsoever we were working with up until now was work on the consciousness: your own consciousness, subjective consciousness. All the sutras up to now were meant to work, to function, to change, to transform, to mutate subjective consciousness. When one comes to be totally aware in his subjective world, he can enter the objective, he can now enter reality.Remember this: if you move within, you move into the subjective; if you move out, you move into the objective; if you move beyond both, you move in reality. Objectivity is not reality, objectivity is part of reality. Subjectivity is also not reality. It is, again, part of reality. When subjectivity and objectivity are both transcended, you enter reality.If you use your senses for an outer journey you will reach objects. If you use your senses for the inner journey you will reach the subject, the knower. Through the outer, the object – the known. Through the inner, the knower, the subject – the self. But both are parts. Reality consists of both.In reality, both are one. This we have called brahman: the ultimate reality. You cannot enter the ultimate reality through either object or subject, you have to lose both. That’s why to know the soul you have to use the inner senses, to know matter you have to use the outer senses, but to know brahman you do not have to use any senses, neither the outer nor the inner. If you want to enter the ultimate reality, then both outer and inner senses have to be completely dropped. Without the senses, one enters reality.That’s why Shankara cannot concede that science knows reality. He says that science knows only the objective. Shankara cannot concede that those who say there is no brahman know reality, because they know only the subjective self. Only those who go beyond both – this duality of object and subject – know the ultimate truth.…prepare now, O disciple, to enter upon the way in reality. The path is found; make yourself ready to tread it.The tenth sutra:Inquire of the earth, the air and the water of the secrets they hold for you.If you are ready to lose objective and subjective distinctions, you can ask directly: Inquire of the earth, the air and the water, of the secrets they hold for you. You can ask the elements directly. If you are ready to lose the division between subject and object, if you are ready to lose all thought, if you are ready to lose your mind, your mentation, if you are ready to be vacant and empty, you can ask the elements about the secrets they hold for you.And what secrets do they hold? Buddha happened in this world. He is recorded by the earth, by the air, by the water, by the sky, by space – everything. The happening of a buddha is such a great phenomenon that the universe records it, how it happens. Krishna danced on this earth. He is recorded. The very phenomenon is such a peak that the earth cannot forget it, the sky cannot forget it. They record it. Whatsoever happens of such great magnitude is recorded by the elements.You can ask directly. If you are totally empty, you can ask directly and the earth will reveal its secrets and the air will reveal its secrets. If Krishna really delivered the sermon of Gita on the battlefield of Kurukshetra it must be hidden somewhere in the air, in the heart of the air. If you are ready, if you are worthy, the air can reveal the most secret doctrines to you.You will feel very strange when it is revealed, you will feel very puzzled, because the Gita that has been recorded by man is nothing. It is deeply erroneous: many things have been projected into it, many things have been deleted from it. It is not the real thing; it is just a human record, and it is natural for the human mind to err.But the elemental forces of existence record, and their records are absolutely true, because there is no mind to interpret, to change, to add or to delete. There, the purest is recorded. If Mohammed spoke, if Jesus spoke, it is recorded there. The earth cannot lose contact with such highly evolved, highly developed, transformed ones. It cannot lose contact with them, the contact remains. It can be revealed to you. The development of your inner senses will enable you to do this.The eleventh sutra:Inquire of the holy ones of the earth of the secrets they hold for you.The conquering of the desires of the outer senses will give you the right to do this.Inquire of the holy ones of the earth of the secrets they hold for you. We exist in bodies, but there are many holy ones around you who exist bodilessly. The human spirit can exist either in a body or in an unembodied form. The unembodied form is still a part of the universe; it is still in the world. It has not escaped it, liberation has not yet happened. It is prone to come back, it tends to come back. It simply waits for the right womb.There are many holy masters existing in an unembodied form – not absolutely enlightened, because when one is absolutely enlightened he disappears from the body and from the form itself. He disappears completely; he dissolves into the world’s source. A Buddha, a Jesus, dissolves back to the original source. But there are many who are not absolutely enlightened but who have come to know many things, who have realized many beauties, who have realized many truths, not the truth. They have realized many, many experiences and have become good – not enlightened, but they have become good.That is why they are called “the holy ones.” They can be of much help to you. If you are open to them, you can be in contact with them. In theosophy, they are called “the masters.”The book, Light on the Path, was dictated by the masters to Mabel Collins. They know many secrets that have disappeared from the earth, from the records of humanity, or have been distorted. Or, we just cannot read them because the language is forgotten. It is still not possible to know what is written in the Harappa Mohenjo Daro culture. It still remains a secret. We know something is written, but we don’t know what it is. The form remains but the keys are lost. We know many scriptures from many cultures, but the language is lost.These holy ones can reveal many things that last. They can make us remember. You can make contact with them if you are silent, innocent, moving inward. If you are using your inner senses you can make contact with them and your life can very easily become transformed. You, alone, may take lives to reach the goal, but with these holy ones you can be easily helped.And there are many of them. You just need to be open, unafraid, ready to receive guidance, and the guidance will be given to you. But before you can receive it, you have to prepare yourself to be in receptivity, in deep receptivity. That receptivity will happen to you through meditation. And there is no other way. Only through silence will you become capable of hearing something that comes from the beyond.Remember one thing continuously: that you have to be more and more silent, and more and more centered within. Whenever you have time, close your eyes and move within. Whenever you are not doing anything, close your eyes, move within. Don’t be busy without business and, don’t remain unnecessarily occupied.I see people who are unnecessarily engaged. I have seen people reading the same newspaper again and again. They don’t have anything to do so they start reading the same newspaper again. They cannot remain empty, they cannot remain vacant. To be meditative means to learn how to remain vacant, unoccupied. Close your outer senses and just fall within.Use any time you can find for this and soon the day will come when it will become as easy as moving in and out of your house. You come out of your house without any difficulty, you go back into your house again without any difficulty. You need not even think about how to go in and how to go out. You come out when you are needed outside, you go in when you are not needed outside. The phenomenon becomes this simple if you practice it. Then you can jump out at any moment, and you can jump in at any moment.And once you have become capable of this easy movement, you have become free. Then the world cannot disturb you. Nothing can disturb you, because at your innermost center nothing reaches. When you are on the periphery, the world touches you. When you are at the center, you are beyond the world.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 16 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The twelfth sutra:Inquire of the inmost, the one, of its final secret, which it holds for you through the ages.The great and difficult victory, the conquering of the desires of the individual soul, is a work of ages; therefore expect not to obtain its reward until ages of experience have been accumulated. When the time of learning this twelfth rule is reached, man is on the threshold of becoming more than man.The knowledge which is now yours is only yours because your soul has become one with all pure souls and with the inmost. It is a trust vested in you by the most high. Betray it, misuse your knowledge, or neglect it, and it is possible even now for you to fall from the high estate you have attained. Great ones fall back, even from the threshold, unable to sustain the weight of their responsibility, unable to pass on. Therefore look forward always with awe and trembling to this moment, and be prepared for the battle.Inquire of the inmost, the one, of its final secret, which it holds for you through the ages. Only on the periphery are we many; only on the circumference does the multiplicity exist. The more we move toward the center, the more we move toward the one. The center is one.On the periphery we exist as many. Your personality is different from the personality of your neighbor. Your individuality is different from anyone else. But your innermost center is not different. Your innermost center is the innermost center of all. When you reach the innermost, you reach to the one.The whole world is just the circumference. The center – you may call it God or you may call it the supreme soul or whatsoever you like – but when you reach your own innermost center, you have reached the innermost center of all. And there, in that one, all secrets are hidden. And there, all the mysteries can be revealed to you.You cannot know them beforehand. Unless you enter the innermost temple of the one, mysteries will remain mysteries. You can create many theories about them and many philosophies of no use, futile, meaningless. You can philosophize much, but nothing can be concluded. It has happened for ages. Centuries have passed and men have been philosophizing, creating thousands and thousands of philosophies, theories and systems with no result. You can create them, but it is mental: you don’t know.You can imagine, you can create a very coherent system of thoughts, but it is only in your thoughts, in your dreams. Philosophers are creative, but creative of dreams, fantasies. They create logical systems, they argue for them, but the truth cannot be created through logical systems; the truth cannot be reached through arguments. Whatsoever you reach will just be a hypothesis. The truth can be reached only through experience.That is the difference between philosophy and religion. Religion says that the truth is not known, because you are not capable of knowing it. Unless you are totally transformed – unless you become a different one, unless your perspective changes, your outlook changes, your eyes change, your heart changes – you will not know truth. Truth cannot be known through contemplation, it can be known only through your inner transformation.Contemplation is possible, but you remain the same; you just go on thinking in your head. You can create many things in the head. You can believe in them, but you know they are your creations. Truth is not a creation, you cannot create it. You can only discover it, uncover it – it is hidden. No arguments will help. Only a real traveling inward will be of any use.Religion is anti-philosophical. It says that philosophy is of no use, it is intellectual gymnastics. You can enjoy it, it is a game of words, logic, arguments, but it will not give you anything: you will not reach anywhere. You are just sitting in your easy chair with closed eyes, thinking and thinking and thinking. You can go on thinking for ages. You can think coherently, consistently, still you will not come any nearer to the truth. You may even go farther away, because truth is not a mental construct. It is already there, it is not a mental construct. On the contrary, it is hidden because of your mentation, because there is too much activity in your mind. Your mind creates the clouds. You go on moving in the clouds and the sky is hidden. Disperse the clouds – disperse thoughts, disperse arguments, logic, philosophies – and suddenly it is revealed. It has always been there; it is already the case.You are not to do anything to create it. You are simply to be yielding, surrendering to it, thoughtless, alert, aware, and it is there. It has always been there. And this one, this truth is hidden within you, so you need not go anywhere else. No need to go to the Himalayas. The only need is to go within.This sutra says: Inquire of the inmost, the one, of its final secret, which it holds for you through the ages. But through thinking you cannot inquire, only through non-thinking can you inquire. This seems contradictory, because whenever we inquire we use thinking. Our inquiry means thinking and more thinking. But this inquiry, the inquiry of religion, is not thinking. The inquiry of religion can be done only when you are alert and non-thinking.Remember this: I emphasize non-thinking alertness because in non-thinking you may go to sleep if you are not alert. Then it is of no use. You are alert when you are thinking, but that is of no use because thinking creates the clouds. Or, you can be non-thinking and asleep. That too is of no use because the sky is there but you are asleep, so you cannot see it. So, two things are needed: non-thinking alertness – no-thought consciousness, no-mind awareness. If you can create this phenomenon within you – no mind on the one hand and awareness on the other hand – this is what meditation is, this is what I call dhyana.In this situation, truth becomes revealed. And that truth is one, the most inner one. It is not yours. That center is the center of the whole existence.You exist only on the periphery, the circumference. The more inward you move, the less and less you become. When you reach to the innermost center, you are no longer. In a sense, you are no longer; the old man is dead. In another sense, for the first time you are, because now the innermost reality is revealed to you, the eternal is revealed to you. Now you have reached that which never changes.The great and difficult victory, the conquering of the desires of the individual soul, is a work of ages; therefore expect not to obtain its reward until ages of experience have been accumulated. When the time of learning this twelfth rule is reached, man is on the threshold of becoming more than man.When you enter within, toward the one, you are reaching a new state of existence and being. You are becoming more than man; you are becoming superman because you have reached beyond humanity, the human animal is transcended.The human animal lives in sleep, deep sleep, unconsciousness. Deeply asleep, you go on doing things. You move on the street and you are asleep. You eat your food and you are asleep. You are listening to me and you are asleep. You are not alert, you are not aware. The mind goes on weaving things within, dreams continue.You may be physically here. Psychologically, you may not be here at all. Then you are asleep, you may have moved somewhere else. If you have moved somewhere else then you are not here with consciousness. Only your physical body is here.Remember this: whatsoever you are doing, do it so alertly, with full awareness, that your consciousness is there; it is not allowed to move. Only then will you come to know what awareness is. Moment to moment, move in the present. Don’t go away, or you will have gone into dreams.This awareness makes you totally different from ordinary humanity: you are alert. You have transcended the world of sleep. You have become more than man.The knowledge, which is now yours, is only yours because your soul has become one with all pure souls and with the inmost. So don’t get egoistic about it in any way: that you have now gained a superhuman state because you are alert. You are alert only, aware only, you have transcended humanity only, because now you are becoming one with all the great souls. You are becoming one with existence itself.So don’t get egoistic about it, because if you get egoistic the journey stops. You can fall back, because egoism is the last point at which sleep can again enter. Egoism is the point at which unconsciousness can again come to you. You can again fall back in the trap, you can again start dreaming.It is a trust vested in you by the most high. This awareness is a trust vested in you by the most high, the innermost one. Betray it… You can betray it still, you can fall back again. You are still liquid, you have still not crystallized. The old state has gone, the new is still forming – it is in a liquid state. You can go back, you can fall back. The transformation has not happened in its totality. Only in part are you different. Part of you is still the old.It is a trust. Betray it, misuse your knowledge… You can betray it. If you become egoistic – if you say, “This is my knowledge,” if you say, “I have come to know. I have realized. I have known God. I have become this and that,” – if you claim it, you have betrayed because the claim shows that the ego still persists, the ego is there behind it. You have fallen into the trap again. That’s why the Upanishads say the person who claims that he has known God has not known it. The one who has known will not claim he has known it. There is no need to claim. Any claim comes from the ego: to claim means egoism. If you claim it, you are betraying it.…misuse your knowledge… You can misuse it. You can use it to exploit others, you can use it to dominate others, you can use it for ends which are not spiritual. But then you will fall back. Knowledge is dangerous because knowledge is power, and if you use it for ends which are not right, you will lose the grip, you will fall back. That which has been given to you, can be taken back. No one takes it back from you – you, yourself, lose it.…or neglect it… You can neglect it. If you neglect it, it will stop growing. And remember, if something is not growing you are going backward. In existence nothing is static. You either grow or you fall back; either you move forward or you are moving backward. You cannot remain at rest.Eddington has said somewhere that the word rest is the most fallacious word. Nothing like rest exists in the world. Either things are going forward or going backward. Either you are increasing in something or decreasing. There is nothing like rest; you cannot rest, whatsoever you are, no. If you are trying to rest you will fall back. Even if you want to rest at the point where you are, you have to grow more. Only through growing can you rest. Otherwise, you will fall back.…neglect it…You can neglect it……and it is possible even now for you to fall from the high estate you have attained. Great ones fall back, even from the threshold, unable to sustain the weight of their responsibility, unable to pass on. Therefore look forward always with awe and trembling to this moment, and be prepared for the battle.You can go away even from the very threshold of the temple of the divine. Just a knock and the door would have opened, but without knocking you can move away. The nearer you are, the more possibility there is to move away because the more you become, the more “Now I have reached,” the more dangerous. Unless you have reached and become one with the flame, do not be too confident. You can lose it at any moment. Confidence can be dangerous.It always happens… When you come nearer the goal you feel more tired. You want to rest. Now you know: “The temple is just nearby. I can reach at any moment and there is no difficulty. I can relax a little, I can rest a little.” Then you can lose the very thing that was near. It may go far away.Relaxing near the goal is dangerous because the moment you relax you can fall back. And when you become aware again, you will find that the temple has disappeared.When the goal is near, don’t relax your effort. Rather, bring your total energy to it, become totally absorbed in it. This is the moment that the sutra says: …look forward always with awe and trembling to this moment. Don’t relax. There is no relaxation unless you have become one with existence. Before that, no relaxation.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 17 (Read, Listen & Download)

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It is written that for him who is on the threshold of divinity no law can be framed, no guide can exist. Yet to enlighten the disciple, the final struggle may be thus expressed:Hold fast to that which has neither substance nor existence.It is written that for him who is on the threshold of divinity no law can be framed, no guide can exist. The ultimate is uncharted. Nothing can be said about it because nothing that can be said will be true – for so many reasons. It remains indefinable, uncharted, unknown. Not only unknown, but, in a sense, unknowable.The first reason: those who enter it are dissolved into it. They cannot remain themselves. They are totally destroyed by it. They are reborn, they are totally new. And only the old can define.Try to understand this: only the old can define. If I see you and I have seen you before, I recognize you immediately. Who recognizes you? – the past. Because I had known you before, I remember your face, I recognize you. Recognition comes from the past. But if my mind is totally washed clean and I have completely forgotten the past, or if my memory is eliminated and there is no connection with the past, I cannot recognize you. One who enters the ultimate loses his past completely so he cannot recognize what is happening now. There is no reference.Secondly: you can recognize only that which you have known before. And the phenomenon of the divine is absolutely unknown. You have never known it before. In what terms to interpret it, to define it? You don’t have any reference, you don’t have any terms, you don’t have any definitions. The experience is so absolutely new – how to translate it into language?Thirdly: when you enter the ultimate, language becomes impossible because all language is based on duality. You define life by death; you may not be aware of this absurdity. You define matter by mind, you define mind by matter. If someone asks “What is matter?” you say “That which is not mind.” But are you sure? What is mind? Then you define mind as that which is not matter. So you are moving in circles.When you are asked about matter you talk about the mind as if you know the mind. You say “That which is not mind.” But if someone asks you “What is mind?” you start defining it in terms of matter: “That which is not matter.” Both are unknown. But you are playing tricks with yourself. When one is asked, you define it by the other. When the other is asked, you define it by the first – and both are indefinable.As far as worldly activities are concerned it’s okay to do this. It’s utilitarian, helpful. Not true, but utilitarian. But when you enter the ultimate, this dualism cannot be of any help. You cannot define the divine by anything that is against it because nothing is against it. It is the whole.You could say matter is not mind, or you could say mind is not matter, because mind is not the whole thing: matter exists as the opposite. You can define it. You can say life is not death, you can say death is not life. You can say darkness is not light, and light is not darkness. You can say man is not woman, and woman is not man. You can go on defining with the opposite.But what is opposite to the divine? – there is nothing opposite to it. Divine means the whole, the totality, so how to define totality? – it is indefinable because all definitions are based on the opposite, and nothing is opposite to it. Language falls flat. It says “I cannot enter this dimension.” Language exists in duality and cannot penetrate the non-dual.The divine is uncharted because it is just like the sky. It is not like the earth: if you walk on the earth, footprints are left behind, others can follow. You have passed, others can follow you; they can track you. Following your footprints, they can reach the same goal. But the totality – the divine or God or whatsoever you want to call it: X, Y, Z, the total – is just like the sky. Birds have flown in it but no footprints are left. You cannot follow. You have to start from A, B, C.Whenever you enter the divine… Buddha passed before you, Jesus passed before you, Krishna passed before you, but there are no footprints. When you enter the divine it is as if man is entering for the first time. The sky remains virgin, untouched, unscarred. But it is good; this absolute virginity is good because then this experience is unique and yours.Otherwise if you find Buddha’s footprints, Krishna’s footprints – maps, definitions, guidebooks – everything will be secondhand because many have known it, many have come before you. They have said everything that you can know. Everything will be secondhand.But the divine is not secondhand, it is always firsthand. Whenever you enter it, it is as if someone is entering for the first time. No one has entered before you and no one will enter after you, because no footprints can be left: everyone is unique.That’s why all worldly experiences become boring. One gets fed up because everything becomes secondhand, everything becomes borrowed. Someone has known it, nothing is virgin.The divine is always virgin, absolutely virgin. You cannot corrupt it, you cannot make it old, you cannot make it repetitive. That’s why nothing can be defined, nothing can be mapped, and no guide can be supplied.Yet to enlighten the disciple, the final struggle may be thus expressed. But just to enlighten the disciple – one who has not yet entered but is just on the verge of it, ready to take the jump – something can be said tentatively, some indications can be given. But don’t take them in any absolute sense. They are just a help, the last help that can be given, because once the disciple enters this temple of the divine he will be lost. This is the last instruction from the master.The thirteenth sutra:Hold fast to that which has neither substance nor existence.Hold fast to that which has neither substance nor existence. There are two things… Matter has substance, it is substantial. If I throw a stone at you it has substance to it, mass. It will hit you: matter is substance. But what is mind? What are you in your inner being, in your consciousness?Consciousness is not substance. It exists, it has existence, but it has no substance. I cannot throw consciousness at you. And even if I throw it, you will not be hit. Consciousness exists, matter subsists. Matter has substance, consciousness has existence.This sutra says: Hold fast to that which has neither substance nor existence. The divine is different from both. It is not like matter, not like substance. It is not like mind or consciousness. You cannot say God is substance and you cannot say God exists – for many reasons. When you say God exists, you are saying something tautological, a repetition. When I say this table exists, it is meaningful because the table can go out of existence: we can destroy it. But when I say God exists it is meaningless, because God cannot go out of existence and cannot be destroyed. Existence is meaningful only if nonexistence is possible. If nonexistence is impossible, existence is meaningless.When you say God exists, what do you mean? Can God not exist? Then, it is meaningful. But if you say he cannot be in a state of nonexistence, then what you really mean is that God is existence, not that God exists.God cannot exist; God can only be existence. When I say the table exists, the table is not existence; it can go out of existence, so the sentence is meaningful. When I say God exists, it is meaningless, because he cannot go out of existence. So when I say God exists, I mean that existence exists – a tautology, a repetition, useless. Even to say God is, is meaningless because he is the very isness. There is no need to say is. God is not is; he is isness.You cannot say God is substance nor can you say he exists. He is beyond both: beyond matter and beyond mind. Or, he is both. In both ways, he transcends.These are the last instructions for the disciple when he is ready to enter the temple of the divine. Nothing more can be said.Remember this: God is not matter. We have a concept of God as matter. That’s why we create idols, we create temples, we make images – all substances.Islam does not allow idols to be made of God only because of this: so that God will not be made identical with matter in any way. No idol, no image should be made of God because an image gives a sense of substance, and he is not substance.But then we think of God as mind: the controller, the creator, the sustainer. We have some vague idea of God as a supreme mind somewhere above, in the sky, who controls everything. But then he becomes the mind. He may be a great engineer or, as Plato says, a great mathematician, but the conception is that he is the mind. He is neither mind nor matter. He is beyond both.This sutra says to remember this transcendence. He is neither the outer nor the inner. He is neither the body nor the mind. He is neither any thing nor any thought. Before you enter the ultimate temple from where no coming back is possible, remember this: Hold fast to that which has neither substance nor existence.The fourteenth sutra:Listen only to the voice which is soundless.Listen only to the voice which is soundless. All sounds are created. All the sounds that we know are created in some way or the other. The wind blows and a sound is created. You clap your palms and a sound is created. I speak and a sound is created. But all these are created sounds. They will die because that which is born is bound to die, that which is created will be destroyed.Is there any sound that is uncreated? If there is any uncreated sound, truth can be expressed only through that – because that which can die cannot express the truth. That’s why it is said again and again that truth can be expressed only in silence; it cannot be said through words.Words may lead you toward silence, but they cannot speak the truth. Words will die, and that which is immortal cannot be said through mortal words. How can it be? It is impossible. How can that which is eternal be put into the temporal? How can that which is timeless be brought into time? How can that which is beyond space be placed somewhere in a temple, in a space? Truth can be revealed only through something that is eternal.Through meditation, many seekers have come to know a soundless sound within, a silent sound. The words soundless sound are contradictory. It is soundless because you cannot hear it with your ears. It is soundless because sound is always created through conflict, and there is no conflict. Sound is always created through duality, two things in conflict, but there are not two things in the heart. It is soundless because it cannot be heard, it can only be experienced.Remember: Listen only to the voice which is soundless. How can one listen to the voice which is soundless? In Zen they have a koan: to listen to the sound of one hand clapping. We can listen to the sound of two hands clapping. In Zen the master gives the discipline a koan, a puzzle to meditate on: listen to the sound of one hand not clapping with another. They call this the deepest meditation, to try to listen to some sound that is uncreated. If you go on meditating, go on meditating – just sitting and meditating, trying to listen – you will hear many things. This is one of the most beautiful techniques. Just close your eyes, sit under a tree and start listening. You will hear many new sounds you were never aware of before. Birds, insects… Very slowly, you will become aware of many sounds around you. Go on finding the sound which is uncreated.Every sound will be created. A bird starts singing and then stops. That which was created has now moved into nonexistence. Go on listening, go on listening. And go on trying to find out which is the sound that is uncreated. By and by, more and more subtle sounds will be heard. By and by you will start hearing your own heartbeats, you will start hearing your own breathing. But that too is created. Your heart will stop, your breathing cannot continue forever. It was not always so. When a child is born there is no breathing. Then suddenly the child starts crying and breathing starts.Go on listening deeply. These are not soundless sounds. Throw them out, eliminate them. You will start listening to the sound of your blood circulating. More subtle: you are not ordinarily aware of your blood circulating. You will hear it circulating, you will hear the sound. But it is also created through circulation, through conflict. Go on eliminating. A moment comes, if you persist long enough, when all sounds have disappeared; you cannot hear anything. A gap is created: all sounds have disappeared, and with these sounds, the whole universe has disappeared for you, as if you have fallen into emptiness.But don’t be afraid now. Otherwise you will fall back again to the world of sounds. Remain unafraid. It will look like a death. It is, because with the sounds lost, you have also lost your mind. Your mind is just a chattering box. No more mind, no more sounds, no more world: you will feel as if you have died. You are no longer, because you were nothing but a combination, a collection, of sounds.Persist! This death is beautiful because it is the door to the divine. Go on trying to listen to what is there now, after the gap, if you have traveled it without becoming afraid and scared.If you are scared, you will fall back again; you will run back again to the world of sounds, and the mind will start functioning again. But if you are unafraid and can persist in this gap of soundlessness, you will become aware of a new sound, which is uncreated. Hindus have called the sound omkar, om. Om is just a symbol, just a symbol for the sound that is always there, in the innermost self: omkar. Aum, aum, aum, is going on there, uncreated. No one is uttering it. It is.This is the soundless sound – uncreated. And only with this sound can you enter the holy of holies.The fifteenth sutra:Look only on that which is invisible alike to the inner and outer sense.We look at the world with the outer senses. Matter is perceived. But matter is not really there – now physicists say that matter is not. It is simply energy, vibrating energy. Matter is illusory. This is very strange because in the East mystics have always said that matter is illusory, maya. By this they meant that whatsoever appears is not so. Now physicists agree with Shankara, now Einstein agrees with Vedant. Now scientists also say that matter is illusory. No one ever thought or imagined that someday science would say that matter is illusory.Matter appears to be so, but it is not. It is energy – but energy moving with such speed, such tremendous speed, that you cannot see it moving. That’s why it appears to be unmoving matter. Electrons move with such tremendous speed that you cannot see them moving. They give an illusion of being static, substance.Matter is really not there but through your outer senses matter appears. It is your interpretation. Mind is also not there, but through your inner senses it appears to be. What then is real? If you look through the outer senses matter appears, which is unreal, not real; and if you look through your inner senses mind appears, which is also unreal, which is also an interpretation of the senses.So the eastern mysticism says that the real can be found only when you have ceased to use both the outer and the inner senses. When no senses are used, there is no possibility of distorting reality. Then, you are immediately in reality.The senses divide: I look at you – I don’t know what you are, how you are, but my eyes look at you and my eyes give me certain information. I cannot come to you directly, eyes are the mediators. Whatsoever they say I have to believe.So whatsoever your senses say you have to believe; you don’t know whether it is reality or not. Your senses may be defective, or they may be interpreting the world in a wrong way. There is no way of knowing whether your senses are interpreting wrongly or rightly. There is no way to know, because whatsoever you know, you know through the senses. There is no other way to know, to judge and compare.Because of this, Immanuel Kant said that no thing can be known in itself. There is no way to know a thing in itself, because whatsoever you know is known through your senses. You cannot know anything directly, only indirectly. You have to believe in your senses. Who knows what is there? You have never been there, your senses go there and they inform you.The same happens when you start using your inner senses. They inform you of what is inside: what is the soul, what is the self. But that too is just an interpretation of the senses.This sutra says: Look only on that which is invisible alike to the inner and outer sense. The real is invisible to both. It cannot be known through the mind; it cannot be known through meditation. When both mind and meditation are thrown away, only then do you enter reality. When there is no meditation, when you have come directly upon it, when you have entered it, when there is no more distance, when you have become reality, only then do you know it.This can be said in a different way: you cannot know God unless you become God himself. If you say “I can know God without becoming God,” you are saying something impossible. Because of this, a very strange thing has happened. Christianity and Mohammedanism both think that to say that you can become God is sacrilegious, profane, irreligious; it doesn’t show respect. The Mohammedan attitude about it has been so stubborn that it killed Mansoor and other Sufi mystics because they declared that they were God.Mansoor said, “Ana’l haq. I am the divine: Aham brahmasmi.” He was killed because: “This is too much! A human being saying that he is God?” But what Mansoor is saying is a very simple, basic truth. He is saying that you can either say that God cannot be known or you can concede that a man can become God – because how can God be known unless you are not? Unless you enter him, and become one with him, how can you know him? You can just move around and around him. But whatsoever you come to know is just information that is gathered from without, it is not direct knowledge.Mansoor says that you can know God only if you have become God himself. Otherwise there is no way. How can you know from without unless you become the very heart of divinity, unless you yourself have become divine?This sutra says that reality cannot be known by the outer senses – the outer senses interpret reality as matter. And reality cannot be known through the inner senses – the inner senses interpret reality as mind. Reality can be known only when you have thrown out all the senses completely and you have taken a jump into reality itself, without any mediators; when you have lost your mind and when you have lost your meditation also.Meditation is complete when you are capable of throwing it out too. You have entered samadhi, you have entered reality, the ultimate.Peace be with you.And only then can peace be with you, not before. Before that, you will remain in anguish in this way or that; you will remain tense this way or that – because you are the tension, you are the anguish. Your feeling that you are is the problem. When you are not, the problem is not.And how can you be in a state of nonexistence? How can you cease to be? That is the way of peace. If you can cease to be, you have entered reality; you have entered infinite peace, absolute peace.Your being, as separate, is the problem. You feel like an outsider, a stranger, alien, and this alienation creates disturbance. This alienation creates fear, this alienation creates death. You cannot be at peace. When you have completely thrown off your alienation and you have merged into reality, melted into it, lost yourself in it – you are no longer, only reality is – only then can you be in that peace, which is impossible to disturb, which nothing can disturb.Remember that you are the disease. You cannot be cured because you are the disease. If the disease is something else it can be cured, but you are the disease. You cannot be cured, you are incurable. Throw off the disease. Throw off yourself, feel as if you are not. More and more, create the feeling of being nobody, of being nothingness.Move toward nonbeing, because nonbeing is the door to the ultimate being. When you have completely ceased to be, you will be divine. When you are not, you will be godliness itself.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 18 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The human mind is effort-oriented, action-oriented, obsessed with activity – because the more active you are, the more your ego can be fulfilled, the more you can say “I.” All activity is basically food for your egoistic personality.Meditation is not an effort, it is not an activity. Rather, it is a deep surrender. Rather, it is to be in non-activity. Basically, just to be is meditation: not doing anything, not desiring anything, not hankering to go somewhere, just being here and now. To be simply here and now, that’s what I call meditation.But it is very difficult to conceive. Even to contemplate it is difficult because the mind cannot conceive of anything that is not an effort. The very language of the mind, the very framework, the very structure, is based on effort: to do something, to achieve something, to go somewhere.Mind is very serious, and meditation is absolutely non-serious.When I say this you may be bewildered, because people go on talking about meditation very seriously. But meditation is not a serious thing. It is just like play: non-serious – sincere, but non-serious. It is not something like work, it is more like play. Play is not an activity. Even when it is active, it is not an activity. Play is just pleasure. The activity is not going anywhere, it is not motivated. Rather, it is just overflowing energy.But it is difficult because we are so much in activity. We have always been so active that activity has become a deep-rooted obsession. Even while asleep we are active. Even thinking about relaxing we are active. We even make relaxation an activity: we make an effort to relax. This is absurd! But because of the habit, the robot-like habits of the mind…So what to do? The mind cannot now conceive how to be non-active. So what to do? Only non-activity leads you to your inner center. So I have devised a means, and the means is to be active to such an extreme that activity simply ceases. It ceases because you are so madly active that the mind’s hankering to be active is thrown out of your system. Only then, after a deep catharsis, can you fall down into inactivity and have a glimpse of the world that is not the world of effort.Once you know it, you can move into it without any effort. Once you have the feeling of it – how to be just here and now, without doing anything – you can move into it at any moment, you can remain in it anywhere. Ultimately, you can be outwardly active and inwardly deeply inactive.But in the beginning, you will have to do a very paradoxical thing. The paradox is this: you have to be active, madly active, violently active, so that everything is released, your obsessions are released.Moreover, we have suppressed so many things. We are just a heap of repressions. Those repressions are always there working in the unconscious, constantly disturbing you, poisoning you. Unless they are released you cannot feel at ease with yourself. And if you cannot feel at ease with yourself, how can you feel at ease with the universe? If you cannot feel at home with yourself, how can you feel at home with the universe? But unless you are deeply at ease with the whole, you have not tasted religion.You have not been in contact with yourself for so long, for many lives. You are alienated from yourself, you have become a stranger to yourself because of this repressive attitude. We go on repressing everything. You have not screamed, laughed, you have not cried, you have not done anything authentically, deeply, in which your totality is involved.Deep down, you have been collecting madness. It can erupt at any moment. No one is normal because, just behind the so-called normalcy, the abnormal, the madman, is hidden. That abnormal, that repressed unconscious is a volcano, and it goes on disturbing your life, it goes on disturbing your perceptions. It goes on disturbing everything. It is a poison, a source of poison that has to be released to make you feel at home with yourself. That’s the first step. Only then can you be at ease with the universe.And once – if even for a single moment – the universe becomes your home, you have become religious. It’s a transformation. Then you will never be something else. Then you can move anywhere, you can be anyone or anything, and you will remain, deep down, in your home. This feeling, in depth, can come only when all the accumulated nonsense inside you is released and thrown out.We go on preserving it. We are always on guard so that it won’t be released; we protect it from everywhere. If you even go on protecting it during this meditation camp, nothing will happen. If you are ready to act out whatsoever is repressed in your system, then much is possible. You can leave here a totally new man; a new being can happen to you. But you will have to be daring, expressive, authentic and playful with yourself.We will be doing three meditations: in the morning, in the afternoon, and the night. I’ll tell you something about the morning meditation so you can be ready for it.The morning meditation is a mad meditation – madness with a method. Whatsoever is suppressed in you has to be brought out. Once it is brought out, you will be relieved of it, unburdened from it. As I see you, I see you so burdened – everyone carrying the Himalayas with himself. You cannot move an inch with this whole Himalaya on your head. Throw it off! That’s what I call daring. Be courageous.In the morning meditation there are four steps. The first step is of ten minutes: chaotic breathing… I say chaotic. No system is to be applied, no pranayama. Just chaotic breathing: breathing in and breathing out. Forget everything else. Use breathing as a hammering, and breathe so fast, so deep and so chaotically that you become just a system of breathing: breathing in, breathing out. It works miracles.First: it helps you to release your repressed emotions, because breathing has helped you to repress them, so only through breathing can they be released.You may not be aware of it, but the more repressed a man or a woman you are, the shallower is your breathing. A repressed man cannot take deep breaths. He is afraid: his breath cannot go deep down to his navel, it is just shallow. He takes it in and throws it out. It never goes to the very roots of his being. He is afraid of the roots; he is afraid of being total, because if he is total then he will have to release his repressions. He will have to act differently, he will not be able to control himself. He will be thrown into the deep river of existence. Existence will control him, he will not be able to control existence. To control, we control our breathing system.Look at a child: he breathes differently. He is not yet cultured, civilized, that’s why. But the whole of society is working to cultivate him, and once he becomes aware of the society, his breathing will change.The breathing changes at a particular moment. When the child becomes aware of his sex – or the society, his parents, his family makes him aware of his sex or her sex – the breathing changes. The breathing becomes shallow, because a deep breathing system massages your sex center from within. It excites the sex center, it goes deep down and helps the sex energy to move. Society, religions – the so-called religions – are all afraid of sex. Families, cultures, civilizations are all afraid of sex. So the child… Once the child is condemned for his sexuality, he will never again breathe naturally. His breathing will become shallow, because if his breath goes deep down, the sex center will be excited. He cannot allow his breathing to go so deep. That’s why everyone’s breathing is shallow.So, the first step of the technique is just the opposite situation to this social structure: you have to breathe so deeply that the sex center is hit from within, and the sex center is hit so forcibly that the energy there is released.The sex center can be hit in two ways. It can be hit from without: when you are attracted to the opposite sex, it is hit from without. Then the energy moves outward. If you take a deep breath and hit the center from within, the energy moves within – the same energy. Sex is both. It can move out, it can move in. It can move down, it can move up. You have both avenues; the energy just has to be released. An inner system exists in which sex energy can move. We have called it kundalini; kundalini is nothing but sex energy moving within.So, for ten minutes you have to fight with civilization, fight with shallow breathing: chaotic breathing!It will also do one more thing: it will release your body energy, your body electricity. They call it “bioelectricity.” Once the bioelectricity is released in the body you can use it as a vehicle to go beyond – to go beyond the body. We are afraid of the body, so we don’t allow it to be really alive. We have made it half-dead. Half-dead, it is controllable. If it is totally alive, it is not controllable.We are afraid of it. The mind is always afraid, afraid of only one thing: what will happen if the mind is not in control? The mind can control only a dead body or a half-dead body. If the body is fully alive, the mind becomes afraid. The energy is so much that the mind is thrown off.The ten minutes of chaotic breathing will help your body energy to be released. Every cell of your body will become alive and dancing. And when these cells start dancing within, you yourself will also have a feeling of dance. Your whole body will start dancing and jumping. Allow it. This is how one enters the river of existence.In the second step, for ten minutes you have to act out all your madnesses. Don’t be shy, because we have not gathered here for that. Don’t be afraid of others. Just think that you are here alone. This is a path of loneliness; one has to travel it alone. Many others will be doing the meditation, everyone will be doing it, but you are to be concerned only with yourself. If you are concerned with others you will not move an inch from where you are, and your whole time here will be wasted. Don’t be concerned with others. Remain absolutely concerned with yourself.And remember, you have many madnesses within you. You already know that, that’s why you are afraid. Release them! If you want to scream, scream. If you want to weep, weep. If you want to jump, jump. If you want to dance, dance. If you just want to be like a child – playing with your body, jumping, dancing, screaming – do it!And do it playfully, don’t be serious about it. If you are serious you cannot be totally released. Be playful. Enjoy the madness that is coming out of you. Help it, enjoy it, cooperate with it. If you are really interested in going beyond your madness, this is the way. When it is released you will feel unburdened, you will feel weightless. You will feel a subtle newness entering you, as if your childhood has come back. You are a child again: new-born, fresh. This freshness is essential. This innocence is essential to move further.In the third step, we will be using the sound hoo as a mantra. You have to shout “Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!” loudly, forcibly, bringing your total energy to it, as if your whole life is at stake. For ten minutes you have to go on screaming, yelling “Hoo! Hoo!” What is this hoo going to do?It is going to do two things. When you scream “Hoo!” your total breath is thrown out. The more loudly you scream the better. Exhale totally; this creates a space within you. In that space, sex energy can move upward. The hoo is to help sex energy to move up. When you say “Hoo!” your sex center contracts, the breath goes out, and a space is created within you just near the sex center. In that space, in that emptiness, sex energy moves upward.These three steps are to be done with so much energy and force that nothing is left behind. You are not withholding anything, you are totally in it.Then, after thirty minutes, when I feel that you have released your madness and your energy is moving, suddenly I will say “Stop!” Then you have to stop completely, as you are. Don’t move, don’t do anything. If your hand is raised, if you are in a dancing posture or jumping when you hear me calling you to stop, stop then and there. The moment you hear it, feel as if you are no longer: you have become just a stone, a statue. Someone will be standing, someone else will be sitting, someone else will be lying down. Don’t move, don’t cry. No noise, no movement. Suddenly it is to be as if everyone has become dead. Even if you fall… If you are standing and your posture is such that you cannot stand that way, don’t make any adjustment, just let the body fall. But don’t help it to fall. Don’t make any adjustment, don’t change your posture.It is essential that this stopping be deeply understood, because you can deceive yourself. If your posture is awkward, or you feel it is troublesome, inconvenient, your mind can deceive you. Because I am not there, you think that you can change your posture a little and be comfortable. Then you have missed the point.Don’t do anything. The moment I say “Stop!” stop all movements. What will happen? – in this sudden stop, you will be thrown to the center. Just a moment before, you were moving as a cyclone, in mad activity. Suddenly I say “Stop!” Everything stops. You are thrown to the center, you immediately become the observer. If you do anything at all, you will miss the moment.Don’t do anything. A single movement and you can miss the whole point. So when you hear me calling you to stop, stop – whatsoever happens! Your body may fall down, let it fall. But don’t help it. Consciously, you are not to do anything.For ten minutes you will remain in this stone-like state. Those ten minutes will be a new experience. You will enter a new space within: something which is beyond you, you have never known it. And even a glimpse will fill you with bliss. For these ten minutes – in this stone-like, dead state – you will be really alive for the first time. You will become an observer, a witness of your own body.This witnessing is meditation. In this witnessing you will feel light filling you, bliss entering you and a divine presence everywhere: all around, within, without. But you are just to be a witness of everything: of the light, of bliss, of divine presence – just a witness.This is going to be in the morning meditation. Then, remain a witness for the whole day. Remain a witness the whole day. Remain more and more silent, witnessing yourself. If you feel like screaming, jumping, dancing during the day, you can do it alone. And if someone else is doing it, don’t pay any attention to him, let him do it. But don’t disturb others. Don’t talk much, don’t judge. For the eight days of the camp, cancel all judging attitudes. Someone may go naked – you are not to judge. Remember only one thing: that whatsoever you are doing, do it only with yourself. Don’t touch anybody’s body and don’t be concerned with anyone else.In the morning meditation, if you feel that it would be good for you to go nude, you are allowed. Even in the middle of the meditation, if you feel that clothes are hindering you, you can throw them off – but only in the morning meditation, not in other meditations. And you can be nude in the morning meditation but not at any other time during the day.For these coming eight days, feel as if you are a child – neither judging anyone nor condemning anyone. Don’t evaluate. Exist here like children: with no morality, with no moral concepts, just pure, innocent. Morality is not pure because it has a condemning attitude in it. It is not innocent, it is calculating. Be innocent like children, and help others to also be in such innocence.Don’t disturb anyone. Remain more and more silent. Don’t read, don’t talk, don’t use the mind much. It is better to use the body more and the mind less. Remain concerned with only one thing: that you have come here for meditation.In the afternoon for one hour we will be doing another meditation. I will explain that to you in the morning.Our night session is over.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 19 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The Vedas have said that breath is Brahma, and it is right in a very subtle way. Breath is your life, and breath is also the bridge between the conscious and the unconscious, between your body and your soul. This bridge has to be used. If you can use this bridge rightly, you can go to the other shore.I wonder whether or not you have observed that your breath changes with your emotions. When you are angry, you breathe in a different way. Try to observe how you breathe when you are angry, and then try to breathe differently while you are angry. You will not be able to be angry. You can be angry only in a certain way, with a certain rhythm of breath – or a certain non-rhythm of the breath.When you are in love, observe your breath: the rhythm, the music, the harmony. Disturb that harmony and the love will disappear. Or, create that harmony and love will appear.If you can become the master of your breathing – and it is a deep science – you become master of your emotions. When you are in the sex act, observe how you breathe: your breathing is basically related to the sex act. You cannot do anything in which your breath is not deeply related.You cannot move into meditation unless you try to understand, and use your breathing system. Your breath is also the bridge between your conscious and unconscious. The unconscious goes on changing the rhythm, and if you become aware of this rhythm and its constant changes, you can become aware of your unconscious roots, aware of what the unconscious is doing.Many things can be known about you through the rhythm of your breathing, even while you are sleeping. If you are sleeping and you are having a dream about anger, your breath can be observed, and the observers can know that you are angry in your dream. If you are having sex in your dream it can be observed from the outside and can be known that you are having a sexual experience in your dream, because your breath will follow a certain rhythm.If you observe the rhythm of a buddha’s breathing, it is different from yours. It remains constantly the same. While he is asleep, his rhythm remains the same. When he is awake, whether he is talking or he is silent, his rhythm remains the same.So in this camp, you are to do three things with your breathing system. One: breathe deeply the whole day – rhythmically, silently. Not forced, but deep, slow and deep. Create a silent rhythm and feel that in the rhythm you are relaxed, not strained. Then, follow that rhythm for the whole day. Whenever you remember it, breathe deeply, relaxedly, silently, with a musical rhythm. Feel the music of it. It has a music.And secondly: watch your breath, observe it. When the breath goes out, move with the breath. When the breath goes in, move with the breath. Go out, go in, with the breath. Follow it. If you can observe your breath it will become deep, silent, rhythmic. And with this following of the breath you will become very, very different, because this constant awareness of the breath will detach you from your mind. The energy that moves into thinking will move into observation.This is the alchemy of meditation: to change the energy that moves into thinking, into observation.How to change the energy of thought into observation? – that is what the device of meditation basically is: how not to think and to observe, how not to be a thinker but to be a witness.So, observe your breath the whole day, but don’t be tense about it. If you become tense, the purpose is lost. Remain relaxed. Just observe – playfully. Don’t make it work. Whenever you remember, observe your breathing. If you forget, then forget, but the moment you remember, start observing again. It will come to you. By and by you will begin observing. Through your very observation, the quality will change. Observing the breath will give you no space for thinking, so it will be a good diversion.Thirdly: simultaneously use your breath as an awareness of life and death. When the breath goes out, it is associated with death. When the breath comes in, it is associated with life. With every outgoing breath you die, and with every incoming breath you are reborn. Life and death are not two things, separate, divided. They are one, and each moment both are present.So remember this: when your breath is going out, feel as if you are dying. Don’t be afraid. If you are afraid, your breath will be disturbed. Accept it. The outgoing breath is death, and death is beautiful, it is relaxing.Whenever you are relaxed you say “Ahh!” and the breath goes out. Feel a deep relaxation with the outgoing breath. And when the breath comes in, feel “Ah! Life is coming in” – you are reborn. Make it a circle: life and death. Move and be aware of it. It is a deep cleansing. Die with every breath, and with every new breath be reborn.Remember this for these eight days. This is going to be your mantra. I give you this as a mantra for the camp. The outmoving breath is death. With it, die, feel as if you are dying. The incoming breath is life. Feel you are being reborn. For the whole day, twenty-four hours, remember this whenever you are aware. It will totally change the quality of your mind.If the outgoing breath becomes death, and you die each moment, what is happening? – your death means you are dying to your past, the old man is no more. And if you have to die every moment, there is no future: the next moment is death. You cannot project yourself into the future. You cannot be related to the past and you cannot be projected into the future. Only this very moment, this lonely, atomic moment, remains with you. And even in this very moment you will have to die and be reborn.Think of the concept of reincarnation not in terms of life but in terms of breath. Every moment you will be renewed, reoriented, fresh – a child again, with no burden of the past and with no anxiety for the future. The present moment is anxiety-less. Anxiety is created only by the past or by the future. So remember this, and spread it all over your being.Remember these three things, and not only remember, practice them.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 20 (Read, Listen & Download)

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There are two attitudes toward existence. One: of enmity, conflict, struggle – the attitude of conquering the world, nature, the universe.The whole scientific edifice is based on this attitude. Science is a struggle, a violent struggle with nature – destructive. Religion is based on quite the contrary attitude: the approach of friendliness, of love.Nature is not to be conquered, because we are part of it. And it is absolutely absurd that the part should try to conquer the whole. It is impossible, and ultimately only the part will suffer, not the whole. The whole effort is foolish, stupid.Religion says we are part of nature – nature is the whole. The effort to conquer it is bound to create hell for you. Rather, surrender to it; rather, be in a deep sympathy with it. Be deeply involved in it, be in a familial relationship with it. Love must be the attitude.And this is the miracle… It looks paradoxical, but when you try to conquer it, you never conquer it. In the effort, only you are destroyed. You just create misery, anguish, anxiety for yourself. You become an outsider. Then the universe is not a home for you, the universe is not a mother. Then you suffer, you become motherless. When you love – when the approach is of love and not of violent struggle – you conquer.Only love conquers, because only love knows how to surrender, only love knows how to be defeated. That’s why love conquers. Love becomes victorious because love knows the secret key: that there is only one victory with existence, and that victory is of being surrendered to it.Once you surrender to it, the whole universe surrenders to you. The universe is just a response. Whatsoever you are doing, the universe goes on echoing it. The universe is not really doing anything to you. Rather, you are doing something to yourself, through nature. If you are trying to conquer nature you are creating conflict. Nature will respond with conflict. It is your own face, reflected in it.If you are not fighting, nature is not fighting. If you are ready to surrender, nature will surrender to you. This surrendering attitude toward existence is prayerfulness. This attitude of surrendering toward the whole will make you also whole. Meditation is the path of how to surrender.Three things are to be remembered. One: you are born out of existence; existence is your mother. Those who call God “The Father” are not right. This is just a male-oriented attitude. God is not the father, God is the mother, because we are born out of God. The whole universe is a womb. One comes out of it and then, finally, one drops into it again – just like a wave in the ocean, jumping and then falling back. It is a stupid wave that struggles against the ocean. It is bound to go mad. And we have gone mad. This madness has to be dropped.So the first thing to remember: if you really want to go deeply into ecstasy, a violent, aggressive approach toward existence is not for you – rather, a loving approach, a friendly approach, a surrendering approach.Or, you can say it in another way. With science, the approach is male. With religion, the approach is feminine. With science it is positive aggression; with religion it is passive love, surrendering, being in a deep let-go. But before this let-go, this love, you must throw out all the diseases that create aggression within you.You are aggressive because you have accumulated aggression. You have accumulated anger, hatred, jealousy. You have accumulated so much poison within you. That poison has to be thrown out, only then will the aggression disappear.And remember, you cannot approach existence with an aggressive mind. You will never find it. The very attitude becomes the obstacle. You can approach existence only in a very deep, passive receptivity. No aggression should be within you, no poison, no violence.That’s why I place so much emphasis on catharsis, in meditations to throw out whatsoever you have accumulated in the past. All the dust, all the dead past – throw it away. Act it out, act it out of your system completely. Then you can surrender because then, when aggression in not in you, surrender is possible.In the modern age, relaxation has become a problem. No one is really capable now of relaxing. Such a simple thing! Even cats do it better than man. Look at a cat relaxing – how deeply relaxed. But you cannot do it. What has happened to man? A cat can do it and a man cannot?There is so much accumulated aggression that it cannot allow you to relax. Deep down you are really afraid of relaxation. That’s why you can’t relax. The moment you relax the suppressed madness will come out, so you cannot relax. You are afraid. You have such nonsense within you that if you relax it is bound to come out, it will flow out of you. This fear creates a protection, a defense mechanism. You create a wall around your repressions and, because of that wall, you cannot relax.If you cannot relax, how can you surrender? – because surrender is absolute relaxation. It is merging into the universe so much that you don’t feel you are; you feel the universe is, existence is. You are so relaxed that you don’t feel any boundary between you and the universe, there is no division.If you are tense, you are divided. If you are relaxed, you are undivided, one. Surrender is deep relaxation, absolute relaxation. Unless you throw out all that has become part of you, part of your mind, you cannot relax and you cannot surrender. And if you cannot relax, you cannot participate in existence.Participation is bliss because the whole universe is celebrating. Every moment it is celebrating. It is a great celebration, a constant celebration. Only we are not part of it. We have detached ourselves and are in misery. Man is in misery because of the mind. The flowers are participating in the celebration, the moon is participating, the stars are participating, the earth is participating, the oceans are participating, the air and the clouds – everything is participating in that continuous, eternal celebration. Only man has become an outsider – and because of his own efforts. On his own, he has separated himself from existence.Meditation is a reunion. It is going back to the mother, it is coming back home. But then whatsoever dust you have gathered on the way, you have to throw away.So don’t be afraid of catharsis. I see that you are afraid. If you are afraid, nothing will happen. These eight days are for catharsis, so that you can become new. Here, the old can die and you can leave with a new face, with a new mind, with a new being. But you will have to surrender so that you can participate in the great celebration that is the universe.For science, the universe is a mechanical thing. For religion, it is a celebration. For science, it is accidental. For religion, it is intentional. For science, it is just a long process of cause and effect – meaningless. For religion, it is not. For religion it is not a chaos, it is a cosmos – and not a mechanical thing but a conscious intention. Not meaningless, but intrinsically meaningful. That meaning is hidden in the celebration.We have conceived of God as a dancing god. The whole universe is a dance! Unless you can dance, you cannot become a part of it. Meet this dancing universe with a dancing approach. Go to this celebration in a celebrating mood.But how can you create a celebrating mood? How can you yourself become a celebration when there is aggression, violence, hatred and thousands and thousands of diseases accumulated inside? You are defending them, you are safeguarding them. You are your own enemy.Become a friend to yourself. Allow the whole nonsense that is repressed and unconscious within you to be acted out. Be courageous enough to express your diseases. The moment they are expressed, the moment your unconscious diseases become conscious, they disappear. This is the only way.What is psychoanalysis doing? All the psychoanalysts – Freud, Jung, Adler and others – what are they doing? They are doing the same thing by means of a very lengthy process: making your unconscious conscious. By talking with a patient for years, the psychoanalyst makes him aware of his unconscious. But this is too long a process, too expensive, and not worthwhile. The results are not very meaningful, and not very hopeful. But the base is right: if unconscious repressions are allowed to become open, if they’re exposed to the conscious, they disappear, they evaporate. You are freed from them, unburdened. You become weightless.This is what we are doing, but it is a very intense method. It is not going to be like years and years of just sitting on the couch of a psychoanalyst and talking, talking, talking: talking about your dreams and about your unconscious, bringing everything out of you in bits. This method will immediately expose your unconscious.But then, you have to help me, you have to cooperate with me. I cannot do anything unless you cooperate. Unless you are ready to transform yourself, I cannot do anything. With your cooperation, much is possible. With courage, you can become something meaningful.Meditation starts with catharsis and ends with celebration. When your diseases are thrown, you can dance and laugh, and then you can feel blissful. Only in this blissful state will there be a meeting, a meeting with the universe. That meeting is divine; unless you have known that meeting and reunion, you have not known anything at all.Only one thing is worth knowing, and that is the deep rootedness of your being in the being of the universe. Unless you know and feel that you are the universe, that you are in the universe and the universe is in you, you will be in misery, you will be in hell.Now, something about the night meditation, and then we will move into it…This is a very intense method. For twenty minutes you are going to stare at me with your eyes unblinking and your hands raised toward the sky – this is just a preparation for meeting with the cosmos. You will be jumping so that your energy is active, so that you are in a vital state for the meeting to happen. Your energy is flowing upward. So while you are standing with your hands raised – jumping, staring at me – feel that your energy is moving up and jump with the energy that is moving up. You must move a little so that existence can descend into you. You must go at least one step. Then, the divine can come. Just one step from you is enough.In this state – staring at me, jumping, feeling energy moving up as if you have become a tree spread into the sky and jumping to meet the sky – simultaneously you will be using the mantra hoo, loudly. This hoo hits, hammers, the energy within; and the kundalini starts arising. In India we have called this energy kundalini, the serpent power. The serpent uncoils.This hoo has many meanings, it is multi-dimensional. This hoo hits the energy that is coiled. It actually hits the energy that is coiled in your sex center, and the energy begins to move. Jumping, with your hands raised and spread toward the sky, the energy will flow in a fast current. You will feel that current. The more you feel it, the more you are to jump so that you are helping it to move. Go on using the mantra “Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!” as a hammering. It is a hammering with sound.For thirty minutes you have to be completely mad so that all your madness is thrown out. Don’t withhold yourself: move into it totally, because half-effort is useless. Unless you do it totally, nothing will happen.Only at a certain point will you touch existence. It is just as at one hundred degrees water becomes vapor, it evaporates. If it is heated only to ninety degrees it may become hot but it will not change. The heat must reach a certain degree, only then is there transformation. So half-effort is useless. You will just be wasting energy and moving nowhere. You will just become lukewarm: nothing will happen and you will not evaporate.So bring your total energy to it. Don’t withhold anything; move completely into it. Within thirty minutes your energy will become vital and flowing. It will become a current, a fast current moving from the earth toward the sky. You will be just a vibrating part of that current. You will have disappeared: there will be just vibrating energy, jumping and ready to meet the divine, ready for the deep communion I am talking about.And then, I will stop you. For ten minutes you are to remain in total silence. In that total silence you can become more aware of what is happening within. A new door will be opened, a new light will descend on you, a new bliss will overflow. You will have a feeling that the divine is everywhere: all around, within and without.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 21 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The cosmos is a musical harmony, but we are not in tune with it. Tuning is needed. This tuning becomes possible if you surrender yourself to the whole.Why is man not in tune with the infinite? – because you go on living according to your own mind, not according to the mind of the whole. Lao Tzu calls the mind of the whole “Tao”: the law, the cosmic law.We create our own laws; every society creates its own laws and those laws are artificial. Those laws are not universal, they are local. And because of those laws, we create an artificial life. We live in society according to the society. Society is a fiction – necessary, but still a fiction. Man has created many societies with many different laws, contradictory laws, but the universal law is one. Unless you become aware that you are living according to artificial devices, you will not be able to attune yourself with the infinite, the natural, the rit. The Vedas have called it the rit, the ultimate law.The ultimate law is not man-made. Rather, on the contrary, we are made by that law. Our laws are our own fictions, imagination, dreams. There are two possibilities: either you can be social or you can be universal.You can run your life, build your life around a social fiction: one is a Hindu, one is a Christian – these are social fictions. Jesus is not a Christian, cannot be, and if Jesus comes back, Christians would be the first to murder him again. The Vatican could not tolerate him; it would be impossible for a man like Jesus to be tolerated by any establishment. The pope would be the first to be against him.I have heard about a Hindu sannyasin who went to meet the pope. The sannyasin said, “I have heard about a man who moves in the lower strata of society with criminals, who stays with prostitutes, who talks against religion and ritual, who is against society, the social laws, the social order, and is a deep anarchist. What will you do with him?”The pope said, “We will be against him. He is a criminal; he must be punished. But tell me, what is his name?”The sannyasin said, “His name is Jesus Christ.”Jesus is not a Christian, nor is Krishna a Hindu, nor Mahavira a Jaina. These are fictions, and Mahavira, Krishna, Buddha and Jesus have moved from the society to the cosmos. Every religious man is rebellious, looks rebellious, because he moves from social fictions to the universal reality.Remember this: unless you become aware of the social fictions, social games… They are necessary, go on playing them, but don’t be serious about them. Act them, don’t get involved in them, remain aloof and detached. Remember that you cannot have bliss through them. Only through transcending them can the possibility become actual, because only then are you in search of the universal law, of that which is always there, that which is not created by man.When man was not, the universal law was still there. One day man may not be, because man is not inevitable on earth. Once there were no men: no Hindu, no Mohammedan, no capitalist, no communist, no establishment – nothing. Earth existed more blissfully than it exists now. And one day, man may disappear from this planet. But the law will remain. Find that eternal law and be in tune with it.How to find it? How to know what the eternal law is that precedes us, that existed before us and will continue after us? We are just waves in that eternal ocean, so how to come to know it?There are three things to remember and do. One: become a child again. Move back to the point where you were not a social animal, where you were just natural. Children are like animals or trees or rocks. We destroy them, we cultivate them, we cripple them in every way. Those who want to be in tune with the universe must move back. Throw off your civilization, your society, your cultivated habits, and become natural, childlike.Here, during the meditation camp, try it. Be like a child. Go back, back to your origins. And it’s possible: you can go back. Just by going back you will become different. While meditating here, be like a child and throw off all civilization.Secondly: remember that you have a very deep-rooted past, the burden of the past on you. Don’t carry it, just put it aside. The past is the problem, and because of this past, your mind moves into the future. The past creates its own future; the past becomes projected into the future. Because of this past, and the projected future, you miss the moment, the real moment: eternal time.Remember, the past and the future are not part of time, they are part of mind. They don’t exist. The past is no longer, it is just in the memory. The future is not yet, it is just in the imagination. We go on dividing time into three divisions: past, present and future. But past and future are not part of time, the division is false. Only the present is time. The past is memory; the future is imagination. Now is the only time.So the second thing to remember is that if you want to be in tune with the infinite, remain with the now. Don’t move into the past, don’t move into the future. Live moment to moment. The moment is enough. If you can be here and now, you are in the eternal law because time is the door to eternity. But if you move into the future you have missed the door.Remain with the moment. Whenever you see that your mind is moving into the future or into the past, come back suddenly, move to the present. Do something, be something, in the present. We go on moving into the future or into the past and go on missing the door that is here, now. It has become a deep-rooted habit.Thirdly: know well that you cannot be attuned to the infinite through thinking. Only through silence, only through a non-thinking awareness, a non-thinking sensitivity will you be attuned. Thinking is the disturbance, the barrier, because whenever you are thinking you are not in the universe. You are enclosed in your mind.Whenever you are not thinking you are not enclosed. The walls have disappeared, you have moved into existence. Thinking is non-existential. Non-thinking…But remember, non-thinking plus awareness. You can move into sleep; that will not do. Non-thinking and alert: no thought in the mind, no clouds in the mind, and alert. In that non-cloudy moment, in that alertness, you penetrate existence. You become one with it. Then the wave is the ocean.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 22 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The desire to be transformed, the desire to be reborn in a spiritual dimension is dangerous. Dangerous in the sense that now you are leaving the path that is known, dangerous in the sense that now you are entering the uncharted, dangerous in the sense that you are now on a pathless path.But nothing great happens if one is not ready to move into danger. Nothing worthwhile, nothing meaningful happens if one is not ready to stake his whole life on it. Unless you are ready to die for something, you cannot start living authentically. Only one who is ready to die can attain life.The danger is worth trying. Nietzsche has said somewhere that his motto in life is “Live dangerously!” – because if you are not living dangerously, you are not living at all. “No danger” means no life. Only the dead are beyond danger.Because of danger, we have become half-dead. Because of the fear of death, we have even become afraid of life. We cannot live, because to move into life is to move into the unknown – and religion is the most unknown dimension. To go to the moon is very difficult; it was impossible a few years ago, but man has gone to the moon. Man may go to other planets – that’s the adventure. Very dangerous, but nothing compared to religion. Why? – because in religion you are consciously moving into the inner space. About the outer space much is known but about the inner space nothing is known. Even those who have gone there, those who have known it cannot say anything about it.Lao Tzu says: “Truth cannot be said, and if it is said, it is no longer the truth.” The ultimate cannot be named. If you name it, you have missed it. It remains inexpressible. Those who have gone to the inner space – and many have gone: a Buddha, a Jesus, a Confucius… Many have gone, but when they come back they are dumb, they cannot say anything about it. The experience is such that language is futile to express it. No map is yet available and never will be, no path is fixed.The inner life is like moving in a wonderland. It is as if you are in a city and the city is constantly changing. The roads are changing, merging into each other. The houses are running around. Nothing is fixed: the city is a fluid city. Then no map can be drawn. Any map that is drawn is out of date the moment it is drawn because the city is constantly changing. No house remains constantly in one place. A street moves and meets another, a house moves from north to east. You cannot even find where your own house is. When you went to your office in the morning it was at point A, but it is no longer there. You can be certain of only one thing: that you will not be able to find it at A. It may be anywhere else.If such a city, a fluid city, can be conceived, then you can have a glimpse of what the inner world is like. Life is a flux, existence is constantly changing. Nothing is fixed because nothing is dead. Only dead things are fixed. Alive means changing, constantly changing, river-like. That’s the problem.In the center there is something that is non-changing. But that is in the center. When you move inward, you move into a changing world, into a flux, a dreamy world where everything is constantly changing. If you can pass through this changing world of dreams, words, thoughts, past memories, future projections – where everything is changing, fluid, flux-like – if you can pass through it, then one day you can come to the center.But to pass this space of flux is the problem. Even those who have known it cannot describe what it is. It is dangerous because you cannot control it. You can control only the surface of the mind, just the surface. Even that is not totally controllable, but you can manage somehow; you can at least create a pretension, a facade that you are in control. The more you move inwardly, the more uncontrollable forces are encountered.The more inwardly you move, the more you encounter contradictory forces. On the surface you may feel loving toward someone; deep down, you also hate him or her. You are never aware of this fact on the surface. You think that you love your child, you love your mother, you love your friend, your wife or your husband. This is only one aspect of the coin. The other side of the coin, the opposite side, is hidden right behind it. That’s why lovers can become hateful at any moment. Only lovers can hate intensely. The more intense the love, the more intense the hate will be. It is just the other side.You live in a false world of non-contradictions. You think “I love someone so how can I hate him?” We have made a division: “I hate someone – how can I love him?” or “I love someone – how can I hate him?” This is not true, and if you move inward you will come to know that you love the same person you hate, and you hate the same person you love. You are contradictory, the whole of existence is contradictory. And because of this contradiction there is much anguish, much anxiety, much deep guilt.The more inwardly you move, the more your facade, your face, your so-called personality is disturbed. Your ego is shattered. Then you cannot say “I am this and I am not that.” You are both: simultaneously both sinner and saint. Then it is difficult, things become unmanageable. You cannot even manage to maintain your identity, who you are. The old identity, the image, is broken because the contradictory forces are let loose.That’s why we are afraid to go in. It is dangerous, but worth trying, because nothing is achieved without danger.If you enter the inner space, you will not only encounter life, you will also encounter death because it is the polar opposite. Just as hate goes with love, death and life go together. You think that you are alive, but you never think that you are also death. You think that death is going to happen to you somewhere in the future – that you are alive and death is something that is going to happen to you, just like an accident, or like something from the outside.That’s absolutely wrong. Death is not going to happen to you from the outside. Death is growing within you, it is part of you. You are not only life, you are also death. Death is not an accident, it is a growth. You are growing in death just as you are growing in life. They are both parts of you.So if you enter within, sooner or later you will encounter death, which you have suppressed completely. That is the trick to suppress it: you always think death is somewhere in the future, that it is going to happen to you from the outside. So you go on thinking that somehow you can escape it, you can deceive it: “I can come to some arrangement with it.”No arrangement will be of any help. You cannot escape it, because you are it: it is within you. But you have hidden it, you have unconsciously suppressed it.We have repressed two things very deeply: sex and death. That’s why we never talk about sex or death: “It is not good to talk about these things.” If someone starts talking about them, it is not good manners. If someone starts talking about sex or death we would like to shut him up or change the subject.Why are we so afraid of sex and death? – we are afraid of them because they are deeply related. You are born through sex and you will die through sex. Life and death are both centered on sex. We are afraid of death, that’s why we are afraid of sex. And if you are afraid of both death and sex, you are also basically afraid of life, because all three are one within. Sex is the energy. One pole is life, the other pole is death.We have suppressed sex and death. If you go within, you will meet these friends waiting for you. They may have been waiting for lives, and they will go on waiting unless you meet them, encounter them – and transcend them.That’s why the path of spiritual existence is fraught with dangers. You will meet your own repressed parts. Death is one of them. And when you meet death within, you become so afraid that you immediately want to come back to the surface.Why are so few persons interested in going within? Why? For centuries and centuries they have been taught to go within, it has been a basic teaching all over the world to know thyself. But why are so few people interested, really interested, in going within? It is because unconsciously they know that if they go within, things will emerge, things will be encountered that they feel are dangerous. This unconscious idea creates a barrier.So we go on talking of the inner journey, we go on talking of the spirit, of spirituality and everything, but we simply talk. We never try it, we never go on the real journey. We just talk and talk and talk. Religion has become just talk, and now it has become absolutely boring, because we have talked about it so much, for so many centuries, that now it looks like sheer madness.The reason so few people are interested in moving inward is because if you go within, you will encounter death. But if you can encounter death without fear, and without returning to the surface, you will become deathless – because one who encounters death is already deathless. For the conscious being within you who encounters death, death becomes an object. And whatsoever you can be aware of, you are separate from.I can see you because you are separate from me. I can see my thoughts moving in the mind because they are separate from me. I can close my eyes and see my heart beating because it is separate from me. I can see everything – except myself. I can see everything except myself because my subjectivity cannot be reduced to objectivity. I cannot make an object of my own self. Who will see it then? And if someone is seeing it, the someone who is seeing it is me – not the one which has become the object.If you can encounter death, if you can see death within, you have transcended it. Now death is not for you. And both life and death can be encountered, both forces can be encountered. Hate and love – all the polar opposites can be encountered within. When you encounter them, you have transcended them. You have already transcended them in the very encounter. Now you are different from them. You are the witness.That’s why I say that the danger is worthwhile. And when you come to a point deep in your meditation where you feel as if you are going to die – that the heart may stop at any moment – don’t be afraid. Remember that this is the moment for which you have been struggling for lives. Now don’t miss it. Enter it! Be ready, even if you feel you are going to die. Die! Say to death “I am ready now.” Surrender to it.A single moment – and you will be different forever. You will have become deathless, or, something different both from what we call life and what we call death. That something, that X is the center – not only of you, but of the whole existence.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 23 (Read, Listen & Download)

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About the afternoon meditation: Kirtan – singing and dancing – is one of the secret doors, one of the deepest doors. The approach is very basic. The first thing to be understood is: don’t take religion seriously. You can sing and dance in it; long faces are not needed. We have lived with long faces too much and for too long. If you see the old face of God it is sad, and it creates boredom.Now – and not only now, it has always been so, but more so today – now we need a dancing and laughing God. This seriousness has killed religion. Irreligious people have not killed religion, atheists have not destroyed religion, seriousness has killed religion: the serious faces of the priests and prophets.Seriousness is a disease. Because of the serious face of religion only diseased people have been attracted to it. Those who are young, alive, dancing and laughing have felt that they are not for religion and religion is not for them. When they become old, diseased, hen life has withered away, when their energies have dimmed, then – when death is coming near – they will seek the divine.This has proven fatal, and because of this, the whole earth has become nonreligious. Religion must be young, alive, fresh, and it must have a different base. I call that base festivity, celebration, a deep attitude toward happiness.The afternoon meditation means all these things. You have to dance in an ecstatic mood. Allow your life energy to be flowing, laughing, singing. Celebrate life, don’t try to fight with it. In celebration you will transcend, and you will become the winner.In the morning meditation we were doing catharsis. When you have gone through catharsis you need something to dance, to sing about. Catharsis is negative: you are just purifying yourself, and when you are ready and purified, feel a deep gratitude. Sing and dance, and completely merge yourself into the dancing and singing. The moment the dancer has disappeared and only the dance remains, you have entered. The moment the singer has disappeared and only singing has remained, you have entered.Forget the dancer, the center of the ego. Become the dance. That is the meditation. Dance so deeply that you completely forget that you are dancing and begin to feel that you are the dance. The division must disappear. Then it becomes a meditation. If there is division, then it is an exercise: good, healthy, but it cannot be said to be spiritual. It is just a simple dance. Dance is good in itself. As far as it goes, it is good. After it, you will feel fresh, young. But it is not yet meditation. The dancer must go, until only the dance remains.So what to do? – dance so totally, because division can exist only if you are not total in it. If you are standing aside and looking at your own dance, the division will remain: you are the dancer and you are dancing. Then dancing is just an act, something you are doing. It is not your being. Get involved totally, be merged in it. Don’t stand aside, don’t be an observer – participate!Let the dance flow in its own way. Don’t force it. Rather, follow it: don’t force it, allow it to happen. It is not a doing but a happening.Remain in the mood of festivity. You are not doing something very serious. You’re just playing, playing with your life energy, playing with your own bio-energy, allowing your bio-energy to move, to move in its own way. Just as the wind blows and the river flows, you are flowing and blowing. Feel it.And be playful. Always remember this word playful. With me, it is very basic. In this country we call creation God’s leela. We call creation God’s leela, God’s play. Nowhere else in the world does this concept exist: God as the creator. The Jewish God, the Christian God is very serious and very revengeful. He is not playful. He is sitting on the throne as a judge, to condemn.In this country we have evolved a totally different attitude – the attitude of play, not of creation. God has not created the world. It is his play. When you create something it becomes different from you. You paint, then the painter can die but the painting will remain. You paint, and the painting has become separate from you.This play is just like dance. The dancer and the dance are one. If the dancer dies, the dance will die. You cannot preserve the dance without the dancer. That’s why we call God the dancer, Shiva the dancer.The world is not a creation separate from the divine. It is divine and everything is just a play. And God is not your judge, because he is not separate from you, he is you! Allow the divine to be playful. Allow the divine to be dancing and singing and celebrating. Only then can you approach it, only then does it become revealed to you.So don’t approach this inner search in a serious way. It is not something like work, it is just like children playing. So one more thing: it is not work, it is play. It is not even a game, because a game has rules. Play has no rules – that’s the difference. When you are in a game you have to follow rules. When you are playing, you just have to follow your own life energy. Follow it. Flow with it.Forget yourself and let there be dancing and singing, and you will reach a very deep source within you. Many new flowers will come to your life, many new dimensions will open. But allow your life energy, and always remember: your life energy is wiser than you.Once you know your life energy and can allow it to lead you, you will come to feel what type of a fool you were before – stupid! You were trying to lead life, you were trying to force life; you were trying to force a greater energy with your mind, with your poor concepts, your mental concepts. You were trying to put a window around the sky.You are just a frame! Don’t be too concerned with it. Be concerned with the life source, the force, the energy that is within you. In singing and dancing, I hope that some day the frame may break and you will throw the frame away and your life energy will be freed. Once freed, you will have a different quality. That quality is divine, it is not human.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 24 (Read, Listen & Download)

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I have said that man is afraid of both sex and death. That’s why they are taboos. No one talks about sex and no one talks about death. We remain silent about those two things. We have remained silent for centuries and centuries. They are taboo subjects, they should not even be mentioned. The moment they are mentioned, something starts trembling within us.It seems that there is a deep repression. That’s why we have created substitute words. In the western world they do not say “We are having sex.” They say “We are making love.” It’s a substitute word – and false, because love is a totally different dimension. Having sex is having sex, it is not making love. Love may include sex, but love has an altogether different quality.We never talk directly about death. If someone dies, we use substitute words. We say he has gone to the Father, or he has gone to heaven. Death is never faced directly.We have created many false phenomena around death and sex. If two people are going to be married, sex is not even mentioned – and they are going to be married for sex! We have created a great illusion around marriage, but the bare, naked fact is sex. We have created a ritual, a great ritual of marriage, just to hide the fact. Why?Why is there a taboo about only these two things? They are deeply related. The reason for their relationship is this: first, you are born out of sex, birth is sex. And birth and death are two poles of one thing. In birth, death is hidden. That’s why man became aware of the deep relationship between sex and death. Death cannot happen without sex, just as birth cannot happen without sex.You may wonder… There are organisms – amoebas and other bacteria – that are born not out of sex but out of simple division. Amoebas go on growing, feeding, then a certain limit comes where the body divides in two, because it becomes so big that the ameba cannot move. Up to a certain limit the body goes on growing and then it divides in two. Then the two bodies go on growing and divide into four. There is no sex, just simple division. The amoeba is known as deathless: amoebas never die. If food is supplied continuously, an amoeba never dies. There is no need to die, because there is no sex.Unless we find something that changes the whole process of reproduction, man cannot become immortal. If we can create man without sex, he will never die. Death is part of sex just as birth is part of sex.This can also be understood in another way. Those who have been most fascinated and obsessed with the concept of immortality, all those traditions that have tried to somehow make man immortal, have always been against sex. Yoga, particularly Hatha yoga, has tried deeply to prolong life. That is why Hatha yoga is against sex. Hatha yoga says that if you want to prolong life, don’t move into sex because sex brings death nearer.But you are already born, and you are already involved in sex. Whether you repress or express your sex will not make much difference. You have already moved into one side. The other will follow.Sex and death are deeply related in another sense too. In a deep sex act you feel a certain death: you are no longer. If you have really gone totally into the act, you are merged. Your individual entity disappears and a greater force than you takes over. The sex act starts as a voluntary act, but it never ends as a voluntary act. A point comes where your voluntary mechanism is taken over by the non-voluntary. A point comes where your conscious mind is thrown off and the unconscious takes over. A point comes when your ego cannot exist and the non-ego is in power, in control. You feel a sudden death of the ego; you feel you are dying.That’s why people who are very egoistic cannot achieve sexual orgasm. They cannot be in a let-go, they cannot allow their unconscious to take over. They remain mentally conscious and try to control the whole process. Then, they cannot achieve a deep sexual orgasm. The more civilized man becomes, the less possibility there is of orgasm. The blissful moment when your ego is lost and you are merged into existence is a certain death: death of the ego, death of the conscious, death of your individuality.That’s why those who are afraid of sex will be afraid of death, and those who are afraid of death will be afraid of sex. This fear: “I may be lost. How am I to be certain that I will be capable of coming back?” It is uncertain. Who knows whether you will come back or whether you will go on and on, and disappear completely?The same fear comes in meditation. It is again going to be a deep orgasm, similar in many ways to a sexual orgasm – in a sense, exactly the same.Now, modern psychology, particularly Jung’s psychology, has come to discover a concept, a very old tantric concept. Tantra says that every man and woman is two, bi-sexual. No man is simply man: he is, in a way, woman also. And no woman is simply woman: deep down, there is a man hidden. So every individual, man or woman, is bi-sexual. The other is hidden beneath.In deep meditation, a sexual orgasm happens – not with someone outside you, but with your own polar opposite within. You meet there: your woman and your man meet. The meeting is spiritual, not bodily. They penetrate each other, yin and yang. They penetrate each other, they become one, they merge.Meditation is a deep sexual orgasm between your own two polar opposites. The same fear comes again. If you move deeply into meditation, one day, sooner or later, you will come to know: “Now the last moment has come. Death is going to occur: now I will die.” Fear will grip you. In that fear, you may come back. If you come back, you will have missed a great opportunity. It comes only rarely, very rarely. Lives and lives pass before this rare moment comes when you start feeling a deep orgasm within. The inner woman and the inner man are meeting, your two polar opposites are penetrating each other, becoming one. You are at the moment when you can become whole. But there will be fear, because the ego will be lost. You as you know yourself, the image, will be lost. You will die, something else will emerge. A new being, not related at all with the old one, discontinuous with the old one, will be there. But you will die, with all your past. Fear comes.Death is encountered in meditation and death is encountered in sexual orgasm. But if you can encounter these deaths, you will become capable of encountering the ultimate death: the death of the body – and without fear. Once you know that you can lose yourself and yet can be, once you know that losing is not really losing but gaining, once you know that merging is not death but life eternal – once you have known it, there is no death for you. Your body will die, everything that you have will die, but you – the very being, the very ground of your existence – are eternal.And it is good: if you can experience death in sex, sex itself becomes spiritual, it becomes a meditation. Once you can know it with the outer woman or outer man, with the beloved or the lover, it will be easy for you to move into meditation and create the same phenomenon within that you have known without.But one can also create it directly in the inner realm. It will be difficult, but it can be created. Once it is created and you have known a deep meeting, a deep communion within your own two polar opposites, outward sex will disappear. Sex without is just a substitute for this sex within. And meditation, I call sex within. You are alone, in a deep orgasm with your own polar opposite.Wherever you can feel death, feel it. Don’t escape. Death is beautiful, death is the greatest mystery, more mysterious than life. Through life you can gain the world, the futile world – meaningless, worthless. Through death you can gain the eternal. Death is the door.Socrates was dying – poison had been given to him. His face seemed ecstatic, so his friends asked him, “Socrates, you are going to die within moments. Why are you looking so happy, so blissful? We have never seen anyone dying with such a blissful face, with such ecstatic eyes. What is the matter? What is happening to you?”Socrates said, “I am entering death, the great mystery. Life is nothing before it. The unknown is opening before me, the unlimited, the uncharted. I am on a great voyage. I am losing myself, but gaining the whole universe, the whole existence.”Don’t be afraid of death. The fear of death debars you from all deep experiences: of love, of meditation, of ecstasy. Once you are afraid of death, you are debarred from all deep experiences.Be ready to die, and then life, eternal life, will be yours.Jesus says: “Whosoever tries to save himself will lose himself. And whosoever is ready to lose himself will attain himself.”

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 25 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Something about the Tratak Meditation… At night when you are doing Tratak – staring with unblinking eyes toward me, your hands raised, jumping, crying the mantra hoo – what basically are we doing? What are we doing, what is the inner process, and what is going to happen through it?The first thing: when you stare with unblinking eyes, your energy becomes concentrated. Eyes are the doors through which you can move out or in.It is just like breathing: breath goes out and then comes in, then it goes out and comes in. You exhale and inhale. In the same way, you exhale and inhale consciousness through the eyes. This is one of the secrets of Yoga and has to be deeply understood. Just as you exhale and inhale breath through your nostrils, you inhale and exhale consciousness through the eyes. It is very subtle.Consciousness is all around you, just as breath is all around you; there is air, there is oxygen… You cannot be alive if you are not breathing. You cannot be more conscious if you are not aware of a subtle breathing of consciousness through the eyes.Concentrating the eyes makes you aware of this. Not only aware, but a master of it. Once you know the secret of how to breathe consciousness through your eyes, you can accumulate more consciousness within you. With more conscious, you will be more alive; with more conscious, you will be more alert. With more conscious, new doors of perception will open.Have you ever noticed that all over the world we have called those who have known the truth, the seers, drashta: those who have seen. In India we have called the whole phenomenon darshan: seeing. What does it mean?Darshan is not philosophy. Hermann Hesse has coined a new word to translate darshan: he calls it philosia. Philosophy means love of thinking, love of inquiry. Philosia means love of seeing, not of thinking. Philo means love, sia means to see.Darshan – seeing, perception – has been used for those who have known, realized. It is deeply related to the eyes. You can breathe consciousness through your eyes, so any concentrated staring makes your eyes more open, and you can be filled with more consciousness.When I say “Stare at me,” I mean other things also. When you are staring at me, I can communicate with you deeply, without words. When words are used it is an indirect communication. Nothing is certain about words: you may not understand what is being said, or you may misunderstand. The possibility is always of misunderstanding, because when I say something my meaning is not traveling to you, only my words. The content is not reaching you, only the container. And then you will supply the contents.I say “God” – the word travels toward you, you hear the word God. But what was my meaning? My meaning remains with me. The word comes to you, the container without the content – vacant – and you fill the container, you give meaning to it. That meaning will be yours, not mine. There is no way to convey the truth through words. Only misunderstanding can be conveyed. Language is basically a distortion. Nothing can be done about it, it is so.But there are methods in which direct communication is possible. When you are staring at me, a moment is possible when your eyes have become fixed, unblinking, and you are sucking in consciousness. The flow of consciousness is wider, more vital. Then I can convey something directly through that current. Mind will not be involved: the communication will go directly to you, there will be no interpretation. Those waves of consciousness can be used as a vehicle. Then you are receiving – through staring eyes.I ask you to go on jumping. Why? – for a particular reason. When you jump, your energy moves quickly within. When you are jumping your energy is in movement, it circulates more. Life energy circulates just like blood, it is a subtle circulation.If you have heard about Chinese acupuncture you will be able to understand it more easily. They say that vital energy flows in the body, and there are points in the body, eight hundred points, where that energy can be contacted. When you are ill, a particular contact point in the body has become nonfunctioning: it is not in contact with the universal energy. The contact has to be restructured, the contact has to be renewed. Just pushing or stroking or massaging or inserting pins will hammer that small point of energy to make it alive, and a particular disease will disappear.According to acupuncture, a disease comes because you are not in contact with the universal energy around you: the contact is missing. Just as blood circulates in your body, subtle energy, your vitality, circulates. I ask you to jump… In that jumping, the energy is circulating more, just as blood begins to circulate more. In that jumping, every cell of your body becomes more alive. Your eight hundred points of contact with the universal energy are more alive and vital, more receptive, more open. Then, even without your eyes, I can contact your other centers. Then, even with a blind man, communication is possible. But eyes are the focal points, no other energy is so great, so big. So use your eyes, but also use the whole circuit of your body energy to make it more alive.Then I ask you to go on loudly repeating the mantra hoo. This is to hit your sex center from within, because the sex center is the source of all energies. If the source is not hit, nothing great is possible; no transformation is possible.So three things… One: with staring eyes, you will be sucking in consciousness, and I can communicate through that sucking. Secondly: by jumping, the life energies begin to circulate more, and you will be in deep contact with the universal force. I can communicate through that also. And thirdly: your sex center is hit by the mantra hoo. The sex center is the most vital energy point, the source of all energies. With that hitting, the sex center opens within.The sex center can open in two ways. One is opening outwardly. What happens when you become attracted to the opposite sex: it opens outward, your energy starts flowing outward. Even if the attraction was just in your imagination, and the other is not aware of it, you are losing energy.Don’t be confused and think that semen is sex energy. Semen is just the vehicle – not exactly sex energy, just the vehicle for it. It is just the material part of it, not the real, psychic energy. So when you become attracted to the opposite sex you are not losing semen, but you are losing energy. Energy is dissipated. Whenever you think about sex you are dissipating energy – the sex is through your imagination, but energy is still moving outward.When you hit the sex center from within, through the mantra hoo… I am not using om because of this point: when you say om only the heart center is hit. Om cannot move deeper than the heart. But om was used in past days because man was more simple, more centered at the heart and less centered at the sex. Now so many things have changed and man is quite different. He is more centered near the sex than at the heart. Om has become less useful.Hoo goes directly to the sex center and hits it. If you say “Hoo!” loudly, you will feel your sex center hit from within. This constant hammering within… When I am communicating with you, when your eyes are staring at me and you are concentrated on me, when your whole body is jumping and alive and in deep contact with the cosmic forces – if you hit your sex center at the right moment, at that moment, it is broken from within and energy rushes up. And when sex energy rushes up… It is not semen, remember, it is sex energy: the spiritual part of semen. Just as you have a body and a soul, the semen’s body is material and the soul is sex energy.The energy rushes upward, it passes through your spine. It moves through your seven centers and comes to the last center, the sahasrar. This passing rush, this flood of energy cleanses you completely. Every center in you is cleansed, becomes fresh, alive, moving. When the energy reaches the last center, the sahasrar, you are a different man.With each center that is passed, you are a different man. Gurdjieff has talked about seven types of men. He calls them “Man Number One,” “Man Number Two,” “Man Number Three,” and so on. If you had gone to Gurdjieff – and he was one of the greatest masters of this age – if you had gone to him and asked him something about man he would have immediately asked, “What type of man are you talking about? Tell me the number: number one, number two, number three – because the word man is meaningless. There are seven types of man, so if you are asking about Man Number One my answer will be one thing, if you are talking about Man Number Two my answer will be different. About whom are you asking?”Seven chakras, and with each chakra you are a different man. With the first chakra, the sex center, you are just an animal. Just an animal. Just above the animal but not far away – just on the boundary. Below you is the animal world, above you is the world of humanity, and you are just on the boundary. That’s why religions have been so against sex, because it is the highest point for animals and the lowest for man. If you remain centered at the sex center you are only the highest animal, nothing more.When the energy moves to the second center, you become Man Number Two. New qualities develop in you. When energy moves to the third center, again more, new dimensions become open to you. And when the energy comes to the last, the sahasrar, you transcend humanity: you are no longer man. And unless man transcends humanity, he cannot find the ultimate.Man must transcend himself. Only then is he fulfilled.Nietzsche has said that the worst day in the world will be the day when man forgets about transcending himself. Man is just an arrow. If you remain at the bow you are useless. An arrow that remains at the bow is useless. Unless you leave the bow you are not really an arrow. At the sex center, man is just like an arrow at the bow. The journey has not yet started: ready to start, but never starting.This night meditation, Tratak Meditation, is for all these things. I am trying to push your arrow to leave the bow. Once you leave the bow, you enter a different world.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 26 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Someone has asked a very beautiful question. The question is a really a Zen koan. It will be useful first to understand what a Zen koan is, only then can the question be dealt with.Zen has a special method of meditation. They call it “koan” or “ko-an.” A koan is a puzzle. But it is not like an ordinary puzzle. It is a puzzle that cannot be solved. Ordinary puzzles can be solved, they are meant to be solved – they may be difficult, but they are not impossible. A koan is an impossible puzzle. You cannot solve it, there is no way to solve it.For example, this is a Zen koan: What is the sound of one hand clapping? If you use two hands a sound is created, but if you use only one hand, what sound is created?This is a koan. Impossible to solve! Whatsoever you say will be wrong. Unless you remain totally silent, everything will be wrong. The koan is to create a total silence in you, where no answer is coming. If answers are coming they will go on being wrong answers, because every answer is wrong. There can be no sound created by one hand.But if you say “No sound can be created,” you have missed the point – because everyone knows that obviously no sound can be created. But the teacher is still asking you, “If a sound is created by one hand, what will that sound be?” He also knows that no sound can be created, so there is no need to tell him and to try to be wiser than he. You have missed the point. You have to meditate on the koan, and find out what type of sound will be created if a sound can be created by one hand.You go on thinking. You have to use every way, every method, every technique to think about it. You have to dream about it, meditate on it, concentrate on it. Many answers will be given by your mind – and you already know that no answer is possible. Still, your mind will go on saying, “Try this.” “Try this.” “This may do.” You may say that no answer is possible, but the realization is not very deep because your mind goes on giving answers.While I am talking, you must be trying to find out what type of sound can be created by one hand; that means your mind is puzzled by this impossible puzzle. Go on thinking, thinking…When you go to your master to give him the answer, he may beat you or throw you out of the room saying “Go! This is stupid!” Whatsoever answer you bring he is going to beat you, because no answer is possible until you come without any answers, until you come in total silence. The master will know because your face will be different when there is no answer within, no thought within. When you have come in total silence, the master will know. He may bow down to you, he may touch your feet.These koans are for meditation: to help you to go beyond the mind, beyond mentation, beyond minding – the continuous fuss in the mind. The mind goes on thinking, thinking, thinking. These koans are so that you can stop thinking. They are impossible to solve so you cannot think about them. Finally, you have to stop thinking. It may take time, but you are only wasting energy. Sometimes years pass, and you have not come to the end of thinking.When you come to the end of thinking, a gap is created, an interval. In that interval, you realize yourself – not the answer to the koan. But thinking has stopped because of the koan, the device. You are bored with it; you cannot think anymore, you simply cease to think. You remain silent. The puzzle has stopped puzzling you. In that silent moment, you realize yourself.Now, this question is a koan. Someone has asked:Osho,Does a dog have buddha nature?And this is a very important question! If you answer yes or no, you lose your own buddha nature. This is a Zen koan. It has been continuously used for two thousand years. The teacher, the master, gives this koan to his disciple: “Go and find out whether a dog has buddha nature or not.” It is not yet a puzzle, because you can answer yes or no. Then it immediately… This is a very significant thing. If you answer yes, or if you say no, in both ways you miss your own buddha nature. So what to do?If you say yes you lose your own buddha nature; if you say no you lose your own buddha nature.One of the greatest Zen masters, Rinzai, used to use this koan. He would say, “If you say yes, I will beat you. If you say no, I will beat you. Go and find the answer – find out whether a dog has a buddha nature or not. And whatever answer you come back with, I am going to beat you!” It became puzzling. But the puzzle was purposeful, because no answer was needed.If you say yes, why do you miss your own buddha nature? If you say no, why do you miss your own buddha nature? If you say “Yes, a dog has it,” you miss, because how can a dog have buddha nature when even Gautam Buddha had to struggle for lives to attain it? If a dog already has it, then Gautam Buddha was just stupid. What was he struggling for? He was struggling and struggling for lives to find his buddha nature, to find the ultimate soul within – and even a dog has it? Then Buddha falls lower than a dog!If you say no – if you say “No, a dog does not have a buddha nature,” then again you miss, because if a dog has not got it then there is no possibility of any evolution. Then how can the dog grow to be a buddha one day? Every buddha has been a dog one day, an animal one day, even lower than an animal, a vegetable, even lower than a vegetable. Everyone has been through all these stages. If someone, Gautam Siddharth, becomes a buddha and he has once been a dog, an animal, a plant, a tree, everything – if this buddha nature comes to be realized one day, how can it happen if it was not already there? It is just a manifestation, it must have been hidden somewhere. So you cannot say no, because a dog has a hidden buddha nature. It is nowhere to be found manifested in him, hidden deep down, it is there.So both answers miss the point. And by missing the point you miss your own buddha nature, because you are a dog, an animal – not yet a buddha. If you say yes, then you will not endeavor to attain it, because it is futile to endeavor for that which you have already got. And if you say no, the possibility is closed. Both answers miss the point. But if you go on thinking about it, just by thinking about these two contradictory answers…Go on thinking about it. Stop all other thinking and concentrate your whole consciousness on this point: whether a dog has a buddha nature or not. Go on thinking of all the possibilities, all the alternatives, all the arguments for and against. Go on thinking about it, make it a deep meditation. Then suddenly one day thinking will stop, because you cannot find any alternative through thinking. And when thinking stops, it is not going to be that you will get the answer to the koan. The koan is not meant for that. When thinking stops, you will realize your own buddha nature.Whenever somebody went to the Zen master Bokuju he would give them this puzzle: whether a dog has a buddha nature or not. Everyone knew about it. Even newcomers knew that he was going to give them this koan.A newcomer came. He must have been a wise man – at least in his own eyes. The disciple thought, “I’m not going to give Bokuju a chance to ask me this puzzle, I will ask it first. Let us see what will happen”He came with many friends. At the moment Bokuju was about to utter the words, the disciple said, “Stop! First let me ask you a question. Does a dog have a buddha nature or not?”And you know what Bokuju did? – it is better that I should repeat it. He said, “Bow-wow!” – he became a dog. He didn’t answer, and he did answer. He was saying, “I am both, both dog and god. The lowest within me is a dog and the highest within me is a god.”Don’t get entangled in the duality – transcend both. That was the meaning of his laughter. Laughter transcends both.Now get ready for the meditation.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 27 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,Are mind and consciousness separate things? Or is the silent mind, or the concentrated mind, what is called “consciousness”?It depends, it depends on your definition. But to me, mind is that part which has been given to you. It is not yours. Mind means the borrowed, mind means the cultivated, mind means that with which the society has penetrated you. It is not you.Consciousness is your nature; mind is just the circumference created by the society around you, the culture, your education.Mind means the conditioning. So, you can have a Hindu mind, you cannot have a Hindu consciousness. You can have a Christian mind, you can’t have a Christian consciousness. Consciousness is one: it is not divisible. Minds are many. Societies are many, cultures, religions are many and each culture, each society, creates a different mind. Mind is a social by-product. And unless this mind dissolves, you cannot go within; you cannot know what is really your nature, what is authentically your existence, your consciousness.To struggle for meditation is to struggle against the mind. Mind is never meditative and mind is never silent, so to say “a silent mind” is meaningless, absurd. It is just like saying “a healthy disease.” It makes no sense. How can there be a disease that is healthy? Disease is disease, and health is the absence of disease.There is nothing like a silent mind. When there is silence, there is no mind. When there is mind, there is no silence. Mind, as such, is the disturbance, the dis-ease. Meditation is the state of no-mind – not of a silent mind, not of a healthy mind, not of a concentrated mind, no. Meditation is the state of no-mind: no society within you, no conditioning within you – just you, with your pure consciousness.In Zen they say: “Find your original face.” The face that you are using is not original, it is cultivated. It is not your face; it is just a facade, just a device. You have many faces, each moment you have to change it. You go on changing, and the changing becomes so automatic that you don’t even observe it, you don’t notice it.When you meet your servant you have one face. When you meet your boss you have a different face. And if your servant is sitting on your left side and your boss is sitting on your right, you have two faces. The left face is for the servant and the right face is for the boss. You are simultaneously two people. How can you have the same face for your servant? One of your eyes has a certain quality, a certain look. Your other eye has a different quality, a different look. It is meant for the boss and the other one is meant for the servant. But it has become so automatic, so mechanical, so robot-like that you go on changing your faces. You have multi-faces, and not a single one is the original.In Zen they say: find your original face, the face you had before you were born, or the face you will have when you are dead. What is that original face? – it is your consciousness. All your other faces are your mind.Remember well that you don’t have one mind, you have multi-minds. Forget the concept that everyone has one mind. You don’t have one mind, you have many – a crowd, a multiplicity. You are poly-psychic. In the morning you have one mind, in the afternoon a different mind and in the evening still a different mind. Every single moment you have a different mind.Mind is a flux: river-like, flowing, changing. Consciousness is eternal, one.It is not one thing in the morning and different in the evening. It is not one thing when you are born and different when you die. It is one and the same, the eternal. Mind is a flux. A child has a childish mind, an old man has an old mind; but a child or an old man have the same consciousness, which is neither childish nor old. It cannot be.Mind moves in time and consciousness lives in timelessness. They are not one. But we are identified with the mind. We go on saying, insisting, “My mind. I think this way. This is my thought. This is my ideology.” Because of this identification with the mind, you miss that which you really are.Dissolve these links with the mind. Remember that your minds are not your own. They have been given to you by others: your parents, your society, your university. They have been given to you. Throw them away, remain with the simple consciousness that you are – pure consciousness, innocent.This is how one moves from mind to meditation.This is how one moves away from society, from the without to the within. This is how one moves from the man-made world, the maya, to the universal truth, existence.This is what we are doing here: throwing away the mind.When I insist “Go mad,” I am saying to you “Throw away the mind.” When I say “Pass through a catharsis,” I am saying “Throw away everything that society has given to you and remain only with that which you are – not given, but born with, your nature.”Throw off all inhibitions, repressions, ideas, attitudes, concepts. Be simple, childlike, innocent, and then you have entered a different dimension. Then you can move into the world of the unknown. Mind belongs to the world of the known; truth is always unknown. That’s why truth cannot be known through mind. Mind means the past, and truth means the ever-present. That’s why you cannot approach the truth through the mind. Mind is the barrier, the only hindrance.Now get ready for the morning meditation.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 28 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,I am seeking and wandering. Tell me, how can I find a master? And how am I to be certain that he is the right master for me? What are the criteria? How to judge? How am I to know whether he is the man to lead me? How can one be certain?This question may be the question of many. Everyone is searching. You can seek, but you cannot find. But seeking is necessary, because if you don’t seek, nothing will happen. Go on seeking, but know that just by seeking you cannot find, because it is impossible for the disciple to know who the right guru is. It is impossible for the lower to judge the higher. How can one judge “This is the master for me?” If you can judge and decide, then you have gone above the master.The disciple can never find the master. Only the master can find the disciple.So the disciple has to go on seeking and seeking and seeking just to be available to the masters, so that when the right man comes, he can choose you.Only the master can choose you; you cannot choose him. In the ancient secret wisdom of Egypt it was said that when the disciple is ready the master appears. It is so. If you are ready, the master will appear. And your readiness is your availability – it is to be available.Go on seeking. You will meet many teachers; be humble, learn with reverence and gratitude. But remember that not every teacher is your master. You will have to wait for the right master to appear. Go on, with deep humility, humbleness, receptivity. Move from teacher to teacher. You don’t know who the master is, but when you are ready, through this search the master will choose you.And the moment someone chooses you, be courageous enough to be chosen. Don’t try to escape when someone chooses you, because that’s what happens: you may be in search of a master, but when the master chooses you and says “Okay, I accept you,” you may try to escape, because the master is like death.I say, the master is like death. There is an old Indian saying: The master is death. Acharyo mrityuh – the master is death. He is, because he will destroy you as you are, just to create a new you. He will kill you just to give you a rebirth. He will restructure you. He’s going to give you rebirth, so death is necessary. So when the master chooses you, it appears as if death is coming. You may try to escape. Remember: you cannot find the master, but when the master finds you, be ready to die, be ready to surrender.But there is fear: “If that man is not right… How can I know if this man is the right master for me? How am I to know if he is the right one for me and I should now surrender?” That you cannot know. To know the right man you first have to be the right man; otherwise, how can you know? You have no experience of being right, so how can you feel whether this man is right for you? If you are already a right man then there is no need for a master. Even that is not possible. So what to do?I say it is not a question of the right man; it is a question of surrender. Surrender, even to the wrong man, is helpful.You may not be able to understand what I mean. Even to a wrong man, surrender is helpful; you are not losing anything. The real thing happens not because of the master, the real thing happens because of the surrender. If you have surrendered to the wrong man, no harm is going to happen to you, because a surrendered mind is protected by existence itself. No harm can be done to you. If you have surrendered to the wrong man, even by your very surrender that wrong man may be helped and may become an authentic master – because a real disciple changes a false master into an authentic master. The very surrendering is such a deep phenomenon that when it happens you are transformed and the other person is also transformed. But that is not your worry. Remember, no harm is going to happen to you if you surrender. Surrendering, in itself, is a miracle. Even if you have surrendered to a false master, you may learn many things from him. In this existence, nothing is a wastage. Even living with a false master is a learning. You are growing, you are becoming aware of certain things that you would never become aware of with an authentic master. You are maturing, you are becoming adult.And now, after learning from a false master, no false master will ever appeal to you again. At least you will now be able to judge who is false. You may not be able to judge who is right, but the step has already been taken: you can now judge who is false. And this is something worth learning! Now you can eliminate the false teachers, and the true teacher will be left. Now you know what is false, you will never again be magnetized by it.So be humble, even with a false master. Be respectful, be grateful, because you have learned many things from him. And when you leave him, leave with deep gratitude. Under him, you have become more mature.This is the right attitude for a disciple. The question is never of a right master or a wrong master. The question is always of right discipleship. Don’t think of the master at all. Just try to become a right disciple – the learning attitude, the receptivity to learn.And be grateful. This world is a great school, and the divine force uses every way and every means to create understanding in you. This understanding is helped by both the true and the false. Remember this, it will be helpful to you.Now get ready for the night meditation.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 29 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,This meditation seems to be sheer madness!It is, and it is that way for a purpose. It is madness with a method. It is consciously chosen.Remember, you cannot go mad voluntarily. Madness takes possession of you. Only then can you go mad. If you go mad voluntarily it’s a totally different thing. You are basically in control, and one who can control even his madness will never go mad.You can go mad at any moment because you have accumulated everything that is necessary to go into madness. Everyone is just on the verge of madness.I am reminded of an incident…One of the greatest psychologists of this century, William James, once went to visit a madhouse, a mental asylum. He was one of the sanest men possible, one who knew much about the human mind, its mechanism and its working.He visited a madhouse. Suddenly, he became sad. Looking at the madmen he became worried, a deep anguish overcame him. He left, but that night he couldn’t sleep. In the morning he was trembling – a fear, as if a deep fear had been awakened.His wife became disturbed, his students became disturbed. They asked, “What has happened to you? Your face looks pale, deathly pale. Are you ill? But you were okay. Yesterday you were okay, healthy, everything was good. What happened to you in the madhouse?”William James said, “A thought came to me. I saw one of my old friends there. He was sane once, as sane as anyone. Now he is mad, and he couldn’t do anything to prevent it. A thought came to my mind that if, tomorrow or the next day, I am taken possession of by madness, how could I prevent it? Man is helpless. This friend of mine was as sane as me, or even more so. He couldn’t do anything, he has become mad. I also can become mad, and nothing can be done to prevent it. That helplessness makes me sad.“Last night I couldn’t sleep. At any moment madness may come and I cannot do anything to prevent it. I am on the verge.”And William James remained sad his whole life. He couldn’t forget that mad friend who had once been okay and now there was nothing that could bring him back from that world of madness.Anyone can become mad at any moment. But I was not there to talk to William James, otherwise I would have said to him that something can be done to prevent it. Go mad voluntarily! Use madness as a method to be relieved of madness. Throw the madness out of your system, don’t go on accumulating and repressing it. Allow it to escape from you, don’t preserve it.This looks paradoxical. Those who look so sane are mad within. At any moment their layer of sanity can be broken. That layer is only skin deep, anything can break it. And you all go mad temporarily: if someone insults you, that layer is broken. Anger erupts, you explode. What is your anger? – temporary madness. Then you pull yourself back together again, repair the hole, the leakage, and you are sane again. But your sanity is just so-so. At any moment, anything can make you mad. Your sanity is just hidden madness.My method teaches you to throw out that hidden madness. Don’t allow it to remain in your system; it is poisonous. Don’t accumulate it, release it. If your total madness is released, there is no possibility of your ever going mad. Once you can feel a non-mad being within, you have gone beyond madness, you have transcended.It is only impossible that a buddha go mad. Everyone else can go mad, only a buddha cannot. Why only a buddha? – because he has thrown all his madness out.Meditation means throwing out your madness. When there is no poison within you, you will have a different quality of being. You can fly, you become weightless. Then, bliss is not something that happens to you; it is not something that comes to you from without. It is something that arises in you, it is something that is your inherent nature. Then, bliss is not accidental. It is you: it is your nature, it is your Tao, your being, your very existence. Then, no one can take this bliss from you.Unless this layer of hidden madness is thrown out completely, your source of bliss cannot start functioning, flowing. It cannot become a continuous stream, a river. Throw out this stone, this block, and allow the inner source of bliss to flow. Not only will you be blissful, even others will get the infection.When you are sad, you make others sad. You may know it or you may not know it. When you are ill you make others ill, because others are not so much “others.” We are linked together: existence is a togetherness. Nothing happens to you without it happening to others also. We vibrate into each other, we penetrate each other. Your sadness, your madness, affects others.In the West there is now a therapy called “Family Therapy” or “Group Therapy.” They say that if one member of the family is mad, then the whole family has to be treated. The whole family is bound to be mad, otherwise how could one member of the family become mad? And unless the whole family is treated, that one member cannot be helped. But if you look deeply, then why only the whole family? Why not the whole society? And why only the society? Why not the whole world?We are part of a mad world. This group therapy will not help, we need a world therapy. But who is going to help? – because the psychoanalyst himself is mad. The helper is also helpless, the guide himself is misguided. So everything is just a temporary arrangement: one madman helping another and waiting to be helped by someone else, the blind leading the blind.You cannot wait for the whole world to be treated. You will die first – you are not going to be here forever. If the whole world is mad, if madness is something like an ocean surrounding us all, then you cannot wait: there is no time.I say, group therapy, or even world therapy, is not going to help. Only one thing can be of help: you, as an individual, please don’t accumulate madness. Throw it out, release it. Once the madness is released, the source of your bliss opens, becomes flowing. The river is there, you will be filled by it, and then you will be overflowing. And your overflowing bliss will help all the others who are around you, it will penetrate them.Health is as infectious as disease. You may not have heard that health is infectious, but if disease can be infectious, why not health? I tell you, if there are germs of disease, there are germs of health, but they are more subtle. And if there are currents of madness, I tell you, there are currents of bliss. They are more subtle, more delicate, more invisible.Release your madness and soon you will find that you are also releasing a blissful current, a river-like flow that goes on and on.Whenever one becomes a buddha the whole world participates in it. The world may know or may not know, but whenever there is a Buddha, in a way the whole world flowers. It becomes more aware, more alert, more blissful, more silent.Now get ready to be mad!

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 30 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,What is the difference between surrender and blind faith or belief?Many things have to be understood. First: the difference between faith and belief. And second: the difference between surrender and faith.Belief is always blind and cannot be otherwise. Belief, as such, is blind. No belief is possible if you can see, because belief means you don’t know and still you believe. If you know, there is no need of belief. Something you know, you know: there is no need to believe in it. The need for belief comes only when you don’t know. Belief is part of ignorance.I am here. If you know it, there is no need to believe in it. Belief is unnecessary: knowledge needs no belief. If you believe in something it means you don’t know and yet you think you know.When someone says he believes in God, it means he has not yet known God. That’s why he believes. But the belief creates such an atmosphere around him, creates such an attitude within him that he begins to feel that he knows.Someone asked Shri Aurobindo, “Do you believe in God?”He answered, “No.”The man was bewildered. He couldn’t conceive, he couldn’t imagine, that Aurobindo would say no to the question. He asked, “What are you saying? Are you an atheist?”Aurobindo still said, “No.”The man said, “Why are you creating a puzzle? You say you don’t believe in God and then when I ask if you are an atheist you again say no. What do you mean? You are contradicting yourself.”Shri Aurobindo said, “Wait a little. You aren’t allowing me to say anything more than no. When I say no, you start asking other things. Wait a little. I was saying that I don’t believe in God because I know him. Because I know him I don’t believe in him. He is. This is not a belief. This is my knowledge, my knowing.”Knowledge comes from seeing, and belief is blind. Belief, as such, is blind. There can be no belief with seeing; it is contradictory. Belief means blind. To say “a blind belief” is just repetition.Then what is faith? Faith is also blind, but in a different sense. Faith is blind in a different sense because it has its own way of seeing. It is not seeing through reason, it is seeing through the heart.Knowledge is of reason. Belief is also of reason. Knowledge and belief are both of the head. Knowledge has eyes and belief is blind, but both belong to the head center, to the intellect. Belief is intellectual.Faith is emotional, intuitive, of the heart. It has its own eyes, but those eyes are not of reason, those are the eyes of love. People say that love is blind. It is, because it has no rational eyes. But it has its own eyes, and better ones. The heart has its own reasons and they are better than rational reasons. Faith is trust, it is not belief. Faith is trust, deep love, trusting love.And the other difference: belief is always in some idea, ideology. Faith is always personal. Faith is not in some idea but in a person.You can say “I believe in God” – God is an idea. You cannot say “I believe in Jesus,” you can only say “I have faith in Jesus.” It is a personal love affair, it is a deep trust. Faith means faith in someone. Belief means belief in something. Faith is a deep, personal relationship. It has its own eyes, the eyes of the heart.There are basic differences. Reason is analysis, reason is argument, reason is an intellectual process. The heart synthesizes, it is not analytical, it is not argumentative. It is intuitive.What is intuition? When you fall in love with someone, what happens? Can you give any reason why you have fallen in love with a particular person? Why? Why is Majnu in love with Laila?It is reported that because of the anguish of Majnu, the king of the country became very worried. Majnu was weeping, crying, going from street to street looking for Laila, his beloved.Laila’s father had moved from the city because of Majnu. He was not willing for them to be together, he was against it. Even the king heard about the love affair, and the weeping and crying and anguish of Majnu.He is reported to have called Majnu to the palace. He said, “You are stupid. I have seen your Laila. She is just an ordinary girl. So why are you making a fool of yourself? Look at these girls” He had called twelve beautiful girls, the most beautiful in the city. He said to Majnu, “Choose any one of them. Laila is nothing compared to any of these girls.”Majnu said, “But how can you see Laila? To see Laila you need Majnu’s eyes. You cannot see her. You must have missed her, because Laila is incomparable. There has never been a woman like her and never will be. But I understand you. Laila can be seen only through Majnu’s eyes. You cannot see her. That is why she may have looked ordinary to you – because you don’t have my eyes.”This is intuitive, of the heart. When you fall in love with someone, you don’t have any rational grounds. That’s why we call it falling – falling from the head. No one says that someone has risen in love with someone. “Fallen” – because we live in the head and the heart is below. When someone is in love he has fallen from the head, he has gone mad, he is “in love.”Why do you fall in love? What are the reasons? No mathematics is involved, no logic. You need not be an Aristotle to fall in love. To be Majnu is enough. When you fall in love what has happened? You have felt something. You have felt something so deeply that your total personality is involved in it, not only your head. Your body, your heart, your soul, everything is involved in it – your totality. This involvement is not something that can be calculated by you. It has happened to you. It is a happening; it is not a doing on your part.Faith is just like love, with one difference. In love, you are on an equal level, on the same level. Faith is love with a person who is higher than you. It is love with reverence – something deeper than love, higher than love, but love is there.Those who gathered around Buddha were in love, in deep love with the man. Not only in love: reverence was there also. Love plus reverence is equal to faith.Faith is something that one should not miss. Belief is just ordinary. It is good not to get involved in beliefs, because they make you a Hindu, a Mohammedan, a Christian. They make you divided; they make a conflict of the whole earth. Beliefs create fight, struggle, wars. Belief divides. It is good not to have beliefs, but to have faith is a deep experience. Faith will not divide you with anyone, it will unite you with someone. Belief will not unite you with anyone, it will simply divide you with everyone. Ideas, ideology is divisive. Faith is unitive.Have faith. That means, be ready to fall in love with someone, with deep reverence. And then, surrender. What is surrender? – surrender is to be ready for faith. Surrender means to be yielding, to allow faith to happen. Surrender means to be receptive, to be unguarded, to be vulnerable, open.If you come in contact with a buddha, with a master, yield to him. Don’t resist him because you are resisting yourself, you are fighting against yourself. If you resist a master you are not allowing him to work; you are not helping him to help you. You are creating problems, unnecessary anxieties, unnecessary barriers. You already have too much nonsense; don’t create more barriers. The master will have to do much work upon you as you are, even if you have surrendered. If you are non-surrendering, you are creating unnecessary troubles and it will become impossible to help you: you would be against yourself.Surrender means: don’t be against yourself. Yield, allow, cooperate, so that something can be done and you can be transformed.The master, the guru, is a person with whom you are in deep love and faith and reverence. It is not just a relationship, it is a deep creativity. He can create you, he can transform you, he can give you a new birth. But you will have to be ready to pass through many things. Many unknown paths will have to be traveled, many unknown doors will have to be passed through, many unknown locks will have to be opened. If you are not in a deep surrender you will not move into this unknown territory, you will resist. You need a deep trust so that when the master moves into the unknown you can follow him like a shadow.Surrender means a deep yes-attitude to the master. Never say no because if you say no, you have taken yourself in your own hands. If you say yes, you are in his hands.I will tell you an anecdote:There was a great master, a Sufi master. A disciple came to him – this disciple became very famous later on. His name was Bayazid Bastami.Bayazid came to his master. The master looked into his eyes and said, “Remain silent.” The disciple had not even uttered a single word, he had not said anything, he had not even been introduced. This was the first thing the master said. He looked into the eyes of Bayazid and said, “Remain silent.”Bayazid thought, “He may be occupied. I will wait.” But the waiting lasted for twelve years. How could Bayazid speak when the master said “Remain silent”? He remained with his master for twelve years, not speaking a single word.Many came and went: in these twelve years, crowds came and went. Bayazid was there, just waiting, waiting. It was a long, long wait – twelve years! And because the master had said “Don’t speak. Remain silent,” he would not speak to anyone else either. He was totally silent.By and by, thoughts dropped. If you don’t use them they drop, because by using them you give them energy and fuel. Finally, thinking stopped. Twelve years, no speaking, no talking, just waiting. The mind dropped. Suddenly one day…The first time that Bayazid had come, the master had looked into his eyes. After twelve years, he looked again into Bayazid’s eyes and said, “But now there is no need to speak” – as if this was the second sentence, connected with the first; as if there had been no twelve years of waiting and he was still speaking: “Remain silent. Now there is no need to speak.” But there was a gap of twelve years between these two sentences!Bayazid laughed. The master said, “Now you can go and teach others. You are ready. You have become a master in your own right.”People asked the old master again and again, “How did this happen? This young man was not doing anything and now you say he has become a master in his own right. He was just waiting here, wasting time. He looks stupid, dull. He has not even uttered a single sentence. He may be dumb! He goes on sitting and sitting; he is just lazy. What are you saying? How can it be that he has become a master in his own right when he has not practiced anything?”The master said, “But he need not practice anything. He didn’t need to. He simply surrendered, and I could work. He said yes, there was no need on his part to do anything else. A total yes was enough on his part. Then I entered him and worked. For these twelve years I have been working. He was simply allowing.”This is what surrender means: allow, relax your ego. Then, much is possible. Otherwise, you go on destroying yourself, doing things against yourself.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 31 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,You say, “I have come not to teach but to awaken.” What do you mean by this?Teaching is not the basic thing, because teaching can give you knowledge but not wisdom. Teaching can give you doctrines but not transformation. You may become more knowledgeable, but that makes no difference to the quality of your consciousness. You can be taught many things, but you will remain the same.Information is gathered: you know more. Knowledge is accumulated, but the being within remains the same. The being cannot be changed through knowledge. It can be changed only through awareness, greater awareness, expanding consciousness.So when I say “I have come not to teach but to awaken,” I mean I am not a teacher. I am not interested in giving you more knowledge, in making you more informed. That is futile. I am not interested in making your head more burdened – you are already too burdened.I want to make you unburdened, so I am not going to give you more knowledge. Rather, on the contrary, I will destroy your knowledge. You must be freed of all the nonsense you know. You know too much about God, too much about religion, too much about the soul. You know too much – and it has not helped, it has not led you anywhere. Scriptures are heavy upon you. Doctrines have become a dead weight. Throw all that away! When I say “I have come to awaken,” I mean: throw all that away. Be unburdened, be free from knowledge, so that you can know.When one is freed from knowledge, one can know.Knowing is a quality of your being. Man can grow in two dimensions: the dimension of knowledge or the dimension of being. For example, if you were to meet Kabir or you were to meet Mohammed… They were not men of knowledge, men of letters. They were not even educated, they were totally uneducated. If you were to meet Kabir you would not be meeting a man who knows, you would be meeting a man who is. This is the difference between being and knowledge. He will affect you, he will change you by his being. If you were to ask him a question he might not be able to answer it. Or, even if he was able to, he might not be interested in answering it. His being, his very being, is his only teaching. Even if he talks, he talks in order to make you silent. Even if he teaches, he teaches in order to destroy all your knowledge.Gurdjieff used to say, “Come to me only if you are ready to leave your knowledge, come to me only if you are ready to renounce what you know, because I can only work with a child – fresh, innocent.”You have too much written on your being – unnecessary, unessential, contradictory, inconsistent. Too much is written there, and now that writing on your soul is destroying you. Throw it off. Be a clean slate again. That’s what I mean: I am here to awaken you.I teach, I talk, because you can only understand the language of words; you are not yet capable of understanding the language of silence. When you are able to understand it, I will not teach, I will not talk. This is just to help you, through your own language.For example, if there is a thorn in your foot and I want to pull it out, I may use another thorn. But that doesn’t mean that I believe in the other thorn. The thorn in your foot can be pulled out with another thorn, but then I will throw them both away; they are the same.I teach because you are so burdened with teachings. My teaching is just a thorn to pull out your thorn. The moment it is pulled out, both will be thrown away. I’m not going to replace your knowledge. It is not that you have to throw out what you know and put what I am teaching in its place. Throw both away.Be totally unburdened and clean, fresh, empty, because only in emptiness can godliness descend in you.Create room within yourself. Because of your knowledge, there is no room within you. You don’t have any space, you are a junkyard. Create some space. Throw out all that is there in the mind. Throw it out. Create some room. Only that room can become the host, the host for the divine guest.Now get ready for the morning meditation.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 32 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,Please explain the reasons for your raising your hands upward and then bringing them downward in the night meditation.It is significant. While doing the night meditation I raise my hands slowly upward, my palms facing the sky. That is just to help your energy to flow upward, a symbolic gesture so that you can jump when my hands are going up and you can feel your energy moving upward: your kundalini uncoiling, the serpent within trying to reach the sky, your sex energy moving upward to the sahasrar.When I feel that you are ready – your energy has become vibrant, active; you are feeling it and jumping with it and you are attuned to me – then I raise my hands slowly upward, my palms facing toward the sky. The first thing: to indicate to you to move with me, with my hands, to silently move upward with my hands. And secondly: to face the inner sky, to remain open to the sky within. Let your face be toward the inner sky – not the outer face, not your outer eyes. Your outward eyes are fixed on me. Let your inner soul open upward. Only then can your energy meet the cosmic energy, the divine energy.So be open. Be ready for an encounter with the sky, with the divine, with existence. Go on jumping, moving, and remain open. Then, when I feel you are ready and open, that the energy is moving and a moment has come when contact with the cosmos is possible, I turn my palms downward. Again, this is a gesture, a gesture that now the cosmic energy, the divine force, is surrounding you, you are under it. My palms are just symbolic: now you are under a cosmic force, and the cosmic force is descending upon you.First, you were jumping upward, you were raising yourself upward. First, you were moving upward to meet the divine. Now, the divine is moving downward to meet you. You have to go on jumping even more vigorously, because this is the moment. When I turn my palms downward, remember, don’t miss the moment. Bring your total energy to the meditation. Stare at me, jump strongly, go completely mad. This is the moment!If you are ready, and jumping, and vibrant, you have come to the point of evaporation, just as water evaporates at 100 degrees. If it is at 90 degrees it becomes warm, it may become hot, but it cannot evaporate. Only at a fixed point, 100 degrees, is the water transformed so that it is no longer water. And the quality of it changes. Water flows downward, that is its inherent quality. But the moment it evaporates, it moves upward. It has become a vapor. Now, it is moving up, the very quality has changed. It was moving downward, now it is moving upward.At a particular point you can meet the divine. It is a cosmic orgasm – just like the sex act. Through your sex center you meet with nature. Through sahasrar, your energy is moving into the cosmos through your head, you meet the divine. It is also a sex act, known as samadhi. You are meeting existence itself.So when I turn my palms downward, remember, you have to go completely mad. Bring your total energy to it; nothing should be left behind. You must be one, whole, moving into it, involved completely and totally in it.You will feel the contact. The divine has touched you.A single touch, even for a single moment, and you will never be the same again. You are touched by the divine, you are transformed.The second question:Osho,I can surrender to you if you promise that I will be transformed.I promise that you will be transformed, but your asking is not good. If you make it a condition you are not surrendering. I promise you will be transformed, but on your part, if you ask for the promise, you are not ready to surrender.This is my promise, that you will be transformed. But don’t make it a condition because then there is no surrender, and if you are not surrendered, how can I transform you? So please, forget my promise.It will happen, it is going to happen, but don’t make it a condition, because with a condition there is no surrender. Surrender is unconditional, it cannot be otherwise.Even if through your surrender I lead you to hell, be ready for it. Only then is heaven possible. Your readiness to move with me to hell – this readiness transforms you.Really, your surrender transforms you; there is no need of me. I am just an excuse – because you cannot surrender to a vacuum, to emptiness, you can use me. But, really, there is no need for me. If you can simply surrender, without surrendering to anyone, then too it will happen. It happens through surrender.But it is difficult to surrender without surrendering to anyone. Our whole mind, the whole working of our consciousness, makes it impossible for us to surrender to the empty sky. If I say to you “Love!” you will ask me “Whom should I love?” Can you just love without loving anyone? It is difficult to conceive of how to love when there is no one to be loved.If you are alone on earth and there is no one except you, can you love? If you even try to imagine it, you will imagine loving some tree or loving some rock – but then again, the someone else has entered. A thou is needed: you cannot love without a thou there, present. The thou may be a tree, the thou may be a flower, the thou may be a rock – it makes no difference. But you must say to someone “I love you.” The you is needed.If you can love, simply love without there being any object of love, then you can also surrender without there being any object of surrender. It is difficult –rather, it is impossible to conceive of surrender just as an act within you, without there being anyone to be surrendered to.You can surrender to me. But surrender means that you are not asking for anything. Everything will be given, but don’t ask. Your asking becomes the barrier. Surrender means trust: even if nothing happens you will wait, you will not lose trust. Even if nothing happens and your whole life is wasted you will wait. If you can wait in such a deep way, everything will happen this very moment. It can happen this very moment! There is no need to promise for the future, it can happen here and now.But surrender, and surrender without any conditions, without asking for any promise. Your very asking will destroy the promise. I promise – but that promise is just a consequence, not a precondition. It will happen, because that’s how the law of the universe works.It is going to happen, but please, you need not be concerned about the result. Just be concerned with the act of surrendering, not with the result. Leave the result to the divine, to the eternal law, to the Tao.Now be ready for the night meditation.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 33 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,I am trying to do the meditations, making an effort, but the effort seems to be halfhearted. How can I make it wholehearted?It is halfhearted because you are withholding yourself. When you are jumping, dancing, screaming, you are not moving totally into it, because of fear. That fear creates the division. You are afraid that if you move totally into it, it may not be possible for you to come back. That is the fear. If you express your madness wholeheartedly, there is fear that you may not be able to come back from the madness: that it may take over, it may possess you. This fear creates a division. The major part stays in control and only the minor part is allowed to move. That movement becomes false because it is just imposed. The major part is still in control.Lose control and don’t be afraid. Fear is the barrier: the division comes through fear. Then you go on protecting yourself and, at the same time, allowing. The two are contradictory. And because of this contradiction, your effort is wasted. Energy is dissipated because you are fighting within yourself: one part is expressing, another part is controlling. You are contradictory, you are fighting. In this inner fight, your energy is wasted.Either move totally, or don’t move. Decide: “If I am going to do it, then I will get totally involved. Otherwise, I’m not going to do it.” But remain whole.And, I am here. If you cannot allow yourself to lose control here, while I am working on you, you will not be able to lose yourself totally when you are at home. Don’t be afraid to lose control, because I am here. I can help you in every way. And once you know that when you let go totally, once you know the bliss of it, the ecstasy of it even for a single moment, that total let-go will allow you to have a glimpse of the real. That glimpse will become the foundation. You will never be afraid again. Once you have moved to hell itself, to the very depths of madness, and you have come back again, for the first time you will be in control, never before. You were never in control before, because the fear was always there. The fear shows that you are not in control. Once you have gone to the very roots of your being and have returned, then you are in control. Then you are not afraid.Remember this and use this camp more wisely, because while I am here watching you, observing you, you need not be afraid. If you are afraid here, then back at home you will not be able to let go.This is the last day – be in a total let-go. And I promise you, there is nothing to fear. You are not going to lose anything by losing yourself in it, you are simply going to gain. You are not going to lose anything except your madness; you have nothing to lose.Karl Marx has said somewhere that the proletariat have nothing to lose but their chains. I would like to say the same thing to you: man has nothing to lose except his chains, except his slavery, except his bondage, except his misery and hell. You have nothing to lose, don’t be afraid. What have you got to lose? A naked man, afraid of losing his clothes? What have you got to lose?Move wholeheartedly. Once you move totally into the meditations there will be no problem. Once you have experienced it, once you have tasted the feeling, the freedom, the ecstasy that comes when you are in a total let-go, the fear will disappear forever. Only through freedom can fear disappear. And freedom can come only to a man who is whole, not divided, not divided into fragments.Osho,Why meditate? Why seek?I don’t say that you should meditate. I don’t insist that you should meditate. It is you who are seeking it. And you have to seek it.It is just like a man who is ill and asks “Why take medicine?” – because you are ill! If you are not ill, then there is no need. Why seek health? There is no need if you are healthy. But if you are not healthy, then you have to seek health.Meditation is not meaningful for a buddha. For one who has attained the wholeness of his being, meditation is a medicine, it has to be thrown out. Unless you become capable of throwing out your meditation, you are not healthy. So remember, meditation is not something to be carried forever and ever. The day will come when the meditation has worked and it is no longer needed. Then you can forget it.People come to me and they ask me “When do you meditate?” Never, I don’t meditate at all – there is no need, because meditation is just medicinal. When you are ill, in conflict, in misery, it is needed.And you go on asking “Why meditate?” I’m not saying that you should meditate. If you think you are happy, happy with yourself, if you think you have no problems, if you think you have no worries, no anguish, no anxiety, there is no need.But there is. Everyone has a deep anguish within him, a deep madness within him. And because of that, you ask “Why meditate?” You ask because you are afraid. Through meditation you may lose your madness, your anxiety, your anguish – and you have become so accustomed to it, so habituated to it. The friendship has been going on so long that you will feel very lonely if you become healthy, very lonely. If a person has been living with a headache his whole life and suddenly the headache disappears, he will feel as if he has become headless. Now, he cannot feel his head.We have become accustomed to misery. Miseries give you a sense of being. If you have nothing to complain about, you feel that you are no more. That’s why people are complaining every day with everyone. They are talking about their miseries and they are very happy when they talk about them. Look at a person when he talks about his miseries. He feels that he is something. The more he talks, the more he exaggerates his miseries, the greater he becomes. Look at a man’s face when he is talking about his miseries. He looks ecstatic.If you go to a doctor and you think that you have cancer or you have TB or something big, and the doctor says “It’s nothing, this ordinary medicine will do,” you feel very disheartened: such a deep misery and he is saying that it is nothing, just an ordinary illness, and it will disappear using an ordinary medicine! You feel as if you have been dethroned. You were sitting on the throne of cancer and he says “This is just an ordinary disease, an ordinary medicine will cure it.” You talk about your miseries, you diseases, illnesses, you magnify them. With their magnification, you feel that you are magnified.That’s why the mind, the ill mind, asks “Why meditate?” The very question, the why, the very why, means that you need meditation. A person who is not in need of meditation never asks why. Really, he stops asking, because all asking is part of anxiety. If you are silent within, peaceful, blissful, you don’t ask.Philosophers are the most miserable men. They go on asking “Why this? Why that?” That constant why is an inner disease. Look at it in this way: only when something goes wrong do you ask why. When everything is okay, you never ask why. You ask why there is misery, you never ask why there is bliss. You ask why there is death, you never ask why there is life. You ask why there is hate, you never ask why there is love. When there is love, there is no question about it. You accept it totally. When there is hate, the question arises. When you are in bliss, no questioning, no inquiry, no philosophy arises out of it. When you are in anguish, suffering, you ask “Why this suffering? Why am I suffering? Why is the whole world suffering?” Only when something goes wrong does the question arise. When everything is okay, there is no questioning. You accept existence in its totality.So remember this: if you have a “Why?” you need meditation, because without meditation the why will not disappear. And the answer comes only to those who have stopped questioning, because the answer can only be understood by those who are not in the mood to question. A questioning mind is not in the mood to hear. It goes on questioning.Questions are created in the mind, just like leaves grow on a tree. If your mind is ill, questions will come out of it. If your mind has disappeared, and inner wholeness and health has been gained, questions will stop.And when there is no question, you have got the ultimate answer. That ultimate answer is not in words. It is existential. You live it, you become it.Now get ready for our morning meditation.

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The New Alchemy 01-34Category: WESTERN MYSTICS

The New Alchemy 34 (Read, Listen & Download)

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I have been here, and you have been meditating very courageously. Back at home, you will feel alone, but don’t feel – don’t feel that loneliness. If you are ready I can be with you there too. Just remember me, feel my presence, and then meditate.Space, distance, is meaningless if there is love.You may be sitting just by my side and there may be a distance of miles, thousands of miles. You may be thousands of miles, far away from me, but if there is love, the distance disappears: you are just by my side.Love is nearness. Love is closeness. Distance in space or nearness in space is physical and meaningless. Wherever you are, it makes no difference. If you have a love, a deep love for me, and if you can remember and surrender, I will be there working with you, within you. Remember this, and then you will never be lonely and never alone.Certainly, when one penetrates deep into meditation, fear grips. Sometimes one encounters death, one feels that now one is going to die. One returns, hurries back to the surface. That is bound to happen. Before you are reborn you will have to pass through death. Don’t be afraid. And if the moment comes in your meditation when you feel “Now this is the last moment, I will not be able to come back again to the world, to the body,” feel thankful.Feel a deep gratitude and welcome this moment because this rare moment comes only when your meditation has gone very deep. It is a good sign – welcome it! Don’t be afraid, because you can miss it if you are in fear, and once missed it will take a very long time to get that rare moment again. Sometimes even lives pass before one comes again to that rare moment because once the fear takes hold of you, you become deeply, unconsciously afraid, and never again come to the point where death is encountered.Remember this: many have missed many rare moments. Know it well. Death is going to be there – not of you, only for your ego, but because you are identified with your ego you feel “I am going to die.” You are not going to die at all! You are immortal, you are deathless. There is no possibility – death is the only impossibility. You cannot die, so don’t be afraid.If you feel fear you can remember me. I will be there even in that moment of death. You can feel assured that I am there and you are not going to die; someone is there who will be helpful.Thirdly: meditation needs tremendous effort. You have to be doing it continuously. Make it a point to do it every day. If you can chose a certain time, and do it at that particular time, it will be very good. If you can chose a particular place also and can do it regularly at that particular place it will be more helpful.But if it is not possible, then do it any time, any place. But if you can create a place, a special place – a small temple, a corner in the home where you can meditate every day – then don’t use that corner for any other purpose, because every purpose has its own vibrations. Then use that corner only for meditation and nothing else. Then the corner will become charged, and the corner will wait for you every day. That corner will be helpful for you – every day the milieu will create a particular vibration for you, a particular atmosphere in which you can more easily go deeper and deeper.That’s the reason temples, churches, mosques were created – just to have a place for only prayer and meditation. And if you can chose a regular time it will be very helpful, because your body, your mind is a mechanism. If you take your lunch at a particular time every day your body starts crying for food.And sometimes, you can even play tricks on it. If you take your lunch at one o’clock and the clock says now it is one o’clock and the clock is not right – it is only twelve or eleven – you look at the clock and it says one, suddenly you feel hunger. Your body is a mechanism. Your mind is also a mechanism.Meditate every day in the same place at the same time, and you will create a hunger within your body and mind. Every day at that particular time your body and mind will ask you – they will actually cry to go into meditation. It will be helpful.A space is created within you that becomes a hunger, a thirst. In the beginning it is very good… Unless you come to the point where meditation has become natural and you can meditate anywhere in any place at any time – up to that moment, use these sources of body and mind mechanism as a help.Fourthly: this meditation is chaotic because catharsis is needed. It will be difficult for you – you will feel awkward, embarrassed. Back in your family, your neighborhood you may think, “How can I scream and go mad? What will people think?”Don’t be too concerned with what people think – because if you are too concerned with people and what they think, you will never transform yourself. Then you are just a slave of people’s opinion. Then they will not allow you to move in any way beyond them. They can allow you only to be just like them, never different from them.Once you think of transforming yourself, remember now, you are going beyond the crowd, beyond the society. And there is no other way. If you are interested in transforming yourself you are going beyond the crowd mind, the collective mind.But this is only a problem in the beginning. If you go on doing your meditation, without being worried about what people say, at the most people can say that you have gone mad – and they are not wrong! You are going mad! You are using madness as a method.But if you can continue for at least three months they will start seeing differences in you: something new is happening. Wait for three months and they will have to change their opinion, and they will have to come to you for advice because they are also mad… And you are now becoming saner, the madness is disappearing.Your eyes are changing, they have become more silent. Your attitude, your approach, your relationships – everything will be changing. You will be less angry, less hateful, less jealous, more loving, more compassionate, more non-violent. They will feel it. And just this feeling will change their opinion.Wait for the right moment. Just now, at the most they can think you are mad – let them think it! It makes no difference. Basically they already think that you are mad. No one thinks very good of you because no one thinks good of anyone except himself. What’s your opinion about your neighbors? What is your opinion about your wife? What is your opinion about your husband? Deep down everyone knows that the other is neurotic.The wife knows the husband is a little bit crazy, neurotic. The husband knows the wife is mad, and thinks, somehow, to send her to an analyst. This is how everyone thinks about others – and everyone is right because everyone is mad!So don’t be too worried about others. You can become individual only if you go beyond the opinion of others, if you go in your own way without being worried about what others think. Only then will you become an individual.This word individual is beautiful. It means indivisible. If you follow the crowd you will always be fragmentary, divided. You cannot become a unity because the crowd is so big.I have heard about a boy…I was staying with a family, and they brought the boy to see me. He had become a little neurotic. I asked him “What is the matter?”He said, “I am not neurotic, but my whole family is creating neurosis in me. My father thinks I should become a doctor, my mother thinks I should become an engineer. My uncle says, “This is nonsense. There is no need to become a doctor or an engineer. Become a scientist”– and they are all forcing me in different directions. I don’t know what I have come here to become, what my destiny is. Too many people are pulling me in too many directions. That is what is creating neurosis in me.”If you follow the crowd you will be neurotic, fragmentary, because the crowd is big and everyone is pulling you in their own way, in their own direction. So you have many directions in your mind, in your being, you are being pulled in many directions. You are fragmentary.Forget the crowd. Don’t allow anyone to pull you and push you. You are an individual, a free unit. Remain authentic to yourself, and sooner or later the crowd will recognize the change, the transformation, the mutation that has happened to you. Then they will follow you. Then they will ask for your advice.This is the way of the crowd. First they will decry you. If you insist, secondly they will tolerate it. And if you still insist, thirdly they will worship you. That’s what always happens. So don’t be worried about it.Now get ready for the night meditation.

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Nirvana The Last Nightmare 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

Nirvana The Last Nightmare 01 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,On a certain day, all the monks in Nansen’s monastery were involved in preparations for the following day – which was the anniversary of Ma Tzu’s death.Nansen said to his disciples, “Tomorrow we will offer vegetarian food to master Ma Tzu. Do you think he will come?”No one answered. But among the group was a young, traveling monk called Tozan. He stepped forward and said, “He will wait for a companion to come.”Nansen commented, “Although this man is young, he is qualified for the training.”Tozan responded, “The venerable sir should not oppress a good man by regarding him as a worthless fellow.”Maneesha, in the long history of Zen there are milestones. Mahakashyapa is the first, but not much is known about him – in Buddhist scriptures he is mentioned only once. Just one mention and yet he is regarded as the greatest disciple of Gautam Buddha.For twenty years he has not spoken a single word, no question, just sat by the side of Gautam Buddha. Even Gautam Buddha is concerned: “This is a strange fellow – he has not even said hello; there are thousands of monks, they all come with questions, problems, but this man seems to have no questions.” But in that utter silence, everything happened.Mahakashyapa was immensely courageous to be utterly silent for twenty years, not even to ask the master, but just to wait: “Whenever the time is ripe, the master will deliver the truth.” And it happened, and it happened in a strange way.The emperor Prasenjita has come to offer Gautam Buddha some flowers out of season. And at the same time a great philosopher, whom Prasenjita has up to now believed to be his teacher, has come with Prasenjita.Prasenjita introduced his teacher, Maulingaputta, and said to Gautam Buddha, “I offer my gratitude that you are staying in my kingdom; just let me know if anything is needed by the great assembly of monks. One thing more I ask you: I have brought my teacher, Maulingaputta, and he has come with his five hundred followers. He is a great philosopher, a man of tremendous knowledge, very articulate in discussing things. I pray to you to give him a chance to discuss ultimate problems with you.”Gautam Buddha turned to Maulingaputta and said, “I am ready. But are you ready?”Maulingaputta could not understand what readiness was needed.Gautam Buddha said, “Readiness means, are you capable of being silent, utterly silent, not a single thought passing through your mind?”He said, “Thought is my life, I am a thinker; philosophy is my profession. All that I know about mind is that it is a thinking process. Beyond that I don’t know any silence you are talking about.”Then Buddha said, “You are not ready. And it will be a very strange conversation. From the hilltop I will be shouting to you, and from the dark valleys you will be answering me – without understanding me. So first, let us come to a point where our consciousnesses are at the same level.”It was convincing, and even Prasenjita said, “Gautam Buddha is right. But what is to be done?”Gautam Buddha said, “Nothing has to be done. Just sit silently by my side for two years. Many people will come and go, and ask – you don’t bother about anything. Your work is simply to watch and be silent. Not a single word for two years.”At this moment Mahakashyapa, sitting under a tree, started laughing hysterically, could not manage…The whole assembly was shocked – they had never heard him even speak, he did not speak to anybody. You might say something, he would not answer; he would not take note of anybody. People had accepted him as a strange fellow. But what happened? Suddenly, out of nowhere…And he laughed, such beautiful laughter, resounding in that silence of the assembly.Maulingaputta said, “Why is your disciple laughing?”Buddha said, “You can ask him yourself.”This is the only mention of Mahakashyapa.Mahakashyapa said, “I am laughing because this fellow is tricky. He tricked me also, in the same way he is trying it on you. But now he has become old, so he is saying only two years; I had to remain silent for twenty years. If you really want to ask the questions, ask now. After two years it will be too late.”This is the only mention.And when Prasenjita offered flowers, Buddha called Mahakashyapa and gave those flowers to him. And he said, “What could be said through words, I have said to everybody. What could not be said through words, but only through silence, I have imparted to Mahakashyapa.”This made him the first Zen master. But besides this, there is no other mention of him. Perhaps silence remained his method. Many must have become enlightened sitting by his side, but nothing was said. He was a silent master. So there is no record left.Then the second great departure – there have been many others – but the second great departure from the past is Bodhidharma. He was even more strange than Mahakashyapa. He is the sixth in the line of Zen patriarchs.After Bodhidharma, Nansen is a new point of departure. He opens Zen to a wider variety, he gives Zen more dimensions. It is no more a small stream, but becomes an ocean.Today we are starting a series on Nansen. A little biographical introduction:Nansen, also known as Nan-ch’uan, was born in North China in 748.Beginning his study of meditation when a young boy, Nansen became a Buddhist priest at thirty and traveled to various well-known monasteries.On arriving at Chiang-si and meeting with Ma Tzu, Nansen immediately became one of Ma Tzu’s foremost disciples.We have discussed Ma Tzu. It is no wonder that a man of the insight of Nansen immediately became…he did not miss a single moment as he arrived at Ma Tzu’s monastery, as he saw the master, he immediately touched his feet.And this respect was not one-sided, this love was not one-sided; Ma Tzu showered great love and respect on Nansen. Both saw into each other, something immediately became connected. Ma Tzu understood the urgency and the intensity of the search of Nansen; and Nansen understood, “Here is the man. If I cannot make it with him, I am not going to make it at all.”This is how disciples and masters meet. It is not a superficial thing; it is something intrinsic, intuitive, and immediate. You have to understand the word immediate. It is not because of something, that Nansen becomes an intimate disciple of Ma Tzu. There is no cause visible. Nothing is mediating him to become the disciple – that is why it is “‘immediate.” No cause, no visible reason, nothing to be understood by the mind…but heart to heart something has transpired. They have fallen in deep love, the great love.He realized his enlightenment and later left Ma Tzu’s monastery.That’s why I have called this series, The Point of Departure. Ma Tzu has his own methods; he has brought Bodhidharma’s methods to the ultimate peak. Nansen loved Ma Tzu, but was not ready to become his successor. If he had remained, he would have been the successor of Ma Tzu. Just to avoid the embarrassment – because he would go far beyond in different directions – it was better to leave before the master proposed that, “You are my successor.” Then leaving would have been impossible.He became enlightened…The ordinary course will be that when you become enlightened with a master, where can you go? This love, this shelter, you will not find anywhere. There is no need to go anywhere at all. Now you can understand the great song of the master, and the invisible music. This is no time to depart.But the reason for his departure from Ma Tzu’s monastery was that if he does not leave now, he will never be able to leave. Once Ma Tzu proposes that, “You become my successor,” he cannot say no to his master.But he wanted to introduce many new things into Zen. Sometimes they may be contradictory to Ma Tzu; sometimes they will be new to Ma Tzu’s methods of teaching, and he does not want anybody to say that he is betraying his master. Rather than betraying, he simply left the monastery at the age of fifty.Nansen founded his own community and attracted thousands of disciples.Maneesha has brought the sutra:Osho,On a certain day, all the monks in Nansen’s monastery were involved in preparations for the following day – which was the anniversary of Ma Tzu’s death.Nansen said to his disciples, “Tomorrow we will offer vegetarian food to Master Ma Tzu. Do you think he will come?”Before we go on further – this was one thing amongst many – Ma Tzu insisted on vegetarian food. In his monastery non-vegetarian food was absolutely prohibited. It takes me back to Gautam Buddha.Gautam Buddha was a vegetarian, strictly vegetarian. And all his followers were vegetarians. That was a revolution in a way, because man had lived as a non-vegetarian for millions of years. And according to Buddha, he would remain a barbarian unless he became vegetarian. Killing life is destroying your own possibility of growth. You have to respect life; a reverence for life will help your growth of consciousness. And he was absolutely right.But a strange incident happened, and this will show you how man’s cunning mind takes advantage, even of masters like Gautam Buddha.He had made it clear to everybody that, “Whatever is given to you in your begging bowls, receive it with gratitude.”And everybody knew that they were vegetarians, so people prepared vegetarian food.“But don’t throw anything that is given to you with love and respect. Eat everything that falls into your begging bowl.”One day a monk came with a very puzzled look. He said, “I am in a strange difficulty. A bird flying dropped a piece of meat into my begging bowl. I was coming back from begging in the city, to settle under some tree” – in the garden where they were staying – “to eat my food. Now the problem is, if I throw out this piece of meat I am going against your teaching that, ‘Everything has to be eaten that falls into your begging bowl.’ And if I eat it, I am still going against your teaching of, ‘Always be vegetarian.’ Now what am I supposed to do?”The whole assembly of monks also were in a strange position: how is Buddha going to solve it?Buddha thought, “If I say ‘throw it,’ that will become a universal thing. People will start choosing: whatever is good, delicious they will eat and the remaining they will throw out. The country supports the monks. This will be against the people who are supporting you. With great hardship they earn, and you throw away their food. So I cannot say to throw it out.“And as far as birds are concerned, it is very unlikely that again, in the centuries following, any bird will repeat this. So there is no danger, if only one person eats on one day a small piece of meat.”He said, “Eat everything that has fallen into your begging bowl.”And this became for the cunning mind of man a loophole, that, “Buddha is not against meat; just you have not to kill, he is against killing. If meat is given to you, offered to you, you have to respectfully receive it.”So now in China and Japan, all the Buddhists are non-vegetarian. Not a single Buddhist is vegetarian. And in every food shop, restaurant they make it clear that here non-vegetarian food is available which has not been especially killed – it is from animals dying on their own.Now, so many animals don’t die on their own. And in fact, few animals do; you will never find how they die. Have you seen a cow or a crow dying, dead? Once in a while perhaps because of electric wires…otherwise before dying, somehow they disappear. They disappear deep in forests, they disappear into mountains, to find a peaceful grave.Just nearby, there is one of the national deer parks with thousands of deer. I used to go there often. It is deep in the forest, just one small rest house and a big lake, and in the night thousands of deer will come to drink water. And in the night their eyes shine like stars. You see lines of stars moving around the lake, reflected in the lake. It is one of the most beautiful scenes that I have ever seen.I have watched those deer. I inquired of the rest house peon who took care of the rest house, “Have you seen any deer dead?”He said, “Millions of people must have come to see this park; nobody has asked such a question. No, I have never seen a single deer dead.”And I asked him, “Don’t you ever wonder where they disappear?”He said, “The very question has never arisen in me.”From where in China, in Korea, in Taiwan, in Burma, in Japan – in all Buddhist countries…It seems the animals have a special joy: they come into the restaurants and die on their own – spontaneously. And not a single Buddhist monk ever raises the question that, “This is absolutely absurd, this is not possible. Animals have to be hunted and killed, only then can you get non-vegetarian food.”But Ma Tzu was absolutely in tune with Gautam Buddha.So when Nansen was arranging in his monastery a ceremony on the anniversary of Ma Tzu’s death, he said to his disciples – it is so touching –“Tomorrow we will offer vegetarian food to Master Ma Tzu. Do you think he will come?”No one answered. But among the group was a young man, a traveling monk called Tozan. He stepped forward and said, “He will wait for a companion to come.”Nansen commented, “Although this man is young, he is qualified for the training.”Tozan responded, “The venerable sir should not oppress a good man by regarding him as a worthless fellow.”Tozan finally became himself a great master. He is saying that he will come – Ma Tzu will come – and he will not come alone.It was the habit of Ma Tzu that he is referring to. He always traveled with an enlightened disciple with him, because his teaching method was so strange and many freaked out.So first he would send those to the companion enlightened man, who could discuss, who could make them aware of all the possibilities, and who could also make them aware that, “If you want to have any communication with Ma Tzu, you have to be ready for these things – anything is possible. He may beat you, he may jump upon you, he may sit on your chest and ask, ‘Do you get it?’”He had his own ways, and we cannot say that he was wrong in his ways because hundreds of disciples became enlightened through him. So what means he applied does not matter, the end was so great.If you analyze the matter, you will understand there is a great psychological insight. A stranger comes – not even in his dreams has he thought that a master would jump on him. He has come to ask, “What is the truth?” Now this question does not deserve in any way that the master should jump immediately on him, and sit on his chest with his staff in his hand. Obviously, at this moment, all the thinking of that stranger will stop. What can you think in such a situation? For a moment the whole mind comes to a complete, screeching stop.Ma Tzu was immensely compassionate. This stopping of the mind takes years – he managed it in a single minute. But his method makes him a very weird fellow. And the person who had suddenly become aware of a state of silence was able to see it. Many became enlightened.Once a monk was entering in the door – he was half inside the door and half outside – and Ma Tzu closed the door, so he was fixed in between, screaming, with Ma Tzu asking, “Do you get it?” He has not even asked any question, he has not even entered fully into the temple.And it looks strange that these people got it – they never asked again.Once he threw a man out of the window, and then jumped on him from the window, and asked him…He is suffering fractures but Ma Tzu is not concerned with the fractures; he says, “Forget about fractures! First tell me, do you get it?”And it is said that the man gasped, “Yes, I get it.”So the young man is referring to Ma Tzu’s habit of always having a companion who will explain him to any stranger, a verbal communication, and will also explain that, “If you want Ma Tzu to work upon you, then you have to be ready for all these things – anything can happen. He is an unpredictable master.”The young fellow, Tozan, who was not a disciple of Nansen, he was just traveling…That too has to be understood: in China and in Japan and other Buddhist countries the monks go on traveling from one monastery to another monastery, until they find the heart with whom their heart beats in a dance. They are received in every monastery with respect. They stay for a few days and if nothing happens there, they move on with gratitude that, “You allowed us to stay here for four days.”This young man, Tozan, was not a resident monk in the monastery of Nansen.He stepped forward and said, “He will wait for a companion to come.” But he will come; that is the implication: he will come. When so many of you are celebrating the anniversary of his death, how can he resist to come? The only problem is, if he cannot get a companion, then it will be very difficult for him to come. But he will get the companion – there are so many enlightened people dead. And with a man like Ma Tzu, when he says to someone, “Come follow me,” he has to.But Nansen’s own disciples remained without any answer; they missed the point.And Nansen has shown such a beauty of his heart; although he was not the successor of Ma Tzu, he had become enlightened under him.“Tomorrow we will offer vegetarian food to Master Ma Tzu. Do you think he will come?”An enlightened being can visit. There are hundreds of cases when enlightened people have visited. The only condition to be fulfilled is your loving invitation.And that’s what Nansen is saying, “We are sending the loving invitation to Ma Tzu, and we promise him…” because Nansen has deviated from vegetarianism, he has allowed non-vegetarians into the monastery. His attitude was that if the whole of humanity – and the argument is worth consideration – if the whole of humanity becomes vegetarian, it will be impossible to supply food to everybody. Almost ninety-nine percent of humanity is non-vegetarian. From where can you get so much vegetarian food?So his consideration was very practical and pragmatic. He said, “Just because of the food, don’t prevent their spiritual growth. Yes, it is true that with vegetarian food they can enter into meditative states more easily, but that is their problem. With non-vegetarian food their entry into higher consciousnesses is more difficult, but it is not impossible.”Non-vegetarian masters have simply followed a harder path, but the situation of the world is that we cannot supply everybody with vegetarian food.That’s why he says that, “We are sending the invitation to Ma Tzu’s enlightened soul, freed from the body. We will offer vegetarian food – we promise. “Do you think he will come?” I think he will come; he has to come.”An enlightened man is simply living in total freedom out of the body, floating like a white cloud, without any roots in the earth, and without any destination. Just out of freedom – to the north, to the west, to the east – wherever spontaneously a movement occurs, he moves. If with love, with prayer, with deep meditation he is invited, perhaps you will not see him, but you will feel his presence – particularly those who have known his presence.Nansen will feel him if he comes. He knows his fragrance, he knows his touch, he knows the atmosphere that comes with him.He had asked a very beautiful question, but not a single disciple was yet able to understand a mysterious phenomenon.And Tozan, who was destined to become an enlightened master himself, certainly showed deeper understanding. He said, “He will wait for a companion to come. I know him, he will not come alone – that was not his habit. If he comes, he will come with another enlightened person also.”Seeing this man’s understanding, Nansen commented, “Although this man is young, he is qualified for the training.”He did not much appreciate Tozan’s answer, because it is conditional. And as for Ma Tzu’s coming to the ceremony, he will not follow the old habit of being followed by a companion.He is not coming here to teach anybody, why should he wait for any companion? The companion was taken just to avoid any misunderstanding with the people. Here he will be a guest; there is no need for him to wait for a companion.That’s why Nansen has not given him much credit, although Tozan has shown a little understanding. So he says, “Although this man is young, he is qualified for the training.”Tozan responded, “The venerable sir should not oppress a good man by regarding him as a worthless fellow.”He felt offended. He must have been thinking that he would be appreciated.But I agree with Nansen…there was a little truth in his understanding that “he will come, but he will wait for a companion.” But that “waiting for a companion,” destroyed his whole understanding. That’s why Nansen says, “He is qualified for the training.”But Tozan felt insulted deep down. He was thinking he would be appreciated, that while no other disciple had responded, he, a traveling monk, has said that he will come. He has shown his deep understanding, but Nansen is not appreciating his understanding; he is at the most saying that he is qualified for the training.Tozan responded, “The venerable sir, should not oppress a good man by regarding him as a worthless fellow.”This destroyed the small truth that he has shown in saying, “he will come, but he will wait for a companion.” You are not supposed to be offended by a master, for the simple reason that perhaps you deserved what you got. And the master is not in any way interested in insulting anyone. What is he going to gain by insulting? But he cannot appreciate beyond the limit, because that will give you unnecessarily an ego. And in that way he will become a hindrance in your progress.Tozan could not understand that at that point.These small anecdotes are immensely helpful, if you understand that we are not studying them for study’s sake. We are the people of the path, we are moving in the same directions. So we should take note of every phenomenon that can happen on the path: the mistakes, going astray for small trivia, becoming angry at the master; and the master was slapping you only out of compassion and love, slapping does not give him any joy.All these anecdotes, understood rightly, will help you for your own evolution, for your own centering.A poem by Sekiso:Sacred and secular originally livein the same house.With compassionate handsthe great master has openedthe gate for the first time.Don’t ask who or how manyare in the hall.These tiles and rafters contain allof heaven and earth.A great insight by Sekiso.He is saying, the sacred and the secular – the material and the spiritual – originally live in the same house. with compassionate hands the great master has opened the gate for the first time.This statement, that the secular and the sacred live in the same house, is an opening, a new opening of the gate because all the masters have always condemned the material, the secular, and praised the sacred, the spiritual. They have always divided the zorba and the buddha. In their understanding, zorba has to be killed – only then can the buddha come into existence. That is the history of all the religions.Nansen has opened a new door by saying that, sacred and secular originally live in the same house.Sekiso is a disciple of Nansen.With compassionate hands the great master has opened the gate for the first time. Don’t ask who or how many are in the hall.Numbers don’t matter; don’t ask how many have entered the gate. The significant point is that Nansen has opened the gate, that the secular and sacred can be together. There is no need for them to be separated.It was an immensely radical departure from the past.Don’t ask who or how many are in the hall. These tiles and rafters contain all of heaven and earth.When a man like Nansen lives in a temple, then the rafters and the tiles also become something divine, something sacred, but not sacred against the secular. Nansen has joined the earth with the sky.My love for Nansen is immense because of this understanding that the earth and the sky are not separate – are not separable. And both should be enjoyed.Maneesha has asked:Osho,Why have you called the series Nansen: The Point of Departure?Because he opened the gate for the first time, making it clear that the sacred and the secular are one, just different ways of seeing. There is no need to torture the body to purify the soul. They both can dance together as sacred a dance as possible. And unless a spirituality transforms even your body, it is not much of a spirituality.Zorba has not to be killed, zorba has to be transformed. Zorba is the buddha, just in the seed form. You don’t have to destroy the seeds, you have to find a right soil, a right climate for the seeds, and wait for the season when the clouds bring the first rains, and your seeds will start sprouting. The seeds and the flowers are not separate – the seed is the flower hidden, the flower is the seed come out in the open.That’s why, Maneesha, I have called this series Nansen: The Point of Departure. From the past spirituality Nansen is a tremendous departure, accepting secular and sacred as together, one – two aspects of one reality.You can understand my love for Nansen, because Nansen has been forgotten, even by his own successors. Again the same division came into their teachings: “This is material, this is trivial, this is not spiritual.” What Nansen has done, even his successors have undone again. And nobody has taken note of the great departure.I have to take note of the great departure, because my own understanding is the same. I want the earth and the sky to be together. Only in their togetherness is the wholeness; only in their togetherness is a joy, is a fulfillment. Buddha alone is half, Zorba alone is half, and unless they are together they can never be whole.I want my people to be whole persons, not denying anything but transforming everything, including everything in their spiritual growth.Now something serious…It is a beautiful summer Saturday, so Zabriski decides to sunbathe in the nude for the first time in his life. He is on the roof of his apartment building, and he forgets about the time. Five hours later, he finds himself practically burnt to a crisp – especially his prick.Later that night, Zabriski is in bed with his new Polack girlfriend, Carmen Klopski, and he is in agony. So he gets up, tiptoes to the kitchen, pours a tall glass of ice-cold milk, and submerges his lobster-red machinery into it. Zabriski sighs from the cool relief, when suddenly Carmen appears in the doorway.“Oh, my God!” she gasps. “So that is how you guys load that thing!”Lucifer, the devil, is quietly toasting some bread for his afternoon tea over the eternal fires of hell. Suddenly, there is a loud crash at the gate.The devil looks around in alarm and sees a long, silver Rolls Royce driving in through the roaring flames. The Rolls Royce has a young girl screaming with delight on the front of the car, and a large man, wearing a turban, standing on the back bumper – laughing as hard as he can.Holding on to the man at the back of the car is a long line of people, singing and celebrating.The new arrivals soon make themselves at home, and the devil finds that hell is no longer like it used to be.So Lucifer phones God to come and help straighten things out. When God arrives, he is amazed by what he sees.“What has happened to all the eternal fires and damnation?” asks God. “This place is nothing like the way we advertise it on earth!”“I know, it is terrible!” sniffs the devil. “Ever since Osho drove in here with his sannyasins, the whole place has had to be air-conditioned!”King Carlos of Spain, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands and Prince Philip of England are sitting together having a few drinks in the pub. They get a little drunk and start bragging about whose prick is the longest.A crowd gathers as King Carlos whips out his machinery and lays it on the table. Six inches! Everyone applauds and sings the Spanish national anthem.Then Prince Bernhard puts his dong on the table. Eight inches! Everyone screams and shouts, and then sings the Dutch national anthem.Finally, Prince Philip drops his pants and puts his prick on the table. Twelve inches!The crowd gasps, and everyone starts singing “God Save the Queen”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes; feel your body to be completely frozen.Now look inwards. Collect all your consciousness and move straight forward towards the center of your being. This center is the door to eternity; this center is going beyond death.Get deeper into it. This is your buddha. You have to live it out in your daily life. I don’t like monks. I want buddhas in every place, in every activity.I want the whole world full of buddhas. That is the only way we can transform the world into a paradise.To make it more clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax and just be a witness of your body, of your mind, and the great silence that prevails over…At this moment, who cares about the numbers? At this moment, everything becomes sacred; everything becomes an eternal treasure: truth, good, beauty.Get a tight hold of buddha; you have to bring him back. And you have to live him in your life, moment to moment.The evening was beautiful on its own, but you have made it a splendor, a majestic experience, a mystery, a moment of magic. Bring this magic with you.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back, but come back as buddhas, silently, gracefully. Sit down and remember for a few minutes the place you have been in, the temple you have visited, and the path to the temple.The path on which you have gone in, is the same path you have come out. Slowly slowly the path will become absolutely clear.And buddhahood will not be a question, it will be your experience.Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?

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Nirvana The Last Nightmare 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

Nirvana The Last Nightmare 02 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,A monk asked Nansen, “From patriarch to patriarch there is a transmission. What is it that they wish to transmit to one another?”Nansen said, “One, two, three, four, five.”The monk asked, “What is that which was possessed by the ancients?”The master said, “When it can be possessed, I will tell you.”The monk said dubiously, “Master, why should you lie?”The master replied, “I do not lie. Eno lied.”On another occasion a monk said to Nansen, “There is a jewel in the sky; how can we get hold of it?”Nansen said, “Cut down the bamboos and make a ladder; put it in the sky and get hold of it!”The monk said, “How can the ladder be put up in the sky?”Nansen said, “How can you doubt your getting hold of the jewel?”Maneesha, it is very rare to find an exact comparison between two mystics. But once in a while their expressions are the same, their symbols and metaphors are the same. It happens by chance because they may not have known each other at all. This is so in the case that Maneesha has brought:A monk asked Nansen, “From patriarch to patriarch there is a transmission. What is it that they wish to transmit to one another?”It is a very pregnant question, but almost impossible to answer. But the master’s very being is to bring the impossible within possible limits – if not the moon itself, then at least the reflection. And the reflection can be brought. And through the reflection the moon can be found.Nansen said, “One, two, three, four, five.”This reminds me of Kabir. I don’t think either knew of the other, but this is how Kabir used to answer questions, exactly the same. To anybody it may look like a puzzle, but it is not a puzzle. It is a way of indicating that which is impossible to say.The experience is of nothingness. So when the experience of enlightenment happens, it is one; there is nothing else other than the illumination. But immediately you recognize the illumination, immediately recognition comes, it becomes two. At the moment you recognize, it is a vague recognition, not yet conceptualized. When you conceptualize it as enlightenment, as awakening, as buddhahood, it has already become three. When you say it to somebody else – that is the transmission – when you convey it, communicate to somebody else, it becomes four. And if the person to whom you have conveyed it understands it, it becomes five.At each step you are going far away from nothingness, but nothing can be done about it. That’s the nature of reality. Now it is no more a puzzle when you understand what they mean by One, two, three, four, five. On the five the transmission is complete.The monk asked, “What is that which was possessed by the ancients?”“The ancients” does not mean the people of the old times. “The ancients” indicate the people who have reached the heights of consciousness. They are the real ancients, not in time but in consciousness. In time they may be contemporaries, they may be sitting by your side. As far as time is concerned you may be contemporary to a buddha. But his height of consciousness has taken him far away. He has become an ancient.Ordinarily when a man becomes old, we don’t call him ancient. He is just called old. But if the man becomes a buddha, then not only in time has he become old, grown up, ripe, but beyond time he has reached to the very source of life where all the ancient buddhas have reached. It is the same source. He has become one with all the ancient buddhas.So when these questions are asked, always remember, “the ancients” does not mean the old people, or the people of the old times. It means the people of greater consciousness, of higher peaks of being. They are the real ancients. They may be contemporary to you, but you exist on such different levels, you cannot call them your contemporaries.“What is that,” the monk asked, “which was possessed by the ancients?”The master said, “When it can be possessed, I will tell you.”The master is saying that it can never be possessed either by you or by any ancient. When you reach to the experience, you are overwhelmed by it. It possesses you, not you possess it. Do you see the difference when you are possessed? The experience is far bigger than you. You are absorbed into it.The master was right when he said, “When it can be possessed, I will tell you.” As far as I know, it cannot be possessed; you have to be ready to be possessed by it. But Zen does not complete its sentences; it leaves everything open; it simply gives hints. It is a test of the questioner’s intelligence to complete it.The monk said dubiously, “Master, why should you lie?”“You possess it. And you are lying to me.” He has missed the point. The master does not possess it; it possesses the master. Because of its possession of the master, the master is no more. It is a pure emptiness through which the whole existence can pass – no hindrance, just a pure receptivity.The master replied, “I do not lie. Eno lied.”Eno was his master. He said that, “You should go to Eno. He lied to me that ‘Yes, truth can be possessed.’ But when I reached to the point, the cliff from where you jump into nothingness, it was a totally different story: I was possessed by it; I was nowhere to be found; the experience was too much. I cannot hold it in my hands; it was holding me from all directions.“I am not lying. If you want any lie, you should go to my master Eno. He lied to me.” But it is said with great respect. “Because of his lie I could come to the point where truth possessed me. If he had not lied, I would not have moved a single inch.”All masters have to lie, because there is no way to say the truth. But with some devices you can start moving towards the truth.I have told you the story many times: A man’s house is on fire. He has very small children inside the house. A crowd has gathered outside and they are calling to the children, “Get out of the house. There are still windows and doors left. You can come out. In a few minutes there will be no way to come out.” And nobody dared to go in. It was dangerous. The fire was going so strong.And just then the father of the children came from his shop. The children did not listen to the neighbors, because they could not understand. They really enjoyed the flames all around the house; they had never seen such a beautiful scene. They were dancing and enjoying and they could not understand why they should leave the house.As the father came, the people told him, “Do something immediately, all the passages are being taken over by the fire. We have been shouting, but your children are strange. They dance, they are singing and playing. They are enjoying the beautiful flames all around.”Now there was no passage and no time to enter. The father shouted, “I am here and I have brought all the toys you had asked for.”The children jumped from the last window which was just going to be taken over by the fire. They came running out and they said, “Where are our toys?”The father said, “Forgive me, today I have forgotten, but tomorrow I will bring your toys.”He has told a lie. But the lie saved the lives of the children. You cannot complain against the father.Nansen is not complaining against his master, he is saying he was compassionate enough to lie. “I am not lying, I am simply saying, ‘When it can be possessed.’ If some time comes when I can possess it, I will tell you. Right now it possesses me so I cannot tell you.”The monk was dubious. He said, “Master, why should you lie? You know and everybody knows that you have it.” But this is the problem with language. He says, “You have it.” If he had said, “It has you,” things would be different.The master replied, “I do not lie. I have simply stated the straightforward fact. You ask me, ‘Do you possess it?’ I don’t. If sometime I happen to possess it, I will tell you. If you say that I am lying, I am not lying. My master Eno lied. And because he lied, I am a master. You should go to Eno.”On another occasion a monk said to Nansen, “There is a jewel in the sky; how can we get hold of it?”Nansen said, “Cut down the bamboos and make a ladder; put it in the sky and get hold of it!”The monk said, “How can the ladder be put up in the sky?”Nansen said, “How can you doubt your getting hold of the jewel?The question is not of putting up a ladder; the question is of destroying the doubt. And the jewel is not in the sky; the jewel is in you. In the sky it is reflected, just as the moon reflects in the lake. The jewel is within you, but it is reflected in the sky far away.“You asked me a stupid question, I have to answer you with a stupid answer. Don’t ask a stupid question and I can tell you the truth. From where did you get the idea that there is a jewel in the sky? Have you ever looked within yourself? If you had looked within yourself, you would have been surprised that all the beauty of existence is a reflection of your inner splendor. What you see outside – the roses and their beauty, and the stars and their majesty – pales down the moment you look within. Right now you don’t have even the criterion to judge which is the reflection and which is the real.”Look within and you will find the real – just its flavor, its certainty, its grandeur – and everything outside will become pale, just a reflection.It has to be remembered that before asking a question to the master, you should look into your question as deeply as possible. It should become more intelligent, more meaningful. Only when you are satisfied that the question is ripe, it can be polished no more, it can be made no more intelligent, you can ask. Only an intelligent question can get an intelligent answer. Otherwise you ask a stupid question and the master gives a stupid answer. It is just out of kindliness. He could have simply said, “Don’t ask such stupid questions.” Rather than saying that, he tells him, “Cut down the bamboos and make a ladder; put it in the sky and get hold of it!”Anybody who has a little intelligence can understand that because the answer is stupid, the question must have been stupid. The master does not want to say it directly, but indirectly he is pointing to the stupidity of the question. But the questioner does not stop there; he goes on. This is the problem: a stupid person as he grows becomes more stupid; an idiot is a bigger idiot when he becomes ripe and mature – and older idiots are more dangerous because they are old and people think old people are wise.Sekiso has a poem:For six years sitting alonestill as a snakein a stalk of bamboo,with no family but the iceon the snow mountain…Last night, seeing the empty skyfly into pieces,he shook the morning star awakeand kept it in his eyes.A tremendously beautiful poem. He is saying, For six years sitting alone – that means meditating; sitting, in Zen, is equivalent to meditation, just sitting and doing nothing.…six years sitting alone, still as a snake…When the snake is waiting to catch something to eat, he remains absolutely immobile as if he is dead. The slightest movement, then the bird he was going to catch will be gone, then the butterfly he was going to catch will not be there. He has to remain just dead, no movement.Still as a snake in a stalk of bamboo, with no family but the ice on the snow mountain…Last night…those six years sitting matured. Last night the moment came of great benediction.Last night, seeing the empty sky fly into pieces, he shook the morning star awake and kept it in his eyes. He is talking about the inner sky, the inner emptiness, that suddenly gave way. For six years he was holding. Last night, suddenly the emptiness also fell into pieces. He was thinking that just to be empty is enough for meditation. Just to be empty is only the beginning. A moment comes when emptiness falls into pieces. You go beyond emptiness.Last night, seeing the empty sky fly into pieces, he shook the morning star awake…He is talking about his own inner being. That emptiness flying into pieces shook the star awake and kept it in his eyes. Now he is carrying that star in his eyes, that clarity, that light, that shining jewel which is not in the sky, which is hidden somewhere inside your emptiness, which is covered by your thoughts and emotions. Your mind is blocking the path, but somewhere inside you, it is shining bright. Just a little turning in, and you will be fulfilled.Maneesha has asked:Osho,You have often said you will have no successors. But won't all those who love you be your successors in that we carry you in our blood and bones and so you are part of us forever?Maneesha, the concept of the successor is bureaucratic. The very idea of succession is not the right idea in the world of consciousness. That’s why I have said, I will not have successors. But you are right in saying that you will carry in your bones and in your blood my love, my insight. But don’t use the word successor, rather use the words you will be me. Why be so far away, a successor, when you can be me? Be so empty that I can make a home in you, that your emptiness can absorb my emptiness, that your heart can have the same dance as my heart. It is not succession; it is transmission.The very idea of succession is political. Only one person can be a successor, so there is bound to be competition, ambition. There is bound to be a subtle struggle to be closer to the master, to force others away. It may not be on the surface but, underneath, the problem will remain in the disciples: “Who is going to be the successor?”I destroy the whole conception. Every disciple who has loved has become one with the master. There is no need of any competition, nor one successor. It is for everybody who has offered himself in deep gratitude, who has become one in a certain sense with the master’s presence. There is no need of any competition. Thousands can have the same experience, millions can have the same experience.To avoid politics in religion, I have said that I will not have successors. I want religion to be absolutely devoid of ambition, competition, being higher than another, putting everybody lower than oneself. With me you are all equal. And I trust and love you, that you will prove this equality. In equals there is no competition; there is a combined effort. You will all carry my message, but nobody will be higher or lower, nobody will be a successor. All will be my lovers and they will carry me.I am reminded of a case: Ramakrishna had a cancer of the throat. In the last stage it became impossible even to drink water. All his disciples said, “Why don’t you ask in your prayers to God to remove this cancer? We know that if you ask, your prayer will be heard. And if your prayer cannot be heard, then all prayers are false.”Ramakrishna was such a man that if his prayer is not heard, it can only mean there is no God, or God is deaf. If Ramakrishna’s prayer is not answered, then nobody else in the whole world should hope that his prayer will be answered. So they insisted again and again, but Ramakrishna said, “It does not look right. I close my eyes because you insist. But I cannot ask anything from existence. Perhaps cancer is right; otherwise why should it be given to me? I cannot be wiser than existence.”The disciples in despair asked Ramakrishna’s wife, Sharda, “Unless you tell him, he will not listen to anyone. And you have to be absolutely insistent.”Sharda told Ramakrishna. He said, “I knew that my disciples would bring you, and I cannot refuse you because I have never refused. And you have never asked anything; this is the first time in your whole life you are asking for something, and in these last moments how can I refuse you? I will try.” He closed his eyes and after a few seconds he opened them and started laughing.Sharda said, “What happened? Did you ask?”He said, “I asked. But the answer came: ‘Why do you insist on your own throat? Drink from all the throats of your disciples. Why insist on being identified with your own body? Why not merge into all your lovers?’ That’s why I started laughing because I knew this would be the answer. You unnecessarily made me look stupid before existence.”If the disciple loves the master, if there is trust, and trust founded on experience, he will carry spontaneously the master’s message. There is no need to say anything, he will be his master’s message.Now something serious…Ronald Reagan is on his last legs as president. So to impress the world with his sense of culture, he opens a new art gallery in Washington DC Reagan invites Pope the Polack, Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev – also his old buddy, Bonzo, the chimpanzee.Ronald and his tour guide, Reginald the homosexual, are giving these world famous figures a special tour of the collection of priceless paintings.“Ah, yes,” says Reagan, the amateur art connoisseur, “this painting is by Rembrandt.”“No, it is not,” says Reginald; “this is by Salvador Dali.”The group pauses for a moment, takes a deep breath, and then moves on.“And this one,” says Reagan proudly, “is painted by Monet.”“No,” corrects Reginald again, “this is painted by Van Gogh.”At the next painting, Reagan stands motionless. He stares at it this way and that way, and then he scratches his head.“Well, I’m sure this must be a Picasso,” he says loudly to the group.“Wrong again, Ronnie,” replies Reginald. “That is a mirror!”The Babblebrain family are going to the theater one night, but nobody wants to stay at home to look after Granddad. So they have to take him with them.The play is nearing its climax when the whole row is disturbed by old man Babblebrain crawling around on his hands and knees.“Grandpa!” whispers Boris loudly. “Get back in your seat!”“I can’t,” replies Granddad. “I’ve lost a toffee.”“Sit down!” snaps Boris. “You are disturbing the whole theater for a lousy toffee. I’ll buy you another one if you just sit down.”“I need that one,” says Granddad.“My God!” cries Boris. “What’s so special about that toffee?”“Well,” says Granddad, “my teeth are in it!”Pope the Polack is on a ten-million-dollar pilgrimage to India. He goes to Calcutta, where he visits Mother Teresa’s orphanage.He is in the middle of addressing a large gathering of Indian Christians, when a little boy comes up to him.“Holy Father,” asks the boy, “tell me something. If your father was a gorilla and your mother was a gorilla, what would you be?”Pope the Polack immediately gets annoyed, but tries to smile, and answers coolly, “My son, I guess I would be a gorilla, of course.”A little while later, the same kid interrupts the Polack’s sermon and asks, “Holy Father, if your mother was a donkey and your father was a donkey, what would you be?”Pope the Polack is very embarrassed and gets really pissed-off – but keeps a cool face, and answers the little boy. “Naturally, my son,” he replies tensely, “I would be a donkey.”After the sermon, the Polack Pope sees the same kid outside. He drags him into a quiet corner, grabs him by the collar, and fuming, he splutters, “Okay, wise-guy. Here is one for you! If your father was a gorilla, and your mother was a donkey, what would you be?”“That’s simple,” the boy replies, brightly. “I’d be Pope the Polack!”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes; feel your body to be completely frozen. Now look inwards, with absolute urgency, as if this is your last moment of life. Go as deep as you can. At the very end is your life source. The distance is not much. Just a little courage, courage to enter into the unknown and you are at the very source of life. This space is called the buddha.This is not an achievement; this is a discovery. It has always been with you; it is your nature. Even if you want to lose it, you cannot; you can only forget it or remember it: those are the only two alternatives. You have lived for millions of years in forgetfulness. The original meaning of sin is forgetfulness.Now the moment has come, you can change your face, your being into a remembrance. Remembrance is the only virtue, just as forgetfulness is the only sin. With your totality of consciousness look, and you will find you are the buddha.To make it clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Just watch and witness the body and the mind. You are neither the body nor the mind. You are just a pure witness. Your buddhahood consists only of a pure witness – a mirror – reflecting everything without being affected by anything.The evening was beautiful on its own, but you have made it more beautiful, more memorable. You have made it a golden moment, a milestone in your life because this buddha, this witnessing has to become your very life-style. Only in the fire of witnessing will you be transformed; there is no other way. This is the very point of departure from ignorance to wisdom, from darkness to light, from mortality to immortality, from time to eternity.In this tremendously beautiful moment in the Buddha Auditorium there are not ten thousand people, but only one oceanic consciousness. Everybody is dissolved into it; everybody is possessed by it. This is the greatest thing that can happen in a man’s life. And if you can live it in your ordinary day-to-day life, in your actions, gestures, words, silences, you have attained the highest peak of the Himalayas – Himalayas of consciousness.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Call the buddhas back, somebody may go too far. Come back silently, gracefully, remembering that you are a buddha. Don’t forget it.I have to call you the moment I see that a few are reaching to the point from where they can jump beyond the buddha. Then there is no way of coming back. The buddha is the last milestone where the road ends. Those who have gone beyond the buddha, they have simply dissolved into existence.Buddha himself has said, there is still one step more. There are only two steps in the whole journey: one step from you to the buddha, and the second step from the buddha to the oceanic existence. First learn the first step in its totality. When it becomes your twenty-four hour existence, then I will not say “Nivedano” to call you back. You can take the jump, but not unripe. Be ripe, then the jump happens on its own accord. It is not an effort. It is absolutely spontaneous.Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?

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Nirvana The Last Nightmare 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

Nirvana The Last Nightmare 03 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,On one occasion, the governor said to Nansen, “There is a piece of stone in my house. Sometimes it stands up and sometimes it lies down. Now can it be carved into the image of Buddha?”“Yes,” said Nansen, “it is possible.”“But it is also impossible?” countered the governor.“It is impossible!” declared Nansen. “It is impossible!”Maneesha, a little note:One of Nansen’s most famous disciples was Lu Hsuan, who later became known as Rikuko Taifu, the provincial governor of the Hsuan district. After residing in his mountain retreat for thirty years without once venturing out, Nansen finally agreed to the governor’s request to come down and teach Zen to the people on the plains. From that time, he became very well known.The governor once asked Nansen about the saying that all things came from the same source, so there can be no right or wrong. Nansen pointed to a patch of peonies in the garden and said, “Governor, when people of the present day see these blossoms, it is as if they see them in a dream.”The governor has made a very important statement. If there is only one source of everything, then there can be no right, no wrong, no good, no bad, no God, no Devil. And this is exactly the case; all our rights and wrongs are judgments of the mind which knows nothing of the source.Our conceptions are moralistic, they are not religious. They are not based on the experience of the original source, from where everything arises and finally disappears also in the same source, just like waves arising in the ocean and falling back into the ocean.But to live this insight in your life needs tremendous courage; it needs a non-judging mind. And we have been brought up with every single thing being judged: this is right, that is wrong.A small boy was asked in the school, “What is your name?”He said, “Don’t!”The teacher said, “Don’t? I have never heard such a name.”He said, “Whatever I do, wherever I want to go they always say ‘Don’t!’ So I think this is my name.”But actually this is the case with everyone. What are your criteria of right and wrong? Who has given you the criteria? How do you decide, how do you judge? All our moralities are man-made conveniences. Whatever is convenient to society becomes moral.For example, by nature, for every one hundred boys born, eighty-four girls will be born. By the time they are of marriageable age, the numbers will be equal. More boys die, girls are more resistant.People think of strength only in the muscular way, but there are other ways to think of strength. Women have more resistance to disease; they don’t get sick so soon. And on average sixteen boys will pop off by the time they are fourteen. By fourteen there is an equal number of girls and boys. Obviously then it is convenient to create the idea of monogamy; otherwise there will be very much inconvenience. One man one woman: this becomes what is right, but it is simply a convenience.To give you a contrast: in Mohammed’s time, particularly in Saudi Arabia, the people were barbarous, continuously fighting and killing. Caravans loaded with goods from one country to another were looted and men were killed. In Saudi Arabia at that time, there was no other way to survive; killing was the profession. So more men than women were killed because men were doing the killing and fighting. The proportion between man and woman became so different, that there were four women to one man. That created very much restlessness, so Mohammed in the Koran had to make it a moral concept to marry at least four women. He himself married nine women; of course, he is the leader, and he is propounding the moral concept, he has to follow it to the very end.Today it has become foolish, because these judgments are dependent on causes and time. Now the situation is not the same. But Mohammedans insist…even in this country they forced the Indian government to have in the constitution that Mohammedans are allowed to have four women.Now the whole thing is stupid! The number of women and men among Mohammedans is equal; from where can men get four women? This now gives them an opportunity to steal women from other people. Hindus and Jainas are very puritan: if a woman has been in a Mohammedan’s house for one night, forcibly, nobody is going to accept her back, neither the husband, nor her children, nor her parents. The whole society rejects her; she is no more part of them. She has to go back and beg the Mohammedan to keep her.Now a judgment based on convenience has become a crime. And it has given birth to many crimes. All moral judgments are somehow based on the convenience of the society; they have no fundamental value. If man’s nature is looked at, neither is man monogamous, nor woman; both are polygamous and it is absolutely natural.If we look at nature, then we must create a more flexible society where people can at least exchange their wives or husbands with their friends once in a while, for the weekend. That will create a happier, satisfied, contented society.But that goes against all the moral concepts that the past has given to us. It is absolutely simple to understand that everybody gets fed-up with one thing continuously. It is not unnatural; it says nothing about the person. However beautiful and good your wife is…she may look beautiful to the whole world and good to everybody, but think of the poor husband! How long can he go on thinking her beautiful? Perhaps by the time the honeymoon ends, she has become obvious, taken for granted. And to go on loving with the same intensity becomes every day more and more difficult.The husband is bored by the wife, howsoever beautiful she is. The wife is bored by the husband, howsoever great a man he may be. This boredom is expressed in every activity of life; all their actions are dominated by this boredom. Their life seems to be the life of a prisoner: if they change partners, the whole society is against them, they lose their respectability, they may lose their jobs, they may become outcasts. So they go on clinging to each other, but they both go on creating misery also for each other.Now I will not call this a morality based on clear perception; it is a morality based on ordinary convenience. I know it will be very inconvenient if people go on changing wives. Children won’t know who is the father and who is the uncle. But what is the problem in that? In fact it will be a good chance for the children to know many fathers; it will be a preparation for their own life, and many mothers…it will be a great preparation for their own life. In the future, if society continues to exist after the year two thousand, there is going to be an immense revolution in the man-woman relationship. The whole concept of right and wrong is going to change.The governor has asked a really fundamental question; if the source is the same then what is the difference between right and wrong? Every moment it has to be decided by a clear conception without any prejudice, without any pre-arranged idea. I’m against morality for the simple reason that it gives you prejudices, superficial prejudices. Anything going against it you immediately take the idea that it is wrong, it is right.It happened to Lao Tzu, the source of Taoism, that he was made the chief justice of the Supreme Court of China. He begged the emperor, “You are committing a mistake; I’m not the right man. You will repent.”But the emperor knew that he was the wisest man alive, and he was, there was no doubt about it. He said, “Why should I repent? You are the wisest man.”Lao Tzu said, “That is the problem. My judgment will come from my wisdom. And your judgments will never be adjustable with my judgments.”But the emperor was stubborn; he said, “Let us see.”So the first case came: a thief was caught red-handed in the richest man’s house. Lao Tzu listened to the whole story.The thief himself confessed that, “In front of you, I cannot lie. If there was another judge, it would be a different matter, but I have always respected you and loved you. So I say there is no need for any witnesses. I have been stealing, not only this time but from this same man’s house I have stolen many times. This time I have been caught. Whatever judgment you feel right, I will not complain.”Lao Tzu waited for a moment and then said, “Both of you, you and the man whose house you have been stealing from, are criminals.”“Both?” the rich man asked. “Are you in your senses?”Lao Tzu said, “You have collected so much money, that almost fifty percent of the wealth of the city is in your hands, with the other fifty percent in the whole city’s hands. This situation creates the possibility of stealing. This man is a victim; in fact you are the criminal. But I will be very equal: six months jail for both.”The rich man said, “My God! I have never heard that when somebody steals from your house you are jailed!” He said, “I want first to see the emperor! Even the emperor owes money to me. Whenever he wants, I have been giving money to him.”And he went to the emperor and said what had happened. “And I have come to remind you that soon you will be in jail also! If this man is going to remain the supreme judge of the empire, you cannot remain out of jail long. We are small criminals according to him. You are the biggest criminal.”The emperor said, “Perhaps he was right that I would repent. Don’t be worried, I will release him from the service immediately.”He called Lao Tzu and said, “This is a very strange judgment.”Lao Tzu said, “It is not. If people were living in harmony with nature, if people were compassionate to each other, if they felt a certain brotherhood with each other, then how could there be rich people and poor people? There should only be people. And there is enough.” At least in those times it was perfectly true, there was enough for everybody to live comfortably.At that time when Lao Tzu said that, in India the population was only two million. Now the population is nine hundred million, and by the end of this century, if humanity survives – the chances are very slim – India will have one thousand million. For the first time India will be the most populated country; up to now China has remained the first and India number two. In the race India is going to win within ten years.In those days when the country had only two million people, nature was abundant. There was no need for anybody to be rich or poor. Things could be easily, comfortably enjoyed by all. But it was not the case, neither in India nor in China nor anywhere else. Now it has become absolutely impossible.But Lao Tzu was right when he said, “A man who collects so much wealth that thousands of people become undernourished – they don’t have houses, they don’t have jobs, they don’t have enough to eat…What do you want? Should they steal or not? Their stealing is not a crime; this rich man is the criminal. What is the point of collecting all this wealth? Your wealth is simply the blood of the people. You should be happy that I’m sending you to jail only for six months. In fact if I’m to be just, that man could go for six months, but you would have to go for your whole life! Less than that would not be justified.”The emperor said, “I understand. I release you. You were right that I would repent; you are a dangerous fellow.”The convenience of the emperor, the convenience of the vested interest, the richest, the super-rich, their convenience is the problem. Everything is right that fits with their convenience, and everything is wrong that does not fit with their convenience.All our moralities are decided by the exploiting classes, the oppressors. The very people who are the cause of immorality in society are the decisive factors of morality.Krishna had sixteen thousand wives, and no Hindu objects to it. He still remains God’s perfect incarnation. Others are imperfect incarnations; he is the only one who is the perfect incarnation. But nobody thinks that this man married only one woman, the remainder he has taken from anywhere; he just sees any beautiful woman, and his soldiers take her to the palace. She has a husband, she has children, she has old parents, or her husband has old parents – no one cares.And one can think that Krishna must be a sexomaniac. What will you do with sixteen thousand women? In a small life sixteen thousand women! You are treating women as cattle; you will not even know their names. Many will not have any chance to meet you.But these are the people who make rules for society. For the society the rule is monogamy. Krishna is above rules, he is God’s incarnation. So the oppressive society has been deciding rules for the oppressed. All moralities are criminal.Only a man of deep meditation and silence can say anything, but he will not use the words right or wrong. And he will not decide it forever as a criterion; it can only be in that moment, a spontaneous response, not a reaction. He’s not deciding the morality.Looked at from another point of view, there is only one thing right and that is to be absolutely conscious, and only one thing wrong, to be absolutely unconscious. Out of unconsciousness whatever arises is going to be wrong. Out of consciousness whatever arises is going to be right. It is not a question of actions, it is a question of from where it arises.But still it is relative in the ultimate sense. Whether it arises from unconsciousness or from consciousness does not matter, for everything is whatever it is. There is no question of right and wrong, because unconsciousness and consciousness both arise from the same source, the source of eternal life.Hence it is said, the buddha goes beyond the ordinary rules: he lives according to his own responsibility. He does not take steps according to the preordained morality, he takes steps according to his awareness moment to moment.Ordinary people who know nothing of consciousness obviously need a certain kind of morality, a certain system of rules. But this is unfortunate. It simply shows that man has not become conscious enough, hence he needs rules to keep him within bounds and limits. The day the whole society becomes more conscious, there will be no need of morality and no need of government, and no need of any courts. These are ugly things, these are insulting things to humanity. They are humiliations.The day I entered America, the first question of the man who interviewed me for my entry visa was, “Are you an anarchist?” He must have been informed; he had a whole file.I said, “I am something more.”He looked a little shocked, because for this there was no rule; he started looking in the file. In America an anarchist cannot enter. An anarchist is one who does not believe in government, who believes that every government is a slavery and unless we are free from all governments, man will go on living in slaveries, changing slaveries and thinking he is free, his idea of freedom being just a dream.But when I said, “I am something more.” He was at a loss what to do with me.He said, “What do you mean by ‘something more’?”I said, “I mean that before governments can be dissolved, man’s unconsciousness has to be dissolved. I am not an anarchist. But anarchism will be the by-product of my whole effort.”He said, “You seem to be very difficult.”And from that moment for five years continuously I was in a fight with the American government. And we were not wrong. But their prejudices! I said to a jailer where I was jailed, “Do you consider that you are also a foreigner here?” No American is American; all are foreigners. The natives, the poor Red Indians, are the Americans. Americans have even changed their name; they are Red Indians and America belongs to them.I said to the jailer – because he had become friendly during the three days I was in his jail – I said to him, “You or your father or your grandfather at the most must have come from outside America. And I at least have a valid passport. Your parents entered America without any passport. Your parents entered America as invaders; I have come just as a tourist.“And you have killed almost ninety percent of the Red Indians. The ten percent that have remained alive you have left half-alive and half-dead. You have forced them into reservations, into deep forests, and you go on giving them pensions. For what? Because you don’t want them to enter the society and work and be part of society. To separate them you go on giving them pensions without any work. Naturally when you get money without any work what will you do? Then you will be into alcohol, drugs, gambling, prostitutes. What else will you do with your money?“So those Red Indians have been completely destroyed. They cannot even fight for freedom because to fight for freedom means losing the pension. And it is so good to have a pension! Just create more children and you have more pensions. And enjoy the life, drink as much as you want, use drugs as much as you want, but don’t go out of the reservation. Remain deep in the forest.”I told him, “What right have you got to prevent others entering America? It is not your motherland.” But they have made it theirs, and nobody in the world, not even their own thinkers, ever raised the question, “What about the freedom of America? When are we going to leave?”“And you have become dispensers of morality, judgment, you have created courts of law and a constitution. And this country does not belong to you; you are barbarous invaders. If there is any greater crime you tell me!”He said, “You are right, but now it is too late. We have been here for three hundred years, and what has happened has happened. Now we cannot go anywhere. There are Italians, and there are Germans, and there are English people, and there are Spanish, and there are Dutch; from all the countries of Europe there are people. They will not be taken back; their own countries will not accept them anymore.”So they have nowhere to go. And they are occupying a country of poor natives. You will be surprised to know how barbarous has been their behavior all through their history. The whole city of New York was purchased from the Red Indians by the so-called Americans for twenty-four silver dollars. Do you call that business? They were forced. The whole city of New York just for twenty-four dollars!All rights and wrongs up to now have been decided by whoever is powerful; it is power that decides. In India they have a proverb, “Whoever has the staff will have the buffalo.” It does not matter to whom it belongs; the question is: whose staff is bigger, who is stronger? The stronger make the rules for the weaker, the richer make the rules for the poorer. Naturally those rules are in favor of the rich, of the powerful, they are against the poor and the weak. When I say I’m against morality, I say I am against this whole structure, this whole system of making rules by the powerful for the powerless.Man has made rules for women because he is more muscular. The woman is more fragile, more dependent because she becomes pregnant. In her pregnancy she is absolutely dependent on the man for everything that she needs. Her pregnancy has become her slavery. If women want to be liberated from man, they should think about pregnancy first. They should insist on birth control, and they should insist that while they are pregnant society should take care of them, otherwise, they are not prepared to become pregnant. Pregnancy has made them handicapped; and man has exploited the situation very easily.To the man of ultimate consciousness there is nothing right or wrong. Everything is as it is, there is no judgment.The governor has asked something very important.If all things have come from the same source, there can be no right or wrong.Nansen pointed to a patch of peonies in the garden and said, “Governor, when people of the present day see these blossoms, it is as if they see them in a dream.”His answer is a little indirect. But what he is saying is that people are so unconscious that whatever they see is not more than a dream. In their dream they decide what is right, what is wrong. When they awaken, they will see everything is melting into each other: there are no opposites and there are no contradictions, existence is one organic unity.But because people are unconscious, dreaming…What are your thoughts except dreams of the day, dreams with open eyes? And what are your dreams but thoughts of the night? How do you make decisions? You don’t have consciousness enough to decide anything. You simply follow the old rules. But do you know that the people who have made those rules were as asleep as you are?For example, the Hindus follow the rules of Manu. Five thousand years ago he made the Hindu morality. According to him, men are divided into four castes. The Brahmins are the highest: nobody can enter into Brahminism; you are born a Brahmin. Conversion is not possible, because your being a Brahmin depends on your past life’s good deeds. Now where will you find your past life and do good deeds? That is gone.The second class are the warriors, the third class are the business people, and the fourth class are the sudras, the “untouchables.” They are so dirty that even if their shadow passes over you, you have to take a bath. They have not touched you, their shadow has touched you, but that is enough to make you dirty. The fourth class cannot be allowed to live in the city, they have to live outside the town. There are places where they cannot enter, for example in temples. They cannot read the scriptures, they cannot enter into schools, they cannot be educated.For five thousand years nobody has revolted against it. You are forcing a person to be a shoemaker just because he is born in the family of a shoemaker. He may have the qualities of an Albert Einstein, but that door is closed, he cannot even enter the school. He may have the qualities of Gautam Buddha but all doors are closed, he is allowed only to make shoes. For five thousand years all his ancestors have been making shoes, so he has to make shoes.Very strict divisions and no mobility, no movement from one profession to another profession. Manu was a Brahmin, so obviously Brahmins are the best. They are the decisive factors, they will decide what is right and what is wrong.And the situation is the same all around the earth; people are living in absolute unconsciousness. All these so-called religious people are against me, obviously, because I am saying to them that all their moralities are of the same stuff as dreams are made of. The only possibility to know the right is first to be fully conscious. And when a man is fully conscious, things change.For example, Gautam Buddha dropped the idea of castes immediately; when he became enlightened his first step was to say, “There are no castes; everybody has to be free to do whatever he wants, to be whatever he wants; birth cannot decide his destiny.”Buddha’s teaching could not survive in India because the Brahmins’ whole profession was at stake. If Buddha’s message had spread, the Brahmins would have lost the power that they had, the warriors would have lost the power they had, and the sudras would have entered into every place, they would have had the freedom which has never been given to them.Buddha can see in his silence, in his peace that this is a stupid idea. In the name of morality, in the name of religion it is imposed on people; it should be taken away. Freedom is the base, the fundamental base of all humanity. Anything that goes against freedom goes against humanity.Maneesha has asked:Osho,On one occasion, the governor said to Nansen, “There is a piece of stone in my house. Sometimes it stands up and sometimes it lies down. Now can it be carved into the image of Buddha?”“Yes,” said Nansen, “It is possible.”“But it is also impossible?” countered the governor.“It is impossible!” declared nansen. “Yes, it is impossible!”A strange dialogue. First you have to understand that the governor is speaking in metaphors. When he says that There is a piece of stone in my house he is talking about himself. He is saying, “What am I more than a stone? Sometimes I get up and sometimes I lie down. I am as unconscious as a stone.” Do you think he was asking Nansen if stone could be carved into a buddha? It is not about a stone, it is about himself. Stones don’t stand and don’t lie down, they don’t get tired so soon. He is talking about himself.“Yes,” said Nansen, “it is possible.” He does not say that it is inevitable. He simply says, “it is possible.” If an urge arises in the stone, everything is possible: the stone can become a buddha.The governor said, “But it is also impossible?” Seeing that the governor cannot understand that even a stone, if an urge, a longing arises in it, can become a seed, and finally a buddha, seeing the governor cannot understand that possibility because he says, “But it is also impossible, very difficult?,” Nansen also said, “Yes, it is impossible.” He repeated again, “It is impossible!”If you yourself think it is impossible, then there is no way. The first thing is to see and perceive your potentiality and possibility. If you yourself say it is impossible, then nobody can do it for you. It is not something that somebody else has to do, you have to grow into a buddha. If you say it is impossible then the project can be dropped.What he is saying to you in this anecdote is that your very urge to become a buddha ultimately discovers the buddha in you. The buddha is not somewhere far away that you have to go in search of. It is hidden behind you. If your urge becomes urgent, the hidden opens its doors. If you go inwards with a tremendous force to reach to the very source and the center of your being you will find the buddha.But if you think it is impossible, then you have yourself closed the doors of your potentiality. Nobody can make you a buddha. But it is possible; if you have the passion, if you have the longing, if you turn in, dropping all mundane things of the outside, it is possible.Sekiso wrote:People’s abuse has melted what was goldenand it has gone from the world.Fortune and misfortuneboth belong to the land of dreams.Don’t look back to this world,your old hole in the cellar.From the beginningthe flying birds have leftno footprints on the blue sky.Sekiso is a great poet. He is saying People’s abuse has melted what was golden. We have left a golden age behind, we misused it.I am reminded of a very significant incident. In the Himalayan mountain range there are a few tribes, very ancient tribes which have followed a rule, very male-chauvinistic, that if you become a guest in their house they will offer you everything. And in the night they will offer you their wife too. A guest has to be given everything.When the Britishers came to India, they exploited these poor people so much, that in the areas of Manali and Kulu almost ninety percent of the people are suffering from syphilis.The British were responsible. When they heard that these people offer their wives, they would go hunting in the mountains and then in the night they would knock on some door. And those poor people offered them everything: food, shelter, their wives.They could not think that these people had come just to exploit them, to prostitute their wives. And they spread syphilis all over the area in the whole tribe; even children were born with syphilis, and the British did not take responsibility for the children, which were born out of their lovemaking to those poor people’s wives.So you can understand what Sekiso is saying, People’s abuse has melted what was golden. There was certainly a more trusting world, more loving people.I remember even in my childhood, in my village and the surrounding villages you could not purchase milk. You could get as much milk as you wanted, but nobody would sell milk. You have a nourishment, somebody is hungry and you exploit his hunger! So milk was available to anybody. Now in the same village you will not find pure milk at any cost – half water, half milk.In the university where I was studying, a man was supplying the milk to the students. He was a very good man, a very nice man, a very wise old man. And people had started calling him shantji, a saint. And he used to come with buckets of milk, with his son carrying another bucket, to the hostel. And people would ask, “Shantji, is it true that you don’t mix water into the milk?”He would put his hand on his boy’s head, and he would say, “In my whole life, I have never mixed water into milk. If I have ever done that, my child would die.”I heard it. I thought that this seemed strange, because the milk certainly was fifty percent water. Already milk, pure milk is eighty percent water, and when you mix more water into it, fifty percent, it becomes so clear.So my first day in the university when I heard him, I called him aside and I said , “Tell me the truth, because certainly your milk is full of water. And if you don’t tell me the truth I will take you to the vice-chancellor and the milk will be sent for scientific analysis. And if water is found in it, your whole business is finished.”He said, “You are the first person to create so much trouble for me. I will tell you the truth, but don’t do anything and don’t tell others.”I said, “You tell me the truth; what is the truth?”He said, “The truth is I never mix water into milk, I always mix milk into water. That’s why I can say it without any fear, but don’t send it for scientific analysis. I will provide you water and milk free of charge. If you want it without water, I will stop the water in your milk, but then you have to send somebody to my place. But don’t tell anybody; I have told you the secret.”There was a world, as far back as we can go where we find a certain quality of trust, which was the golden age of humanity.Sekiso says:…and it has gone from the world. Fortune and misfortune both belong to the land of dreams. Don’t look back to this world, your old hole in the cellar. From the beginning the flying birds have left no footprints on the blue sky. This is a saying of Gautam Buddha. He used to say, “You have to follow a path which is not already made. You have to make it and walk it. You have to make it by walking it. You have to arrange your pathway. You cannot follow anybody, it is just like the sky.…the flying birds have left no footprints on the blue sky.The same is true about the inner sky, the buddhas have not left their footprints. So you cannot follow any buddha, you have to find your path on your own, alone. This is your dignity. This is a great freedom. If there were ready-made paths, superhighways, then truckloads of people would be becoming buddhas everyday. Buses would be going. But because in the inner world you cannot take your trucks, you cannot take even your rickshaw, or the rented bicycle, it will be very difficult; riding on the bicycle you can go anywhere except inside.Inside you have to go not with your legs, you have to go with your vision, you have to turn your eyes in. There are no footpaths. The sky inside is absolutely untrodden. But the distance to the goal is not very big, only one step.As you look inside urgently, you can see as if you are looking into a water hole the water deep down, or as if you are seeing in a tunnel, far away, the opening to the sky. There is only one step that you have to take to reach to the buddha. Just courage and some energy for adventure, for inquiring, for exploration is needed. But remember this tremendously beautiful statement:…the flying birds have left no footprints on the blue sky. There is no possibility of being a follower.Maneesha has asked:Osho,Who of us here could agree that “What was golden has gone from the world”? How could it be, when you are among us, and in your presence it feels that you are filling us with gold? You are the Midas of the spiritual dimension.Maneesha, this Buddha Auditorium is not part of your so-called world. It is an island in itself where only buddhas dwell. For you as meditators time does not matter. The deeper you go, the more contemporary you become to Gautam Buddha, to Lao Tzu, to Chuang Tzu, to all those who have experienced the ultimate. You meet them at the very source of your being. It is the same taste, it is the same flavor, it is the same goal.You are right and you are wrong. Right, because here in this Buddha Auditorium you are so urgently, so passionately searching for the buddha. You are bringing a golden age into existence.But outside the gate there is a vast world where even the idea of looking inwards does not occur to people. If you tell the idea of becoming a buddha to those people outside the gate they will laugh, they will say, “Are you mad?” They will look at you with suspicion: “This man must be on heroin, under the influence of opium or some other drug; he is thinking to become Buddha. Buddha died twenty-five centuries ago.”People in the ordinary world never think that they have a different destiny – to be not just a business man, or a clerk, or a stationmaster, or a teacher. These are not your destinies, these are your professions. Good for survival in the body, but not good enough to find the buddha.You have to do something else, you have to enter into yourself, which is not part of the education or the morality of society. People will laugh at you because you enter in. They will say, “You are mad, how can you enter in? We don’t see any door, any window, where do you enter from? And what can you find there? Just a skeleton! Don’t do that, otherwise you will become afraid of yourself, seeing a skeleton inside, a skull and all the blood vessels and the intestines. Just avoid this going in! It is a very dangerous thing that you are doing, and if you really are interested, just wait until you die. In your grave you can look inside because there will be no outside anymore. Then watch your skeleton; you will have enough time, no other work!”You are right that here we are exactly trying to bring the golden age back. Those who want to join in this great venture, they are welcome. But in the world, Maneesha, that golden age has certainly disappeared. What is happening in the outside world you can find out from these jokes.Chester Cheese is on a long sales trip when his car breaks down. He walks up to a nearby farmhouse and knocks on the door.“Excuse me,” says Chester to the farmer, “but my car has broken down. Can I stay here for the night?”“Well, I guess so,” says the old man. “But the only available bed belongs to my sixteen-year-old daughter, Lucy. You will have to sleep with her.”“Really?” smiles Chester. And he is shown to Lucy’s room.Later that night, lying next to Lucy, Chester puts his hand on her soft thigh.“Stop that!” cries Lucy. “Or I will call my father.” But then she moves a little closer to Chester.A little while later, Chester tries again. “Stop that!” cries Lucy. “Or I will call my father.” But then she moves even closer to Chester.On the third try, Lucy jumps on top of Chester, and they have a great time.A little while later, Lucy whispers, “Mister, can we do it again?”Chester agrees, and they go for it again. Five minutes later, Lucy is tugging again on Chester’s deflated machinery. “Mister, can we do it again?” she asks.Stop that!” gasps Chester. “Or I will call your father!”That is what is happening in the outside world!Swami Deva Cleverhead, the group therapist, is walking out of the front gate one night.“Hello, sir,” says Black-Fat, the flower-seller. “Buy roses for your lovely wife?”“I haven’t got a wife,” snaps Cleverhead, waving him away.“Okay,” says Black-Fat, “roses for your girlfriend?”“No,” screams Cleverhead. “I haven’t got a girlfriend either!”“Okay,” says Black-Fat,” then buy two bunches – to celebrate your good luck!”Paddy and Seamus are sitting in Paddy’s yard drinking a few beers.“Hey,” says Seamus. “How was your boat trip to Spain?”“Fantastic!” says Paddy. “Imagine, I’m away from Maureen for the first time in fifteen years! Then, on the first night of my trip, I met this gorgeous girl, one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. We chit-chatted for a while, and it was love at first sight. Soon, we were rolling in each other’s arms, completely naked.“But in the morning, as I held her in my arms, I found out she is the new wife of my best friend, Fergus. It came as such a tremendous shock that we both felt really guilty. And we both cried and cried and cried!”“My God!” says Seamus. “That is really something! So how was the rest of your trip?”“Well, you know,” says Paddy. “After that, it was just crying and fucking, crying and fucking…!”That is what is happening in the outside world!Big Olga, Kowalski’s overweight wife, is getting enormous. So she goes to Doctor Gasbag to see if she can get some advice.“You need much more exercise,” says Gasbag. “And you eat far too much. You must exercise every day.”“But doctor,” complains Olga, “what exercise should I do?”“It is easy,” replies Gasbag. “Begin slowly. Just strip off, lie down on your bed, and try to sit up and touch your toes. Then lift your legs back over your shoulders. Keep doing this until you start sweating off those pounds.”That night, Olga decides to give it a try. Naked, lying on the bed, she can hardly see her toes. Still, she pushes forward, and tries to grab her feet. Then she lifts her legs back. But she gets stuck with her bum sticking out and her legs pushed back over her head.At this point, Kowalski stumbles into the bedroom, utterly drunk.“Jesus Christ, Olga!” he shouts in shock. “Comb your hair and put your teeth back in! You look like your mother!”This is what is happening in the outside world!Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes. Feel your body to be completely frozen.Now look inwards, with totality, with all your consciousness gathered as an arrow.Go deeper and deeper. Remember, every moment can be the last moment of your life. Hence the urgency.You are not to leave this body without realizing your buddhahood. It is possible. Even the stone can be carved into a buddha. What to say about consciousness? It is buddhahood itself.Rejoice this moment. Very few people in the world are even trying to know who they are. That is what is making a mess of the world.If you know consciously the source of your being, you become filled with contentment, joy, compassion, love. So many thousands of flowers blossom in you. You become a splendor.This is your birthright. You can ignore it but you cannot destroy it. Any moment you want to remember it, it is available.Just want it enough.To make it clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Just watch. You are the witness, you are not the body, you are not the mind, you are only a witness – just a mirror.This witnessing is the point of departure, the point from where transformation begins.Drink deeply from the source. Get soaked, drenched, so that when you come back you bring buddha in your heart, in your breathing.You have to live the buddha twenty-four hours.The evening was beautiful in itself. But the presence of so many buddhas has made it tremendously beautiful.Gather as much gold as possible. Soon, Nivedano will be calling you back. Bring it all with you: the fragrance, the silence, the blissfulness.In this moment, there are not ten thousand buddhas but only one buddha nature, one ocean where you all have dissolved.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back, but slowly, gracefully.Bring the buddha with you. Don’t forget.Sit down like buddha for a few moments. And remember the space you have been in, the path that you followed, and the same path you have come back on.Remember it. You will have to go again and again on the same path to drink from the sources of eternal life.Can we celebrate the gathering of the buddhas?

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Nirvana The Last Nightmare 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

Nirvana The Last Nightmare 04 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,Once, Nansen decided to visit a village, but was very surprised to find that preparations had been made to welcome him.Nansen said to the village head, “It has been my custom never to let anyone know beforehand about where I am journeying to. How could you know that I was coming to visit your village today?”The village head replied, “Last night, in a dream, the god of the soil-shrine reported to me that you would come to visit today.”Nansen replied, “This shows how weak and shallow my spiritual life is that it can be foreseen by visions!”Maneesha, before discussing your sutras I have to discuss something about Nansen’s way of tackling things, his methodology. Sometimes he looked very puzzling, would make contradictory statements on purpose. Unless you understand that, it will be difficult to find any rationality in the sutras you have brought to me. And reason is the only thread by which, for the present, you can grasp something of the beyond.On one occasion, the governor, Lu Hsuan, said to Nansen, “What if I told you that a man had raised a goose in a bottle, watching it grow until one day he realized that it had grown too large to pass through the bottle’s neck? Since he did not want to break the bottle or kill the goose, how would he get it out?”A strange puzzle which cannot be solved rationally. Whatever you do – either you will have to destroy the bottle or the goose – you cannot save both. But the goose and the bottle are only metaphors of your witnessing self and your body.Your body is the bottle and your consciousness is the goose. And nobody ever wonders how the consciousness entered the body and how the consciousness can come out of it. The consciousness is universal, vast, infinite in all dimensions. And the body is so small, just like a small bottle. How is this being managed by existence? It is a miracle that the physical, the material contains within it the non-material, the spiritual.The governor was asking the question in the Zen tradition. This is an old story; perhaps every master has to work on it.Nansen shouted, “Governor!.” For a moment the governor completely forgot that he was a governor and Nansen just a beggar as far as possessions are concerned. And nobody should shout at the governor the way he was shouting. The question he has asked does not require…He forgot all. The shout was so sharp like a sword.In a single blow, as he shouted, “Governor!,” and the governor said, “Yes, master,” Nansen said, “The goose is out!”A very strange way of solving the problem. The governor showed his consciousness, expressed his consciousness. This consciousness is not hindered by the body; it can come out, it can go in. The body is not a barrier; the body is a barrier only to material things. But the non-material exists in a different dimension. It can enter the body without stirring anything in the body, without even touching the body. Nowhere in your life does your consciousness ever touch your body, whatever you do. Your consciousness simply remains a witness, far away on the hills as if….Just think you are standing before a mirror. The question is how your reflection entered the mirror. The mirror has no space to contain you, but certainly you are standing in the mirror. But if you watch carefully, you are standing in front of the mirror and watching your reflection in the mirror. The mirror is perfectly capable of reflecting, but it cannot contain you.Neither the body contains the spiritual element in you, nor the spiritual element contains the body. The spiritual element is just a mirror. It can at the most reflect the body, the mind; but it is always beyond, it is always out. That’s what Nansen means, “The goose is out!.” He shouted, “Governor!” and the governor said, “Yes, sir!” The governor is not asleep, he is perfectly awake.In this awareness you are not the body and you are not in the body. You are beyond, you are out. The goose is out. Different masters have worked on this small anecdote about the goose. But Nansen seems to be the best.Maneesha has brought the sutra:Osho,Once, Nansen decided to visit a village, but was very surprised to find that preparations had been made to welcome him.Nansen said to the village head, “It has been my custom never to let anyone know beforehand about where I am journeying to. How could you know that I was coming to visit your village today?”Why was he so insistent that nobody should know beforehand? The reason was that he wanted people to recognize what had happened to Nansen, the illumination.Unless they recognize it by themselves, he will pass the village. He won’t stay in the village; it is not yet ready for buddhas. People are fast asleep. They cannot see the invisible and they cannot understand the eternal. Their noses are closed, their eyes are closed, their ears are closed. They don’t have the sensitivity for the subtle, for the inner. They cannot experience the fragrance of one who has arrived home.That was the reason he would never allow anybody to know where he was going. Even his companions were not aware where he was going; suddenly he would take a turn. They might imagine that this road leads to that place, and before reaching that place he would turn.His whole effort was to find out the people who can just by his presence feel something ringing in their hearts. He wanted to commune with receptive people. The world is vast, full of absolutely non-receptive people, people whose hearts have become so hard that nothing reaches to them. They hear and yet they miss because they cannot listen. While they are hearing, their mind is doing a thousand and one things.Even if a buddha passes in front of them, it is not certain that they will recognize. To recognize a buddha is to have some sensibility, some sensitivity. Just as to recognize the sun you need eyes, to recognize a buddha you also need a certain quality, a clarity, a transparency.And unless you recognize, there is no point in the master wasting time on non-receptive people. Perhaps next life they may be able to receive; perhaps this is not the right time for them – not ripe, their season has not come. A buddha can influence only a very few chosen people, for the simple reason his influence is not of the mind; it is not an argument that convinces you. He will not even say, “I am a buddha.” He would like you to recognize. From there the journey starts, the right point of departure.That’s why Nansen did not want anybody to know that he was coming to their place. If they knew already without recognizing his buddhahood, just traditionally because he is well-known – thousands of monks follow him – they would also mechanically, robot-like worship him. This would be unnecessarily wasting Nansen’s time and perpetuating blind, orthodox, traditional ways.He wanted to enter into a village as a stranger and see whether anybody could recognize him. And people used to recognize him who had not ever seen him. Just seeing him something would go through them like lightning. A heart would start dancing in a new tune. They would know that, “This man although he looks like everybody else is very far away from us.”His consciousness was overwhelming. It showered on people, if they were receptive, like a rain cloud. But he was not ready to shower blindly, the way the rain cloud showers. It does not care whether it is showering on the stones, on the fields, on the good soil; it has no care. A cloud is blind, it is simply heavy with rain and wants to get rid of it wherever the opportunity arises. When there is enough coolness, its vapor becomes water, it showers. Nansen wanted to shower like a rain cloud, but not like a blind rain cloud. He did not want to shower on stones where nothing would grow. He would shower on the right soil where it was possible for something to happen.He alone in the whole history of Zen has used this method. Masters ordinarily inform a village that they are coming, so people are prepared. But Nansen has his own unique personality. If people are prepared, there is every danger that they will traditionally pay their respect and will not understand anything about who has visited them. He never allowed anyone to know.But this time it happened.The village head replied, “Last night, in a dream, the god of the soil-shrine reported to me that you would come to visit today.”Nansen replied, “This shows how weak and shallow my spiritual life is that it can be foreseen by visions!”He was a very honest man. Anyone in his place would have felt tremendous ego, “Even gods declare my coming.” But on the contrary he said, “This shows how weak and shallow my spiritual life is that it can be foreseen by visions, by imaginary gods which are your creation, that you have seen in your dreams that I was coming.” This perception through the vision or dream may have made anyone who was not authentically spiritual rejoice and declare, “Look! Even gods make declarations and predictions for me.” But Nansen said, “This shows how shallow and weak my spirituality is that you can read it even in your dreams.”One of the most important qualities of a religious man is his honesty about himself, his humbleness, his egolessness. He is as if he is not. He does not feel gratified by appraisal, he does not feel any superiority in his spirituality. But the ordinary religious people find trivia to fulfill their egos.I have heard there were three institutions belonging to Christians of different sects. One day three churchmen, walking in the early morning, just by chance met on the crossroad. They welcomed each other and they bragged. One who belonged to the Baptist college said, “Your monasteries are good, but you cannot beat us in our scholarship. Our students are the most scholarly.”The second one was a Catholic. He said, “You are right; it is true your students are very scholarly. But scholarship has nothing to do with spirituality. Real spirituality is discipline, asceticism; on that point you cannot beat us. Our monks are the most ascetic, the most disciplined.”The third one from a Protestant monastery said, “That is all nothing. As far as humbleness is concerned we are the tops.”Even humbleness can be used to fulfill the ego. And in the name of religion all kinds of stupidities are being perpetuated because they fulfill the ego. For example, the Catholic abbot has said that nobody can beat their monks – as if it is an ego game! Nobody can win in ascetic disciplines. But it is true; compared to anybody else the Catholic monk is the most masochistic. He tortures himself so much, just to be praised by people.I am reminded of a story. A young man entered a Catholic monastery. He was told by the abbot, “I have to warn you this is a Catholic monastery. Great discipline is needed; for example, you are allowed to speak only once in seven years.The man said, “I have come with great decision. Every discipline I am ready to follow.” But he was not aware what was going to be his fate. He entered his cell and found that there was no mattress. Now he cannot speak. For seven years he has to wait for the mattress. He said, “My God, I will not survive seven years in this cold weather. Outside snow is falling. There is no mattress, just a small blanket.” But he had promised and it had become an ego-point. He remained for seven years, suffering.When seven years had passed he was very happy; he went to the abbot and he said, “By God’s grace I have survived. There is no mattress in my cell.”The abbot said, “The mattress will be sent. You go back, and for seven years no more complaints.” The poor fellow had not complained for seven years!The mattress came, but the mattress was big; the room was not that big, and the door was very small, so while pushing the mattress in, the workers broke the glass of the window. Somehow they fixed the mattress, but the window was broken.He had suffered through cold, now he started suffering from rain. Water would come directly into the cell where he was sitting covered with his tattered blanket. Seven years again before the glass can be fixed in the window! After seven years he went to the abbot, and the abbot said, “Again? Have you got a complaint again?”He said, “It is not a complaint. But for seven years I have suffered from the rain. Those workers broke my window. It was better without a mattress – I had become accustomed – but to remain always afraid of rain….The abbot said, “Your window will be repaired, but don’t come again in this life with any complaint.”But the situation remained the same: the workers came to fix the glass; he could not speak, and those idiots pulled out the mattress, so that they could work comfortably on the window and fix the glass. They fixed the glass and left the mattress out. Again the situation was the same – in fact, worse.Now seven years looked really…next life perhaps he would be able to say, “My mattress is out.” He tried to pull it in, but there was no way, it was too big. And the abbot had said, “Now in this life you have complained enough. You have done nothing else since you came – complain, complain.”These people think that they are doing something spiritual. Stupidity has many names; one of them is spirituality. Zen is not at all interested in decorating the ego. On the contrary its whole effort is how to empty you, how to make nothing of you, not something.From my very childhood, my relatives, my neighbors, my well-wishers used to say, “The way you are growing, you will end up as nothing,” because I used to sit for hours silently by the side of the river. And people became so accustomed, they would not even ask what I was doing, because I was not doing anything at all.But their prophecy was right. I ended in nothing. But that is the greatest blessing if you can end up being nothing. Good for nothing…only out of that nothingness blossom thousands of roses.Humbleness is not practiced and cultivated by Zen. It is a simple outcome, a by-product of deep meditations. As you go deeper, you start forgetting that the whole world is struggling to become something, somebody special – more riches, more power. Everybody is trying to make history and you are disappearing almost like smoke in the sky. But those who can disappear just like smoke in the sky leaving no trace behind, no footprints behind, they are the only ones who come to know the splendor of existence, the beauty of this universe, and the truth and the divinity; which are just the beginning of great mysteries.Doors upon doors go on opening for the humble one. And he remains simply a watcher. That is the ultimate. You don’t possess anything in a sense, and in another sense you possess the whole universe; but there is no possessiveness. You have entered into the essentials, into the eternal mystery of life and death, and you have found one thing, that everything changes except the witness in you. The witness is the only permanent phenomenon.Even the Himalayas have come and will disappear. One day there was no Himalaya; it is not very old; it is a very new mountain. In Rig Veda the ancientmost book of the Hindus, Himalaya is not mentioned. It is impossible not to mention Himalaya. It seems that Himalaya grew after Rig Veda, because Himalaya is not referred to at all in the Rig Veda when other small mountains are – Vindhyachal, Satpura – rivers too, small in comparison to those in the Himalayas.Lokmanya Tilak, a Hindu scholar from this city, Pune, argued against all the scholars who were trying to prove that Rig Veda is only five thousand years old. He argued that Rig Veda is at least ninety thousand years old with two arguments: one was that Himalaya is not referred to at all while small mountains are referred to. There is no reason not to refer to Himalaya. Himalaya must have grown after Rig Veda.And the people who wrote Rig Veda had come from Mongolia. All the civilized nations of the world have come from Mongolia; Mongolia was the origin, particularly of Aryan races. Negroes have not come from Mongolia, nor the South Indians. But the Germans, the North Indians, the English, the French, the Italians, the Norwegians, the Swedish, the Swiss, the Greeks, they have all come from one original source, Mongolia, because all their languages have a certain percentage of Sanskrit.Coming from Mongolia you have to pass the Himalaya. And to pass the Himalaya is not a small thing. It seems impossible, if Himalaya was there and the Aryans passed the Himalaya, for them not to mention anything about it.Lokmanya Tilak’s argument has a validity. But even more valid is his description of a constellation of stars mentioned in the Rig Veda that also happened ninety thousand years ago. That constellation of stars is described in absolute detail, so it is not something you cannot imagine. It has not happened since then, but it may happen again sometime – although perhaps millions of years will pass before the stars will come into that constellation again.These two arguments were so valid that they have not been answered by any Christian missionary, because all Christian missionaries were trying to push Rig Veda as close to us as possible. The reason was because according to the Christian Bible the world was created just four thousand and four years before Jesus Christ. It must have been certainly a Monday and January, but not far away from us, just six thousand years. So they have to fix everything into that framework of six thousand years. They give as much rope to Rig Veda as possible, five thousand years. They cannot accept that Rig Veda was written ninety thousand years before, because that would disturb their whole Bible.But the Bible is not an argument; there are thousands of other proofs that the Bible is wrong. This earth itself according to scientific measurements has been in existence for four million years. On the Himalayas skeletons of sea animals have been found, sixty thousand years old. That shows that some time between sixty thousand and ninety thousand years ago Himalaya came out of the ocean; otherwise the ocean animals cannot reach in any way to the tops of Himalaya, they cannot travel from the great Indian Ocean, which is the closest. There is no way for sea animals; they don’t have legs, they cannot reach to the tops just to die there and create trouble for historians.The authentic religions are not concerned with such matters; such matters belong to science. Anything objective belongs to science. Religiousness is absolutely subjective; it belongs to your inner depths, and the deeper you go into your inner depths, the more and more you find an empty sky. But this empty sky contains all the buddhas. This empty sky of your being is your ultimate experience. Nobody has gone beyond it, the blessing of it, the benediction of it, the fulfillment of it. A tremendous at-ease with existence…you have come home.Nansen says, “how shallow and weak my spiritual life must be that people can see it in their visions, in their dreams!” Very honest, fully aware of the great possibilities of falling into the paths of ego…this made him a great master. Those who followed him he never called “followers” because that is again an ego-trip.Teachers who have many followers think they are great teachers, just because of the numbers. Numbers are important in politics but are not important in your spiritual growth. It is possible a buddha may be without any follower; that simply shows his height is so much that nobody can see that far. And a clever, parrot-like scholar or pundit or a rabbi may have a great following, because people can understand whatever he says. It is not coming from the beyond; it is coming from his mind, hence your mind can comprehend it very easily.Nansen has not followers but fellow-travelers. He is the first one who used the word fellow-travelers, moving towards the same center of life together. There is no question of master and disciple.That does not mean that the disciples had no respect for Nansen. On the contrary they had more respect because he never asked for respect. There are things, if you ask, you will never get, and if you don’t ask, you will be showered with. He never asked for any gratitude or any respect. He never said, “I am the master and you are the disciple.”That created a totally different kind of commune. And he was loved and respected more than any master for the simple reason he was so humble, so undemanding and so sharing of his empty heart. And the freedom of humbleness…you may not have thought about it but ego can never have any freedom, it depends on others.Sitting on a Himalayan peak alone, can you think of yourself as a great man? But the Pope can think himself a great man because he has six hundred million Catholic followers. No religious head has that many followers. This is the way of politics not of religion.And the ways of the ego are so subtle that…I have heard about a saint who was living alone in the deep mountains. A traveler came to him. Just passing by, the traveler thought to give him a visit. He thought there must be many followers, but there was no one; he was alone.The stranger said to him, “People in the world who have many followers think they are great. But I think they are all egoist, they are using numbers rather than rupees as a support to their ego.”The old saint smiled and he said, “I am the only one who has no followers. I am the only one, remember!” So subtle are the ways of ego. Even this becomes the same trip; there is no difference. Humbleness has to remember that ego always comes to the back door if you throw it from the front door. And in your life there are many doors, many of which you are not even aware of. When you are fully aware and your house is full of light, the shadow of the ego will not be able to enter.But it is not a question of cultivation. I have seen in temples written in golden letters that if you are humble you will be respected by all. Strange advice! Then one becomes humble just to be respected by all. You cannot cultivate these qualities because to cultivate any quality you need some goal, some greed. Humbleness comes as a by-product, not as a goal. When you are deep in your meditation, feeling absolutely nothing, just witnessing emptiness, humbleness comes on its own.Nansen was certainly a man of great understanding, but this understanding is not scriptural, scholarly; this understanding has grown through his meditations. For thirty years he was continuously meditating; for thirty years he was just sitting and watching inside. Slowly slowly thoughts disappeared, dreams disappeared. All dust settles. The sky within becomes absolutely clean and clear. For thirty years he did not come out of the mountains.It was governor Lu Hsuan who persuaded him, “It is enough. Thirty years you have meditated. Now it is time, you should come down to the plains and share your experience.” Hsuan’s persuasion worked because it reminded Nansen what great treasures he had got in his emptiness. There are millions of people who are living like beggars although inside them there are such majestic, such mysterious treasures. He agreed with Hsuan and came down to the plains. Immediately thousands of people deeply interested in searching for their self surrounded him. His monastery was one of the biggest monasteries in Japan.Sekiso, a Zen poet, has written:You climb Mount Hiei onladders of cloud;I walk out of Kyoto witha bamboo stick –a thousand miles apartlike the stars of the north.This is our one chance to remindeach other that we are friends.He is saying, it does not matter in what century, in what place you become enlightened. The moment you become enlightened, you become contemporary to all the enlightened ones of the past and the future. There is a kind of brotherhood of those who reach to the ultimate peak of awakening.Maneesha has asked a question:Osho,In the life of a disciple is there a point of no return?Maneesha, I will have to explain to you. There are three categories which you can find around the master: the student, which is the shallowest – he has come to accumulate some knowledge; he will never go inside; he will simply take notes, become a great scholar, knowledgeable – the second is the disciple who does not accumulate the knowledge but practices it, finding out whether it has any truth in it or not – “Is this only a philosophy or an authentic spiritual experience?” – and the third is the devotee who has become one with the master.Your question is, In the life of a disciple is there a point of no return? In the life of a devotee there is a point of no return, but a disciple can go back. A disciple is still separate from the master. A disciple still keeps a certain distance; in fact he is afraid to come too close. A master is fire. Coming too close means to be burned, burned the way you are; all that is false will be burned and only the pure gold will remain. The disciple keeps himself a little faraway.The student is absolutely faraway. He has nothing to do with the master; he just has to collect fragments of knowledge and go on his way. The disciple is in between the student and the devotee.The disciple can go away, but the devotee has merged himself in the fire. The Upanishads say that the master is a death: to come too close to him you will have to die as you are. Of course you will be reborn; the Upanishadic statement is only half, the master is a death and a resurrection. But one has to have much courage to die. You never know whether you will be resurrected or not. A great trust is needed that this death is the death of the superficial and the false, and when the false and the superficial have died, there will arise your true individuality, your twenty-four carat gold. So your question is right about the devotee, Maneesha, but not about the disciple.Now something serious…Fred Frump walks into the pub and orders a beer and a whiskey. He drinks the beer, and then pours the whiskey into the top pocket of his coat.“Give me another beer, and another whiskey,” says Fred, wiping his lips.The bartender does, and the same thing happens. Fred drinks the beer, and dumps the whiskey into his coat pocket. This goes on several more times, and finally the puzzled bartender asks, “Hey, what’s the big idea?”“None of your business,” says Fred, drunkenly. “And don’t be so nosy – or I will punch you in the nose!”Just then, a mouse pops his head out of Fred’s coat pocket and shouts, “And that also goes for your goddam cat!”Chester and Betty Cheese are having some trouble with their sex life. Betty always has a headache when Chester wants to make love. So Chester sends her to Doctor Feelgood, the psychiatrist, for treatment.“It is simple to cure,” says the shrink. “Whenever you feel a headache coming on, just sit on the edge of your bed, and repeat over and over, ‘I have not got a headache, I have not got a headache.’”Betty is doubtful about this, but the very next night, she sits on the edge of her bed, and tries it out. And it works. So for the next few weeks there is sexual harmony in the Cheese household.But then, Chester gets a problem. He can’t get his machinery hard anymore. So Betty sends him to Doctor Feelgood.And sure enough, for the next few weeks there is no stopping Chester – he has got the strength of a bull.But he has one new habit, which annoys Betty. Every night, he insists on going to the bedroom ten minutes before her.So, one night, she sneaks upstairs behind Chester, and looks through the keyhole. There is Chester, sitting on the edge of the bed, repeating over and over, “She is not my wife….”Pope the Polack and Cardinal Rump are having a terrible argument in the pope’s private chambers. The noise and screaming is so bad that half of the Vatican comes to put their ears to the door, to listen to what is going on.“Just drop dead!” screams Cardinal Rump.“Go to hell!” cries the Polack, at full volume.“Kiss my ass!” shouts back the cardinal.“Oh!” says the Pope with surprise. “So now you want to be friends!”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes, feel your body to be completely frozen. And now look inwards with absolute urgency as if this moment is the last moment of your life.Go deeper – the center is not far away – just one single step. Deeper and deeper because at the center you are the buddha. At the center your lotus blossoms, you feel for the first time blessed, blessed just to be, for no reason at all.The greatest experience of life is to experience your buddhahood, and buddhahood simply means witnessing. Watch your body, watch your mind and remember you are neither. You are just a pure witness, a mirror in which everything reflects.Clouds come and go, months come and go. Eternity is your nature, only you remain; everything moves from death to birth, from birth to death – just a circle of movement, but within the circle the center is absolutely immobile.To make it more clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax. Just watch the body, the mind and be only a witness. You are not supposed to do anything. Just be a witness. A mirror does not do anything when it reflects you. Just be a mirror-like witness.The evening was beautiful on its own. But the ten thousand buddhas disappearing into a silent witnessing have made it very golden.So many flowers start showering on you, so much joy that you have never known before. Such serenity, such beauty as you have never dreamt about. But it is your nature.Collect as many flowers, as much fragrance as you can before Nivedano calls you back. You have to bring your buddhahood with you from the center to the circumference. You have to constantly remember in your actions, words, silences that you are a buddha. And this will become the greatest possibility of transformation, from mortality into immortality, from the false to the true.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back. But come back as buddhas, with the same grace, with the same silence, without any hurry. Sit down for a few moments just to recollect the space you have been in, the path that you have traveled forward and backward. This is the track that you have to continuously move on. The deeper this track becomes, the more your buddhahood becomes clear. I don’t want anybody to be a Buddhist. I want everybody to be a buddha.Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?

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Nirvana The Last Nightmare 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

Nirvana The Last Nightmare 05 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,Once, Nansen told two of his disciples that he was going to take them with him to visit the National Teacher. But before they started out on their journey, nansen drew a circle on the road and said, “As soon as you give a right answer, we will be on our way.”At that, one of the disciples sat down inside the circle and the other bowed like a woman. Nansen said, “Judging from this response, it will not be necessary to go.”On another occasion, Nansen was washing his clothes when a monk came across him. Seeing him involved in such an activity, the monk exclaimed, “Master, you still are not free from ‘this’?”Nansen, lifting up the wet clothes, commented, “What can you do about ‘this’?”Maneesha, before I discuss your sutras I have to inaugurate Avirbhava’s new arrivals for the museum of gods. This museum will show to the world how man has been insane. He has worshipped the animals and killed human beings. It is so idiotic that future generations will simply laugh. They could not possibly understand.In Australia the white man killed almost all the natives of Australia. They used to call it hunting; just as you go hunting animals, they used to go hunting men. And by the evening they would ask each other how many they had killed. And they never thought for a moment that what they were doing was absolutely insane.They have done the same with animals. They have worshipped animals on one hand and they have killed and destroyed many species. There have been thousands of species of animals; many have not left even a trace behind. Man has hunted them, killed them. This world used to be more alive, more colorful. It has become almost dead by our own hands; our hands are full of blood.Just twenty years ago there were only four white lions left in the world. In a small town, Rewa, in India, where Narendra was a professor – because Narendra was a professor there, he invited me to speak – there used to be thousands of white, pure white, lions; their majesty was tremendous. Only four were left, and now I hear two of them have died. The other two may die any day. Because the remaining two are both males, there is no possibility of any children. Slowly slowly, many species have simply disappeared.The lion used to be the national animal in India, but we have killed so many that they are almost finished. The Indian parliament had to change it; now the tiger is the national animal. The tiger cannot be compared to the lion. There has never been any animal comparable to the lion, its majesty, its power, its strength. But we have killed them. They were not doing any harm to us. They were living in the mountains, in the forest.Avirbhava has brought a tiger and a lion. I will give you a little note about each.The Tiger.In Hanoi the tiger is worshipped as a god. In Sumatra the tiger is represented as the abode of the souls of the dead.In many countries, there are superstitions and beliefs surrounding the tiger. In Mirzapur, Bagheshwar, the tiger god is located in a bira tree and is said to take human form at night and to call out to people by name. Beware those who answer the call: they fall sick. In Greece, Dionysius’ chariot is drawn by a tiger. In Japan, the tiger denotes courage. In Nepal, there is a tiger festival, known as Bagh Jatra, in which the worshippers dance disguised as tigers. In India, Durga, the destroyer mother goddess, rides a tiger, and Shiva, as destroyer, also sometimes wears a tiger skin.There is a belief in India that a garden in which a tiger has been killed loses its fertility. The fangs, claws and whiskers of a tiger are used in love charms, and as measures against possession by evil spirits.In China, the tiger is the king of the beasts and lord of the land animals. It sometimes depicts authority, courage, military prowess and the fierceness needed for protection.If you look at this psychologically, the tiger and lion are really worshipped symbolically. The worship of tiger and lion says simply that you worship power – just as there are worshippers of money. In India each year on the festivals particularly on Deepavali, the festival of lights, money is worshipped as god – just notes and coins! And we call these people intelligent! These mediocres who have been worshipping money…because if you worship money, the goddess of wealth, Laxmi, will pour down money on your house. It has never happened. Money neither grows on trees, nor is it simply dropped on the roof of your house. But still the festival goes on.In my childhood I refused to sit while they were worshipping money. I said it was so insane that even a child could see it. Money is dead, just a method of exchanging things; it has no divinity. But the fear is that if you don’t worship, then Laxmi may turn back from your home. She may be coming just to shower money and you are not worshipping; she may turn back.I asked my father, “Have you ever heard that she has showered money? Just a single case will be enough to convince me.”He said, “On that point I cannot say anything because it has never happened.”But the lust, the desire for money, for more money, has made even money a god, a dead thing, without any meaning. The same is the case with lions and tigers, because they represent strength and power. Everybody is hankering for power: power to dominate others, to become a prime minister, to become a president, to become a king or a queen. A deep desire in everyone is to conquer the whole world.Not only is Alexander the Great sick, everybody is. Alexander was stupid enough to bring his sickness into activity. Most of the Alexanders keep it hidden inside themselves; but the desire to conquer the world is there.When Alexander was coming to India, he met on the way the most beautiful man Greece has ever produced, Diogenes. Diogenes asked Alexander, “What will you do if you conquer the world? Let us assume it for argument’s sake. Even if you conquer the world what are you going to do next?”Alexander said, “I have never given thought to it, but I assume that I will then relax and rest.”Diogenes was resting by the side of a river, taking a sunbath naked. He laughed and he said, “If after conquering the whole world, massacring millions of people, you are just going to relax, why not relax now? This bank of the river is big enough. We both can reside here. It will be good company.”Alexander was first very much shocked because nobody had ever talked to him the way Diogenes talked. But he had to concede that, “You are right. If after conquering the world one is just going to rest and relax, then why not rest and relax now? Who knows whether I will be able to conquer the world or not?”And that’s what happened. He could not complete his conquest of the world. He returned just from the frontiers of India by the side of Sindhu river. He fought with a king named Poras, a man of tremendous courage and honesty, representative of the golden days of humanity.Alexander tried cunning on Poras. He knew perfectly well it was not easy to conquer that man. So he sent his wife to Poras. It was the month of sawan, when in India sisters bind a thread on the hand of the brothers. It is called rakshabandhan. That thread reminds the brother that he has to protect his sister in every circumstance; even if he has to stake his own life, he will; that is a promise. And after binding the thread on Poras’ hand she said, “Do you know who I am? I am the wife of your enemy, Alexander, who is camping on the other side of the Sindhu river. Now remember and keep the thread on your hand. Do whatever you want to do, but don’t kill my husband.”Poras promised. This was a strange strategy. But when fighting, Poras had the chance, when he killed Alexander’s horse and Alexander fell on the earth and Poras jumped on him from his elephant with a spear. But as he was going to put the spear into the chest of Alexander, he saw the thread. He simply stopped. Alexander asked, “What has happened?”He said, “I have given your wife a promise. She has become my sister. I cannot kill you.”That way Alexander became the conqueror. This is not conquest. This is pure cunningness. And from there he returned. Seeing the way Poras behaved, he did not have the guts to enter deeper into India, because he would have to face more, courageous, great warriors, and there was a whole continent to conquer. So he turned back, the world remained unconquered and he died by coincidence the same day as Diogenes died.Now here is a beautiful story. It cannot be said to be factual, but it is certainly truthful. And you always have to make a distinction between fact and truth. Truth need not always be fact, even a fiction can have a truth.The story is, they both met on the boundary line of this world and paradise. There is a river which makes the boundary line. Ahead was Alexander, nude, because you cannot take anything with you, just a skeleton. Suddenly he heard a belly laugh behind him. He looked back and he could not believe it. He thought, “My God, this is Diogenes.”But to keep his face, he said to Diogenes, “It is a great coincidence that an emperor is meeting a beggar by this river which is the boundary line of the world and paradise.” He was saying that, “I am the emperor and you are the beggar.”Diogenes said, “You are absolutely right. But there is some misunderstanding. The beggar is ahead of me and the emperor is behind you. I was as free when I was on the earth. I had no possessions, no power, no prestige. I simply enjoyed my life in utter freedom without bothering about what people say. You were concerned about conquering the world, so you had to compromise, you had to give thousands of concessions of all kinds, you had to be cunning, diplomatic. You were a beggar there too, and here now you are still a beggar. I was an emperor there also. Nobody ever challenged my emperorhood and I told you – have you forgotten? – that your conquest may not be completed and you may not have time to rest and relax. Now, what have you to say about it?”Alexander said, “Forgive me, I was too egoistic. Had I listened to you and rested by your side, at least a few years would have been of joy, silence, meditation, peace, love. But I did not listen to you.”There are thousands of ways of getting into this trip of power, politics, money, knowledge, anything where man starts bragging about himself as special.The psychology behind this worshipping of tigers and lions symbolizes the worship of power. So man on the one hand worshipped them and on the other hand killed them. I was a guest of the Maharaja of Bhavnagar. He took me around his palace. And I saw all over the palace hundreds of heads of lions hanging on the walls or the full lion stuffed standing in the corridors. I said, “Who has done this?”He said, “My father was a great hunter. He has killed more lions than anybody else in India.”I said, “You call it hunting. And if a lion had killed your father, what would you have called it? A disaster. You would not call it hunting. And what is this hunting? From far away sitting on a tree with a machine gun, a poor animal with no arms to defend himself or to fight…killing him and rejoicing in this killing!”I told the Maharaja, “Your father must have been mad. Are you still continuing this madness? These things come as a heritage. I see in your eyes while you are showing me all this nonsense a great pride, as if your father had done some good to humanity. You should be ashamed of being the son of a man who unnecessarily destroyed such beautiful animals.”A note about the lions.Universally the lion is known as the king of beasts, and in several countries is worshipped as a symbol of the sun, and that of a destroyer. In Baalbek, the lion was worshipped as a god. A calf would be presented to the lion and while it was devouring the calf, adoring spectators would sing songs of praise to the lion. In Persia, Mythras, the Persian god of light, was always accompanied by a lion, and the Arabs had a lion-god, Yaghuth. In Egypt, there was a lion-headed goddess, Sekhmet. And the ancient Egyptian god, Ammit, was part lion and was believed to eat the souls of the sinful.In modern Africa there is a lion-idol among the Balondas. It is made of grass covered in clay and is placed in the forest. In case of sickness, prayers are offered and drums beaten before it.In India, the fourth incarnation of Vishnu, was as the man-lion, called Narsinha – half man, half lion.It is good to be conscious of how humanity has been behaving unconsciously. It is good to know the ugly spots of man’s behavior because then you can avoid much ugliness in your life, and your energy can move in more graceful, in more loving, in more compassionate ways.Avirbhava, bring your tiger and lion.(In come Avirbhava in a lion costume, and Anando in a tiger costume, dancing around the podium.)The sutra:Osho,Once, Nansen told two of his disciples that he was going to take them with him to visit the National Teacher.In those days, particularly in Japan, a certain Zen master was declared as the National Master of Zen. There were so many masters, but the National Master was attached to the palace of the king. And all the masters used to meet the National Master. Most probably he was old and well respected, a man who had helped many people to become enlightened. Nansen was enlightened; with his two disciples he was going to visit the National Teacher.But before they started out on their journey – this is how Nansen worked. He is unique in his devices.But before they started out on their journey, Nansen drew a circle on the road and said, “As soon as you give a right answer, we will be on our way.”Now, drawing a circle on the road, what answer can you give?But the disciples did certainly the best that was possible.At that, one of the disciples sat down inside the circle and the other bowed like a woman. Nansen said, “Judging from this response, it will not be necessary to go.”In fact he was not intending to go anywhere, this was just his strange way of working. But the answers that the disciples managed are tremendously beautiful.First, one disciple sat down in the center of the circle. That is the whole effort of all religion, to be at the center of your being. At the center of your being you are at the center of the whole universe. That is the only shrine, the only temple. The door is at the very center of your being; you are only a circumference.And the other bowed down to the disciple who was sitting in the center. In Japan the woman behaves in a very graceful way. The man is not expected to have that much grace. But the woman is expected to be very graceful. So the other bowed like a woman; with great grace he bowed down to the disciple who was sitting at the center. He also showed some insight that, unless you bow down to somebody who is at the center of his being, in great humbleness, with great peace, with totality, with love, with receptivity, which are all the qualities of the woman, you can never reach to your own center.Seeing this Nansen said, “Judging from this response, it will not be necessary to go.” The journey is canceled because you both understand exactly the very process of how one becomes religious.On another occasion, Nansen was washing his clothes when a monk came across him. Seeing him involved in such an activity, the monk exclaimed, “Master, you are still not free from ‘this’?”The word this has a special significance for the fellow-travelers of Gautam Buddha.Gautam Buddha insisted on the “thisness” of things. You become old and you complain, and Buddha will say, “There is no need to complain. This is the way nature works.”Even if you are dying, he will not show any sympathy. On the contrary he will show his understanding. He will tell you, “Don’t be worried. Die peacefully; everything that is born one day dies. Take death with graceful receptivity, no grudge, no complaint. Life should be without any grudge and without any complaint; so should death be. The word that he used was tathata. It can be translated in English as thisness or suchness. Such is the way of life, or this is the way of life; there is nothing to complain of; you cannot go against the current, just float with it. This is the right way: such is the way of those who know.Although Nansen was washing his clothes when the monk came across him, seeing him involved in such an ordinary activity – a great master with thousands of disciples is washing clothes? – …the monk exclaimed, “Master, you still are not free from ‘this’?” Nansen was always ready to use any situation to give a greater insight into things. The monk was pointing to the washing saying, “It is time you should be free from all these small things, anybody else can do it.” But Nansen transformed the word this immediately.Nansen, lifting up the wet clothes, commented, “What can you do about ‘this’?”The whole episode about washing the clothes changes its very color, its very meaning. It becomes a question of thisness. You cannot do anything about this. “This” means the present moment. You can think about the past, that it could have been something else; you could think about the future, how it should be; but what can you do about the present moment? What can you do about this? In the present moment one can do only one thing, only one thing: one can simply be silent and witness. More than that…there is not space enough in the present moment.But the witness fits perfectly well. You can watch. The master is saying, “I am washing the clothes and watching. What more can be done with this?” Secondly he is also indicating…. And this was one of the new things that he introduced; I have called it a point of great departure: he made Zen monks work. “If you don’t work one day, then another day you don’t eat. Work today, only then are you allowed to eat tomorrow.”It was very new and the society was very angry at Nansen because monks had always been given their food, their clothes and other comforts by society. Nansen told the monks that you have not to be beggars. He was a very revolutionary character. Buddhist monks carry a begging bowl; Nansen forced his monks to throw away all begging bowls. In his monastery no begging bowl, because in his monastery there are only emperors, no beggars!“We will work it out, our necessities are very simple: a cup or two cups of tea, just rice for food, and we have enough land around the monastery; just three, four hours work and transform the work into meditation. While working, work so totally that you forget the whole world, so that only the work remains, not even you; you are also gone, forgotten. So deep down you are involved in the work that the work becomes a great meditation, a great transformation.”So he introduced a new thing. Buddha had introduced a sitting and walking meditation, because you cannot sit the whole day and meditate; your bones will start hurting. So he had given a one-hour-sitting and one-hour-walking meditation, so the balance and the health of the meditator could be maintained.Nansen said, “A few hours of sitting meditation and a few hours of working meditation.” He dropped the walking meditation. When you can work what is the need of walking? The working will be enough exercise for you, it will also be productive and it will change the face of the sannyasin. He should not be a parasite on society; he should become independent.He saw that far away in the future the problem was going to be great. Just a few years back in Thailand the government had to make a law that nobody could become a monk without government permission. The monks had increased on such a large scale that for every four persons one was a monk. Now the other three have to carry the whole burden of the one, and the three themselves are on the edge of starvation. Thailand is a poor country, but this man does nothing, contributes nothing to the society and asks for everything, asks for respect, honor.Nansen must have been very clear that the way monks were increasing in the Far East, they would soon overrun ordinary society. It would be impossible to feed them; they would lose all respect and become near beggars. His foresight was absolutely right. That is the situation in many Buddhist countries.So this small incident not only shows the idea of thisness. It also shows that, “I have to work. It does not matter that I am enlightened, I have to wash my clothes and I have to work in the field for my food.”When he became very old, he insisted on working. And he was so old and fragile, the disciples became very much concerned. At a certain point they stole all his working tools. Nansen looked for his tools but could not find them. He did not eat on that day; the poor disciples had to give his tools back. He worked till the very last moment of his life. He raised the value of work, and he raised the respectability of the sannyasin. He brought many new ideas against, in opposition to the whole tradition.Finally he was the winner because he foresaw the future. A man of enlightenment has a perceptivity, a clarity that can look far away into the future. And if you want to prepare for the future you have to begin now.I am reminded of a Sufi mystic who used to work in his garden and he had become very old, almost ancient, one hundred and twenty years old; but he still used to work in the garden. The king used to come every day around the town in disguise to see if everything was all right. He was very much concerned looking at this old man, the oldest in his kingdom, still working in the field, in the garden.He could not resist the temptation. The old man had a really beautiful garden with great cedar trees, perhaps four hundred years old and he was planting new cedar trees, just small plants. The king could not resist the temptation; he got down from his horse, went to the old man and asked him, “How old are you?”The man said, “Old? People say that I must be nearabout one hundred and twenty. But I have never counted. It could be a little more, it could be a little less. But why do you ask?”The king said, “I am asking this because you are planting trees. You will not be able to see these trees grow. You are planting fruit trees which will bring fruit after forty or fifty years. You will not be here. And you work the whole day. I cannot understand your logic.”The old man said, “You will understand. If my parents had not planted trees which they were not going to see in their full bloom, I would not have seen them. I would not have enjoyed the fruits of those trees. I would not have seen these four-hundred-year-old cedars almost reaching to the stars, their beauty and strength. If my forefathers four hundred years ago had not planted them, I would not have been able to enjoy their shadow, their beauty, their grandeur. Have I to answer more or have you understood?”The king said humbly, “I understand. If you see clearly the future, then this is the moment to begin, now or never.”A poem by Sekiso:In these mountain villagesand harbor townsI’m happy to have foundgood company,a crowd of fishermenin and out of my hut the whole time.Since I have never held out the leastthing by way of baitI’ve managed not to betraythe fish who have approachedat the risk of their lives.It is said about Sekiso that he lived in a hut in a fishermen’s village. He had a hut just by the side of the lake, and whenever he used to come to the lake hundreds of fish would come to greet him. Just as it is said about Saint Francis of Assisi, so it was about Sekiso.And in this poem he is saying, Since I have never held out the least thing by way of bait I’ve managed not to betray the fish who have approached at the risk of their lives. The fish who used to approach him were approaching at the risk of their lives. But it happens if your heart is full of love. If your whole being is nonviolent so that you cannot even imagine killing a living thing, even trees understand it, even birds understand it, animals understand it.And in a deeper sense, if you make it a metaphorical expression, then every master is approached by thousands of disciples risking their lives. It is possible only if the master radiates trust, if the master radiates love, if you can see in the eyes of the master nothing but a pure witness, a mirror. Otherwise you cannot approach too close to the master; you will keep at a distance, because, who knows, he may cheat you, he may deceive you.But with the authentic master it is not a question of mental discrimination. It is just that suddenly as you come close to the authentic master, something in your heart starts dancing. Nobody will see it; only, you will find that your heart has entered into a different kind of energy, that your heart has entered into a different climate, a new fragrance which pulls you magnetically.It is true that the closer you come to the master, the more and more your so-called personality will disappear. Only that which is authentic and natural, that which you had brought from your birth will remain, not that which has been given to you by the society.It is true that the master is a death and a resurrection. Passing through the master, you are passing through fire; only pure gold will be saved. All that is false in you is going to be burned. So only very courageous people take the step of coming close to a master.Maneesha has asked a question:Osho,Is it conceivable that a real master could betray his disciples?Maneesha, it is conceivable. If the real master feels that by betraying the disciples he will be helping them, he will betray. The real master can do anything to help the disciple. It is a little difficult to conceive it – and while Maneesha was writing the question, she could not have thought that this would be my answer – but a real master can do anything. He can betray if he feels that betraying is going to help your spiritual growth. Otherwise there is no question of betraying.In the first place the master is not committed to you. Before betraying a commitment is needed. A real master never commits himself to you and never forces you to commit, because every commitment is a spiritual slavery. Neither is the disciple forced to commitment nor is the master; they come close as fellow-travelers on the same path. Perhaps the master is a little ahead, but that does not mean that you are lower and he is higher.Anyone who thinks in terms of superiority and inferiority is not a master at all. He is just playing the same ego game which is being played in every place around the world in different ways. The authentic master is out of the game of ego. So there is no question of surrendering to him, no question of committing to him.You are asking, “Can a real master betray the disciple?” and I am even saying that a disciple cannot betray a real master because there is no commitment. We move together on the path.At a certain point you feel to move in a different direction. An authentic master will simply bless you and will give you assurance that if you find any difficulty, “I am always available. You can explore in any direction, this whole universe is ours. And there are thousands of ways to reach to the truth. So if a desire has arisen in you to move in a certain direction, you can leave me. Don’t think for a single moment that you are betraying me. Don’t feel guilty because there was no commitment in the first place.”And as far as the master is concerned, obviously, why should he be committed to the disciples? For what reason? He has it. The disciple is searching, he has found it.It reminds me of a very beautiful story in Gautam Buddha’s life.A certain disciple of Gautam Buddha, named Manjushree, always remained sitting under a tree. Buddha may be going to speak but he will not move from the tree to the assembly hall. And people asked him again and again, “Manjushree, you are a man of intelligence. If you have renounced the world to be with Gautam Buddha, is your commitment with Gautam Buddha or with this tree? He is speaking and you are sitting here.” More often he will simply laugh and will not say anything. Finally he said, “Why don’t you ask Gautam Buddha himself? I know, he knows.”The people who were asking could not see the mystery of it. They asked Gautam Buddha, “Why does Manjushree go on sitting under that tree? You move, you go to different places, but he remains there.”Buddha said, “He has found. Now there is no question of any movement. Everything has become still in him and it is perfectly beautiful. You have only seen him from the outside sitting under the tree. You have not seen thousands of flowers falling from the tree over Manjushree rejoicing in his enlightenment.“And you never wondered why Buddha does not ask him. You should have thought about it. Be a little more alert. I am also aware that he is sitting under the tree, that he does not come to the assemblies. There is no need; he has found it. Now he is free; he can sit under the tree or he can go anywhere. There is no commitment.”An authentic master has no commitment of any kind either from the disciple’s side or from his own side. That is ninety-nine point nine percent of the answer; point one percent, I say a real master in a certain situation could betray his disciples if he feels, if he sees that his betrayal may help the growth, may make the disciple more free, more independent. The possibility is there; it is not inconceivable. But it will always be for the welfare of the disciple.Now something serious in honor of the lion and the tiger…Old Gronk, the hunchback, is about to retire. He has been ringing the huge bell of Trinity Cathedral for forty years, and he is getting too old to make the long climb up the bell tower steps.He advertises for a replacement in the newspaper, and the next day another hunchback appears.“I’ve come,” says the young hunchback, “to take the job.”Both hunchbacks make the long climb up into the bell tower.“It is a tough job,” gasps old Gronk, puffing. “Watch this!”Then the old hunchback runs back, turns, and races towards the bell rope. He leaps twenty feet in the air, catches hold of the rope, and swinging wildly on it, rings the giant, thunderous bell – Clang! Clang! Clang!The young hunchback watches this and is eager to try. He backs up, sprints towards the bell rope, leaps twenty feet in the air, misses the rope, and smashes his face against the side of the bell, making a small “Ding” sound.“Wait! Wait!” says the young hunchback, dusting himself off. “Let me try again.”He runs, leaps twenty feet into the air, misses the rope, and again smashes his face into the bell – Ding!“Wait! One more try!” splutters the battered, young hunchback.He runs all the way back into the corner of the bell tower, and with full speed, lunges towards the bell rope. He jumps thirty feet in the air, misses the rope, misses the bell, and sails out of the window, two hundred feet to the street below.Old Gronk looks down at the small crowd gathered around a tiny blotch on the ground.“Hey, up there!” shouts a police constable. “Does anybody know who this guy is?”“No, I don’t know who he is!” Gronk shouts back, “but his face rings a bell!”“How can you possibly say that I am absent-minded?” blinks Ronald Reagan at Nancy Reagan across the breakfast table, while he spreads butter on his tie, and looks at his toast.“Well, Ronnie,” inquires Nancy, “can you explain to me why you forgot to put your pants on yesterday, before you went to meet Mr. Gorbachev?”“Meet Mr. Who? Did I do that?” asks Reagan, scratching his head. “How odd! I don’t remember doing that at all. “In fact, there are only three things I can’t remember. I can’t remember names, I can’t remember faces…and I can’t remember what the third thing is!”Mrs. Wimple, the headmistress of Bedding Down College, the all-girls’ boarding school, is giving her final speech of the year to the graduating class.“Remember, girls,” says Mrs. Wimple, stiffly, “keep your body and mind healthy and clean. You have a new responsibility as you enter womanhood. Love is the base on which the family is built, so don’t cast yourselves away to loose and wanton sex. Only dangers will come from it, and its pleasures are only transient. While you lose grace and respectability, you may gain disease and pregnancy…and all for what? An hour’s worth of pleasure!”Suddenly, a voice from the back shouts out, “How do you make it last an hour?”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes and feel your body to be completely frozen. Now look inwards with deep urgency, as if this is the last moment of your life. This urgency is absolutely needed because only then can you reach to the center of your being.Deeper and deeper like a spear go to the center of your being. That is the source of life. At the center of your being everybody is a buddha. And the moment you reach to the center and you feel the buddhahood filling your consciousness completely, a tremendous joy arises. Thousands of flowers start showering on you. A serenity, a silence, a blissfulness, a deep ecstasy…just watch everything. You are entering into the very mystery of life.To make it more clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax. You are not the body, you are not the mind, you are only the witness. This witness is the point of departure. From this witness you can enter into the universal, into the eternal. This is the door to all that is great – the truth, the beauty, the good – satyam, shivam, sunderam.Gather as many flowers, as much fragrance, as much gold as possible, because you have to bring the buddha with you. Slowly slowly, you have to act around the clock as a buddha; not as if, but authentically a buddha, remembering the grace, the love, the compassion, remembering the balance of everything and always remaining in the middle, the golden mean. Witnessing makes all this possible.The evening was beautiful on its own, but your presence, your silence, your witnessing, your melting into each other…This Buddha Auditorium is no more filled with ten thousand people. It has become just a lake of consciousness.Losing the boundaries is the greatest joy; melting into the universe is the greatest splendor.Before I call you back, have a good look at this space where you are, because you have to visit this space again and again.Take a good look at the path you have followed to reach to your center from the circumference. The same path, you will be traveling again coming back. It is a small path, just one step. But what a miracle in a single step! The ordinary becomes extraordinary, the nobody becomes a buddha.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back, but come back as buddhas without any fear and without any doubt. The buddha is your essential self. Sit down silently for a few moments just to recollect the experience you have gone through. And live it out in your gestures, in your activities, in your words, in your silences.Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?

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Nirvana The Last Nightmare 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

Nirvana The Last Nightmare 07 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,Once, when Obaku was sitting in Nansen’s reception room, Nansen asked him, “It is said that the buddha nature can be clearly seen by those who study both samadhi and prajna equally. What does this mean?”Obaku answered, “It means that we should not depend on anything at any time.”Nansen then asked, “I wonder whether the opinion you have just expressed is really your own.”“Of course not!” said Obaku.Nansen then said, “Setting aside the question of payment for the drinking water for the moment, let me ask whom you intend to have the money for the straw sandals returned to?”To this question, Obaku made no reply.Maneesha, although this anecdote seems to be very simple, it is not so. In these few words a tremendously important question has been raised. And unfortunately nobody has discussed that question up to now. I would like to go in detail into what I mean.Once, when Obaku was sitting in Nansen’s reception room, Nansen asked him, “It is said that the buddha nature can be clearly seen by those who study both samadhi and prajna equally. What does this mean?”Before we go into the answer of Obaku, you have to understand the meaning of samadhi and prajna. It is a very intricate and complex question. Samadhi can be understood watching Ramakrishna. That will give you the basic symptoms which can be observed from the outside.Ramakrishna used to go into samadhi for hours. Once for six days he was in samadhi. And samadhi to him and to his followers – and there is a great tradition from Patanjali, five thousand years old, which believes in samadhi – means to become perfectly unconscious. To every outsider he was almost in a coma; to the psychologist he had gone deeper into the unconscious layers of the mind. And there was no way to bring him back.Automatically, whenever his consciousness surfaced again, he would become aware. And whenever he came out of this samadhi, this deep coma-like unconsciousness, he would weep and cry, “Why have you taken away that great beauty, that great bliss, that great silence that I was experiencing. Time had stopped, the world was forgotten, I was alone and everything was at its perfection. So why have you taken it away?” He was asking the question to existence. “Why don’t you let me continue it?”Now, Buddha himself would not consider it a samadhi. His samadhi means prajna, and prajna means awareness. You have to become more and more conscious, not unconscious; just two polarities, samadhi and prajna. Prajna is perfect awareness of your being. And samadhi in Ramakrishna’s case means absolute oblivion. Nobody has gone into the deeper search for what exactly is the difference deep inside.Both talk about great blissfulness, both talk about eternity, truth, beauty, goodness as their ultimate experience. But one is completely unconscious – you can cut his hand and he will not know – that much unconsciousness; and Buddha is so conscious that before sitting on the floor, first he will look to see if there is any ant or anything that may be killed by his sitting there. In his every act he showed immense awareness.I have told you the story that one day passing through a street in Vaishali, a fly came and sat on his head. He was talking to Ananda about something. So just automatically the way you do it, he simply waved his hand. Then he suddenly stopped talking to Ananda and again waved his hand. Now there was no fly.Ananda said, “What are you doing? The fly has gone.”He said, “The fly has gone, but I acted unconsciously. I waved my hand automatically like a robot. Now I am moving as I should have moved, with full consciousness, awareness.”So these seem to be two polarities. Both have become a point of great debate as to who is right, because the experience they talk about is the same. My own experience is that mind can be crossed from both ends. One tenth of the mind is conscious, nine tenths of the mind is unconscious. Just think of mind: the upper layer is conscious and nine layers are unconscious. Now mind can be passed from both the ends. You cannot pass from the middle, you will have to travel to the end.Ramakrishna passed the mind by going deeper and deeper into the unconscious layers. And when the final unconscious layer came, he jumped out of the mind. To the world outside he looked as if he was in a coma. But he reached to the same clear sky although he chose a path which is dark, dismal; he chose the night part of consciousness. But he reached to the same experience.Buddha never became unconscious in this way. Even walking he was stepping every step fully conscious and gracefully, every gesture fully conscious, gracefully. He transformed his consciousness to such a point that unconscious layers started becoming conscious. The final enlightenment is when all unconscious layers of the mind have become conscious. He also jumps out of the mind.Both samadhi and prajna are no-mind states, going outside the mind. So the experience is the same but the path is different, very different. One is the white path of light that Buddha followed; one is the path of darkness that Ramakrishna followed. And it is obvious that the people who cannot understand both, who have not followed both the paths and come to the same experience, are going to debate and discuss to no end.One will say that Ramakrishna’s samadhi is a coma, that he has lost consciousness. Another will say that because Buddha never goes into Ramakrishna-like samadhi, he does not know anything about samadhi. But my experience is, both know the samadhi, both know the prajna. Ramakrishna first knows samadhi and out of samadhi prajna is born. Buddha knows first prajna and then out of prajna samadhi is born. It is only a question of understanding that existence is always contradictory, made of opposites – night and day, life and death.Ramakrishna’s path is of unconsciousness. Nobody has deliberately considered the point. And Buddha’s path is of pure light, of continuous awareness. Even in sleep Buddha sleeps consciously.So Nansen has raised a very meaningful question.“It is said that the buddha nature can be clearly seen by those who study both samadhi and prajna equally. What does this mean?”Obaku answered, “It means that we should not depend on anything at any time.”Obaku was not a master, Obaku was a scholar. And this question cannot be decided by any scholarship; no intelligence will do, only experience. So what he answers, is absolutely irrelevant. He says, “It means that we should not depend on anything at any time.” Can you see any relevance to the question? It has nothing to do with samadhi, nothing to do with prajna. He is not only a teacher, but a blind teacher. The question has gone above his head.Nansen then asked– immediately, which shows what I am saying –“I wonder whether the opinion you have just expressed is really your own.”Anybody could have seen that this is so stupid, it has nothing to do with the question. He could have said, “I don’t know, I have not experienced either samadhi or prajna. I don’t know whether they end up into the same experience or they lead to different experiences. It is not my own experience, so I can’t say anything.” That would have been more honest. But looking at his answer, Nansen immediately asked, “I wonder whether the opinion you have just expressed is really your own.” Even this absurd opinion that you have expressed, I think even this one is not your own.“Of course not!” said Obaku.Seeing the situation he must have felt it is better to say that this is not my opinion.Nansen then said, “Setting aside the question of payment for the drinking water for the moment…Nansen lived on top of a high mountain for thirty years. To bring water to that height, he had to go miles down to bring water up. To us it may look a little strange that he was asking a price for water. He says, “Setting aside the question of payment for the drinking water, for the moment,”“Let me ask whom you intend to have the money for the straw sandals returned to?”Zen monks use straw sandals, the same shape as my sandals, but they are made of straw, very beautiful, very aesthetic and very cheap. Nansen is saying, “Who has paid for your straw sandals? They look so new. You don’t deserve these straw sandals; they are specially meant for Zen masters. And as for giving you water, I will not ask anything for it, but it has been wasted on a man who does not even know what samadhi is, what is prajna, and still has the guts and the nerve to give an absolutely irrelevant answer; an answer, too, that is not his own. Such a borrowed state is all of scholars, pundits, rabbis.Nansen exposed Obaku completely to the very innermost core of his being just by asking a small question. But the question is not small, and it is a question which nobody has explained the way I am telling you, that the experiences are not two. Just, the paths leading to the experiences are very different, contrary paths.One follows the darkness, goes deeper and deeper into the darkness of the mind and the unconscious, reaches to the very end of the mind and jumps out of it. And another tries every possible way to make the unconscious also conscious. And when everything becomes conscious in him, he also takes a jump.Perhaps Buddha’s method is more scientific. There is no question of right and wrong. Both lead to the same space, but Buddha’s method of prajna is more scientific in the way that you cannot miss because you are aware. Ramakrishna’s path is groping in the dark. He may reach to the dawn, he may not reach. And once he has gone into unconsciousness, all is darkness, he cannot see where he is going. It is just by chance that he finds the door out of the mind, just by chance.Science does not believe in chance, it has to be a certainty. That’s why you will not find more Ramakrishnas in the world, because it is just a coincidence that groping in the dark you find the door and get out of the mind. It happened to Ramakrishna but you will not find another parallel in the whole history of mankind.Thousands of mystics have reached to the same point. But they have all followed the path of prajna, because when you have a light with you, you need not grope. When you have a light with you, a consciousness, like a torch showing the path, your reaching to the goal has more certainty.And once you have known the path, then it is very easy. Only the first time are you going into the unknown. But the unknown is not dark; you keep a torch in your hand. Ramakrishna is going into the unknown without a torch. Ramakrishna’s samadhi in a way is special. He is alone of that kind. He is a rare specimen who went into his depths without taking a single candle. It is more than probable that you will not find the door.When Buddha was asked about it, he said, “There was a palace with one thousand doors; only one door was real, the remaining were fake; they appeared like doors, but when you went close to them, they were just painted doors, there was a flat wall with no opening.“A blind man got lost in the palace. He went around groping and groping. He touched many painted doors, but they were not really doors and the time he reached the real door, the only one, a fly came to sit on his head. So he became engaged in waving it away and passed the door.”Nine hundred and ninety-nine doors, and a chance comes; that chance is very fragile, it can be missed by anything: your head starts itching or you become so tired of groping and touching that you say, “Take a chance, leave this one, go ahead.”So Buddha said, “My path is not of such groping. In my palace all the doors are real. And there is no need to grope because I give you eyes of meditation and a light that burns like a fire within you, which is your very life. With that light and silence of meditation you can find the door. There are a thousand doors, every door is capable of taking you out.”I am absolutely certain that Buddha is right; but that does not mean that Ramakrishna is wrong. But Ramakrishna cannot be the rule, he can only be the exception. Buddha is providing for everybody, not for exceptions. A rule has to be for everybody. You cannot make a rule on a single exception. Of the followers of Ramakrishna not even a single one has attained samadhi. But Buddha’s followers even today, continuing as a chain, master to disciple in different countries, are attaining prajna. Whether you call it samadhi or you call it prajna, it is the same; the meaning of both is ultimate wisdom.Buddhists don’t believe Ramakrishna to be enlightened. One very old Buddhist monk…he was an Englishman, and when he was just a child, his father was appointed to some post in Kalimpong where the child came in contact with Buddhist masters. He became a Buddhist at the age of eighteen. His whole family resisted; they were Christians and said, “What are you doing listening to the Buddhist masters?”He could see that Christianity is very childish. It has nothing much to give to you. What can you do even if Jesus did walk on water? Even if you learn to walk on water, what spirituality can you attain through it? Even if you can turn water into alcohol, which is a crime, it does not help anyone to be spiritual. What are the teachings of Christians which can be compared to Gautam the Buddha? None comes close to him. He certainly is the Everest of the Himalayas.So a Buddhist won’t accept Ramakrishna as enlightened. But talking to Buddhist monks and particularly this English monk, I asked him, “Have you ever tried forgetting Buddha’s method and giving some time to using Ramakrishna’s method?”He said, “No, I have never tried it.”I said, “Then saying that Ramakrishna never achieved samadhi is going beyond the limits of your experience.”I have tried both ways, going on the path of light and going on the path of absolute darkness. Nobody does that because once you have reached the path, then why should you bother about other paths? You have reached the station in a rickshaw, now are you going to come back and try a taxi? People will think you are mad. You have reached, now there is no need to try whether a taxi also reaches the station or not.But I am a little crazy. Seeing the argument going on for centuries, I decided that the only way to come to a conclusion is, follow both the paths: one time the path of light and another time the path of darkness. When I was following the path of darkness, almost all my friends, my professors thought that I had gone mad. “What is the need if you have reached to the light in the day, what is the need to continue traveling in the night after reaching?”I said, “There is a need because there is no other way to conclude whether Ramakrishna was also in the same state of consciousness as Buddha.”But neither has any Buddhist tried nor have any of Ramakrishna’s disciples tried. And I am nobody’s disciple, I am just an outsider; I don’t belong to any religion or any organization. But to come to a conclusion, seeing that for centuries people have been discussing it, I could not conceive any way that it could be decided by argument; the only way to decide it was to follow both the paths.And now the meditation that I have been teaching to you is a combination of both the paths. It is neither a meditation dependent only on prajna, just being aware; nor is it a meditation just to forget all and drown yourself in deep rest and darkness. I am using both. I am telling you to forget the world, I am telling you forget the body, forget the mind, you are not these things, but keep your light alive as a witness. So you are going on both the paths together.There is no problem. In fact it is more significant, because you will be achieving the space that Ramakrishna achieved and that Buddha achieved. And you will have a good laugh that for centuries scholars have been unnecessarily wasting their time. It is always good to experiment because this is not a philosophical question. It is a question of inner experimentation; it is as scientific as any science.But in a very nice way Nansen said, “Setting aside the question of payment for the drinking water, because I have to carry the drinking water for miles, let me ask whom you intend to have the money for the straw sandals returned to? Who has paid the money for your straw sandals? Return the money. You are just a teacher; don’t pretend to be a master.To this question, Obaku made no reply.Sekiso wrote:A single true man appears in the worldand all falsehood vanishes.No need to worry that the wayof the patriarchsseems to be declining.This time your ax of wisdomhas found wings.Some day surelyit will rise up and fly.Just as climate changes and seasons change, people’s life-styles change, people’s objects and goals change. So for the time being it seems we have forgotten the path of the buddhas, Sekiso says, but there is no need to worry. Even A single true man appears in the world and all falsehood vanishes. Don’t be worried.The ancient path has declined. Now no one thinks about experiencing samadhi or prajna, nobody thinks about entering into one’s self, one’s center, nobody ever bothers how to become one with the cosmos. But still there is no need to be worried.This time your ax of wisdom has found wings. Some day surely it will rise up and fly. It is not always going to be a dark night. The darker it becomes, the closer is the dawn. You will also fly in the same sky of freedom as the ancient buddhas; just be prepared so that you don’t miss the opportunity. If you come in contact with a master, a real authentic man, then don’t postpone for any reason. Whatever you can gain from him, let it sink in you as deeply as possible. As long as you can be a fellow traveler, be a fellow traveler, don’t go astray.Although there are not many buddhas in the world, a single buddha can create thousands of buddhas. So Sekiso is very optimistic: the night is dark and becoming darker but that also means the dawn is coming closer, and soon there will be sunrise, and flowers will blossom and birds will fly.Maneesha has asked:Osho,Is your ax of wisdom finding wings in us?You all have wings, you just have to be reminded. You have forgotten that you have wings to enter into the inner sky and fly to the highest peak of consciousness. Somebody has to remind you that you have wings.You must have seen – it is worthwhile to see – when a bird is born, he does not know that he has wings. His mother flies around the tree and he wonders whether he can also do it or not. He just leans on the edge of the nest, hesitant; it looks dangerous: if he falls down, he will be finished. But the mother is flying, and the mother is flying for the special purpose of creating an urge in the child to fly. And then she goes to another tree and from another tree she gives a call. The small bird flutters its wings, but it still cannot gather the courage; he has never flown. Obviously he is afraid; he has just come out of the egg. He has never known the freedom of the sky; it is so vast and he is so small. But the mother is calling and perhaps she knows better.A few birds prove to be courageous and take the jump. First it is a little haphazard, but soon they start flying and reach to the other tree. Other birds who are more prudent just flutter their wings and remain in the nest; it is more secure. The mother is calling, that is true, but it is dangerous. Then the mother has to push these birds into the sky.Once in the sky their wings open. There are a few moments of worry and tension, just as when you learn swimming. The first few days it is difficult, you need somebody to help you, to encourage you and you have to learn in shallow water. But once you have learned, have you ever thought, can you forget swimming?One Japanese professor believes that every child knows swimming just as every bird knows flying; they just have to be reminded. So he has been working on children. First he started with nine-month-old children and succeeded. Then he started with six-month-old children and succeeded. The last report was he has succeeded with three-month-old babies.Now that proves certainly that swimming is something intrinsic. You just have to be encouraged and given the opportunity. And once learned, why don’t you forget it? Everything else you can forget; geography, history, you can forget everything, but you cannot forget swimming once you have known it, because it is intrinsic to your nature. The bird cannot forget flying once it has opened its wings.My effort is to make you aware that you have wings. And the sky is clean and clear waiting for you to take a quantum leap, open your wings and reach to the highest peak of consciousness. That’s what I have been calling meditation.Sardar Gurudayal Singh has been waiting too long.Father Finger goes to a whorehouse and says to the Madame, “I want to sleep with Sleazy Sally.”Madame goes over to talk with Sally and then returns saying, “Okay, but she wants two hundred dollars.”“But it was only fifty dollars yesterday!” protests Finger.“Take it or leave it,” shrugs the Madame.So the priest pays the money, and follows Sleazy Sally upstairs.Afterwards, Father Finger is pulling up his pants and asks the girl, “Well, how was I?”Sally replies, “You are absolutely the worst screw I have ever had in my life. And I told you that yesterday! I can’t understand why you keep coming back!”“Well,” says the priest, “I just wanted a second opinion!”It is Christmas Eve, and the Babblebrain family have invited Father Fumble, the local priest, to join them. They are all sitting around the dining-room table about to start their Christmas dinner.Suddenly, Grandpa Babblebrain claps his hand over his mouth and then lets out an enormous sneeze. Everybody is horrified as they see a slimy spray fly out of his nose and descend over the beautifully prepared food. There is a stony silence, but nobody says anything, except Father Fumble, who mumbles a small prayer.Five minutes later, Grandpa clutches his mouth again and lets fly another tremendous sneeze. More green spray covers the table to everyone’s disgust and Father Fumble crosses himself.“Granddad!” whispers Boris loudly. “Please cover your nose when you sneeze.”“Okay,” mumbles Grandpa, “if that’s what you want.”Seconds later, Grandpa feels another huge sneeze coming, so this time, he grasps his nose with his hand.Everybody sees it coming and they close their eyes in anticipation. Grandpa sneezes with a loud explosion.When everybody opens their eyes again, they see a horrific sight. There, stuck in the shattered bowl of mashed potatoes, are Grandpa’s false teeth!Young Freddy Fallick buys a new pair of very shiny, black patent-leather shoes, which he polishes so brightly that he can see his face reflected in them.That night, Freddy goes out in his new shoes to the disco.He sees three girls sitting together at a table, so he goes and asks one of them to dance. They have been dancing for a few moments when Freddy looks down at the reflection in his shiny shoes and says, “I love your red panties!”The girl screams in embarrassment and soon Freddy leads her back to the table. Then he asks the next girl to dance.They have been out on the floor for a few minutes when Freddy says, “I love your white lace panties!”The girl blushes deep red and runs back to join her friends. The three girls talk about what has happened and the third one says, “In a minute he is going to come and ask me to dance, but I have a plan to fix him.”Sure enough, a few minutes later, Freddy Fallick comes over and asks her to dance. They go onto the dance floor and soon Freddy looks down at his shoes. Suddenly he gets a very worried expression on his face.He keeps peering down, first at one shoe, and then at the other.“It’s no good looking down at your shoes, Freddy,” says the girl, giggling to herself, “because I took my panties off!”“Oh, thank God for that!” says Freddy in relief. “I thought my new shoes were cracked!”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes; feel your body to be completely frozen. Now gather all your consciousness and look inwards with a deep urgency as if this is going to be your last moment of life. You have to reach to the center.Deeper and deeper, without any fear, go on. At the very center of your being you are a buddha. And to experience the buddha as your very being is the ultimate joy. Your whole life becomes a poetry, a song, a music, a dance. All around flowers start blossoming.Remember this experience of being a buddha. One does not become a buddha, one is. There are only two alternatives: either you can forget it or you can remember it. Those who forget it live in misery, suffering, anguish, anxiety; those who remember it, their whole life becomes a divine dance.To make it clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax. Just be a watcher of the body and the mind. You don’t have to do anything. You don’t have to judge. Just be a pure witness like a mirror. This is the very nature of being a buddha, just to be an empty mirror.Collect as much fragrance, as much light, as many blessings as possible, because you have to live your buddha twenty-four hours a day. Every moment you have to remember and you have to act accordingly with grace, with beauty, with that clarity that only a buddha can have.The evening was beautiful on its own, but you have added thousands of stars to it, just by being silent, just by being witnesses; just by being buddhas you have made this place the holiest in the world.Your watchfulness, your witnessing finally dissolve into each other. There are not one thousand or ten thousand buddhas in the auditorium. There is only one ocean of buddhahood. We are all just waves of it. It is so relaxing not to be, so relaxing just to be part of the ocean.Before Nivedano calls you back, look at the space you have reached, look at the path that you have traveled. This path will be traveled again and again, back and forth till your buddhahood grows from the center to the circumference. At the center it is a seed, at the circumference it will become a full-fledged buddha.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Now, come back. But come back as buddhas, full of new joy, a new identity, a new individuality.Sit down for a few minutes, remembering that you are a buddha. Just the very remembrance and your whole life goes through a metamorphosis. And the whole day whenever you find it, remember.Sometimes you may forget because of old habit. Don’t feel sad for it; it is natural. But slowly slowly the moments of forgetfulness will become less, and the moments of remembrance will become deeper, longer; and finally a day comes when your whole life becomes nothing but a remembrance of your great splendor as a buddha.Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?

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Nirvana The Last Nightmare 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

Nirvana The Last Nightmare 08 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,Nansen said to the assembled monks, “Old Master O - ‘O’ was Nansen’s own lay name - is going to sell himself. Will anyone buy him?”A monk came out and said, “I will!”Nansen said, “Don’t make me dear; don’t make me cheap. How will you buy me?”The monk was silent.On another occasion Nansen was asked by a monk, “Where will the master be gone in a hundred years’ time?”Nansen said, “I’ll be a water-colored ox.”The monk said, “May I follow you or not?”Nansen said, “Well, if you do, bring a mouthful of grass with you!”Maneesha, life can be taken as a drama, as a play, or can be taken very seriously. Those who take it very seriously suffer immensely, unnecessarily. They suffer if they fail, they suffer if they are victorious, they suffer if they are poor, they suffer if they are rich.One of the richest men in India told me that he feels very guilty. The country is dying in poverty and his riches go on growing. And he is not courageous enough to stop this growing of riches; deep down he still wants more. On the one hand he can see the country is suffering from poverty, on the other hand is his desire to have more and more; between these two he is crushed.The poor suffer, the rich suffer. It seems those who take life seriously, whatever their profession and whatever line they take in life, are bound to suffer, with anxiety, with frustration, at each step, because existence has no obligation to fulfill your desires.And your desires are immense, almost infinite. Because of your desires life becomes a competition, and wherever there is competition, there is anxiety and angst; and at the end everybody is aware deep down there is death. Life is a misery, a struggle, an anguish and it finally ends in death, which is simply darkness. Nobody knows what happens after death.Zen is not for those who are serious. Zen is only for those who can take life as fun. This looks strange because religion has always been thought to be a serious phenomenon. Zen has taken a departure from that attitude. It takes life as fun, and not only life but death too.The moment you start seeing life as nonserious, a playfulness, all the burden on your heart disappears. All the fear of death, of life, of love – everything disappears. One starts living with a very light weight or almost no weight. So weightless one becomes, one can fly in the open sky.Zen’s greatest contribution is to give you an alternative to the serious man. The serious man has made the world, the serious man has made all the religions. He has created all the philosophies, all the cultures, all the moralities, everything that exists around you is a creation of the serious man. Zen has dropped out of the serious world. It has created a world of its own which is very playful, full of laughter, where even great masters behave like children. You can see this in the sutra that Maneesha has brought.Nansen said to the assembled monks…They have come to hear about the ultimate truth, and Nansen said to the assembled monks, “Old Master O - ‘O’ was Nansen’s own lay name - is going to sell himself. Will anyone buy him?”Strange start to a sermon! You cannot think a rabbi would do it in a synagogue – although buying and selling is a very Jewish interest. In no temple, in no mosque, in no church is a sermon going to begin this way where the master comes on the stage and says: “Old Master O, and ‘O’ is his own childhood name, “is going to sell himself. Will anyone buy him?”Before we enter into the discussion, remember that Nansen uses his childhood name, ‘O.’ He could have used “Nansen,” he could have said, “I want to sell myself.” He could not say “I” because a man of the status of Nansen knows there is no I. He cannot use the word Nansen, because it is the name of his old age when he became a monk, the name of his maturity. He uses the word O, which was his childhood name. He has again become a child; he is again as innocent and as ignorant as a child, he knows nothing. His using the name “O” is significant.And his saying that he is going to sell himself reminds you that if you are going to sell yourself, do you think you will get any price? Perhaps man is the most worthless creature. A cow, a horse, an elephant…even in death an elephant is worth thousands of rupees, just his bones. Man in his death is so useless and so disgusting that people are in a hurry to take him to the funeral pyre.His family are crying and the neighbors are preparing the stretcher on which the dead man is to be carried to the burning ghats. They are in a hurry; the sooner it is finished the better. Otherwise this crying and weeping and all this hullabaloo will continue. And if this man stays long, he will start stinking. There is no value in him; if you take him to the market you will be beaten.I’m reminded of Diogenes again: he used to live naked; he was a very healthy and beautiful man. Even Alexander the Great felt a little jealous. He had everything, but the beauty of Diogenes, his marble-like body, his statue-like firmness….He was lying one day by the side of the river which was his resting place. Four thieves, whose function was…because in those days almost all over the world man was sold and purchased. Women particularly had a good price, and healthy strong men also had a good price. Slaves were an accepted fact almost all over the world. So these four thieves were engaged in the business of catching hold of people and taking them to the marketplace.They saw this man and discussed among themselves: “This man will fetch a good price, perhaps the best ever. But he seems to be too strong even for four persons. He will kill us if we try to catch hold of him; he looks dangerous.”And Diogenes was listening because they were discussing what to do just behind the bushes. Diogenes said, “You idiots! You don’t have to do anything! Just come out! Follow me!”They said, “But where?”He said, “To the marketplace where you want to sell me! There is no need to catch hold of me. I am coming on my own. Let this be also an experience. Anyway I am good for nothing.”The thieves became very afraid seeing the strangeness of the man. “Even to follow him is dangerous; he may turn, or jump and hit somebody.” They kept their distance.Diogenes said, “Don’t be afraid! Just stay close! Are you taking me to the marketplace or am I taking you?”With great fear they came close to him. And in the marketplace where people, men and women, were auctioned, Diogenes jumped on the table and shouted at the crowd that had come to purchase people, “Here is a master for sale! Is there any slave who is ready to purchase him?”There was great silence, the man certainly was a grandeur in himself. Even kings had come to purchase but they had to think twice whether to purchase this man. He could be dangerous, he could be ferocious if he can jump on the table and declare himself, “Here is a master! Is there anyone ready to purchase him?”Finally one king dared to purchase him, and he said, “To whom is the money to be given?” Diogenes showed those four persons who were hiding in the crowd. “Give the money to these four people. They have brought me here. And bring your chariot closer so I can come in the chariot.”Now slaves are not supposed to order kings, but even this king felt a weakening of the heart. He told his charioteer to bring the chariot close by. Diogenes jumped on the chariot and sat by the side of the king, and the king was trembling. He had purchased unnecessary trouble. This man can simply take him by the neck and throw him out of the chariot. “Rather than purchasing a slave I have purchased a master; he was right.”But Diogenes said, “Don’t be afraid; I’m not going to do any of the things that you are thinking. I am a peace-loving man. Let us make an agreement: I shall not disturb you, you should not disturb me.”The king was very willing. He said “I am absolutely ready, I will not disturb you. You can have a part of the palace, and whatever you need will be provided. But please keep the agreement, don’t disturb me. I am a man with a very weak heart, and you seem to be very dangerous.”Diogenes said, “Don’t be worried. As far as killing is concerned I am absolutely against it; harassing anybody I am absolutely against. You will find in me a great master; you can learn much. You have purchased the only master who has ever been sold, and I have sold myself. In fact I needed some disciples. Now you, your wife, your brothers, your children, all are my disciples – agreed?!”In the forest the chariot was moving towards the kingdom. Not to agree with this man was very dangerous because there was only the charioteer and the king, and he was enough for both. So whatever he said the king went on saying, “Yes, absolutely agreed.”And as they were entering the kingdom, Diogenes jumped out of the chariot, said good-bye to the king and said, “I was just joking! For those four poor men I had to play this role. My river has come. If you want sometime some advice you are welcome. Take note of my address: this river, and do you see that dog?”He had only one dog as a friend. Because of this dog as a friend, his name became “Diogenes the Cynic.”The friendship with the dog also came in a very special way. One day he was running towards the river with a begging bowl, just as Buddha had a begging bowl. He was thirsty, but just as he was reaching to the water, a dog came running, overtook him and started drinking the water.He said, “My God! Why am I carrying this bowl? The dog is in a better position!” He threw the begging bowl in the river and learned the way of drinking water like the dog.The dog certainly became very friendly to the man, so he invited the dog to share with him whatever he got for food. The dog was his only companion, and he would talk to it.Even when Alexander was standing by his side, he was making a joke of it. Alexander said, “I’m going to conquer the world.”Rather than answering him, he looked at the dog and said, “Do you hear? This fellow is going to conquer the world!” Then to Alexander: “Before conquering the world you will be finished. If you are as wise as this dog, you would rest here, because what will you do after conquering the world?”Alexander had to concede: “After conquering the world I will certainly rest and relax.”Diogenes said, “Look at my dog, how relaxed! You can come on this side, I have no objection; I don’t possess this river. I don’t know who possesses this river, but we both live here and we welcome you. There is no need to take so much trouble to conquer the world and then rest; why not begin rest now?”Alexander said, “I can understand your logic, and I am not able to answer it. But now that I have started my journey of conquering, I will have to go and fulfill my desire.”Diogenes said, “It is up to you, but remember the day you die that I have told you life is very short and the world is very big. Most probably you will die before you have conquered the world.”And Diogenes was right, Alexander died at the age of only thirty-three, and the last memory in his mind was of Diogenes: “That wise man told it right. Even his dog agreed by waving his tail, ‘You are right. If he wants to rest he should begin now.’”Diogenes is not historically very much in the line of the great Greek philosophers: Socrates, Pythagoras, Anaxagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Heraclitus. Nobody mentions Diogenes much for the simple reason that he was not a man who took the world seriously.Somewhere he found a lamp, an old lamp, which somebody may have thrown away. So he lit the lamp and, still with his dog, carried it day and night always lighted even in full daylight and people would say, “It is strange, Diogenes; why are you carrying this lamp in the full sunlight?”And he would say, “I am in search of an authentic man. Just to see into his eyes, I keep this lamp. Up to now I have failed.”The day he died in Athens, the dog was sitting by his side and the lamp was there, and somebody asked, “Diogenes, you are dying; can you say something about what happened to the authentic man? Did you find any authentic man?”And his last words were, “Unfortunately I did not find an authentic man, but fortunately nobody has stolen my lamp; that much I can say in favor of humanity. I am a naked man, I sleep and anybody could have stolen it.” He never took life seriously but lived with as much joy and glory as any buddha.This man Nansen is saying that“Old Master O is going to sell himself. Will anyone buy him?”A monk came out and said, “I will!”Nansen said, “Don’t make me dear; don’t make me cheap. How will you buy me?”He’s posing a question which is very central to Gautam Buddha’s whole experience: being exactly in the middle. To be exactly in the middle is to transcend the extremes, right and wrong, dark and light, day and night, life and death, good and bad. Just be in the middle, exactly in the middle and you have flown to the beyond. The beyond begins from the middle, never from the extreme. That’s the point he is trying to make. He is saying, “Good, if you want to purchase me, Don’t make me dear and don’t make me cheap. how will you buy me?”The monk was silent. He could not find an answer to it. A man like Nansen can be purchased if you are totally balanced in the middle. If you can show that you are centered in the middle, neither this nor that but just the middle point of everything in the world, Nansen is yours.The monk was silent. His silence is not an answer, his silence is a failure; in the game he could not manage to answer the master rightly. He could have purchased Nansen by just touching his feet, with gratitude, with love. But remaining silent like a dead tree he missed the point.The master is always for sale, you just need to have an empty heart. Otherwise where will you allow the master to live? It is not only Nansen, every master is for sale. But you need the heart, the receptivity, the sensitivity, the balance, the space to contain the master.By receiving the master in your heart you will be transformed totally. On the surface it looks as if you are purchasing the master, but in fact it is always the master who purchases you. It is always the master who is victorious; the disciple has to be defeated, defeated in his ego, defeated in his personality, defeated in his falsehood. The defeat of the disciple is the victory of the master. They both are two sides of the same coin.On another occasion Nansen was asked by a monk, “Where will the master be gone in a hundred years’ time?”Stupid question, because Zen does not move from this moment, thisness. A hundred years? The question is stupid but out of compassion the master answers even that. But you can see the playfulness.“Where will the master be gone in a hundred years’ time?”The master goes nowhere, has never been anywhere else than here. Now and here are his abode. To ask him, “Where will you be?” is absurd. You don’t understand the simple fact of Zen that it belongs only to eternity. And eternity is in this very moment, it is neither past nor future. If you can be here without wavering towards the past or the future, the mystery of existence opens its doors. But to ask a master a question like this…what can be done? Almost the whole world is full of mediocre people.Nansen said, “I’ll be a water-colored ox.”He is just making a joke, showing his sense of humor, not telling the person that, “You are stupid!” But the final result is that, without saying it, he has said it.The monk said, “May I follow you or not?”Nansen said, “Well, if you do, bring a mouthful of grass with you!”This playfulness, not taking even the stupid question seriously, shows a tremendous insight into existence. You can understand only as a child. When there is no thought but pure innocence shining like a mirror, then everything is as clear as it could be. No question arises, no answer is needed.This innocence of a child becomes the explosion of enlightenment. Enlightenment is not an answer to anything, it is simply bringing you to this moment with your total consciousness. It is not an answer to any question, it is simply coming back home. You have gone astray; everybody has gone far away from his own home, searching for the home.In Indian languages the people who are vagabonds, who don’t stay in one place, who go on moving, the gypsies…Those gypsies which you find in Europe originated in Rajputan, in Rajasthan. They are Indians; but because they could not remain in one place, they ended up in Egypt. Because of Egypt they got the name “gypsy.” “Egypsy” it must have been in the beginning, then the e was dropped in Europe and they became “gypsies.”“Gypsies” in India is a beautiful word: it is khanabados. Its meaning is a man who carries his home on his own shoulders. Khana means “home,” bados means “on the shoulders.”We are carrying our home on our own shoulders, but we are searching unnecessarily for it here and there, running…not looking in the moment where we are. If you can just stay for a second, you will suddenly find this is the place you have always been in, but you never looked at it.Zen takes away all goals from your life, all problems from your life, all questions from your life because they make you serious. It gives you the moment, and the joy that arises when you are centered in the moment…rejoice, dance, sing!Life is to be just like a lotus flower.Seriousness destroys all the flowers.You will be surprised to know that in Mahatma Gandhi’s ashram – and he was one of the most serious persons in the world, so serious that even tea was a sin – he had a few flower pots, but he removed the roses and started growing wheat. Such seriousness! The country is poor, so he is growing wheat in his pots as if that wheat will destroy the poverty. And he has destroyed the roses. Nobody raised a question in his ashram that, “This is stupid. These few pots of wheat will not fulfill anything; only, you have destroyed a few beautiful roses.”But that is what the serious person always does. He takes away your smiles, your laughter, because “So many people are sick, how can you laugh? So many people are poor and you are laughing! So many people are in the madhouses, and you are laughing. So many people are criminals and you are laughing. The third world war is hanging over you and you are telling jokes!”The serious person destroys everything, takes away all joy, all smiles, all love, all roses and makes everyone a dead weight, makes everybody’s life meaningless. Where roses don’t grow life cannot be a joy.Jesus is right when he says, “One cannot live by bread alone.” And Mahatma Gandhi used to read Jesus continuously. At least three times in his life he was just on the verge of being converted into Christianity. But perhaps he was interpreting the statement of Jesus the way the Christian missionaries have been for two thousand years. “You cannot live by bread alone,” they interpreted as, “You need God, just bread will not do.”My interpretation is: “You need roses, just wheat will not do.” And with bread, with wheat, roses seem to be complementary, parallel. With wheat and God, the distance is so vast, that anybody who interprets it as “You need God,” is forgetting completely that God is a fiction. The rose is not. God is only a concept, the rose is a reality. So I say you cannot live by bread alone, you need roses too. In fact, you need bread only to have roses; otherwise what is the point of just going on eating if you don’t have any roses?Only roses can bring smiles to your faces, and joy into your hearts. But the serious person has been the maker of the whole of society up to now. It has to be changed. Life has to be made fun, a play, a beautiful drama. And a person who can make life a drama, a beautiful story, a fiction will be able also to make death a fiction. His life will be simply a dance of love , of gratitude, of peace, of silence.That is the whole work of Zen, a great point of departure from the old traditional religions.A Zen poet, Sekiso, wrote:With your tall, golden staff tinkling,you have come all the way down.Talking for daysabout thingsnot of the world,your words have been all we needed.Sumptuous the colors of the hallsand the temple buildings,lush and dense around themthe serene beauty of the forestand the arbored walks.Lovely! Our hearts are open,not a grain of sand in our friendship.May it go just like this!In the floating world of thingsneedles hide in the carpet.The memory of this visitshould be handed down forever.There is something beyond happinessinside the gate of this mountain.Nansen used to live on a mountain. Sekiso is one of his followers.He is saying there is something beyond happiness. Happiness is of the body, of the physiology, of the biology. But there is something beyond happiness, which is not of the body at all, neither of the mind, but of your innermost empty heart. A bliss arises there, mysterious and miraculous.But it makes everything in existence clear, gives you eyes for the first time. Before that you have been blind and in darkness. In fact it also gives you life for the first time; before that you were only superficially living. Now you are living in the depths of eternity, your empty heart.That was Nansen’s teaching. Inside the gate of this mountain…There was a gate that still stands on the mountain where Nansen lived. Now even the mountain is called Nansen in his memory. Sekiso is saying that if you are seeking something beyond happiness this is the right gate. Here lives a man who can point you to the path of blissfulness, of a joy that is not of this world.Maneesha has asked:Osho,We hear you say each night, “Go inside – don't be afraid. You will meet no one else but yourself.”Why the fear of meeting our self?Maneesha, it is a significant question. Nobody wants to meet himself because there is so much risk in it. You have painted your face, you have a beautiful mask on your face. You will be afraid to see your real face, your original face. The mask helps you accord to people’s opinions of what is beautiful. You have gathered a personality that is also according to people’s opinion: how you should sit, how you should behave, what you should wear, everything society has forced upon you.And it is a great blackmail because if you follow society they will give you respectability, you will be honored. If you don’t follow society, you will lose respect, you will be treated almost as an outcast. This is the fear of meeting yourself, because the society has covered your self in many layers according to its own convenience. Whatever it wants from you, it has made you.You have become a commodity, useful, efficient, serviceable. You have become a slave. The fear is that if you find yourself, the authentic being, then you will be in trouble. You will have to drop all that is false. And all that you have right now is false.And your authentic being will not be respected by the society: it will be condemned, it will be crucified, it will be poisoned. Society does not like original people; society wants slaves, not masters, and the man who knows himself can never be enslaved.So your fear is that it is cozy and comfortable to belong to the crowd; you have your respect, your honor. Finding yourself you don’t know what you are going to find; it is going to be something absolutely unknown. Society has created so much distance between your real being and the unreal false personality that covers your real being.You are trained as a personality, you are born as an individuality. Now your training is your investment. You may be forty years old, you may be fifty years old. For fifty years you have trained yourself as a personality. If you find your real self, these fifty years have gone down the drain. You have to begin from abc and against the whole of society. The individual is always rebellious, and the personality is always a beautiful slave. Hiding behind the beautiful slave is an ugly reality? That is the fear.You will have to stand alone. You will have to encounter the whole society that surrounds you. Nobody wants you to be yourself, everybody wants you to be according to his convenience. And they have succeeded, by education, by changing you from childhood into a civilized, cultured being. And you have left your reality in your childhood, fifty years back, sixty years back.Now it is too long a distance and too dangerous, too risky; you have respectability, you have honor, all will be lost. So it is better to go on keeping hold of the false and ignoring the real. But one thing is to be remembered, through the false you can never be blissful. That which is not authentic cannot give you peace. You will be guilty in your own eyes.A man was surrounded by his friends on his sixtieth birthday. And they were all drinking and singing and dancing when suddenly the man disappeared. So one of the friends went out in the garden to look for him. “What happened, why has he gone out? He is not supposed to, he has to be here, it is his birthday.”And the man was sitting there under a tree. The friend approached him and asked him, “Why are you so sad?”He said, “You are the cause of it!”The man said, “I? What have I done to you?”The man said, “Not today, remember twenty-five years back?”The man said, “Twenty-five years back? Just tell me yourself, what is the problem?”He was a very well-known criminal lawyer.The man said to him, “Twenty-five years ago, remember, I had come to you to ask that if I kill my wife, how much imprisonment…? And you told me, ‘At least twenty-five years. Even though I try my hardest, you will go for twenty-five years, so don’t do such a thing.’ Now twenty-five years have passed, and I am feeling that today I would have been free. If I had not listened to you, you idiot, today I would have come out of the jail. Now there is no hope. I lived with a woman for these twenty-five years whom I wanted to kill.”But everybody is living with things which they wanted to drop. It is not only a question of a woman or a man. But they go on living with them; it seems risky to drop anything.Society wants you to be very orthodox, traditional. “Just follow the footpaths of your parents, don’t try to make your own path. Don’t try to become yourself.” That is told from all sides and corners of the society. Your teachers will tell it, your priests will tell it, your parents will tell it, your friends will tell it.But my effort here, Maneesha, is exactly that you should go inside. And there is no need to be afraid. You will meet no one else but yourself. And the sooner you do it the better, because nobody knows about tomorrow. At least know yourself in authenticity.Live, even if few years are left, in your truth, whatever the consequences. At least you will be a blissful person. You may not be respected, may be condemned, but who cares about condemnation? That is their opinion, and they are free to have their opinion.You should care only about one thing, that you are happy, that you are blissful, that you are silent, that you are at ease with existence. Don’t bother about anybody, any religion, any society, any culture, any education. They are all strategies to create personalities out of individuals.My work is to undo their work, and bring out the individual in its pure beauty. Your authentic being is related to the eternity of life, your false being is not related to anything. It is just a cover that the society has put over you.The fear arises, Maneesha, because one is afraid to be alone. But my experience is, the only bliss in life is to be alone, not taking any notice whatever the world says. They are free to say it, you need not be disturbed. You enjoy your life according to your own insight, you live your life according to your own intuition.And you will be able to die. A life of fulfillment always ends in a death of tremendous revolution. Death is no more there, you enter into eternity; death becomes a door, not an end. But it is a door only for the real; for the unreal it is an end.Before you go on the marathon race to find yourself, just for the journey, to remember that it is a joyful and playful experience, it is not a serious thing….Cecil B. Baloney, the famous Hollywood movie director, is shooting his new film on location in Ireland.The next scene is to be a street fight, and Cecil gets a bright idea for making it very realistic.He beckons to Rock Hunk, the star of the movie, and he says, “Now, for this street fight, I want to try something new. You see that local couple coming down the street? Go and insult the wife. Then, when the man goes to hit you, we will start rolling the camera. It will be pure realism!”Hunk shrugs and walks up to the couple, who turn out to be Paddy and Maureen O’Murphy, doing their shopping.“Hey, buddy, is this lady your wife?” asks Hunk sternly.“Yes,” replies Paddy. “Why?”“Well,” says Rock, “she is one of the ugliest women I have ever seen!”Paddy turns to look at Maureen. “You see,” says Paddy, “he thinks so too!”Farmer O’Reilly goes to see the doctor for his yearly check-up.After the examination the doctor says, “You are good and healthy, but there is one thing I have to tell you. You must start wearing underwear, for two reasons. First, it is more hygienic, and second, it is warmer.”So Farmer O’Reilly buys himself some underwear and puts them on.The next day he is out in the fields when he needs to take a shit. So he climbs off the tractor, pulls down his pants, but of course forgets about his underwear.When he has finished, he pulls up his pants, takes a look behind him, and mumbles, “The doc was right, it is more hygienic.”Then he climbs back onto his tractor, and sits down.“Right again!” exclaims O’Reilly in surprise. “It is warmer too!”On an ocean cruise in the south Pacific the ship sinks, leaving only twelve survivors, who are lucky enough to reach a small island nearby.They are two French businessmen and their secretary, two Italian businessmen and their secretary, two American oil executives and their secretary, and two British businessmen and their secretary.After a week, the two Frenchmen reach an agreement. One man gets the secretary on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and the other Frenchman gets her on alternate days. On Sunday, naturally, she gets both of them.After a week, one Italian businessman shoots the other Italian so that he can have the secretary all to himself.After a week, the two American executives and their secretary are still waiting for instructions from head-office in Texas.But after two days, the two British businessmen shoot their secretary, so that they can have each other!Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes. Feel the body to be completely frozen. Now, look inwards, with total urgency, as if this is your last moment.Go deeper with all your consciousness as a spear forcing into the center of your being. This center belongs to eternity. At this center you suddenly become a buddha, because you also become eternal.The buddha is the highest peak of your consciousness, the very Everest. And unless you have reached to this Everest, you have not fulfilled your potentiality.You are not born to be just mediocre human beings. Your destiny is to be gods. Less than that won’t do. And it is not a question of becoming a buddha, it is simply a question of remembering. It is your very nature.To make it absolutely clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax. Remain a witness of the body and the mind, just a witness because that is the only quality that belongs to eternity. That is the only quality, that is your nature. It is not given to you. It is your very self.Just watch silently and peacefully. You are neither the body nor the mind. And then suddenly a great explosion happens, your witness takes the form of the buddha.This evening has been beautiful on its own. But thousands of stars have been added to it by your witnessing selves. At this moment there are not ten thousand buddhas but only one ocean of consciousness. All separation disappears.This is the greatest splendor that is available to you, and only to you. Except man no other animal can reach to this point of buddhahood. It is your privilege.Thousands of flowers are showering on you, of peace, of silence, of love, of joy. The clouds have come to confirm it.Before Nivedano calls you back, gather as many flowers, as much fragrance as you can, because you have to live the buddha twenty-four hours. It is not a question of a few minutes’ meditation. A few minutes of meditation is just a remembrance, every day deepening more and more into the nature of your being.But you have to live it twenty-four hours in every action, in every word, in every silence, in every gesture. If you can live the way a buddha is supposed to live, your life will become a dance, a poetry, a music.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back. But come back as buddhas. Even in your coming, show the grace of the buddha, silently, peacefully. Sit down for a few minutes, to recollect the experience, the space you have visited, the path that you have followed.And make it a point to remember in your ordinary day-to-day life that you are carrying a buddha within you, that you are pregnant with a buddha. And you have to be careful about it. It is a very delicate affair.Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?

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Nirvana The Last Nightmare 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

Nirvana The Last Nightmare 09 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,Nansen once went into the garden and, seeing a monk there, threw a piece of broken tile at him and hit him. When the monk turned his head, Nansen lifted up one leg. The monk made no response. Nansen returned to the temple and the monk followed him and asked to be taught, saying “The master just threw a piece of tile at me and hit me. Did he not do this as a means of arousing me?”Nansen said, “How about raising the leg?”The monk was silent.On another occasion, a monk came and stood before Nansen with folded hands. Nansen said, “A great layman!”The monk clasped his hands.Nansen said, “A great monk!”Maneesha, there exists in world literature nothing comparable to Zen anecdotes. They are so pregnant with meaning that even a child can understand them, although even the oldest person may not understand them. To understand these anecdotes you have to learn the whole language of Zen. It has a world of its own.It speaks of course in your languages but it gives a totally new color, a totally new meaning to the same old words or gestures. Most often it speaks in gestures. People who are outside the stream of Zen will find it a little eccentric, crazy, but it is utterly sane; just its meaning has to be explained to you. The people who have been studying and meditating in Zen don’t need any explanation; they immediately pick up the gesture. But that is not true about the people outside the Zen circle. This anecdote is a beautiful illustration.Nansen once went into the garden and, seeing a monk there, threw a piece of broken tile at him and hit him. When the monk turned his head, Nansen lifted up one leg.Now there is something Nansen wants to convey through the gesture, but the monk missed.The monk made no response. Nansen returned to the temple and the monk followed him and asked to be taught, saying “The master just threw a piece of tile at me and hit me. Did he not do this as a means of arousing me?”Nansen said, “How about raising the leg?”The monk was silent.The gesture is ancient. The monk turned only halfway when he was hit, he turned halfway and looked at the master. That’s why the master raised one leg. He is saying, “Turn totally; halfway will not do. Halfhearted you cannot enter into yourself. Have a complete about-turn.” That was the meaning of raising one leg: “You are doing it, but very halfheartedly.”There are things which can be done halfheartedly. In the whole world whatever we are doing, nothing requires your total being to be involved in it. But as far as the inner pilgrimage is concerned your total being is needed. Nothing has to be left behind. You have to gather your whole consciousness. In that very gathering you are coming closer to the center.Right now we are living on the circumference, completely forgetful about the center, yet the center is the source and the center is the goal. At the very center of your being is the connecting link with the universe. There you are not you. At the very center you disappear, there only remains a pure consciousness, a fragrance.People are afraid to go in, for the simple reason they can feel, unconsciously of course, that they can exist only as personalities on the circumference. If they go deeper into their own being, they will have to leave their personalities, their egos, their respectabilities; all that they have gathered will have to be left. They will have to go alone as consciousness, pure consciousness.And the ultimate fear of dissolving oneself into the universe…When a river reaches to the ocean, they say that it stops for a moment, thinks twice, looks backward – all those beautiful valleys and the mountains – hesitant, fragile, afraid to take a jump into the ocean, because that jump means you will not be anymore. But that is only half the truth. That jump also means that you will become the ocean.I have told you about a great Indian mystic, Kabir. In his youth he wrote a small poem in which he said, “When I reached to my very center I felt as if a dewdrop has slipped from the lotus leaf into the ocean.” It was a beautiful statement. But at the time of his death, he called his son and told him, “Change it please because now I know more. That was my first acquaintance with the ocean. And I had felt at that time that the dewdrop had disappeared in the ocean. Please change it; write down that the ocean has disappeared in the dewdrop. Now I can speak with authority.”The fear is one-sided. You have not taken into account the whole realization.Nansen hit the monk with the tile. Nansen was the man who started hitting, slapping, beating, just to wake you. We are according to Zen half asleep, half awake. Our waking is not authentic and total. We are almost somnambulists, sleeping, and also working with closed eyes, and if you become more watchful, you will see it in yourself that many of your actions you are doing like a robot; you have done them so many times.George Gurdjieff used to say that man’s mind has the function of a robot. In the beginning you have to learn, you have a little awareness. Once you have learned something, you don’t need any awareness; once you have learned something, it is transferred to the robot part of your mind. Then it becomes computerized; then you can go on sleeping and the mind will go on working.Nansen’s starting to hit monks is very symbolic; because if somebody is hit for no reason, naturally for a moment he wakes up. For a moment he comes out of his thick crowd of thoughts, because it is so unreasonable. If it had been reasonable it would not have disturbed; the man would have rationalized why Nansen did it.But because he could not rationalize – there was no reason, he has not done anything wrong; he is simply working in the garden, and the master suddenly takes a broken tile and hits him hard – the mind stops for a moment.He turned to look at the master; at that moment the master raised one leg. That he could not understand. The master is saying, “You have turned only half; turn totally, and turn in, not towards me. I’m just an object outside.”No authentic master wants his disciples to turn towards him, because that is taking them away from their own selves. Only the false master, the pseudo master, tries to get people to look up to him, to surrender to him, to be dedicated to him, to be devoted to him; his whole concern is that the disciples’ consciousness should be arrowed towards him.This is the only way of finding out whether the master is authentic or pseudo. The authentic master tries in every possible way to turn you inwards. Everything outside is objective: it will never give you an insight into your subjective reality; it will never allow you to know your interiority, which is your temple, where is hiding your buddha, where you will reach to the highest point of consciousness.On another occasion, a monk came and stood before Nansen with folded hands. Nansen said, “A great layman!”A layman is not a disciple but has deep gratefulness, respectfulness towards those who have arrived, who have reached to the point of ultimate explosion. Folded hands in the East are the symbol of respectfulness. It also represents humbleness.Nansen said, “A great layman!”The monk clasped his hands.Nansen said, “A great monk!”On the surface all these statements look irrational, absurd. What the monk is saying by clasping his hands is, “My hands are not dead, they are not like a statue. My love and my gratitude is alive. You should not call me just a layman, I am a fellow traveler.” The movement of the hands signifies that the hands are not made of stone or wood, they are alive.And Zen is the religion of the people who worship only life, no stone gods, no statues, no God in the heaven. All those are fictions for Zen. Zen loves this life in total affirmation. For Zen there is nothing more to existence than this life; you just have to go deeper into it, where space and time are both left behind, where you enter into the transcendental. Zen has no god, Zen has no prayer; there is nobody to whom to pray. Zen is absolutely concerned with the inner, not with the outer.All of the religions are concerned with the outer: a god somewhere above the clouds. Zen laughs at such gods. Man has created them out of fear: man needs a protection, he feels alone, he feels afraid of death, he needs a protector god. All the gods are fictions; but they have a certain utility: they console. Zen does not believe in consolation, it believes in realization.And if you want to know what life is…from the outside you can only know the surface. Only digging deep into your own being will you be able to know life from within and the moment you know life from within your whole existence becomes a dance, a joy, a bliss, a gratitude to existence. Zen has a totally different approach to any other religion. As far as I’m concerned, Zen is the only religion, others are pseudo substitutes.Nansen has thousands of disciples. One of the disciples, Sekiso, wrote a small poem:A violent storm beats against itbut it never moves at all.Wild and solitary,sharp and full of power,it soars like a bird’s feather.I give my assent only to onewho has climbed to the summit.Walking, sitting, lying down,he does everything as thoughhe were out for a stroll.A beautiful piece, describing exactly the state of a man who has reached to the sunlit peaks of consciousness. Everything for him is just playfulness, as if he has gone for a walk in the morning, as the sun is rising; just a morning walk: no goal, he can turn anywhere, he’s not going anywhere, no purpose, just the sheer joy of the morning and the cool breeze, and the rising sun, and the singing birds, and the opening flowers, and the fragrant air. But no purpose of his own, no goal of his own, just a sheer joy.Unfortunate are the people who never look to the sunrise, to the sunset, to a starry night. These are all non-utilitarian things, and such people are so much concerned with money, power. Their whole concern is with small and mediocre things.In Zen, nature in all its forms: whether it is raining, or there is a thundercloud, or lightning, whether it is morning, or evening, or a deep night when everything becomes silent…Zen goes on watching all this, witnessing all this. For the man who has found the witness, this whole existence becomes an immense wonder.Sekiso said, A violent storm beats against it, against the witness, but it never moves at all; the witness has never moved. It is the only immovable part in the world. Everything moves and changes; only one thing never changes, that which is hidden inside you at the center.Heraclitus said, “You cannot step twice in the same river.” But unfortunately in the West, philosophers, theologians, the so-called religious people have never inquired about the witness. If I meet Heraclitus somewhere – and one never knows, in this vast universe I may meet him – I would like to tell him, “It is true you cannot step twice in the same river because the river is continuously moving. But you have forgotten one thing, you have forgotten yourself.”The same witness can step in thousands of rivers. The changing rivers don’t change the witness. A mirror can reflect thousands of things; those reflections don’t change the mirror. Reflections come and go without leaving a trace behind, no footprints, just the mirror. And this mirror has been the search of the East. When I say “witness,” I mean a mirror-like quality of your consciousness, which simply reflects.A violent storm beats against itbut it never moves at all.Wild and solitary,sharp and full of power,it soars like a bird’s feather.I give my assent only to onewho has climbed to the summit.Walking, sitting, lying down,he does everything as thoughhe were out for a stroll.Maneesha has asked:Osho,The poems or haikus that you talk about each evening sound so contemporary – as though they were written about you and your disciples. Yet they have come to us from centuries earlier.Is that an attribute of the truth, that it resonates with all people everywhere, in any age, who are seeking it?Maneesha, every art can be described either as objective art or as subjective art. Subjective art you will find everywhere; it comes from your feelings, from your heart, from your mind in paintings, in poetry, in music.But objective art comes from the emptiness of your heart; you just become a flute, a hollow bamboo and the universe sings through you. Your only credit is that you don’t create any hindrances, you simply allow the universe to flow through you. With you being in a let-go and allowing the universe to flow through you, objective art is created.There is not much objective art in the world, because before objective art can be created you have to become a hollow bamboo; and you are so solid, your ego is so stubborn. Before creating objective art, you have to be so humble, almost nobody. In your absence there comes a great universal flood. That flood can become poetry, a painting, music, a dance, a sculpture. Thousands of dimensions are available, you just allow it. These haikus are objective art; they are not composed, they have flown through a silent, empty heart.I have told you about the great English poet Coleridge. When he died he left forty thousand poems incomplete. His whole life his friends insisted to him, “Why don’t you complete them? Just one line is missing, otherwise this will be a great poem.”He said “You don’t understand me. I don’t write, I don’t compose, I am in the hands of the universe. When it comes, it comes. When it stops, it stops. I have no way of adding anything or editing out anything.”A strange incident happened when Rabindranath Tagore was given the Nobel Prize. He was given the Nobel Prize for a small book of poems, Gitanjali, “Offering of Songs.” Originally the book was written in Bengali which was his mother tongue; then he translated it into English. But he was hesitant because it might not be so beautiful as in his own mother tongue.So he asked a great missionary who was here in India, Andrews, “Will you take a look and if you find anything grammatical, linguistic that is wrong in it, just please help me so I can change it ?”Andrews was a very learned missionary. He looked through the poem and he was very much impressed. But at four points he said, “If you change these four words, it will be as complete as it can be.” Rabindranath changed those four words.Rabindranath’s friend, a great poet himself, Yeats, called a poets’ gathering in which Rabindranath was to recite Gitanjali for the first time in London. Everybody was impressed. It is a tremendously beautiful book; there exist only a few books in world literature which can be compared to it.But Yeats himself looked a little concerned. He said to Rabindranath, “Everything looks right; only, at four words something has gone wrong.”And those were the four words that Andrews had put in. Yeats got those four words exactly and told him that, “There the flow seems to be stopped, somebody else has entered in, knowledgeable…perhaps your own words may not have been grammatical. That does not matter, that is the freedom of the poet to open his heart, not to bother about grammar and not to bother about rules of language. You just put your words.”And Rabindranath changed his words in place of Andrews,’ and Yeats said ,”Now I feel the flow is complete, there are no stumbling blocks.”That was also Yeats’ own experience, that whenever a poem descends from beyond, and you are only at the receiving end, if you try to improve upon it, it loses its mystery, its miracle. It becomes human; it loses its quality of being divine.Maneesha, haikus don’t belong to time. No objective art belongs to time; it is forever, because it comes from beyond the mind, from eternity itself. That’s why you feel as if these haikus are written for you. These incidents have happened for you. This will be forever so; as long as man goes on searching for inner truth these haikus will remain contemporary, these anecdotes will not become out-of-date.Before you go for your morning stroll…just to let you know that you have to come back…I’m already condemned all over the world – just be kind to me – because I go on forcing you to go in, to go in. And if you really go in, you are gone! So as far as I’m concerned I will tell you to go slowly, and remember to return. I’m sending you with a return ticket!It is the nurse’s day off, so Doctor Bones sticks his head into the waiting room and says, “Who’s next?”“Me, doc,” says Kowalski, standing up.“What is your trouble?” asks Bones.“I’ve got a pain in my prick,” replies Kowalski.Bones grabs Kowalski by the arm and drags him into his office.“Never do that again!” he cries. “Especially when my waiting room is full of people. Next time, just say that your nose or your eye is troubling you!”A couple of weeks later, Kowalski comes back. It is the nurse’s day off again, so Bones sticks his head out of his surgery, and asks, “Who’s next?”“Me, doc,” says Kowalski, standing up.“What’s the trouble?” inquires Bones.“My nose is bothering me, doc,” replies Kowalski.“What’s wrong with it?” asks Bones.“Well, doc,” says Kowalski, “I can’t piss out of it!”This joke always reminds me about a shankaracharya who was speaking in Bombay. A lady was sitting in the front, very rich, with a small child. And the child was continuously telling her, “I want to piss! I wanna piss!” And the shankaracharya was very much annoyed because he was talking about great things. And everybody was laughing and suppressing their laughter, but the boy was very insistent: “You allow me, otherwise I will piss here! It is coming so strong!”Finally the shankaracharya had to end his sermon more quickly. He took the lady aside, and told her, “You have to teach some culture to the child. He disturbed the whole spiritual sermon.”The woman asked, “What can I do? He always insists on coming with me. And he cannot sit for too long. So this question of, ‘I wanna piss!’ always comes.”The shankaracharya said, “You should tell him that whenever you feel that you want to piss, don’t use the word piss. Just say, ‘Mom, I want to sing.’ And then you can take him away to the bathroom; nobody will know what ‘singing’ is.”A few months later the shankaracharya was staying in that lady’s house itself. And just by coincidence the lady said to the shankaracharya, “Some relative has died. I and my husband have to go immediately and we may not be back by the morning. And the child is accustomed to sleep with me or with his father. So if you don’t mind, can he sleep with you?”The shankaracharya said, “There is no problem, he can sleep with me.”But in the middle of the night the problem came. The child nudged the shankaracharya and said, “I wanna sing!”The shankaracharya said, “You idiot, in the middle of the night, you wanna sing?! You disturb my sleep and you will disturb other people’s sleep. Just keep quiet and go to sleep!”But after a few minutes the boy nudged the shankaracharya again, and he said, “I’m trying my best, but the singing is coming very fast!”The shankaracharya said, “I have never seen a singing that is coming so fast that you cannot wait for the morning.”He said, “My God, till the morning! I cannot wait for even one minute! Just tell me, can I sing or not?!”The shankaracharya thought for a moment. There was nobody else to inquire what to do, so he said, “You do one thing. You sing very silently into my ear, so nobody is disturbed. Then be satisfied!”The boy said, “If you say so I will do it! But don’t say anything about it to anybody! Not to my mother, not to my father. Otherwise, I will get beaten!”He said, “Why will you get beaten? Are you simply singing or doing something else?”He said “Pure singing!”So the shankaracharya gave him his ear, and the boy “sang” in his ear! The shankaracharya jumped up! He said, “You idiot! This is singing?!”He said “You have forgotten. It was you who suggested to my mother that instead of ‘I wanna piss,’ I should say ‘I wanna sing.’ And now you are changing.”Then the shankaracharya remembered, and he said, “My God, I will never change anybody’s word again.”Changing words is dangerous!A group of American tourists are about to enter the Limerick Hotel in Ireland, when suddenly the revolving door spins around and out shoots Old O’Grady.O’Grady takes off, racing around the car park of the hotel making a noise like a car engine. He runs around changing gears, honking the horn, making hand signals, and then goes roaring off down the street.One of the American tourists drops his camera and turns to Seamus, who is leaning against the side of the hotel.“What was that all about?” asks the tourist.“Oh,” replies Seamus, “that was Old O’Grady. He is a little eccentric, and he always ‘drives’ around like that when he has had a few drinks.”“Well,” snorts the tourist, “why don’t you try to stop him?”“Now why should I want to do that,” asks Seamus, “when he pays me five dollars every week to wash the car?!”Little Alice is walking down the beach one day when she sees Chester Cheese lying on the sand with only a newspaper covering his machinery.Little Alice looks at the snoozing Chester for a while, with great curiosity. Finally, unable to resist, she shakes Chester awake and says, “Hey, mister. What is that thing moving underneath your newspaper?”Chester, groggy and blinking his eyes, looks at Little Alice and mumbles, “Oh, that is my pet bird.”Chester falls back asleep while Alice stands there and watches the mysterious, moving newspaper.Finally, she cannot wait any longer, so she goes up to Chester and peeks under the newspaper. The next thing Chester knows, he wakes up in hospital with his machinery in bandages, and in terrible pain.“What happened?” he moans to the nurse.“Perhaps,” replies the nurse, “you should ask this little girl. She came in with you.”Chester looks at Little Alice. “So?” he asks. “What happened?”“Well,” says Alice firmly. “I decided to take a look at your pet bird, but as soon as I lifted up the newspaper and started to play with him, he jumped up and spat at me.So I grabbed him, twisted his neck, crushed his eggs, and stomped on his nest!”Now Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes, and feel your body to be completely frozen.Now, look inwards. Gather all your consciousness as a spear. Move towards the center of your being. At the center are all the secrets of life. The center is beyond birth and beyond death.Metaphorically we call the center the buddha, the awakened one. At this moment, you are all buddhas. And remember, to be a buddha does not mean to be a Buddhist.It is not a question of following anyone. It is not a question of conversion. It is a question of awakening to your own depths, to your own center.Your ordinary life is lived on the circumference. Meditation means to move from the circumference to the center. And this center is not only yours. It is the center of the whole universe.We are separate on the circumference; at the center we are one, one oceanic reality. This oneness brings tremendous blessing, a great silence, a deep blissfulness.Deeper and deeper. The deeper you go, the closer you are to the universal center. Without any fear go on, till you feel the buddha arising in you.One has not to become a buddha; the buddha is our very nature. We are born with it. We are carrying it within our very soul. Everybody is pregnant with a buddha. It is only a question of discovering, only a question of remembering, who you are.To make it more clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax. Just watch the body lying there, the mind lying there. You are not the body nor the mind but just a witness, a mirror-like, reflective watchfulness. This witnessing is the greatest contribution the East has made to the world. Everything dies, everything changes, only this witnessing remains.Thousands of flowers, thousands of colors, stars are showering on you.The evening was beautiful in itself. But ten thousand buddhas have made it majestic, a splendor, a miracle.Particularly in these days, to reach to your own center has become very difficult because nobody tells you, nobody educates you, that your real treasure is within you not without you. The god is not above the clouds, the god is hidden in your consciousness. Your consciousness is god itself.Drink from this source as much as you can, get drenched with the joy and the fragrance because you have to bring it back.Meditation is not something that you do for a few minutes, it is something that you have to continue the whole day. Doing everything, your buddhahood should remain an undercurrent, a deep awareness, alertness, consciousness in your gestures, in your actions, in your silences.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back. But show the quality, even in coming back, of a graceful buddha.Slowly, peacefully, joyously, with a dancing heart sit down for a few moments, just to recollect the place you have been, the path you have trodden. You have to go on this path every day deeper and deeper.You have to become acquainted with your buddha as much as possible, so you can bring him from the center to the circumference.When all your actions and all your gestures, words and silences become that of a buddha, you have arrived home.Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?

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Nirvana The Last Nightmare 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

Nirvana The Last Nightmare 10 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,Once Nansen said to the assembled monks, “The way is not outside things; outside things there is no way.”Joshu asked, “What is the way which is outside things?”Nansen immediately struck him. Joshu caught hold of the stick and said, “From now on, don’t strike somebody by mistake!”Nansen said, “It’s easy to speak of a dragon, but difficult to please me!” and throwing down his stick, he went back to his room.At another time, Joshu asked Nansen, “When one realizes that ‘there is,’ where should he go from there?”Nansen replied, “He should go down the hill to become a buffalo in the village below!”Joshu thanked Nansen for having led him to his full enlightenment.In response, Nansen commented, “Last night, at the third watch, the moon shone through the window.”Maneesha, first I have to express my apology to you that I could not join in your dance. The whole credit goes to President Ronald Reagan. For no reason at all he dragged me through six jails in twelve days; I thought it was sheer torture. But as symptoms of poison started appearing in my body, experts in England examined every possible kind of poison that may have been given to me.And they found one poison which is a category in itself. It is the only poison that disappears and cannot be found either in blood or in any other way except in the symptoms. And that poison, given in a big dose, kills the man immediately.That made it clear to me why I was dragged through six jails. It was to give the poison in small doses so it would not kill me immediately, but would take years to destroy my body from inside.I have almost overcome the poison. Just in my hands, in the bones and particularly in the joints it is still stuck. I have been dancing with you without bothering about it. I would have continued, but today the pain became too much.But the pain is not the problem for me. The problem is: if I continue then perhaps I may have to stop speaking. So it is better to let this pain settle. I hope soon I will be joining with you again.It would have been good if Ronald Reagan had killed me completely; that would have been a great credit to Christianity and to American democracy. But he has poisoned me through his administration in such a way that I will remain crucified for years. I am saving all my energy just for these two hours in the evening; otherwise, I am lying down in the darkness.For me it does not matter whether death comes this moment or the next, my purpose is fulfilled, my dance is complete. I am just lingering around for you all to join with me in the great matter of enlightenment.So I thought it is better not to put too much stress on the hands; you can understand even my unmoving hands and their gestures. But I would like you to continue the dance before I come and to continue the celebration when I leave the podium. I hope that with your love the poison will be defeated and I will be able to dance with you, to celebrate with you.I don’t have any complaint against anybody; nature, existence itself takes care of things. The day I was given poison – I remember the night in Oklahoma jail – that very moment Ronald Reagan’s days were finished, he started declining. His associate, Ed Meese, the attorney general who was the main agent as far as the poisoning is concerned, has now had to resign because he has been found to have committed great crimes.His representative admitted at a press conference, after I was deported from America, that there is no evidence, no proof that I have committed any crime. “Our main object was to destroy the commune and without deporting Osho it was impossible to destroy the commune.”The commune was creating great trouble in the minds of fanatic Christians, the fundamentalists, because the commune was a clear-cut alternative to a sad society, miserable, in deep anguish. And the commune was just a laughter, a joy, a dance. This became impossible for the Christians to tolerate, and for Ronald Reagan who is a fundamentalist Christian. They forgot all democracy, all their own constitution and they did everything to destroy the commune. But the first thing was to deport me.They could not deport me without any evidence of crime on my part so they tried everything else. They did not leave themselves any alternative. First they poisoned me, second they put a bomb under my chair, thirdly they blackmailed my attorneys. They produced a list of crimes, thirty-four crimes, and the US attorney admitted as soon as I had left America that there was no proof, no evidence that I had ever committed anything; I was not even speaking for three and a half years.The government attorneys blackmailed my attorneys by saying, “You see this list? We know and you know that if you go on fighting you will finally win, but it will take twenty to thirty years. Secondly our suggestion is that you are risking Osho’s life.”That was a clear-cut indication that the government was bent upon destroying the commune whether any crime had been committed or not. My attorneys said to me: “If you accept two crimes they are ready to let you go.” They did not tell the attorneys that accepting two crimes is not a simple affair; it has implications. Those two crimes committed by anybody else would have brought fines of twenty-five or at the most fifty dollars. But they punished me with a fine of four-hundred-thousand dollars. That is nearabout sixty-lakh rupees.Even my attorneys were shocked, because it was not discussed in the negotiations. And I was deported immediately; my plane was kept at the airport, ready. Perhaps they were afraid; if I died, then the blame would go on American democracy. So within fifteen minutes I had to leave America.Since then I have been haunting their minds. They have been trying in every way…just as Ed Meese stated to the press, “We will make every effort to silence Osho’s voice.”They managed to persuade twenty-one countries not to let me in. And they have forced the Indian government not to allow in sannyasins coming from all over the world, so that I am isolated, almost imprisoned in my own home.But my people are intelligent enough to manage to come against all odds. And it is your love that is now my life. It is a question whether love wins or the poison.There is every evidence that from the whole body the poison has disappeared. Just in the hands it is there. It will have to disappear from the hands too, because you cannot destroy an innocent man; existence would not allow it. But I have to be a little careful now about the hands.Why have they not been able to silence me? Truth cannot be silenced, neither love nor joy. But this is the stupid thing, for centuries people have been doing that: they killed Socrates by poison, but his voice is still ringing in the ears and in the hearts of those who want to understand the deepest meanings of life; they crucified Jesus, but that has not made any difference, in fact it gave a tremendous importance to his teachings.I want to remind you that whether I am here or not the celebration has to continue. If I am not here, then it has to be more intense and it has to spread around the world.Celebration is my religion.Love is my message.Silence is my truth.Maneesha has brought the sutra:Osho,Once Nansen said to the assembled monks, “The way is not outside things; outside things there is no way.”Nansen has a style of his own – apparently contradictory, like this statement: The way is not outside things, with the second sentence: outside things there is no way.But what he is trying to convey is not contradictory. He is saying that if you are trying to find the Way in the outside things, you will not find it. In the outside things there is no Way, but when you have found the Way, the Way itself becomes part of the outside things. Everything that you are going to find in your meditations becomes outside you. You remain always and always just a witness, and for the witness everything is outside. The witness constantly transcends everything that it reflects.Joshu, a man who was to become a great master – and by chance, tomorrow we are going to start a series on Joshu, Joshu: The Lion’s Roar – is also a milestone in the history of consciousness, a tremendously brave man who created roaring lions, buddhas of great strength and power.He was a disciple of Nansen, but he was always a category in himself. He never became a disciple to Nansen formally; he was never initiated by Nansen; but he lived with Nansen, loved Nansen, and Nansen loved him, showered him with his love. Everybody knew that if Nansen died, he would choose Joshu to be his successor, although he was not his follower. He was such a unique person in himself, he could not follow anybody. He was a fellow traveler.And Nansen allowed every kind of person. Whether you agreed with him or not, you could live with him. Perhaps, by the time you came to an agreement – just a little walking by his side – you might start feeling his heart touching you, changing you. He transformed Joshu without any formal initiation when he was saying this contradictory statement, “The way is not outside things; outside things there is no way.”Joshu asked, “What is the way which is outside things?”Nansen immediately struck him.In Zen the master strikes only when he finds a man worthy to be a buddha. The striking is simply to wake him up: “What kind of nonsense are you asking?” Nansen’s immediately striking him simply means, “Joshu! You are asking this kind of nonsense! You understand well what I have said; somebody else can ask such a question, but not you. I know it and you know it.” To make it clear, he struck him.Joshu caught hold of the stick and said, “From now on, don’t strike somebody by mistake!”Joshu is not saying, “Don’t strike me.” He is saying, “From now on, don’t strike somebody by mistake!” Striking me is perfectly right, but don’t strike somebody else by mistake. I can understand why you are striking me, but striking somebody who has not reached to such a consciousness in understanding can be dangerous to you. You are getting old.”Nansen said, “It is easy to speak of a dragon, but difficult to please me!” and throwing down his stick, he went back to his room.What he was saying is, “It is easy to speak of a dragon, but difficult to please me. The statement of Joshu, ‘From now on don’t strike somebody by mistake!’ is just an effort to please me.” To the statement, ‘As far as I am concerned you have done well, but don’t do it to anybody else,’ Nansen says, “It is difficult to please me.”At another time, Joshu asked Nansen, “When one realizes that ‘there is,’ where should he go from there?”When one realizes “this is,” where should he go from this point? In fact, from this point you cannot go anywhere. Wherever you go you will be at this point. You cannot move away from “now,” whatever you do, however fast you run; wherever you will be, you will be in the now. And you cannot move in any other space than here. Wherever you will be, that space will become “here.” We have never moved, as far as our center is concerned.He is asking, “When one knows ‘this is’ where should he go from there?”Nansen replied, “He should go down the hill to become a buffalo in the village below!”Nansen’s answer is simply making a laughingstock of Joshu: “Don’t ask such stupid questions. You are not supposed to ask such questions. These questions are asked by mediocre people. To those who don’t have any experience of their inner being these questions are relevant, they are not relevant for you.”But he does not say it directly, he says,“He should go down the hill to become a buffalo in the village below.”Joshu thanked Nansen for having led him to his full enlightenment.Reading such stories about Zen is an experience in itself. Something is happening behind the curtain of the words which is not visible to you. Something is happening which is neither in the questions nor in the answers. Because you have read this, do you think this will lead you to full enlightenment? But Joshu became fully enlightened.These stories are very superficial. Underneath them there is another current of a personal intimacy, of deep love and gratitude.Joshu is feeling Nansen almost as his own heart; although he is not a disciple, he is a fellow dancer. And Nansen never insisted on anybody becoming a disciple. His insistence was, “This is enough: to be with me. If there is something to happen, remain open. I am available; if you are also available the meeting will happen. Don’t keep your doors closed; just remain receptive.”I am radiating that energy, which will take a jump and your heart which has lived in darkness for centuries will become suddenly enlightened. The fire will reach to you if you remain available, and close, intimate; because the jump is possible only within a certain distance.If you remain too far away, secure and safe, and hoping to become enlightened, you are wrong. You have to risk to come close to the master, as close as possible. In that closeness, in that intimacy suddenly your heart becomes aflame. You are no more in darkness.So always remember that these stories are the superficial part of the real thing. The real thing cannot be said. The real thing can only be understood.Since eternity, whenever a man has become enlightened, ninety-nine point nine percent it has been a transfer of energy from one master to someone who is just ready and ripe. I am leaving point one percent, because it is not necessary, not absolutely necessary if you want to become enlightened to be with a master.You can become enlightened on your own, but it is a little difficult, an arduous path. You may fall many times, you may go astray many times, you may return to the circumference again and again. When you were reaching close to the center, you were not aware that you were close to the center. Just a small difference and you may miss the target.Have I told you the story?A great king was a great archer also. But once in a while he used to miss the target. That is natural. He was passing through a village, and there he saw on every tree, on every post arrows, stuck exactly in the middle of a circle. He could not believe his eyes, that this small village should have such a great archer. So he stopped his chariot, asked the people, and the people started laughing; they said, “He is not an archer, he is an idiot.”The king said, “Idiot? But his aim is perfect!”The people still laughed, they said, “Here he comes. That fellow has deceived many people. He is a complete idiot. First, he shoots the arrow, and then he makes the circle. Naturally it is always perfect.”That man can never fail. But a man who is going alone, on a path that he has never trodden, on a path where there are no footprints, not knowing the direction and all directions are available…But still, once in a while a man has managed to become enlightened without having a master. This I can say with authority, because I don’t have any master. I struggled on my own, knowing perfectly well that the path was going to be long.But unfortunately in this century where can you find a master? Rather than wasting time in searching for the master, I thought, “It is better to go alone. In the same time you may find yourself.” And in the name of the master there are so many pseudo teachers, who claim to be masters. Their claim is accepted because nobody follows them; otherwise you would find immediately that they know nothing, that they are simply quoting scriptures.I have heard about a dog who was very much against barking. Now, asking other dogs not to bark he became a very famous master amongst the dogs.They said, “He is unique, perhaps an incarnation of God. We are poor dogs, and we cannot resist the temptation when we see a policeman, or a postman, or a sannyasin, anybody in uniform.”Dogs seem to be very rebellious people. They are against uniforms. And this great master was insisting the whole day from morning till night that, “Because of your barking, we have fallen so low. Otherwise we would have been the very pinnacle of evolution. All of our energy goes in barking.”And everybody agreed, “That’s true. But what can we do, when the itching comes, to resist it? We are ordinary dogs; you are a great master.”But one full-moon night they decided, “He has been trying hard for years. At least give him a chance just for one night; he deserves it. Let him enjoy this night: every dog has to hide in different places, and try hard – it is only a question of one night. In the morning you can bark as much as you want. Just for one night…”The master dog looked around. He was very much puzzled as to what was happening, because the full-moon night is the night of most barking. Dogs are also against the moon – just unique characteristics. In the dark night they sleep perfectly well, but when the moon is there they cannot sleep the whole night; they are barking and barking. Either they are against the moon or perhaps they are great appreciators of beauty, one does not know.That night the master dog looked around. No dog was available. The middle of the night came, the moon was just overhead. The master dog started feeling a great itching. He said, “My God, I have never felt this.”Before there had been no chance. He had been continuously teaching, so the whole itching was going into the teaching. It was the first time in his life that for hours he had not spoken. The itching was becoming so much that he went into a corner and started barking. The moment he started barking, suddenly the whole city…because all the dogs thought that one had betrayed.They were keeping themselves somehow repressed saints. Now, one has betrayed, no need, the agreement is broken. So all the dogs started barking.The master dog came out and started teaching again: “I have been telling you that dogs will never progress – no evolution.”These pseudo masters…if you follow them, you soon discover that they are teaching things they don’t follow themselves, things that they were condemning in you. Because you never follow them, you never know what they are doing.A man used to teach that, “Anybody who follows me, I will take him to truth.” Everybody agreed that, “Sometime in old age, when all our worldly affairs are fulfilled, we will follow you.”But by his teaching continuously around the villages he became a great master. “He knows the truth.” In one village a young man, a very strong-willed young man stood up and said, “I am going to follow you; now take me to the truth.”The man became very much afraid. He had no knowledge what truth is. But just because nobody was following him, he was enjoying the great masterhood. He could not say to him, “Don’t follow me.”He thought, “He will follow me for a few days and then will get tired. And I will take him into stubborn paths and mountains, just to tire him.”But that man was very determined. After six years of continuously tiring him, finally the master said, “Listen, because of you, I have forgotten the path myself. Now get lost! I used to find the truth so easily. Six years have passed, and not even a glimpse. It must be because of you!”The pseudo masters are many. The time of the real masters is completely gone.Nansen and Joshu belong to a golden age. When he said, “I am fully enlightened,”In response, Nansen commented, “Last night, at the third watch, the moon shone through the window.”The master knows exactly when the disciple becomes enlightened. He’s telling him the exact time, “Last night, at the third watch, the moon shone through the window. Do you think I don’t know that you have become fully enlightened? Before you knew it, I had already known it.”To be with an authentic master, you need not tell him, “I am enlightened.” The moment you are enlightened, he’s going to tell you. The moment he sees your flowering, the moment he sees that the spring has come, the moment he feels the fragrance, he declares the enlightenment of the disciple.Certainly those days are gone. But they can be brought back. They have gone because we got lost into very mediocre, ordinary things. We forgot that the most significant thing in life is to know oneself. Through that window of knowing oneself you can know the whole secret of existence. But we are almost like children, playing with toys, not knowing that soon death will come when all that was important to us up to then becomes absolutely useless.Only if your meditation has brought you a light that shines in every night will even death not be a death to you but a door to the divine. With the light in your heart, death itself is transformed into a door, and you enter into the universal spirit; you become one with the ocean. And unless you know the oceanic experience, you have lived in vain.Nansen’s disciple Sekiso wrote a small poem:Not leaving your Zen practice behindin the heavenly palace,all by yourselfyou realize the elegance beyond elegance.Your old staff tinklingin the chilling dewand frostpierces heaven.In the temple of the forest of wisdomthe fruit is ripe;now is the time.Now is always the time and the fruit is always ripe. You just need to gather courage to enter into your inner forest. The fruit is always ripe and the time is always the right time. There is no such thing as wrong time.Maneesha has asked:Osho,Will we recognize our original face, when we encounter it?Maneesha, encountering the original face simply means realizing what is real and what is reflection. You become a reflection when you see the real. It is just like standing before a mirror. It seems you are standing in the mirror. When you realize the fact that you are standing outside the mirror – in the mirror is only the reflection and the reflection is not a truth – then you encounter your original self. Suddenly you realize that up to now you have lived a false face, this is your original face.Up to now you have been living as a reflection, a shadow, an unreality. You disappear, only the original face remains. Your question is logical, relevant, because how will you recognize that this is your original face? You will not be there. You will disappear as the original face appears; you will not have to recognize it; you will not be there at all. The original face itself will know that up to now a false personality has been representing you.Now the false has disappeared and only the truth remains. There is no question of recognizing. You are the false, how can you recognize? When the real comes, the false disappears: they never meet.This is the fear of searching for oneself; because the moment you find yourself, the way you know yourself now will disappear like a shadow, as if it had never been – just a dream.I have told you…. A drunkard had been fighting in the pub, and had got many scratches on his face. He came home very much afraid of his wife. So very silently, taking his shoes in his hands, he entered into the room, went into the bathroom, looked at his face and said, “My God! So many scratches! How am I going to hide them? In the morning she will find out.”So he tried somehow to cover up. He could not find anything else but the lipstick of his wife. So he covered his scratches with the lipstick and went back silently to bed. In the early morning his wife shouted from the bathroom, “Who has tried to make a painting with my lipstick on the mirror?”That drunk had thought that he was putting it on his face, but he was putting it on the mirror because there was the face. He could not see his own face!We are almost in exactly the same situation. When the original appears, we will suddenly see the false going away. They never meet so there is no question of recognition.Now before we try to encounter the original face…It is a dangerous journey, you may find the original face, but please come back; don’t get stuck there. We have to bring the original face slowly slowly to the circumference.It is a very silent and graceful process: every day you go in. Every day you go deeper. Every day you come back. Something changes, piece by piece, inch by inch, step by step. One day you will suddenly realize that there is no need to go in. The original face has come out. The clouds have dispersed and the moon, without any scratches from the clouds, is shining forth in its ultimate glory.Sardar Gurudayal Singh is waiting.Pope the Polack decides that he wants his Holy Catholic Church to be the most modern and up-to-date religion in the world, and be computerized.“It is all quite simple,” explains Father Fungus to Father Fumble a few weeks later in the confession box.“All you have to do is type the confession onto this screen, and you get a computerized print-out of the penance. Now, just watch while I type in ‘stealing.’ And look! Here is the penance: three Hail Marys and a bill for fifteen dollars. Now, do you think you can manage?”“Okay,” says Father Fumble nervously, “I will give it a try.” And he starts practicing as Father Fungus leaves the church.Just then, Sally walks into the confession box. “Oh, Father,” says Sally, “I have sinned!”“Really?” says Father Fumble. “Tell me all about it!”“Well, Father,” explains Sally, “I took my boyfriend home with me.”“Terrible!” exclaims Father Fumble. And then he mutters as he programs his computer, “Took boyfriend home.”“Yes, Father,” continues Sally, “but that is not all. He came into my bedroom.”“Really?” says Father Fumble, typing furiously. “Boyfriend into bedroom.”“Yes, Father,” says Sally, “but that is not all. He took off my clothes.”“Jesus Christ!” says Father Fumble checking the print-out.“But wait, Father!” says Sally. “Then he took off his clothes and climbed on top of me.”“My God!” says Father Fumble, as he types, “Boyfriend on top.”“Yes, Father,” says Sally. “And then he put the tip of his machinery in me.”“Really?” says Father Fumble, perspiring and typing, “Tip of machinery in.” Then he furiously checks the print-out, but it is blank; so he types it again. But again, nothing comes out.“Incorrect data!” snaps Father Fumble, in frustration. “This computer does not work in fractions. You will have to go back and get your boyfriend to put it all in!”George Bush, the vice president of America, walks into the Oval Office one morning to find Ronald Reagan laughing hysterically.“Mr. President, sir,” inquires Bush, “what on earth is so funny?”“I just found out that Ed Meese has been paying twenty dollars every time he screws Nancy,” chokes the delirious president.“My God!” screams Bush. “That is not funny! That is a national scandal!”“Why?” laughs Reagan, wiping his eyes. “That idiot! I screw her for free!”Doctor Sniff takes his old friend, Fergus, to a charity dance at the deaf and dumb college. The doctor warns Fergus that it is fine to dance with the young ladies, but to remember that they cannot speak to him or hear what he says.“But how will I ask one of the ladies to dance?” asks Fergus.“Oh, don’t be worried about that,” replies Sniff. “You will manage okay.”So, armed with good intentions, Fergus sees a nice-looking young girl sitting alone in the corner, and he gallantly takes her by the hand and leads her onto the dance floor.Half an hour later, he is still trying to work out how to excuse himself and go and sit down for a rest.Just then, a young man walks over and speaks to the girl. “Hey, Lucy!” he says, “when are you going to dance with me again? It has been almost an hour since we last danced.”“I know,” replies Lucy, looking at Fergus, “but I don’t know how to get rid of this deaf and dumb idiot!”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes. Feel your body to be completely frozen. Now, look inwards with your total consciousness, with a great urgency, as if this moment is going to be your last moment on the earth.Move towards the center of your being like an arrow. This center contains all the secrets of existence. The deeper you go, the more you will find the splendor of life, the beauty of life, the truth of life. Thousands of flowers suddenly blossom.You are just a witness of all that is happening. Just watch the joy, the blissfulness, the ecstasy. Don’t get lost, don’t get identified. Just remain aloof, a great Everest which goes even beyond the clouds. Just become a pillar of witnessing.To make it more clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax. Let go. You are not the body. You are not the mind. You are just a witness.Get deeper into this witnessing. This witnessing is the very point of departure from the ordinary to the extraordinary, from the mundane to the sacred, from the mortal to the immortal.The evening was beautiful on its own. But you have made it more beautiful. The silence of ten thousand buddhas, the peace of ten thousand buddhas, the witnessing of ten thousand buddhas becomes an ocean. You are all dissolved into that ocean.Be soaked in this nectar. Be drenched, because soon you will be called back by Nivedano. Bring as much beauty, as much joy, as much truth, as much authenticity as you can from the center to the circumference.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back, but come back like buddhas with great grace, with silence, with deep gratitude. You are coming from another world, from the very source of life.Just sit down like buddhas for a few moments, to recollect the experience, to remember the path which you have to follow again and again.And whatever you have seen and experienced, let it become your ordinary life. Let it be expressed in your words, in your silences, in your gestures, in your activities. The ordinary has to be transformed into the sacred.I have called Nansen “a point of departure.” This experience of your interiority can become a point of departure for you too.Do you promise me you will be celebrating when I’m gone?

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No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 01-12Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 01 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Beloved Bhagwan,Once a monk was asked by Kyozan, “Where have you come from?” to which the monk replied, “From Yushu.”Kyozan then asked him, “I’d like to know something interesting about Yushu; what’s the price of rice there?”The monk replied, “As I was coming here, I unintentionally passed over the bridge of that town and trod on the girders of the bridge, breaking them.”On another occasion Kyozan was washing his clothes and Tangen asked him, “What should we do at this moment?”Kyozan answered, “At this moment where shall we look?”Tangen made no reply.At another time Kyozan saw a snowman and, pointing to it, said to the group of monks around him, “Is there anything whiter than that?”His monks were unresponsive.My Beloved Ones, I have been too long away from you. But this “awayness” was just like the glasses I’m wearing. Although you cannot see me, I can see you.I used to hear your “Yaa-Hoo.” And each time I heard it stars showered over my small hut.These few days and nights have been days and nights of a certain purification. The poison that has been delivered to me by President Ronald Reagan and his staff…from all over the world experts in poison said that among all the poisons this is the one which cannot be detected in any way. And it has been the practice of the CIA in America to give this poison, because there is no way to find it out. And if you cannot find it you cannot give any antidotes. Death has been almost certain.These long days and nights I have taken the challenge of the poison, just witnessing. The poison was a constant torture on every joint of the bones, but a miracle has happened. Slowly slowly, from all joints it has disappeared. The last were the two arms. Today I am free from that too.I have a strong feeling that although I was not physically present here, you have felt me in the air. You have felt me more closely than ever before. And in your songs, I was present. In your meditations, remember, I was more present than physical presence allows.I had to come out today for a special reason.A few months ago in Bombay, Govind Siddharth had a vision that Gautam Buddha’s soul has been searching for a body. And he saw in his vision that my body has become a vehicle for Gautam Buddha.He was right. But this is the misfortune of man: that you can go wrong even though you had touched upon a point of rightness. Because I declared him to be enlightened, he has disappeared. Since then I have not seen him. Perhaps he thinks, “Now, what is the use? I was searching for enlightenment and I have found it.”Enlightenment is only the beginning, not the end. He came very close and has gone very far away.But I was waiting for the recognition from a Zen source that Gautama the Buddha is trying to use my words and my silences, my heartbeats and my inner sky to create a few more rainbows, to spread a few more flowers in the world. That recognition has come from a very famous seeress and prophetess from Japan.One of our sannyasins was there. He could see the sincerity of the woman. She never praises anyone; her insight is clear. He was afraid to ask about me, but finally he decided to ask and without any hesitation she said, “I was waiting for a messenger. You have come at the right time. Gautam Buddha is using Bhagwan’s body.“Right now take these twenty-one very precious real pearls as a present to Bhagwan with my congratulations that a soul that has been wandering around in search of a vehicle has found it.”The sannyasin was a little doubtful, because he said, “Bhagwan’s body has been poisoned in America. Will Gautam Buddha accept a vehicle which has been poisoned?”The sincerity of the woman reminds me of Almitra of Kahlil Gibran’s Prophet. She said, “Have you ever heard that a Satan or a devil has been poisoned? It has been the destiny of the buddhas. Don’t think that the body has become impure by poisoning. This has been a fire test, and Bhagwan has come out of it. You take these pearls and my message, and I will be coming myself to pay my respects.”By the way, I have been calling myself “Bhagwan” just as a challenge to this country, to the Christians, to the Mohammedans, to the Hindus. They have condemned me, but none has been courageous enough to explain the condemnation. From faraway sources there have been articles and letters sent to me saying, “Why do you call yourself ‘Bhagwan’?” And I have laughed, because why does Ram call himself “Bhagwan”? Is he appointed by a committee? And a bhagwan appointed by a committee will not be much of a bhagwan, because the committee does not consist of bhagwans. What right have they?Is Krishna elected by the people as “Bhagwan”? Is it an election matter? Who has appointed these people? No Hindu has the answer. And a man like Krishna has stolen sixteen thousand women from different people – they were mothers, they were married, unmarried – with no discrimination, and yet no Hindu has the courage to object that a man with such a character has no right to be called Bhagwan.They can call Kalki, a white horse, “Bhagwan.” Strange people! And they ask me why I call myself Bhagwan. I don’t have any respect for the word. In fact I have every condemnation of it. It is not a beautiful word – although I have tried in my own way to transform the word, but the stupid Hindus won’t allow it. I have tried to give it a new name, a new meaning, a new significance. I have said that it means “the Blessed One, a man with a blessed being,” although it was my invention.The word bhagwan is a very ugly word. But the Hindus are not even aware of it. They think that it is something very special. Its root meaning – bhag means a woman’s genital organs. And wan means a man’s genital organs. The meaning of the word bhagwan is symbolically that he brings about in the feminine energy of existence, through his male chauvinistic energy, the creation.I hate the word! I have been waiting for some Hindu idiot to come forward, but they think that it is something very dignified and I have no right to call myself Bhagwan. Today I say absolutely, “Yes, but I have every right to denounce the word.” Nobody can prevent me. I don’t want to be called Bhagwan again. Enough is enough! The joke is over!But I accept the Japanese Zen prophetess. And from now onward I am Gautama the Buddha. You can call me “The Beloved Friend.” Drop the word bhagwan completely. Even very intelligent people, people who respect me and love me….Just the other day I received an appreciation of my book Zarathustra by an internationally famous journalist. He has praised it, and he has said that after Adi Shankara – the most famous Hindu philosopher – I am the second as far as intellectual, rational, spiritual authenticity is concerned.But still he could not forget the word “bhagwan,” why I called myself Bhagwan. But does he know that he is comparing me with Adi Shankara who has been called for over a thousand years “Bhagwan Adi Shankara.” And nobody asks the question why.Anybody would be happy to be compared with Adi Shankara, but I am not. It is not a compliment to me, because Shankara is the reason that Buddhism, which was a higher flowering, was destroyed – by Shankara and the Hindu priesthood. I cannot accept that Shankara has any genius. He is orthodox, just trying to protect the investment of the Hindu priesthood, which is the world’s worst, the ancientmost rotten priesthood.I refuse to be compared with this man, particularly because he was the reason the roses were destroyed that Gautam Buddha had managed to grow in the soil of this land. In my eyes he is a criminal of the worst kind.But as far as Gautama the Buddha is concerned, I welcome him in my very heart. I will give him my words, my silences, my meditations, my being, my wings. From today onward you can look at me as Gautama the Buddha.I will tell you about the Japanese Buddhist seeress – she has sent her picture:“Katsue Ishida, mystic of one of the biggest and most famous Shinto shrines in Japan, stated recently after seeing Bhagwan’s picture, that: ‘This is the person that Maitreya the Buddha has entered. He is trying to create a utopia in the twenty-first century. Lots of destructive power is against him, and some people call him Satan. But I have never known Satan to be poisoned. He is usually the poisoner, not the poisoned. We must protect this man, Bhagwan. Buddha has entered him.’”With great love and respect I accept Ishida’s prophecy. She will be welcome here as one of my people, most loved. And by accepting Gautama the Buddha as my very soul, I go out of the Hindu fold completely; I go against the Jaina fold completely.I have seen and condemned everything that was happening but was not in favor of the Hindu monks, Jaina monks. I have been consistently condemning celibacy as one of the most unnatural acts. Now two Jaina monks have come with their own autobiographies, renouncing the Jaina fold and declaring that behind celibacy all kinds of sexual perversions are prevalent.Young women are persuaded to become nuns. The family feels fortunate that their daughter has been accepted as a nun, and also financially it is good. In India for a girl to be married is the worst calamity that can happen to a family. But if a girl is accepted as a nun the whole family becomes in a certain way holy. And these nuns are exploited sexually.I have been in contact with nuns and monks, and they have in privacy accepted that, “You are right, but our problem is we are not educated. If we leave the monkhood the same people who touch our feet are going to kill us or at least are going to reduce us to beggars on the streets.”The Hindu Acharya Tulsi has been trying to get the government to prohibit these two books that have just been published, because he himself is implicated in homosexuality. In fact if the Indian government had any guts the first thing would be to require that all the monks – to whichever religion they belonged – should be examined thoroughly, because most probably their perversions of centuries have brought the AIDS positive. That seems to be their only positive contribution to the world!Maneesha’s sutra:Beloved Bhagwan…You will have to learn, Maneesha, not to call me by that ugly name again. I am just your friend. That’s what Gautam Buddha’s prophecy was: “My name after twenty-five centuries, if I can find a vehicle, will be Maitreya Gautam Buddha.” Maitreya means the friend. From now onward you will have to change your old habit.I am your Beloved Friend. You can call me “Beloved Buddha,” which simply means the awakened one. But we have to spread around the earth that I have denounced “Bhagwan.” I have in fact, just one day, taken it on myself to denounce it. I don’t have any rights on it, but I have every right not to call myself Bhagwan.The sutra:Once a monk was asked by Kyozan, “Where have you come from?” to which the monk replied, “From Yushu.”Kyozan then asked him, “I would like to know something interesting about Yushu; what is the price of rice there?”These are special devices of Zen. Kyozan is provoking the monk by asking this question; he is asking whether he remembers the past, which is no more, the village of Yushu and the price of rice there. But the monk proved equal to Kyozan.As Kyozan asked, “I would like to know something interesting about Yushu; what is the price of rice there?”The monk replied, “As I was coming here, I unintentionally passed over the bridge of the town and trod on the girders of the bridge, breaking them.”This is an old, very ancient saying of Buddha, that when you pass a bridge, break it, because there is no way of going back.On another occasion, Kyozan was washing his clothes and Tangen asked him, “What should we do at this moment?”Kyozan answered, “At this moment, where shall we look?”Kyozan is saying, “Just find out if there are any bridges connecting you with the past and break them. Be independent of the past, just be here and now in this moment.”Except this there is no Zen, no Gautam the Buddha, no religion, no essential and existential experience of life, of love, of this tremendous cosmos. Just be disconnected from the past and be disconnected from the future. Being in this small and still moment you are also the buddha.Tangen made no reply.Tangen making no reply is a way of accepting a failure. Kyozan is washing his clothes, neither in the past nor in the future, just herenow; there is no Kyozan, there is only washing of the clothes.At another time Kyozan saw a snowman and, pointing to it, said to the group of monks around him, “Is there anything whiter than that?”His monks were unresponsive.They could not understand that what Kyozan is asking has nothing to do with snowmen; they are all imaginary. But he is saying, “If there is a snowman” – he must be pure white, snow white – “is there anything whiter?”There is! Your very being. Nothing can be whiter, more luminous than your own very existence.Issa wrote:Where there are humansyou will find flies,and buddhas.This whole cosmos consists of everything. If you find human beings you will find flies. Issa is saying, “To find buddhas among you is as simple as finding flies.” Buddha does not put himself in any superiority game. Buddha breaks down all the games that have been invented by all the traditions and the religions – the games around God, the games around hell, the games around virtue, the games around sin, all are simply man-made games. Buddha simply wants you to be completely free from man-made projections.Just be simple and here. Let the stars shower on you and let the lotuses blossom in your being. You are not beggars, you are carrying all the splendor of existence within you; you have just not looked in.Buddha has brought religion to its very essential simplicity. That’s his contribution; against all traditions, against all stupid superstitions, he has rebelled.If I am accepting him, to use my hands as his gestures, it is only because of his rebelliousness. Of course I am going to refine his rebelliousness – in twenty-five centuries, too much dust has gathered. Behind the dust the mirror is absolutely clean.Maneesha has asked:We have heard you have been very sick. Would you like to talk about it?No, Maneesha. Being sick is enough. To talk about it is being more sick. And remember, my body can be sick, I am never sick. I watch everything, whatever happens. I will watch my death as I watched my life, and that’s my simple teaching to you.Before Sardar Gurudayal Singh…. These glasses are for great Avirbhava.(He holds out his glasses and motions Avirbhava to the podium. Totally surprised, and characteristically overcome, her flustered response delights the whole assembly into laughter and applause.)Yes, great, put them on! Everybody wants to see.Judy comes back from her honeymoon and is gossiping with her friend, Diane.“Well?” Diane inquires. “How was your honeymoon night?”“Oh, Diane!” Judy exclaims. “It was horrible. All night – up and down, in and out, up and down, in and out. Never get a room next to the elevator!”Edgar and Louisa Snodgrass are Christian missionaries in Africa. They have been taken prisoner by the local cannibal tribe and are standing in a huge cauldron filled with water. Both are frightened beyond belief. Suddenly, Edgar starts giggling.“What on earth are you laughing about at a time like this?” Louisa asks with a shocked expression.“Those bastards don’t know it yet,” Edgar snickers, “but I just pissed in their soup!”A Smutz Beer official is naming the winner of the Smutz Beer slogan contest on national television.“And the winner is Herbert Fine, for his winning slogan: ‘Smutz Beer – like love in a canoe.’”Fine walks up to the stage and receives the ten thousand dollar bill. The official shakes Fine’s hand and says, “That’s a wonderful slogan, Mr. Fine. Please, tell our national audience why you feel that Smutz Beer is like love in a canoe.”“Sure,” says Fine. “It is like love in a canoe because it is fucking close to water!”Now, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes. Feel your body to be completely frozen.Now look inward with your total consciousness and with an urgency as if this is the last moment of your life.The totality of consciousness and such urgency is bound to bring you to the very source of your being.Suddenly you have disappeared from the circumference and you are sitting deep at the center like Gautama the Buddha.Flowers are showering, a new breeze, a fresh fragrance, an open sky full of stars, a sense of eternity.To know this is all there is to know.To make it clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax. Just be a witness of the body and the mind. You are not the body, you are not the mind, you are just a pure watcher, a witness. This witnessing is the very essence of existential religion.This is not a mere teaching, this is Gautam Buddha’s sharing, his own experience of the eternal, giving you freedom from the body and the mind. The Buddha Auditorium suddenly has become a lake of consciousness; personalities have disappeared, there is not even a single ripple in the lake.Collect as much oceanic experience as possible. You have to bring the buddha back with you. You have to live the buddha in your everyday experience.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back, but come back like buddhas, with the same grace, with the same joy. Just sit for a few minutes to recollect where you have been, who in fact you are.

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No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 01-12Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 02 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Beloved Buddha,On one occasion when a monk asked Kyozan the meaning of Bodhidharma coming from the West, Kyozan drew a circle in the air and put the character for Buddha inside it. This left the monk without words.At another time, Kyozan was living in Sekitei Temple in Koshu. A monk came up to him and said, “Master, do you know Chinese characters?”“As far as befits my position,” responded Kyozan.The monk then circled Kyozan once in the anti-clockwise direction and asked him, “What character is this?”Kyozan drew the character for the number ten. Then the monk walked around him in a clockwise direction and asked what character that was.Kyozan changed the figure ten (which looks like a plus sign) into a swastika.The monk then drew a circle and pretended to hold it in both his hands and asked Kyozan, “What character is this?” at which Kyozan drew a circle around the swastika.The monk then pretended to be Rucika, the last of the one thousand buddhas of the present kalpa, at which Kyozan commented, “That is right! That is what all the buddhas have kept – you also, I also. Take care of it!”Maneesha, I am feeling so light, just by dropping a single word. I feel I can fly like a swan to the eternal snows of the Himalayas. That small word I had chosen as a challenge to this country’s whole past. For thirty years I carried that word.There are so many Hindu scholars, shankaracharyas, Jaina monks – none of them had the courage to challenge me on the word. Perhaps they were aware that to challenge me on the word would be an exposure of the whole Hindu structure of society, which is the ugliest in the world.But the man who wrote the Manusmriti five or perhaps seven thousand years ago is still ruling the Indian mind. He was called Bhagwan Manu, because he gave the morality and the character to Hindu society. The Hindu society is one of the most spiritually enslaved societies. Its slavery is in its caste system. The caste system is the ugliest you can conceive. It also labels the woman as an inferior creature, spiritually incapable of being enlightened.Gautama the Buddha rebelled against the caste system; that was his great crime.In his presence it was impossible to argue with him. He was not a man of argument but of existential presence. Scholars, pundits, brahmins approached him, but his very climate was enough to silence them. They did not have courage enough to question this man’s single-handed rebellion against the most ancient society in the world. Just because of this, I see Gautam the Buddha as the only man in the whole past of human history who knew what freedom is.Yesterday you witnessed a historical moment.I have accepted Gautam Buddha’s soul as a guest, reminding him that I am a non-compromising person, and if any argument arises between us, “I am the host, and you are the guest – you can pack your suitcases!” But lovingly and with great joy he has accepted a strange host – perhaps only a strange man like me could do justice to a guest like Gautam the Buddha. Twenty-five centuries ago he was the most liberated, but in twenty-five centuries so much water has flowed down the Ganges. It is a totally new world of which he knows nothing.With great respect he will have to depend on me to encounter the contemporary situation.He understood it immediately. His clarity of vision has remained pure all along these twenty-five centuries. I am blessed to be a host of the greatest man of history. And you are also fortunate to be a witness of a strange phenomenon.When Gautam Buddha died, the brahmins, the priesthood which has been a curse to this country, destroyed everything that Buddha had created. All those beautiful roses were burnt alive. There were three categories of people: those who were enlightened simply left the country to convert the whole Far East; those who were not enlightened either suffered death or were forced to become part of the sudras.It was one of the great contributions of Doctor Ambedkar to discover that the chamars, the shoemakers, are really Buddhists who have been reduced to shoemaking by the Hindu priesthood. With their lives at risk, the poor fellows preferred this utter humiliation and indignity. But Buddhism disappeared completely from its own land.You will not believe how revengeful the priesthood is. They burnt the Bodhi tree under which Gautam Buddha had become enlightened; even the tree could not be tolerated. The tree that exists now in Bodhgaya is not the original tree. It was just a coincidence that before the original tree was destroyed by the brahmins, a great emperor, Ashoka, became interested in Gautam Buddha and his awakening. He is the only great emperor who lived like Buddha’s bhikkshus, who begged his food in his own capital.He cut a branch of the original tree and sent his own daughter, Sanghamitra, to Ceylon to plant the tree and to plant the seeds of Buddha’s great awakening in Sri Lanka.Just after India became liberated, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of this country, was in immense love with Buddha. He asked that a branch from Sri Lanka should be brought back. It is a faraway descendant of the original tree under which Gautam Buddha became enlightened, but yet it carries the same juice.So the tree you see now in Bodhgaya is not the original tree. The original has been burned. Such is the revengeful attitude of all priesthood around the world.I wanted the Hindu priesthood to challenge me on the word “Bhagwan.” But knowing me perfectly well, they simply avoided the challenge because it was going to expose all their incarnations of god.You will not believe what kind of criminals have been called “Bhagwan” by Hindus.As an example I would like to tell you: Parasuram is one of the incarnations of a Hindu god. His old father, according to the Hindu scriptures, was a great seer. But I don’t think that is right, because a great seer will not be suspicious of his wife. A great seer transcends all these small desires and longings, jealousies. I will call that man, not a seer, but one of the blindest of people because he was suspicious that when he goes to the river early in the morning in the dark, the Moon God comes to have a love affair with his wife. Such idiots!The moon is not a god; it is just a piece of this planet. But he ordered his son, Parasuram, “Until you cut off the head of my wife, your mother, my suspicion and my jealousy will go on burning like fire in my heart.”Parasuram, without asking, “What are the reasons for this jealousy? A man like you is not supposed to be jealous, and in your old age…” he simply went and cut off the head of his own mother. Just because of his obedience to his father, howsoever irrational and stupid, Hindus have called him “Bhagwan.” I never had any desire to belong to this category of criminals.Yesterday, dropping that word, I have disconnected myself with this land, its ugly heritage, its slavery.One friend has asked if it was a mistake when I referred to Tulsi as Hindu, or do I mean it. I’m not any infallible pope, but that was not a mistake; I mean it.Jainism never could become an independent religion. It depends for all its necessities on Hindus. It is only a philosophy, not a religion; a Hindu cult, but not a culture. No Jaina would be ready to make shoes; no Jaina would be ready to clean toilets. What kind of culture is this? It is simply a small branch of the Hindu heritage, maybe differing on a few philosophical points, but that does not make it a religion. So, with absolute awareness I called Acharya Tulsi a Hindu.The people that Hinduism has been worshipping as gods…. It is so hilarious! Krishna is worshipped as the perfect god and he is the man who forced this country into the greatest war India has ever known. It was an unnecessary massacre. It left Hindu society without a spine. It became so afraid of war that it has been available for anybody to invade it.For two thousand years it has remained a country enslaved by small barbarian tribes – this vast continent – but nobody wanted any violence. The mind of the whole country settled into the consolation of fatalism: “If somebody is coming to invade – Moguls, Hunas, Turks, Mongols, anybody – this is destiny, you cannot avoid it. It is better to accept it; it is destined by God.” That’s why even after the freedom from the British empire, forty years have passed, and one wonders what we had asked freedom for.Freedom has two wings – from and for. A freedom that is only “from” is not worth the name. Freedom has to be for something greater.But India continues to become more and more poor, more and more uneducated. And the stupid politicians promised the country, “We are going to lead you into the twenty-first century.”The country is not even in this century. It still lives according to Manu, seven thousand years back; it still worships Krishna, five thousand years past. It seems all that has to happen has happened for this land. It has no future; its dark night has no dawn.By dropping the word “Bhagwan” I have disconnected myself absolutely from an ugly tradition – inhuman, barbarous. It has created a mind for slavery, uncreative in every sense, and in the name of spirituality every kind of nonsense goes.Gautam Buddha fought like a lion. I am immensely happy that he has chosen me. His area of fight was very small, just the state of Bihar in North India; my field of work is the whole world.I have to fight not only against the Hindu superstitions, I have to fight with the Mohammedans, with the Christians – alone, but with great rejoicing, hoping that the courageous ones are going to join my caravan.The fight is at the most crucial time. The world cannot be saved. These coming twelve years are going to be the last for this beautiful planet to breathe, to blossom into flowers. My work and yours is to find the chosen people before the idiotic politicians destroy the world. Let us create as many buddhas as possible because they will be the only ones whose bodies may be destroyed but whose souls will have wings to fly across the sun into the blue sky and dissolve into eternity with joy, with dance, with gratitude.Maneesha has brought a few beautiful sutras.Beloved Buddha,On one occasion when a monk asked Kyozan the meaning of Bodhidharma coming from the West…It is a traditional question containing many implications: “Why did Bodhidharma come from India to China?”Certainly the first implication is that India was no longer receptive to the highest flight of consciousness of Buddha. Bodhidharma was in search of fresh ground, of new pastures.Kyozan drew a circle in the air and put the character for Buddha inside it.Without saying a word, just making a circle in the air and putting the Chinese character for Buddha inside it…not a single word is spoken but everything is said, including that which cannot be said in any way. He is indicating that life is like a circle in the air, very fragile. Like a writing on the sands on the beach, and a tidal wave comes and takes away all the writing or a wild breeze comes and disturbs everything that is written.Kyozan is saying that your life is even more illusory, just a circle in the air; you cannot even see it. But inside the circle a tremendous force of consciousness, represented by the Buddha, is hidden in all its splendor.Bodhidharma coming to China was carrying the message, “Don’t just waste your life on the circumference, which is nothing but a circle drawn in the air. Look inward. Always remember that the difference between life and death is not much – just a few breaths, a few heartbeats missed, and you are no more in the body. But inside, in this ephemeral circle of air is the very solid, immortal rock of the Buddha.” Bodhidharma went to China to carry the message to which India had become absolutely blind and unreceptive.This left the monk without words.He could see the great insight of Kyozan.At another time, Kyozan was living in Sekitei Temple in Koshu. A monk came up to him and said, “Master, do you know Chinese characters?”“As far as befits my position,” responded Kyozan.I have to remind you that Chinese or Japanese or other Far Eastern languages don’t have any alphabet. They have only characters. It is very difficult to understand those languages unless you are born there because you need to know thousands of characters to read even an ordinary newspaper, and those characters are very symbolic.One friend showed me a Chinese character. I tried in every way to work out what this character could be but I had to accept failure. The man said, “It is a very simple character, but unless you know there is no way to discover it.”It is just a symbolic roof with two symbolic women. Neither can you figure out that these are women and this is the roof…. And the man told me, “This character means constant quarrel: two women under one roof; but it also means battle, fight, war.”He had been learning Chinese for almost thirty years, but he was still not confident about the ancient scriptures.So when the monk asked, “Do you know the Chinese characters?” Kyozan responded, “As far as befits my position. I cannot say I know Chinese characters, I can only say I know a few characters which are needed for my work.”The monk then circled Kyozan once in the anti-clockwise direction and asked him, “What character is this?”Kyozan drew the character for the number ten.One wonders – why number ten? Moving around you anti-clockwise, why should it mean ten?I have tried hard. My own understanding is, all the languages of the world have ten digits as the basis of their mathematics, and those ten digits come from the ten fingers of man.Man started counting on his fingers. I still do! And howsoever hard I try, at the most I reach to the third finger. By the time I reach the fourth I have forgotten whether it is fourth or fifth….This character within an anti-clockwise movement can simply mean that you will be limited to the small numbers – up to ten. You cannot go further than that. If you want to go further you will have to move clockwise – that is how existence is moving. Anti-clockwise, you will be stuck with your own fingers.Kyozan drew the character for the number ten. Then the monk walked around him in a clockwise direction and asked what character that was.Kyozan changed the figure ten (which looks like a plus sign) into a swastika.The swastika is, perhaps, the ancientmost symbol in the world. It moves clockwise.When Adolf Hitler came to power, he wanted for his flag some ancient symbol. He sent his messengers to India, to Tibet, to China, and they all came to the conclusion that the swastika is the ancientmost symbol in the world. It means progress, it means being in tune with existence, it means victory. But the people who had brought this message from the eastern countries made the flag for Adolf Hitler, but forgot to make the swastika clockwise. They made it, but because it was unknown to them they made it anti-clockwise.Now the people who understand numerology, symbology, say that Adolf Hitler’s defeat is because of this wrong swastika character on his flag. I will not go along with them; that is nonsense. Clockwise or anti-clockwise is not going to decide the fate of a war.But Kyozan is right in the sense that if you are in tune with existence, you may have the possibility of your potential coming to a flowering. Don’t go against the current; that way your defeat is certain. Go with the current; that way you are relaxed, joyful, floating with the stream, and you will reach to the ocean – to the vast oceanic consciousness.The monk then drew a circle and pretended to hold it in both his hands and asked Kyozan, “What character is this?” at which Kyozan drew a circle around the swastika.The swastika is the symbol of time, clockwise. But time is nothing but a mind projection. If there is no mind, there is no time. Do you think the bamboos around the Buddha Auditorium know anything about time? Do you think the sun rises according to a clock? The whole existence goes on without having any sense of time. Time is a projection of the human mind. Except in your watches and clocks there is no time.Kyozan did well. He drew a circle in the air around the swastika – that too is in the air. He is saying, all that our mind can do is made of the same stuff as dreams are made of.The monk then pretended to be Rucika, the last of the one thousand buddhas of the present kalpa, at which Kyozan commented, “That’s right!”This is the Buddhist mythology: that every kalpa means millions of years in which a world is born and dies – that is one kalpa. This earth was born four billion years ago, and it seems we have most probably twelve years more. There is every indication that by the end of this century we are going to commit suicide.In this whole kalpa there are one thousand buddhas, and Rucika, mythologically, is thought to be the last buddha of the present kalpa.The monk then pretended to be Rucika, the last of the one thousand buddhas of the present kalpa, at which Kyozan commented, “That’s right! That is what all the buddhas have kept – you also, I also. Take care of it!”The only thing to be taken care of is your innermost being, symbolized by the buddhas. Lose everything and you lose nothing. Empires disappear in the air like soap bubbles. But don’t lose your buddha. That is your eternal treasure, your immortality, your master key to open all the mysteries of existence.Shosha wrote:To wake, alive,in this world.What happiness!Winter rain.Just suddenly in winter, when it is not expected, comes a rain cloud, and showers create so many rainbows.Shosha is saying: To wake, alive, in this world – where everything is mortal – What happiness! Winter rain. Every morning when you wake up, remember it.I have come across a man, well educated, a retired professor of mathematics, who suddenly became very much afraid of sleeping. His family brought him to me. They said, “He is absolutely rational in everything except he does not like to sleep. Moreover, he goes on waking others in the family.”He would knock on the doors of his daughter-in-law, “Are you awake?” Now, just to answer him her sleep is disturbed. But the whole night…what else can he do?I asked him, “What is the fear? Why don’t you want to sleep?”He said, “The fear is that if I go to sleep, what is the guarantee that I will wake up alive.”I said, “This is certainly a very significant problem. But who told you that you are alive?”He said, “I am not alive?”I said, “As far as I can see you have been dead since you retired. You can sleep; you cannot lose anything, you are dead already.”He said, “That solves the problem. All these people have been bothering me: ‘Sleep!’ but nobody could give the right answer. You convinced me. If I am dead already, who cares?”I went to see him the next morning. He was taking his breakfast. He welcomed me with great love and said, “It is a miracle! I awakened alive.”And I said, “Remember, if you don’t sleep you will be dead. If you sleep there is a possibility you may wake up alive.”After twenty years I went back to the city. He had become very old, and he said to me, “Now I have come with a very different question: I want to die.”I said, “Sleep well. One day it is certain, I can guarantee you will not wake up. The best place to die is in bed. Ninety-nine percent of people die in bed. That is the most dangerous place.”He said, “My God! I have been sleeping on a bed.”I said, “You start sleeping on the mattress down on the floor.”He said, “What is that going to do?”I said to him, “Remember, there is no way to avoid death. You can make every effort, and the best thing is not to go to bed. The bed is very close to the cemetery.”I have heard about an old Jew who was dying, a very rich man. His four sons were discussing: “The old fellow is going to die. What to do about the funeral procession?”The youngest son said, “He always wanted to have a Rolls Royce. The poor fellow could not manage it, not because he did not have the money, but it was impossible to part him from his money. Once he had got hold of it, then that money could not be used in any way. But we can have for his funeral procession a Rolls Royce – at least once, a one-way drive. He will not come back.”The second son said, “Don’t be stupid. What does it matter to a dead man whether he is riding the Rolls Royce or just a bullock cart. An unnecessary waste! You are too young, you don’t understand.”The third son said, “So you propose a bullock cart. My feeling is: we are four, we can carry him on our shoulders. The cemetery is not far away.”The old man was listening to everything. He suddenly sat up in the bed and said, “Where are my shoes?”One son said, “Shoes? Are you going to die with your shoes on?”He said, “No. I simply want my shoes, because I am still alive enough to walk down to the cemetery! Listening to the great discussion that is going on, the cheapest way is….”But whatever you do, Shosha is right:To wake, alive – again –in this world.What happiness!Winter rain.Maneesha has asked:Beloved Buddha,Gautama the Buddha died by poisoning. You have survived in spite of being poisoned. Is there any connection between the two? Is there a particular significance in the timing of your declaration that Gautama Buddha is living on in you?Maneesha, it is true Gautam Buddha died of poisoning. The fact is, he was too old, eighty-two years old, and tired. Forty-two years just walking from village to village…. He could not fight back against the poison. But his work was incomplete.In fact the work of a buddha is always going to be incomplete. It is an intrinsic part of spreading the fire of awakening. You cannot conceive that the whole world will become awakened, but people like Gautam the Buddha are the dreamers of the impossible. They hope against hope. He had to leave because his body was tired and old and could not survive the poisoning. But he left with a dream that he may find somewhere someone to carry on his dream of growing more lotuses in the world. These twenty-five centuries he has been wandering like a white cloud, searching.It is my great destiny that he has chosen me to be his host. I will do – in fact I have been doing already – the same kind of work of spreading awakening. Hence it is not a problem to me. An ancient buddha residing inside will certainly strengthen my work.You are asking about poisoning, “Is there any connection?” Certainly, seeing that I have overcome the poisoning, which was far more dangerous than the poisoning that Buddha suffered. The poisoning has been a great purification for me. This purification makes me receptive to the wandering soul of Gautam Buddha.He is not a weight. He is rather more like wings. He is not the man to dictate anything – the pure agnostic, the greatest individualist, the utter rebel. I have been, without knowing, preparing a home, a shelter, for a wandering Buddha. It is my fortune that he has accepted me to be his home for a few days at least.You are also fortunate to be the assembly of two Buddhas, a bridge stretched between twenty-five centuries, so rich that if you miss, nobody except yourself will be responsible for it.It is time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh. Gautam the Buddha may not be aware…because I don’t find in his scriptures any sense of humor. But now in this assembly even a dead man will start laughing.Polanski, the Polack, applies for a job at the Pune Travel Agency. He tells them that he worked three years for Polish Airways. The personnel director calls Polish Airways to see what kind of an employee Polanski was. His previous boss says:“He is a meathead, a cheat, a dumb bunny, a busybody, a loafer, a birdbrain, a sneak, a numskull, a loudmouth, a fruitcake, a dodo, a chiseler, a bigot, a wino, a lamebrain, a dunce, a boob, a banana-head, an ass, a screwball, a dumb-dumb, a nincompoop, a goofball, a dimwit, a pig, a hockey puck, a klutz, a dumkopf, a fuddy-duddy, a ding-a-ling, a lush, a weirdo, a dunderhead, a moron, a bungler, a mental midget, a turkey, a bloodsucker, a bully, a mutton-head, a slave driver, a vulture, an imbecile, a tightwad, a dingbat, a braggart, an animal, a putty-head, a bitcher, a clown and an idiot! Still, I recommend him for the job.”“Why on earth would you recommend him?” asks the personnel director.“Because,” the previous boss says, “he was our best employee!”Hymie Goldberg is lying on the psychiatrist’s couch.“So what seems to be the problem?” the shrink asks.“Well, Doc,” Hymie replies. “For the past two months, every morning at eight-thirty, I take a huge shit!”“Really?” says the psychiatrist, after a moment’s silence. “Why, millions of people would love to be that regular. So, what is the problem?”“Well, Doc,” Hymie replies, “I don’t get out of bed until nine!”Marco is a newcomer to the country. Although he does not know the language well, he manages to meet Janet and dates her for several weeks. Then, Janet invites Marco to her house for dinner. When he arrives Janet excuses herself and goes off to the kitchen to help her mother. Marco gathers up all his courage and says: “Sir, I wanna ask for your daughter’s gland.”“What?” cries the father. “You mean you want my daughter’s hand?”“No,” says Marco. “I’m fed up with hand jobs. Now I want the gland!”The quiz show moderator says to the contestant, “Okay, Mr. Clump, and now, for the one hundred thousand dollar question, what is the difference between Ronald Reagan and a bucket of shit?”Clump thinks for a second, then smiles knowingly and declares, “The bucket!”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes. Feel your body to be completely frozen.Now look inward with your total consciousness, and with an urgency as if this moment is going to be the last in your life.The center of your being is not far away. As you come closer, a strange coolness, a silence starts becoming deeper. A light that has no source, a blissfulness…thousands of flowers start raining on you.This moment, you are the buddha.This is your ultimate reality. The only character to be remembered is witnessing. The buddha consists only of witnessing.To make it clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax, and just be a witness. You are not the body, you are not the mind. You are just a pure witness standing by the side. This witnessing is the very soul of a buddha.The night was beautiful in itself, but ten thousand buddhas melting into an oceanic consciousness has made the night a splendor, a miracle.Just remember one thing: when Nivedano calls you back, gather as much light, as much fragrance, as much existential juice as you can, and persuade the buddha to come along with you. Finally, he has to become your everyday action, gesture, word, silence – everything. The circumference of your life has to disappear, giving place to the center.This is the greatest rebellion and the only living religiousness: to bring buddha into your ordinary life, simply, innocently.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back…with all the grace of a buddha, with all the beauty and the joy. Sit for a few minutes just to recollect the golden path that you traveled to reach to your center, and the encounter with the buddha, and the experience of just pure witnessing.Slowly slowly, that which looks like a faraway peak of consciousness will become your simple, ordinary being. That will be the most historical moment for you.

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No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 01-12Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 03 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Beloved Buddha,Once Kakusan went to see Kyozan. Raising his foot, Kakusan said, “The twenty-eight Indian Patriarchs were like this, and the six Patriarchs of the Country of T’ang were like this, and you are like this, and I am like this!”Kyozan came down from the Zen seat and hit him four times with the wisteria staff.After Kakusan became enlightened, an ascetic once said to him, “What is the true meaning of Buddhism?”Kakusan remained silent and bowed to him.The ascetic asked, “Are you bowing to a man of the world?”Kakusan replied, “Don’t you see what I am saying? I am your famous disciple!”At another time Kyozan, on seeing a monk approach him, raised his mosquito flapper. At this, the monk shouted loudly, “Kwatz!”Kyozan commented, “There is such a thing as saying `Kwatz,’ but tell me, where was my mistake?”The monk replied, “In improperly pointing to an external object” – at which Kyozan hit him.Maneesha, the new situation, the new responsibility that I have taken upon myself has raised many questions from different quarters. Perhaps it will take a little time to clarify any questions, doubts, suspicions or mere curiosities.The first thing is from the chief of staff of United Press International. He has sent a telegram asking me, now I have allowed Gautam Buddha to be my guest, have I become a Buddhist? In the same reference he has asked: “What about your followers? Are they also now part of an organized religion? Have they also become Buddhists?”The question is absolutely relevant, but my answer may baffle the chief of staff of UPI.Gautam the Buddha has taken shelter in me. I am the host, he is the guest. There is no question of any conversion. I am a buddha in my own right, and that is the reason he has felt to use my vehicle for his remaining work. He has been waiting, a wandering cloud for twenty-five centuries, for a right vehicle.I am not a Buddhist. Neither is Gautam the Buddha’s intention to create Buddhists, or to create an organized religion. Even twenty-five centuries before, he never created an organized religion. The moment truth is organized it becomes a lie. An organized religion is nothing but a hidden politics, a deep exploitation by the priesthood. They may be shankaracharyas, imams, rabbis, or popes, it makes no difference.Gautam Buddha did not leave behind him any successor. His last words were, “Don’t make my statues, don’t collect my words. I don’t want to become a symbol which has to be worshipped. My deepest longing is that you will not be imitators. You don’t have to be Buddhists because your own potential is to be a buddha.”I would like to say: I don’t teach Buddhism, or any “ism” for that matter. I teach the buddha himself. The people who are with me are not part of any organized religion. They are independent, individual seekers. My relationship with them is that of a fellow traveler.By the way, I have to remind you of Gautam Buddha’s prophecy twenty-five centuries ago: “When I come again I will not be able to be born through a woman’s womb. I will have to take shelter in a man of similar consciousness and the same height and the same open sky. I will be called ‘The Friend.’”A tremendous freedom is implied in the word. He does not want to be anybody’s guru, he simply wants to be a friend. He has something to share, with no conditions attached to the sharing.This also will help you, because a few sannyasins have been confused how they will make the difference between the ancient Gautam Buddha and me. Gautam Buddha’s prophecy helps to clarify the confusion.Although he has taken shelter in me, I will not be called Gautam the Buddha. I will love to be called according to his prophecy: Maitreya the Buddha. Maitreya means the friend. That will keep the distinction. There will not be any confusion.As far as I am concerned, I have always been against any organized religion. My love, my longing is to create as many individuals in the world as possible, utterly independent, in absolute freedom of their soul, no fetters of Christianity or Hinduism or Mohammedanism. No scriptures, no teachings…no discipline except a self-awareness, a flame burning in your very soul, making you aware and alert and a witness.There is a small community of Buddhists in Maharashtra. They are Buddhists newly converted by Doctor Babasaheb Ambedkar. These are the untouchables whom Hindus have been exploiting for centuries, humiliating them utterly disgracefully. These are the most oppressed, exploited, humiliated human beings upon the earth.But Babasaheb Ambedkar could not convert all the untouchables, who are one-fourth of the Hindu fold. He himself was not a meditator. His effort to convert the untouchables into Buddhists was in order to take them out of the Hindu fold, so they can gain their dignity as human beings. This was a political step, a social revolution, but it has nothing to do with spirituality.I have received a message from that small community that Doctor Ambedkar converted, hoping that perhaps I will give them an organized religion. I am sorry to say, the very word organization is irreligious.I do not teach religion, I teach religiousness – a quality, not a membership of any church but a quality that transforms your being, brings the flowering of your potentiality.Those Buddhists who have been left in a kind of darkness and in difficulties, I am available to help them not to be Buddhists but to be buddhas. Less than that is below my comprehension. I want a world full of buddhas, absolutely free to fly in the open sky.Truth brings freedom, meditation brings freedom – freedom from scriptures and freedom from the words of the ancients. It brings a silence, a peace, and a sense of eternity, immortality, deathlessness. It brings a dance to your life, a new song, a new music, a new way of living in grace and love. But it has nothing to do with any organized religion.All organized religions have proved criminals, murderers. They have done nothing but massacre. They have burned living human beings all over the world. If we want a new world, we have to get rid of all organized religions. Religiousness is just like love. Have you ever heard of organized love? It reminds me….Just the other day in England the Duke of Edinburgh made a very strange statement. In the parliament they were discussing curtailing hunting because so many species of animals are simply disappearing.The Duke of Edinburgh is a well-known hunter. He did not agree with the parliament, and he said, “There is no difference between hunting and purchasing meat from a butcher’s shop.” And to give an example, perhaps not knowing its implications, he said, “The difference between hunting and purchasing meat from a butcher is the difference between a married woman and a prostitute, and there is no difference between a married woman and a prostitute.” The parliament was shocked.They have prevented me from entering England, but I have my own ways of entering…! I have been saying this again and again for three decades, that there is no difference between marriage and prostitution. Marriage is a little longer contract, prostitution is a shorter contract. Both are purchased with money.But he did not think it through. What does it mean? Queen Elizabeth is a prostitute? England is ruled by a prostitute? But it is true! And prostitution will be dropped only if marriage disappears. Prostitution is a by-product of marriage, and while marriage remains there is no way to avoid prostitution.For centuries, every society has tried to destroy prostitutes, but they don’t understand that it is a by-product. No by-product can ever be destroyed. Can you destroy your shadow? Your shadow is simply a by-product.Marriage creates a bondage, and every bondage creates a tremendous desire to have a little freedom at least once in a while. That freedom creates the prostitutes.But why keep all the women either as slaves in the name of marriage or as prostitutes? It is so ugly, so barbarous. Just drop marriage and let every woman be utterly free and independent.Love cannot be purchased, and if you purchase it, it cannot be love. You can love out of freedom, and your love should enhance the freedom. If it destroys freedom it is committing suicide itself.One sannyasin has asked:“Now you have disconnected yourself absolutely and categorically from the Hindu fold and the Jaina fold, in fact, from the whole past of this country. Will you still be criticizing Hindus and Jainas?”Of course. Now my sword will be sharper, and my hammer will be bigger. In fact, I have disconnected myself absolutely from any fold, any organization for this very purpose. And on my own I am not going to create any organization. That will be against my very being, against my whole life’s effort.My love is freedom, and those who have gathered around me – and many more will be coming – they have to remember it. You are not becoming a member of any church. You are just joining hands with friends who are traveling on the same path. At any moment you can leave the path. Everyone is welcome to join, and everyone is welcome in freedom, with blessings, if he wants to go to seek somewhere else.I bless all kinds of seeking on all paths.Before the sutras, a little biographical note:Kakusan was a disciple of Kyozan. After his enlightenment he lived on mount Kaku from which his name is derived – Kakusan.When he was about to die, Kakusan collected a pile of firewood deep in the forest. At noon he refused his meal, went to the pile of wood, lit it and climbed on top.Kakusan then put his umbrella behind his head to make a halo. Thus he ended his life in the flames, holding out his staff like the demon-subduing vajra.Standing, he died in the fire. It must have been a very strange sight: when the fire cooled, he was still standing – utterly burned, dead, but holding his staff straight. That staff has made many seekers enlightened.It has to be remembered that a man of the quality of Kakusan I call a religious man. Only one who knows his life can know his death; they are two sides of the same coin. If you have never known life, you will never know death. And to miss life and death and the whole beauty of both is to miss the very meaning of existence.The sutra:Beloved Buddha,Once Kakusan went to see Kyozan. Raising his foot, Kakusan said, “The twenty-eight Indian Patriarchs were like this…”…Standing on one foot. The meaning of it is utter balance, no trembling inside, utter silence.I am reminded of one of the most important disciples of Gautam Buddha, Vimalkirti. He was a great philosopher. When for the first time he came to see Buddha, he was very proud of his philosophical trainings. He said to Buddha, “You talk so much about freedom. What is freedom?”Buddha said to Vimalkirti, “You can lift up one of your feet and stand on the other.” He lifted his left foot up and was standing on the right foot when Buddha said, “Now, lift the right foot up also.”Vimalkirti said, “What nonsense! One foot is enough, two feet is impossible.”Buddha said, “You seem to be a man of understanding.”Freedom is standing on one foot; the other foot is responsibility. Freedom brings tremendous responsibility – not in the old sense that you have been told about, not as a duty, but as a spontaneous and conscious “response-ability.”There are two kinds of possibilities: either you react or you respond. A man who lives in his mind, reacts. He reacts according to his conditioning as a Christian, as a Hindu, as a Mohammedan. But his reaction is mechanical, any robot can do it. He has been conditioned to do it, hence he is doing it. But it is not out of his own spontaneity, it is not coming from his state of no-mind. When you respond from the state of no-mind – out of your meditation, not out of your conditioning – it is response, it is not reaction.Freedom brings responsibility. You act not according to any commandments, you act not according to Manu or Moses or Jesus, you act according to your own light. And whenever you act according to your own light, there is immense fulfillment, a deep rejoicing.Once Kakusan went to see Kyozan. Raising his foot, Kakusan said, “The twenty-eight Indian Patriarchs were like this…”– standing on one foot in utter balance –“…and the six Patriarchs of the Country of T’ang were like this too, and you are like this, and I am like this!”Every man of consciousness has a tremendous balance in his life, in his actions, in his gestures. His whole life becomes a dance in balance. And those are the few people who have known the ultimate flowering of consciousness.Kyozan came down from the Zen seat and hit him four times with the wisteria staff.Kakusan was standing on one foot. Kyozan came down from the Zen seat and hit him four times with the wisteria staff – the Zen staff. What is the meaning of this? He hit him four times because unless you can remain balanced in times of difficulties, in dark nights of the soul when the dawn seems to be almost impossible…when you have lost every hope of finding the truth, when you have lost the friend who was sharing his insight with you and you feel utterly blind, in all these situations if you can still remain balanced, then there is no problem. Your balance will start flowering on its own accord.Hitting him four times, Kyozan watched. Kakusan did not move, did not lose his balance, did not even ask him, “Why are you hitting me?” A man of balance does not care whether the night is dark, whether life is coming to an end. In every situation and circumstance his balance is never lost.After Kakusan became enlightened, an ascetic once said to him, “What is the true meaning of Buddhism?”Kakusan remained silent and bowed to him.Without saying a word, he has said more than can be said. His silence is not a dead, negative state. His silence is full of peace and love. He showed in his silence the meaning of the whole teaching of Buddha and to this stranger he bowed. It does not matter whether you are enlightened or not. In any case, in the deepest center of your being you are a buddha. And this is the very meaning of Buddha’s whole teaching.The ascetic asked, “Are you bowing to a man of the world?”Kakusan replied, “Don’t you see what I am saying? I am your famous disciple!”The man was an ordinary man of the world. He could not believe that an enlightened man, a buddha, would bow down to him. He was surprised. He said, “Don’t you see, I am an ordinary man of the world. Are you bowing to a man of the world?”Kakusan replied – what a beautiful answer – “Don’t you see what I am saying?” And he has not said anything. But silence is also saying something. Bowing down is also saying something. “Don’t you see what I am saying? I am your famous disciple!”A man who is enlightened is the disciple of everyone in the world because what you cannot see, he can see with absolute clarity and certainty. Where you can see only a seed, he can see roses blossoming. Where you can at the most feel some potential, he sees your ultimate destiny. Where you are on the path, he sees you have reached home.One of the most beautiful sayings that I have loved comes from Mahavira, a contemporary of Gautam Buddha. A very strange statement – Mahavira says, “If you have started the journey you have reached already.”If a seed has started sprouting the spring is not far away. Soon, where there was nothing there will be beautiful flowers, with great fragrance. Mahavira is saying that if you have started the journey you have already reached. You may not see it like that because your comprehension is very limited. You cannot see your own future flowering. But if a man of enlightenment cannot see either, then what is the difference? You are both blind.At another time Kyozan, on seeing a monk approach him, raised his mosquito flapper. At this, the monk shouted loudly, “Kwatz!”Kyozan commented, “There is such a thing as saying ‘Kwatz,’ but tell me, where was my mistake?”The monk replied, “In improperly pointing to an external object” – at which Kyozan hit him.A man like Kyozan always points inward. Whatever he does, whatever he says, is always pointing toward the internal.Just on the margin…Gautama the Buddha never went outside the state of Bihar, except once. For forty-two years he went round and round in a small state. It has got its name, Bihar, because of Gautam Buddha’s walking continuously around and around. “Bihar” means the place where the Buddha walked.He went only once out of Bihar, to Sarnath – a small village near Varanasi. But he stayed there only one day, and for twenty-five centuries people have been wondering…. He stayed in Vaishali at least twenty times, and in some places for many months because every rainy month he would not move; so every year for four months he stayed in one place. It’s significant to note why he escaped from Sarnath after only one day.There exists now in Sarnath a great institution teaching the philosophy of Buddha and his language, Pali. The director of the institute, Bhikkshu Jagdish Kashyap, invited me to his institute to speak on Gautama the Buddha, but I had to leave after one day. He had come to take me to the station. He said, “This is strange; why are you leaving after one day?”I said, “For the same reason that Gautam Buddha left this place after one day.” He said, “It is strange, but we have been discussing…” – and he was a Buddhist – “we have been discussing for all these centuries why he did not stay.”I said, “You are all idiots! Just see! I have moved around the whole country but I have never seen such big mosquitoes.” And Buddha was not using mosquito nets. It would have been difficult carrying a mosquito net, he was traveling and traveling.But I told Jagdish Kashyap, “You should at least give mosquito nets to every student and scholar and researcher in your institute, not only for the night but for the day too.”I stayed there for twenty-four hours inside a mosquito net!Basho wrote:Dying cricket– how full of life, his song.It is dying. Dying cricket – how full of life, his song.That is the way for the awakened one to live, with overflowing life, radiating with an abundance of energy; and that is the way for the awakened one to die, still radiating and overflowing his joy, his bliss, his ecstasy.Maneesha has asked a question:Beloved Buddha,Did Gautama's consciousness enter you at your conception or is it that over the years his consciousness has gradually become suffused with you? Is it true that Krishnamurti was a candidate for the Maitreya, but missed?Maneesha, it is true that J. Krishnamurti was prepared by a great theosophical movement in every possible way to become a vehicle of Gautam Buddha. Certainly a few of the theosophical movement were aware of the wandering soul of the Buddha, and the time was ripe. But they forgot one thing: that you cannot prepare, condition, educate somebody to receive the consciousness of Buddha. Twenty-five years of torture, of all kinds of disciplines, reciting of scriptures…and when Krishnamurti was twenty-five, they thought, “Now he is ready. He knows the scriptures, he lives according to the precepts.”They did not allow him to join a public school, because others may contaminate his consciousness. They did not allow him to move in society, or to move around and meet anyone he wanted. Just a chosen group of the theosophical movement was surrounding him.He was caught by them when he was only nine years of age. And from then on he had to get up at three o’clock in the morning, have a bath in the nearby river in Adyar, Madras, and then recite the Buddhist sutras. What a torture, you can imagine! And he was not at all interested; it was not his choice, it was circumstantial.His mother died; his father, who was a poor clerk in the post office, had two sons and it was difficult for him to take care of them. And when Annie Besant, a famous lady, the president of the Theosophical Society, asked the father, he was immensely happy to get rid of them. Giving those two sons, Krishnamurti and Nityananda, he thought he was fulfilling his responsibility as a father. He could not manage it, but “these people have a worldwide movement; they will give them the best teaching that is possible.”It was under these circumstances, because the father was not able to take care of them, and the mother had died…sometimes there was food, sometimes there was no food. Krishnamurti and Nityananda accepted, not knowing what was going to happen. And then started the long torture of discipline, of obedience, of surrender – because their understanding was: if Krishnamurti is perfectly ready intellectually and surrenders, the soul of Gautam Buddha will enter in him. That was their wrong conception.After twenty-five years they declared the day, and six thousand theosophists from all over the world gathered in Holland, where the head office was. For Krishnamurti they had created a new branch of the theosophical movement, especially devoted to the world teacher that he was going to become by receiving the soul of Gautam Buddha. The organization was called “The Star of the East.”At a particular date, Krishnamurti was brought before six thousand delegates from all over the world. But on the stage he could see both things clearly: that he had no inclination at all, he had been forced – and whenever you force somebody, deep down there is a resentment – and this was the last moment to say the truth; after this there would be greater difficulties.He refused to surrender, and he told the gathering, “I am not going to be the vehicle of Maitreya Buddha.”It was very shattering. The whole theosophical movement withered away. But Krishnamurti’s failure is really the failure of imposed conditioning.I am not in any way prepared by anybody. I have lived according to my light.Maneesha, I had no reason to reject, because I have never been forced to do anything. It was a tremendously joyful moment to receive the greatest flowering of consciousness into my garden of being.This does not make any change in me. This simply makes my silence richer, my words more true. I am not alone; now Gautam Buddha is also flying with me, together.It is simply a meeting of two rivers. Neither one was under any compulsion.J. Krishnamurti missed simply because he was overburdened by discipline. Otherwise, he was in every possible way capable. If he had grown the way I have grown – independently – he might have welcomed Maitreya. But unfortunately it was not to happen.To remind you again, just to keep the distinction, Gautam the Buddha means the ancient Buddha. And according to his desire I will be known as Maitreya The Buddha.Anando has brought a difficulty. All of you have now become so accustomed to calling me Bhagwan. When she comes loaded with her secretarial work, without remembering she starts: “Hello, Bhagwan!” And then she repents: “I had been preparing all the way not to use this word ‘Bhagwan,’ but the moment I saw you I forgot everything.”I have to help Anando and others also.Buddha was called by his lovers, “Bhante” – which is far more refined, of greater implications. “Bhante” means a friend who has gone far ahead – you are also on the path, but somebody is ahead of you.So just to help you drop that old, ugly word “Bhagwan,” I suggest you use the word Bhante, at least for the transitory period. And if Anando does not come tomorrow with, “Hello, Bhante!” then the German Zen master, Niskriya, has to hit her three times with great compassion and love.I will have to ask forgiveness from Sardar Gurudayal Singh. For a few days at least, many problems will be coming. They have to be sorted out, and I can ask only Gurudayal Singh.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes. Feel your body to be completely frozen.Now this is the moment. Look inward with the totality of your consciousness, with an urgency as if this is going to be the last moment of your life. Go like a spear, piercing into the very center of your being, deeper and deeper. The deeper you go, the closer you come to yourself. And to be close to yourself is to be the buddha.This moment is so blessed in that ten thousand consciousnesses are approaching closer and closer to the highest peak, the buddha.Remember, the word “buddha” consists of only one quality: the witnessing.Witness – your body is not you.Witness – your mind is not you.Witness – that except witnessing you are no more.To make it clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax, but go on keeping the witnessing eye.At this moment you have made this evening a splendor, a living miracle. I can see the Buddha Auditorium has become a lake of consciousness. All boundaries are dropped, you have melted just like ice into the oceanic. The auditorium has become a lake of consciousness without ripples. Thousands of flowers will start showering on you.Remember to collect as much majesty, as much splendor as you can. And don’t forget to persuade the buddha to come along with you, to fill your whole life, your smallest actions and words, gestures and silences.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back, but come back utterly different, with grace, with silence, as a buddha. Just sit for a few moments remembering the golden path you have traveled, the eternal that you have experienced for a few moments at the center of your being, and a glimpse of the buddha that you have caught.Slowly slowly persuade, go on persuading…. I know on my own authority if you persuade honestly, the buddha has to come and cover your whole life with joy, with immense beauty, and with a truth that brings liberation, freedom and immortality.

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No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 01-12Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 04 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Beloved Buddha,One day when Isan and the monks were engaged in picking tea leaves, Isan called to Kyozan, “All day I have heard your voice and not seen you.” Kyozan, instead of saying anything, shook a tea plant.Isan said, “You have got the use, but not the subject.”“I ask you, what do you say?” said Kyozan. Isan kept silent.Then Kyozan said, “You have got the subject, but not the use.”More than ten disciples of Kyozan’s became enlightened.A few years before Kyozan passed away, he composed the following gatha:When my years reachseventy-sevenmy departure will take place.I will leave it to my natureto float or sinkwhen I leave with my two handsembracing my folded knees.At his death on Tung Ping mountain, in 890, he was seventy-seven years old and actually held his folded knees with both hands. The emperor bestowed upon him the posthumous title “Great Master Chih Tung” (meaning Wisdom Pervasion) and for his stupa the epigraph Miao kuang (meaning Wonderful Light).Maneesha, this time has been of historical importance.For seven weeks I was fighting with the poison day and night. One night, even my physician, Amrito, became suspicious that perhaps I cannot survive. He was taking my pulse rate and heartbeats on his cardiogram. Seven times I missed one heartbeat.The seventh time I missed a heartbeat, it was natural for his scientific mind to think, “Now we are fighting a battle that is almost lost.” But I said to him, “Don’t be worried. Your cardiogram can go wrong; it is just a mechanical device. Trust in my witnessing. Don’t bother about my heartbeats.”On the last day of the seven weeks’ struggle when all the pain from my body disappeared, Amrito could not believe it. It was happening almost like a miracle. Where has all the pain disappeared?That last night, in the middle of the night I heard somebody knocking on the door. It is rare; nobody knocks on my door. I had to open my eyes. There was absolute darkness in the room, but I saw suddenly, with the door closed, a human being made of pure light entering. For a moment there was silence, and I heard from nowhere, “Can I come in?” The guest was so pure, so fragrant. I had simply to take him into the silences of my heart.This body of pure light was nobody but Gautama the Buddha.You can still see in my eyes the flame that I have absorbed into myself, a flame that has been for twenty-five centuries wandering around the earth to find a shelter. I am immensely blessed that Gautama the Buddha knocked on my doors.You can see in my eyes the flame, the fire. Your inner being is made of the same cool fire. You have to carry this fire around the earth, sharing, from eyes to eyes, from heart to heart.We are not here to create a new religion; our every effort is to destroy all religions. They have done enough harm to humanity. To tolerate them even for a single day is against anybody who understands the meaning of compassion, who understands the eternity of his own being. Unless all these organized religions become memories of the past, man cannot live without fetters, without chains, without moralities imposed on him against his will. He cannot live as an individual, he has to subdue himself according to the masses. That is the ugliest slavery.But for thousands of years man has lived in slavery of many kinds. He has forgotten the taste of freedom. He has forgotten the beauty of responsibility. He has forgotten that he has wings, that the whole sky is his. And he need not be tied to a post like an animal, he is a bird of the beyond.I will be continuing to create so much fire in you that it will burn your ego and your slavery simultaneously and make you a freedom, a light unto yourself. In your very eyes is the hope of the world.But remember, even great symbols have been misunderstood. Zarathustra was talking about this same fire, but his people, persecuted by the Mohammedans, have carried fire, ordinary fire, from Persia to India. For centuries they have been keeping the same fire alive, which is simply absurd. That fire is not going to transform you, and Zarathustra did not mean that fire. I know Zarathustra just as I know myself.Man has always been misunderstanding great symbols. And the men who have attained to the ultimate are helpless, they have to use symbols. Now I am saying, “the fire of my eyes.” Don’t repeat the same mistake as the people of Zarathustra have done.Their temples are called agiyari, fire temples. For centuries they have carried the same fire; they don’t allow it to go out, they go on refueling it. And not even for a single moment do they think: “What has this fire done for us? Certainly this is not the fire that Zarathustra was talking about.”Man is so blind, it is almost certain that he will misunderstand. He is not only blind, he is greedy.When I came back from America, Govind Siddharth, one of my very old sannyasins told me, “You used to come to Ahmedabad, and just for you I have been keeping my ancestral home, because nobody lives there.” His mother has died, his father has died, and one brother has gone to America. And Govind Siddharth lives in Bombay, has his business there.He was certainly keeping a beautiful house. But when I told him, “I am no more going to move around the country; now whosoever is thirsty has to come to the well,” he said, “I will sell the house.”He sold the house, and he informed me that, “Thirty-three lakh rupees are in the bank for your work whenever you want. Whatever the work, that money is there.”I asked him, “Is there any involvement with the family? Have you settled with your brother?”He said to me, “Yes, the money is absolutely free now, just for your work.”After three days I told Neelam, who was working from Bombay as my secretary, to ask Govind Siddharth to transfer the money to one of the trusts, because I was going to move to Pune and tremendous forces were going to gather there. In three days his greed took over his great desire to work for me. He said, “Thirty-three lakhs is too much. I can only afford three lakhs.”Neelam told me that in just three days he has reduced it from thirty-three lakhs to three lakhs. I said, “Don’t be worried. Just go and get the three lakhs.” And when she reached him Govind Siddharth said, “It is very difficult. My whole family is involved in it” – I had asked him that before, and he had denied it. And I know for sure that the money has nothing to do with his family.Neelam was shocked. She came running to me and said, “It is unbelievable that a man can turn about like this.” I said, “Forget about that. You have another account of three lakh rupees, which has been donated from simple and loving people from all over the country. It is in your name and Govind Siddharth’s name. It is not his money; please just take that money out of his hands.”She said, “Do you think he will change his mind about that money also, which is not his?” I said, “Man’s blindness, his unconscious greed is vast enough. You just go, and be quick!”And Govind Siddharth started playing games, saying, “I cannot allow you to take all of the three lakhs, because while Bhagwan was not here I gave thirty-five thousand rupees for his work to the Bombay center. I will have to deduct that much money.”I told Neelam, “Let him deduct it, if thirty-five thousand can satisfy him” – which was not his money! Then too, it took almost one month to get the money out, leaving behind the thirty-five thousand without any reason except that his signature was needed. This money was paid for his signature.And now I don’t see him here. Perhaps he is afraid to look into my eyes, straight. I will not ask him about the money. I have never asked anybody about money, but I will for certain, absolutely for certain, look straight into his eyes. What kind of greed…!And it is not that he has not loved me, but an unconscious love is a blind love. It is only a superficial hypocrisy, of which you are not aware.Whatever I am imparting to you, please don’t do the same as has been done down the ages by millions of people, misunderstanding or trying to manipulate things according to their own vested interest.These sutras I am telling you just to remind you that if other people, simple and ordinary, were capable of becoming buddhas, it will be a shame if you die before you become a buddha. Let us make a deep commitment – not to anybody, but to yourself – that you are going to invest every breath for the ultimate purpose of being an eternal light, a lotus in full bloom. Without being a buddha you don’t have any meaning in your life.Maneesha has brought this anecdote:Beloved Buddha,One day when Isan and the monks were engaged in picking tea leaves, Isan called to Kyozan– Isan was the master of Kyozan –“All day I have heard your voice and not seen you.” Kyozan, instead of saying anything, shook a tea plant.A beautiful gesture. He said, “You have been hearing the breeze passing through the tea plants. Of course, you could not see me, but you have heard, through the breeze passing through the tea plants, my voice.”Isan said, “You have got the use, but not the subject.”It is a very complicated statement.He is saying, “You know how to use yourself, but you don’t know who you are. You know the use but you don’t know the subject. You have been cutting tea leaves perfectly well, but you were not aware. Where has your subjectivity been? Where has your witness been?”“I ask you, what do you say?” said Kyozan. Isan kept silent.Then Kyozan said, “You have got the subject, but not the use.”Being silent, I know you have entered into your innermost being, your subjectivity, but just being silent is not enough. Your silence must become a song. Your experience of enlightenment must come to enlighten all your activities.“You have the subject, but not the use.” Just being silent is not enough.What a tremendous dialogue between the master and the disciple!More than ten disciples of Kyozan’s became enlightened.…Listening to this dialogue. Isan said, “You have the use but you don’t have the subject.” That was a partial statement. The remaining part is when Isan became silent and Kyozan said, “You have got the subject but not the use.” Listening to this small dialogue of immense implications….What Isan and Kyozan are discussing is how to bring the inner to the outer, how to bring the center to the circumference. How to bring your inner being into the marketplace, how to share it with your friends, with the strangers who are ready to share. Just listening to this small dialogue, More than ten disciples of Kyozan’s became enlightened.Enlightenment is not a process; it is an event. It is not something that takes years and years then finally you reach the goal. It is possible it may take years and years because you don’t want to be enlightened right now. You may go round and round avoiding enlightenment – that takes time.Otherwise, this very moment you are the buddha. Just a simple opening, a straight insight into your own being, and enlightenment happens suddenly. It is not a time phenomenon.A few years before Kyozan passed away, he composed the following gatha…A few years before he passed away, he predicted in every minute detail how he is going to pass away.When my years reachseventy-sevenmy departure will take place.I will leave it to my natureto float or sinkwhen I leave with my two handsembracing my folded knees.At his death on Tung Ping mountain, in 890, he was exactly seventy-seven years old and actually held his folded knees with both hands. The emperor bestowed upon him the posthumous title “Great Master Chih Tung” (meaning Wisdom Pervasion).And for his stupa, for his memorial, the epigraph– given by the emperor himself – was Miao Kuang (…Wonderful Light).That wonderful light brings me back….You are full of wonderful light. You are made of it! But you wander around the world. The world is vast and life is short. Don’t waste your time wandering around the world for small positions, for gathering some money, some power. All that is just like writing on the sand. A small wind or just a wave coming in from the ocean and all the writing disappears.Whatever you do outside yourself is nothing but writing on the sand, while a wonderful light waits within you – a light that has no source, a light that is not dependent on any fuel, a light that has been within you since eternity, a light that is your immortality. Just enter into yourself and you have entered the holiest temple of existence.The death poem of Hsu-T’ang, who provided much inspiration for Ikkyu:Coming from nowhere,departing for nowhere,a flashing glance…Entering the mystery!Maneesha has asked a question:Beloved Buddha,Is it not a paradox that you – who must be the most truly individualistic of beings – have proved also to be the purest medium for another?Maneesha, I am not the medium for anyone. Gautam Buddha is just my guest. It does not in any way interfere with my individuality. He knows it, there is no need to say it. He is not the man to interfere. He himself is one of the greatest individualists. That’s why meeting with him is almost like meeting with oneself.I am not anybody’s medium. I have just found another companion, a tremendous force to help you. Now the caravan is not only to depend on my insights. Now my insights will also be supported by the greatest human being, Gautam Buddha.And his choice to be my guest is simply because what he has known I have known, what he has become I have become. There is such a deep synchronicity that it is only in language I can say there is a division between the host and the guest. But in existential terms, the host and guest have become one. When two unbounded souls meet, it is a merger. It is just a merger like a river descending deep into the ocean and disappearing.…Tonight, I will not take away Sardar Gurudayal Singh’s time. He was kind enough yesterday.Father Finger meets his arch-enemy, Rabbi Horowitz, on the street.“Last night,” says Father Finger, “I dreamt that I was in Jewish heaven. Man, Jewish heaven was a mess! Everybody was yelling and screaming, and eating, and waving their arms in the air; people were fighting about money – all kinds of chaos, and the noise was deafening.”“Well,” replies Rabbi Horowitz, “that’s strange. Last night I had a dream that I went to Christian heaven, but it was very different. Beautiful flowers everywhere, beautiful architecture, wide open streets, such peace and quiet all around.”“And the people?” asks Father Finger proudly.“People?” answers the rabbi. “What people?”It is another day at the elementary school and Mr. Smell, the teacher, is giving the class a test before he lets them go home.“Now, Albert,” says Smell, “can you give me the names of three fruits?”“No,” says Albert, looking out of the window. “I don’t eat fruit.”“Okay, smart-ass,” snaps Smell, “for that you can stay after class and do extra homework.”But after class, Smell calls Albert over and makes a deal with him. “Listen, Albert,” he says, “if you take this letter to your sister, Ruby, I will let you go home, and you can tell me the three fruits tomorrow.”“Okay,” shrugs Albert, taking the letter. But on his way home, he sneaks a look inside the letter and it reads: “Ruby, meet me at five o’clock behind the church.”So Albert delivers the letter to Ruby, his sister, and then at five o’clock he waits behind the church, and watches the secret meeting.The next day in school Mr. Smell asks, “Okay, Albert, can you recite a sentence with three fruits in it?”“Sure,” says Albert. “If I catch you one more time putting your fat banana into my sister’s peach, I’m going to kick you in your little pink plums!”Gilbert Gurgle, who is seventy years old, is getting married for the sixth time. As he waits at the church door for the wedding to begin, he thinks of all the music played at his previous marriages.The first time, he had been twenty years old. The band played: “There’ll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight!”When he got married the second time, at the age of thirty, it was to the tune: “If You’ve Got the Money, Honey, I’ve Got the Time.”At forty, they played the song: “Now and Then.”At fifty, it was: “I Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.”When he reached sixty, marrying the fifth time, the music was: “The Thrill Is Gone.”His thoughts are interrupted as the church organ starts to play. Gilbert wobbles down the aisle to the tune of Michael Jackson’s hit song: “Beat It!”Now, Nivedano, beat it!(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes. Feel your body to be completely frozen.This is the moment to look inward with your total consciousness, and with an urgency as if this is the last moment of your life. Without such urgency and totality nobody has ever become enlightened. It is not a question of time, it is a question of deepening consciousness.Deeper and deeper. Don’t hold anything, because at the deepest center of your being you are going to encounter your real being, the buddha.Just remember one thing: the only quality the buddha has is that of witnessing.Remain centered and witness that you are not the body, you are not the mind, you are simply a witness.To make it clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax, and remember, remain centered in your witnessing.It is here you will find the buddha.It is here you will find the eternal fire.It is here that your splendor is hidden.The night was beautiful in itself, but the ten thousand buddhas melting into a lake of consciousness have made it majestic, a miracle.There is no other miracle than becoming a buddha. The whole existence will rejoice with you. The trees will sing in their silence; the stars will dance in faraway skies, and invisible flowers will shower on you.This moment is a historical moment. For centuries there has not been such a gathering.Collect as many flowers and fragrances as possible, and persuade the buddha to come with you.You have to be both – the subject and the use. Your buddha is not something to be worshipped; your buddha has to chop wood and carry water from the well. Your buddha has to become your very breathing, your very heartbeat – in all your actions the same grace, in your words the same poetry. Even your walking will become a dancing.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back, but come back with great grace, with great beauty, with the silence of a buddha. Sit down for a few moments just to recollect the golden path you have been on, reaching to your very center.And around the clock remember to remain a witness, and soon you will be filled with what I have been calling the buddha.

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No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 01-12Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 05 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Beloved Buddha,Chosa was a disciple of Nansen and a contemporary of Tokusan, Rinzai and Isan. One day Chosa went for a walk and when he returned to the gate, the head monk asked him, “Osho, where have you been strolling?”Chosa replied, “I have come from walking in the hills.”The head monk said, “Where have you been?”Chosa said, “First I went following the fragrant grasses, and now I have returned in pursuit of the falling blossoms.”At this the head monk commented, “You are full of the spring.”Chosa replied, “Better than the autumn dews falling on the lotus leaves.”One evening Chosa (who was Kyozan’s “uncle” in the dharma lineage) was enjoying the moonlight with Kyozan, who said, “Everyone has ‘this one thing’ but does not know how to use it.”Chosa replied, “Perhaps I should employ you and use it.”Kyozan exclaimed, “Try it!”Instantly, Chosa trampled on Kyozan.Kyozan then commented, “Uncle, you are like a fierce tiger!”My Beloved Ones,These four days have been of immense difficulty to me. I had thought that Gautam Buddha would be understanding of the change of times, but it was impossible. I tried my hardest, but he is so much disciplined in his own way – twenty-five centuries back – he has become a hard bone.Small things became difficult. He used to sleep only on the right side. He did not use a pillow; he used his hand as a pillow. The pillow was, for him, a luxury.I told him, “The poor pillow is not a luxury, and it is sheer torture to keep your hand the whole night under your head. And do you think to lie down on the right side is right, and the left is wrong? As far as I am concerned, this is my basic fundamental, that I synthesize both the sides.”He was eating only one time per day and he wanted, without saying a word, that I should do it also. He used to beg his food. He asked me, “Where is my begging bowl?”This evening exactly at six o’clock when I was taking my Jacuzzi, he became very much disturbed – “Jacuzzi?” Taking a bath twice a day was again a luxury.I said, “You have fulfilled your prophecy that you will be coming back. Four days are enough – I say good-bye to you! And now you need not wander around the earth; you just disappear in the ultimate blue sky.“You have seen for four days that I am doing the work that you wanted to do, and I am doing it according to the times and the needs. I am not in any way ready to be dictated to. I am a free individual. Out of my freedom and love I have received you as a guest, but don’t try to become a host.”These four days I have been having a headache. I had not known it for thirty years, I had completely forgotten what it means to have a headache. Everything was impossible. He is so accustomed to his way, and that way is no longer relevant.So now I make a far greater historical statement, that I am just myself.You can continue to call me “the Buddha,” but it has nothing to do with Gautama the Buddha or Maitreya the Buddha. I am a buddha in my own right. The word “buddha” simply means the awakened one.It will be a great difficulty for poor Anando, because now I declare that my name should be Shree Rajneesh Zorba the Buddha.I have to offer an apology to Katsue Ishida, the seeress in an ancient Shinto shrine in Japan. I tried my hardest to accommodate a twenty-five centuries old, out-of-date individuality, but I am not ready to be in a self torture.And Anando has to see me afterward, to release the second story…because that makes me absolutely free from any kind of tradition. I used to think that Gautam Buddha is an individual – and that is true, he is. But even against his desire a tradition has arisen in Tibet, in China, in Japan, in Sri Lanka, and I don’t want to struggle with these idiots. I want to work with my own people on my own authority.Maneesha has asked:Beloved Buddha,Chosa was a disciple of Nansen and a contemporary of Tokusan, Rinzai and Isan. One day Chosa went for a walk and when he returned to the gate, the head monk asked him, “Osho, where have you been strolling?”Chosa replied, “I have come from walking in the hills.”The head monk said, “Where have you been?”Chosa said, “First I went following the fragrant grasses, and now I have returned in pursuit of the falling blossoms.”At this the head monk commented, “You are full of the spring.”Chosa replied, “Better than the autumn dews falling on the lotus leaves.”One evening Chosa (who was Kyozan’s “uncle” in the dharma lineage) was enjoying the moonlight with Kyozan, who said, “Everyone has ‘this one thing’ but does not know how to use it.”Chosa replied, “Perhaps I should employ you and use it.”Kyozan exclaimed, “Try it!”Instantly, Chosa trampled on Kyozan.Kyozan then commented, “Uncle, you are like a fierce tiger!”A small but very beautiful anecdote.Zen always tries to beautify the ordinary; it gives greater meanings and implications to words of the ordinary world. So you have to remember that these statements not only say what you hear, but they say much which you can hear only in your silences.Chosa had been strolling in the hills. When he returned, the head monk said, “Where have you been?”Chosa said, “First I went following the fragrant grasses…”This is a way of saying that “First I was following only the very ordinary grasses and their fragrance – I thought this was immensely beautiful.“…and now I have returned in pursuit of the falling blossoms.”The difference between the fragrant grasses and the falling blossoms is the same as the difference between you unaware, and you utterly full of light and awareness.The distinction between the grasses and the blossoms is the same as between you not knowing that you are a buddha, and the moment you know that you are a buddha. You have always been a buddha. In fact, there is no way to be otherwise.Buddha is completely blossomed, fully opened. His lotuses, his petals, have come to a completion, a perfection beyond which it is difficult, almost impossible, to go.At this the head monk commented, “You are full of the spring.”A man of silence, a man who has been following the falling blossoms, also becomes part of the spring – the beautiful time when exotic flowers blossom with the fragrances of the beyond. Certainly he was full of spring.Every day you experience it. Every day you become full of spring. I am trying my best to use the words only to indicate to you the path that is beyond the words. Whenever you are at the center of your being, blossoms start falling and you are full of spring – and a spring that has no beginning and no end.Chosa replied, “Better than the autumn dews falling on the lotus leaves.”Certainly, to be full of spring yourself is far more beautiful than the autumn dews falling on the lotus leaves. That is one of the most beautiful things to watch: when autumn dews fall on the lotus leaves and shine in the morning sun like real pearls.But of course it is a momentary experience. As the sun rises, the autumn dews start evaporating. Soon there will be no autumn dews. A few will have evaporated into the air, a few will have slipped down from the leaves, to the ocean, but all will be gone within a few minutes.This temporary beauty cannot be compared, certainly, with an eternal spring in your being. You look back as far as you can, and it has always been there. You look forward as much as you can, and you will be surprised: it is your very being. Wherever you are it will be there, and the flowers will continue to shower on you. This is spiritual spring.One evening Chosa (who was Kyozan’s “uncle” in the dharma lineage) was enjoying the moonlight with Kyozan, who said, “everyone has this one thing…’”What is this one thing that Kyozan mentioned? This one thing is your consciousness. Nothing can be said about it, because it is as invisible as the air. Nothing can be done to it, because it is born perfect.Chosa’s comment was:“Perhaps I should employ you and use it.” Kyozan said, “Try it!” Instantly, Chosa trampled on Kyozan.What can be the significance of Chosa trampling upon Kyozan?He is saying, “This body that I am trampling, you are not. And this mind that is asking me to try it, you are not. But while I am trampling you, deep down I can see your witness. This witness is the one thing, the most important, the most significant – the only thing which is incomparable in the whole existence.”Kyozan then commented, “Uncle, you are like a fierce tiger!”Obviously, he trampled on Kyozan to make it clear to him that “you are only the watcher.” And that is the only thing which cannot be said, cannot be explained, but can only be indicated. And the way he indicated it is the way of a tiger or a lion.Moritake wrote:A morning glory!And so, today,may seem my own life story.The morning glory is one of the most beautiful flowers – particularly in the Far East. And Moritake, an enlightened master, is saying:“A morning glory…it opens itself as the sun rises, as the birds start singing, as the whole atmosphere becomes cool with the morning breeze. And the morning glory has a tremendous perfume.”And so, today,may seem my own life story.Moritake is saying, “The dark night of my soul has ended. The dawn that I have been searching for millions of lives has finally arrived. The sun is rising and the morning glory suddenly has opened and thrown its perfume to the breeze to take it as far away as possible.“It seems to me,” says Moritake, “this is my whole life story. My being has also come to a flowering, and in the very innermost core my sun has risen. The night is over and the day of my awakening has started. This day of awakening and awareness knows no end.”Gautama the Buddha is reported to have said, “The night has no beginning, it is eternal, and the morning has no end – it is also eternal. The night is the past that has gone away, and the morning is that which is coming slowly, settling, settling forever.”Maneesha has asked:Beloved Buddha,Since you became a host for Gautama the Buddha, you seem quite different to me, and meditating in your physical presence is also different. It is not just the impact of seeing you again after an absence, because the feeling has not diminished with time; nor is it just my fantasy, because others feel the same way.Your love seems a little less like a cuddle and more like a boiling cauldron.Maneesha, you were right before six o’clock this evening. Now your question is irrelevant.Okay?Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes. Feel your body to be completely frozen.Now, this is the moment to look inward with your total consciousness, and with an urgency as if this is going to be your last moment in life.Go deeper. As you will be reaching deeper and deeper and deeper, closer to your center, you will find the buddha – not any buddha of the past, but your very being.Everybody is a born buddha, whether one remembers it or not. This is the moment to remember it! Because with the very remembrance of your being a buddha, a new world opens its doors.Just be a witness.Nivedano, make it clear…(Drumbeat)Just watch the body – it is not you. This is the body which can be trampled. Watch the mind – it is not you. The only quality that you can claim as your very being is witnessing. And witnessing makes you a buddha.Gather as much as you can the silences of your heart, and the tremendous peace that has descended over you. The whole spring – gather it! And persuade the buddha to come along with you, to become your very breathing, to become your ordinary life.Sooner or later there will not be anyone here who is not a buddha in his own right. Before Nivedano calls you, persuade the buddha.Today, it is not only to come and sit silently for a few minutes, but also to dance because I have declared myself Zorba the Buddha, which has been my basic approach to all human problems. This evening is far more significant than the evening four days before.Come back. Bring all your silence and joy and grace with you. Sit a few moments utterly full of spring.Today you have to stand up and dance with the music, because this is my last declaration.

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No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 01-12Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 06 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Beloved Buddha,Once a disciple of Ma Tzu, called Ikan, was asked by a monk, “Has the dog the buddha-nature or not?”Ikan replied yes, and the monk then asked, “Have you got it or not?”Ikan responded, “I have not.”Then the monk asked, “All existent creatures have the buddha-nature; how is it that you haven’t?”Ikan said, “I don’t belong to all existent creatures.”The monk commented, “You say you don’t belong to all existent creatures. This ‘you’ – is it a buddha or not?”Ikan said, “It is not a buddha.”The monk then inquired, “What sort of thing, in the last resort, is this ‘you’?”Ikan replied, “It is not a thing.”The monk continued, “Can it be perceived or thought of?” – at which Ikan concluded, “Thought cannot attain to it; it cannot be fathomed. For this reason, it is said to be a mystery.”My Beloved Ones,Geeta had to inform Katsue Ishida, the seeress and the prophetess of one of the most ancient shrines of the Shinto religion in Japan. Geeta was a little concerned that she would be disturbed and shocked, but on the contrary, Ishida was immensely happy.She said, “I have not only prophesied that Gautam Buddha would be entering your master’s being; I have also prophesied that, just as Buddha himself changed his name four times, your master would also do the same.”She said, “My only concern is your master’s health and his work. It does not matter whether Buddha remains in his being or not.”I am immensely grateful to Ishida for understanding the situation with clarity.Yes, it is true Gautam Buddha changed his name four times. And as I remember it, it was not worthy of him to do that. My change has taken me higher.I found Buddha too old and too much fixed in his approach to life. Finally I dropped all concern with anyone. I have chosen my own name: Zorba the Buddha.It has meaning, it is not just a name. It is my whole philosia; it is my whole vision, in which the lowest will meet with the highest, in which materialism and spiritualism will not be two separate and antagonistic things. That division has killed human spirit immensely. It has made man a battlefield, and I want man to be a dance, a harmony, a balance.But Gautam Buddha’s changing of names is a little unworthy of him.I have no concern to protect anybody; now I am going to be simply stating the truth. Whether it hurts, wounds, or heals, depends on you.Gautam Buddha’s name as given by his parents was Siddhartha. It was a perfect name – the name of Buddha does not go higher than Siddhartha. Siddhartha means “one who has achieved the meaning of life.” What more do you want?Then, at that time there was a great competition which makes me laugh – a competition among Mahavira, Gautam Buddha and six others of the same category.The Jaina lineage is perhaps the most ancient. In one kalpa – which means four million years – there will be only twenty-four Jaina tirthankaras. Twenty-three had already happened, only one last seat was vacant, and all these eight people were competing to be the twenty-fourth jina. Jina means “the conqueror of oneself.”Buddha was also in the competition. It makes me feel very ashamed. He wanted to change his name to Siddhartha Jina. Jina means the conqueror, but he could not defeat Mahavira – not because he was less conscious, but because he was not such a great ascetic. Mahavira was almost a masochist; he disciplined his life along the lines of self-torture. And unfortunately, humanity is still sadistic; it wants people to torture themselves. Just by self-torture they become respectable saints.Buddha could not manage; neither could the six others, and Mahavira was appointed as the twenty-fourth and the last prophet of Jainism. Feeling defeated…. In the first place to be competitive is not a right quality for a religious man. To be competitive is very ordinary and worldly. You have renounced the world – from where does this competition arise? You have not renounced your mind, you have not renounced your ego. This is an expression of ego, to be the last tirthankara of a very respectable lineage.And then, when he was defeated, he was in utter despair. He changed his name from Siddhartha. Instead of being called the Jina, he chose another word, similar: the Buddha. Then things become even more complicated, because Mahavira had twenty-three predecessors, and that was hurting to Gautam Buddha’s ego. He visualized twenty-three absolutely imaginary buddhas who had preceded him.Never in any scripture is there any mention of these buddhas. Jaina tirthankaras are mentioned in Hindu scriptures too, not only in Jaina scriptures. But the twenty-three buddhas imagined by Gautam Buddha – just to complete the score of twenty-four – shows that even the greatest minds fall many times before they come to the completion and stop falling.Katsue Ishida is neither Buddhist nor has she any connection with me. She seems to be a woman of immense understanding, love, and search for a man who has arrived home. She is poor, because she has lived along the lines of non-possessiveness. That’s why she has been delayed; now she is collecting money to come here to pay her respects.Geeta could not believe it. She was thinking that Ishida would be disturbed that her prophecy did not come true, or failed on the way. But an authentic seeker is not concerned with individuals. She told Geeta, “Don’t feel worried and concerned. With every change your master has reached a higher stage.”This series of talks I would like to be dedicated with love and blessings to Katsue Ishida.Just because of her prophecy about me she has suddenly become a world-famous name. Now the news media are approaching to her to ask about the prophecy – on what grounds, and all kinds of questions. She has lived silently in a shrine deep in the forest, but just a single prophecy has brought her into the light. She needs to be brought into the light, she may be helpful in solving many problems that man is encountering.But man’s way of encountering problems is always strange and blind. For example, just now one of the most organized Jaina sects, terapanth, is bombarded – particularly the head of the sect, Acharya Tulsi – with exposures upon exposures, almost in a chain.Two disciples of Acharya Tulsi left the fold and exposed all the perversion, the sexual exploitation in the name of religion. Acharya Tulsi has more than seventeen hundred monks and double that number of nuns. It is a vast community of monks and nuns, and the exposures from these two – and since then others have joined – reveal all kinds of perverted practices, homosexuality, heterosexuality, and the nuns are being treated almost like prostitutes. The monks are either heterosexual, exploiting the nuns, or many of them are homosexual. And they all have taken the vow of celibacy!Acharya Tulsi tried, through the government, to have the book banned. But the publisher was very insistent, and he was ready to go to the court against the government. Seeing the situation, that to be in the court would mean more exposures, more dirt, Acharya Tulsi stopped the action. The books have been released.One of these monks, Satish Kumar, had come to me when he left Acharya Tulsi’s camp, thinking that I have been always against Acharya Tulsi and his whole philosophy. But I told him, “It does not matter, I will not exploit the situation, because to me it is not a question of Acharya Tulsi. That’s how for centuries we have been treating symptoms, and we never go deep to the roots.”Acharya Tulsi is not at fault. Neither are his monks and nuns at fault. The fault is centuries old – as long as celibacy has been preached there has been sexual perversion.I would like Acharya Tulsi to gather courage and come into the open, rather than trying to hide. It is not his fault, it is the fault of the society that imposes on their monks and nuns unnatural things like celibacy.I will support Acharya Tulsi. I am always ready for any unpopular challenge! But he has to gather courage. Of course he will lose his respect, but it is better to lose your respect than to lose the truth.All these monks – Jaina or Hindu, Christian or any other religion – have lived in deep hypocrisy down the ages, and they are afraid that if they say the truth they will lose their prestige. Nobody will respect their truth.This is a strange society. Everybody talks about truth and respect for truth, but just try one truth, and immediately you will see how you are condemned and your truth is distorted.But there are only two possibilities for Acharya Tulsi and his thousands of monks and nuns: either to remain in the ancient hypocrisy or to come out and declare clearly that “It is not our fault. It is the fault of the tradition, of the religion which has imposed on us something unnatural.” And whenever there is something unnatural, perversion is bound to happen.But strangely enough, everybody is against Acharya Tulsi but nobody is against celibacy. And the fault is in the idea of celibacy, not in Acharya Tulsi or some other shankaracharya or the pope. It does not matter who the person is; the problem is whether in some way your society helps him to be unnatural, respects him if he becomes unnatural. Then you are distorting his very being. And to gain respect, people are ready; to be saints, people are ready. But from the back door once in a while you will see these same saints in situations you cannot conceive.The problem is, the saint tries to keep his respect – and the society that follows him also tries to hide all perversions, because if all the saints that they have worshipped are exposed, that will degrade their religion, their respectability also. So both the society, the organized religion, and the unnatural, perverted hypocrites are always joining together to protect an unnatural style of living.It is good that Acharya Tulsi is exposed, but I don’t think it is his fault. He was ordained when he was only fourteen years old. Now what does a fourteen-year-old understand about celibacy? All that he understands is that the whole society is respecting him, he is carried on their shoulders; his own elders are touching his feet. Not only has he become a hero, his family has also become holy with him.Now converting a fourteen-year-old child – do you think he will be able to remain unnatural his whole life? That will be such a torture and a nightmare. He will have to find some solution, in such a way that his respectability remains and everything that he does is being done in darkness. But once in a while somebody comes out and exposes it – has to.Satish Kumar, when he came to see me in 1960, was a young man with tremendous fire, and he told me the story of what happened to him – all kinds of sexual perversion. He became so ugly in his own eyes. He said, “I had gone to seek truth there, and I am being used and abused in every possible way.”You will be surprised to know that the nuns are being used sexually, and when they become old, the acharya in Jainism has the power to order them to commit suicide. Of course it has a beautiful religious name, it is not called suicide. But just by changing names things don’t change. It is called santhara, and santhara means dying by fasting – a slow kind of torturous death. When a woman becomes too old, and to carry her is now useless – she has been used utterly, she has no other purpose – she is ordered to commit suicide through fasting. And she has to follow the order of the acharya: disobedience is sin.But this whole humanity seems to be so asleep that nobody wants to go to the roots. And things are absolutely clear: except with brain surgery you cannot be celibate, unless you are born impotent.But do you understand? Has any impotent person contributed anything to the world down the ages? – a painting, a poetry, a song, a music, a dance? Is there any impotent person around the world in the whole history of man who has contributed anything?In fact all creation is part of sexual energy. Sexual energy is nothing but the creative force. If it can generate new life, it can generate millions of things. All creative people are oversexual; only mediocre people have average sexuality. That’s why great poets cannot remain with one woman, great painters cannot remain with one woman. They have so much sensitivity, so much perception, that once is enough. Twice is stupid.But one thing is certain: that even if you cut off the genitals – which has been done; in Russia before the revolution there was a vast Christian sect which was cutting off the genitals. And the person who was cutting his genitals was received as a great saint. Poor women, finding nothing to cut, started cutting off their breasts, and they were also respected as great and holy.But I want you to know that by cutting off the genitals you cannot destroy sexuality. It will become cerebral, it will move in your mind, because the real center of sexual energy is not in the genitals. The real center is in your brain. Stimulating that center, you can immediately feel your genitals being stimulated. Just imagine a beautiful woman…you are thinking in the head, and there is a wireless service!Unless a man’s mind is surgically operated upon, nobody can be celibate. But the moment you surgically operate the sexual center, the person will become absolutely useless, utterly lousy – you will put him up and he will sit back down! He has lost his life energy, he has no more spine.But such…. And there are many practices of the same category which have been promoted by all the religions all over the world. I condemn them all without any exception, categorically, with absolute authority!Medical science should be consulted before you give initiation into celibacy. Unfortunately, even our doctors are so impotent they won’t speak the truth. They know it! Even our doctors I have seen going to touch the feet of a saint who is thought to be celibate. Doctors? One simply wants to cry!These idiots have been carrying degrees from western universities; they know perfectly that celibacy is not possible. But their minds are so conditioned that through mantra, through yoga, through some device, some spiritual worship, prayer, perhaps celibacy is possible.I want to challenge on this occasion the medical association of India to investigate the case of Tulsi and his followers. And that will be very definitive – because it will be the same with your shankaracharyas, your bishops and your popes.Once and for all it has to be decided that fighting with sex is self-destructive. Use the sexual energy in a multidimensional way. Everything is created by the same energy. It is not only for reproduction, it is also for the creation of music, painting, poetry.Just because of celibacy two things have happened in all the religions: they have become uncreative, and they have all become perverted. And they are the people dominating the society: they preach to you and they do just the opposite, just the very contrary.It is time! It is the end of the twentieth century, and your saints and your religions and your bishops and your priests are still living in primitive ages, barbarous. Then when somebody is exposed, the person is condemned, it is not that the roots are found.I am absolutely with Acharya Tulsi. He should come out and expose the whole tradition: “It is not our fault. We have been forced to be unnatural, and the outcome is perversion.”Rather than taking it personally, he should make it a point to indicate to the whole of humanity that being unnatural is almost equal to being unreligious. The only way to religion is to be more and more natural.You will be wondering that if monks and nuns are allowed to have sexual relationships, then what will be the difference between us and them? What is the need of making a distinction?The difference will be of consciousness. The difference will be of meditation. And their small affairs are not going to distract their meditation, but are going to give them a little time to relax and play and then move back to their meditations.Now, as the situation is, this underground sexuality running all over religious sects…. They go on preaching against birth control methods, so they cannot use them and they cannot find anybody who is going to supply them. So many women, young women become pregnant, and the only way is in some way to commit suicide. Call it santhara, call it whatever you want, but I want to be direct and straightforward.Maneesha has brought a beautiful anecdote:Beloved Buddha,Once, a disciple of Ma Tzu, called Ikan, was asked by a monk, “Has the dog the buddha-nature or not?”Ikan replied yes, and the monk then asked, “Have you got it or not?”At first the monk was thinking that Ikan, a disciple of Ma Tzu, would hesitate a little in saying that a dog has a buddha-nature. But Ikan was almost coming to his spring. He said, “The dog has the buddha-nature, although hidden very deep. Perhaps it will take many many lives for the dog to discover it, but that does not matter. At the very center of the dog’s being, the buddha is.”Ikan replied “Yes,” and the monk was a little worried. He provoked him more; he said, “Okay, what about you? Do you have it or not?”Ikan responded, “I have not.”It was a very strange answer, but of ultimate importance.The monk asked, “All existent creatures have the buddha-nature; how is it that you have not?”Even the dog has; you yourself said so.Ikan said, “I don’t belong to all existent creatures.”The monk commented, “You say you don’t belong to all existent creatures. This ‘you’ – is it a buddha or not?”Ikan said, “It is not a buddha.”The monk then inquired, “What sort of thing, in the last resort, is this ‘you’?”Ikan replied, “It is not a thing.”The monk continued, “Can it be perceived or thought of?” – at which Ikan concluded, “Thought cannot attain to it; it can not be fathomed. For this reason, it is said to be a mystery.”When I say the “buddha-nature” it is exactly equivalent to saying the mysterious nature, the ultimate mystery of existence.Basho wrote:Spring too, very soon!They are setting the scene for it –plum tree and moon.Preparing the ground, preparing the stage for the spring to come soon…he is not talking about the outside spring; he is talking about the inside spring. That has also to be soon, but you should be preparing just like the plum tree and the moon are preparing for the outer spring. Except you, nobody can prepare the inner spring.Maneesha has asked a question:Apparently the “Akashic Daily Chronicle” newspaper ran an interview with Gautama. As a result, Krishna and Christ are packing their bags for their second coming – destination, Pune. Gautama told them that living with you was really something, and so they want to check out the scene for themselves.Any comment?Maneesha, please try to prevent them, because I have burned my fingers with Gautam Buddha – that’s enough! No more disturbance in my sleep; no more knocking on my doors. These fellows are good from far away. To live in the same room or in the same body…those four days I will never forget!After many many days, the time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh has come.Father Fumble is thumbing through the church records one day, when he notices that one of his flock, Hamish McTavish, does not seem to have given any money to the church charities. The young priest decides to pay a call on Hamish, who is rumored to be very rich, and see if he can squeeze any money out of him.“The records show,” says Father Fumble, “that you have never donated any money to our charities.”“That’s right,” says Hamish. “And do your records also show that I have a crippled uncle who is completely unable to take care of himself? Furthermore,” continues Hamish, “do they show that my sister was left a widow with ten children to take care of and no insurance or other means of support?”“Well, no,” says Father Fumble, a little embarrassed. “Our records do not show that.”“So,” replies Hamish, “why should I give anything to you, when I don’t give anything to them?”Old Grandpa Babblebrain is finally persuaded to take his grandchildren, Biff and Bippy, to the zoo for the day. Biff and Bippy are really having a great time as they drag Grandpa here and there, pointing out the animals.Grandpa is going a little senile, and is not always too sure where he is, or what he is doing. Then Bippy points into one cage and shouts, “Oh! Grandpa, look! That is a laughing hyena!”Grandpa looks at the animal, and does not recognize it at all. “I don’t believe it,” says Grandpa. So he goes over to the zookeeper and asks what kind of animal it is.“Yup,” says the zookeeper, “it is a laughing hyena, all right.”“What is so special about this animal?” asks Grandpa.“Well,” says the zookeeper, “he only eats once a day.”“Hm,” says Grandpa, “just like me.”“And,” continues the zookeeper, “he only takes a bath once a week.”“Hm,” says Grandpa, “just like me.”“And,” says the zookeeper, “he only makes love once a year.”“Hm,” says Grandpa, shaking his head. “Then why is he laughing?”Chief Boonga, the head of a primitive African tribe, writes a letter to Pope the Polack at the Vatican. The Polack pope had sent three missionaries to the Boonga tribe a few months before.“Your Holiness,” writes Chief Boonga, “I would like to thank you personally for sending out the three Catholic missionaries to us. I and my tribe found them kind, compassionate, loving, wise, sensitive – and absolutely delicious!”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes, and feel your body to be completely frozen.This is the moment you can look inward with your total consciousness, and with an urgency as if this is going to be your last moment. Only with such urgency can you reach to your very center immediately! And to be at your very center is to be a buddha. There is nothing beyond it.In this silence, in this blissfulness, this night becomes golden, something of the beyond.Just remember one thing: the only quality of a buddha is to be a witness. The moment you are just a witness…looking at the body, you are not it; looking at the mind, you are not it. You are just the witness. Immediately you are transformed into a totally different world.To make it clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax, but remember your witness. Whether you are sitting or lying or walking, your witness is always at the center, utterly still – just like a statue of a buddha. Flowers will start showering over you, the spring has come so suddenly. The Buddha Auditorium has become a lake of consciousness without any ripples.Collect as much life energy, collect as many flowers as the spring breeze has brought within you. You have to bring them back and persuade the buddha to come along with you. It is your very nature. There is no question that it will not be persuaded; it has always been persuaded.Unless the buddha becomes your very life – your walking, your working, your speaking, your silence – unless it becomes all that you are, you are not awakened. And without being awakened you miss life, its meaning, and you will miss your death and its meaning.Only a buddha does not miss even a single drop of existential beauty, blissfulness and ecstasy.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back. But come back like a buddha – silently, peacefully, with a great grace. Sit just for a few minutes to remember and to recall the golden path you have traveled upon, the ultimate peace at the center of your being, and the experience of buddha nature, another name for the eternity of your being.Inch by inch, buddha is coming closer to you. Just arrange the path for him. The spring is guaranteed to come; so is buddha.

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No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 01-12Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 07 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Beloved Buddha,Once, after Daiji had become an enlightened master, he said to his monks, “I’m not going to explain any more debates; you know, it’s just a disease.”At this, a monk stood up from the assembly and came forward; Daiji went back to his room.On another occasion, when Daiji was sweeping the ground, Joshu asked him how to manifest prajna.Daiji repeated, “How can we manifest prajna?” At this, Joshu gave a great laugh.The next day, seeing Joshu sweeping the ground, Daiji asked him, “How can we manifest prajna?” Joshu put down his broom and laughed aloud, clapping his hands.Daiji went back to his room.My Friends and my Fellow Travelers,I would have loved to use the Urdu words for the same, because they have a depth and a poetry…even the very sound of them rings bells in the heart. The ordinary meaning is the same: my friends, my fellow travelers. But I have a very insistent feeling within me to give you the most pregnant words.Those words are:Mehre hamsafar, Mehre hamdham, Mehre dost.Mehre hamsafar means “my fellow travelers.” Mehre hamdham means “my heart.” Mehre dost means “my friend.” But such a vast difference….English has become more and more prose and less and less poetry, for the simple reason that it has been serving scientific and objective technological progress. It has to be definite, it cannot be poetic.You cannot write mathematics into poetry; neither physics, nor chemistry. Because of this predominant factor of science and technology, English has lost its glamour, its splendor, its music. It has to gain it back, because the objective side of life is not enough. Unless your heart is moved, the words are not very much pregnant with meaning and significance.These five days have been of immense significance. It can be said that almost never in the history of man has such a phenomenon happened. This has been the deep search of meditators for thousands of years, that once a man becomes enlightened, once a man becomes full of light and knows his own eternity, he disappears into the ultimate, into the cosmos. He cannot come again through the womb of a woman. He has no desires, he has no longings. He no longer has any of the passions which drag human souls again and again to the birth and death cycle.But once a man has gone beyond all these mind-produced desires, greed, and anger and violence, once one has come to the very center of his being, he is liberated. Liberated from himself, liberated from the body, liberated from the mind. For the first time he understands that the body will be only a prison. Now that his intuition has absolute clarity he can see that the body is nothing but disease and death – maybe a few moments of pleasure, which go on keeping you in the body in the hope that more pleasure…. But soon one realizes, if one has intelligence, that those pleasures are very phenomenal, illusory, just made of the same stuff as dreams are made of.The moment this recognition happens, your life energy simply opens its wings and flies into the open sky of the cosmos, to dissolve into the ultimate.But Gautam Buddha is an exception.In the form of a beautiful story, it is said that when Gautam Buddha died he reached the gates of paradise. There was so much ceremony to receive him, but he refused to enter. He insisted, “Until every human being passes through the gates of paradise I cannot come in. It is against my compassion.”At the last moment of his death he has predicted that he will be coming back after twenty-five centuries. Of course, he can come only in one way, and that is to possess somebody’s body; the womb is no longer possible for him.For seven weeks continuously I was witnessing a fire test. Each moment seemed to be the last, and each breath going out was not promising that it would be coming back. In those seven weeks, seven times my heart showed symptoms of failure.My physician Amrito, at the seventh stroke thought that this was the end. I told him, “The cardiogram can show you how many beats I have missed, but it cannot show you that I am not the heart – I am the witness behind it. And my source of life is not the heart or the body; my source of life is existence itself. I trust in existence, and I trust that this seven weeks’ long dark night will end.”I would have never told you, but due to Katsue Ishida…a woman who has not known me, has just seen my picture and my eyes, and a woman who is a well-known seer and prophetess but rarely speaks. Very rarely people come to her ancient Shinto temple in the forest to ask questions, about their destinies, their future. And most of the time she remains silent; she speaks only when she feels, “Now existence is taking possession of me. I am not speaking, I am only allowing the existence to speak through me.”My Japanese translator, Geeta, has been informing her of everything that has happened in these five tremendously meaningful days. Because of her prophecy that Gautam Buddha has taken possession of my body as a vehicle, I had to admit the truth. But I had also expressed to her that my individuality and Gautam Buddha’s individuality are twenty-five centuries apart. He was an individualist – I am a greater individualist. I can be the host, but the guest has to remember that he is not my master.I have never accepted anybody as my master. It has taken me very long to find out myself, but I am immensely happy that I don’t have even to say a “thank you” to anyone. The search has been absolutely alone, tremendously dangerous.And there are opinions in which I am bound to differ from Gautam Buddha. Four days he stayed with me, and saw clearly that there is no possibility of any compromise.Compromise always leads you away from the truth. Truth cannot be a compromise – either you know it or you don’t.Geeta informed Ishida, and she was very much afraid: how will the woman feel? But the woman proved to be of tremendous power. She said, “It does not matter. I love your master and I absolutely agree to whatsoever has happened.” And then she suddenly started crying.Geeta asked her, “Why are you crying?”She said, “There are no words. For the first time…continuously, for five days, I have been speaking about your master, and I know nothing of him. I have not read his books, I have just seen his eyes, and a door within me has opened and almost like a flood I have been speaking. This is for the first time in my whole life….” She is in a hurry to come.But the seven weeks’ fire, the long night of the soul proved to be a blessing in disguise. It has purified me completely. And these five days of Gautam Buddha as Maitreya Buddha – that was his prophecy, that “My name after twenty-five centuries when I come back again, will be Maitreya the Buddha.” The Friend – Maitreya means “the friend.”It was significant on his part. He was saying, the world of the gurus has ended. The world of the masters and disciples will not be relevant anymore. The master can function only in the capacity of a loving friend. And the disciple has not to be a disciple, has not to surrender to anybody, he has just to listen to the Friend. It is up to him to decide what to do or not. No discipline can be given, no dictation can be given.In the world of religion this is the beginning of democracy; otherwise, all religions have been dictatorial, fascist, fundamentalist.I would like you to remember because you have been the witness of all these seven weeks and five days – seven weeks of a constantly deepening darkness, and these five days of the rising sun, of the morning glories, of the birds singing. Again a new beginning, not only in my individuality but also in the individualities of those who have taken the risk to be fellow-travelers with me.A new dawn, a new man is absolutely needed. Perhaps you are the new man who will destroy all that is rotten and old, that is superstitious and has no roots in intelligence. Perhaps you will be the one to destroy all organized religions, because the moment truth is organized, it dies.I have heard an ancient story.A recently arrived devil came running fast to the old devil and told him, “You are sitting here silently, and there on the earth one man has found the truth! It is dangerous for our profession. Something has to be done immediately!”The old devil started laughing. He said, “Calm down. Cool down, young man! I have made my arrangements already. The scholars, the rabbis, the pundits, the priests – all have reached, and they will organize the truth and that is the most subtle way to kill it. Now they are surrounding the man. They will not allow the man a direct approach to humanity. Humanity has to go through their interpretation, through their commentaries. And that has been, for the whole vast humanity, my way of depriving them of the truth: bring the priest in. The priests are in my service! All the organized religions, the churches, are in my service. They are China Walls standing between humanity and the ultimate truth.”Just a few months ago the pope has brought into the world a new sin. He has declared that anybody confessing to God directly is committing a great sin; confession has to be through the proper channel, through the priest. You cannot directly start writing letters to God – every letter has to be in care of the priest! And the letter never goes beyond that. All your prayers, all your confessions never move beyond the priest.It happened once, a rabbi and a bishop were very friendly. Their friendship was because both loved golf. They had decided to go on Sunday, but the bishop said, “If I am a little bit late, just wait for me in front of the church, because Sunday is a confessional day also, and one never knows how many people are going to confess.”It was getting late and the rabbi started feeling that the line of confessors was so long…he went into the church from the back door, went into the cabin where the bishop listened to the confessions. There was a partition; the confessor was behind the partition. There was only a small window so the priest could hear, and could give him the punishment for his sins.The rabbi said, “We are getting late. I suggest one thing – I don’t know what this confession is, but just do it one or two times and then I will manage. You get ready, and I will finish this line within minutes.”So he watched; one man came and said, “I have committed a rape.” The bishop said, “Put ten dollars in the charity box and never do such a thing again. And five ‘Hail Marys.’”The rabbi said, “Don’t be worried – you just go and get ready – it is a business matter!”Another man came and he said, “I have also committed a rape just like the fellow who has gone ahead.” But he was not aware that now the bishop was not there.The rabbi said, “Twenty dollars.” The man said, “But I have heard – to the first man you said only ten dollars!”The rabbi said, “Ten dollars are in advance, so you need not come to confess and waste time. And ten ‘Hail Marys’ – now get lost!”The function of the priest has not been to convert you into the hands of the cosmos. On the contrary, he has been in every way preventing you to open your eyes and see the stars, to open your ears and hear the breeze passing through the pine trees. He has not allowed you to see the beauty of the planet, the beauty of the skies. Neither has he been helpful to take you in your innermost being where is your eternal home. He has been exploiting.The new man, the new humanity means individual religious people, not organized according to any dogma, doctrine, cult, but simply in tune with existence. And the only way to be in tune with existence is what we have called in the East, meditation, in which no priest is needed. You alone are enough unto yourself.Maneesha has brought a few beautiful, small Zen anecdotes, dialogues. Just don’t get caught into the words, because Zen speaks a totally different language. Alongside the words there is running a constant stream of wordless meanings. Unless you become capable to pass through the word to the wordless you will never be able to understand Zen.Zen is the purest religion.It is not an organized church. It respects the individual. It does not have any priests, it does not have any discipline to be forced on you; neither has it any morality that you have to surrender to. It gives you insight and awareness. And through your awareness you have to decide your morality, your responsibility, your discipline, your very lifestyle. It is a totally different way of bringing you in tune with the universe.It teaches you relaxation. It teaches you not to swim against the current – you will never win. Just go with the river, floating, enjoying all that comes on the way: the trees and the stars in the night, and a sunrise and a sunset, and thousands of flowers. And the river…even the smallest river reaches to the ocean. So don’t be worried. Big or small, it does not matter. Every dewdrop reaches finally to the ocean, and the ocean is our ultimate rest.A little biographical note about Daiji, a famous Zen master.Daiji (780-862) was a famous disciple of Hyakujo. At the age of twenty-nine, he became a monk, and studied both the sutras and the ordinances. He spent some time with Hyakujo, became enlightened, and then made a hermitage on the top of a hill.Later, he went to Mount Daiji, where he expounded Zen, saying, “Six feet of talking is not as good as one foot of doing; one foot of talking is not as good as an inch of doing.” He returned to secular life for some time, then shaved his head again, and died as a monk.He was saying that all this scholarship, all these scriptures, won’t help. You will have to do something, you will have to dig into your own being. You cannot just like a parrot go on repeating long sutras. They are not going to be your liberation, they are your slavery. Only action with awareness – it does not matter what is the action; the most ordinary action with awareness becomes religious, because it starts having a grace of its own, and a beauty that is transcendental.To prove this, he himself moved into the ordinary life, into the marketplace, and lived for many years in the marketplace, proving that escaping to the mountains and the monasteries is not the right way. You can go there to learn meditation. Once you have learned it you have to come back to the world to share, to share your enlightenment.Before dying, he went back to the mountains, shaved his head again, and died as a monk.A beautiful statement:“Six feet of talking is not as good as one foot of doing; one foot of talking is not as good as an inch of doing.”The sutra:Maneesha has asked,Beloved Buddha,Once, after Daiji had become an enlightened master, he said to his monks, “I’m not going to explain any more debates; you know, it’s just a disease.”All philosophy, all metaphysics, all theology, according to the enlightened ones, is nothing but the disease of the mind, the itching of the mind. If you itch too much, you may bring blood to your own mind, to your own body. It is a disease. Thinking, according to the enlightened masters, is a disease.It will be good if you try to divide the word disease into its basic roots. It means: dis-ease. All thinking is dis-ease. It is a continuous torture inside, a constant rush hour of thoughts running like traffic. And you don’t have even a single moment of rest. Even in your nights the thoughts become dreams – more pictorial, more colorful, more enchanting. You become so absorbed….Perhaps you have never observed: in the day, when you are awake, you may sometimes suspect, “Is it a real world that surrounds me or an illusion, a hallucination, a mirage?” At least the suspicion is possible.But in the dream you cannot suspect that it is a dream; such is the grip. This state of affairs is not of health, not of wholeness; it is a sickness. It is a dis-ease.So when Daiji had become an enlightened master, he said to his monks, “I’m not going to explain any more debates; you know, it’s just a disease.”Get beyond the thoughts and you enter into the world of real health, of real wholeness.At this, a monk stood up from the assembly and came forward; Daiji went back to his room.This going of the master to his room simply means, “Go to your rooms and sit in silence.” Only in the silences of the heart one has heard the divine, one has felt the divine – never in the thoughts.On another occasion, when Daiji was sweeping the ground, Joshu asked him how to manifest prajna.Daiji repeated, “How can we manifest prajna?” At this, Joshu gave a great laugh.Prajna means ultimate wisdom. Naturally Joshu gave a great laugh – the ultimate cannot be brought to the words, and it cannot be made into explanations. Just asking the question proves your ignorance. And in your ignorance, in your blindness, it is impossible even to indicate to you that the ultimate wisdom is already at the very center of your being, waiting, as a potential to be grown, to be supported, to be nourished. And soon the spring comes and your being starts blossoming into thousands of flowers.The next day, seeing Joshu sweeping the ground, Daiji asked him, “How can we manifest prajna – the ultimate wisdom?” Joshu put down his broom and laughed aloud, clapping his hands.Daiji went back to his room.Certainly Daiji has not yet come to the point where he can understand that there are things which cannot be understood, and there are mysteries which remain always mysteries. You can live them, you can sing them, you can dance them, but you cannot explain them.Who has been able to explain what is beauty? Who has been able to explain what is truth? These mysteries have been experienced by many, by thousands down the ages in all parts of the world – it is nobody’s monopoly.But still, whenever a man has come to this high peak of consciousness where mysteries are revealed, he immediately understands that there is no way to bring these mysteries down to the ground where explanations are possible, where debates are possible, where philosophical systems can be made.Those who have known the mysterious, the miraculous, have moved ahead, deeper into the mysteries of existence. The ultimate mystery being the divineness of existence.Buson wrote:Blossoms on the pear –and a woman in the moonlightreads a letter there.These small haikus are not ordinary poetry. They simply depict a small scene which has brought some experience of beauty, truth, love, to the heart of the poet.Blossoms on the pear –and a woman in the moonlightreads a letter there……And silence abounds.Maneesha has asked:Beloved Buddha,With or without anyone else in residence in you, whatever name we know you by, you are infinitely precious to us. As Katsue Ishida said of you, “We must protect this man.”How can we best do that?Maneesha, if you really want to protect me, the only way is to grow up, to be more mature, to be more integrated, to be more in tune with the dance of the divine.No ordinary means will be able to nourish me. But if I can see your dance, if I can feel your love, if I can see in your eyes the cool flames of unconditional sharing, you may be able to follow Ishida’s indication to save this man.Now it is time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh.Mendel Kravitz goes to see Doctor Floss, the dentist.“Mr. Kravitz,” says Floss, “I am sorry to say you need a complete dental overhaul – side to side and top to bottom. It will cost you five thousand dollars.”“Sorry? You’re sorry? I’m sorry!” cries Mendel. “Five thousand dollars? I cannot afford that!”“Well,” says Floss, “I can recommend another dentist who is sure to be a lot cheaper.”So Mendel goes along to see Doctor Decay who advises him that he did this same job for Solly Saperstein.“Just call Solly,” says Doctor Decay, “and if you are satisfied with what he says, we can arrange something for you.”Mendel phones Solly.“Ah, yes,” says Solly. “My teeth. Well, the dentist did the work some time ago. About two years later I went to stay with my daughter in Hollywood. Yes, she is married to a movie star – lots of money, you can imagine! They were living in a posh hotel in Beverly Hills, with all the comforts. Lots to drink, a room of my own, and I swam in the hotel pool every day. I had it to myself, and I used to swim naked. How about that?”“That’s fine, Solly,” says Mendel, “but what about your teeth?”“I am telling you!” replies Solly. “You asked me, and I am telling you! One day when I was in the pool, a beautiful young girl dived in. And she had no clothes on. She swam up close to me, I was so embarrassed, I did not know what to do. But she kept smiling, and coming closer and closer. Then she put her hand on me!”“And then?” shouts Mendel.“Well, then,” continues Solly, “for the first time in two years my teeth stopped hurting!”Big Black Leroy is cleaning the windows on the eighty-third floor of a skyscraper in New York. Suddenly, he loses his balance and falls from the scaffolding, but just manages to catch a window ledge and hangs there by his finger tips, shouting for help.“Ah, Lawd!” shouts Leroy, “I’m not ready for them Pearly Gates yet! Save me!”At that moment, Saint Herbert, the angel, flies out of the sky.“Hi, Leroy!” says Saint Herbert, hovering beside him. “Have you got faith in the Lord?”“I sure do!” stammers Leroy.“Okay” says Herbert, “then I will teach you how to fly. Now, show your faith and take one hand off the window-ledge.”“I can’t do that!” stammers Leroy. “No way!”“Yes, you can,” snaps the Saint. “Now, show your faith!”Turning pale with fear, Leroy closes his eyes and slowly lets go with his left hand.“That’s good, Leroy,” says Saint Herbert, patting him on the head, “very good. Now I want you to let go with the other hand.”“Ah, Lawd!” shouts Leroy. “I can’t do that!”“You can do it, Leroy,” says Herbert. “Have faith, praise the Lord – and let go!”Leroy lets go and falls eighty stories to the ground.“Yup,” says Saint Herbert, flying away. “I never did like niggers.”Cardinal Catzass meets his old friend, Buster, from his school days.“Hello, Buster,” says Catzass. “What are you doing these days?”“I am a logician,” replies Buster, shaking hands with the cardinal.“Really?” replies Catzass. “What on earth is a logician?”“Well,” says Buster, “I am a kind of therapist. I help people by making things clear.”“Really?” says Catzass. “How does it work?”“Well,” replies Buster. “For example – you have a small aquarium in your room, correct?”“That is amazing!” says Catzass. “Yes I do, how did you know?”“Never mind,” says Buster, “and I deduce that because you have an aquarium, you like fish.”“Amazing!” cries Catzass. “Yes, I do like fish. You are very good.”“Yes, and not only that,” continues Buster, “but I deduce that since you like fish, you probably have a fancy for mermaids.”“Amazing!” cries Catzass. “As a matter of fact, I have had lurid fantasies about mermaids all my life.”“And,” continues Buster, “because you like mermaids, I deduce that you also like women!”“My God!” exclaims the cardinal. “I see that you are really an expert. I have a secret lust for women. You are a great therapist!”Later that afternoon, Cardinal Catzass is in Pope the Polack’s private chambers.“Hey, pope,” says Catzass, “I met an old friend of mine today who is a logician.”“Really?” says the Polack. “What is a logician?”“Well,” says the cardinal, “he is a kind of therapist. And he makes things clear.”“Really?” replies the pope. “Like what?”“I will show you,” says Catzass. “For example – you have an aquarium in your room, don’t you?”“No I don’t,” says the Polack Pope.“Well,” deduces Cardinal Catzass, “then you must be a homosexual!”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes. Feel your body to be completely frozen.Now is the moment to look inward with your total consciousness, and with an urgency as if this is going to be your last moment. You have to find your center of being – at whatsoever cost.Deeper and deeper – just like an arrow, go on piercing into the very center of your being. That’s where you are a buddha. That’s where the doors of all the mysteries of existence open. That’s where you come to know for the first time your eternity, your cosmic being.You are beyond life and beyond death.What is left? – just a pure witness.That is the only quality in a buddha – just to be a witness. It is the purest thing in the whole world.Watch that you are not the body. Watch: you are not the mind.What remains? – only a witness.And this witness is your ultimate nature. This witness makes you a buddha.To make it more clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax, but remember you are not the body, you are not the mind, you are just a pure witness. And slowly slowly a deep joy will arise in you, a blissfulness, an ecstasy, a peace that passeth understanding.You have come home.The Buddha Auditorium has become a lake of consciousnesses merging into each other the way rivers merge into the ocean.The evening was beautiful on its own, but your deepening consciousness, merging into the whole around you, has made it one of the most majestic evenings in the world.This moment has a splendor, a magic, because you are standing at the very doors of all the miracles, of all that is miraculous, of all that is mysterious.And all these combined are nothing but different aspects of divineness spread all over existence.Gather as much silence as you can, as much fragrance as you can. And persuade the buddha to come along with you, so that he is not hiding in the center but comes to your circumference in your activities, in your day-to-day action, in your gestures, in your words, in your silences. When the buddha fills you totally, you have come to blossom. Your potential has become an actuality.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back. But come back not the same person who had gone in.Come back as a buddha, with great silence and peace, with great beauty and grace, with a heart dancing with joy, knowing that at the very center of your being – so close – is the door to the divine.A few minutes, just sit remembering and reminding yourself of the golden path that you have gone on to meet your buddha, and on the same golden path you have come back.The difference between your circumference and center is lessening every day, inch by inch. The spring is not very far away when suddenly your circumference and center will become one.That is the moment of enlightenment, the moment of awakening, the moment of becoming a buddha.

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No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 01-12Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 08 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Beloved Buddha,A monk came to see Master Daizui, and said to him, “Mount Gotai and Mount Daizui – what are they like? How is Mount Daizui?”Daizui said, “Speak louder – I’m hard of hearing.”The monk repeated the question in a loud voice.Daizui said: “It is like a thousand mountains, ten thousand mountains!”On another occasion a monk said, “One of the ancients stood in the snow and cut off his arm. What truth was he seeking?”Daizui replied, “He didn’t cut off his arm.”The monk protested, “He did cut it off! Why do you say that he didn’t?”Daizui observed, “He was enjoying being in the snow.”At another time, a monk bowed to the statue of Manjushree, in the presence of Daizui. The master lifted up his mosquito-flapper and said, “Manjushree and Samantabhadra are both contained in this.”The monk drew a circle, threw it behind him, and then stretched out his arms. Daizui told the attendant to give the monk a cup of tea.My Friends,Before I discuss the sutras, a real concern to my heart is more urgent to be discussed.India’s prime minister Rajiv Gandhi has been trying his hardest to create a friendship with China, and it seems they are settling the matter. I don’t blame Rajiv Gandhi. Two big countries like India and China cannot remain forever enemies – whoever is weaker, sooner or later is going to give way.This is the second defeat to India. The first defeat was when China invaded Indian territory in the Himalayas, thousands of miles. India was not strong enough, and particularly it was not ready to fight in the eternal snows of the Himalayas.Rajiv Gandhi’s grandfather – Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India – still fought, knowing perfectly well there was no possibility to be victorious. And he was defeated. The Indian armies could not stand the snows of the Himalayas. They had never thought about it; hence they were not prepared.China conquered Tibet. One of the most significant countries in the world – small and poor, at the highest mountains, it was called “the roof of the world,” and it has for centuries been devoting itself only to meditation. A singular country in the whole world – for centuries, continuously, it had only one desire: how to know oneself. It had no armies, it never invaded anyone; it had no desire like that, uncivilized, barbarous. It was primitive, but I will still say Tibet was the most civilized country, the most cultured.China invaded Tibet – Tibet had no arms, no armies. China crushed the poor Tibetans under machine guns, trampled their monasteries. Dalai Lama, the head of Tibet politically and religiously both, had no other way than to take refuge in the Indian part of Himalayas, in Dharmasala. Since then he has been living there with the thousands of Tibetans who have come with him.It is a very sad affair to say that nobody in the whole world even protested that an innocent country, which has never invaded and had never shown any desire to invade anybody, should be simply taken over because another country has power. It seems our whole civilization is a pretension; our whole talk about freedom and independence are mere words. Not only that, nobody raised a voice against China. Just now, Rajiv Gandhi has said, “Tibet is China’s internal affair.”It seems the law of the jungle still prevails. The bigger fish goes on eating the smaller fish – no protest.Now Dalai Lama, seeing the situation that India and China are going to become friends, has started to prepare to leave the country – because China’s first demand will be that Dalai Lama should be handed over to China; other than that there is no possibility. It has been consistently China’s demand that, “Unless you hand over Dalai Lama to Peking there is no possibility of friendship.”And Rajiv Gandhi has forgotten completely those thousands of miles of Indian territory. That too is China’s internal affair? Then soon the whole of India will be China’s internal affair!One should not be so weak, either. I would like to say to Dalai Lama: “Don’t think of going anywhere; you will not get residence anywhere in the world, because nobody wants to be antagonistic to the biggest country, China.” Just two years ago, even America refused just a three-week tourist visa for Dalai Lama on the grounds that they did not want to annoy China.I have loved Buddha, and I have loved those who have loved Buddha. I have deep love and respect for Dalai Lama. My suggestion to him is: don’t leave this country; just drop the desire to be the sovereign head, the political head of Tibet. In fact, it is not right for a religious man to have such aspirations for being a political head. Just drop that idea. Be an ordinary meditator, a lover of Buddha – then China will not ask for you. You are being asked for because of your continuous desire to be the head of Tibet again. Too much water has gone down the Ganges; it cannot happen, at least in your lifetime.But my insistence is that fundamentally your desire is wrong. Tibet is gone, out of your hands. You should have renounced it. Your desire for power is a political desire – it is shameful in a man who is thought to be a meditator. Just remain in the Himalayas, and nobody is going to trouble you. The trouble is arising within you because of the desire that you want Tibet to be again under your rule.Forget all about it. It is ugly, absolutely condemnable, to have such a desire. That was the singular message of Gautama the Buddha: don’t have any desire in this world; when the other world, the mysterious world, is ready to open its doors you are asking for some illusory power.This shows that Dalai Lama himself is not a meditator.I would like him not to go anywhere. You have a beautiful place in Dharmasala – go inward. It is time that you prove that there is an inner world far more precious than anything the outer world can give to you. And if you cannot prove this, who do you think is going to prove it?Once he drops the desire and the claim, and he becomes an ordinary, simple human being, China has no interest in him. He can live in the Himalayas – he is accustomed to living in the Himalayas.And I say again: nobody is going to behave in a friendly way with you. What can you offer? China offers a tremendous power. You will not get shelter anywhere in the world.The world is not so civilized as you think. It cares only for those who have power. To be powerful is to be right, and to be powerless…nobody cares about you, whether you are right or wrong.This has been a tremendous weight on me. In the first place, Tibet is not China’s internal affair, and Rajiv Gandhi has forgotten those thousands of miles of Himalayan territory. It is not even mentioned.And what is to be remembered by Dalai Lama especially: don’t get deluded by the so-called talk of democracy, independence, freedom. These things don’t exist; the powerful only talk about them. The whole world is still centuries back, living in the same barbarous mind. Only its houses have become better, the roads are better, technology is better, but the man? – it has never been worse than it is now! Because the primitive, barbarian man, howsoever violent, had no missiles, nuclear weapons, atom bombs.This is the same barbarian man – with modern clothes, but the mind is as animalistic as you can imagine. And in the hands of these barbarous chimpanzees are nuclear weapons that can destroy this whole earth within ten minutes, with all its living beings. The barbarous man, the chimpanzee, has come to the terminal point where it is going to commit suicide.I have heard that Ronald Reagan had a great friend, a chimpanzee. He could not find another human being to have a friendship with. The first day of his presidency in America he had gone for a morning walk on the beach with his great friend the chimpanzee.An old drunkard stumbled around, looking very carefully, and finally he could not resist: he came to these two friends and he said, “President, sir, it does not feel right to have a chimpanzee as your friend.”As Ronald Reagan was going to say something, that old drunkard said, “You shut up! I am talking to Mr. President.”That chimpanzee is hidden in so-called politicians. Wherever there is a desire to dominate there is a chimpanzee hidden within.I want to repeat again: Dalai Lama has not to go anywhere. It is time to drop the outer desire for domination. Go inward, you are getting older but you are not growing up. Go inward to find the kingdom which is not of this world.Maneesha has brought a few very beautiful anecdotes, sutras, and statements from the history of Zen.A monk came to see Master Daizui, and said to him, “Mount Gotai…”It was a great monastery. All these mountains were named after the master who had become enlightened, and because of his enlightenment a thousand seekers had gathered there. Gotai became enlightened and the emperor of China gave the name to the mountain where Gotai had become enlightened – Mount Gotai. And the same happened with Daizui. When he became enlightened the emperor declared, “The mountain should be remembered as a memorial to Daizui and his enlightenment. It will be called Mount Daizui.”A monk came to see Master Daizui, and said to him, “Mount Gotai and Mount Daizui – what are they like? How is Mount Daizui?”Daizui said, “Speak louder – I’m hard of hearing.”The monk repeated the question in a loud voice.Daizui said: “It is like a thousand mountains, ten thousand mountains!”It was a small mountain, but because of thousands of disciples moving on the golden path of becoming enlightened, Daizui said, “It is not only my enlightenment that makes Mount Daizui what it is, but thousands, perhaps ten thousands, are searching the same enlightenment. This mountain is one of the most blessed in the world. So many seekers, so many who are absolutely determined to attain to their potential. A thousand or ten thousand sleeping buddhas are trying to wake up.”This mountain is not a small place. If it can contain ten thousand buddhas, how can it be a small place? It is ten thousand mountains, the whole range that goes for thousands of miles.The monk could not understand. To understand the statements of Zen masters you have to have some taste of mountains, meditations, masters. You have to have some taste of the spring; otherwise it will look absolutely absurd.On another occasion a monk said, “One of the ancients stood in the snow and cut off his arm. What truth was he seeking?”It is one of the most beautiful incidents in the history of Zen. It happened when Bodhidharma went from India to China, and remained for nine years just facing the wall of a temple. Many came to persuade him, “Why don’t you talk to us? We ask questions and you give answers to the wall. It looks very weird.”But Bodhidharma said, “Unless the man comes who has the ears and the heart to understand me, it is better to talk to the wall. At least one is not disappointed.” And one day the man came.He cut off one arm and threw it before Bodhidharma and said, “If you don’t turn immediately toward me, I am going to cut my head too.”Bodhidharma quickly turned, and said, “So you have come! I have been waiting for nine years.”Unless a man is ready to stake his very life, the transformation is not possible.So this monk, asking Daizui, said, “One of the ancients, I have heard, stood in the snow and cut off his arm. What truth was he seeking?”Daizui replied, “He didn’t cut off his arm.”The monk protested, “He did cut it off! Why do you say that he didn’t?”The fact is, he did. But the truth is, he did not.There was no effort when he cut off his arm; it was as relaxed as if nothing was happening. Hence the truth is, he did not cut it. The fact is, he did cut it. And Zen is concerned with the truth, not with the fact.Daizui observed, “He was enjoying being in the snow.”He was enjoying perfectly. Even if he had cut his head, he was so relaxed, so trustful. And his search was his absolute determination. For that search, to give your arm or your head does not mean anything. Your arms will sooner or later melt into the earth. Your head, your body will be some day put into the earth.“So what are you talking about?” Daizui said. “The man did not cut off his arm; he was enjoying it as tremendously as possible.” And the turning of Bodhidharma was such a great point in turning his whole being…he became the successor of Bodhidharma.When Bodhidharma left China to go into the Himalayas and to disappear into the eternal snows…. He was getting old, and it was time to search the right place to disappear into the ultimate.He called his four disciples and asked them, “What is the essence of Buddha’s teaching?”One came forward and said, “To know oneself is the essence of Buddha’s teaching.”Bodhidharma said, “You are right, but not enough to be my successor. Just sit down. You have my skin only, you have not gone deeper.”The second man came, and the same question: “What is the essential teaching of the Buddha?” The man said, “Attaining to no-self.”The first had said, “Knowing the self.” The second one said, “Attaining to no-self, to nothingness, to utter innocence where the idea of `I am’ does not arise.”Bodhidharma said, “You are better than the first. You have my bones, but you are not yet capable of being my successor.”The third one came before him…the same question. The third one said, “The very essence of Buddha’s teaching is silence.”Bodhidharma said, “It is even better than the other two, but not enough to be my successor. If the fundamental and the essential teaching is silence, you should have remained silent rather than using the word silence, because the word silence is not silence.“Your mind is full of thoughts. Beautiful thoughts – thoughts about silence, thoughts about meditation – but all are thoughts. It does not matter whether you are thinking about money or you are thinking about the ultimate truth. Thinking as such is only a disturbance; the object of thinking does not matter at all. You have my very marrow, yet you are not worthy to be my successor.”The fourth man came…the same question. No answer, just tears, and he fell to the feet of Bodhidharma. Bodhidharma declared this man to be his successor.This was the same man, with one arm. Without saying anything, he has said everything. Those tears were more potent, more expressive than all the words, the whole language, of man. Howsoever philosophically, logically and rationally pronounced, they don’t carry the truth, they don’t carry love, they don’t carry beauty in them.So it is a truth that the man who cut off his arm was enjoying it immensely. His cutting the arm was very relaxed, in deep trust, in great love. Factually he may have cut off the arm, but in truth he enjoyed the whole experience, the turning of Bodhidharma after nine years to face him.Bodhidharma had even turned away Emperor Wu of China, calling him an idiot. He had come from the faraway capital to the borders to receive Bodhidharma. And he asked Bodhidharma, “I have done so much religious work, so many fasts. Ten thousand scholars are continuously translating the message of Buddha. I feed millions of Buddhist monks, I support hundreds of monasteries. I have converted the whole land of China to Buddhism. What is my virtue? What am I going to be rewarded by?”Bodhidharma said, “You idiot! The very desire to be rewarded has destroyed all virtue. You will fall into the seventh hell! And I will not enter into your territory, because you are surrounded by scholars, scriptures, monks, monasteries. I will remain outside and wait for the right man.”It took nine years for him, but his trust…. He was growing old, but he waited and waited and waited, and finally the man came.It always comes, you have just to wait – not in a hurry, not asking that he should come right now – just a pure waiting, listening for the footsteps when he comes. He always comes. If there is a right master, thousands of right disciples are bound to come. If there is a pure spring of water, those who are thirsty are bound to come. When the roses bloom, bees come from miles away.Scientists have been working on the language of the bees, because they have found that bees convey in a certain way a few things. Perhaps they don’t have a very long language, alphabetical, but they certainly have some symbols. One bee moves toward the flowers, for miles, and when she has found the flowers she comes back where thousands of bees are waiting and she dances in a certain way. And immediately thousands of bees move in the direction of the flowers. That dance has indicated the direction.Even bees find flowers, far away. What to say of human consciousness? Those who are alert, those who have a sense of searching some significance in their life, are bound to find where flowers have come to blossom.So the disciple was, according to Daizui, enjoying. Even by cutting off the arm he was simply offering a present to the master he had found. It was his joy. Hence, as far as truth is concerned it is one thing; fact is another.Just by the way, I would like to remind you that in the East we have never been writing history. History is an absolutely Western phenomenon. It is with the coming of the British empire that Christian missionaries started writing history about India, but India has never bothered to write history for the simple reason that history will be nothing but facts and facts and facts. And our concern is truth, and truth has no history.Truth is always present; history means the past. Truth is never past. Truth is always here; hence truth cannot have a history. We dropped the whole idea of history.At another time, a monk bowed to the statue of Manjushree, in the presence of Daizui. The master lifted up his mosquito-flapper and said, “Manjushree and Samantabhadra are both contained in this.”…the mosquito-flapper.Such statements cannot be made anywhere else than in the world of Zen. Manjushree and Samantabhadra are two of the great disciples of Gautam Buddha, who became enlightened while he was alive. Just the story of Manjushree becoming enlightened will suffice you to understand that these people, Manjushree and Samantabhadra, were as valuable as Gautam Buddha himself.Manjushree used to sit under a tree to meditate, for years. And one day the night was over – suddenly, out of season, the tree blossomed and flowers started falling like rain.In the East there are such beautiful trees which shower like rain. The one I have loved the most…I don’t know which tree Manjushree was sitting under, but most probably this must be the tree – I have loved it from my very childhood. The tree is called madhukamini. It blossoms in the rainy season; it blossoms in thousands of flowers all together, and in the night. And by the morning you will find almost a carpet of flowers underneath it, thousands of flowers of such beautiful fragrance. I have not come across another tree like it.Perhaps Manjushree was sitting under a madhukamini, or it may have been another tree, it does not matter. What matters is, ten thousand disciples of Buddha looked at the tree, looked at Manjushree…could not believe it. It was not the time – what happened to the tree?Buddha said, “You are seeing only the tree and its flowers. You should look at Manjushree, what has happened to Manjushree. The tree has simply heard it happening to Manjushree. The tree has simply synchronized. If Manjushree can blossom so suddenly, why cannot the tree do the same? Look at Manjushree.”And Manjushree was sitting in silence for seven days continuously, until Buddha himself came to him and told him, “Manjushree, seven days have passed. It is time to get up and tell your fellow travelers what has happened in your being.”Samantabhadra just became enlightened as he looked when Buddha said, “Don’t look at the tree, look at Manjushree.”Out of ten thousand disciples only one, Samantabhadra, looked into Manjushree and became enlightened himself. Enlightenment can be a chain effect.About these two great masters, Daizui says – because one monk was worshipping the statue of Manjushree – “Manjushree and Samantabhadra are both contained in this mosquito-flapper.”Factually it is not so, but in truth, even the mosquitoes which may be caught in the flapper have the same potential as Manjushree and Samantabhadra. That’s what Daizui is saying.Don’t think that he is insulting Manjushree or Samantabhadra. He is simply indicating the truth, that “Don’t worship the statue. Search for the very source of life. Even a mosquito alive has the essence of being a buddha. It may take millions of years for the poor mosquito to become a human being, but that is not the point to be bothered about.”We have the whole eternity in our hands – beginningless, endless. Somewhere, someplace, one is bound to become a buddha. It is simply a question of your relaxing into yourself.The monk drew a circle, threw it behind him, and then stretched out his arms. Daizui told the attendant to give the monk a cup of tea.“A cup of tea” has a totally different meaning when uttered by a master. In Zen, it is again from Bodhidharma. He dwelt on a mountain which was called T’a, and he wanted to remain awake twenty-four hours, so he cut his eyelids and threw them before the temple – it may be fiction, but it is worth mentioning. Rains came and the eyelids started growing. Those were the first tea leaves.They are called tea leaves because they first grew on the mountain T’a. And because they are originally the eyelids of one of the most awakened men, Bodhidharma, tea still keeps you awake. If you don’t want to sleep, a cup of tea….When a Zen master says, “Give this man a cup of tea,” he means a cup of awareness. That is the meaning of tea in the Zen tradition.A haiku:I can’t do anything;my life of contradictions,blown by the wind.I can’t do anything…In fact anyone who comes to know his innermost silence will agree with the poet who says, “I can’t do anything; whatever happens, happens. I am just a watcher at the most.”…my life of contradictions, blown by the wind.“I can’t do anything. Sometimes I am blown to the north, sometimes to the south. It is all contradictory; I am just a witness.”To be just a witness, and not a doer, is the very essence of meditation.Maneesha has asked a question:Beloved Buddha,During the period of your being unwell, many of us decided to meditate at the evening video. It seemed time to discover what we had of meditation that was not dependent on your physical presence. So, in a way, while you were passing through your fire test, we also were being tested. Those few evenings were amazing: a potent silence began to grow – so intoxicating, it was as if you really were with us.The timing of these two events – was it just a coincidence or did one trigger the other? Was this synchronicity?Maneesha, you have questioned and you have answered. It was simply synchronicity.It is time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh.Down south in Mississippi, Little Black Washington, Little Black Jefferson, and Little Black Lincoln are sitting around comparing their family names.Little Washington says, “Mah name is Neon.”“Neon?” ask the other two.“Yup,” replies Little Washington, “because mah Dad invented the neon light.”Then Little Lincoln says, “Mah name is Poly. Because mah Dad invented poly-ester pants.”Then Little Jefferson shouts, “Mah name is Gonorrhea.”“You not sayin’ that your Dad invented that?” says Washington.“No,” replies Jefferson, “but he is the southern distributor!”Charlie Mildew runs into an old friend for the first time in years.“Morton? Morton Cash, is that you?” asks Charlie. “I hear you have become fabulously rich.”“I can’t complain,” replies Morton. “I have a townhouse in the city, a country estate, two Ferrari’s, a wife and three kids, several companies, and some good investments.”“Sounds great,” says Charlie, “but after all, what can you do that I can’t do? We both eat, sleep, and drink – what else is there in life?”“You call that living?” scoffs Morton. “Me, I get up, have a huge breakfast, then I lie on my verandah. After that I play a round of golf, and come back for a huge lunch. After lunch, I lie on my verandah again. Later, if I feel like it, I get my chauffeur to drive me to a cocktail party. In the evening I have a huge dinner, lie on my verandah again, and then pop out to the theater – then come back and lie on my verandah.”“That’s wonderful,” marvels Charlie. “And all without working!”That evening, at home, Charlie tells his wife all about Morton. When he mentions Morton’s wife and three kids, Mrs. Mildew interrupts.“What is his wife’s name?” she asks.“I don’t know,” replies Charlie. “I think it is ‘Verandah’!”Father Fumble is doing the rounds of his parish in the Oregon countryside, when he decides to drop in on the Fossil family.Little Freddy Fossil answers the door, and Fumble says, “God bless you, my son. Can I speak to your mother?”“You can’t,” replies Freddy. “She has been run over by the tractor.”“Ah! Lord!” gasps Fumble. “Then let me talk to your father!”“You can’t,” replies Freddy.“Really? Why not?” asks Father Fumble.“Because he has been run over by the tractor,” replies Freddy.“Sweet Jesus!” exclaims the priest. “Then let me see your Uncle Bob!”“You can’t,” replies Freddy.“My God!” cried Fumble. “Don’t tell me that he has been run over by the tractor, too?”“Yup!” replies Freddy.“Ah! You poor boy,” says Father Fumble. “What are you doing here all by yourself?”“Me?” asks Freddy. “I drive the tractor!”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes. Feel your body to be completely frozen.This is the right moment to look inward with your totality of consciousness, and with an urgency as if this is the last moment of your life. You are bound to reach to the very center of your being.As one by one you are reaching to the center of your being, the Buddha Auditorium becomes a gathering of buddhas. At the very center of your being you are a buddha, right now!Just be a witness, because that is the only quality which remains, ultimately. When the body is gone, the mind is gone, the only thing that remains is witnessing.Witnessing is your eternal being.I call this eternal being the buddha.To make it absolutely clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax, but keep on witnessing: the body is not you, the mind is not you. You are only a watcher, a pure watcher. And slowly slowly, all separation between you disappears. This auditorium becomes a lake of consciousness without any ripples. This moment you are the most blessed people on the earth.The evening was beautiful on its own, but you have added thousands of moons and stars to it. Your splendor is also the splendor of the evening.This very moment you are entering into the ultimate, the eternal, the miraculous. The splendor of your being is coming to its spring.Thousands of flowers will be showering on you. Gather as many as you can, the fragrances, the stars that are falling in your inner sky, and persuade the buddha to come from your hidden center to your circumference, to your ordinary life and activity, to your words and to your silences.This is the goal: we have to make the center and the circumference to be one. Only then is your enlightenment.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back slowly, peacefully, showing the majesty of your being and grace, and sit down for a few moments just remembering, recollecting the golden path that you have traveled, the buddha of your innermost world that you have encountered. Something of him will start expressing in your activities.Remember around the day whenever you can – don’t force, just let it come once in a while – and then behave like a buddha, respond like a buddha and you will be surprised how beautiful your actions become, how graceful. Your eyes start shining like mirrors.

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No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 01-12Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 09 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Beloved Buddha,Mayoku came to Shokei carrying his bell staff with him. He circumnavigated Shokei’s seat three times, shook his staff, ringing the bells, stuck the staff in the ground, and then stood up straight.Shokei said, “Good.”Mayoku then went to Nansen. He walked around Nansen’s seat, shook his staff, ringing the bells, stuck the staff in the ground and stood up straight.Nansen said, “Wrong.”Mayoku said, “Shokei said, ‘Good’; why do you say, ‘Wrong’?”Nansen said, “Shokei is ‘good,’ but you are wrong. You are blown about by the wind. That will lead to destruction.”My Friends,I have been waiting to answer a few idiots. I will not mention their names for the simple reason that idiots don’t have names – just to be an idiot is enough.The first idiot was very angry – he is a leader of the sudras who have been converted to Buddhism. He was angry because he thinks that I am a “self-styled buddha.”I call this kind of people idiots because they don’t understand a simple thing: Who has styled Gautam Buddha, if he was not self-styled? Who has styled Mahavira, Krishna and Rama? They were all self-styled. Only idiots are born; geniuses have to assert their individuality, they are basically self-styled. There is nothing wrong in it.But this is the beauty of the idiots: they cannot think. They have never thought, although they have become Buddhists.In Hinduism there is no such thing as the buddha. In Jainism, the Jaina tirthankaras have been primarily called jinas, the conquerors, and secondarily, buddhas.Gautam Buddha tried to be a jina, because that was prestigious. It was a long heritage, more ancient than Hinduism, because the first tirthankara of the Jainas is mentioned with respect in the ancientmost Hindu scripture, Rig Veda. The first tirthankara is called “Adinatha the Jina.”It was a respectable heritage, and it was a very difficult contest. Eight people were trying to be accepted by the Jainas as their twenty-fourth and last jina.Buddha was also one of the contestants. He was being defeated by Mahavira for the simple reason that Mahavira was more masochistic; his whole philosophy was that of self-torture. Buddha could not do that. Being defeated, he immediately grabbed the second word which has been used by Jainas, which was the buddha. He could not become the Jina, so he declared himself the Buddha.Now these idiots of Maharashtra and this small fraction of untouchables converted to Buddhism are condemning me as a “self-styled buddha.” First think about your own Gautam Buddha!The second idiot, also a leader of the converted Buddhists – they are confined only to Maharashtra, a very small minority – has said that if I want to be the Buddha, I will have to renounce all luxuries.I call these people idiots because they don’t know exactly what they are talking about. I will tell you a story about Gautam Buddha; perhaps this will help these idiots to understand.Buddha renounced in ignorance, not as a buddha. He renounced his palace and kingdom and luxuries, not as a buddha – he was as ignorant as you are. He was in search of light, he was in darkness and doubt. He was as blind as anyone can be. In this blindness, in this darkness, he thought perhaps renouncing the kingdom, renouncing all comforts and luxuries was going to help him find truth.What relationship is there? If this is the truth, that you have to renounce the kingdom, then how many people have kingdoms? Then the people who don’t have kingdoms cannot become buddhas.And how big was the kingdom? Do you understand? – there were two thousand kingdoms in India at the time of Buddha. His kingdom was not more than a small tehsil – a part of a district.But when he became enlightened he came back to his palace to see his old father, whom he had betrayed in a way, because he had been hoping that in his old age his son would take over the burden of the kingdom, but instead he escaped. He was coming back after twelve years to ask forgiveness from the old man, and also his wife, and his son who was now grown twelve years…the night he was born was the night Gautam Buddha had escaped from the kingdom.He had gone to see the face of the child, but the child was clinging to the mother and they were covered with blankets. He was afraid to wake up the wife because she might create some tantrum, and his renunciation of the world might be prevented – or delayed, certainly. So he left from the door without seeing the face of his child.After twelve years, when he became enlightened, the first thing he did was to go back to his kingdom. The father was very angry, but Buddha stood in absolute silence. When the father had said whatever he wanted to say, when his rage was finished, he looked again at the face of the Buddha – he was absolutely unaffected. When his father had calmed down, Buddha said to him, “You are unnecessarily being angry with me. I am not the same person who left the palace. I am a new being, with eyes to see. I have achieved the ultimate. Just look at my face, my silence; look into my eyes and the depth of my eyes. Don’t be angry, I have just come to ask your forgiveness that I had to renounce the kingdom. But I have brought a bigger kingdom of the inner, and I have come to share it with you, and all.”Then he entered into the palace to meet his wife. Of course she was angry…but she also belonged to a big empire. She was the daughter of a far bigger kingdom, and as the daughter of a great warrior she had waited for these twelve years without saying a word. What she said is immensely amazing.She said to Gautam Buddha, “I am not angry that you renounced the kingdom. I am angry that you did not say anything to me when you left. Do you think I would have prevented you? I am also the daughter of a great warrior….”Buddha felt very embarrassed; he had never thought about it. Her anger was not that he had renounced the kingdom – that was his business. Her anger was that he did not trust in her, in her love; that he did not trust in her and thought she would have interfered in his renunciation. She was not that type of ordinary woman; she would have rejoiced that he was renouncing the kingdom.Buddha had to ask forgiveness.His wife – her name was Yashodhara – said, “For these twelve years I have been carrying only one question to ask to you. And that question is: whatever you have attained – and certainly you have attained something, I can see it in your eyes, on your face, in your grace. My question is: Whatever you have attained, was it not possible to attain it in the palace, in the kingdom? Was renunciation necessary?”Gautam Buddha said, “At that time I thought so, because for centuries it has been said that unless you renounce the world you cannot find the ultimate truth. But now I can say with absolute certainty, whatever has happened to me could have happened in the kingdom, in the palace; there was no need to go anywhere.”This is my answer to the stupid.I am not an ignorant person. My buddhahood has nothing to do with Gautama the Buddha, and I am not a Buddhist, remember it. Just as Buddha was – call it “self-styled” – I am also an individual in my own right. It has nothing to do with your Gautam Buddha. That’s why I have called myself Zorba the Buddha, just to make the distinction clear.But the idiots can neither think nor can they hear.The third idiot is a professor belonging to the same converted untouchables. Today he has given a press conference in which he says, “Shree Rajneesh has not been initiated. How can he be a Buddhist?”Who told him that I am a Buddhist? I am a buddha, and it has nothing to do with your Gautam Buddha.And can I ask the idiot professor – it is very rare – who initiated Gautam Buddha? If he can be without any initiation, why can I not be?He has also said, “Shree Rajneesh should be an ordinary human being.”That’s what a buddha is: an ordinary human being.But it is strange that in a vast state like Maharashtra only three idiots have spoken. Other idiots must be keeping quiet, knowing that I will chop their heads!Yes, I am an ordinary human being – but that’s exactly what “the Buddha” means. Look into the Buddhist scriptures. To be an ordinary human being is the most extraordinary thing in the world.But it is not coincidence that all these idiots belong to this small sect of Buddhists. I have known the people who converted these untouchables. These sudras, who have been living in slavery, utter slavery and oppression, for twenty-five centuries, suddenly have become very vocal.The people who initiated them into Buddhism I have known very well. One was Bhadant Anand Kausalyayan, the other was Bhikkhu Dharmarakshita. Under the political guidance of Doctor Ambedkar, who was an untouchable, these two Buddhists converted a fraction of sudras. Doctor Ambedkar was from Maharashtra, Bhadant Ananda Kausalyayan lived in Nagpur – which is now part of Maharashtra. But neither was Bhadant Anand Kausalyayan a buddha, nor was Bhikkhu Dharmarakshita a buddha. Both were Buddhists. And to be initiated by Buddhists is nothing spiritual.Initiation by a buddha may have some meaning, but initiation by Buddhist scholars can’t have any meaning as far as those who know are concerned.I can see clearly that these people are angry. They are angry against Hindus. But anger is as blind as love. I am not a Hindu, I don’t belong to any organization. Now they are enraged against me, not knowing that I have been always favoring the untouchables. I have been a friend to these untouchables, whether they are in the Hindu fold or they have become Buddhists does not matter. Their inferiority complex is tremendous. Perhaps nobody in the whole world carries such inferiority as these people.It was five thousand years ago that a Hindu scholar, Manu, created the caste system, and for five thousand years Hindus have followed it. Not a single untouchable has the guts to revolt against it.Just today, the news has come that one untouchable has been selling coconuts before a Hindu temple and suddenly people remembered that he is an untouchable, and he is selling coconuts to people, and people bring those coconuts to the temple. As the word spread, the untouchables were beaten, their shops were burnt….These people for five thousand years have lived just like animals, cattle. Naturally a deep wound of inferiority has been created in their psyche. Just because they have become converted to Buddhism does not mean that their inferiority complex of five thousand years will be simply erased. It is because of that wound, which is still oozing with pus, that they have spoken against me, a friend.For a moment I thought all my efforts to support the untouchables, knowing perfectly well that this would bring only condemnation from the Hindus, from the Jainas…when I saw these people speaking against me, for a moment I thought perhaps Manu was right.The basis of Manu’s whole sociology was that the untouchables are souls coming from past lives who, because of their evil acts are born untouchables. Hence they should not be treated as human beings. Obviously, if you treat people like cattle, they go on collecting as much anger and rage as possible.Speaking against me – who does not belong to any organized religion, who has declined to be a host to Gautam Buddha’s wandering soul. I have to remind them that before making any statements about me they should try to understand my philosophy of Zorba the Buddha. It has nothing to do with your Gautam Buddha. And I am absolutely capable to announce myself as an Awakened One – self-styled!I am not against luxury, I am not against comforts. I am absolutely in favor of luxury and comforts, because the more a luxurious and comfortable life is available to people, the more meditation is possible, the more relaxation is possible.But these poor untouchables cannot understand anything except poverty. They are poor and they want others also to be poor.I hate poverty! I want everyone on this earth to be as rich as possible – in both ways, outside and inside. The Zorba is representative of the outside richness of living, and the Buddha is representative of the inside experience of ultimate splendor.I am bringing to the world a totally new message; hence there is bound to be misunderstanding. But remember perfectly that anybody who raises his voice against me should support it with evidence and logic – and be ready to be chopped!Maneesha has brought a few sutras. Before the sutras, a little biographical note:Mayoku, Shokei and Nansen were all disciples of Ma Tzu. Nansen was the eldest and Shokei a little younger. Mayoku’s date of birth is uncertain, but he is believed to have been the youngest.The sutra:Beloved Buddha,Mayoku came to Shokei carrying his bell staff with him. He circumnavigated Shokei’s seat three times, shook his staff, ringing the bells, stuck the staff in the ground, and then stood up straight.Shokei said, “Good.”Mayoku then went to Nansen. He walked around Nansen’s seat, shook his staff, ringing the bells, stuck the staff in the ground and stood up straight.Nansen said, “Wrong.”Mayoku said, “Shokei said, ‘Good…’”Shokei was also a buddha, just as Nansen is. Obviously Mayoku was confused. He said,“Shokei said, ‘Good’; why do you say, ‘Wrong’?”Nansen said, “Shokei is ‘good,’ but you are wrong. You are blown about by the wind. That will lead to destruction.”What does Nansen mean? For the same act another master, Shokei, has said “Good.” Nansen, to the same act, says “Wrong.”Repetition is wrong. Whatever he had done to Shokei was fresh, spontaneous; now repeating it is stale and stinking of death. It is no more the fresh breeze of the morning, no more the fresh opening of a rose.You will find dry roses in strange places like the Bible. But a dry rose is only a memory, a remembrance, a faraway echo of the real rose who was dancing in the wind, in the rain, in the sun. Whenever anything becomes stale, repetitive, a man of understanding is going to call it wrong. Not only that, if you continue like this you are moving toward destruction, not toward enlightenment, awakening, a rebirth.Hence, both are right. Shokei is right – Nansen said, “Shokei is ‘good,’ but you are wrong. You have become wrong just because you are repeating the same act, which has become non-spontaneous.”Anything that is non-spontaneous is destructive to the soul. It is not a creative act that enhances your being, that enhances your awareness, that makes your love pure gold. It simply leads you toward the graveyard.Basho wrote:Winter desolation.In a world of one color –the sound of the wind.Winter desolation. In a world of one color – but still something is immensely alive – the sound of the wind.Even in the fall when the forests become full of dry leaves and trees are standing naked against the sky, everything seems to be just like a graveyard, but still there is something alive. When the wind comes even the dead leaves make such music…even the dead leaves start dancing. Those who can understand, those who can feel, will be utterly astonished at the beauty of the dead leaves. They will also be able to see the beauty of the naked trees without any foliage against the sky. Those naked trees also have a beauty, you just need to have eyes to see. Then everywhere you will find life, love, laughter.Maneesha has asked the question:Beloved Buddha,What is it to be “grown up”?Maneesha, everybody grows old; very few people grow up. Growing old is a horizontal process – just moving in a line. You may reach from the cradle to the grave but you have moved horizontally. You have become old, aged, but your inner being is as deep in darkness as it has always been. Unless you start growing vertically, upward to the heights of consciousness, you are not growing up.Our whole education is absolutely unaware of the fact that growing up is a different process than growing old. Even idiots grow old; only buddhas grow up.The process of growing up is going deeper into your roots. Have you ever considered the fact: the higher the tree the deeper are the roots. A high tree, perhaps two hundred feet, three hundred feet, cannot be supported by small roots; it will fall down. A three-hundred-foot-high tree needs exactly the same balance: three-hundred-foot-deep roots. As is the height, so should be the depth.If you want to grow up you should think of going deeper into your roots, and growing up will be a by-product of your growing more alert, more silent, more peaceful. The deeper you are at the center of your being, a tremendous transformation takes place. You start growing up to the ultimate heights of consciousness. In those heights you are the buddhas. No initiation is needed – you know it.When you have a migraine, do you need a confirmation from others? Nobody says, “This person is having a self-styled migraine,” although the poor person who is suffering from migraine cannot prove it by any argument, cannot prove it with any evidence. But that does not matter. One who is suffering from migraine…even if the whole world says, “Without evidence you cannot suffer from migraine,” that is not going to change the situation. The whole world may deny it, but the migraine is there. Only you know it.There are a few things which only you know. When one becomes enlightened, there is no need of any witnesses; it is not a question of anybody else confirming it. Your enlightenment is absolutely your experience, you don’t need any argument.Once Ramakrishna was asked, “What is the logical, rational support for your illumination?”He used the word illumination instead of enlightenment. It is an absolute freedom, one can choose what word he wants to choose.Ramakrishna said, “I am the argument. If you can understand me, if you can feel me you will know my illumination. It is radiating but your eyes are closed. Now I am not responsible for your eyes. If you want to know me, open your eyes – and not only the outward eyes but the inward too, because my illumination is of the inner.”Maneesha, you are all growing up. And you will know, you will feel every day how you are growing up in your sensitivity, in your awareness, in your love, in your silences of the heart. All these flowers are inner. Even if nobody confirms it, it does not matter. It is nobody’s copyright!Once and for all I want the idiots of this earth to know that I don’t need anybody’s confirmation. I am a man in my own right, and whatever I know of my inner, except me, nobody has any right even to raise a finger about it! If I say I am Zorba the Buddha, you may accept it or you may not accept it, but you cannot question it.It is time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh.The TV announcer appears on the screen.“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We interrupt this program to bring you a news flash from the White House. Nancy Reagan’s battle with a stubborn cockroach has landed her husband Ronald in the hospital with severe burns and multiple fractures.“The details are as follows: Mrs. Reagan stamped on the cockroach, threw it in the toilet and sprayed an entire can of insecticide on it when it refused to die.“Later, Mr. Reagan, while using the toilet, threw in a lit cigarette, which set fire to the insecticide fumes. The explosion caused serious burns to the sensitive parts of his body. Shortly after that, two staff members who were carrying Mr. Reagan to the ambulance were told how he had been injured. They began laughing hysterically and dropped him down a flight of stairs, which resulted in a broken pelvis and fractured ribs.“The good news for the evening is that the cockroach walked away unharmed.”Izzy Iceberg, the salesman from “Titanic Insurance,” pays a visit to the Kowalski’s home. Kowalski is out at the pub, so Izzy is forced to talk to Olga.“Do you know how much your husband’s life insurance policy is worth?” asks Izzy.But Olga does not understand what he is talking about and just looks at him, blankly.“Let me put it to you another way,” says Izzy, patiently. “Do you know what you would get after your husband dies?”“Ah! I have often thought about that,” says Olga. “Probably I will get a parrot!”Jesus Christ is walking on his way to Jerusalem one day. Suddenly he sees a man sitting at the side of the road crying.“What is the problem, my son?” asks Jesus.“I am blind and I cannot see the beauty of the flowers and the birds in the sky,” replies the man.“No problem,” says Jesus, just waving his hand in front of the man’s eyes. Suddenly, the man jumps up.“I can see!” he cries, dancing off down the road.Two hours later, Jesus comes upon another man sitting beside the road, crying.“What is the problem, my son?” asks Jesus.“I am crippled and I cannot walk,” replies the man.“No problem,” says Jesus, just waving his hands over the man’s legs. Immediately, the man jumps up and runs off into the hills singing.An hour later, Jesus comes upon another man sitting beside the road, crying and weeping. The man looks perfectly healthy and robust.“What is the problem, my son?” asks Jesus.“Ah! Jesus!” says the man, “I am German!”Jesus sits down and cries too.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes, and feel your body to be completely frozen.This is the right moment to look inward with your total energy, your total consciousness, and with an urgency as if this is going to be your last moment.Deeper and deeper.Go on piercing till you reach to the center of your being. There, you are the buddha.The only quality that the buddha has is witnessing.Witness that your body is not you.Witness that your mind is not you.Witness that only witnessing is your self nature. This is your buddha. It needs no initiation, it needs only a self-exploration into your own kingdom, the kingdom of your inner being.Thousands of flowers will start showering on you, and a peace will descend that passeth understanding. A silence will surround you which is almost like a subtle music. A joy will start arising at the very center of your being, like a spring of pure water.Just witness everything, and remain aloof; don’t get identified with anything. You are the unidentified observer of existence.To make it clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax, but go on continuing to be a witness.That is the secret word I pass on to you.The evening was beautiful on its own, but ten thousand buddhas have made it a miracle.As you relax and just witness, all separation from existence disappears. The Buddha Auditorium becomes a lake of consciousness, awareness, witnessing.These are the greatest and the highest peaks of human potential. This is what I mean by growing up. Be a buddha, and you are grown up.Collect as many flowers as you can before Nivedano calls you back. Persuade the buddha, inch by inch. He has been hiding for millions of years at the center of your being. He has to be brought to the circumference also, so that he can become part of your daily, day-to-day activities and affairs.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back. But come back as a new man, a buddha, with the same grace…the beauty, the splendor, the awareness.Sitting for a few minutes just to recollect, to remember the golden path that you have traveled toward your roots. Remember the joy and the beauty that you have encountered, and remember your original face – I call it the buddha.

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No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 01-12Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 10 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Beloved Buddha,A non-Buddhist scholar, meeting Master Daizui, gave him a bowl. A monk observing this asked Daizui, “What did you use before he presented you with the bowl?”Daizui said, “I used the one I shall use on my last day on earth.”Once, Daizui was asked, “When all things are annihilated, will that also be annihilated?”“It will be annihilated,” said Daizui.On another occasion, a monk asked Daizui, “I am told that at the end of the universe a great fire takes place and everything is destroyed. May I ask you whether or not this also shares that fate?”Daizui replied, “Yes, it does.”The monk went on, “If that is the case, it must be said that this follows others.”Daizui said, “Yes, it does.”The same question was later asked of another master whose name was Shu.He answered, “No, this does not follow others.”When he was asked “Why not?” the master replied, “Because it identifies itself with the whole universe.”Friends,The supreme commanding body of Indian Buddhists, Mahabodhi Sabha, has come with a very angry statement in the press against me. I used to think that Mahabodhi Sabha consists of wise people. I was absolutely wrong – it consists of otherwise guys!The first thing these people should understand: it was not my fault. If you have to be angry, be angry with Gautam Buddha – he knocked on my doors. It is just because I have loved him and respected him that I allowed him to have shelter in my being.Instead of being joyous, the Mahabodhi Sabha members are angry with me. Perhaps they wanted me to kick Gautam Buddha outright. I did, finally. Now it is a past story.I have loved Gautam Buddha and I will continue to love him, but these people are better seen from far away. To have them inside you…it was a torture for me, for four days. But just to be polite and nice toward the ancient soul of Gautam Buddha, I waited for the right moment to say good-bye to him. Now there is no need for any Buddhist to be irritated or angry.And anyway, I have to remind you that it was Gautam Buddha’s choice to knock on my doors; I had not asked for it. Your being angry with me is sheer nonsense. It shows that every organized religion becomes a prison even to its own founder – they won’t allow him to land again in another body!Secondly, I had hoped that the people who have been following Buddha would have some compassion, some understanding, some intelligence. It seems they are just as bigoted, prejudiced, as any other organized religion; there is no difference.It happened with Jesus: the Jews were angry because he was saying that he was the last prophet of the Jews – “for whom you have been waiting for centuries.” The high priest of the great temple of the Jews, and the supreme body of the rabbis who decided matters about their religion, decided that this young man Jesus should be crucified. His sin? His crime? – that he was proclaiming himself to be the last prophet.If you do not agree with him, that is perfectly okay, but there seems to be no reason that he should be crucified.My case is absolutely different. I am not saying that I am anybody’s reincarnation. I hate the very idea! I have my own original face; I don’t want to become anybody’s carbon copy.The Mahabodhi Society is saying that I am making statements as if I am the reincarnation of Gautama the Buddha. I have never said a single word about reincarnation. I have simply said that he wanted to use my body – unfortunately I allowed him, but fortunately I was able to persuade him and to say good-bye to him.Now as far as I am concerned the story is closed. If the Mahabodhi Society wants, it can file a court case against Gautam Buddha! Why did he knock on my doors?It is not my fault. To be angry at me simply shows your stupidity. If you were really lovers of Gautam Buddha, you would have come here and investigated the case. No one entered these gates to inquire! You could have phoned and inquired, “What is the situation?” But no inquiry has been made at all.And you are not even up-to-date about the event. That guy you think so much of is no longer here! Next time, if he comes here he will be kicked out, I promise you – to your heart’s content!It is an old, very old story.The people of Athens could not tolerate the genius of Socrates. In fact, he was the very cream of the Greek mind, but they poisoned him. The little man is always against the giant.Jesus certainly proved a far bigger prophet than he was claiming to the Jews. After his crucifixion Christianity was born, which is now the biggest religion in the world – almost half of the world is Christian. Certainly, Jesus was not a false prophet. His genuineness is proved by the conversion of half of humanity to Christianity.But Jews could not tolerate the man – particularly the rabbis, the learned, the scholarly, the people like the Mahabodhi Society of India. They could not tolerate him because if the last prophet is going to be born, he should be born in a high priest’s body, or it may take place in some learned scholar, a great rabbi respected by the religion of the Jews. But the last prophet chooses to be a carpenter’s son, uneducated, with no claims to scholarship. It was against the arrogance of the scholarly. This simple young man proved to be a great prophet in spite of his crucifixion – perhaps because of his crucifixion.Just today, in a German scholarly magazine, a well-known psychoanalyst has compared me with Jesus. Far away in Germany, that psychoanalyst is more up-to-date about the story that has happened than the Mahabodhi Society. He says, “Just as the Jews could not tolerate Jesus, you will not be tolerated – particularly by the Buddhists.” A simple insight….But I am not claiming to be a reincarnation. I am not claiming anything except that the wandering soul of Gautam Buddha has visited me for four days.Tathagat, who is the in-charge of this commune – please write underneath “Gautama the Buddha Auditorium,” in brackets: “In the memory of his visitation for four days to this commune.” Before it and after it, it is none of my concern.And Maneesha, you should not use only the word Buddha. You should use my full name, “Zorba the Buddha.” That way, I am disconnected from every organized religion. I am just myself, and to be myself is not a sin.I have my own approach to reality. I have said many times that Zorba is half, and Buddha is half. I am a whole human being. I accept the reality of the outer existence, and I love it. And I accept the reality of the inner world. To me, both are one. Neither the inner can exist without the outer – what will be the meaning of the inner without the outer? – nor can the outer exist without the inner; they are two wings of a bird. Only with two wings the bird can fly across the sun in the vast sky of existence.The sutra:Beloved Zorba the Buddha,A non-Buddhist scholar, meeting Master Daizui, gave him a bowl. A monk observing this asked Daizui, “What did you use before he presented you with the bowl?”Daizui said, “I used the one I shall use on my last day on earth.”Daizui’s answer is not literally relevant to the question, but Zen has no concern for literal or logical or rational approaches. It takes quantum leaps.Daizui said, “I used the one I shall use on my last day on earth.”It was a simple thing that has been asked. A non-Buddhist scholar has given him a bowl – Buddhist monks use a bowl for begging. A monk, observing that Daizui has accepted the bowl, asked, “What did you use before he presented you with the bowl?”The reason for his question is that Buddha has given the discipline of non-possession. If you already have a bowl you should not accept another, because it is absolutely useless. Or you should dispose of the first bowl, give it to some other monk who has none – but don’t collect things.That is why the monk asks, “What have you been using up to now?”Daizui changed the whole dimension of the question. He said, “I used the one I shall use on my last day on earth.”He has dropped the idea of the bowl. In fact, he has not been using a bowl. There have been many Buddhist monks who have tried even to improve on Gautam Buddha. They have been using just the hands, like the Jaina monks who don’t use a bowl but just their hands. Whatsoever can be contained in two hands cupped together, that is enough for twenty-four hours. Daizui had been following the same discipline, although it is not Buddhist. And he said, “I used the one I shall use on my last day on earth.”Once, Daizui was asked, “When all things are annihilated, will that also be annihilated?”By “That” is meant the inexpressible within you. Nothing can be said except an indication: That.“When all things are annihilated, will that also be annihilated?”“It will be annihilated,” said Daizui.It is one of Gautam Buddha’s most important contributions: the concept of no-self. On this point he rises high above any other religious prophet, tirthankara, shankaracharya. They all stop at the concept of self. Everything will be annihilated, but the self, the atman will remain.In the language that Gautam used, Pali, the self is called atta, and no-self is called anatta. He preached anatta; you will disappear just as dewdrops disappear in the ocean.Why cling to the idea of self? What will you do with the self when everything is annihilated?And I agree with him, that at a certain point we were not; then we arose like a wave in the ocean. At some point the wave will be shattered on the rocks on the beach and disappear into the ocean. That seems to be absolutely sensible. You enjoyed your day, you blossomed in the morning with all your glory and splendor, and by the evening it is time to go, it is time to disappear back into the earth, into the cosmos.No religion has been able to go beyond the self, because to go beyond the self you cannot find many followers. It looks so absurd: all kinds of ascetic disciplines, meditations, yoga, for what? – to be annihilated! Then what is wrong in being just what you are? Why bother, if everything is going to be annihilated? The buddha will be annihilated, and whether you are a buddha or not you will be annihilated too.According to Indian mythology, which now coincides with the scientific investigations, the whole cosmos, everything, comes out of nothing. Maybe it remains in existence for millions or trillions of years, but a point comes when even the planets, the suns, the moons, even the great stars, get tired and old. It is not only that you die, everything that is born, dies. And in the end, this whole existence one day will die completely; there will be nothing except pure space.That’s how it was, some time back: out of nothing, this soap bubble arises, goes on becoming bigger and bigger and bigger. Then at a certain point it bursts forth, and disappears.Daizui is right when he says, “It will be annihilated.”On another occasion, a monk asked Daizui, “I am told that at the end of the universe a great fire takes place and everything is destroyed. May I ask you whether or not, this also shares that fate?”He has changed his question a little bit, but it makes much difference. First he has asked about that; now he is asking about this.Daizui replied, “Yes, it does. ‘This’ too disappears in the ultimate annihilation.”The monk went on, “If that is the case, it must be said that this follows others.”Daizui said, “Yes, it does.”Daizui seems to be very strong, consistent in his observations. He takes his logical conclusion to the very end.The same question was later asked of another master whose name was Shu.He answered, “No, this does not follow others.”When he was asked “Why not?” the master replied, “Because it identifies itself with the whole universe.”You may think that Shu is giving a different answer. No, he is saying the same thing in positive terms. Because this fellow could not understand Daizui’s negative approach, that everything is annihilated…Shu seems to be compassionate and tries the other way round. He says, “No, this does not follow others.”When he was asked “Why not?” the master replied, “Because it identifies itself with the whole universe.”What is the difference? If the dewdrop disappears, you can call it, in negative terms, the annihilation of the dewdrop. In positive terms you can say the dewdrop has become one with the ocean.Both are the same answer, but from different angles. Don’t think for a single moment that Shu is saying something different. It is the same, whether the dewdrop disappears or becomes one with the ocean. It is all a matter of what kind of language you love to use.A haiku:Fully rested,I open my eyes –spring.These beautiful haikus say so much without saying anything at all.Fully rested – utterly relaxed, I open my eyes – and My God! the spring has come all over.The spring comes with your relaxation – he is talking about the inner spring. Thousands of flowers suddenly start blossoming. You are filled with fragrances of the beyond.But be relaxed. And when you are utterly relaxed, in that restfulness become a witness and the spring is always there, ready to surround you from all directions.Maneesha has asked a question:Beloved Zorba the Buddha,You address us as “My Beloved Friends.” Can we really be your friends or do you call us such out of your generosity of heart?Maneesha, “generosity of heart” will be a humiliation to you, it will be insulting. When I call you my friends, I mean it.I would have loved to call you something even better, but English does not have something better. Urdu has it: Mehre mehbub – My Love, My Beloved One.Remember the words – Mehre mehbub.I say to you, My Friends, My Loves, My Beloved Ones. I mean it. It is not generosity of the heart. Do you understand me? Generosity of the heart will be insulting to you, and I cannot insult you in any way. I love you. Mehre mehbub.It is time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh.Mrs. Feigenbaum is having a nap one afternoon when she is awoken by the sounds of loud banging and groaning from downstairs. She creeps fearfully to the staircase and looks over. In the hallway below, she spies her seven-year-old son, Rubin, with a sex manual in his hand. He is standing on the head of six-year-old Ruthie from next door. Both of the kids are naked.“I don’t understand what has gone wrong,” says Rubin. “This book says, ‘Take off your clothes.’ We did that. Then it says, ‘The man gets on top of the woman.’ I did that” – he’s standing on her head! – “‘The man gets on top of the woman.’ I did that. Where’s all the fun in it?”“I don’t know,” replies Ruthie, “all I know is, I have got a headache!”Newton Hooton goes into the “Hog on Ice” restaurant and orders a glass of water. As Walter the waiter puts the glass on the table, Newton picks it up and throws it in his face.“Ah! I am terribly sorry,” says Newton. “I suffer from a rare tropical disease called the ‘Heebie Jeebies’ and it makes me do all sorts of weird things. Of course I am always really embarrassed later.”“Well, that’s okay,” says Walter, drying his face. “But I think you ought to go and see my psychiatrist friend, Doctor Feelgood.”A few weeks later, Newton Hooton comes back into the “Hog On Ice” and orders a glass of water from Walter. Walter brings the water and places it in front of Newton, and gets the water thrown right back into his face.“I told you to go and see a shrink!” shouts the waiter.“I did,” replies Newton.“Well, it didn’t do any good, did it?” rages Walter.“Yes it did,” replies Newton, “because now I don’t feel at all embarrassed!”Rabbi Nussbaum and Rabbi Feldman go to the tailor shop owned by Marcus Pinkus and request two black suits. Pinkus hands each rabbi a suit.“Are you sure these are black and not midnight blue?” asks Rabbi Nussbaum, peering closely at the material.“Absolutely black, fit for a rabbi!” replies Marcus Pinkus. “Not a trace of blue.”So the two rabbis buy the suits and start to walk up the street.“You know,” says Rabbi Feldman, “I’m a bit worried that these suits from Marcus Pinkus aren’t really black.”Just then, two nuns approach.“Quick!” says Nussbaum. “Open the package and compare the suit to the nuns’ habit. Nuns always wear pure black, so we’ll know for sure!”Feldman takes out the coat and, as the nuns walk by, he says, “Sister, could you tell me what time it is?”As she looks at her watch, Feldman quickly places the coat next to her shoulder to make the comparison.When the nuns reach the convent, the Mother Superior asks if they have anything to report.“Yes,” says one. “We met two men who looked like Jews but who spoke Latin.”“Latin?” asks the Mother Superior. “Since when do Jews speak Latin?”“Well,” says the nun, “I clearly heard one of them exclaim, ‘Marcus Pinkus Fucktus!’”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes. Feel your body to be completely frozen.This is the right moment to look inward – with your total life force, total consciousness. With an urgency as if this moment is going to be the last moment of your life. With such urgency, it takes just a split second to reach to the center, and at the center you are the buddha.This beautiful moment…Ten thousand buddhas utterly silent and centered in themselves…Just witnessing that the body is not your being, the mind is not you. Your only quality, your eternal quality is that of a witness. And when I say you are a buddha, I simply mean you are a witness. This witnessing brings the spring into your being.To make it more clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax.Rest.Just keep watching, witnessing.Slowly slowly, your consciousnesses merge and the Buddha Auditorium becomes a lake without any ripples – of pure awareness, consciousness, witnessing.And in the depth of your being arises the spring.Such a cool, fragrant breeze.Flowers and flowers all around – flowers of eternity, flowers of love, flowers of immortality.Collect as many as you can, and persuade the buddha to come along with you.The buddha is nobody’s monopoly. It is nobody’s copyright. It is everybody’s innermost being. You don’t have to be a Buddhist to be a buddha. To be a buddha transcends all concepts of religions; it is everybody’s birthright. Persuade it to come along with you, to your daily activities, so everything in your life becomes a meditation, a grace, a beauty, a benediction.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back, remembering you are a buddha. Remembering the grace, the beauty, the silence. Sit for a few moments just to recollect the golden path that you have traveled just now.And in your day-to-day life remember as much as possible – without creating any tension and anxiety, in a relaxed and restful way – that your every act becomes the act of one who is awakened, of one who has tasted his innermost being.I want thousands of buddhas around the world, and not a single Buddhist.I teach you the buddha, but not Buddhism. I hate all “isms,” all religions. My love is for your eternity, your immortal being.I have called that immortal being within you, “Mehre mehbub” – My Love, My Friend, My Beloved One.

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No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 01-12Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 11 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Beloved Zorba the Buddha,When Koko, a disciple of Joshu, went to see Master Hogen, he was asked where he had been recently.“With Joshu,” he answered.Hogen asked, “I have heard about Joshu and the oak tree; isn’t this so?”Koko said, “It is not so!”Hogen commented, “But everyone says that when a monk asked about the meaning of Daruma’s coming from the West, Joshu answered, ‘The oak tree in the front garden.’ How can you say it was not so?”Koko replied, “My master said nothing of the kind! Please do not insult the late master.”Hogen commented, “Truly you are a lion’s cub!”On another occasion, a man said to Koko, “All my life I have killed cows and enjoyed it; is this sin or not?”“It is not,” said Koko.“Why not?” the man asked.“One killed, one given back,” was Koko’s answer.My Friends,One wonders whether we are living in a sane society, or everybody has gone bananas…?Ronald Reagan has been trying to kill Colonel Qaddafi all these years he has been in power, for no reason at all. Libya is a small, poor country. A few months ago, President Ronald Reagan attacked Libya, and destroyed two houses in which Qaddafi sometimes lives – most of the time he lives in the desert in a tent. But Ronald Reagan killed his daughter and destroyed his houses, for no reason at all.Just now – this is the last week of his power, but he could not resist the temptation to attack Libya again. He has brought two warships, great carriers; they are standing just close to the shore of Libya, with dozens of fighter planes just waiting for a signal to attack.Libya simply wanted to see whether they were standing in Libya’s territory or in the international ocean. Two jet planes had gone just to look, and they were still inside Libya’s territory when the American warplanes immediately bombed the two jet planes of Libya.The excuse that Ronald Reagan is giving is that Libya is making a factory for biological warfare. He is showing a picture which has been taken from the sky – that means he has already violated Libya’s territory; otherwise how could he get that picture?And the most strange and wonderful and unbelievable thing is, Libya is just making a factory. It has not yet been completed, the building; nobody knows what is its purpose, and nobody asks. America decides that it is going to be a factory for biological warfare.Even if it is going to be a factory for warfare, for biological attacks on other countries, America has the biggest factory like that in the whole world. Ronald Reagan should first destroy the great factory that America has, rather than destroying a poor country’s.You will be surprised to know that President Ronald Reagan and his army chiefs have been denying the fact that they have been using a biological spray on American lands, just to test its potential in case there is a world war based on using destructive biological chemicals. And they have been denying continuously, for years, that it has any bad effect.But the medical association has come forward to say that it is absolutely wrong: “The president is lying, the army chiefs are lying, because we are the persons who know how many people in these areas have died of cancer – they don’t know that they have been killed by their own government!” The rate of cancer in those areas has risen to ten times more than the average. Small children, pregnant women, old men, young men….And finally – because the medical association has come forward – the president has not answered the medical association; neither have the army chiefs answered. Their silence shows their crime against their own people.A military war survey from American experts shows that America is the most warlike country in the whole world. In one hundred forty years it has interfered around the world one hundred fifty times, bringing in its military army, attacking poor people, finding any excuse – any excuse is enough. And Ronald Reagan has committed many crimes, for which he is waiting so that the new president can forgive him.And nobody around the world even objects, even protests. There is absolute silence.But I have tremendous respect for Libya and its people. I protest, alone, as a world citizen, against Ronald Reagan:Before you start dropping bombs on others, you should look at yourself.I have been searching deeply into the American psyche. My understanding is that America and Australia both have been founded by criminals. These criminals were excommunicated from England. They landed, a few of them in Australia and a few of them in America; they became presidents, they became vice-presidents, they killed people without rhyme or reason. Even today in Australia you can hunt human beings.Something in the very blood of Americans is criminal. And the world has to be aware of these criminals because they have the most power today; it erupts without any cause. Certainly there must be something inside the person when he kills someone without any cause….Just a few months before, it had become a tremendous problem in San Francisco and LA Six persons were shot dead for no reason – just because the traffic was jammed. For miles cars were stopped, nobody knew what was the cause – some accident, some truck has upturned, or what has happened nobody knows. And people started shooting the driver of the car ahead! He was honking as hard as he could, because there were miles of cars ahead – he was absolutely innocent. Seeing this situation, all the car owners immediately started purchasing automatic rifles to carry with them in their cars.Something deep down in the psyche of the Americans is bloodthirsty. These are the people who have the nuclear weapons, and it needs only to push a button and the whole world will be on fire.Every action should be taken by the intelligentsia of the world – by the artists, by the poets, by the painters, by the mystics – from all kinds of creative people every protest is needed to save this beautiful planet from bloodthirsty, barbarous people.America knows only one argument, and that is destruction.We have to spread the idea that the only real power comes out of creation, not out of destruction. Destruction just shows your madness. Only creation shows your power.A few more mundane affairs….The Mahabodhi Society of Buddhists goes on making statements. I have not said a single word against the Mahabodhi Society. Now it is time.I object to the very name “Mahabodhi.” Mahabodhi means “the great enlightenment” – neither in the past nor in the present is a single member of the Mahabodhi Society enlightened. They don’t have any right to call their society Mahabodhi; all they can do is to change their name to Maha-abodhi Society of India – abodhi means unenlightened. Otherwise, they have to show at least a single member, in the past or in the present, who has become enlightened in their Society.They are just a bunch of rotten scholars, and they have the nerve to threaten me! In fact, I should take them to court; they have to give evidence for why they are calling their society “Mahabodhi.”It is a great word, it has nothing to do with scholarship. I have known many members of the Mahabodhi Society: none of them is even aware what enlightenment is. And they call their society “The Great Enlightenment Society” – how many people have they made enlightened?People never look at themselves. They don’t understand the implications of simple words. Although they are great scholars, they go on reciting the old sutras of Buddha. Most of them are out of date.I have spoken more on Buddha than anybody in the whole world. I have loved the man; hence I have been choosing only the sutras that can be supported with logic, rationality, and understanding. There are many sutras I have been simply keeping out of my way. If the Mahabodhi Society and the Buddhists of India go on making statements against me, I am going to bring all those sutras that I have kept by the side! I don’t care a bit about anybody – Gautam Buddha included.Just because of my love of the man, because he was not part of any organized religion and he was not inclined to create an organized religion…I have loved his individuality, his grace. But that does not mean that I agree with him one hundred percent. Not more than ten percent is my agreement with his ideas; ninety percent are absolute rubbish. Now these people are provoking me to bring out all that rubbish and condemn it. Unless I do it they will not be silent.Such is the blindness, utter stupidity. One chamar, a shoemaker, has been converted from the Hindu sudras, the untouchables, and has become a Buddhist. Today he has given a statement, that before becoming a buddha I have to be initiated by him into Buddhism.That reminds me of a statement by George Bernard Shaw. He has said, “The people who have lived in inferiority for centuries, if you liberate them don’t think they will be equal. They will immediately start being superior to you.” There is some truth in George Bernard Shaw’s statement.All these Buddhists who are making statements against me have been for five thousand years untouchables. Just a small group in Maharashtra has been converted to Buddhism – not on any religious grounds, but because of a political game of Doctor Ambedkar.But he was purchased. That shows that a sudra, even if he becomes one of the greatest law authorities, and particularly an authority on constitutionalism, can be purchased very easily. That is one of the indications of an inferior person.He was purchased by giving him a post to create the Indian Constitution. He dropped and forgot all about Buddhism. And these three hundred thousand people that he has converted have suffered unnecessary injury, because he himself made the constitution not knowing – that is why I say a man of unawareness can do things with all good intentions, but is bound to commit some deep mistake…. He made the constitution and he made arrangements for the untouchables: special privileges in schools, in colleges, in universities – a special quota for them because they cannot compete with others. Special quotas in every service of the government. But he forgot completely that it would be applicable only if the sudras remain in the Hindu fold, and he converted these three hundred thousand sudras of Maharashtra to Buddhism. Now they don’t have any privileges, no quota, no special scholarships.Now Doctor Ambedkar has ditched them into a far more inferior, far more difficult life. At least the Hindu untouchables have some privileges, some concessions, some special quotas as a compensation for their oppression for centuries, their suppression and exploitation. But these Buddhists – they have lost that. And the constitution was made by the same man who turned these poor people into Buddhists.But George Bernard Shaw is right. And these people have remained under slavery, like cattle, just because they have become Buddhists on political grounds.I repeat it, because Doctor Ambedkar first thought to convert these people, his followers, to Christianity. But a second thought – that in Christianity they will be drowned and he will not be anymore the leader – and he dropped the idea. He had nothing to do with Jesus or Christianity; his whole effort was to remain the leader.He thought about converting them to Mohammedanism but it was the same situation. He would not be in a position to be a leader. Then, he found out that there were no Buddhists in India. He could convert these people to Buddhism and remain their leader. Now this was absolutely a political conversion.But these politically-converted idiots, who don’t understand a single word of enlightenment, are making statements against me.Ishida phoned from Japan to say that I should not take any notice of these people; it is the fate of the giants and the geniuses to be condemned by the little man. She must have been feeling wounded that Buddhists can behave in such a way. She has issued to the Japanese newspapers and magazines a statement, that “It is I who have prophesied. If Indian Buddhists are angry, they should be angry at me.” And she has informed that she will be coming here soon to encounter the press, and to encounter the so-called Buddhists. A woman of tremendous courage….And they go on misinterpreting my statements. I have never said that I am a reincarnation of Gautam Buddha. I am just a reincarnation of myself.In my past lives I have come across many Gautam Buddhas, but I have never been anybody’s disciple. I have searched myself alone, and I declare again that I am just myself, my original face. These Buddhists have no reason to be worried about it. If they want to learn something about enlightenment we will welcome them, but we don’t initiate anybody into Buddhism. We invoke everybody to be a buddha.Why Buddhism? Why this long, unnecessary route? When the buddha is already present in you, all that is needed is to call to him loudly, “Come out! You have been hiding inside for too long; it has become habitual. Come out in people’s life, in their actions, in their love, in their friendship. Transform them.”This is authentic initiation. It does not come from without; it is a provocation and a challenge to your innermost consciousness.Maneesha’s sutra:Beloved Zorba the Buddha,When Koko, a disciple of Joshu, went to see Master Hogen, he was asked where he had been recently.“With Joshu,” he answered.Joshu was one of the most important Zen masters.Hogen asked, “I have heard about Joshu and the oak tree; isn’t this so?”Koko said, “It is not so!”In fact, there was an oak tree just before the cottage of Joshu, and whenever anybody asked, “What is the meaning of Buddhism?” or “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma coming from India to China?” he pointed to the oak tree, meaning, “Why don’t you ask this oak tree, ‘What is the meaning of your being here? What is the meaning of your spreading the branches and the foliage?’” If nobody asks the oak tree, that simply shows that nature has no meaning; it has only significance.Remember these two words: Meaning is logical, mental; it is only a concept. Significance is an experience.What is the meaning of love? If somebody asks you, you will shrug your shoulders. The meaning of love? It is a joy, it is a great experience; it has significance but it has no meaning. A car has a meaning, an air-conditioner has a meaning; things have meanings, but living beings don’t have any meaning.Meaning means some utility. Significance means some beauty, not utility.It is factually true that Joshu used to indicate the oak tree in front of his cottage: “This is the meaning of Buddhism.” Now let the Mahabodhi Society of India fight a court case against Joshu! – he is saying the oak tree is the meaning of Buddhism, the meaning of Bodhidharma coming from India to China.He is right. Existence has no meaning. It has significance, it has fragrances, it has colors, it has beauty, it has splendor. But meaning…?Meaning is concerned with commodities, and life is not a commodity. Enlightenment is not a commodity that you can purchase in the marketplace.That which cannot be purchased will not have any meaning; it will have only significance.But Koko denied it on purpose, because people used to make a laughingstock of Joshu behind his back – “What kind of master is he? We are asking about the great meaning of Buddha’s teaching, and he indicates toward the oak tree. He is nuts!”To the rational mind it will appear so.Koko was Joshu’s very intimate disciple.Hogen is asking, “I have heard about Joshu and the oak tree” – it has become a joke in Zen circles – “Isn’t this so?”Koko said, “It is not so!”I have told you about the difference between fact and truth. Koko is saying, “Factually it may be so, but not in truth. In truth he did not indicate the oak tree, he indicated the life juices in the oak tree which are the same in us.”We are all rooted in the same existence; we are getting our nourishment from the same existence. The oak tree is just a brother, a friend – maybe mute and dumb, but that does not make any difference. Our life sources are coming from the same existence.Koko said, “It is not so.”Hogen commented, “But everyone says that when a monk asked about the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West, Joshu answered, ‘The oak tree in the front garden.’ How can you say it was not so?”Koko replied, “My master said nothing of the kind! Please do not insult the late master.”He is dead now, and nobody had the guts when he was alive to approach him and argue about the oak tree. Now that he is dead, please don’t insult him. You don’t understand the meaning of his indicating the oak tree.He was not indicating the oak tree, he was simply indicating the hidden sources of life juice rising in the oak tree…against gravitation. The oak tree is very strong, very tall, one of the most beautiful trees. Against the force of gravitation, the juices go upward.No tree needs a pumping mechanism. You cannot bring water from the well without a pump, but the tree is doing exactly that miracle. Every tree is moving juices against gravitation’s pull. There are trees three hundred feet tall, and they take up the juices three hundred feet, the waters, their nourishment – to the last leaf, three hundred feet away from the earth. It also gets the same nourishment.It is a miracle. Joshu was indicating the miracle, saying that when you also start growing upward against the gravitation of the earth, when your consciousness starts flying in the sky – when your consciousness becomes an Everest, a high peak of a mountain – you will understand the significance of Bodhidharma’s coming to China, or Buddha’s meaning.Hogen commented, “Truly you are a lion’s cub!”With deep respect – he understood Koko’s standpoint, that now that Joshu is dead, nobody should raise the question which was never raised when he was alive.Hogen was a famous master, but Koko did not care about it. Hogen respectfully commented, “Truly you are a lion’s cub. You are certainly a great disciple of Joshu.”On another occasion, a man said to Koko, “All my life I have killed cows and enjoyed it; is this sin or not?”“It is not,” said Koko– against the whole tradition of Buddhism.A master has to respond in the present moment, according to his spontaneity. He does not repeat old scriptures, he does not quote old masters. He has every right to respond spontaneously, and his spontaneous response was very strange, against the whole tradition. He said, “It is not.”According to great masters, there is no sin and there is no virtue. There is only one thing: that is awareness. If you are aware, you can do anything you want and it is not sin. If you are not aware, you may do so-called virtuous acts, but there is no virtue in them. Out of unconsciousness virtue cannot blossom. It blossoms only when you are full of light, full of love, full of consciousness.Koko said, “It is not.”“Why not?” – the person was feeling guilty, because the whole tradition says killing cows is a sin.It was really a part of Hinduism. Buddha was born a Hindu, was conditioned as a Hindu. So even though he became enlightened, some fragments of his old conditioning, of his childhood, remained hanging around him – particularly the idea that to kill a cow is a sin. The man was feeling guilty himself because Buddha has forbidden it, he has propagated nonviolence. And what kind of master is this Koko? He says, “It is not.”“Why not?” the man asked.“One killed, one given back,” was Koko’s answer.He said, “You cannot really kill anybody; you can only separate the consciousness from the body. So what is the problem? The consciousness, if it still wants to have a body, will enter another womb. You have supported it perhaps, to drop the old body and to get a fresh one. There is no sin in it.”In fact, there is no sin anywhere.I have to remind you that the original meaning, the root meaning of the word sin is forgetfulness, unconsciousness. It has nothing to do with your actions, it has something to do with your inner remembrance. Who you are, you have forgotten completely.This is the only sin, to remain unconscious, and the only virtue to become a buddha.A haiku:A dragonfly on the rock;midday dreams.I have told you again and again that haikus are not poetries in the ordinary sense; they are poetic, they are more visual than verbal.Just visualize….A dragonfly on the rock, having midday dreams….That is the situation of every unconscious human being. Not only the dragonfly, you are also living in dreams. Until a pillar of consciousness arises in you, you will live in dreams, in nightmares, and your life will be a wastage. It will not come to fulfillment, to contentment, to a deep realization of organic unity with the cosmos.That is the only splendor to experience.Nothing is higher than that.Maneesha has asked a question:Beloved Zorba the Buddha,You referred to the Mahabodhi Sabha Buddhists as bigoted and prejudiced. They have also, in essence, dictated to Gautam and to you how you both should behave. Are bigotry, prejudice and dictatorial attitudes all part of the same syndrome?Yes, Maneesha.It is very unfortunate but it has been the whole history of man that the crowd, the mob, the ignorant, has been dictating the behavior even of those who have come to be enlightened.It reminds me of the times of Gautam Buddha. The masses were demanding, “When Mahavira is standing naked under the sun, that is true renunciation. Why are you carrying three pieces of clothing? Just these three pieces of clothing destroy your claim that you are the awakened one.”The masses were asking Gautam Buddha, “Mahavira knows past, future and present. Do you know? If you don’t, then you cannot claim to be of the same status as Mahavira.”Nobody ever inquired what Mahavira knows about the future. Perhaps he knows something about the past – he cannot know everything about the past; the past is four million years. Perhaps he knows something about his past lives, that is conceivable; but he cannot know anything about the future.Do you think Mahavira knew that we would be meeting this evening in Gautama the Buddha Auditorium? Then he must have gone mad! Too much to remember – the whole past, the whole future, the whole present….Neither Mahavira knew anything about the future nor Buddha knew anything about the future. But to concede…because the problem is, the masses are asking you; otherwise they will not give you the respect.He conceded, “Yes, when I want to look into the future, I can look. Whenever I want to look at the past, I can. But I cannot say that I know without looking in the past, in the future.”The masses thought, “Obviously he has not attained that great height which Mahavira has attained.”And it is not that they asked only Gautam Buddha; they have been asking everybody, and even your so-called great geniuses have been conceding to their demands, considering the ignorant masses. Otherwise, they lose all respectability.Perhaps I am the first man in the history of mankind who does not care a bit about respectability. What respectability? – from ignorant people? I don’t have to make considerations for anyone. I just depend on my spontaneity and my consciousness. Other than that, I don’t care about anybody.In the commune in America, my friends from all over the world had given me ninety-three Rolls Royces. The whole of America was jealous. Perhaps for the first time they had come across such a man, who owns nothing and yet makes the richest people of the world jealous.Even Rockefeller was against me, wanted me to be somehow destroyed. Because even the richest could not afford ninety-three Rolls Royces – and I was allowing my friends, if they wanted, to bring Rolls Royces. I had no use for them, I had never gone to look in the garage. Even the Rolls Royce company’s president had come to see the garage, because I was a historic customer: never before or after is anybody going to have ninety-three Rolls Royces. And seven more were on the way before they arrested me.I created so much jealousy. They could not understand, they could not see, they were absolutely blind. They could not see that no man can use even two Rolls Royces together, so there must be something else behind this whole scene.There was. I was attacking the very egoistic idea of America that they are the richest people in the world – and I proved it. And I still challenge them: if anybody has the guts, just produce ninety-three Rolls Royces.One bishop was continuously, every Sunday, talking against my Rolls Royces. Such is the blindness! Perhaps he was dreaming only about Rolls Royces; seven days per week he was thinking about it; otherwise how could this become his only sermon? He forgot all about Jesus and the Bible.And you will be surprised – before I was arrested, there was a rumor for two months continuously that any day I would be arrested. But even the government agencies refused to arrest me, for the simple reason that “You don’t have any evidence against that man. If he has ninety-three Rolls Royces, you are free to have more. It is a free country.”The FBI refused; the National Guard refused. The chief of the National Guard simply laughed. He said, “You are just being stupid. Your real reason is jealousy because the commune is living in such beauty and comfort and love and joy. You want to destroy the commune, but I don’t see any reason to order his arrest.”They approached the Army – to arrest a single human being who has not even a paper knife. And the chief of the Army said, “You are asking an absolutely nonsense question. Never in the history of man has the Army been ordered to arrest a single human being who has no weapons.”This bishop, seeing that soon I will be arrested because the government and the fundamentalist Christians were determined to destroy the commune, wrote me a letter, saying, “Now that you will be going – it is almost certain – can you give one Rolls Royce to my church in charity?” And this same man, for years, had been condemning them!I informed him, “I can give you all the Rolls Royces. Do you have space in your church?”He wrote back to say, “No, I don’t want ninety-three, because that will destroy me! Just one….”I said, “I am not that miserly. Either ninety-three or none.” He became silent.That shows the psychology of man. What he says may not be what is in his mind; his intention may be totally different. What he acts is not necessarily what he wants to do. The unconscious mind looks all around and follows the crowd.I love George Gurdjieff – only one man in this whole century – because he said, “Don’t consider others.” That was his fundamental. Naturally he could not get many followers – not more than twenty lived with him, and perhaps there were two hundred who used to come and go.Why did he say, “Don’t consider others”? Because if you consider others you are considering unconsciousnesses, and if you negotiate with them you are falling down from your own consciousness. Or perhaps you are also an unconscious being, desiring to be respected by the idiots.I don’t consider anybody. It is enough for me to look into myself.Spontaneity, to me, is the only virtue, awareness the only religion. And only weaklings, cowards, consider others.Maneesha, it is the same syndrome: bigotry, prejudice, and a dictatorial attitude.But nobody can dictate anything to me. If this mad society wants to kill me, they can kill me – but they cannot dictate to me.It is time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh.When a husband comes home unexpectedly, a French wife says, “Pierre, move over; my husband is home!”A German wife says, “Fritz, you are two minutes early!”An English wife says, “Hullo, darling. May I introduce Gilbert?”A Greek wife says, “Hi, Spyro! The back door is still open!”An Italian wife says, “Mamma mia, Luigi. If you are going to shoot-a us all, shoot-a yourself first!”And a Jewish wife says, “Hymie, is that you? Then who is this with me?”Kowalski decides to take his family on vacation to Miami Beach. He piles everybody into his old Ford and heads on down the Florida highway.Three days later, he is back.“What happened?” asks Jablonski, the next door neighbor. “Did you not like Miami Beach?”“I never got the chance to find out,” explains Kowalski. “I was driving down the highway when I came to a big sign that said: ‘Miami Beach – Left.’ So I turned around and came back home!”What is the difference between a misfortune and a disaster?A great difference. For example: a goat is walking across a bridge, loses its footing and falls into the river. That is a misfortune, not a disaster.But if an airplane carrying Ronald Reagan and his entire Cabinet crashes, and everybody is killed, that is a disaster – but not a misfortune.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent. Close your eyes. Feel your body to be completely frozen.This is the right moment to look inward with your total consciousness, and with an urgency as if this is going to be your last moment.The urgency makes the job absolutely easy. Your consciousness rushes like a spear into the center of your being…and there is tremendous silence, a great peace, and an experience of your own buddhahood.The only quality of the Buddha is just to be a witness.Watch everything.Your body is not you, your mind is not you. You are only your witness.This witness is eternal; it has been always here and will always remain here, whether in some body or spread all over the universe.That’s what happens to the enlightened man. When he dies he is not born again; he simply disappears into the vast cosmos, becomes one with it.To make the witnessing more clear, Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Relax, but remember only one thing: witnessing. This single word witnessing is the master key to all the mysteries and miracles of life.The evening was immensely beautiful in itself, but the presence of ten thousand buddhas has made it a splendor, a majesty, a beauty not ordinarily known on this planet. I can see the Buddha Auditorium has turned into a lake of consciousness without any ripples.You are the most fortunate ones at this moment on the earth.Gather as much silence as you can, as many flowers, that are showering on you – of silence, of love, of joy….Gather all the songs that are arising in you, all the dances, and persuade the buddha to come along with you.It has been a long time he has been hiding at the center of your being. Bring him to the circumference of your life. That is the only real test:when your actions become graceful, when your eyes radiate love, silence, infinity, when your silence is a song, when you are just sitting, still one can feel a dance within you of immense beauty and splendor.Persuade the buddha. It is your own being. Slowly slowly, every day, the difference between the circumference and the center is becoming less and less and less.The moment the difference disappears you are enlightened.You don’t have any need to be initiated; you don’t have any need for any recognition from any authority. You are the authority! You are the buddha!Just take your life in your own hands.That is the only dignity of individuality.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back – not the way you have gone in,but as a new man, as a buddha with peace, silence and grace, with beauty.Just sit in silence for a few moments to remember, to recollect the golden path you have traveled just now. And remember all that you experience at the center of your being – you have to bring it to the circumference.You have to remember day and night – without any tension, in a relaxed and playful way – that every act of yours shows compassion and love, that every word of yours shows grace and beauty, that your whole life slowly becomes a song, a poetry…a haiku.

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No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 01-12Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Mind The Flowers of Eternity 12 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Beloved Zorba the Buddha,When he first met Sekito, Ho Koji asked, “Who is he that is independent of all things?”Before he could finish his question, Sekito covered Koji’s mouth with his hand. At this, Koji underwent an experience and expressed himself in the following verse:“Daily, nothing particular,Only nodding to myself.Nothing to choose, nothing to discard.No coming, no going,No person in purple.Blue mountains without a speck of dust.I exercise occult and subtle power,Carrying water, shouldering firewood.”Later, when he came to visit Ma Tzu, Koji again asked, “Who is he that is independent of all things?”Ma Tzu said, “When you have drunk all the water in the Yangtze River, I will tell you.” At this, Koji underwent another great experience and composed a second verse:“The ten directions converging,Each learning to do nothing,This is the hall of Buddha’s training;Mind is empty, all is finished.”Friends,One absolutely innocent man has been hanged yesterday morning. The High Court had no evidence against him – not even circumstantial evidence, not even any technical loophole – but he was sentenced to death because he was the uncle of one of the terrorists who murdered Srimati Indira Gandhi. His only crime was to be the uncle of the man. One simply cannot believe that to be an uncle to a terrorist is enough to hang him.The Supreme Court has rejected the appeal to reconsider, without giving any evidence or any reasoning why they have rejected the appeal. The president has rejected the mercy appeal without giving any reason why he is rejecting it.The attorney who was working hard to save this innocent man is my attorney also. I know him intimately; he has been fighting for me in many courts, in many cases. I know his honesty, integrity. His name is Ram Jethmalani. He tried hard in every possible way, saying that there is no evidence; you cannot murder an innocent man. But power is blind, and when blind power becomes revengeful then it is absolutely destructive.I am not concerned that one man has been hanged. My concern is, as a citizen of this country, that hanging an innocent man is hanging justice itself, is hanging democracy, freedom of individuality, freedom of expression – even freedom to be innocent! And these politicians go on talking about justice and democracy, and under these beautiful names everything corrupt and inhuman goes on, beautifully. Not a single intellectual, or a single freedom lover, nor a single man who would like equal justice for all, has raised any protest.Ram Jethmalani, as a final effort, approached the World Court. The World Court said, “Put us in contact with the president.” The secretary of the president said, “It is too late” – it was only eight-thirty in the evening – “and we cannot disturb the president at this late hour, and in the morning the man will be hanged.” When the man was hanged, Rajiv Gandhi was playing on the grounds as if nothing was happening.This country has been fighting for freedom – not for this freedom. It has been fighting for justice – not for this justice, where you don’t have any evidence of any kind. You are murdering the constitution of the country, its justice; you are destroying its freedom. And there is no protest.People are so conditioned to be slaves, that when the whole country should have risen against this criminal act of the Supreme Court and the president of India, there is not even a single sign. It seems the whole country has been castrated.But I protest with my whole heart!In the first place, death is not a right way of punishment, even to the person who has murdered somebody. This is the law of the jungle, an eye for an eye. It is not justice. The man has murdered somebody, and you murder the man! Can blood wash your hands which are full of blood?And as far as talking is concerned, all the leaders, all the politicians go on talking about beautiful things, giving hope and consolation to the masses, but the fact is that there is no law, no constitution. If you can murder an innocent man you can do anything – and the country will remain silent.But I, as an individual, alone, protest this murder of the innocent man.Secondly, all these past few days I have been exposing Indian intelligence, but nobody seems to come forward and accept the truth. On the contrary, they become angry. Just today I have received from Amaravati a newspaper editorial saying about me, “You are creating your own dictionary” – because I have explained that the word bhagwan is a pornographic word. But the stupid editor does not produce any other meaning of the word from any dictionary.I challenge anybody to produce any other meaning of the word bhag. It means vagina. And you can see in every nook and corner of every city the statue of Shivalinga; it is a phallic statue. It is a man’s genitals, based in a feminine vagina, and the whole country goes on worshipping it. Nobody even wonders – what are you worshipping? You are not even ashamed!Shiva is called by the Hindus not a small god, but mahadeva – the great god. And the great god is represented by male genitals. I am not creating any dictionary; I am simply bringing to your notice the authentic meaning of the word, and if you are intelligent, from now onward nobody should be called Bhagwan – neither Mahavira, nor Buddha, nor Krishna, nor Rama – nobody should be called Bhagwan. It is abusive; it is ugly and obscene.I had carried that word in front of my name for thirty years just as a challenge, but nobody even came to challenge it. The pundits of this country, the priests of this country, must have understood deep down in their hearts that if they challenged me, I was going to expose the meaning of the word.Now I have denied even Gautam Buddha, for the simple reason that I don’t accept Gautam Buddha as a whole man. He has renounced the world, he has renounced the outer – and a man who is living only with the inner cannot be complete or perfect. Hence, I call myself Zorba the Buddha. But even that is hurting unintelligent people; they don’t understand the meaning of Zorba. Even the Sri Lankan ambassador to America has written me a letter, saying that I should not use the word Buddha with Zorba; it is insulting to Buddha.I wrote him: in the first place you don’t have any monopoly over the word Buddha. In the second place, anyone who is awakened has the right to call himself the “Buddha,” and my effort to bring Zorba and Buddha together is indicative of my whole philosophical approach. I want the world and your inner being to be in tune. The inner and the outer should be balanced.Zorba the Buddha is my philosophy. But if it hurts, I am helpless.But I would like my editors not to put it behind my name. I don’t want to irritate ignorant, blind, unintelligent people around the world. You are my only world; I am living just for you. I renounce the whole world completely.You should take note of it, Maneesha, that “Shree Rajneesh” is enough to indicate toward me.As far you are concerned, you can address me as “My Beloved Master.”I have something more important to do than to bother about these idiots. They don’t understand even their own scriptures – they are so ugly, they are so pornographic, but they have never read Shivapurana or Vayupurana. They don’t know anything about their own religion, but they get hurt very easily – that shows their conditioned mind. And they have lost all capacity to understand anything new.I have invited Morarji Desai to the ashram. He has been cheating the owner of the Oceana Building – once I have been in that building with him. He has not been paying, but because he was sometimes chief minister of Bombay, sometimes chief minister of Gujarat, sometimes deputy prime minister of India, and finally he became the prime minister of India, the building owner could not do anything about him. It was at his whim whether to pay the rent or not. Once in a while he would pay.But now that he is no one, the owner has dragged him to the court, and the court has decided in favor of the building owner. All his followers have simply deserted him. The people who made him chief minister and prime minister – where have they gone? All those chamchas…. It is a special Indian word; it means all those “spoons” who were sucking his blood – they have all disappeared. Not a single one has invited Morarji Desai to be with him in his house. And he had all the richest people of the country as his friends; they were surrounding him and praising him like anything. Now he has only five hundred and sixty rupees in the bank account, and it is so humiliating that Bombay has collected eleven thousand rupees for him to live – for his whole life.But I invited him, making it clear that in my campus two conditions have to be fulfilled. You have to stop drinking urine; my people don’t like such disgusting habits. And you have to come with a negative AIDS certificate.One man, M.V. Kamath – one of the oldest journalists, intellectual – immediately reacted, and he gave an interview to a newspaper stating, “I was going to write something good about Osho, but because he has insulted Morarji Desai, now I am not going to write what I was going to write.”Strange….And yesterday I received his review of my book Zarathustra – that’s the “something good” he was writing about me. Now, he was in an absolute confusion. He has written such absurd things just to be revengeful, and it has nothing to do with the book Zarathustra. If he was angry at me, it was enough that he had shown his anger in the newspapers. But he writes about Zarathustra that it is contradictory. He does not give any example – a single example would have been enough – “It is inconsistent,” he says, but without any example.Just because M.V. Kamath says it is inconsistent or self-contradictory it does not become self-contradictory or inconsistent. And he says that there are repetitions in the book. Yes, there are repetitions because it is not a written book. These are lectures, running for months, and one has to understand that a written book is different.When a person is writing, he can cut; he can remove some passages if there is any tautology, any repetition. He can give the book to a few people to look into to see if they find anything inconsistent. But these are spontaneous talks given to the disciples, and sometimes it is absolutely necessary to repeat a few things again in a different context. They are not repetitions because the context is different.But just in his own statement, he has made himself a fool – saying, “I was going to write something good,” and just because I have invited Morarji Desai, with conditions, he became angry. Because Morarji Desai had made him an international reporter based in Washington. Just to pay him respect, if he was so much offended, he could have invited Morarji Desai to live in his own house!Now Morarji Desai is hanging…. The government had given him a house. First he refused, because it is the opposition who is in power, and he does not belong to this opposition party. To take refuge and support from them he felt was undignified, and he was hoping that he would have so many friends who would come to help him. Nobody has come to help him.Finally he accepted – this is even more humiliating – the government’s offer to him. Until his death he can occupy a certain bungalow. But that bungalow is already occupied by a woman who used to be the education minister in Chavan’s cabinet. Now she is no longer the minister, but she insists she will not vacate the bungalow.And there are no rules for government bungalows, so she is in a good position. At the most, the government can ask her for the rent, and she is willing to pay the rent. Now there is no way, so the government is searching for another bungalow that somebody can vacate for Morarji Desai. And he is hanging in the air.Still, because of the courtesy of the owner of Oceana, he has extended, saying to Morarji Desai that “Until you get another bungalow, you can stay a few months.”Now M. V. Kamath was going to write a beautiful press review on Zarathustra, but out of anger he writes absolute absurdities.I was simply amazed that nobody seems to understand the difference between reaction and response. You react with your old conditionings, without ever giving a second thought to any new approach.Hence, I will be simply my own name. I hope nobody objects to it. Otherwise, I can manage without a name.I have to live with these blind people and all kinds of idiots, but I am not living for them; they should know. I am living for only my people, whose hearts have melted with me.These few breaths that are left to be here on the earth, I have to devote to my own people, with the hope that they will use this opportunity to become aflame with joy and blissfulness, to find their roots in eternity, immortality…to become in their own right one with the cosmos, dancing with the stars and the flowers and the rivers and the oceans.Maneesha has brought a few beautiful sutras.First, a small biographical note:Ho Koji (“Ho” was his family name, “Koji” was a title of respect for a lay student of Zen) first spent time with Sekito and then went to Ma Tzu. He became enlightened and was one of Ma Tzu’s successors.Beloved Master,When he first met Sekito, Ho Koji asked, “Who is he that is independent of all things?”Before he could finish his question, Sekito covered Koji’s mouth with his hand. At this, Koji underwent an experience and expressed himself in the following verse…What must have transpired? Koji was going to ask the question, “Who is he that is independent of all things?”Your innermost being, the witness…but it is not a word, it is an experience.That’s why, before he could finish his question, Sekito covered Koji’s mouth with his hand. “Don’t ask such a question which cannot be answered. Don’t ask such a question which can only be experienced. Go inward. Close your mouth, and close your mind. Move into the space of no-mind.”This closing of the mouth was very symbolic, and Koji went through an experience…and could not believe that such a simple act of a master can manage to ignite a fire within you.For the first time he saw his own no-mind – the vast space of the inner being.It is as big as the outer sky; otherwise there will be no balance between the outer and the inner.He expressed his experience in a verse:Daily, nothing particular,Only nodding to myself.Nothing to choose, nothing to discard.No coming, no going,No person in purple.Blue mountainsWithout a speck of dust.I exercise occult and subtle power,Carrying water, shouldering firewood.What he is saying is the experience of every meditator.Daily, nothing particular…These words are applicable to you. Nothing in particular, daily.Only nodding to myself.When you see your being, when you see the vast sky, the freedom, the joy, the blissfulness, have you ever thought? – you cannot say anything about it to anyone. You cannot say anything about it even to yourself. All that you can do is nod your head, “Yes, this is it.” Nodding, not words.Only nodding to myself.Nothing to choose, nothing to discard.That’s what I mean by Zorba the Buddha: nothing to choose.Buddha had chosen: he had chosen to escape from the world, he had chosen to leave his wife and child and old father, he had chosen to run away instead of encountering the world and facing the reality. It was a clear-cut choice against the world, against the material, in favor of the spiritual.A man of totality has nothing to choose. His life is a life of choicelessness. Nothing to choose, nothing to discard; they are two sides of the same coin. If you choose something, you will have to discard something.Nothing to choose, nothing to discard.No coming, no going, one simply is.No person in purple.Blue mountains without a speck of dust.I exercise occult and subtle power,Carrying water, shouldering firewood.“In ordinary life,” Koji is saying, “I am exercising what is called ‘occult power.’ In carrying water, I am being a witness. Shouldering firewood, I am a witness.”And the moment you are a witness you are in meditation. Whatever you are doing or not doing, it is irrelevant.Later, when he came to visit Ma Tzu, Koji again asked, “Who is he that is independent of all things?”Ma Tzu said, “When you have drunk all the water in the Yangtze River, I will tell you.” At this, Koji underwent another great experience and composed a second verse…What again transpired?Ma Tzu said, “I will tell you. First, you have to drink all the water in the Yangtze River – a vast river, it will take eternity for you to drink all the water.” Ma Tzu is saying, “Don’t ask impossible things.”You are asking the impossible thing which cannot be answered, but only can be experienced. You are asking, “Who is he that is independent of all things?” – the witness, the mirrorlike reflecting consciousness. But there is no way to make you understand just by words.You have to go through the experience of witnessing. That is the only way to dissolve the mystery. Otherwise you can go on collecting answers from masters, from scriptures, from all around the world. But all that you will collect will be simply rubbish.Anybody else’s experience is not going to be your experience. If you drink water, your thirst is quenched, not mine. I will have to drink water to quench my thirst; the experience is absolutely individual.He recognized the fact that he is asking an impossible question. It is not the master’s fault that he is talking of an absurdity:“When you have drunk all the water in the Yangtze River, I will tell you.”Zen has a way of saying things which nobody else in the world has used. Rather than saying, “You are asking me an impossible question,” Ma Tzu says for him first to do something impossible – “Then come and ask me. If you can manage to drink all the water of the Yangtze River, I will manage the experience to be translated into words.”Nothing is possible: neither can you drink all the water of Yangtze….Immediately, Koji understood and underwent another enlightening experience. He composed another verse:The ten directions converging,Each learning to do nothing,This is the hall of Buddha’s training;Mind is empty, all is finished.At the very center of your being, ten directions are converging – the whole universe is meeting within you.Each learning to do nothing,This is the hall of Buddha’s training…The only thing to be learned is not to do anything, but just be. Doing moves you. Doing, in the beginning at least, may take you away from witnessing; you may forget to witness. So in the beginning, just be – silent, utterly immobile, as if dead, so that you can experience being in its purity.Once experienced, you can bring the same quality, the same grace, the same bliss, to your actions in the ordinary life.Then there is no difference between meditation and life. Then whatever you are doing is your meditation. If you are not doing anything, that is your meditation, because all along, twenty-four hours, you are rooted in your being. You are luminous. Your light, your fire is burning so high that there is no way to forget it. It is radiating all around you. Those who are perceptive, receptive, sensitive, will experience your fire, your life, your song…your dance, even though you are not moving at all.All that is needed is, mind should be empty. The ultimate experience is the experience of no-mind.Mind is a faculty to work in the world. It has no way to reach to your very center, which is far away, back. Mind cannot go backward, it has no reverse gears; it can only go forward. You can take it to the mountains, to the stars, wherever you want, but you cannot take it to your own being.If you want to go to your own being, you will have to leave the mind; you will have to go alone. You will have to go in silence, without thought.And once, just once you know what freedom, what joy, what eternity, what tremendous life bursts forth in you as no-mind is entered, the spring has come to you. Thousands of flowers of eternity blossom. You have come to know the master key that opens all the doors of all the mysteries of existence.But it has nothing to do with the mind or thinking.No thought, no mind, no choice – just being silent, rooted in yourself, rejoicing. Thrilled with the experience, overflowing with great benediction to the whole universe – this is the only religion I know of.All other religions are just frauds.Ho-o wrote:Sun shower mirroredin a globe of rainhangs for one moment,never seen again.Sun shower mirrored in a globe of rain hangs for one moment – he is talking about the rainbow, not mentioning the name. Sun shower mirrored in a globe of rain hangs for one moment, never seen again.Have you ever seen the same rainbow again? Such is our so-called mundane life: just rainbows, the same stuff dreams are made of. There is no need to abandon rainbows – enjoy. But know perfectly well that it is a momentary phenomenon.I wonder that people like Gautam Buddha, Mahavira and others, have insisted that the quality of the outer world is just like rainbows, dreams, and still they renounce it! Only one thing can be right. Either they understand exactly that the world is just a dream…then there is no point in renouncing it. Do you renounce your dreams every morning? You know they were dreams; it is finished!But on the one hand they say this whole world is just like dreams, and on the other hand they renounce it and go through all kinds of austerities in renouncing it. Certainly something is wrong. Either they don’t understand what they are saying, that the world is just like rainbows…. So what? Enjoy the rainbows!You need not escape from the rainbows. They are beautiful for the moment – why long and desire that they should be permanent? What is wrong in their being momentary?Just rejoice! When it rains, just dance in the rains.When I was a postgraduate student in the university, there was a small street only for deans of faculties – arts, commerce, science – and renowned professors of different subjects. It was very silent, peaceful, with great trees, ancient trees. It had been a special section built for the British people, so the trees were very ancient, the bungalows beautiful. And the street ended, it did not go anywhere. After a mile of beautiful bungalows and high trees, there was suddenly a stop; you were facing a deep valley. The street was on top of a hill.Whenever it used to rain, I used to go on that street, because there was no traffic. The last bungalow belonged to the dean of science, a certain Doctor Shrivastava; he was very friendly with me. We used to discuss about the possibility of there being some day a meeting between mysticism and physics – he was a professor of physics, and a world-renowned professor.But he had never seen…he used to be in the university when I would go singing and dancing in the rain. And I always had to stop at the last bungalow. The last bungalow was his; his wife and his children always waited for me. Whenever there was rain, they were all standing on the verandah waiting for me. I waved at them and they waved at me…we were not introduced to each other; I did not know that they were the family of Professor Shrivastava. But they thought that I must be mad….One day Professor Shrivastava said to me, “I want you to meet my family before you leave the university.” I said, “I will come along whenever you want.” He said, “Why not today?”So he took me in his car, and he had phoned the family to say, “I am bringing a special guest.” The family was waiting for the special guest. When they saw me, they all laughed and ran inside the house!Professor Shrivastava was very much embarrassed. He said to me, “Forgive me, there seems to be some misunderstanding.”I said, “No, there is some understanding!”He said, “Understanding?” I said, “This is your family? We are well-acquainted. They think me mad, I think them mad – we wave at each other….”He said, “You never told me!”I said, “I never knew that this was your family.”He took me inside, he called everybody, and he asked, “Why are you laughing?”They said, “We have been laughing for almost two years! This young man is strange.” His wife said, “Whenever it rains, he always comes singing, dancing, alone on the street, and he stops just in front of our bungalow and we wave at each other. We are well acquainted in a way. We think he is mad, and we know he thinks we are mad, because why should we wait? We wait for hours.”Doctor Shrivastava said, “It is strange. I was thinking to introduce you to my family, but they know you better than me! Why have you never told me?”I said, “I have been asking many professors to come along with me, it is such a joy, but they say, ‘It looks very embarrassing. If some students see, or some professors see, even our jobs can be at risk. You don’t have anything to lose, and anyway the whole university thinks that you are a stranger. You can afford it, we cannot.’ That’s why I did not say anything to you. You are an old fellow, you might not like the idea.”He said, “I like the idea immensely, but I cannot come dancing in the rain – even my family will think, ‘My God! That young man has corrupted our father, our husband.’”I said, “This is my whole business, to corrupt. This was the business of Socrates, to corrupt – this is my business also.”Sun shower mirroredin a globe of rainhangs for one moment,never seen again.The poet is saying, “Just because it is momentary and you will never come across it again, there is no reason to abandon it. Rejoice in it. The moon, the sun, the rain…they are all so beautiful.”There is no need to renounce anything.You should be centered in your being; then the whole world is yours. That’s why I call my philosophy Zorba the Buddha. Zorba enjoyed everything of the outer world, but he had no idea of the inner. He danced under the rain, he danced on the beach in the full-moon night….His boss was a thin man, always suffering from headache, stomachache, this or that. And Zorba was a poor servant. One full-moon night, Zorba went to his boss and said, “Boss, only one thing is wrong with you: you think too much. Just come along with me!” And before the boss could have said no, Zorba just pulled him toward the beach.It was absolutely silent. There was nobody on the beach in the middle of the night, with the full moon showering. And Zorba started playing on his instrument and dancing, and holding the hand of the boss so the boss also had to dance, looking all around to see that nobody is watching.Finally he got the message. It passed through Zorba’s hand. His dance, his joy, his playing on the instrument…something happened to the boss. Zorba left him, and he continued dancing. Zorba went back to the cottage, but the boss continued dancing.Early in the morning, Zorba came back and said, “Now, come back. Soon people will be awakening.”The boss said, “You have cured me of all my diseases. They were all mind-created. You were right, I think too much. From now onward I will try not to think. I would also like to see that space which opens up when there is no thinking at all.”Zorba was not aware of the inner; he lived in the outer. It is perfectly good, but it is only half.Buddha lived in the inner; it is perfectly good, but it is only half.I want to give you the whole because to me only the whole is holy; everything else is profane.Maneesha has asked:Beloved Master,You spoke the other night of America – of its being bloodthirsty and destructive. What is the appeal of destruction over creation?Maneesha, the appeal of destruction over creation is very simple. Destruction needs no intelligence, destruction needs no discipline, destruction needs no education, destruction needs no meditation, no love.Creation needs intelligence. It needs meditativeness, it needs love – love in its purity. It needs the perceptivity of beauty, it needs the joy of creating something – maybe just a rose bush or a painting, or a small poem, but creation needs your total being to be involved in it. It needs your whole consciousness to be dissolved in it.Destruction does not require anything of you. Even animals can destroy, even insane people can destroy, even retarded people can destroy. That is the appeal of destruction over creation.But it is ugly. When you are destroying something, you are also destroying yourself, remember. And when you are creating something – a song, a dance – you are also creating yourself. You are discovering new dimensions of your being.The more you create, the closer you come to your being, the closer to your potential. Your flights into the open sky…. That blissfulness is not available to the destructive person. Only the creative knows the Himalayan peaks of love, of bliss, of splendor…of truth, of beauty, of all that is good, of all that is godliness.It is time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh.It is afternoon at the Washington Zoo.“Look at that one,” says Martha, “the one staring at us through the bars. Doesn’t he look intelligent?”“Yeah,” says George. “There is something quite strange about it.”“Yes, he looks like he understands every word we are saying,” says Martha.“Yeah, he walks on his hind legs, too,” observes George, “and swings his arms.”“There,” says Martha, “he has got a peanut. Let us see what he does with it.”“My God!” says George. “Would you believe it? He knows enough to take the shell off before he eats it – just like we do.”“That other one is a female, isn’t it?” asks Martha. “Just listen to her chatter at him. He does not seem to be paying much attention to her, though.”“She must be his mate,” says George.“They look a bit sad, don’t they?” asks Martha.“Yeah, they do,” agrees George. “I guess they wish they were in here with us gorillas!”Paddy and Seamus are in town one day and go for lunch at a smart restaurant. They enjoy a typical Irish seven-course lunch, six beers and a piece of cheese, and receive their bill.Paddy feels in his pockets for his wallet.“Ah! B’Jesus!” he says, “I have left my money behind. Seamus, can you lend me some?”Seamus fumbles in his own pockets and then looks up.“Can you imagine that, Paddy, I’ve left my money behind too!” he says. “What are we going to do?”A few minutes later, Paddy and Seamus reach the cashier’s table arguing loudly.“Let me pay for this,” says Paddy.“No!” demands Seamus, “I want to pay!”They argue for about five minutes in front of the embarrassed cashier, and then Paddy turns to him and says, “Look here – you don’t mind who pays for this, do you?”“No,” replies the cashier, “it does not matter who pays for it.”“Well, in that case,” says Paddy, waving from the door, “you pay for it!”The Temperature of Marriage:Wedding Day – one hundred degrees. Feverish.Jimmy: “My own sweetie sugar-pie.”Judy: “My own darling honey-bunch.”One day later – fifty degrees. Hot.Jimmy: “My own precious.”Judy: “My own love.”Two days later – twenty-five degrees. Warm.Jimmy: “Dearest.”Judy: “Dearie.”Three days later – fifteen degrees. Tepid.Jimmy: “Sweetheart.”Judy: “Dear.”Four days later – five degrees. Cool.Jimmy: “Judith.”Judy: “James.”Five days later – zero degrees. Very cool.Jimmy: “Madam!”Judy: “Sir!”Six days later – below freezing. Icy.Jimmy: “Bitch!”Judy: “Bastard!”On the seventh day – minus twenty degrees! Very cold.Jimmy: “Get lost!” – Pow!Judy: “Fuck you!” – Crash!Two days after the storm – meltdown.Jimmy: “Oh Judy, oh! Oh! Oh!”Judy: “Ah Jimmy, ah! Ah! Ah!”Nivedano…(Drumbeat)(Gibberish)Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Be silent.Close your eyes.Feel your body to be completely frozen.This is the right moment to look inward with your total consciousness, and with an urgency as if this is the last moment of your life.Deeper and deeper….You are certain to reach to the center of your being – it is not far away.As you come closer to the center, everything becomes cool, calm, silent.As you come even closer, everything becomes joyful.As you reach the center, there is an explosion of light, a tremendous revolution takes place. You have found the eternal in you.I have been calling this eternal the witness.From life to life since eternity you have been going on and on, carrying only the witness. Every thing, every life, you have to leave behind; only the witness opens its wings and flies into another life.Ultimately, when you become enlightened, the same witness flies into the very source of life, disappears, melts down into the universe. This is nirvana – to disappear just like a dewdrop into the ocean.But for the moment, remember the witness.You have to live this witness twenty-four hours, without any tension. Whenever you remember, okay; whenever you forget, okay. Slowly slowly, every moment will become a mirror, reflecting spontaneously the beauty of existence – outer and inner both.Nivedano, to make it more clear…(Drumbeat)Relax.Rest.But remember the witness.You are not the body.You are not the mind.You are just the witness, and suddenly flowers start raining on you. A great ecstasy takes over; as you relax, all separation disappears.Gautama the Buddha Auditorium has become this moment just a lake of consciousness without any ripples, reflecting the faraway stars.You are the most fortunate human beings at this moment upon the whole planet earth, because you are at your center. This is the most precious, the greatest glory and splendor one can find in life, in existence.Collect as much joy, bliss, ecstasy…And persuade the center, the witness, to come along with you.The witness has to become your very life.That very moment you will be awakened, you will be the buddha.Nivedano…(Drumbeat)Come back, but peacefully, silently, gracefully.Sit down for a few moments, remembering the golden path you have traveled, and reminding yourself that the experience of witnessing at the center of your being has to become your very life.Drawing water from the well, chopping wood – whatever you are doing, you have to remember that you are only a witness.Nothing has to be renounced, nothing has to be chosen.Choicelessly, relaxed, live both sides of your being: the outer and the inner.Be Zorba the Buddha!

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No Water No Moon 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Water No Moon 01 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The nun Chiyono studied for years but was unable to find enlightenment. One night she was carrying an old pail filled with water. As she was walking along, she was watching the full moon reflected in the pail of water. Suddenly the bamboo strips that held the pail together broke, and the pail fell apart. The water rushed out, the moon’s reflection disappeared, and Chiyono became enlightened. She wrote this verse:This way and that way,I tried to keep the pail togetherhoping the weak bamboowould never break.Suddenly the bottom fell out;no more water,no more moon in the water,emptiness in my hand!Enlightenment is always sudden. There is no gradual progress toward it because all gradualness belongs to the mind, and enlightenment is not of the mind. All degrees belong to the mind, and enlightenment is beyond it. So you cannot grow into enlightenment, you simply jump into it. You cannot move step by step; there are no steps. Enlightenment is just like an abyss – either you jump, or you don’t jump.You cannot have enlightenment in parts, in fragments. It is a totality – either you are in it or out of it, but there is no gradual progression. Remember this thing as one of the most basic: it happens unfragmented, complete, total. It happens as a whole, and that is the reason why mind is always incapable to understand it. Mind can understand anything which can be divided. Mind can understand anything which can be reached through installments because mind is analysis, division, fragmentation. Mind can understand parts; the whole always eludes it. So if you listen to the mind, you will never reach.That’s what happened: this nun, Chiyono, studied for years and years, and nothing happened. Mind can study about God, about enlightenment, about the ultimate. It can even pretend that everything has been understood. But God is not something you have to understand. Even if you know everything about God, you don’t know him; knowledge is not “about.” Whenever you say “about,” you belong to the outside. You may be moving round and round, but you have not entered the circle.When someone says, “I know about God,” he says he doesn’t know anything at all because how can you know anything about God? God is the center, not the periphery. You cannot know about consciousness. You can know about matter because matter has no center in it, it is just the periphery. There is no self, there is no one inside. Matter is only the outside, you can know about it. Science is knowledge. The very word science means knowledge – knowledge of the periphery, knowledge about something where the center doesn’t exist. Whenever the center is approached through the periphery, you miss it.You have to become it; that is the only way to know it. Nothing can be known about God. You have to be; only being is knowledge there. With the ultimate, “about and about” means missing and missing again. You have to enter and become one.That’s why Jesus says, “God is like love” – not loving, but just like love. You cannot know anything about love, or can you? You can study and study, you can become a great scholar, but you have not touched, you have not penetrated. Love can be known only when you become a lover. Not only that: love can be known only when you become love. Even the lover disappears because that too belongs to the outside. Two persons in love become absent. They are not there. Only love exists, the rhythm of love. There may be two poles of the rhythm, but they are not there. Something of the beyond has come into being. They have disappeared.Love exists when you are empty. Knowledge exists when you are filled. Knowledge belongs to the ego, and the ego can never penetrate to the center; it is the periphery. The periphery can know only the periphery. You cannot know something which is of the center through the ego. The ego can study, the ego can make you a great scholar, maybe a religious scholar, a great pundit. You may know all the Vedas, all the Upanishads, all the Bibles and Korans, and still you know nothing – because it is not knowledge from the outside, it is something which happens when you have entered and you have become one.The nun Chiyono studied for years…She may have studied for lives. You have been studying for many lives. You have been moving and moving in a circle. But when somebody moves in a circle, a very great illusion is created: you feel you are progressing. You always feel you are moving, and you are still not going anywhere because you are moving in a circle. You go on repeating. That is why Hindus have called this world sansar. Sansar means the wheel, the circular. You move and move and move and never reach anywhere, and you always feel that you are reaching. “Now the goal is nearer because I have walked so much.” Just try moving in a big circle. You can never see it as a circle because you know only part of it. So it is always a road, a way. This is what has been happening for many lives.Chiyono studied and studied,…but was unable to find enlightenment.Not because enlightenment is difficult, but because when you study it you miss the whole point. You are on the wrong track. It is as if someone is trying to enter this room through the wall. Not that entering into this room is difficult, but you have to enter through the door. If you try through the wall it looks difficult, almost impossible. It is not. It is you who are on the wrong track. Many, many people, whenever they start the journey, they start through study, through learning, through knowledge, information, philosophy, systems, theology. They start from the “about”; then they are knocking against the wall.Jesus says, “Knock and the door shall be opened unto you.” But please remember if it is a door or not. Don’t go on knocking on the wall, otherwise no door shall be opened unto you. And, in fact, when you knock at the door, when you really reach near the door, you will find it has always been open. It has always been waiting for you. A door is a waiting, a door is a welcoming, a door is a receptivity. It has been waiting for you, and you have been knocking on the wall. What is the wall? When you start through knowledge and not through being, you are knocking at the wall.Become, be! Don’t gather information. If you want to know love, be a lover. If you want to know godliness, be meditation. If you want to enter the infinite, be prayerfulness. But be! Don’t know about prayerfulness. Don’t try to accumulate what others have said about it. Learning will not help; rather, unlearning will help. Drop whatsoever you know, so that you can know. Drop all information and all scriptures, forget all Korans and Bibles and Gitas; they are the barriers, they are the wall. And if you go on knocking against that wall, the doors will never open because there are no doors. And people are knocking against the Koran, knocking against the Vedas, knocking against the Bible, and no door opens. They go on studying and studying, and they go on missing like the nun Chiyono: she …studied for years, but was unable to find enlightenment.What is enlightenment? It is becoming aware who you are. It is nothing to do with the outside world. It is nothing to do with what others have said. What others have said is irrelevant. You are there! Why go and consult the Bible and the Koran and the Gita? Close your eyes and you are there in your infinite glory. Close the eyes, and doors are open. Because you are there, you need not ask anybody. Ask, and you will miss. The very asking shows that you think you are somewhere else. The very asking shows that you are asking for a map. And for the inner world there is no map, there is no need because you are not moving to an unknown destination.Really, you are not moving at all. You are there. You are the goal. You are not the seeker, you are the enlightenment. So what is enlightenment? One state, when you seek without, is unenlightenment; another state, when you seek within, is enlightenment. So the only difference is of a focusing. If you focus out, you are unenlightened. If you focus in, you are enlightened. So the only question is of a turning.The Christian word conversion is beautiful, but they have used it in a horrible way. Conversion doesn’t mean to make a Hindu a Christian or to make a Christian a Hindu. Conversion means a turning. Conversion means a turning to the source, turning within; then you are converted. And your consciousness can flow in two ways, outward or inward; these are the two possibilities for the stream of your consciousness to flow. Outward it can flow for many, many lives – it will never reach to the goal because the goal is at the source. The goal is not ahead, it is behind. The goal is not somewhere where you will reach. The goal is somewhere where you have already left. The source is the goal. This has to be understood very deeply. If you can go backward to the first point of your beginning, you reach the goal.Enlightenment is to go to the source, and the source is within you; life is there flowing, throbbing, continuously beating within you. Why ask others? Studying means asking others. Asking about yourself and asking others? This is foolishness par excellence. This is absolute absurdity – asking about yourself and asking others. That’s what study means: looking for the answer. And you are the answer!…Chiyono studied for years but was unable to find enlightenment. It is natural, obvious. Nothing was wrong in it. She was looking out, studying.Another thing to remember: your being is life, and no scripture can be alive. Scriptures are bound to be dead. Scriptures are corpses, and you are asking the dead about your life. This is not possible. Krishna will not be of much help, neither will Jesus – unless you become a Krishna and a Jesus. Life cannot be answered by the dead. And if you think that you will find the answer, you will be more and more burdened by the answers, and the answer will remain unknown. This is what happens to a man who is studying, who is a thinker, who is a philosopher. He goes on being burdened by his own efforts – words and words and words – and is lost. And the answer is always there. Just a turning-in is needed.No, nobody will answer you. Don’t go to anybody, go to yourself. And whenever you reach to a master, all that he can do is to help you to reach yourself, that’s all. No master can give you the answer, no master can give you the key. The master can only help you to look within, that’s all. The key is there, the treasure is there, everything is there.One night she was carrying an old pail filled with water. As she was walking along, she was watching the full moon reflected in the pail of water. Suddenly the bamboo strips that held the pail together broke, and the pail fell apart. The water rushed out, the moon’s reflection disappeared, and Chiyono became enlightened.One night she was carrying an old pail filled with water. You are also carrying a very, very old, ancient pail filled with water. That is your mind filled with thoughts. It is the most ancient thing that you are carrying, almost dead.Mind is always old, it is never new. It cannot be, by its very nature, because mind means the memory. How can memory then be new? Mind means the known. How can the known be new? Mind means the past. How can the past be new? Look at your mind: all that it carries is old, dead. The moment you come to know, it is already past. When you recognize something that you have known, it is already gone. It is not here and now, it has moved into the world of the dead.So mind by its very nature, mind as such, is old. That’s why, through mind, nothing original is ever born. Mind cannot be original, mind can only be repetitive. So mind goes on repeating. It may repeat in thousands of ways, it may repeat in new words, but the thing remains the same. Mind cannot know, cannot come to encounter the fresh, the young, the new. Whenever you encounter the fresh, the young, the new, mind has to be put aside because only then are your eyes not filled with the past, not filled with the dust of the past; then your mirror can mirror that which is here and now.All that is new is born out of consciousness, not out of mind. Consciousness is your innermost source. Mind is the dust gathered in many of your journeys, as if you have never taken a bath. And you have been journeying and journeying, and everything gets dirty and dust gathers, and you have never taken a bath. Your mind has never taken a bath. You cling to it. It is absolutely dirty. And all methods of meditation are nothing but methods to bathe this mind, to take a bath, an inner bath, so the dust is thrown away, and the hidden consciousness comes to the surface and can encounter the reality.The reality is there, you are there, but the encounter is not there because between you and the reality is the mind. Whatsoever you see, you see through the mind. Whatsoever you hear, you hear through the mind – and then you are almost deaf, almost blind. Jesus goes on saying to his disciples, “If you have ears to hear, hear me. If you have eyes to see, see.” They all had eyes like you. They all had ears like you. But Jesus knows, as I know, that you are deaf, you are blind.Whenever you hear through the mind, you are not hearing because the mind interprets, the mind colors, the mind changes, mixes itself; and anything that reaches to you is now already old. The mind has done its trick. The mind has given its own meaning, the interpretation. The mind has commented.That’s why, unless you become a right listener… Right listener means the capacity to listen without the mind. Right seer means the capacity to look without the mind, the capacity to look without interpreting, judging, condemning; without evaluation, without saying yes or no. When I speak to you, I can even see your mind nodding yes or no. Even if the nod is invisible, I can see it. You may not be aware, sometimes you say yes – the mind has interpreted. Sometimes you say no – the mind has interpreted, the mind has come in, evaluating. You have missed.Just listening, not judging, then suddenly you become aware that this mind has been the whole trouble. It is old – one thing to remember – and it can never be new. So never think that you have an original mind. No mind can be original, all minds are old, repetitive. That’s why mind always likes repetition, and is always against the new. Because the mind has created the society, the society is always against the new. The mind has created the state, the civilization, the morality; they are all against the new.Whatsoever is created by the mind will always be against the new. You cannot find anything more orthodox than mind.No revolution is possible with the mind. So if you are a revolutionary through the mind, don’t deceive yourself. A Communist cannot be a revolutionary because he has never meditated. His communism is through the mind. He has changed the bible – he doesn’t believe in Jesus, he believes in Marx; or he believes in Mao, the latest edition of Marx – but he believes. He is as orthodox as any Hindu, any Catholic, any Mohammedan. The orthodoxy is the same because orthodoxy doesn’t depend on what you believe. The orthodoxy depends on whether you believe through the mind; the orthodoxy depends on the mind. Mind is the most orthodox element in the world, the most conformist.So whatsoever mind creates can never be new, will always be old, and will always insist against the new; it will be always counter-revolutionary. That’s why in the world, there is no revolution other than the religious revolution; there cannot be. Only religion can be revolutionary because religion hits at the very source. It drops the mind, the old pail, and then, suddenly, everything is new because mind was making everything old through its interpretation. Suddenly you are a child again. Your eyes are fresh and young, you look at things without knowledge, without learning. Suddenly the trees have a freshness. The greenery has changed – it is not dull, it is alive. Suddenly the song of the bird is absolutely different.That’s what is happening to many people through drugs. Aldous Huxley became so fascinated with drugs because of this. All over the world the new generation is so attracted by drugs. The reason is this: because the drug for a moment, or for a few moments, chemically puts the mind aside. You look at the world – now the colors all around are simply miraculous. You had never seen such a thing. An ordinary flower becomes the whole existence, carries the whole glory of the divine. An ordinary leaf becomes so deep, as if the whole truth is revealed through it. Everything and anything immediately changes. The drug cannot change the world; the drug is only chemically putting your mind aside.But you can become addicted to it – then the mind has absorbed the drug also. Only once, in the beginning, for the first time, or twice or three times, can you deceive the mind chemically. By and by, the mind becomes attuned to the drug, the mind again takes its mastery. The original shock is lost. It becomes addicted to the drug. Then it demands, and now the demand is coming from the mind. Now, by and by, even chemically you will not be able to push the mind aside. It will be there, you will be addicted. Trees will again become old, colors will not be so radiant, things will again become dull. The drug has killed you; it couldn’t kill the mind.The drug can only give you a shock treatment. It is a shock to the whole body chemistry. In that shock, the old adjustment is broken. Gaps are there; through the gaps you can look, but this cannot be made a practice. You cannot practice a drug. Sooner or later it becomes part of the mind; the mind takes over. Then everything is old again.Only meditation can kill the mind, nothing else. Meditation is mind suicide, mind committing suicide. If you can put the mind aside – without any chemicals, without any physical means – then you become the master. And when you are the master, everything is new. It has been always so. From the very beginning to the very end, everything is new, young, fresh. Death has never occurred in this world. It is life eternal.One night she was carrying an old pail filled with water. You are also carrying the old pail filled with water. Mind is the old pail, and thoughts are the water. And because you value thoughts so much, you cannot throw away this old pail. Because then what will happen to your thoughts? You cling to them as if they are a very deep source of bliss, a deep source of silence; as if through thoughts, you are going to achieve life and the hidden treasures of life. You have never achieved anything like that through thoughts. It is simply a hopeless hope.What have you achieved through thoughts? Nothing but anxiety, tension. But you cling to them in the hope that some day or other, somewhere in the future, through your thinking, you are going to achieve the truth. Up to now, nothing like that has happened, and it is not going to happen any day. It is not going to happen ever because truth is nothing to be thought. It is there. You just have to look. There is no need to think about it. Thinking is needed if it is not there, if you are groping in the dark. But there is no darkness in existence; existence is absolute light. You need not grope. You are unnecessarily groping with closed eyes, and you think, “If I leave groping, I will be lost.” Thinking is groping.Meditation is opening the eyes. Meditation is looking. That is why Hindus have called it darshan. Darshan means looking – looking at, not thinking about. The very looking transforms. But you carry thoughts in this old pail, and you go on patching the pail, caring about it: if it breaks, what will happen to your valuable thoughts? And they are not valuable at all.One day do this, a little experiment. Close your doors and sit in the room and just start writing your thoughts – whatsoever comes in your mind. Don’t change them because you need not show this piece of paper to anybody. Just go on writing for ten minutes, and then look at them: this is what your thinking is. If you look at them, you will think this is some madman’s work. If you show that piece of paper to your most intimate friend, he will also look at you and think, “Have you gone crazy?” And it is the same situation with him also. But we go on hiding the craziness. We have faces, and behind those faces we are madmen.Why do you value this thinking so much? You have become addicted to it – it is a drug, it is chemical. Remember well, thinking is chemical, it is a drug. Whenever you start thinking, you are in a sort of hypnotic sleep. That’s why you have become addicted – just like opium. You can forget the world, the worries, the responsibilities. You just start a different type of world within yourself: dreaming, thinking.Those who have been working for a long time on the science of sleep say that sleep is needed for dreaming. And if you ask them why dreaming is needed, they say it is needed so that you can remain sane because in dreams you can throw your insanity. The whole night is a catharsis. In your dreaming you are throwing your insanity, and by the morning you can behave sanely. The whole day you can behave in a sane way because the whole night is there to behave in an insane way. Scientists say that if you are deprived of your dreaming and sleep for a few days, you will go mad because the catharsis will not be there, and then madness will start erupting. You will explode.In the night you dream – that’s a catharsis. In the day you think – that is also a catharsis, and it helps you to be sleepy. It is a drug. You need not worry about what is happening. You just close yourself within your thoughts. And they are well known to you, you feel cozy, it is your own home; howsoever dirty and old, but you have been living in it for so long that you are accustomed to it. You have become accustomed to your prison. It happens to prisoners: if they are in jail for a long time, they become afraid of coming out, they become afraid of freedom. There is a fear of freedom because it will bring new responsibilities. And there is nothing like coming out of the mind – it is absolute freedom. Hindus have called it moksha, the absolute freedom. There is nothing like it – the prison is shattered, you are simply under the infinite sky. Fear grips you; you want to go back to your home – your cozy home, walled, fenced.If the infinite is not there, you are not afraid. The infinite always looks like death. You have become accustomed to the finite with boundaries clearcut, distinctions clearly made. That’s why you cannot throw away the thoughts, you cannot throw away the pail. Rather, you go on making the pail bigger and bigger and bigger, and it is just like your belly; the more thoughts you put in it, the more it goes on expanding. And the belly may burst if you eat too much, but not the mind.An ordinary mind can contain all the libraries of the world. In your small head there are seventy million cells, and each cell can carry at least one million pieces of information. No computer has yet been developed which can be compared to your mind. Within your small head, you carry the whole world. And it goes on expanding.Chiyono studied and studied – she put more and more water in the old pail. She could not find enlightenment. But: One night she was carrying an old pail filled with water. As she was walking along, she was watching the full moon reflected in the pail of water.The full moon was there high in the heaven, and in the water, in the pail, it was reflected, and she was looking at it. That is what is happening to everyone. This is not a story, this is not an anecdote, it is a fact – this is happening to you. You have never looked at the full moon. You cannot. You always look at the moon reflected in your water, in your thoughts. That’s why Hindus – particularly Shankara – have said: “All that you know is maya, illusion.” It is as if you are looking at the moon in the water, a reflection, not at the true moon. And you think this is the moon.Whatsoever you see, you see through the reflection. Your eyes reflect; your eyes are just mirrors. Your ears reflect – all your senses are just mirrors, they reflect. And then there is the greatest of all mirrors, your mind; it reflects. It not only reflects, it comments, interprets. With the reflection it gives a commentary side by side. It distorts.Have you seen distorting mirrors? No need to go anywhere, you have that within you – it distorts everything. Whatsoever you have known up to now has not been the real moon in the sky because with this old pail filled with water, how can you look at the real moon? You go on looking at the reflection, and the reflection is illusory. That is the meaning of maya, illusion. Whatsoever you know is maya, it is appearance, not the real. The real comes only when the pail is broken – water flows out, reflection disappears.Suddenly the bamboo strips that held the pail together broke, and the pail fell apart. It happened suddenly; it is like an accident. Try to understand this phenomenon. Enlightenment is always like an accident because it is unpredictable – because you cannot manage, you cannot arrange so that it happens, you cannot cause it to happen. If you can cause it to happen, it can never be beyond your mind. If you manage for it to happen, it will be just a trick of the mind. Many people try to manage it. They do this and that, just creating the cause for enlightenment to happen, but it is not a causal thing. If you cause it, it cannot be greater than you. If you cause it, it is absolutely useless. It happens, it cannot be caused. It is not a continuity with your mind, it is a discontinuous abyss. Suddenly you are not there, and it is there. How can you manage it? If you manage, you will be there.When Gautam Siddhartha became enlightened, became a buddha, was he the same man? No! If the same man becomes enlightened…it is impossible. The continuity is broken; the old man has simply disappeared. This is absolutely a new man. Siddhartha Gautam, the prince who had left his palace, wife and child is no longer there. That ego is no longer there; that mind is no longer there. That old man is dead – the old pail has broken. Now this is absolutely new; this has never been there. That’s why we give him a new name, we call him Buddha. We drop the old name because that old name belonged to some other identity, to some other personality, to somebody else. That old name never belonged to this man.Enlightenment is a discontinuous phenomenon. It is not continuous because if it is continuous, it can be at the most a modified past; it cannot be absolutely new because the past will continue – modified, changed a little bit here and there, painted, polished, but the old will continue. It may be better, but it will still remain the old.Enlightenment is like an accident. But don’t misunderstand me because when I say enlightenment is just like an accident, I am not saying don’t do anything for it. That is not the meaning. If you don’t do anything for it, even the accident will not happen. The accident happens only to those who have been doing much for it; but it never happens because of their doing. This is the problem: it never happens because of their doing; it never happens without their doing. That doing is not a cause for it to happen. The doing is just a cause which creates the situation in them so they become accident-prone, that’s all.All your meditations will create just an accident-proneness, that’s all. That’s why even a buddha cannot say when your enlightenment is going to happen. People come to me and they ask; I tell them, “Soon.” It means nothing. Soon may be the next moment, soon may not come for many lives because an accident cannot be predicted. If it can be predicted, it is not an accident at all, then it is a continuity.But don’t stop doing things. Don’t think that if it is going to happen, it will happen; then it will never happen. You have to be ready for it, ready for the accident, ready for the unknown – ready, waiting, receptive. Otherwise the accident may come and may pass you. You may be asleep. The unknown may knock at the door and you may not listen. You may be fast asleep, or you may be talking to someone, or you will interpret that it may be just wind knocking at the door. Or you can think so many things – everybody is a great thinker.Be ready for the accident. And remember: all that you do is not a cause for it, all that you do simply creates a situation in you, all that you can do is not a cause, but only an invitation. The difference is great because if you think it is a cause, then you start demanding. If you think it is a cause, then you say, “Why is it not happening? Why has it not happened to me up to now?” It creates an inner tension, and if tension is there, then it is impossible for it to happen. You have to be caught unawares. You should be waiting, but not anxious – relaxed. You should invite it, but don’t be certain that the guest will be coming.Finally it depends on the guest, not on you. But without the invitation the guest will never come, that is certain. With your invitation it is not certain that he will come; but with your no-invitation it is certain that he will not come. With your invitation he may come, the possibility is there. So wait at the door, but don’t be anxious, don’t be too certain.Certainty is of the mind, waiting is of the consciousness. And mind is shallow, all its certainties are shallow. It can happen any moment. Whenever you are ready to see, to look, you will come to know that it has always been happening just by the side. You were not looking at that, you were not looking at that corner.I have heard…Once it happened, Mulla Nasruddin was resting in his chair. His wife was looking at the street, and he was looking at the wall. They were sitting back to back as husbands and wives always sit.Suddenly the wife said, “Nasruddin, look! The richest man of the town is dead, and thousands of people are going to give him the last send-off.”Nasruddin said, “What a shame I am not facing that way!”“What a shame I am not facing that way.” He will not look – just a turning of the head… But this is what is happening to you. What a shame. You are not looking that way where the accident is passing, where the unknown is passing.All meditations will help you only to look toward the unknown, to look toward the unaccustomed, to look at the stranger. They will make you more open, more open for the accident. But you cannot cause it.Even if you are ready, you may have to wait. You cannot force it; you cannot bring it to you. If you can force it, then religion will be just like science. That’s the basic difference between science and religion. Science can force things because it depends on cause, not on invitations. Science can make anything because it finds the cause. Once the cause is known, then anything can be done. Science knows that if you heat water up to one hundred degrees, it will boil – that’s a cause. You can be certain: once it is a hundred degrees, the water starts boiling. You can force the water to boil by heating. You can mix oxygen and hydrogen, and you can force them to become water. You can cause it. Science tries to know the cause.Religion is different, basically different. And religion can never become a science in that sense because it is looking for the uncaused, it is looking for the discontinuous; it is looking for an absolute conversion. A relative conversion can be caused, a partial transformation can be caused. But absolute? Nothing of the old and everything new? – then there must be a gap. The link cannot be there. There must be a jump. So suddenly the old goes out of existence, and the new comes into existence, and they are not joined together – the gap is there. Siddhartha Gautam simply disappears. Gautam Buddha appears – there is a gap.This gap has to be remembered. That’s why I say enlightenment is just like an accident. But you have to be continuously working for it, that’s the paradox. Listening to me, don’t become lazy. Listening to me, don’t just go to sleep. Listening to me, don’t start thinking and reasoning that, “If it is an accident, and we cannot cause it, then why meditate? Then why do this and that? Then simply wait.” No, your waiting must not be a lazy waiting. Your waiting must be alive. You must wait with absolute energy at your disposal. You should not be waiting like a dead man: you should wait young, fresh, alive, throbbing. Only then that unknown can happen to you. When you are at the best of your life, at the best of your capacity, when you are most alive, when you are at the peak – only then it happens. Only a peak can meet that great peak; only peaks – only the similar can meet the same.Go on working as much as you can, but don’t create any demand out of it. Don’t say, “I have done this, now it must happen.” There is no must about it. It is a stranger. You go on writing invitations to it, but it has no address so you cannot post them. You go on throwing your invitations to the winds; they may reach, they may not reach. Godliness is always a “perhaps”; but it is beautiful when things are “perhaps.” When things are certain, the beauty is lost.Have you ever observed that in life only death is certain, and everything else is uncertain? Everything is uncertain! Whether love will happen or not, nobody knows. Whether you will be able to sing a song or not, nobody knows. One thing is certain: death. Certainty belongs to death, never to life. And if you are in search of life eternal, then live in the perhaps. Live open, waiting, but remembering continuously you cannot cause it to happen. When it happens, you will disappear.That is the meaning of this beautiful happening:Suddenly the bamboo strips that held the pail together broke… Suddenly it happened. But she was working, studying, meditating. She was a great nun. She had lived for at least thirty, forty years with the master, and she had worked tremendously.I must tell you something about Chiyono. She was a very beautiful woman – rarely beautiful, unique. When she was young, even the emperor and the princes were after her. She refused because she wanted to be a lover only to the divine, so nobody was up to her expectations, nobody was able to fulfill them.She went from one monastery to another to take sannyas, to become a nun; but even great masters refused – because she was so beautiful, she would create trouble. There were so many monks – and of course monks are repressed people – and she was so beautiful that they would forget godliness and everything. And she was really beautiful, so everywhere the door was closed.The master said, “Your search is okay, but I have to look toward my followers also. There are five hundred sannyasins; they will go mad. They will forget their meditations, their scriptures, everything. You will become the god. So, Chiyono, don’t disturb these poor people, go.”So what did Chiyono do? Finding no way, she burned her face, scarred her whole face. And then she went to the master; he couldn’t even recognize whether she was a woman or a man. Then she was accepted as a nun.She was so ready. The search was authentic. The accident was worthy, the accident was earned. She studied, meditated for thirty, forty years continuously. Then suddenly one night, the stranger came to her door.Suddenly the bamboo strips that held the pail together broke, and the pail fell apart. The water rushed out, the moon’s reflection disappeared, and Chiyono became enlightened. She was looking at the moon – it was beautiful. Even reflections are beautiful because they reflect the absolute beauty. The world is also beautiful because it is a reflection of God. So don’t say the world is ugly. How can the reflection be ugly when it reflects the divine?So those who say that the world is ugly and renounce it are absolutely wrong because if you renounce this world, deep down you are renouncing the creator. Don’t renounce. Even a woman’s face is beautiful because it reflects. A man’s face is beautiful, the body is beautiful because they reflect. The trees are beautiful, the birds are beautiful because they reflect. The reflection is so beautiful – what to say about the original?So a real seeker is not against the world. A real seeker loves the world so much, he loves the reflection so much that he wants to see the original. He loves this reflection so much that a desire arises to see, to see the full moon in the sky. He leaves this reflection, not because he is against it, he leaves this reflection just in search of that which has been reflected in it. He is not against love, his prayerfulness is not against love. He has known such beauty in love that now he wants to go deeper. Prayerfulness is the deepest “in-love.” He has known so much in the reflection, it was so beautiful, so fragrant, such music was there, that now a desire has arisen to know the source. And if the reflection is so musical, what harmony must be there in the original source.A real seeker is never against anything. He is for something, but never against something. He is for godliness, but never against the world because finally the world belongs to godliness. If I see your face in a mirror and it is beautiful, should I be against the mirror? Really, I should be thankful because it reflected you. But I will not focus myself on the mirror; I will be in search of you who were reflected in the mirror. I will have to leave the mirror, not because I am against it. I will have to turn my face away from the mirror, not because I was ever against it. I will be thankful to it because it mirrored something, and in the reflection it was so beautiful – now I must go to find the original source.The water rushed out, the moon’s reflection disappeared, and Chiyono became enlightened. She was looking at the moon reflected in the pail. Suddenly the pail fell down, the water rushed out, and the moon disappeared – and that became the trigger-point.There is always a trigger-point from where the old disappears, and the new starts, from where you are reborn. That became the trigger-point. Suddenly the water rushed out, and there was no moon. So she must have looked up – and the real moon was there. And this became a parable, this became an inner phenomenon. The same was happening inside: everything was seen through the mind – it was a mirror. Suddenly she became awakened to this fact that everything was a reflection, an illusion, because it was seen through the mind. As the pail broke, the mind also broke inside. It was ready. All that could be done had been done. All that could be possible, she had done. Nothing was left, she was ready, she had earned it. This ordinary incident became a trigger-point.But remember: don’t follow Chiyono. It will not happen to you that way. Because you know the story, you can break the pot, and the water rushes out, and the reflection disappears – and nothing happens within you. It cannot be made a ritual.But this is how the foolish humanity has been acting for centuries and centuries. Trigger-points are known, but they are always individual and unique. They cannot be repeated because nobody can be a Chiyono again. The world never repeats. Existence is so original, it never repeats. Chiyono is born only once, never again – never, never again. So you cannot repeat it because you are not Chiyono.But that’s what goes on and on because our mind works as a logical system. If it happened to Chiyono carrying a water-pail, then the water-pail dropping, breaking, water flowing, reflection gone, enlightenment happened – make it a ritual. That is what is being done in churches, mosques, temples – rituals.How did it happen to Buddha? Sit the same way, plant a bodhi tree, sit under it with closed eyes, just Buddha-like – and you are just as stupid. You will not become a Buddha, you are simply stupid. Otherwise you would not have repeated it. Rituals are repeated by idiots. Because this much understanding…that it is not a question of sitting under a bodhi tree. The long preparation that Buddha underwent, the millions of lives that he passed – he is a unique personality. This is the last trigger-point. It is a concluding thing. Many, many lives of effort, search…and then comes this climax.This is just accidental that he was sitting under the bodhi tree. It would have happened anyway. If he was not sitting there, then too it would have happened. If there was no tree, then too it would have happened. It was not necessary that he must be sitting – he may have been walking, and it would have happened. It is a conclusion. It is just coincidental that he was sitting under the bodhi tree in a particular posture. The posture is not the cause, the tree is not the cause, the way he was sitting is not the cause. If it was a cause, then you could repeat it. Heat it to one hundred degrees, and water boils. Sit under the bodhi tree exactly in a Buddha posture, even more perfect than him, and enlightenment happens.No, it is not that way. And don’t be stupid, don’t follow blindly, and don’t make anything a ritual. Understanding is needed, not ritual. It is good to sit in a Buddha posture, but remember well that you are not Buddha, and the same trigger-point is not going to work for you – something else. And if you go on following Buddha, absolutely blind, then you may miss your trigger-point; that’s the problem, because that will not happen with this repetitive ritual, you have to seek your own. Take the help of all the buddhas, but don’t be blind. Understand them as deeply as you can because they have reached – but there is no path.The spiritual dimension is just like the sky: no trace is left, you cannot follow. A bird flies, no trace is left. The sky remains empty, no path is created. It is not like the earth. If many people pass, then a footpath is there; you can follow. The spiritual dimension is the dimension of the sky because it is non-material, it is not earthly, no trace is left. Buddha flies; look at the flight, the beauty of it, the glimpse, the light; enjoy it, understand it, but don’t try to follow, don’t be blind. Blindness won’t help.Chiyono became enlightened, and this way has never been so with anybody else. Buddha was not carrying a pail of water, neither was Mahavira, nor Krishna, nor Lao Tzu, nor Zarathustra – nobody was carrying a pail of water. And after Chiyono many have carried because it seems so simple. You can manage it, it seems so simple, no difficulty is involved. Full-moon night comes every month; you can wait and do it again.Don’t be ritualistic. Ritual is not religion. Ritual is the most anti-religious thing in the world. You are unique – remember. And something unique is going to happen to you which has never happened before, which will never happen again. Not only your fingerprints are unique, your soul is unique.I was just reading a scientific research work which proves that every part of the body is unique – not only fingertips: you have a different liver, a different type of heart, a different type of stomach; nobody else has got that. And in the textbooks where you read and you see the figure of the stomach, you will never find that stomach anywhere; that is just average, imaginary. If you look at the stomachs of real people, they will all be different.“Average” is not the truth; average is just a mathematical approximation, it is not a fact. The fact is always unique. You have a different type of being, and it differs in every way. And it is good, and it is beautiful that you are different – not a repetition, not like a Ford car. A million cars can be produced all alike. You are not a machine, you are a man. And what does your manhood, your humanity consist of? Where are you different from a machine? In your uniqueness. Machines are repeatable – they can be repeated – replaceable. You can replace one Ford car with another Ford car; there is no problem. But no man can be replaced, never. It is such a unique flowering, it happens only once.So don’t be ritualistic – understand. Let understanding be the law, the only law that has to be followed.Chiyono wrote this verse afterward. She celebrated this phenomenon with a verse, with a song. She wrote:This way and that way,I tried to keep the pail togetherhoping the weak bamboowould never break.Suddenly the bottom fell out;no more water,no more moon in the water,emptiness in my hand!This way and that way, I tried to keep the pail together… You have been doing this way and that way to keep the pail together. You have been supporting your mind in every way to remain together. And the mind is the barrier – and you think mind is the friend. Mind is the enemy, and you have been supporting it in every way.I am saying many things to you which are against mind, and you will take those things into your minds and make them a support. If whatsoever I say becomes knowledge to you, when you leave me and go away from me, you are more knowledgeable. Then even things against mind have been converted into supports. Whatsoever I say, don’t make it a learning, don’t make it your knowledge. Rather, look at what I am saying and drop all that you know. Don’t make it a new addition to your old mind.This way and that way, I tried to keep the pail together hoping the weak bamboo would never break. Can you find anything weaker than the mind? Can you find anything more filmy than thoughts? Can you find anything more impotent than thoughts? Nothing happens out of them, nothing comes out of them; they just continue. They are made of the same stuff dreams are made of – non-existential really, just whirlpools in the emptiness of your being.Suddenly the bottom fell out… and Chiyono says, “It was nothing on my part. Rather, I was doing the contrary; keeping the pail together this way and that way and hoping that the weak bamboo would never break. Suddenly the bottom fell out… it was nothing that I have done, it was not my doing.”Suddenly the bottom fell out… It was an accident. …no more water, no more moon in the water, emptiness in my hand.“And the water disappeared. And the pail disappeared. And only emptiness in my hand.” And this is what a buddha is: emptiness in the hand. When you have emptiness in the hand, you have all because emptiness is not a negative thing. Emptiness is the most positive thing because everything comes out of nothing. This all is born out of emptiness. Emptiness in the hand means source in the hand.A seed is there, so small, and then a big tree is born. From where does this tree come? Look in the seed, break it, and try to find out. If you break the seed, you will find emptiness there. From that emptiness comes this big tree, from that emptiness comes this whole universe – from nothing comes being.Emptiness in my hand means all in my hand – the very source from where everything arises, and to where everything goes back, returns. Emptiness in my hand means all in my hand, everything in my hand.“And suddenly it happened. I cannot congratulate myself for it. Suddenly it happened. I was doing the contrary.” That is why saints have always said…those who believe, or those who use the terminology of God say it happens through his grace. Chiyono or Buddhists don’t believe in any God, they don’t use that symbology. So Chiyono cannot say, “Out of his grace” – she cannot say that. Eckhart would say, “Out of his grace – no qualification on my part. I have done nothing for it. I have not caused it.” Meera would say, “Krishna’s grace.” Theresa would say, “Jesus and his grace.”Buddhists don’t believe in any personalized God; their approach is absolutely beyond personalized symbols. They are not anthropocentric. So Chiyono cannot say “grace,” she simply says, “Suddenly it happened,” but the meaning is the same. “Suddenly it happened. I was doing rather the contrary. Everything disappeared: water flowed out, the moon disappeared – emptiness in my hand.”And this is enlightenment: when emptiness is in your hand, when everything is empty, when there is nobody, not even you – because if you are there, the pail is there, the old pail. If you are not there and the room is totally empty, your being is not filled at all, you have become the source. You have attained to the original face.And this is the most blissful moment possible. And this moment becomes eternal – there is no end to it then. This moment becomes eternity. Then you can never be anything otherwise because you are no more. Who can be sad? Who can be in sorrow? Who can be disappointed? Who can desire and feel frustrated? Emptiness cannot be frustrated. Emptiness cannot desire. Emptiness cannot expect anything, so it remains absolutely in bliss, absolutely bliss.If you are, you will be in misery. If you are not, there cannot be any misery. So the whole problem is: To be or not to be?And Chiyono suddenly found that she is not: Emptiness in the hand.Enough for today.

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No Water No Moon 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Water No Moon 02 (Read, Listen & Download)

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There is an old tradition in some Japanese Zen temples that if a wandering monk can win an argument about Buddhism with one of the resident monks, he can stay the night. If not, he has to move on.There was such a temple in northern Japan run by two brothers. The elder brother was very learned, and the younger brother was rather stupid, and he had only one eye.One evening a wandering monk came to ask for lodging. The elder brother was very tired as he had been studying for many hours, so he told the younger brother to go and take the debate. “Request that the dialogue be in silence,” said the elder brother.A little later the traveler came to the elder brother and said, “What a wonderful fellow your brother is. He has won the debate very cleverly, so I must move on. Good night.”“Before you go,” said the elder brother, “please relate the dialogue to me.”“Well,” said the traveler, “first I held up one finger to represent Buddha. Then your brother held up two fingers to represent Buddha and his teaching. So I held up three fingers to represent Buddha, his teaching, and his followers. Then your clever brother shook his clenched fist in my face to indicate that all three came from one realization.” With that the traveler left.A little later the younger brother came in looking very distressed. “I understand you won the debate,” said the elder brother.“Won nothing,” said the younger brother, “that traveler is a very rude man.”“Oh?” said the elder brother, “Tell me the subject of the debate.”“Why,” said the younger brother, “the moment he saw me, he held up one finger insulting me by indicating that I have only one eye. But because he was a stranger, I thought I would be polite, so I held up two fingers congratulating him on having two eyes. At this, the impolite wretch held up three fingers to show that we had but three eyes between us, so I got mad and threatened to punch his nose – so he went.”The elder brother laughed.All debates are futile and stupid. Debate as such is foolish because no one can reach the truth through discussion, through debate. You may get a night’s shelter, but that’s all. Hence the tradition.The tradition is beautiful. For many centuries, if you ask for shelter in any Zen monastery in Japan, you have to discuss. If you win the debate, you can stay for the night – this is very symbolic – but only for the night. In the morning you have to move on. This indicates that through debate, logic, reasoning, you can never reach the goal, only a night’s shelter. And don’t deceive yourself that the night’s shelter is the goal. You have to move on. In the morning you have again to be on your feet.But many have deceived themselves. They think that whatsoever they have attained through logic is the goal. The night’s shelter has become the ultimate. They are not moving, and many mornings have passed. Logic can lead to hypothetical conclusions, never to truth. Logic can lead to something which approximates truth, but never to the truth.And remember, that which approximates the truth is also a lie because what does it mean? Either something is true or not true; there is no in-between. Either something is true, or it is not true. You cannot say that this is a half-truth; there is nothing like that – just like there cannot be a half-circle because the very word circle means the full. Half-circles don’t exist. If it is half, it is not a circle.Half-truths don’t exist. Truth is the whole, you cannot have it in fragments, you cannot have it in parts. Approximate truth is a deception, but logic can lead only to the deception. You may have a shelter for the night, just to retire, relax, but don’t make it your home. By the morning you have to move again, the journey cannot end there. Every morning it will begin again and again. Relax in the logic, in the reasoning, but don’t remain with it, don’t become static with it – and continually remember that you have to move.The tradition is beautiful. So one thing to be understood about the tradition and the meaning; it is symbolic. Second thing: all discussions are foolish because through the mood of discussion, you can never understand the other. Whatsoever he says is misunderstood. A mind which is bent on winning, conquering, cannot understand. It is impossible because understanding needs a nonviolent mind. When you are seeking how to be victorious, you are violent.Debate is violence. You can kill through it, you cannot revive through it. You cannot give life through it, you can murder through it. Truths can be murdered through debate, but they cannot be resurrected. It is violence; the very attitude is violent. Really, you are not asking for the truth, you are asking for victory. When victory is the goal, truth will be sacrificed. When truth is the goal, you can sacrifice victory also.And truth should be the goal, not victory, because when victory is the goal you are a politician, not a religious man. You are aggressive, you are trying somehow to overpower the other, you are trying somehow to dominate and domineer. And truth can never become a domination, it can never destroy the other. Truth can never be a victory in the sense that you have overpowered the other. Truth brings humility, humbleness. It is not an ego-trip – but all debates are ego-trips. So debate can never lead to the real; it always leads to the unreal, the untruth, because the very phenomena that you are after, victory, is stupid. Truth wins, not you, not I. In discussion you win or I win, truth never wins.Real seekers will allow the truth to win both. Debaters are asking that the victory should belong to me, it should not belong to the other. In truth, there is no other. In truth, we meet and become one. So who can be the winner, and who can be the loser? In truth, no one is defeated. In truth, truth wins, and we are lost. But in discussion I am I, and you are you; really there is no bridge.How can you understand the other when you are against him? Understanding is impossible. Understanding needs sympathy, understanding needs a participation. Understanding means listening to the other totally, only then does understanding flower. But if you are discussing something, debating, arguing, reasoning, you are not listening to the other, you only pretend that you are listening. Deep down you are preparing, deep down you have already moved to the next step – when the other stops, what you are going to say. You are getting ready to refute him. You have not listened to him, and you are trying to refute him!Really, truth is not significant in a discussion, in a debate. So debate is never a communication, and it is impossible through debate to come to a communion. You can argue, and the more you argue… You fall apart. The more you argue, the bigger the gap is, it becomes an abyss; there can be no meeting ground. That’s why philosophers never meet, pundits never meet: they are great arguers. An abyss exists. They cannot meet with the other – impossible.Only lovers can meet, but lovers cannot be in a debate – they can communicate. That’s why there is so much insistence in the East for shraddha – trust, faith. If you argue with your master, the gap widens. Then it is better to move; then let this master be a night’s shelter, but move. Being with him will not lead you anywhere, the gap will widen. If you are argumentative, then the gap cannot be bridged. It is impossible. Trust means sympathy; trust means you are not arguing – you have come to listen, not to argue. You have come to understand, not to debate. You have not come to win; rather, you are ready to lose.A real disciple is always in search of being defeated by the master. That is the greatest moment in the life of the disciple when he is completely destroyed and defeated. Not that the master is going to win; he is going to be defeated, the disciple is going to be defeated. And when the disciple is there no more – completely defeated, disappeared – only then is the gap bridged, the abyss is gone, and the master can penetrate you.Hence, it happened: Jesus was wandering all over his country, but all the disciples that he could gather were simple men, not a single educated person, not a single scholar. Not that there were not scholars; there were great scholars at that time. Jews were at the peak of their glory, that’s why they could produce such a son as Jesus. Jesus was the culmination. Jesus could happen – that shows that the Jews touched their peak. Never again would they reach to such a peak. There were great scholars, great debates were arranged. The Jewish synagogue was the seat of learning, a real university. People would travel from all over the country to discuss, to debate, to argue, to find; but it was an argument. Not a single scholar followed Jesus.Really all the scholars were unanimously agreed that this man should be destroyed. All the scholars, learned people, were ready to kill this man. Why? – because this man was against argument. He was pulling at their very base; the whole structure would fall down. This man was saying something against reason. He was talking about faith, he was talking about love, he was talking about how to create a bridge between two hearts.Debate is between two minds, two heads; love, communication, trust, is between two hearts. He was opening a new route – of friendship, of discipleship, of growth. He was thinking in terms of a totally different dimension – the quality was different. He was saying, “Put aside your scriptures. Your bibles are not needed, because they are only words.” The scholar, the pundit, couldn’t tolerate it. Jesus was crucified.He could only find simple people: a fisherman, a woodcutter, a shoemaker – simple men. All his disciples, except Judas, were uneducated. Only Judas was really a cultured, refined gentleman, and he sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. This cultured, refined Judas betrayed him, and Jesus knew that if anybody could betray him, it was Judas. Why? – because the heart can be betrayed only by the head. Love can only be betrayed by logic; nothing else can betray.So this is the second thing to remember before I enter the story; that through logic, through the head, argumentativeness, you become alien, strangers to each other; the bridge between is lost. How can you reach to the truth when you cannot understand the other, when you are not even capable of listening to him, when your mind goes on and on inside arguing, fighting? You are violent, aggressive. This aggression will not help.So all debates are futile, they never lead anywhere. Even if you feel that a conclusion is reached, the conclusion is forced; it is not reached through discussion. You can silence the other, but conviction never comes out of it, never. And I say it categorically: never. If you have some logical tricks, you can silence the other. He may not be able to answer you. You know more than he knows. You know more tricks than he knows. You can put him in a corner through words and reasoning, and he is unable to answer. But this is not the way to convince him. Deep down he knows that, “Some day I will find more tricks and put you right in your place. Right now I cannot answer. Okay, I accept defeat.” He is defeated but not won over.And these are two different things. When you win a heart, he is not defeated – he is happy. He is victorious in your victory, he participates. It is not your victory – truth has won, and you both can celebrate. But when you defeat a person, he is never won over; he remains the enemy. Deep down he is waiting for the right moment when he can assert himself.No debate can become a conviction. And if conviction is not reached, where is the conclusion? The conclusion is forced, it is always premature. It is just like an abortion, it is not a natural birth. You have forced – a dead child is born or a crippled child, who is going to remain crippled, weak and dead his whole life.Socrates used to say, “I am a midwife, I help natural birth.” A master is a midwife. He is not going to force because a forced birth cannot be a real birth. It is more like death and less like life.So a master is never argumentative. And if sometimes he appears to be argumentative, he is just playing with you – and playing for a certain reason. Don’t become a victim. He is playing for a certain reason; he can be argumentative just to find whether your argumentativeness is aroused or not. If it is aroused, you have missed. If you can listen to his argumentativeness without becoming argumentative, he will not play the game with you. He has to look within you. You may be consciously listening, unconsciously argumentative. Then he has to bring your unconscious up so that you can become aware of it.Sometimes a master will look as if he is aggressive, as if he is bent upon defeating you. But he is never bent upon defeating you – just defeating your ego, not you; just to destroy your ego, not you. And remember: the ego is the poison, it is destroying you. Once the poison is destroyed, you will be free and alive for the first time. And the abundance of light will happen to you for the first time. He is destroying the disease, not you.Sometimes he may have to be argumentative. There have been masters who were very argumentative. It was impossible to defeat them, impossible to play the game of words with them. But they were just helping to bring your unconscious up, so that you can become aware whether your faith is true or not.It happened…A Sufi, Junnaid, was living with his master. And the master was so argumentative that whatsoever you would say, he would immediately negate it. If you would say, “It is day,” he would say, “No, it is night” – and it was really not so, it was day.Whatsoever Junnaid would say, he would always find that the master would negate it. And he would simply bow down his head and say, “Yes, Master, it is night.”One day the master said, “Junnaid, you have won. I couldn’t create argumentativeness in you. And I was so obviously false that anybody who had never argued anything would say, “What foolishness. It is day. There is no need to argue, it is so obvious.” And still you said, “Yes, Master, it is night.” Your trust is deep. Now I will never be argumentative with you, now I can talk truth because you are ready.”When the heart says yes totally, then you are ready to listen. And only then the truth can be revealed to you. If even a slight “no” remains within you, the truth cannot be said to you, because that “no” will destroy the whole thing. The “no,” howsoever small, is powerful, very powerful; then the truth will be said, but it will not be revealed to you. The “no” will hide it again.That’s why I say all debates are futile. And that’s why I go on repeating again and again that the whole effort of philosophy has been useless. It has not reached any conclusion – it cannot reach.I will tell you one story, then I will enter this Zen anecdote.Once it happened…A great prime minister of a very great emperor died. The prime minister was rare, very intelligent, almost wise, very cunning, shrewd, a great diplomat, and it was very difficult to find a substitute. The whole kingdom was searched. All the ministers were sent to find at least three people; then the final decision will be taken, and one of them will be chosen.For months the search was on. The whole kingdom was searched; every nook and corner was searched. Then three people were found. One was a great scientist, a great mathematician. He could solve any mathematical problem, and mathematics is really the only positive science – all sciences are its branches – so he was at the root.Another was a great philosopher, he was a great system-maker: out of nothing he could create all. Just out of words, he could create such beautiful systems – it is a miracle, only philosophers can do it. They have nothing in their hands; they are the greatest magicians. They create God, they create the theory of creation, they create everything – and nothing is there in their hands. But they are clever artisans of words: they join words together in such a way that they give you a feeling of substance – and nothing is there.And the third one was a religious man, a man of faith, prayerfulness, devotion. And the people who were searching for these three men must have been very wise because they had found these three.These three represent the three dimensions of consciousness. These are the only possibilities: a man of science, a man of philosophy, and a man of religion – these are the basis. A man of science is concerned with experiments: unless something is proved through experiment, it is not proved. He is empirical, experimental; his truth is the truth of experiment.A man of philosophy is a man of logic, not of experiments. Experiment is not the question; just through logic he proves, disproves. He is a pure man, purer than the scientist because the scientist has to bring experiments in, then the laboratory comes in. A man of philosophy works without a lab – just in the mind, with logic, with mathematics. His whole lab is in his mind. He can prove and disprove just through logical arguments. He can solve any riddle, or he can create any type of riddle.And the third is the religious dimension. This man does not look at life as a problem. Life is not a problem for a religious man. It is nothing to be solved, it is something to be lived.The religious man is the man of experience, the scientist is the man of experiment, the philosopher is the man of thinking. The religious is the man of experience, he looks at life as something to be lived. If there is any solution, it will come through experience, it will come through living. Nothing can be decided beforehand through logic, because life is greater than logic. Logic is just a bubble in the vast ocean of life, so it cannot explain all. And experiments can be done only when you are detached, experiments can be done only with objects.Life is not an object, it is the very core of subjectivity. When you experiment, you are different; when you live, you are one. The religious man says, “Unless you are one with life, you can never know it.” How can you know it from the outside? You may go about and about, around and around, but you will never hit the target. So neither experiment, nor thinking, but experience; simple, trusting – a man of faith.They searched, and they found these three men, and then they were called to the capital for the final judgment. The king said, “For three days rest and get ready. On the morning of the fourth day will be the examination, the final. One of you will be chosen, and he will become my prime minister – the one who is proved to be the most wise.”They started working in their own ways. Three days were not enough! The scientist had to think of many experiments, and work it out – who knows what type of examination there is going to be? So he couldn’t sleep for three days, there was no time: and there was his whole life to sleep once he was chosen, so why bother about sleep? He would not sleep, he would not eat – there was not time enough, and many things were to be done before the examination.The philosopher started thinking, many problems were to be solved: “Who knows what type of problem is going to be asked?” Only the religious man was at ease. He ate, and ate well. Only a religious man can eat well because eating is an offering, it is something sacred. He slept well. He would pray, sit outside, go for a walk, look at the trees, and be thankful to existence because for a religious man there is no future, and there is no final examination. Every moment is the examination, so how can you prepare for it? If something is in the future you can prepare, but if something is right now, here, how can you prepare for it? You have to face it. And there was no future.Sometimes the scientist said, “What are you doing? Wasting time – eating, sleeping, praying. You can do your prayers later on.” But he would laugh, and he would not argue; he was not a man of argument.The philosopher would say, “You go on sleeping, you go on sitting outside in the garden, you go on looking at the trees. This is not going to help. Examination is not a child’s play, you have to be ready for it.” But he would laugh. He believed more in laughter than in logic.And on the morning of the fourth day, when they started for the palace for the final examination, the scientist was not even in a position to walk. He was so tired with his experiments, as if all his life had oozed out. He was dead tired, as if any moment he would fall and go to sleep. His eyes were sleepy, and his mind was troubled. He was almost crazy.And the philosopher? He was not so tired, but he was more uncertain than ever because he’d thought and thought and argued and argued, and no argument can become the conclusion. He was muddled, in a mess, he was a chaos. The day he had come, he could have answered many things, but now, no. Even his certain answers had become uncertain. The more you think, the more philosophy becomes useless. Only fools can believe in certainties. The more you think, the more intelligence comes to you, you can see that these are all just words, there is no substance. Many times he wanted to go back because this was not going to be of any use. He was not in the right shape. But the scientist said, “Come on! Let us try. What are we going to lose? If we win, it is okay. If we don’t win, it is okay. But let us try. Don’t be so discouraged.”Only the religious man was walking happily, singing. He could hear the birds in the trees, he could see the sun rising, he could see the sunrays on the dewdrops. The whole life was such a miracle. He was not worried because there was no examination – he would go and face the thing, he would simply go and see what happens. And he was not asking for anything, he was not expecting, he was fresh, young, alive – and that’s all. That’s how one should approach existence; not with readymade formulas, not with readymade theories, not with many experimental research works, not with many PhD’s. No, it is not going to help. This is the way one should go – singing and dancing to the temple. And if you are alive, then whatsoever comes you can respond to it because response is through life, it is through the heart, and the heart is ready when it is singing, when it is dancing.They arrived. The emperor had made a very special device. They were taken into a room where he had fixed a lock, a mathematical puzzle. Many figures were on the lock, but there was no key. Those figures were to be fixed in a certain way: the secret was there, but one had to search for it and find it. And if those figures were fixed in a certain way, the door would open. The emperor took them in and said, “This is a mathematical puzzle, one of the greatest ever known. Now you have to find the clue – there is no key. If you can find the clue, the answer to this mathematical problem, the lock will open. And the person who comes out of this room first will be chosen. So now start.” He closed the door and went out.Immediately the scientist started working on paper: many experiments, many things, many problems. He watched, observed the figures on the lock. There was no time to lose, it was a question of life and death. The philosopher closed his eyes, started thinking in mathematical terms what to do, how this puzzle can be solved. The puzzle was absolutely new.That is the problem with the mind: if something is old, the answer can be found, but if something is absolutely new, how can you work it out through the mind? The mind is quite efficient with the old, the known, the routine. Mind is absolutely inefficient when the unknown faces it.The religious man never went to the lock, because what can he do? He does not know any mathematics, he does not know any experimental science. What can he do? He just sat in a corner. He sang a little, prayed to God closed his eyes. Those two others were thinking, “He is not a competitor at all. In a way it is good because the thing has to be decided between us two.” Then suddenly they became aware that he had left the room, he was not there. The door was open.The emperor came in, and he said, “What are you doing now? It is finished. The third man is out.”But they asked, “How? because he never did anything.”So they asked the religious man. He said, “I was just sitting. I prayed, and I was just sitting, and a voice said within me, ‘You fool, just go and see. The door is not locked.’ And I just went to the door, it was not locked. There was no problem at all to be solved, so I went out.”Life is not a problem. If you are trying to solve it, you will miss it. The door is open, it has never been locked. If the door was locked, then scientists would find the solution. If the door was locked, then philosophers may find a system to open it. But the door is not locked, so only faith can go – without any solution, without any readymade answer. Push the door open and get out.Life is not a riddle to be solved, it is a mystery to be lived. It is a deep mystery to trust and allow yourself to enter into it. No debate can be of any help – with somebody else, or with yourself inside the mind – no debate. All debates are futile and stupid.Now we will enter this beautiful story:There is an old tradition in some Japanese temples that if a wandering monk can win an argument about Buddhism with one of the resident monks, he can stay the night. If not, he has to move on.Arguments can give you this much – a night’s shelter, but that’s all.There was such a temple in northern Japan run by two brothers. The elder brother was very learned, and the younger brother was rather stupid, and he had only one eye.Two types of people are needed to run a temple: a learned person and a very stupid one. And this is how all temples are run – two types of people: the learned who have become the priests, and the stupid who follow them. This is how every temple is run.These stories are not just stories, they are indications to particular facts. If stupid people disappear from the earth, there will be no temples. If learned people disappear from the temples, there will be no temples. A duality is needed for a temple to exist. That’s why you cannot find godliness in a temple – because you cannot find it in a duality.These temples are inventions of the clever people to exploit the stupid. All temples are inventions – clever people exploiting… They have become the priests. Priests are the most clever people, they are the greatest exploiters, and they exploit in such a way that you cannot even revolt against them. They exploit you for your own sake, they exploit you for your own good. Priests are the most clever because they spin theories out of nothing: all the theologies, all that they have created – tremendous! Cleverness is needed to create religious theories. And they go on creating such big edifices that it is almost impossible for an ordinary man to enter into those edifices. And they use such jargon, they use such technical terms that you cannot understand what they are talking about. And when you cannot understand, you think they are very profound. Whenever you cannot understand a thing, you think it is very profound – “It is beyond me.”Remember this: Buddha speaks in a very ordinary language which can be understood by anybody. It is not the language of a priest. Jesus speaks in small parables – any uneducated man can understand it – he never uses any religious jargon. Mahavira talks, gives his teachings, in the language of the most ordinary and common people.Mahavira and Buddha never used Sanskrit, never, because Sanskrit was the language of the priest, the brahmin. Sanskrit is the most difficult language. Priests have made it so difficult – they have polished and polished and polished. The very word sanskrit means polishing, refining. They have refined it to such a pitch that only if you are very, very learned can you understand what they are saying, otherwise it is beyond.Buddha used the language of the people, Pali. Pali was the language of the people, of the villagers. Mahavira used Prakrit. Prakrit is the unrefined form of Sanskrit; Prakrit is the natural form of Sanskrit – no grammar, not much. The scholar has not entered yet, he has not refined the words so they become beyond common people. But priests have been using Sanskrit, they still use it. Nobody understands Sanskrit now, but they go on using Sanskrit because their whole profession depends on creating a gap, not a bridge – in creating a gap. If the common people cannot understand, only then the priests can survive. If the common people understand what they are saying, they are lost because they are saying nothing.Once Mulla Nasruddin went to a doctor – and doctors have learned the trick from the priests: they write in Latin and Greek, and they write in such a way that if even they have to read it again, it is difficult. Nobody should understand what they are writing. So Mulla Nasruddin went to a doctor, and he said, “Listen, be plain. Just tell me the facts. Don’t use Latin and Greek.”The doctor said, “If you insist, and if you allow me to be frank, you are not ill at all. You are just plain lazy.”Nasruddin said, “Okay, thank you. Now write it in Greek and Latin, so I can show it to my family.”The clever have always been exploiting the common people. That’s why Buddha, Jesus and Mahavira were never respected by brahmins, scholars, clever ones because they were destructive, they were destroying their whole business. If people understand, then there is no need for the priest. Why? – because the priest is a mediator. He understands the language of God. He understands your language. He translates your language into the language of God. That’s why they say Sanskrit is dev-bhasha, the language of God: “You don’t know Sanskrit? – I know, so I become the intermediate link, I become the interpreter. You tell me what you want, and I will say it in Sanskrit to God because he understands only Sanskrit.” And of course you have to pay for it.These are the two types which are needed for a temple. There was such a temple…run by two brothers. The elder brother was very learned, and the younger brother was rather stupid, and he had only one eye.What is the symbolism of one eye in this story? A stupid person is always one-pointed: he never hesitates, he is always certain. And a learned person is always dual: he hesitates, he continuously divides himself into two. He is always arguing within, a dialogue continues inside; he knows both the sides.A learned man is duality – two eyes. A stupid man is one-eyed – he is always certain, he has no arguments, he is not divided. That’s why, if you look at a stupid person, a stupid person looks more like a saint than a learned man. If you look at a saint, he will have something similar in him also – of the stupid, of the fool. The quality differs, but something is the same; the label differs. The fool is just on the first rung, and the saint is on the last rung, but both are at the ends of the ladder. The fool does not know, that’s why he is simple, one-eyed. The saint knows, that’s why he is simple. He is also one-eyed; he calls it the third eye. The two eyes have disappeared into the third. He is also one-eyed – one. He is a unity, and a fool is also a unity. But what is the difference?Ignorance also has an innocence about it, just like wisdom has an innocence about it. The learned is just in between: he is ignorant and thinks he is wise. This is the division of the learned man: he is ignorant and thinks he is wise. He is neither at this level nor at that, he hangs in between. That’s why he is always in tension. An ignorant man is relaxed, a wise man is relaxed. The ignorant man has not started his travels, he is at home. The wise man has reached the goal, he is at home. The learned is in between, seeking shelter in some monastery – even for one night, it is okay – he is in wandering.Buddhist bhikkus have been wanderers, and Buddha has said, “Be a wanderer until you reach. Be a wanderer. Not only inside but outside also, be a wanderer until you reach. Don’t stop before.” When you have reached, when you have become a siddha, a buddha, then you are allowed to sit.Ignorance and wisdom have a quality about them which is similar – that is innocence; neither is cunning. Sometimes it has happened that a man of godliness has been known as a foolish man, a fool – God’s fool. Saint Francis is known as God’s fool. He was! But to be God’s fool is the greatest wisdom possible because the ego is lost. You don’t say that you know, for you aren’t a fool because you don’t claim knowledge. If you don’t claim, who is going to accept that you are a knower? Even if you do claim, nobody accepts. You have to hammer it on others’ heads. You have to make them silent, argue it. When they cannot say anything, then with a grudging heart they accept that maybe, maybe you are. But they will always say, “Maybe.” They will keep the possibility open that some day they can deny it.And if you don’t claim, who is going to accept you? And if you say yourself, “I am ignorant, I know nothing,” who is going to think that you are a knower? People will accept immediately if you say, “I don’t know.” They will accept it immediately; they will say, “We knew it before. We accept it, we totally agree with you that you don’t know.”God’s fool! If you read one of the great novels of Dostoevsky, then you will feel what this God’s fool means. Dostoevsky always has in his many novels one character who is the God’s fool. In Brothers Karamazov he is there. He is innocent, you can exploit him. Even if you exploit him, he will trust you. You can destroy him, but you cannot destroy his trust – that is the beauty.What happens to you? If one man deceives you, the whole of humanity becomes the deceiver. If one man deceives you, you have lost your trust in man – not with this man, but with the whole of humanity. If two or three persons deceive you, you make the judgment that there is no man worth believing. All trust is gone.It seems that you wanted from the very beginning not to trust, and only these two or three people have given you the excuse. Otherwise, you will say, “This man is not trustworthy, but the whole of humanity? I don’t know, so I must trust unless the contrary is proved.” And if you are really a trusting man, you will say, “Not only is this man totally untrustworthy this moment, this man was untrustworthy, but the next moment who knows? Because saints become sinners, sinners become saints.”Life is a movement. Nothing is static. At this moment the man was weak, but in the next moment he may gain control and will not deceive again. So the next day he comes, you will believe him again because this day is different, this man is different; the Ganges has flowed so much, it is not the same river.Once it happened…A man came to Mulla Nasruddin and asked for some money. Nasruddin knew this man, knew well that this money was not going to be returned, but it was such a small sum that he thought, “Let him take it; even if he is not going to return it, nothing is lost. So for such a small sum, why say no?” So he gave him the money.After three days the man returned. Nasruddin was surprised. It seemed impossible, it was a miracle that this man had returned. After two or three days, the man came again and asked for a big sum. Nasruddin said, “Now! Last time you deceived me.” He said, “Last time you deceived me – now I am not going to allow it again.”The man said, “What are you saying? Last time I returned the money.”He said, “Okay, you returned it, but you deceived me because I never believed that you would return it. But this time, no. Enough is enough. Last time you behaved contrary to my expectations. But enough; now I am not going to give it to you.”This is how the cunning mind works.One was ignorant in this temple – a simple man, one-eyed, certain. One was a learned man, and the learned man is always tired because he is working so hard over nothing. So busy without business, he is always tired.One evening a wandering monk came to ask for lodging. The elder brother was very tired as he had been studying for many hours…You cannot find a learned man not tired. Go and look! Go to the pundits of Kashi and look. Always tired, always tired, working so hard with words. Remember, even a laborer is not so tired because he is working with life. When you are working only with words, futile words, just with the head, you get tired. Life is invigorating! Life rejuvenates! If you go in the garden and work, you perspire, but you are gaining more energy, you are not losing. You go for a walk, and you gain more energy because you are living in the moment. If you just close yourself in your study with words, with words you go on thinking and thinking and thinking – it is such a dead process, you will be tired. A learned man is always tired. A fool is always fresh, a saint is also always fresh. They have many similar qualities.…so he told the younger brother to go and take the debate. “Request that the dialogue be in silence,” said the elder brother.Because he knew that his brother was stupid. So silence is golden if you are stupid, and silence is golden if you are a saint also. If you know something, you will remain silent. If you don’t know, it is better to remain silent.A wise man becomes silent because he knows, and whatsoever he knows cannot be said. A fool has to be silent because whatsoever he says he will be caught. A fool can deceive if he is silent, but he cannot deceive if he speaks because whatsoever comes out of him will bring his foolishness. This learned brother knew well that this younger brother was not a man of words, was a simple man, innocent, ignorant, so he said, “Request that the dialogue be in silence.”A little later the traveler came to the elder brother and said, “What a wonderful fellow your brother is.”This other man must have also been a learned man, and if a fool is silent, he can defeat a learned man. If you speak, you will be caught because then you enter into the world of the learned man. With words you cannot win.This other man was also a learned man, a man of words. It would have been very difficult for him to remain silent and debate. How to discuss? If you are not allowed to speak, just use gestures, the whole thing becomes dumb, and your whole cleverness is lost because if you are not allowed to speak… That is your only efficiency. So if a learned man is to remain silent, he can be defeated by a fool also because his whole efficiency is lost – it belonged to words.In silence he is a fool – this is the meaning. That’s why pundits will never be silent, they are always chattering. If nobody is there, they are chattering with themselves, but they are chattering. They go on talking and talking and talking, within and without, because through this talking their efficiency grows greater and greater, they become more and more proficient. But if they encounter silence, suddenly all their art is gone. They are more stupid than a stupid man. Even a stupid man can defeat them. They are out of their professional world, they are simply switched off. He must have been in very great difficulty.He said,“What a wonderful fellow your brother is. He has won the debate very cleverly, so I must move on. Good night.”If you encounter a learned man, remain silent. Face him with gestures. You will defeat him because he knows nothing about gestures, he knows nothing about silence. Really it is very difficult for him to remain without words. The traveler immediately thought that he had been defeated – he must move on and reach another monastery before it is too late and find a fellow who can debate with him in words, intellectually.Gestures are alive; when you move your hand, your whole being moves it. When you look with your eyes, your whole being pours through them. When you walk, you walk as a whole man. Your legs cannot walk by themselves, but your head can go on spinning and spinning by itself. The head can become autonomous. No other part of the body can become autonomous. So if you want to study a man, don’t listen to what he says. Rather, look how he behaves, how he comes in the room, how he sits, how he walks, how he looks. Look at his gestures, they will reveal the truth.Words are deceivers. We talk not to reveal but to hide. So be silent and look at a person – how he stands, how he sits, how he looks, what gestures he is making. Body language is truer than your head language. And body language is very, very natural; it comes from the very source, so it is very difficult to deceive through it. You may be saying something, but your face goes on saying something else. You may be saying, “I am right,” but your eyes, your very manner, the way you are standing, says that you know you are wrong. You may be showing through your words that you are confident, but your whole body gives a tremble and shows that you are not confident.When a thief enters, he enters in a different way. When a liar appears, he appears in a different way. When a man of truth walks, he walks differently. He has nothing to hide, he has no reason to deceive. He is true, his walk is innocent. Just do something that you have to hide, then watch yourself – your body will say everything is different. Even while walking you are hiding something. Your stomach is strained, you are alert, your eyes are looking everywhere to see if somebody is looking or not, whether you are caught or not. Your eyes are sly, they are not pools of innocence – cunning. Watch your body movements, they will give you a truer picture of yourself. Don’t listen to words.This I have to do continuously. People come to me with all sorts of deceptions. I have to look at their gestures, not at what they say. They may be touching my feet, but their whole gesture is showing ego, so that touching of feet is useless. They are manipulating it. They are not only deceiving me, they are deceiving themselves. Their whole gesture says, “Ego!” and whatsoever they say through words is humbleness.You cannot deceive through the body; your body is truer than your mind. And all the religions which have been invented by the priests say to you, “Be against the body, and be with the mind” – because a priest lives in the mind, exploits through the mind. With the body it is impossible to exploit; the body is authentic. Centuries of inauthentic living have not been able to destroy the authenticity of the body. The body remains authentic, it shows clearly who you are.“He has won the debate very cleverly, I must move on. Good night.”“Before you go,” said the elder brother, “please relate the dialogue to me.”He must have been puzzled. How could this stupid brother of his be clever? What has happened? He is a perfect fool – how could he discuss, how could he debate, how could he have won? So he asked,“Before you go, please relate the dialogue to me.”“Well,” said the traveler, “first I held up one finger to represent Buddha.”Because a man of learning, even while he is making gestures, uses gestures as words because he knows only one language. If he kisses his beloved, inside he will say the word kiss. This is foolishness; you are kissing, there is no need to repeat “kiss” inside, but he will. You watch yourself: while making love, you will say inside, “I am making love.” What nonsense! Nobody is asking you. Nobody is there to be told. Why do you go on repeating? Whenever you do something, why do you verbalize it? Because without verbalizing, you are not at ease. You are at ease only with words. With God you cannot be at ease. With the word god, it is okay – that’s why a man of learning will go to the temple, to the mosque, to the church; there also he goes on chattering. He will chatter with God – but words.Søren Kierkegaard has said, “When I first entered the church, I used to talk. I used to say things, complain, pray. But then, by and by, it felt foolish. I am talking to him, and I am not giving him any chance, any opportunity for him to talk to me. And it is better to listen; when you are before God, it is better to listen.” So he dropped talking. By and by, he dropped all prayer. He would just go into the church and sit silently, but in his silence there were also words inside. He was not using them outside, but inside they were revolving.So by and by, he had to drop the words inside also – only then does listening become possible. Then you enter a totally different dimension of listening, of passivity, of receptivity. You become a womb. Then you can receive the truth – then you are not talking, then you are not aggressive. Only then is existence working, and you are allowing him to work. Then he became absolutely silent; then he stopped going to the church.Somebody asked, “Why? Why have you stopped going to church?”He said, “Now I have learned what church means; it only means to be silent and to be listening. That can be done anywhere, and it is better to do it somewhere else because many other people go there to the church chattering. They disturb me. It is better under a tree. It is better under the sky.”The church is greater there, more natural. And if you have to be silent, then existence is everywhere. If you have to talk, then go to the temple. But if you have to be silent, why go anywhere? It is everywhere, but you cannot be silent. You do something, and you repeat it inside. You feel hunger, and you say, “I am hungry.” Is it not enough to feel hunger? Unless you say it, you are not at ease; you have become addicted to words.This man, a learned man, must have been really a perfectly learned man:“Well,” he said, “first I held up one finger to represent Buddha. Then your brother held up two fingers to represent Buddha and his teaching.– the dhamma.”A man who cannot use a gesture without words will interpret the other’s gestures also in words. Now look at the link. What is happening? And you will also link the other’s gesture to the same way you interpret your own words.He was thinking, “This finger, one finger represents…” A finger represents nobody. A finger is enough unto itself. A finger is just a finger. Why make it a representative? It is not representative of anybody. And the finger is so beautiful, why should it represent anything? But the mind always loves secondhand things. The finger is not enough, it must represent somebody.If you look at a flower, you cannot look at the flower directly; immediately it must represent something. So you say, “Looks just like my wife’s face.” Even the moon you say, “Looks like my beloved’s face.” What nonsense! The moon is the moon. And this man, when he looks at his beloved’s face, will say, “Looks like the moon.” Neither the moon is enough unto itself, nor the beloved’s face is enough unto itself. And everything is enough unto itself. Nobody is representing anybody.Everybody is representing only himself. Everyone is original, unique. No one is a carbon copy. When you say the finger represents Buddha, Buddha has become the original, the finger has become the carbon copy. No! This buddha cannot allow it. I cannot allow it! The finger is so beautiful not representing anybody. And if you think your finger represents Buddha, then the other’s two fingers will represent Buddha and his dhamma – his teaching. Because you understand the other not by listening to the other, you understand the other by listening to your own mind. You interpret the other. When I say something, never believe that you have heard the same. When I say something, you hear something, but that is not related to me; it is linked with your own thought process.His thought process was, “This finger represents Buddha.” Then when the other put up two fingers, he was blissfully unaware what he meant. You cannot understand the other if you have words inside because then everything links with your word, with your thinking process, and then it is colored. The traveler thought that he is saying two things are there, not one: Buddha and his dhamma – his teaching, his law.“So I held up three fingers…”– look at the link inside.You are not communicating with the other at all. You are communicating with yourself. This is what madness means. Madness means not relating to the other, just going inside and linking your new moment with the past, the new experience with the past – interpreting, coloring it.“So I held up three fingers…” – because if he says, “Buddha, dhamma,” I will say, “Buddha, dhamma, sangha – Buddha, his teaching, and his followers.”There are three – these are the three Buddhist shelters. When a bhikku wants to be initiated, becomes a bhikku, he says, “Buddham sharanam gachchhami – I go, I take shelter in Buddha. Dhammam sharanam gachchhami, I take shelter in the teaching. Sangham sharanam gachchhami, I take shelter in the sangha, in the followers of Buddha.” These are the three shelters, the three jewels of Buddhism.But this man is not looking at what the other man is doing – totally unrelated! – so he raised three fingers.“So I held up three fingers to represent Buddha, his teaching, and his followers. Then your clever brother shook his clenched fist in my face to indicate that all these come from one realization.” With that the traveler went.A little later the younger brother came in looking very distressed. “I understand you won the debate,” said the elder brother.“Won nothing,” said the younger, “that traveler is a very rude man.”“Oh!” said the elder brother, “Tell me the subject of the debate.”“Why,” said the younger brother, “the moment he saw me, he held up one finger to insult me on having only one eye.”You understand according to yourself: you read a book, you understand only that which you already know. And you listen, but you interpret with the past, your past comes in. A man with one eye is always aware of the wound. He is carrying a wound; everywhere he is looking for the insult. Nobody is worried about you, but if you have a feeling of inferiority, then you are looking for somebody who is going to insult you. You are certain about that, and then you will interpret. The other may be saying, “Buddha”; you will see he is showing that you have only one eye. Nobody is bothered with your eyes, but we interpret according to our understanding.One man reached Bayazid, a Sufi mystic, and asked him a question. He said, “Come back after one year because right now you are ill. Your inside is in a turmoil, and I cannot utter the truth because you will not understand it – you will misunderstand it. So for one year try to be healthy, silent, meditative and then come back. If I feel that you can listen, then I will tell you. Otherwise, go to somebody else.”The man listened, went away. For one year he made every effort to be healthy, silent, peaceful, but never came back again.So Bayazid inquired, “What happened to that seeker?”Somebody said, “We asked him, ‘Why are you not coming?’ He said, ‘Now there is no need to come because I can understand from here, where I am, what Bayazid can say.’”This is the paradox: when you are not ready, you ask, but then nothing can be said to you. When you are ready, you don’t ask, but only then something can be said to you.If you are one-eyed, you are always looking for insults, and if you are looking for insults, you will find them – this is the problem. If you are looking for something, this is the misfortune: you will find it. Not that anybody is insulting you; you will find it. So don’t look for such things, otherwise you will find them everywhere.Somebody will laugh – not at you, because who are you? Why do you think yourself to be the center of the world? This is an egoist trend. You are passing down a street, and somebody laughs, and you think they are laughing at you. Why at you? Who are you? Why do you take it for granted that you are the center of the whole world? Somebody laughs – laughs at you; somebody insults – insults you; somebody is angry – angry against you.In my whole life, I have not met a single person who was angry at me. Many people were angry, but nobody was angry at me because I am not the center of the world. Why should they be angry at me? They are angry – that is something linked with their own being, not with me. I have come across people who were even violent to me, but they were not violent to me. This violence was coming out of their past; I was not the cause of its origination. I may be the excuse, but I was not the cause. But an excuse – if I was not there, somebody else would have done the same; somebody else would have become the victim. So it is just coincidental that I was there.When your wife gets mad at you, it is coincidental that you are there. Escape! And don’t think too much that she was angry with you. She was angry, you were there, that’s all. She would have been angry at the servant, at the child, at the piano, at anything!Everybody lives through his own past. Only buddhas live in the present. Nobody else lives in the present.This man thought, “Okay, so he is showing that I have only one eye. He is rude. He is insulting me, having only one eye. But because he was a stranger, I thought I would be polite.”But the moment you think you should be polite, you are not polite. How can you be? – the idea has entered: if you think the other is rude, you have become rude. It is not a question now because the very idea “the other is rude” is because your rudeness has come up. Through your rudeness the other appears rude, you have colored the other. The other is showing his finger representing Buddha, he has not even looked at your eye. He is not concerned, he just wants shelter.A Buddha…and the interpretation: “He is showing that I have got only one eye; he is rude.” When you think about someone that he is rude, look back: you are rude. That’s why you interpret it.But why are you rude? – because your rudeness is a way of protecting your wound. Those people who are rude are always suffering from feelings of inferiority. If a person is not in any way burdened with a complex of inferiority, he will not be rude. Rudeness is his protection. Through rudeness he protects his wound. He says, “I will not allow you to touch my wound. I will not allow you to hit me.”He protects, but protection becomes projection. He thinks that you are rude, only then can he be rude. This is a way to be rude. First you have to prove that the other is rude, and still your ego says, “I will try to be polite.”When you are polite, your politeness is nothing but a façade. Inside rudeness has entered. Sooner or later it will explode.“But I thought because he was a stranger, I would be polite, so I held up two fingers to congratulate him on having two eyes.”This is just false. How can you congratulate any person if you feel insulted? If you have one eye and the others have two, how can you congratulate? Deep down you can be jealous. How can you congratulate? How can congratulation come out of jealousy? But all your congratulations come out that way. It is a polite way, it is culture, etiquette. If you are defeated by someone, even then you congratulate him for his victory. What falseness! If you were such a person, you would not have fought at all. When you were fighting, you were the enemy, and now you are defeated, and you go and congratulate him. But deep down there is jealousy, you are boiling, you would like to kill this man. You will try – in the future, you will see!But society needs etiquette. Why does society need etiquette? – because everybody is so violent. If there were no etiquette, we would be at each other’s throats continuously. Society has to create barriers. You should not be allowed to be at each other’s throats continuously, otherwise life would be impossible.But you are at each other’s throats continuously. Your etiquette, your culture, your civilized ways, manners are just to hide the fact. They don’t allow a real civilization to happen. A false thing – that’s why every ten years a great war is needed in which all etiquette, all manners, all morality are thrown away, and you can run at each other’s throats without any guilt. Then killing becomes the game; the more you murder, the greater you are. The more you are rude, the greater a warrior you are.And back in your country, you will be received as heroes; Pad-mabhushan, Mahavirchakra, the Victoria Cross will be given to you. You will receive medals. For what are these medals given? To become barbarous, to become murderers; and because you have been a great murderer, this medal is given to you by your country. And we call these countries civilized – and murderers are recognized, murderers are appreciated. But only mass-murderers; individual murder and you will be in jail, that cannot be allowed. Only sometimes when the whole society goes mad, that is war; everything is put aside, your real nature is allowed. That’s why everybody feels happy when there is a war. It should be otherwise – nobody should feel happy when there is a war. But everybody feels happy because now you are allowed to be animals. You always wanted to be that. Your culture, your etiquette, your manners are just polished ways to hide the animal behind.This man said:“…so I held up two fingers to congratulate him on having two eyes. At this, the impolite wretch held up three fingers to show that we had but three eyes between us…”Whatsoever you do, your wound will come in. The other is saying, “The three jewels of Buddha,” but for you it is just the wound coming back. You tried to be polite, you tried not to be rude, you even tried to congratulate. But you are you, your mind continues.Now he is showing three fingers. Again your mind comes in and says, “This wretch! He is saying that we have three eyes between the two of us.” Again he is showing that you have one eye. Now this is too much. Now it is enough!“…so I got mad and threatened to punch his nose – so he went.”He was mad from the very beginning. Before they ever met he was mad because you cannot create madness if it is not already there. You can only create things which are already there, your creation is not out of nothing. It is only that an unmanifested state becomes a manifested state. Anger is there, you need not create it. Somebody becomes the excuse – it comes up. You are not angry at him, he is not the cause. You were carrying the anger – he has become the excuse. Madness is inside; nobody can make you mad if you are not mad already. But we always think that somebody makes us angry, somebody makes us depressed, somebody makes us this and that.Nobody makes you anything. Even if you are left alone, you will be mad, you will be angry. Even if the whole world disappears, there will be moments when you will be sad, there will be moments when you will be happy, there will be moments when you will be angry, there will be moments when you will be very forgiving – although there is nobody.It is your inner story that unfolds. This is what a man of understanding comes to realize – that the whole thing is an unfoldment of me. You just give me the opportunity, the situation, but the whole thing is an unfoldment of me.A seed falls on the ground, sprouts, a tree starts growing. The soil, the air, the rains, the sun, are all just giving the opportunity, but the tree was hidden in the seed. You carry the whole tree of your unfoldment; everybody else becomes the opportunity. Whenever anything happens, don’t look out, look within because the thing as it is happening is linked with your past, not with the person here.“…I got mad and threatened to punch his nose – so he went.”The elder brother laughed.The elder brother could see both standpoints. He could see that the learned wanderer never talked to this man, never gestured to this man. He could see this stupid brother never understood what was gestured. They remained untouched – the abyss was there, no bridge. They debated, they concluded. One was defeated, one has become victorious, and they never met – not for a single moment. He laughed.This laughter can become enlightenment. This laughter can become a profound understanding, a transformation. If this laughter is not about the stupidity of this brother or the stupidity of that wanderer, if this laughter is about the whole situation: how the head functions, how two heads can never meet, how two pasts can never meet, how two minds always remain separate – there is no way for them to meet and mingle into each other. If he laughs at the whole situation, not at this brother or at that learned wanderer – because if he laughs at this brother or at that learned wanderer, this laughter cannot become enlightenment, he will remain the same – but if he laughs at the whole situation: how the mind functions, how the mind argues, how the mind goes on within itself, never moving out, how the mind is always closed, it is never open, how the mind is just an inner dream, a nightmare…If he understands that, this laughter will become a shattering. The pail, the whole pail will fall down, the water will flow out – no water, no moon.Enough for today.

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No Water No Moon 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Water No Moon 03 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The Zen Master Hakuin was honored by his neighbors as one who led a pure life.One day it was discovered that a beautiful girl who lived near Hakuin was pregnant.The parents were very angry. At first the girl would not say who the father was, but after much harassment she named Hakuin.In great anger the parents went to Hakuin, but all he would say was, “Is that so?”After the child was born, it was taken to Hakuin, who had lost his reputation by this time, although he didn’t seem much disturbed by the fact.Hakuin took great care of the child. He obtained milk, food, and everything else the child needed from his neighbors.A year later the girl-mother could stand it no longer, so she told her parents the truth – the real father was a young man who worked in the fish market.The mother and father of the girl went round at once to Hakuin to tell him the story, apologize at great length, ask his forgiveness, and get the child back.As the master willingly yielded the child he said, “Is that so?”What is pure life? What do you call purity? Because whatsoever you call purity is not the real purity. Your purity is a calculation, a moral calculation. Your purity is not the purity of a saint – his purity is innocence. Your purity is a sort of cunningness, a shrewdness.This has to be understood first. If you understand it deeply, only then can you understand what a wise man is, what a saint is, what a man of knowledge is. Because if your measurement is wrong, if your very base of judgment is wrong, everything will go wrong with it.Real purity is just like a child – innocent; innocent about what is good, what is bad; innocent about any distinction. Real purity does not know what is God and what is the Devil. But your purity is a choice – a choice of God against the Devil, a choice of the good against the bad. You have already made a distinction, you have already divided existence. And a divided existence cannot lead to innocence.Innocence flowers only when existence is undivided. You accept it as it is. You don’t choose, you don’t divide, you don’t make any distinctions. You don’t know, really, what is good and what is bad. If you know, then you will calculate, then purity will be manufactured. It will not be a flowering.I will tell you one anecdote:Khalil Gibran has written a beautiful story. A priest was going to the temple. Just by the side of the road he saw a man almost at the verge of death – bleeding, dying, as if he had been attacked very severely – wounds all over, blood flowing, soaked in his own blood.The priest was in a hurry; he had to reach the temple in time, people must be waiting there. But he was a man of morality – I will not say of purity: he was a man of morality. He pondered what to do. He calculated and then he thought, “It is better to help this man who is dying. This is what Jesus has said. It is better to forget the temple, the worshippers; they can wait a little. But this man has to be helped immediately, otherwise he will die.”So he went near to the man, but the moment he saw his face he was scared. This face looked familiar, very evil-looking. Then he suddenly remembered that in his temple there is a picture of the Devil – and this is the man. This is the Devil, nobody else! So he started running toward the temple.The Devil called out; he said, “Priest, listen! If I die, you will repent forever. Because if I die, if evil dies, where will your God be? If the bad dies, how will you know what is good? You exist because of me. Think it over!”The priest stopped. The Devil was right: if the Devil dies, there will be no hell. And if there is no fear, who is going to worship God? All prayers are based on fear. You are afraid, your love toward God is based on the fear of the Devil. Your goodness is measured through evil. God needs the Devil.The Devil said, “God needs me! He cannot be without me. All the temples will fall down, and nobody will come to worship. And you will not find a single man who is religious if I am not there. I tempt them; through my temptation they become saints. Have you ever heard about any saint who was not tempted by the Devil? Your Jesus, your Zoroaster, your Buddha – all have been tempted by me! It is I who made them saints. Come back!”The priest hesitated a little, but the Devil was logical – and the Devil is always logical; he is logic personified. You cannot reason with him, you cannot argue. If you argue, you are defeated. You cannot win an argument with the Devil.The priest had to concede and agree. He said, “You seem to be right. Where will we be without you?” So he carried the Devil on his back to the hospital. He waited there until he was certain that now there is no danger and that the Devil will survive – and with the Devil, all the temples, all the priests and all religions survive.This priest is a moral man, but not a pure man. His life is a mathematical calculation, and if you calculate, you are already defeated by the Devil. You cannot calculate better than he can. If you argue, if you divide life, if it becomes a logical problem, then there is no possibility of your ever winning it. The game is already lost. You are in a losing battle.A man of innocence does not know who God is and who the Devil is. A man of innocence lives out of his innocence, not out of his calculations. He is not shrewd, he is simple. He lives moment to moment, neither the past nor the future is meaningful to him. This very moment is enough unto itself.But your morality; your morality is created by the priest, the priest who helped the Devil, because the Devil argued, and he argued rightly. Your morality is not pure. So whenever there is someone who can behave the way you think a pure man should behave, who can manipulate himself, you honor him, you respect him, you call him a saint. Your saints are as bogus as you are, because you decide and judge who is a saint. Your morality is just a fear, a hidden fear, and the disguise is so cleverly disguised that you never become aware of it.How can a calculation become innocent? And without becoming innocent – innocent like the trees, innocent like the animals, innocent like the babies – how can purity happen to you? It is not something you can control. If you control, it is repression, and the contrary is always present there. If you become a celibate, sex is there hidden in the unconscious waiting for its moment to assert, to rebel. If you become nonviolent, violence is there. The opposite cannot be thrown out. If you choose, the opposite is always repressed – that’s all you can do. Only in an innocent mind does the opposite disappear, because nothing has been chosen: the opposite cannot exist without choice.Hence Krishnamurti’s consistently emphasizing not to choose and to be choiceless – that’s the base of innocence. But you can deceive yourself by choosing choicelessness: “Because Krishnamurti says, ‘Be choiceless’ I will be choiceless.” If you decide, the will has entered – and the will is cunning. If you decide to be choiceless, your choicelessness will be part of a morality, not part of purity.Just understand, don’t choose – don’t choose even choiceless-ness. Simply understand the whole situation: that whatsoever you choose, whatsoever you do, will come out of the calculating mind. It cannot be the real thing. Your mind can produce only dreams, it cannot produce the truth. Truth cannot be produced, nobody can produce it. It is there; it has to be seen. Nothing has to be done, just a look is needed – a look without any prejudice, a look without any choice, a look without any distinctions.A man of God, if he has suppressed, if he has denied the Devil, is not a real man of God. The Devil will be there by the corner. Once you divide, you are caught in the battle of the opposites – you will be crushed. If you don’t decide – you don’t know what is good, what is bad – whatsoever happens you simply accept. It is happening, what can you do? Nothing can be done. So you float like a white cloud. You don’t know where you are going or why you are going. The wind blows to the north, you go to the north; and the wind then drifts toward the south, you drift toward the south. You float with the wind. You don’t say, “I am going to the south, I cannot go to the north.” You don’t fight.A man of purity is not a soldier, he is a saint. And a man of morality is a soldier, he is not a saint. Of course, the fight is within, not without. Of course, the fight is not with someone else but with oneself – but the fight is there.You need not be a fighter. And if you fight you will lose the battle. How can you fight the whole? You are just a tiny part, an atomic part. How can you fight the whole? A man of purity neither fights nor surrenders – because surrender also belongs to the soldier. First he fights, then he finds it is impossible to win, then he surrenders. His surrender is also secondhand, it comes through the fight. A man of purity simply exists. He is not a fighter, he need not surrender. There is nothing to surrender, nobody to surrender. Who will surrender, and what is to be surrendered? He has never fought.Understanding leads you to acceptance, and that acceptance gives you purity. But this purity cannot be honored by people, by the neighbors – they cannot understand it. Morality belongs to a country, purity belongs to no country. Morality belongs to an age, purity is nontemporal. Morality belongs to this society or that: there are as many moralities as there are societies. Purity is one – wherever you go it is the same, just like the taste of the sea: wherever you go it is salty.A Buddha or a Jesus or a Ramakrishna, if you taste them, are all just like the sea – the same saltiness. But a man of morality is different. A man of morality, if he is a Mohammedan, will be different; if he is a Hindu, he cannot be the same. If he is a Christian, again he will be different. A man of morality has to follow the code, the law of the society. Societies are many, moralities are millions. Societies change, moralities change. Purity is eternal – it transcends time, space. It transcends climate, countries, it transcends tribes. It transcends all that is manmade. Purity is not manmade; moralities are manmade.Now we should enter this beautiful story – it happened in reality, it is an historic fact.The Zen master Hakuin was honored by his neighbors as one who led a pure life.They didn’t know, they were not aware that the purity of their conceptions cannot be applicable to this man. They were not aware. They thought, “He is a moral man,” and he was not a moral man. He was a pure man, an innocent one – but not a moral one. He was a religious man – and remember the difference – he belonged to the eternal innocence, he was childlike. But the people honored him because they were not aware yet of the distinction between morality and amoral purity.They thought that he was a saint, but he was not the saint of their concept. He was a saint, but he was not a saint who can be measured by you. Your standards won’t apply there. You will have to throw out your measurements and look. You will have to throw out your judgments and look; only then the saint, the real saint, is revealed to you.One day it was discovered that a beautiful girl who lived near Hakuin was pregnant.The parents were very angry. At first the girl would not say who the father was, but after much harassment she named Hakuin.In great anger the parents went to Hakuin, but all he would say was, “Is that so?”He would not deny, he would not accept. He didn’t make any commitment. He didn’t say, “I am not responsible.” He didn’t say, “I am responsible.” He simply said a very noncommittal thing; he said, “Is that so?” as if he was not related – so detached, so absolutely out of it. He simply asked, “Is that so, that I am the father of the child?”What does this mean? It means such a total acceptance that even acceptance is not needed. Because when you say, “I accept,” deep down you have denied. When you say yes, then no is implied. He would not even say yes. Who was he to say yes or no? If it had happened, if this was a fact, then he would just be a witness to it. If people had come to think that he was the father, then why unnecessarily disturb them and say something this way or that way? He would not choose. This is what choicelessness is. He would not be this or that, he would not defend himself.Purity is never on the defense. Morality is always defensive, that’s why morality always takes offense very easily. Just look at a moralist, at a puritan, and he feels offended. If you say something, he feels offended; he will immediately deny and defend himself. But this is one of the basic psychological insights of all seekers: that whenever you defend something, it means you are afraid.If this Hakuin was an ordinary saint, he would have defended himself – and he would also have been true in his defense, there was no problem about it: it was proved later on that the child never belonged to him, he was not the father. An ordinary saint, a so-called saint, a man of morality, even if he was the father, would have defended himself. And this Hakuin – he was not the father, but he did not defend himself.Innocence is insecurity, that’s why it is innocence. If you defend it and make it secure, it is not innocence – calculation has entered.What must have happened inside Hakuin? Nothing! He simply listened to the fact that people had come to believe that he was the father, so he asked, “Is that so?” That was all, that is all! He didn’t react in any way – this way or that. He would not say yes, he would not say no. He was not defensive, he was open and vulnerable. Innocence is vulnerable; it is absolute vulnerability, openness.Whenever you defend, whenever you say that this is not so, you are afraid. Only fear is defensive. Fearlessness cannot be defensive. Fear always armors itself. If somebody says that you are dishonest, you immediately defend. Why? Why be so worried about it? Why react? – because you know that you are dishonest. That’s why it hurts. Truth hurts very much, because the wound is there. You know you are dishonest, and if somebody says you are dishonest, you cannot laugh, you become serious. You have to defend, otherwise the thing will be known. You have to fight, otherwise everybody else will start thinking in those terms.And if people come to know that you are dishonest, it will be difficult to be dishonest then, because only if people believe that you are honest can you continue to be dishonest. This is the mathematics. People must believe that you are a true man, only then you can lie. If everybody knows that you are a liar – finished! How can you lie then? Even lies need a sort of trust about you.You can be a thief only if people believe that you are a saint – then it is very easy to be a thief, because people will not try to protect themselves against you.An immoral person will always defend his character. He will try to prove that he is a man of character, but this shows that he is characterless. If you are not dishonest and somebody says you are dishonest, you will say, “Is that so? Maybe, perhaps, who knows!” You will say, “I will look again. I will have a look again within myself. You may be right.”But this is honesty. How can this man be dishonest who says, “I will look, I will try to find out. You may be right”? This is authentic honesty. This man cannot be dishonest. But if you are dishonest and somebody says so, you take offense. All your defenses are because you take offense. You are always prepared and ready to answer. You carry character certificates with you, “I am a man of character.”Fear creates armor. Now depth psychology has come to realize that all characters are armor. A child is born, he does not know what is good, what is bad. Then he has to be taught to make distinctions. He is punished if he goes on doing something which is thought bad. What happens to the mind of the child? What happens in his consciousness? As far as his innocence is concerned, he cannot see what is bad in it. Why is it bad? But father and mother – and they are powerful – say, “This is bad, and if you do it you will be punished. If you don’t do it, you will be appreciated, rewarded.”He has to listen to them because they are powerful, and he has to suppress himself and his own innocence. He creates armor around himself. He becomes afraid of certain things he should not do, otherwise he will be punished. He should do certain things because then he is going to be rewarded.Greed is created, fear is created. And then the child moves through many experiences for which he is punished, for which he is rewarded. By and by, he creates a character around his consciousness. Character means creating habits which society thinks are good, and destroying habits which society thinks are bad – this is character. And this character is armor, because if you don’t create it, the society will destroy you. The society won’t allow you to exist. To exist, to survive, you have to create a character; otherwise you will be in jail, punished.Why are you so much against criminals? Why do you punish them so much? Not because their crimes are so great, not because it is needed by justice, no. You are taking revenge. They disobeyed society, they disobeyed you, the structure, the establishment. They are rebellious. You were saying, “This is bad,” and they still did it – the society will take revenge. And your courts and your judges are not really men of justice, they are the hangmen. They are the murderers appointed by the society, in the name of justice, to take revenge. They murder, they kill, but in the name of justice.A man steals, he is a thief. He is sent to prison for five years, seven years, ten years. Is it going to help in any way? When he comes out, is it going to prevent him from stealing again? No, on the contrary; he will come out a more perfect thief because there in the prison he will meet the masters. There he will learn the trade secrets, there he will learn why he has been caught, where he was at fault. Next time it will not be so easy to catch him. He will become more efficient, he will become more alert.Your punishment never changes anybody. But you go on punishing, and you say, “We are punishing to change him.” A man murders, then the society murders him “…because,” they say, “why did you murder?” But this seems to be foolish. He murdered, he was wrong, and now the society murders him – and the society is right! And how is your killing him going to change him? He will no longer be there.No! You are taking revenge. And you know deep down that not only is society doing that, you are also doing that. You are a father or a mother – you punish your child. Have you ever observed your mind, why you punish? Look deep inside, and you will find the revenging attitude. You will say, “We are teaching him. How will he learn if he is not punished?” But these are just rationalizations. Inside the father feels hurt because the child has disobeyed, he has become rebellious, he has done something which he was told not to do – the father’s ego feels hurt.If you look in the old scriptures, the Old Testament, the Koran and other scriptures, then you immediately will feel that God is very revengeful. He will send you to hell, not that justice needs it, but because you disobeyed. In the Old Testament it is said: obedience is virtue, disobedience is sin. It is not a question of what is said to you – obedience is virtue and disobedience is sin.If obedience is forced, then a character arises. Then by and by the child starts learning; he learns, becomes calculating – what to do, what not to do. The innocence is poisoned. The innocence is no longer there, now calculation has come in. And now he knows how to influence you, how to manipulate you, how to be a good child so he is rewarded, and how not to be a bad child.And this character armor works in a double way. He protects himself from the society; but deep inside, the consciousness does not know what is good, what is bad. So he has to fight with himself continuously. This character becomes a double-edged thing: on the outside it is a protection from society, on the inside it is a constant fight.You fall in love with a woman, and she is not your wife. What to do? The society has taught you that this is immoral. But your consciousness has fallen in love because the consciousness does not know what is immoral and what is moral. Something happens, you cannot do anything about it. Your character starts fighting and says, “This is immoral, prevent it, control it. Don’t move on this path, this is wrong.” Then you start fighting. This fight creates anxiety, your spontaneity is lost. In the eyes of others you are a man of character; you cannot lose your reputation because then the ego will be lost.Inside also you think that you are a man of character. You start feeling guilty, you start punishing yourself. So many monks in so many monasteries are fasting, not as a religious prayfulness but just as a punishment to themselves. They feel guilty, continuously guilty. And it is very difficult to find a monk who is not feeling guilty, very difficult, because everything is wrong: to look at a beautiful woman is wrong, to eat food with taste is wrong, to feel comfortable is wrong – everything is wrong. Continuous guilt, so what to do now?Only one thing remains. And he is not a criminal because he has not done anything, so the society cannot punish him. And you all give your respect to him. So what can he do? He has to punish himself. He will go on a fast. He will go on a continuous vigilance for seven days. He will not allow himself to sleep, he will not allow himself to be comfortable, he will not eat with taste, he will not look at anything beautiful – he will not enjoy anything. That is how he will punish himself, and the more he punishes himself, the more honorable he becomes in your eyes. And he is just an ill man, perverted.He is pathological, he is a case. He has to be studied, not respected. Something has gone wrong within him. His mind is not at ease – divided, fragmented, he is continuously against himself. This is what anxiety means: when you are against yourself, you are in anxiety. Continuously fighting with yourself will create tension.And you cannot allow anything because you are always afraid that if you allow, then all that you have suppressed will come up. You cannot relax. Your so-called saints cannot relax. Even in sleep they cannot relax because they are afraid of relaxation. If they relax, then what will happen? Then the body will say, “Be comfortable.” Then the mind will say, “Find taste in food, find tasteful food.” Then the body will desire: “Find a woman, find a beautiful body to hug. Find someone with whom you can merge and melt.” If you relax, then all that you have suppressed will also relax. So your saints cannot relax, they are afraid of relaxation. They are tense, continuously tense, you can feel that tenseness. If you go near a saint, all around him there is a field of tenseness. You will also become tense if you go near a saint.But with a real saint, a sage, who is a man of purity not a man of morality, he is continuously relaxed. If you go near him, you will feel relaxed. But then you may feel afraid because if you feel relaxed, your own repressions will start coming up.Many people come to me, and they say, “This is dangerous because when we meditate and relax, many things that have not been bothering us before start bothering us.”A married man with six children came to me just a few days ago, and he said, “Never in my life have I looked at other women, never. But what is happening? I am meditating, and for the first time – and I am now forty-eight with six children, a wife, and everything is okay – suddenly women have become very attractive. What to do?” He is afraid now. He must have been repressing this continuously for forty-eight years. Now, suddenly, he has learned how to relax. But when you relax, you relax totally, so all that has been repressed also relaxes.For the first time he is becoming young again. “Really,” I told him, “you have never been young. Now you are becoming young again, so women have become attractive. But don’t be afraid, everything is going to become attractive now: the trees will look different, the flowers will look different – and why not a woman? Everything is going to become different. And if you are afraid of this, then existence can never become beautiful to you.“And when the whole of existence has become beautiful, then you have come to the door of the divine, never before. And you are afraid of a woman – what will happen when godliness comes? It will be so beautiful you will forget your wife completely. What will you do? You are afraid of a tiny woman – what will happen to you when a tremendous beauty explodes all over the world, everywhere? So don’t close…”But he said, “You may be right, but what will happen with my family? I have got children.”These are the fears. With a repressed mind, relaxation is the most dangerous thing. You come to me, and you ask, “How to relax?” You don’t know what you are asking – because your society has trained you not to relax, your society has taught you how to control, and here I am teaching you how to relax. It is absolutely antisocial. But godliness is antisocial. The beyond is antisocial. Your society is created by pathological minds just like yours. They have made rules and regulations – and pathological people are always very efficient in making rules and regulations. They themselves are repressed and in misery; they want others also to be repressed and in misery. They cannot allow you to be so happy.Look at a schoolmaster in a primary school, with a staff in his hand, killing small children who are still happy. The society has not destroyed them – they are still spontaneous. Look at this schoolmaster: sad, angry, always angry, always killing the natural, the Tao, the spontaneous. He will be happy only when all these children become old and dead. Then he will be at ease, he has done his job.Psychologists say that people who are attracted toward schools, to become teachers, are people who are sadists. And there is nothing like a school if you are a sadist, because children are so weak, so helpless, you can do anything with them. You beat them, and they cannot rebel. You do something, and they cannot reply, they will have to suffer. And you are doing this for their own good, so you are beyond reproach. You are helping them to grow.Pascal has said that the whole society is mad, and that children fall into the hands of so many madmen. They come innocent, but immediately we take charge and turn them into madmen. Some of them escape from the back door: they are criminals. And some of them escape from the front door: they are sages.Sages and criminals have one similar quality, and that is rebelliousness. But the criminal has gone wrong in his rebelliousness. His rebelliousness is destructive, not creative. And the saint has taken a route of rebelliousness – but creative.The parents were very angry. At first the girl would not say who the father was, but after much harassment she named Hakuin.In great anger the parents went to Hakuin, but all he would say was, “Is that so?”After the child was born it was taken to Hakuin – who had lost his reputation by this time, although he didn’t seem much disturbed by the fact.Whether you honor or whether you dishonor him cannot make any difference to a sage, to a man of purity. What you think about him is really irrelevant.Why is it so relevant to you what others think? Why are others’ opinions so relevant to you? Why do you care so much? – because you don’t know who you are. You depend on their opinions about yourself. That’s your only self-knowledge. If they say you are good, you are good. If they say you are bad, you are bad. You have nothing inside which can say, “Their opinions are their opinions. If I am good, I am good; whatsoever they say makes no difference. If I am bad, I am bad. The whole world may respect me like a saint, but if I am bad, I know I am bad, and this reputation cannot become a substitute – it is useless. And if I am good, the whole world may say that I am not good, bad, evil, the very devil incarnate – how does it make any difference?”One who knows himself is never disturbed by what you think about him. But one who doesn’t know himself is always disturbed because his whole knowledge consists of your opinions. His whole knowledge is just a file he has gathered about what people think about him. This is not knowledge, not self-knowledge. This is self-ignorance, which you hide, disguise, by others’ opinions. Your whole identity, your whole image, is made by others. You are bound to remain in constant anxiety because others go on changing their opinions.Opinions are like the weather: it is never the same. In the morning it was cloudy, and now the clouds have gone. Now it is sunny, and the next moment it is raining. Opinions are just like clouds, just like the weather. What can you do about it? Look at Richard Nixon: just a moment before he was everything, and just a moment later, nothing. The opinion has changed, the people who were for him are against him – and the same people!This is the beauty of it: the same people who will push you toward the throne will pull you down. There is a dynamic, an inner law, that the people who respect you, deep down also disrespect you. The people who love you also hate you because they are divided. They are not one. So when they help you to reach to the throne, one part of them is finished – the love part. Now what will happen to the hate part? Immediately the hate part starts functioning. So once a man becomes respectable, the weather is changing already. Once a man has become a president or a prime minister, the voters are changing already. Really the moment they voted, one part is finished – their love part. Now the hate part will come up. So the same people take you to the throne, and the same people bring you down.Only a sage remains undisturbed. Why? – because he never pays any attention to what you say. What you say is really rubbish. You don’t know anything about yourself, and you say something about Mahavira, Buddha, Christ. You don’t know anything about yourself, and you are so confident about Jesus, that he is good or bad. It is rubbish. And a person can pay attention to your rubbish only if he is just like you. A sage is not like you, and this is the difference.After the child was born it was taken to Hakuin – who had lost his reputation by this time… Of course, obviously, the same people who thought that he was a sage started thinking that he was a devil. He had committed the greatest sin – because for people sex is the greatest sin.You are so much against life that sex has become the greatest sin – because it is the origin of life. You are so dead, that’s why sex has become the greatest sin because sex is the most alive phenomenon in the world. Nothing else is so alive as sex. You come through it, the trees come through it, the birds come through it – everything comes through it. Anything that becomes alive comes through it, it is the original source.If you can give any parallel to godliness in this world, it is sex. That’s why Hindus have made their symbol shivalinga. Hindus are really rare – no comparison anywhere in the world – very courageous people to make shivalinga, the sex organ of Shiva, the symbol of the divine.Sex is the most divine thing in the world. But why do you call it a sin? – because from the very beginning you have been taught that it is sin. You have completely forgotten that you have come out of it. And you have completely disguised the fact that when the sex energy is finished in you, you will die. It is sex energy throbbing in you which is life.That’s why a young man is more alive, and an old man is less alive. What is the difference between a young man and an old man? In young men the sex energy is in flood. In the old man the supply has disappeared, now the flood is disappearing. It has become just like a dripping stream. The moment sex energy has disappeared, you are dead. Sex is life – and we have made it the greatest sin. Deep down we are against life.So when you come to know that a saint has been in a sexual relationship, all his reputation immediately disappears. If he was a thief it would not be so bad, you could have forgiven him. If he was accumulating money – your saints are accumulating – then you would have forgiven him; it was not a big problem, greed is not a big problem. Whatsoever he was doing you could have forgiven him, but sex? – impossible!We have become so deadly against it that Christians say that Jesus was born without sex. Because how can Jesus be born out of sex, such is the original sin? How can Jesus be born out of sex? Everyone else is born out of sex – not Jesus. Just because sex is such a dangerous thing, they said that Jesus was born from the Holy Ghost. There is no father to Jesus, there has been no sexual intercourse. He was born out of the womb without any meeting with the other sex.Why this nonsense? But leave Jesus aside, and the Christians. You! If you even think that your father, some time or other, must be making love to your mother, you will feel guilty. How were you born? You are not a bastard. But just to think of your father making love to your mother… The whole thing seems ugly. The whole thing seems so ugly that you cannot conceive of your father doing that – others may be doing it, but your father? Impossible! You are born out of a brahmachari father, a celibate; that’s what Christians are saying about Jesus.And when you come to be sure that a saint, a great sage like Hakuin, has made a girl pregnant – obviously not only respect is gone. He must have been insulted as much as possible. It would have become impossible for him to go around the town to beg. People must have been throwing stones at him, the same people who were bringing garlands and flowers and who were bowing down at his feet – the same people. But Hakuin was not disturbed.Hakuin took great care of the child. He obtained milk, food, and everything else the child needed from his neighbors.A year later the girl-mother could stand it no longer, so she told her parents the truth…It must have been too heavy on her, seeing Hakuin’s respect going down and down, seeing the insults being thrown at Hakuin, seeing that the whole town is against him, seeing him begging for the child, for the milk, for the food, and doors being closed in his face. It must have been really heavy.…so she told her parents the truth – the real father was a young man who worked in the fish market.They always work in the fish market – the real fathers.The mother and father of the girl went around at once to Hakuin to tell him the story, apologize at great length, ask his forgiveness, and get the child back.As the master willingly yielded the child he said, “Is that so?”In misery, in happiness, the sage remains the same. Respected, insulted, the sage remains the same. In life, in death, the sage remains the same. He again simply said the same three words: “Is that so?” Again noncommittal, again not committing himself to anything, not saying anything, simply accepting a fact: “If that is so, okay.”This is the consciousness of purity. Whatsoever life brings, welcome it. If it brings misery and insult – accept it, welcome it. If it brings honor, happiness – welcome it, accept it. And don’t make any distinction between the two. If you differentiate, your balance is lost, and the balance is the purity.When you are balanced, you are a sage. When the balance is lost, you are lost, you have become a sinner. Sin is not something that you do, sin is something that happens within you when the balance is lost. It is not an act, it is an inner balance. It is what Mahavira has called samyaktva – inner balance; neither this nor that, what the Upanishads have called neti, neti – not this, not that. Just in between – neither moving to this, nor moving to that, because if you move, even a slight movement which nobody can detect except you… Remember this: nobody can detect your inner balance. Only you can detect it, it is so subtle! But even a slight movement and you are no longer at peace, you are no longer at home, you have lost the divine. Because what does a slight leaning mean? It means you have chosen. It means a distinction is made. It means you have said “This is good, that is bad.” It means expectation has come in. It means desire has sprouted. It means now you are motivated.Had Hakuin said, “Right! So you have come to know the truth?” that would mean he was no sage at all because that would mean for the whole year he was waiting for this moment, he was not in the present, he was thinking for the future, “Some day or other the truth must be known. The people will respect me again. When they come to know that the child doesn’t belong to me, they will respect me again: my respect will be back.” Then he would have waited, but the balance is lost…If Hakuin was not a sage, he would have thought and prayed to God, that God reveal the truth to people. But why? If it happens that a child has happened to you, and people think that it is your child – if life has brought a child to you, what difference does it make who the real father is? No difference! Hakuin took every care of the child, just like a father. The child needs a father, that is the thing. And Hakuin fathered the child as lovingly as no father could. Even if the child was your own, it would have been difficult to take such care as he took.It was no sin of the child. He was not against the child. If you had been in Hakuin’s place, you would have killed the child because he was the cause of your misery. You would have thrown away the child and moved to another village where people can respect you again because they don’t know you. You would have done something to defend your respect – your whole prestige was shattered. And Hakuin was just caring about the child, not worried about the village. What people say is not the question, it is irrelevant. The child needed a father, so Hakuin became the father. He was not disturbed, he didn’t react.And then after one year… When you take care of a child so lovingly, attachment arises – bound to be so. Even if the child is not yours, the child becomes yours. To live with a child for one year and to suffer so much for the child, to sacrifice so much for the child – a deep bond, a deep relationship arises. One becomes attached. But when the parents came again, and they told the whole story, asked his forgiveness and got the child back, as the master willingly yielded the child… there was not a single trembling of attachment. He simply yielded the child back. – …he said, “Is that so?” – as if nothing has happened. This whole year has been a dream. Only the dream is broken, and you are awake.A sage lives in this world amidst you as if he is living in a dream. You are shadows. He lives amidst you just as if he is enacting a part, he is not involved. He is there, but not in it – he remains an outsider. And if you can remain an outsider, then sooner or later you will come to realize: no water, no moon. Because when you get involved, water is created; then you live with the reflection, then you cannot move to the real, then you live with the unreal.Your attachment creates the delusion. The delusion is not there outside you, the maya is not there outside you. It is within you in your attitudes: attached, choosing, for this, against that, making distinctions, like and dislike. It is in you. You create your illusion, and then you live in it, then you are clouded by it. In that clouded state you can see only the reflection, you can never see the real moon.This Hakuin remained balanced. Whatsoever happened outside didn’t affect the inside at all. The inside remained balanced – no waves, no vibrations of the outside entered. He remained silent as if it were a dream. And whatsoever came, he accepted it. He didn’t become a doer, a karta, he remained a witness.These three words, “Is that so?” belong to the witnessing soul; not making any judgment, simply saying, “Is that so?” And this is all that was inside him, “Is that so? If it is so, okay.”A sage okays everything that happens, he has no choice. And when there is no choice, there is no water. No water – reflection disappears, maya disappears – no moon.Enough for today.

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No Water No Moon 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Water No Moon 04 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Mamiya later became a well-known teacher, but while he was studying under a master, he was asked to explain the sound of one hand clapping.Although Mamiya worked hard at it, his master said to him one day, “You are not working hard enough. You are too attached to food, wealth, things, and that sound. It would be better if you died.”The next time Mamiya came before the master, he was again asked what he had to show regarding the sound of one hand clapping. Mamiya at once fell over as if he were dead.“You are dead all right,” said the master, “but how about that sound?”Looking up Mamiya replied, “Oh, I haven’t solved that one yet.”“What?” roared the master, “Dead men don’t speak. Get out!”The absurd is needed to bring you out of your mind because mind is reasoning. Through reasoning you cannot come out of it. Through reasoning you will move and move, but you will move in a circle.That is what you have been doing for many lives. One thing leads to another, but the “another” is as much a part of the circle as the first. You feel that you are moving because there is change, but you are following a circle. You go on moving about and about, around and around – you cannot get out of it. The more you reason how to get out, the more you create systems, techniques, methods how to get out, the more you become entangled into it. Because the basic problem is: reasoning cannot bring you out because reasoning is the very phenomenon that you are in.Something irrational is needed. Something beyond reason is needed. Something absurd, something mad – only that can bring you out. All great masters have been devising things – their devices are absurd. If you think about them, you will miss. You have to follow their line without any reasoning. That’s why philosophy is not of much use. Only religion can be of help – religion is absolute madness.Tertullian has said, “I believe in God because God is absurd.” There is no reason to believe in it – is there any reason to believe in God? Has anyone ever been capable of proving that God exists? There is no reasoning which can support it – hence faith. Faith means the absurd. Faith means no reason to believe, and you believe. Faith means no arguments, no proofs to prove, and you put your whole life at stake. Nobody can prove that God is, and you take the jump into the abyss. Anyone who is reasonable will feel that you have gone mad, and that’s how all rationalists have always been feeling. A Buddha, a Krishna, a Jesus – they have gone mad, they are talking nonsense.There is a whole school in the West which proves that all of religion is nonsense. And I am a religious man, and I say they are right – for the wrong reasons they are right. They think that if you prove that religion is nonsense, that you have discounted religion, refuted it. No!Religious men have always been saying, “We are absurd! We belong not to the world which is of sense, we belong to something which is beyond.” And the beyond is bound to be nonsense. What sense can you make out of religion? If you can make any sense out of religion, you have missed. Then you are in the world of theology, philosophy, systems, but you can never touch that purity which is always beyond reason.Tertullian is right, he is true. He says, “I believe because God is absurd.” Belief means belief in the absurd. You need not believe in this world that surrounds you – it is there; nobody needs to believe in it. How can you disbelieve it? It is so much there, so present; everything proves it is there. Somebody can throw a stone at you, and it is proved because you will be bleeding. You have been hit; the stone is there.But God cannot hit you like a stone. You cannot even touch him. There is no way. How to smell him? How to see him? And still you believe. Belief means always believing in the absurd.But what happens when somebody is capable of believing in the absurd? He is out of his reason. Suddenly the circle stops, the wheel stops because you are not feeding it any more. Argument stops, thinking stops. Suddenly you are out of it as if you have been awakened out of your sleep. And the greatest sleep is of reason because reason creates such beautiful dreams, and so real that everyone is deceived by them.Once you are awake and out of the vicious circle, God is there, nothing else exists. Then there is no need to believe. Then you know. But before that knowing happens, faith will be needed. And all those philosophers who have been trying for centuries to prove that God is, they are not religious, they are not serving God; they are doing a great disservice. Because when you give proof, you make God also a part of the mind. And when somebody believes because God is a proved fact, he cannot get out of the reason.So all religious people, all the masters, have devised ways to bring you out of the reason. Zen has its own particular technique, and that technique is known as a koan. A koan is an absurd puzzle. You cannot solve it. Howsoever you try, your effort is irrelevant. “Harder and harder,” the master will go on saying, “you are not trying hard enough.” And he is deceiving you because whatsoever you do will never be hard enough to solve the problem – because the problem is insolvable! It doesn’t depend whether you work hard at it or not. But if you do it with your totality, suddenly you will become aware of the absurdity – never before. Suddenly you will start laughing. The whole thing was nonsense. And if you can laugh the mad laugh that comes when reason is not functioning…Have you seen a madman laughing? His laughter is totally different from your laughter. Your laughter is reasoned out, there is a reason for it. Somebody has told a joke, somebody has fallen on the street, slipped on a banana peel, and you laugh. There is a reason, something ridiculous has happened. Why do you laugh when a man falls on the street, slipping on a banana peel? Why? What is humorous in it? There is something: the ego is the most ridiculous thing in man, and when a man falls on a banana peel, then even the banana peel is stronger than you. The whole absurdity of the ego is proved, that man is nothing – even a banana peel can throw you off balance.The whole civilization of man is ego-centered. Whole cultures, nations, all dreams of greatness have come to man because he is the only animal who stands erect on two feet – that’s why man goes on thinking that he is not an animal, he is different, he is unique, he doesn’t belong to the animal world. But when you slip on a banana peel, suddenly the erect posture is gone. Suddenly you fall into the animal world, you are a helpless animal, nothing else. That’s why it is ridiculous seeing a man fall.And think – if a beggar falls on a banana peel, you will not laugh so much; but if a prime minister falls, you will laugh more. Why? – because a beggar is a beggar; he was already a part of the animal world, nothing much. But this prime minister, the president, the king, the queen – you could never believe that the queen of England could fall just like other human beings. Impossible! They have created a false impression around them that they are infallible. And just a banana peel cracks the whole thing. You are exposed that you are just a helpless human being. And not only a helpless human being, just an animal – on all fours, not on two legs.It is ridiculous. You laugh, but there is a reason. Watch a madman laughing – there is no reason in it. That’s why you call him mad. You ask him, “Why are you laughing?” If he can answer the why, then he is not mad. If he cannot answer the why, you say he has gone out of his reason.When a koan is understood for the first time – not solved because a koan cannot be solved, a koan is insolvable, it cannot be solved. There is no way to solve it, it is an impossibility, it is an impasse for the mind – you cannot move any more. Suddenly you are stuck, and the master goes on saying, “Work hard! You are not working hard enough.” And the more you work hard, the more you are stuck, moving nowhere: you cannot go back, you cannot go ahead – stuck. And the master goes on hammering you, “Fast, fast, harder. Work hard!” A moment comes when you are not holding any part of your being, your whole being is involved, and still you are stuck.Suddenly when the whole energy is involved, you become aware. And this happens only when you are totally involved, when you have put in everything that you can. Only at that peak, at that climax of energy, do you become aware that this problem is absurd – it cannot be solved. A laughter spreads all over your being, it is a mad laughter. And with that laughter everything changes, is transformed. This is the first thing.The second thing – then we can enter into the story – the second thing: you are all great imitators. It is easier to imitate than to be authentic because imitation is just on the surface. Authenticity needs your center, needs you in your totality. That is too much. You get involved just on the surface, deep down you remain out.Imitation is very easy, and the whole culture and society depends on imitation. Everybody is telling you how to behave, and whatsoever they are teaching you is nothing but imitation. Religious people – the so-called religious people, the priests, the theologians – are also teaching you, “Be like Jesus, be like Buddha, be like Krishna.” Nobody ever tells you, “Just be yourself” – nobody. Everybody is against you, it seems. Nobody allows you to be yourself, nobody gives you any freedom. You can be in this world, but you must imitate somebody.The whole thing is ridiculous because these same things were said to Buddha. They were saying to Buddha: “Be like Rama, be like Krishna.” He didn’t follow them, that’s how he became a buddha. He became enlightened because he never became a victim of imitation. Nobody can imitate. If you imitate, you will remain false.I have heard: a lion and a rabbit entered a restaurant. Suddenly everybody became alert, they couldn’t believe their eyes. Then the rabbit said to the waiter, “Bring a lettuce for me – and no dressing.”The waiter was scared, but still he asked, “And what about your friend? What should I bring for him?”The rabbit said, “Nothing.”The waiter asked, “Is he not feeling hungry?”The rabbit stared at the waiter and said, “If he was a real lion, do you think I would be sitting here? He is an actor.”The whole world has become unreal and acting, nobody is real. It is very difficult to find a real man. If you can find a real man, don’t leave him, just be near him; his reality will become infectious. Just being near him will be enough transformation for you. No need to do anything. This is what we have been calling satsang: being near a true man, a real man, an authentic man. Nothing else is needed. Just being near him and watching and feeling the way he is – that’s enough.But the society has made you imitators, actors. You are not real, you are false. You have never been allowed to be yourself, and that is the only thing you can be, you can be nothing else. You can try, imitate, but it will remain just on the surface: deep down you will remain yourself, and that’s how it should be. The falseness that you put upon yourself cannot become your being. How can it be? It can be at the most a dress, a posture, a superficial gesture.The whole world helps you to be imitators. So when you come to a monastery, near a master, again you try the old methods you have been doing in the world. You start imitating there also. There they will not be of any help, they will be the barriers. In the world it is okay because the whole world is of imitators. If you are real there, you will be in trouble; if you are false, you will be accepted. This so-called world only wants you to be a shadow, not a real man because a real man is dangerous.Only shadows can be subdued, shadows can be obedient, shadows can follow; whatsoever they are told to do, they will do. A real man will not always say yes; sometimes he will say no, and when he says no, he means no! You cannot subdue him, you cannot suppress him.So from the very beginning we train children to be false. And this is what we call “character.” If they become really false, unreal, we appreciate them, we reward them with medals, we say they are real. This falsity is called real, ideal. And if a child rebels, tries to be himself, he is a “problem child.” He has to be psychoanalyzed, or he has to be sent to some institution where they can put him right – something is wrong with him. And there is nothing wrong, he is simply asserting himself. He is saying, “Let me be myself.”A small child, Tommy, was attending his first wedding ceremony. Somebody asked – a guest – “Tommy, to whom would you like to be married and when?”Tommy said, “Never. I don’t want to get married.”The man was surprised and said, “Why?”He said, “I have lived too much with married people, and they are so false.” And his father and mother were present there. “I don’t want to get married because I want to be myself.”The wife will not allow the husband to be himself. The husband will not allow the wife to be herself. Nobody allows anybody to be himself or herself because this is thought to be dangerous.Suppress! And this has suppressed society: if it is sad, it is bound to be so, it is natural. False people cannot be happy. They can be at the most sad; at the most, at their peak, they can be sad, depressed. Freud has said that for humanity there is no possibility, no hope for bliss. And he is right; the way humanity has been moving, if it goes on moving that way, that only sadness, depression, a hopeless state is possible. Just carrying oneself somehow, like a burden – no dance, no energy bubbling, no vitality, singing, nothing, no flowers – just dragging along.False people can only be of that sort. But when these false people get too bored, fed up with the so-called society, they go to a master in search of truth. There also they try their old techniques, but then they will miss there. It is okay to be false with false people because it will be difficult to be real with them. But when you are in search of truth, when you come to a master and the urge has happened to you to know what reality is, you are not allowed to imitate. If you imitate, you have carried your old pattern, your mode of existence, and that mode of existence will become the barrier.In religion no imitation is allowed. But look at religious people; you will find the greatest imitators in the churches, temples, mosques. That means there is no religion left – churches, temples, mosques are dead tombs now. With Jesus, one had to be real, but with the pope of the Vatican, you have to be imitators. Now the Christianity of the Vatican is part of the society.Jesus was never part of the society. He remained a stranger. All real religious people have remained strangers, they are outsiders. When they die, then a church is raised on their dead bodies; that church is part of the society, it is managed by the society, controlled by the society.Society has many cunning devices. If you escape from the market, you will be caught in the church because the church is just the extension of the market. The market feeds the church, the market controls the church, the market is really the owner of the church. And a priest does not represent the divine, he represents the market.The priest represents the economics of the society. And Marx is right when he says that religion has been playing into the hands of the capitalists, or the feudalists, or those who exploit and are powerful. Religion has been played just like an instrument of exploitation. And Marx is right as far as the religion of the Vatican is concerned, or the religion of Puri Shankaracharya is concerned, or the religion of Mecca and Medina is concerned. But it is not true about Mohammed, it is not true about the original Shankaracharya, it is not true about Jesus. He is wrong – because they existed not as part of the society, they existed in the wilderness, they existed as strangers, they existed against the society and imitation. They existed as divine messengers. That is the meaning of avatar, that is the meaning of the son of God, that is the meaning of a prophet, a paigambar – they existed as messengers of the beyond.Remember these two things, then we will enter this story.Mamiya later became a well-known teacher…And remember, only one who has been a real disciple can become a teacher. One who has never been a disciple, one who has never known what discipleship is, one who has never been a learner, can never be a teacher. Before you can teach, you must learn. But everybody wants to be a teacher without being a learner, your ego wants to be the master and not the disciple – then you will become a false master. And then not only are you in danger, you will lead many others into danger. A blind man leading other blind men – they are bound to fall into a pit.Remember this because ego wants to teach. It is so beautiful for the ego to give advice, to teach. Sometimes catch hold of this ego in you because you are also doing that. You cannot lose an opportunity to teach. You have been losing thousands of opportunities to learn, but you cannot lose an opportunity to teach. Somebody is talking, you will poke your nose in. Somebody asks a question – you don’t know what the question means, you don’t know what the answer is, but you will give the answer because ego feels very good when you appear to be knowledgeable. You know, and the other is ignorant; that’s why there is so much attraction in becoming a teacher. Teach – then you are the knower, and the other becomes the ignorant.This is the old trick: you have the riches, and the other is poor; you have a position, and the other is nobody; you are the knower, and the other is ignorant. Whenever you can feel that the other has been thrown deep down, you are at the peak. This is exploitation: that’s why there are so many teachers in the world but very few real masters. But this will always be so, this has been always so.When Mahavira was born, he was a real master, and the Jainas in India were waiting for a tirthankara for many, many years. The twenty-fourth was to come, the twenty-fourth was awaited. Jainas have a mathematics that in every kalpa – one creation – twenty-four great masters are born. So twenty-three had already been born, and the twenty-fourth was awaited. There was much waiting for the twenty-fourth, but how to know who is the twenty-fourth? When Mahavira came, he was the twenty-fourth, but eight others also claimed that they are the real – and those eight others led many astray.They were great teachers, but not masters. They could talk, they could preach, they could argue; they were argumentative, debaters, and they influenced many people – because you are influenced by argument. You are not influenced by being because to see the being, you have to raise your consciousness higher and higher. Only then can you see the peaks. If you exist in the valley, how can you see the peak? You have to raise yourself higher.To see Mahavira was difficult; but there was Goshalak, there was Prabuddha Katyayan, there was Poorn Kashyap, and there were others. They were ordinary, but extraordinary minds. Ordinary in the sense that they had no evolved consciousness, they were not enlightened. But they were great scholars, greater than Mahavira, they were great arguers – they could silence anybody – logic-choppers, hair-splitters. And when they claimed, many heard them, and Mahavira remained absolutely silent for twelve years.Who will go to him? He was chased out of every village. Wherever he went, people would chase him out because he was silent – one thing – and you are always suspicious of a silent man, he may be from the CID, the FBI. So every village was suspicious of Mahavira because this man wouldn’t speak, he would not even look at anybody. And he was naked! That created more problems because people would ask, “Why are you naked?” And he would remain silent. So either he was a criminal hiding, or some madman who is naked because only the mad are naked. Why should he be naked? Must be someone immoral because moving naked in society is the most immoral thing.And then not answering! “Either he is stupid, cannot answer, or he is suspicious – maybe he is an agent of some foreign country,” or something or other. They would chase him out of the town; he was chased out for twelve years. And we say people were waiting for him.But just to wait is not enough. You need eyes to see. Jews waited for Jesus for thousands of years. They are still waiting, and Jesus has already happened. What to do with the human mind? The Jews are still waiting for the messiah to come, and he has already come. Twenty centuries have passed. He came to them, he knocked at their door, they refused to believe him – because he was not talking the way they expected. And how can the divine messenger talk the way you expect? He is not part of you, he comes from the beyond, he cannot speak your language. Whatsoever he says will be destructive of you, he will destroy you. As you are, you have to be destroyed, only then the new is born. But the Jews refused to believe, and they are still waiting.And know well: if he gathers courage again… I think Jesus is not going to gather courage again because the way you behaved with him – it is enough! If he gathers courage again, if he forgets what happened twenty centuries ago, how you crucified him, how you insulted him, how you misbehaved; if he forgets it and comes again and knocks at the doors of the Jews – who have been again waiting – they will refuse him again.They can accept ordinary people with extraordinary minds, but they cannot accept people with extraordinary states of being – because to see that being, you have to transform yourself. As you are, you cannot see; as you are, you cannot understand Jesus.Remember well that the ego would like to become a messiah, the ego would like to become a tirthankara, the ego would like to claim something which is not there. Ego is a great claimer; it possesses nothing, but it claims – goes on claiming. There are many teachers – be alert, otherwise you can become a victim.Remember well: don’t give any advice to anybody unless you have learned, unless you have passed through the process of discipleship. And discipleship is difficult because you have to surrender. You have to drop your ego, you have to become a no-self. And this is the paradox: unless you become a no-self, you will never become a self. The false has to be dropped, only then the real arises. The false coin has to be thrown out, only then the search begins for the real and the authentic.Mamiya later became a well-known teacher, but while he was studying under a master, he was asked to explain the sound of one hand clapping.He became a great teacher later on, but he had to pass through discipleship under a master. And he was given a problem to explain.One of the most famous of Zen koans is, “Find out what is the sound of one hand clapping.” Immediately the mind will say, “Useless! The search is useless, futile, because how can one hand clap? Clapping always needs the other. How is sound possible with one hand clapping?” – because sound is created by two things clashing. All sounds are created by two things clashing, so how with one hand? So if you are a good logician, you will immediately move away from this master because he is talking nonsense. It is not possible, and whatsoever you do, you will never succeed – this is simple logic, simple reasoning. But you miss the point. That is the point!Many times in your past lives you have gone away from a master because he demanded something impossible. But a master will always demand the impossible; only then can you change. With the possible you will remain the same. Whatsoever your mind thinks is possible, is within it. Whatsoever your mind says is impossible, is beyond it. Try for the impossible. Religion is the effort to reach the impossible. Religion is the effort to make happen that which cannot happen.…he was asked to explain the sound of one hand clapping.If he was an argumentative man, he would have left immediately. But Mamiya remained with the master, knowing well, “This is impossible. But when the master says it, there must be something in it. It may be impossible, it may look absurd to me, but when the master is demanding it, there must be something which I cannot see now.” This is faith. This is trust.If you say, “I cannot see. Unless you explain it to me first, I am not going to make any effort,” the master cannot explain it to you because there is nothing to explain, the explanation is not there. Only your change of consciousness will give you the eyes with which you will be able to know and laugh with the master; then too there will be no explanation.The master demands the impossible because he demands trust. If he demands the possible – no need for trust. You can reason it out, you can figure it out; then you trust your mind when you have figured it out. But when you cannot figure it out, when your mind feels unable to do anything about it, simply refuses to do anything, and still you remain, this is trust. Mamiya remained – he trusted the master.Although Mamiya worked hard at it……and he started working.There are only two possibilities: either you refuse the master, or you refuse your mind. The fight is not between you and the master, the fight is between your mind and the master. When the mind is defeated, there is no barrier between you and the master – you become one. The disciple becomes the master, the master becomes the disciple, all the barriers are broken. The barrier is the mind, and the mind will say this and that and will try… “This master is mad: he is asking something impossible – nobody can do it. Don’t waste time. Find someone who is reasonable.”But Mamiya tried, he worked hard at it. He refused the mind – refusal of the mind is trust. And mind is reasonable, so trust is unreasonable.…his master said to him one day, “You are not working hard enough.”And he was working hard. But masters are impossible, you can never satisfy them. They will go on hammering you hard and hard and hard – because you don’t know how much you can do. You don’t know anything about yourself.When you say, “I am working hard,” the master knows that only a part of you is functioning. Psychologists say that even a very talented man, even a genius, never uses more than fifteen percent of his energy; even an Einstein never uses more than fifteen percent of his energy. What about ordinary men? They use nearabout three percent, five percent at the most. Ninety-five percent of your life energy is simply wasted. So when you say, “I am working hard,” you don’t know what you are saying. Your one fragment which you have been using may be working hard, but this is only one-tenth, the nine other parts are asleep. The master would like you to be total in it because when you are total: only then the transformation.“You are not working hard enough. You are too attached to food, wealth, things, and that sound. It would be better if you died.”What did this master mean? These are the ordinary attachments of the world. Food is an attachment, and it becomes a greater attachment when somebody renounces sex.In a monastery, in a Buddhist monastery, you renounce sex, you live the life of a celibate. When you renounce sex, your whole energy becomes more and more attached to food. This is a problem to be understood because sex and food are the two deepest things in you.If you are too much in sex, you will not bother much about food. But if you are not after sex, then the whole energy begins flowing toward food. Hence, all your sadhus – those who have renounced sex – will always be after food. Look at Hindu sadhus, Hindu sannyasins with big bellies. What has happened? Why these big-bellied Hindu sannyasins? They go on eating and eating and eating – but this is a natural phenomenon; it has to be understood why this happens. They have renounced sex, so the energy that was moving toward sex, where can it move now?Food and sex are basic. Food is more basic than sex, because you can live without sex, but you cannot live without food. Living without sex is not a problem at all. And really, those who have lived with sex will find that it is easier to live without sex because the other gets involved, and then the other also creates problems. You are enough problem to yourself, and the other creates more. And when two persons live in a sexual life, it is not that the problems are doubled – no, they are multiplied. It is not a simple addition, it is a multiplication.So those who have lived with sex know well that sex creates more problems than it solves. But by the time you know, you are so much in it you cannot get out. This is the problem: experience comes through experience – but then it is of no use because you are already in it. And if you say this to somebody who is still out of it, he is not going to listen because he will say that it is very difficult to be alone, somebody else is needed to share. He does not know what is going to happen when he starts sharing. Because then you will start sharing the problems – there is nothing else to share.Food is more basic than sex. Food is needed from the first moment a child is born – not sex. The child can live for fourteen years without any sex. But on the first day, the first moment, the first scream comes for food because food is the base of your biological existence. Sex is not the base of your biological existence, sex is the base of the biological existence of the society – not you. Without sex the society will disappear; you can live, but without sex you cannot reproduce, children will not be born, the society will disappear.If all become brahmacharis, which is impossible, then there will be world peace, real peace, because there will be nobody left. It will be global suicide. But you can exist without sex, that is not much of a problem.So whenever your energy which is moving toward sex is stopped, the same energy starts moving toward food. These are the basic things. Hindu sannyasins or others, they go on eating too much. So in every scripture – Jaina, Buddhist, Hindu – they have made rules for sannyasins not to eat too much. Why? – because they have stopped sex, now they know that they will eat too much. So many rules have to be made to protect the sannyasin, otherwise he will become a food addict, he will be mad – eating and eating and eating.Eating can give you sexual pleasure because the sex center and the mouth are both joined together. That’s why a kiss is such a sexual thing. Otherwise, why…? And if you are passionately kissing somebody, immediately you will feel sex energy arising. Why? Because mouth and sex are so far apart? They are not, they are joined; they are two poles of one energy.So whenever you starve the sex pole, the whole energy moves to the mouth, so you will have to eat more, chew gum, pan, or something. Or, if nothing else, you have to talk continuously, because by talking the mouth moves. That’s why people go on talking continuously the whole day. Even the day is not enough; if you sit by their side in the night, you will see they are talking.Mulla Nasruddin went to a doctor and said, “Do something! Now it is getting on my nerves. My wife talks too much in the night.”So the doctor said, “Where is your wife? Bring her, I will do something.”Mulla Nasruddin said, “You don’t understand me. Nothing is to be done to her. Do something to me, so I can remain awake, it is so interesting. I fall asleep, and she is talking, and it is so interesting. She says such beautiful things and reveals such beautiful things; she never talks that way when she is awake. When she is awake, she is talking rubbish. So give something to me, so I can remain alert and listen.”If you watch people, the whole night they are talking – continuously. Their mouths are moving, they are making sounds and doing all sorts of things. If one pole of energy is stopped, then the other starts because the energy has to be released somehow. You cannot contain it. It is just like if you eat and stop defecation – what will happen? You will have to vomit, there is no other way because if you eat, then the things have to be thrown out. If you eat, sex energy is created, then it has to be thrown out. If you don’t use sex as an outlet, then some other outlet has to be found.This Mamiya must have become too much addicted to food. The master says: “You are too attached to food, wealth, things, and that sound.”When a man is patterned, when a man is conditioned for attachment, he may leave the world, but that doesn’t make any difference. He may leave all things, but the attachment remains, it starts working in new directions. You may leave the palace: then you have nothing but three robes, but you become attached to the three robes. The whole attachment, the whole energy that was attached to the palace, is now attached to three robes. It doesn’t make any difference. You can go on dropping things, but the attachment remains the same.This Mamiya had come to the monastery, he had left his life, he was a Buddhist monk; now there were no things. A Buddhist monk is not allowed many things: one bowl for food, water, three robes, one mat to sleep on – that’s all, nothing much to bother about. He can put it on his back and move because a Buddhist monk has to be a wanderer, and he has to carry all his things himself. Nobody else can carry things for him: Buddha made it a rule, so that you don’t go on gathering things. If somebody else is allowed to carry them, then you may go on gathering things.Very few things – but the attachment! The master said: “You are still attached to food, wealth…” He has no wealth now, but attachments can remain without wealth. Because it is not a question of objective things, it is a question of subjective feelings, and that sound, and that too becomes a problem. If you are too attached to meditation, meditation becomes your world. If you are too attached to your prayer, prayer becomes the barrier.There is a beautiful anecdote in Hasid literature. Hasids are some of the most beautiful people in the world – Jewish rebels. They have a tradition, a valuable tradition, and the tradition is that whatsoever your mind demands, don’t give that thing to the mind – wait. If you want to give, only give when the urge has left. If the mind says, “I am hungry,” don’t give food – wait. When the urge has left, give food; but don’t give it when the mind demands, don’t follow the mind, you remain the master.Once it happened…One of the disciples of Baal Shem was ill, just dying. When one is dying, one has to do the prayer, the last prayerbefore one leaves the body; the last thanksgiving and prayer. He was just on the death bed, changing sides, much troubled. So Baal Shem asked – he had come to see him and give the last farewell – he said, “Is there some problem?”He said, “Yes, because the mind says, ‘Do the prayer,’ and I cannot do it unless the urge leaves. When the urge leaves, I will do the prayer, but I don’t know whether I will be alive or dead. So I am changing my position again and again, so that I can remain alive and the urge goes.”Baal Shem said to his other disciples who were gathered there, “Look! This man knows what prayerfulness is.”If the attachment is there and you are praying, the prayer has become of this world because attachment changes everything to the material. Even prayer is a sin when you do it as an attachment. When you pray, not as an attachment, not as a mind-urge, only then the prayer succeeds.So Mamiya’s master says, “And that sound also has become an attachment. You are continuously thinking how to solve it. Don’t be attached. Solve it, all right, but don’t be attached. Don’t become mad. Work hard, but don’t become mad – it would be better if you died.”But Mamiya misunderstood, as ordinarily all disciples misunderstand. The master said: “It would be better if you died.” To whom was the master saying, “…better if you died”? It was the mind, not Mamiya because Mamiya cannot die, Mamiya is deathless. It is the mind, the ego, which is also trying to solve this problem which cannot be solved by the mind.The problem will be solved only when the mind is dead, when the mind has done everything that it can do and then falls helpless and says, “No more is possible, I retire.” When the mind retires and you are left alone for the first time without mind – consciousness is there, witnessing is there, but thinking is not there – the problem is solved, you have heard the sound of one hand clapping.There is a sound, Hindus have called it omkar, om – this is the sound. If you are completely silent, you will hear it. And it is not created by any clash of two things. It is not created by two hands clapping, it is not through conflict. It is the universal music, it is the very sound of existence. It is not created, it is there.Hindus say the contrary: because of this sound the universe is created. This universe is just a transformation of that sound, that beginningless, endless, the base of all. And the same is the experience of Buddhists, Jainas, Sufis, Hasids, all those who have known, the experience is the same; that there is a sound, a melody – continuous. If you become silent and the mind is not there, you will hear it for the first time. It is everywhere. It is the very core of existence. And this whole existence is just a transformation of that sound.These mystics have said that even matter is nothing but condensed omkar, a rock is nothing but condensed om. It is just as the scientists today say that matter is nothing but condensed electricity, just electric vibrations, mystics have said that matter is nothing but condensed sound, just vibrations of sound.There is a possibility now to make a bridge between science and these mystics. If you ask scientists, they say sound is nothing but vibrations of electricity. If you ask mystics, they say electricity is nothing but vibrations of sound. That’s why Hindus have stories that through music you can create fire; a particular soundwave, and fire can be created – and now it is a scientific truth also.Continuously creating a particular sound can produce so much heat – and there, you can try it yourself. The night is cold, stand outside and simply do omkar. Vibrate om within you as much as you can, so from your very toes to the head the om sound vibrates. Suddenly you will feel the coldness has disappeared, the body is hot. And if you continue it, soon, in a very, very cold, freezing night, you will start perspiring. That’s how Mahavira lived naked. That’s how in Tibet, where coldness is below zero, Buddhist monks have lived naked. They sit the whole night under the sky, snow falling, and they are perspiring. They go on creating a particular sound.But that sound also is not omkar that you create, because that is created; that clapping again of two hands. There is a sound uncreated, or the very creation comes out of that sound. That’s why om has become the universal symbol of the ultimate reality. Om is not a word, it is a sound symbol. Everything is condensed in it, or everything is manifested through it.Mamiya’s master said, “It would be better if you died, rather than being attached to food, wealth, things, and that sound. It would be better if you died.” Mamiya misunderstood it. He thought this is going to be a technique. He thought, “So I can manipulate death, so I will die.” But how can you manipulate death? If the mind is the manipulator, you are alive. You can imitate, but you will be alive.Even suicide is not suicide; because you have manipulated it you will be somewhere. But you cannot commit suicide, suicide is impossible. You go and you hang yourself – you are doing it, the mind is there. This mind will lead you to a new life, to a new womb. You cannot commit suicide – there is only one suicide known, and that is samadhi, but then the mind is not the manipulator. That’s why Buddha dies and simply dies and is never born again. That’s why we say when a man has achieved samadhi, the final enlightenment, he is born no more. Because the mind is gone, who can lead into new desire, who can lead into new motivation, who can lead into the new body? The mind has left.There is only one death, and that is the death of the mind. But mind cannot do it because if you do it through the mind, the mind remains the doer and survives.The next time Mamiya came before the master, he was again asked what he had to show…Because these questions are not something you can answer; you have to show the answer through your eyes, through your very being, your face. Through you the answer must be shown; you must become the answer. You cannot give the answer, because if you give, the mind will give – you can be the answer.So……he was again asked what he had to show regarding the sound of one hand clapping. Mamiya at once fell over as if he were dead.He imitated. He thought: “Master has said, ‘Die!’ – better die.” So he thought, this is very good, so he fell down. But the mind is working; it is mind who has concluded to do this.“You are dead all right,” said the master, “but how about that sound?”Looking up Mamiya replied, “Oh, I have not solved that one yet.”This is beautiful because the master is saying, “If you are dead, then the problem is solved. What about that sound? You must have heard it.” Because when the mind is not, it is bound to be heard. Then there is no possibility that you have not heard it if the mind is not there. When the mind is not there, it is always there. It is because of the mind, the turmoil of the mind, that you cannot hear it. It is always there, the rhythm is always there. If the mind retires even for a single moment, it is there, you can know it – you can never miss it.So the master says,“You are dead all right, but how about the sound?”Looking up Mamiya replied, “Ah-ah-ah. I have not solved that one yet.”“What?” roared the master, “Dead men don’t speak. Get out!”Only mind speaks. If Mamiya had remained silent… But how can he remain silent, because he was only imitating, he was not really silent? You cannot deceive a master even if you die. Imitation cannot deceive.The master said, “Dead men can’t speak.”When the mind disappears and the master asks, “What about that sound?” no answer comes. The whole being is the answer. The disciple remains silent, he is showing himself. Now there is no need, and the master will see; no answer is required really. If you answer, all answers are wrong.It has happened many times with the same koan – the sound of one hand clapping. It happened with Rinzai; he was given the same koan to work with. And then he worked and worked and worked harder and harder, and the master continued pushing him, ahead and ahead. And the day it happened – the mind disappeared, the sound was heard.Rinzai came, and the master asked, “What about that sound?” Rinzai hit the master. And the master said, “All right, so you have heard!” – because the question is foolish! And the master said, “I was waiting for when you will relieve me of hitting you. Now you can hit me. Now there is no trouble, now I need not hit you – finished! Now go and teach others the sound of one hand clapping.”No answer is required; you have to show through your whole being. But this can happen only when the mind has disappeared – no water, no moon.Enough for today.

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No Water No Moon 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Water No Moon 05 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The Zen Master Gutei made a practice of raising his finger whenever he explained a question about Zen. A very young disciple began to imitate him, and whenever anyone asked the disciple what his master had been preaching about, the boy would raise his finger.Gutei got to hear about this, and when he came upon the boy as he was doing it one day, he seized the boy, whipped out a knife, cut off his finger, and threw it away.As the boy ran off howling, Gutei shouted, “Stop!” The boy stopped, turned round, and looked at his master through his tears. Gutei was holding up his own finger.The boy went to hold up his finger, and when he realized it wasn’t there he bowed.In that instant he became enlightened.This is a very strange story, and there is every possibility that you will misunderstand it because the most difficult thing to understand in life is the behavior of an enlightened person.You have your own values, and you always look through those values. An enlightened person is in a totally different dimension, where he lives without values, where he lives without any criteria, where he lives without any morality, where he simply lives without the ego, because all values belong to the ego. An enlightened person simply lives. He is not manipulating his life, he is a white cloud floating. He has nowhere to go, nothing to achieve. Nothing is good for him, and nothing is bad. He does not know any God, he does not know any Devil. He knows only life, and life in its totality is beautiful.God is also ugly because it is a part, not the whole. The Devil is also ugly because that too is again a part and not the whole. God is not alive, the Devil is also dead because life exists as a rhythm between the two – the good and the bad, God and the Devil. Life exists between these two poles. Life cannot exist with one polarity. These are the two banks between which the river of life flows.An enlightened person has come to know this. He is neither against anything nor for anything. He responds moment to moment without any judgment on his part. That’s why it is very difficult. An enlightened person always appears more or less like a madman. So the first thing to be understood is: don’t evaluate an enlightened person through your values – very difficult, because what else can you do?I have heard…Once a very great painter asked a doctor friend to come and look at one of the paintings he had just finished. The painter was thinking that this was the greatest creation he had ever attempted, this was the peak of his whole art. So, naturally, he wanted his doctor friend to come and look at it.The doctor observed very minutely, looked from this side and that. Ten minutes passed. The artist became a little apprehensive, then he asked the doctor, “What is the matter? What do you think about this painting?”The doctor said, “It appears to me double pneumonia!”This is happening to everybody because a doctor has his own attitudes, ways of looking at things. He looked at the painting – he cannot look at anything except in his own fixed ways; without them he cannot look – he diagnosed. The painting doesn’t need any diagnosis; he missed. The beautiful thing turned into pneumonia.This is how mind functions. When you look at a thing, you bring in your mind to color it. Don’t do that with an enlightened person because that is not going to make any difference to the enlightened person, but you will miss the opportunity to see the beauty of it.Second thing: an enlightened person behaves from a center, never from the periphery. You always behave from the periphery, you live on the periphery, the circumference. To you the circumference is the most important thing. You have killed your soul and saved your body. The enlightened person can sacrifice his body, but cannot allow his soul to be lost. He is ready to die – any moment he is ready to die, that’s not a problem – but he is not ready to lose his center, the very core of his being.To an enlightened person the body is just a means. So if it is needed, then even an enlightened person will tell you to, “Leave the body, but don’t leave your inner being.” This is how all tapashcharya, all austerity, is born. The circumference is to be sacrificed for the center. Even if the head needs to be cut off – if that is going to help you, if with your head your ego can fall – an enlightened person will tell you to drop the head, to cut it off: “Don’t carry this head if it helps the ego because for nothing you are losing all.”This has to be remembered: when you live from the center, the outlook is totally different. Then nobody dies, nobody can die – death is impossible. If you live from the periphery, then everybody dies, death is the final end of everybody; eternal life exists nowhere.Krishna talking to Arjuna in the Gita is really the center talking to the periphery. Arjuna lives on the periphery: he thinks of the body, he does not know anything about the soul. And Krishna talks from the center, and he says, “Don’t bother about these bodies. They have died many times, and they will die many times. Death is nothing but a transformation as if someone leaves his clothes, leaves his old house, and enters into a new house. This body is nothing, Arjuna, so don’t be bothered about it. Look within.” But how can Arjuna look within others if he has not looked within himself?Remember this: this Zen Master Gutei, he is the Krishna. He lives from the center and behaves accordingly. And this incident happens to a disciple who is on the periphery. But Gutei would not have cut your finger, remember. The disciple was worthy of it, he had earned it – only then will a master go to such an extent. To go to such an extent the disciple must have learned, must have earned it, otherwise Gutei would not go that far. Even Arjuna was not so worthy as this disciple of Gutei because Krishna talked to him – Gutei did something.Remember the difference. A master only comes to do certain things to you when you have earned it; otherwise he will talk to you. Doing can be only when you are ready, when the moment is so near that it cannot be missed; nothing can be said, only something can be done. Because if you speak, time is needed; if you speak, then the other has to understand it. Something has to be done immediately, instantly. A master will do something only when he sees that you are just on the brink: now talking won’t help, now he has to push you. Now you are just at the door; a single moment gone, and you may miss the door, and for many lives you may not be able to come to the door again.Life is very complex. Rarely are you near the door. And if the master says, “Look, the door is here!” and starts explaining to you, by the time you have understood, the door is no longer there. Life is constant movement. The master has to do something. Even if he thinks killing you will help, he will kill you. That’s why surrender is needed.Surrender is not easy because surrender means saying to a master, “From now on, my life and my death are yours.” Surrender means “I am ready. If you say, ‘Die!’ I will die. I will not ask why.” If you ask why, there is no surrender, there is no trust. And in the ancient days, many people could become enlightened because they could surrender. Trust was in the very atmosphere, faith was all around, trust was flowering everywhere. You couldn’t pass a day without coming across a man who was a man of trust. And the moment you saw a man of trust, you felt jealous – he was such a beautiful person.But nowadays it has become almost impossible to come across a man of trust. That beauty has disappeared. You come across doubters, skeptics, no-sayers; they are ugly, but they are all around. And, by and by, you are also fed on doubt. From the very first day your mother gives you milk, you are fed on doubt. The whole scientific device depends on doubt. You have to be skeptical, doubting; only then can science work.Religion works in totally the opposite way. You have to be trusting, to be deeply a yes-sayer, then surrender is possible. This disciple of Gutei was a surrendered one, that’s why this incident became enlightenment for him.Now we will enter this strange story. Each word is significant.The Zen Master Gutei made a practice of raising his finger whenever he explained a question about Zen.Masters never do anything unnecessarily, not even raising a finger. The unnecessary has disappeared. Only the essential exists with a master. He will not do a single movement, a single gesture if it is not essential. The nonessential exists with ignorance; then, whatsoever you do is trivial, nonessential – if you leave it, nothing is lost.Look at your life, whatsoever you are doing – if you leave it, what is lost? Nothing is gained through it – trivial things from the morning to the evening. And then you are tired of it, then you go to sleep, and in the morning you are again ready to do the same non-essentials. It is a vicious circle, one nonessential runs into another nonessential, they are linked with each other.But you are so afraid to look at this triviality of life that you are always keeping your back toward it, because looking at the triviality of life makes you feel so depressed, “What am I doing?” And if you see that everything you are doing is absolutely useless, your ego is lost because the ego can feel significant only when you are doing something significant. So you create significance in trivial things, and you feel you are doing great duties to the nation, to the family, to humanity – as if without you the existence will simply drop. Nothing is important, whatsoever you are doing – but you have to give significance to it because through significance the ego is fed, strengthened.In ignorance everything is nonessential. Whatsoever you do, even your meditation, your prayer, your going to the temple – all is trivial. Even when you pray, it cannot be deeper than when you read your newspaper. Because it is not a question of prayerfulness, it is a question of you. If you have depth, then whenever you move, whatsoever you do, the act will have depth. If you don’t have depth, even if you go to the temple, it makes no difference; you enter the temple the same way as you enter a hotel. You are the same, temple and hotel can’t make much difference.Give a child a very costly toy made of diamonds, and he will do the same with that costly toy as he was doing with ordinary toys because he is a child. He will play with it for a few moments, then throw it in the corner and go away.Your depth brings depth to your actions. Even when an enlightened master raises his finger, it is meaningful, it is very significant. Why did this Gutei use to raise his finger …whenever he explained a question about Zen? Not always – whenever he explained a question about Zen he would raise a finger. Why? – because he was explaining and he was showing also because whatsoever you ask about religion, one raised finger is the answer.All your problems arise because you are not one. All your problems arise because you are fragmented. All your problems arise because you are a disunity, a chaos – not a harmony. And what is Zen, and what is Yoga, and what is meditation? Nothing but coming to a unity. The very word yoga means unity, to be one, total, whole.So Gutei was explaining about Zen: that explanation was secondary, the raised finger was the primary thing. He was saying something, and he was showing also. This is how an enlightened person lives: he says, and he shows. His very being, his gestures, his movements, show what religion is.If you cannot see, if you are blind, or if you have lost that dimension of understanding, of looking, then you hear only the words. But if you know how to look, no words are needed. Words are useless, they can be dropped, they are secondary. But the raised finger cannot be dropped; that is primary, that is the only answer. All those who have known, anywhere in the world, have all raised a finger. They are talking about the one, and you are living in the many.When you live in the many, problems are created because living in the many, moving in many directions simultaneously, you become split into parts. Then you are not together. Then one desire leads to the south, another desire leads to the north. Then one part of the mind loves, and another part of the mind hates. Then one part of the mind wants to accumulate wealth, and another says, “This is useless. Renounce!” Then one of the minds wants to meditate, become deep, become silent, and another mind says, “Why are you wasting your time?”I have heard…Once it happened, a man renounced the world while he was very young and went to the Himalayas. For almost twenty years he meditated there. Now he was forty. He was sitting and meditating, sitting and meditating, not doing anything at all. Even birds, wild animals, by and by lost their fear with him. He was there, and a very peace-loving man, simply sitting. Animals would come and sit, and when they would have to go hunting, they would leave their children near him to be taken care of. His hair became very long, and birds would nest in his hair and put their eggs there, and he would have to take care of them.After twenty years he got fed up with the whole thing. He said, “If I am to take care of others’ children – animals, birds – why shouldn’t I go and marry a woman and take care of my own children? This is absurd, and I am reaching nowhere. These twenty years are lost. Now there is no more time to lose because I am forty, and soon life will have ebbed!”What was the problem? He was really meditating. What was the problem? Twenty years is a long time, but the mind was continuously fragmented. One part was meditating, another was continuously saying, “Useless! Why are you wasting your time? Others are enjoying. Go back down to the plains. People are happy there – dancing, drinking, eating, lovemaking. The world is in ecstasy, and you are sitting here like a fool.” Continuously hearing this other fragment for twenty years, the first fragment by and by became weak.On the surface he was repeating mantras: “Ram, Ram, Ram.” But deep down this was the mantra: the other part of the mind continuously saying, “Useless! Sitting like a fool and everybody is enjoying life, and now life is ebbing. Soon you will not be able to enjoy anything. You are becoming old.” This was the real mantra. On the surface, “Ram, Ram, Ram” – but deep down this was the real mantra.When your mind is divided, you cannot pray, you cannot meditate because one part always goes on against it, and sooner or later it will win over. Remember this: that the part that is engaged is every moment losing energy. And the part that is not engaged, but which is the critical part is not losing any energy. Sooner or later it will be more powerful.You love a woman, and another part hates. You may hide this – everybody is hiding the other part – but unless you become enlightened, the other part is there. This loving part sooner or later will become weak because it is being used, the energy is being applied. The other hidden part, the hate part, will become stronger. So every marriage leads to divorce. Whether you do it or not, that’s another thing – but every marriage becomes divorce unless you are married to an enlightened person: that is very difficult.This man got fed up one day. He started coming down from the Himalayas. He thought, “From where to start?” – he had forgotten completely the ways of the world, he had been so long out of it. “From where to start? If you want to start in the world, you will need a guide just like when you want to start in the other world, you will need a guide. Who can be the right guide for this world?” Then he remembered that in the old days, kings would send their sons and princes to the prostitutes just to learn how to enter this world.There is no better guide than a prostitute for this world. She is the world incarnate. Even love has become business for her – this is the last thing in the world – even love has become a profession, a commodity; she sells love. Money has become more important than love. This is the last thing in the world, and this can become the door.So he went directly to a prostitute. It was evening, and the prostitute was getting ready to go to a king. She said, “You are welcome, but I have been invited by a king. He is a miser, I don’t hope that we will get much, but still – who knows? Sometimes misers also give. Come with us, come along.” So the monk followed.The whole night the prostitute danced, sang. And the king sat silently, he didn’t give anything to her. Then the last part of the night was dissolving, soon there would be light, and the woman was so tired. She said in a song to her husband, who was playing the tabla, she said to him, “Now all that can be done I have done.” She sang it so nobody would understand, it was a code. She said, “All that can be done I have done; and now there seems to be no hope. It is better we should leave.”Inside his mind the monk thought, “This was the situation I was in: all that can be done has been done. Nothing more can be done, and I should leave.” So he listened very attentively.The husband said, “All that we could do we have done, but still a little of the night is left. Who knows? We must see the whole business through, so a little more, be patient.”Hearing this, the monk thought, “Now what should I do? Maybe I was just on the brink when I left the Himalayas – a little more patience.”He had only one blanket, he was naked underneath. He became so enthralled that he threw his blanket at the feet of the prostitute and started running out of the palace. The king said to him, “Stop! This is against the convention.” This was the convention that when a rich man is present, he should contribute first, otherwise it is insulting: a king is present, and this man has contributed.The monk said, “You can kill me if it is against the convention, but she has saved my life. And it was such an ecstatic moment for me, I had to give something. I have nothing else, just that blanket, and I cannot wait for you, I am going to the Himalayas. This woman and this man who is playing the tabla, they have revealed a secret to me: a little more patience.”And it is said the man became enlightened then and there. He never went to the Himalayas. Just coming down the steps of the palace, he became enlightened.What happened? For the first time the two parts became one. That is the meaning of patience. Patience means, don’t allow the other part to fight; patience means that you are ready to wait for infinity. If you are ready to wait for infinity, there is no possibility for the other part to say, “It has not happened yet.” There is no sense in saying, “Why are you wasting your life?” If you are ready to wait for infinity, then nothing is wasted. And if your waiting is eternal, infinite, then the other part cannot have its say.Oneness is needed – when the other is not constant fight. That’s why Gutei would use his one finger always whenever he was explaining Zen. He was saying, “Be one! – and all your problems will be solved.”There are many religions, many paths, many methods, but the essential point is the same: become one. Whatsoever you choose, become one. If you can be infinitely patient, you will become one. If you can surrender totally, you will become one. If you become silent completely, you will become one. If there are no thoughts and you are in meditation, you will become one. If you pray to God and the prayerfulness becomes so intense that even the person who is doing it is no longer there, the person who is saying the prayer has become dissolved in prayerfulness, one has remained – that will do.Digging in the garden, if you can dig in such a way, so totally absorbed that nobody is left there who is the digger – you have become the digging, the actor has become the action, the observer has become the observation, the meditator has become the meditation – suddenly all the waves of maya disappear, all illusions drop. You are raised to a different layer, a different plane of being. You have come to the one.When you are one, you reach the one. When you are many, you are in the world. The world is many, and godliness is one. But to know that one, you will have to become one first, otherwise you cannot know it. Only when you become like it, will you be able to know it.The Zen Master Gutei made a practice of raising his finger whenever he explained a question about Zen.Zen is from a Sanskrit term, it comes from dhyana. It is the Japanese form of dhyana. When Bodhidharma took the teachings of Buddha to China, dhyana, in Chinese, became ch’an. When ch’an was taken to Japan, it became zen. But the original term is dhyana. Whenever Gutei would talk about dhyana, meditation, he would raise his one finger. Oneness is dhyana, oneness is all that has to be achieved – that is the end.A very young disciple began to imitate him…Of course, he must have been very young because only children imitate. The more mature you are, the less imitation; the more immature, the more imitation. If you are still imitating, you are juvenile, you have not gained maturity, you have not yet become grown-up. What is “grown-upness”? If you ask me, I will say the realization that you have to be yourself and not an imitator, this is what maturity is.If you look within yourself, you will not find this maturity. You have been imitating others. Somebody has got a new car – suddenly you start imitating, you need a new car. Somebody has got a bigger house, you need a bigger house. The neighbors are constantly on your nerves. They are getting this and that, and you have to imitate. And when you imitate, you are just like monkeys. Don’t imitate, be mature – because imitation cannot lead you anywhere. Why? What is imitation, and what is being true and authentic?Imitation means the ideal comes from without, it is not your desire. It is not something happening within you, it is not your nature flowering in it. Somebody else has given you the ideal, and you go after it. If you don’t achieve it, you will be in misery because you have not achieved the ideal. If you achieve it, you will be in misery because this was never your ideal. You never wanted it because it never happened to your inner being.That’s why in the world so much misery exists: people imitating others. If they fail, they are in misery because they think they have not attained. If they succeed, they are in misery. Remember, nothing fails like success – if it is an imitation, nothing fails like success. You may reach the goal after a long strenuous journey, effort, wastage of time and energy, and then you suddenly find, “I never wanted it – it was somebody else. I borrowed the ideal.” Don’t borrow the ideal, this is childish.A very young disciple began to imitate him… He must have been very young, juvenile, childish. He started imitating him.…and whenever anyone asked the disciple what his master had been preaching about, the boy would raise his finger.The same way, the same gesture as the master used to do. People must have enjoyed it, they must have laughed. The boy was a perfect imitator; he would make the same face, he would raise the same finger, he would try to look the same way. He acted it well.Howsoever efficient you become in acting, you will remain immature. Be true to yourself even if you are not so efficient there. But be true to yourself because your own truth can lead you to the ultimate truth. Nobody else’s truth can be your truth.You have a seed within you. Only if that seed sprouts and becomes a tree, will you have a flowering; then you will have an ecstasy, a benediction. But if you are following others, that seed will remain dead. And you may accumulate all the ideals in the world and become successful, but you will feel empty because nothing else can fill you – only your seed when it becomes a tree will fill you. You will feel fulfillment only when your truth has come to flower, never before.And people may appreciate your success in imitation – they always appreciate it. This boy must have been appreciated in the monastery because he was acting just like the master. He must have become famous. Imitators become famous, but they don’t know they are committing suicide. But you can commit suicide if people appreciate you.I have heard about an actor who died. His funeral attracted many, many people, many thousands. His wife was beating her chest and crying and screaming. And when she saw thousands of people had come she said, “If he had known this – that so many people would come – he would have died sooner.”You can commit suicide if you are appreciated. You have all committed suicide because imitators are always appreciated. Authentic people are never appreciated because an authentic person is a rebel. He will not imitate anybody. He will say, “I am not going to be a Buddha, I am not going to be a Krishna or a Jesus. One is enough! One Jesus is enough, why imitate?” And the second Jesus, howsoever beautiful, will be just a carbon copy – nothing worthwhile. Why imitate Jesus? And God is not going to ask you in the end why you didn’t become a Jesus. He will ask why you didn’t become yourself.I have heard about a Hasid mystic: he was a very poor man, Magid was his name. Nobody knew much about him, but he was a real, authentic man. He was dying, and somebody said, “Magid, have you prayed to God to make you like Moses?”Magid opened his eyes and said, “Stop! Don’t say such things while I am dying. Because God is not going to ask me, ‘Why didn’t you become a Moses?’ He will ask, ‘Magid, why didn’t you become a real Magid?’”The others didn’t follow it, they couldn’t understand because this seems insulting to Moses. It is not. It is not insulting to Moses. Moses became Moses, that is his beauty. Magid has to become Magid, that is his beauty. And only beauty can be offered, only a flowered being can be offered to God. How can God ask a rose, “Why didn’t you become a lotus?” How can God be so foolish as to ask a rose, “Why didn’t you become a lotus?” No! He is not as foolish as you think. He will ask the rose, “Why didn’t you flower totally? Why have you come like a bud and not like a flower?”Flowering is the thing. Whether you are a lotus or a rose or some unknown, unspecified flower makes no difference. Who you are is not the point. Whether you come to the divine door as a flower, flowered, open, or you have come still closed…A very young disciple began to imitate him… And whenever you go to a master, that is the possibility – the first possibility: you will start to imitate him. Remember, this is not going to help, this is dangerous. You are committing suicide. Understand a master, drink his presence, eat his presence as much as you can, but don’t become an imitator. Don’t become false.Gutei got to hear about this, and when he came upon the boy as he was doing it one day, he seized the boy, whipped out a knife, cut off his finger, and threw it away.Seems to be a very hard master, very cruel. Masters are cruel, otherwise they cannot be of any help to you. They are cruel because they have such a deep compassion. Why did the master cut off the finger? Any less hard and he won’t be a help to this boy. Something very severe is needed, something is needed which goes to the very heart. This has to be understood.You listen to me. If you have come just as a curious person, it cannot go very deep. If your curiosity is just intellectual, to know what I am saying, it cannot go very deep; you will not be able to understand what I am saying at all. If life has given you much suffering and you are here because of that suffering, to understand how to transcend it, then what I am saying will go deep. Suffering gives you depth. Suffering leads you toward the center.If you are in love with me, not an intellectual relationship – which is not a relationship at all – but a love relationship, if you are emotionally in touch with me, then it will go still deeper. Because when you love a person, you hear him from the heart, not from the head. And the head is the most rotten thing, rubbish, just the wastepaper basket – nothing much. All that is rubbish, you go on gathering in the head. Rubbish never enters the heart, it accumulates in the head. Only that which is very essential goes in the heart.So if you are here just as a curious person, just out of curiosity, you will hear me, but just on the surface. It is not going to do much to you. If you are here because you have suffered – if you have come not as a curious person, but as a person who has known life, its suffering, and a maturity has come to you and you want really to be transformed – then you will hear from a deeper depth.But the depth can still go deeper. If you are in love with me, if you have a trust, then you will be more open – because only trust can be open; otherwise you are always afraid, and you are always closed. When you are totally open – you have suffered, life has given you a depth and then you trust, you are totally open – then the thing can go immediately to the very heart. You will never be the same again once you hear it.Gutei got to hear about this… A master always comes to know who the imitators are. There is no need to…they are so apparent, so obvious. I know very well who the imitators here are. An imitator cannot deceive the one he is imitating. He can deceive anybody else, but he cannot deceive the one he is imitating. His falsity is so patent.People come to me, and they repeat my own words, my gestures, and they think they can deceive me. They can deceive others, but they cannot deceive me because their words are so shallow. You can repeat the same words, there is no problem: the word is not the problem – how much depth you bring to the word, that comes from your being. The word can be used by anybody.You can chant the whole Gita, but those words will not be the same as they were when they came out of Krishna. You can repeat the whole Bible, but when those words were used by Jesus, they had a tremendous energy, a transforming force – because Jesus was in those words. In every word his being was moving toward you. You can use the same words… On every Christian pulpit millions of priests are repeating the same words – the Sermon on the Mount – and the words are so shallow, and they have done such a disservice. It would have been better that they were not repeating because when you go on repeating certain words, they lose the magic. They become so used, people become so used to hearing them that they become almost useless cliches.Gutei must have come to know about this boy who was imitating him, and …as he was doing it one day, he seized the boy, whipped out a knife, cut off his finger, and threw it away.Too severe! But the man Gutei must have been very, very compassionate. Only out of compassion can you be so hard. Difficult to understand because we think that cruelty, hardness, is always there where there is no compassion. No, then you will not understand an enlightened person. An enlightened person will not be hard on you if he has no compassion – why bother? But he will be hard on you because he bothers, he is worried about you, he wants to help you. And less than that won’t do.What happened? When he whipped out his knife, took the boy’s finger, cut it off, and threw it away, what happened? When the boy must have seen that the master had whipped out the knife, what must have happened? If suddenly somebody comes at you with a knife, what will happen? Thinking stops. You cannot think, it is so new, so novel. The old mind simply stops, it cannot work out, “What is happening?” And nobody could have ever conceived that Gutei would bring a knife.Can you think of me some day bringing a knife? It was so impossible, incomprehensible. And Gutei whipped out the knife – and the boy must have been in shock: thinking stopped. It was a great shock-treatment. And coming from Gutei, almost impossible. The boy could not have ever dreamed…and then not only taking it out, he cut off the finger.When Gutei was cutting off the finger, when the finger was severed from the hand, what was happening to the boy inside? For the first time in his life, he was attentive without thought. He could not be sleepy in such a moment. Who can be sleepy when somebody is cutting off your finger? You cannot be sleepy. The pain was so intense, the suffering was so intense, that in a sudden moment the boy was transformed. He was no longer a child, he became mature.It can happen in an instant; it may not happen in many lives. The imitation has to be cut severely. The finger is just symbolic. The boy has to be hit severely, and the suffering must go to the very root of his being, and it should be so unknown that he cannot make a theory out of it. He cannot think about it, he cannot philosophize. He was simply shocked. The mind can move nowhere. He must have looked with fresh eyes for the first time, without thoughts floating in them. And the pain was so severe and so sudden that it must have gone to the very heart.Remember, pleasure never goes so deep as pain. Pleasure never goes so deep. It cannot go, the very nature of pleasure is superficial. So, people who live in pleasure always remain superficial, shallow. You cannot find a depth in a rich man – difficult. You may find it in a beggar; you may not look at the beggar because you think he is a beggar – but don’t be too fixed in your ideas. When a beggar passes you, look! He has suffered much, he has lived in much pain, and pain gives depth. A rich man is always shallow, superficial: he has lived in pleasure. Pleasure cannot go very deep.In this suffering the pain was severe and so sudden that the mind stopped revolving, and the heart was hit.As the boy ran off howling, Gutei shouted, “Stop!”This is what I have been saying to you. But first you must be in deep suffering and howling, only then the “Stop!” can be meaningful. The boy ran howling in suffering and pain, and Gutei shouted, “Stop!” If in the right moment the “Stop!” is shouted, it works deeply.Suddenly he stopped! What happened in this stopping? There was no more pain. If you stop suddenly, the whole attention moves toward the sound “Stop!” The body is left behind, you become attentive. And when you are so attentive, the body cannot disturb, the body cannot divert. The finger was not there, blood was flowing – the pain was there, but this “Stop!” took his whole attention toward the master.When attention is not there, there is no pain. Pain exists not in the body, but in the attention. If you are ill, lying down on the bed, what do you do? You continuously pay attention to your illness. You are feeding it. And something has to be done about it because it has become a very great problem all over the world.Doctors suggest, whenever you are ill, “Lie down and rest.” But what will you do in rest? You will pay attention to the pain, and then you are feeding it. Attention feeds it. Then you are continuously thinking about it; it becomes a mantra, a chanting inside, “I am ill, I am ill. This is wrong, and that is wrong.” Complaints – and you go all over the body again and again, and you try to find what is wrong. And that becomes a brooding, a very pathological thing. And this may become a continuity for the illness. You will get hypnotized by the illness.If too much attention is paid to illness, you become a hypnotic victim. If you continuously complain about something, it becomes a vicious circle; you complain, then you are inviting it because every complaint means you are giving again attention, again attention. It becomes a repetitive thing.I have heard – many times it has happened: a person was ill, paralyzed; for fifteen years he couldn’t walk. Then one night, suddenly the house caught fire. There was a fire, the house was burning, and everybody ran out of it. The man forgot that he was paralyzed, so he also ran out of the house. Only outside the house when his family found him running out, they said, “What! You are paralyzed!” – the man fell down.What happened? In this particular moment of intense accident – the house is on fire – the man forgot for a moment that he was paralyzed. If you can forget your illness, the illness will disappear sooner than any medicine can help. If you cannot forget it, if you continuously brood about it, then you are playing with the wound. The more you play with the wound, the deeper it goes.What happened when Gutei shouted, “Stop!”? The boy looked at Gutei, the howling stopped, the pain disappeared as if the finger had not been cut off.The boy stopped, turned around, and looked at his master through his tears.The eyes were filled with tears, he was howling and crying and weeping. He stopped! The pain disappeared, but the tears cannot disappear so soon – they were there.Gutei was holding up his own finger.The boy went to hold up his finger, and when he realized it was not there, he bowed.In that instant he became enlightened.Gutei was holding up his own finger – a very intense moment of awareness, a very great device, a situation created by the master. Mind is no longer there, the pain has disappeared because attention has been called somewhere else as if the boy will not be able to breathe in this situation. “Stop!” – and the breathing has stopped, and the thinking has stopped, and he has forgotten that he has no finger now. Just out of old habit when the master raised his finger, he raised his – which was not there. It shows that he has completely forgotten what has happened.In that moment he was not the body, otherwise how can you forget? – the pain, and the finger has been cut off, and you are bleeding, and the eyes are still filled with tears, and just a moment before he was howling. This “Stop!” caused a miracle.The boy stopped, turned round, and looked at his master through his tears. Gutei was holding up his own finger. Just out of old habit he always used to hold his finger up whenever the master was teaching his disciples about Zen. He would stand by the side of the chair, or at the back of the chair, and when the master would hold his finger up, he would also do the same. It had become so automatic. Body is an automaton, it is a mechanism, it is mechanical.The boy went to hold up his finger, and when he realized it was not there – and then he saw, and the finger was not there – he bowed.What happened? Why did he become so grateful and bow? – because for the first time he realized he is not the body. He is the attention, not the body; awareness, not the body; consciousness, not the body. The finger is not there, the pain has disappeared, the howling is no more. Thinking is not moving around the wound; he is not brooding about it at all. He is no longer a body, he is not embodied. He simply is out of his body. For the first time he realized he is a soul, a consciousness – the body is just the house.You are not the body; you are in it, but you are not the body. If your attention can come to such intensity, you will realize that you are not the body. And once you realize you are not the body, you know you are deathless. Who can cut your finger off? How can one be violent to you? Nobody can destroy you. That’s why he bowed to the master in deep gratitude: “You have given me this opportunity to know the deepest level of my being which is immortal.”In that instant he became enlightened. What is enlightenment? Coming to understand, coming to realize that you are not the body. You are the light within; not the lamp, but the flame. You are neither body nor mind. Mind belongs to the body; mind is not beyond body, it is part of the body – most subtle, most refined, but it is part of the body. Mind is also atomic, as body is atomic. You are neither the body nor the mind – then you come to know who you are. And to know who you are is enlightenment.When Gutei cut off the finger of the disciple, the pail, the old pail fell down, broken, the water flowed out – no water, no moon! The disciple became enlightened.But Gutei must have waited for the right moment. For many, many years this young man had been doing that. He waited, waited. You cannot force the right moment, it comes when it comes. You grow toward it, you grope toward it, and the master waits. When it comes, when it is there, anything can become the excuse, anything. Even a shout, “Stop!” and the old pail is broken. Suddenly reflections disappear because there is no water. You look at the real moon, you are enlightened.Enlightened means you have realized who you are.Enough for today.

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No Water No Moon 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Water No Moon 06 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Tokusan was studying Zen under Ryutan. One night Tokusan came to Ryutan and asked many questions. The teacher said, “The night is getting old. Why don’t you retire?”So Tokusan bowed, and as he opened the screen to go out, he observed, “It is very dark outside.”Ryutan offered Tokusan a lighted candle to find his way, but just as Tokusan received it, Ryutan blew it out. At that moment the mind of Tokusan was opened.Tokusan was studying Zen under Ryutan. One night Tokusan came to Ryutan and asked many questions.The first thing to understand: you cannot study Zen. It is impossible. You can be in it, but you cannot study it – because Zen, or dhyana, is not an object of study, it is a way of life. It depends how you live. You cannot get it through scriptures, you cannot get it from anybody. Nobody can teach you, it is not to be taught. It is not knowledge which can be transferred from one hand to another. It is a way of life. You can allow yourself to move into it, you can flow into it, you can be vulnerable to it, open to it – and that’s what one has to do with a master.You cannot study, you can just allow yourself to be infected. It is like an infection; if you are vulnerable, you will catch it. Just living with the master is enough: open, not fighting, just being with the master, there are moments while you are silent; you can learn it.This story says, Tokusan was studying Zen… There he was wrong. No university can offer you a course in religion. They offer, but whatsoever they teach is not religion at all. It may be a history of religion, it is not religion. It may be philosophies of religion, it is not religion. They may help you to learn the Koran, the Bible, the Gita, but it is not religion. They may talk about Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, and you will learn many things, but you will miss the very base, the very core.So the first thing to be understood is nobody can explain to you what Zen is, what dhyana is. You can learn it, but nobody can teach you. I have been continuously saying there are disciples and no masters because a master cannot do anything positively, directly. He cannot give it to you, he cannot teach it to you. What can he do? If he could teach, he could have done that; then one buddha would be enough to enlighten the whole world. But many buddhas have existed, and the world remains as it is. Directly nothing can be done. The thing is so subtle, so delicate; if you transfer it, in the very transfer it dies.I have heard…A Christian priest was sending a Bible as a present to some friend – he had made a beautiful parcel. He came to the post office, and the clerk at the window asked, “Is there something breakable in it?”The priest laughed and said, “Yes, Ten Commandments.”Religion is so delicate, so breakable, no parcel can protect it. The moment you transfer it, it is already dead. It lives with an inner life. It lives in a buddha, in a master. He cannot give it to you, but you can open yourself to it.It is just like the sun rises in the morning: the sun cannot give life to a flower – no! But the flower opens itself toward it, is enriched through its own opening. If the flower remains closed, the sun cannot do anything. The sun cannot knock at the door, cannot deliver the light, cannot deliver vitality and life – no! The sun will pass unnoticed. A buddha comes – I am here with you, you can open yourself. But if you remain closed, nothing can be done. So it is up to you, it is totally dependent on you whether you learn or not – and it is not a study.Study is a dead thing, intellectual. Learning is alive: it is not from the head, it is from the heart. You learn from the heart, you study from the head. When you study, you become a great scholar. And go look at great scholars, all the universities are filled with them, and you will not find people more dead than them. They are almost in their graves – already they have entered! They have never lived; they are so much obsessed with words that they have bypassed life.They may be talking about love, but they have never loved. They cannot afford it – it is so risky; and they are so learned that they cannot take that dangerous step. They have talked about meditation, read about it, but they have never done it. It is dangerous. Nothing can be more dangerous than that. And a scholar is always in search of security; security in words, security in doctrines, security everywhere. He is not a gambler, he cannot stake his life. And unless you stake your life, you cannot learn.This learning is of the heart is just like love. That’s why Jesus goes on repeating that God is love. It doesn’t mean, as Christians have understood or misunderstood it, that God is loving. No! It doesn’t mean that God is loving. It simply means if you want to reach godliness, the method is the same as when you want to enter into love. “God is love” means: the path that leads to the temple of love is the same path that leads to the temple of godliness. It just indicates the path – it goes through the heart, not through the head.Tokusan was studying Zen under Ryutan – that’s where he was missing. The very first step went wrong, and when the first step goes wrong, then everything else that follows will go wrong. Always remember to take the first step rightly. If the first step is taken rightly, then half the journey is already over, it is almost finished. Because if the first step is right, all that will follow will follow automatically; you will reach the goal. So don’t go to a master to study, go to learn. If you go to study, the master will teach you, but the most significant thing cannot be taught. Go to learn.And what is the difference between the attitudes? Many differences: when you go to study, you want more knowledge; when you go to learn, you want more being – it is not knowledge. When you learn, your being grows. When you study, your memory grows. When you study, you know more and more and more; when you learn, you become more and more and more – and these are totally different things.A man may have a great memory, know many things, and deep down in the being he is absolutely a beggar, poor, having nothing there. He may be deceiving himself that he knows so many things, but knowing will not help – unless you are, knowing is futile. Only being helps.If you are dying, what will go with you, your knowledge or your being? Who will be of help? What will be the bridge? What can you carry with you beyond death? Knowledge? The brain is left behind because the brain is part of the body. Only the being is carried over. And you have never looked at it, it has remained poor, starving – you have never fed it.Learning is of the being, knowledge is only of the memory, of the mind. Universities can give you knowledge, teachers can give you knowledge, but only an enlightened man can allow you, can help you – and that help is indirect – to gain more being. You can take that help, but the final thing depends on you.If you go to study, you have missed the first step. And the first step is very significant because the first eventually becomes the last. The seed is very significant; the seed is the first step, and it will become the tree. It may take many years to flower, but if you have planted the wrong seed, then even a million lives will not be of any help. Tokusan was wrong from the very beginning – studying.Studying he was more concerned with scripture, not with the master. And what foolishness! When a master is alive, you are obsessed with the scripture. When the diamonds are all over, you are clinging to red stones, colored stones! When the master is alive, you are concerned with dead words.One night Tokusan came to Ryutan and asked many questions.A man who is with a master to study is always filled with questions because this is how one studies. You have to raise questions, so you can get answers, and then you can go on collecting the answers. You become more knowledgeable.A man who is not after study but after learning has only one question, not many. And remember: many cannot be answered, only one can be answered. Many cannot be answered because if you are the type of man who asks many questions, any answer that is given to you will create only many more questions – nothing else. Every solution will give you many more problems.You come to me, and you ask, “Who created this world?” And if I say “God,” then you start asking about God: “Who is this God? And why did he create the world?” And if I say, “Because of this,” then you ask… Every answer will create more and more questions.But if you have only one question… That is very difficult; only a very wise man asks only the one question. To come to the one question, you have already become mature – because many questions show your curiosity, one question shows that your being has come to a conclusion. Now this is at stake: if this question is solved, everything is solved. It is a question of life and death.To ask one question means you have become one-pointed. To ask one question means now you are a unity already. And when you are a unity, the answer can be given to you; otherwise, you are not ready. And no master is going to waste his time and energy on you if you are asking many questions. Ask one question!First find out what is the one question that is significant. Don’t move on the periphery, come to the center! On the periphery there can be many points to be asked, but at the center there is only one point. And when you move on the periphery you go on moving in a circle; one question will lead to another, another will lead to another, and you go on and on ad infinitum.But at the center there is only one question. And that question can be answered even without answering; if you have come to one question, the master can look at you, and the question has been answered. The master can touch you, and the question has been answered. Because when you are so one-pointed, you are so intensely alive, your flame is burning so bright, your mind is so clear – not filled with clouds, only one sun, not millions of clouds – you are so unclouded, everything is keen, clear, aflame, just a look may do; just a touch may do. But if you are filled with many questions, even if the master goes on hammering answers on you, nothing is going to happen.One night Tokusan came to Ryutan and asked many questions. These Zen stories are so beautiful, their every word is meaningful. One night – not in the morning but in the dark. In the morning you come to ask one question, in the night you come to ask many questions. In the morning you are clear, fresh, young. In the night you are old, rotten. In the night means you are in the dark, groping. Even if you come to the door, you will not be able to see. Even if the answer is given, it will not be understood.Mind is the darkness of the soul, it is the night of the soul. But you believe in this mind so much – and it has not given you anything except promises. It gives you promises, it is wonderful in that – it goes on promising.I have heard…Once Mulla Nasruddin came back to his home very, very late at night. He knocked, the wife asked, “Nasruddin, what is the time?”Nasruddin said matter-of-factly, “It is very early, only eleven-fifteen.”The wife said, “Don’t you lie to me. I just looked at the alarm clock. It is not eleven-fifteen, it is three-fifteen. The whole night is past.”Nasruddin said, “One minute. You believe in a twenty-rupee rotten alarm clock, rather than believing in your beloved husband? What type of marriage is this? And what type of woman are you?”You always believe in twenty-rupee rotten minds, that you have purchased from an old used-mind shop – it is not even yours! It has been in many hands, thousands of times. What is new in your mind? Everything is old, used. What is fresh in your mind? What is original in it? Everything is borrowed. And when a man purchases an old, old, used car, he thinks millions of times whether to purchase it or not.You never think about the mind, that it has been used by many. Your every thought is borrowed, old, rubbish; many have thrown it away. But you go on believing in it because this mind has learned a trick, and that trick is how to promise. It goes on promising: “I will give you everything. You need God? I will give you God, just wait. Do this and that. Make effort, and hope and pray, and you will get it.” It always postpones. It says, “Tomorrow it will happen” – and tomorrow never comes. Tomorrow cannot come – all that comes is always today, and all that mind does is to transfer everything for tomorrow. It promises you – in the future. Whether it is heaven, whether it is godliness, or moksha, or nirvana – it always promises you, “In the future.”Meditation, Zen never promises you anything. It simply gives you here and now. Mind is a postponement, it says, “It will happen. It will happen gradually. Go by and by. Don’t be in a hurry, nothing can be done right now.” Mind says, “Time is needed. Long is the path. Much has to be done, and unless you do it, how can you reach?” Mind always divides ends and means.In reality there is no division. Every step is the goal, and every moment is nirvana. The present is all that exists. Future is the most illusory thing, it is a creation of the mind. But you believe in the mind, and it is really wonderful, you don’t even get discouraged!I have heard…A man purchased a used, old car. And after two weeks he came back to the same shop and asked the salesman, “Are you the same guy who sold me this car?”The man said, “Yes,” a little afraid and apprehensive because he knew what type of car he had sold.This man said, “Then tell me again the same things you told me before you sold me this car – I get so discouraged. Give me a little courage; and I will be coming on and off, just to get encouraged.”You don’t even get discouraged about the mind. You go on listening to it. And mind is the dark, the dark part of your being where no light enters. It is the night.So it is right:One night Tokusan came to Ryutan and asked many questions. The teacher said…He didn’t answer. He didn’t answer a single question. He simply listened to the questions.The teacher said, “The night is getting old. Why don’t you retire?”Look! So many questions were asked, and the teacher simply said, “The night is getting old, the darkness is increasing. You are moving into a darker and darker part of the mind. The night is getting old. Why don’t you retire?”This is the only answer for so many questions: “Why don’t you retire?”You are the question and the question creator. You – the ego, the mind – you are the disease. Why don’t you retire? Many questions asked – only one answer given, and that too could not be understood because a person who asks many questions cannot understand one answer. His mind cannot understand anything that belongs to the one. He can understand only the many. “Many” is always out, “one” is always in – because the center is within you, and the periphery is without.The master said one of the most beautiful things: “The night is getting old. Why don’t you retire? It is time you should retire.” It seems irrelevant. He should have answered the questions. He has answered because he says, “Please retire.”If you are there, then questions will go on coming. Questions come to the mind just like leaves come to the trees. And you go on watering the tree, and then the leaves go on coming. Of course, old leaves will fall and new will come. So the master can answer a question: the old will go, but the new will come, and it will be replaced again. And a new question is worse because an old question – you are already fed up with it. You may throw it out. You have lived enough with it.A new question is again like a new wife – again you are in love, again the romance starts, again the poetry and again the whole nonsense. A new thought is more dangerous than the old because with the old you are fed up, you are already getting bored with it, you want to throw it away. That’s why Buddha, or Ryutan, or persons like that, never answer your questions. They would not like to give you new shelters for the mind. They would not like to give you new substitutes for the old.Buddha used to say, “Don’t ask if you want to be answered. When you don’t ask, I will answer. If you ask, the door is closed.”Buddha used to insist with newcomers, “For one year remain with me without asking anything. If you ask, you cannot be allowed to live with me, you will have to move on. For one year simply be silent.” And it is not a question of asking visibly – Buddha knows. If you go on asking within, he knows.One day it happened…Mahakashyapa was sitting there. He had not asked anything. A great disciple of Buddha, but just a few months before he had come, and Buddha had told him to remain silent for one year, not asking anything. A few other disciples were sitting there. Suddenly, Buddha asked, “Mahakashyapa, you asked?”So Mahakashyapa said, “I have not spoken at all.”And others also said, “He has not spoken at all.”Buddha said, “Look within. You have asked. You have broken the promise.”And Mahakashyapa looked, and he bowed down, and he said, “Sorry!” He had asked. He had not asked so that you could hear, but deep inside the question had been there. Even if you don’t ask and the mind is asking, you have asked because thought is a subtle action. It will become visible sooner or later. The bubble is there, it will come to the surface. You can suppress, but you cannot deceive a buddha.When can you be allowed to ask? When there is no question. This seems paradoxical; if there is no question, then what are you going to ask? Only then you ask the one question, and there is no need to verbalize it. Your whole being becomes one question, one search, one inquiry; then your whole being is an inquiry. And when you stand before a buddha, and your whole being transformed into an inquiry, a thirst, a deep hunger, so deep that you are not there, only the hunger is there – then the buddha can feed you, then the answer can be given. Otherwise a buddha, whatsoever he says, will seem irrelevant – and these Zen stories are very irrelevant.There are millions of Zen stories which are absolutely irrelevant. You ask about A and the master talks about Z – no relationship! We don’t know what questions this Tokusan asked. Only one thing we know; the teacher, the master, never replied to them. He simply said, “Tokusan, the night is getting old – why don’t you retire?” And this is all that Zen is. This is all Zen is about – retire!Are you not tired enough with the mind? Then retire! Has not the mind done enough? Has the mind not created enough chaos in you? Why are you clinging to it? What hope, what promise, makes you cling to it? It has been deceiving you continuously. It said, “There – that goal, in that possession, in that house, in that car, in that woman, in those riches – is everything.” And you moved, and when you reached, nothing came into your hands except frustration. Every expectation led you to frustration. Every desire became in the end a sorry affair, a sadness resulted.And this mind has been promising you and promising you – no promise has been fulfilled, but you never say to the mind, “You deceiver, stop!” You are afraid of saying that.Once it happened…Mulla Nasruddin came out of the village tavern, and the new priest saw him – he was passing by on the road. The new priest said, “Nasruddin, you are a religious man. What do I see? You are coming out of such a place? My son, drink is of the Devil. And when the Devil invites you again, refuse. Why don’t you refuse?”Nasruddin said, “Reverend, I would like to refuse, but the Devil may get sore and may not invite me again.”That’s the problem. You would like to refuse this mind; this mind has never fulfilled anything, but you are afraid – the mind may get sore, will not promise you again. Then…? You cannot live without promises, you cannot live without hope – this is the mechanism.Unless you are ready to live without hope, you cannot become religious. Even your so-called religions are nothing but hopes created by the mind. Are you ready to live without hope? Are you ready to live without the future? Then simply there is no need to retire; the mind retires itself. Then there is no clinging with the mind. But you are afraid – the mind may get sore. And the mind is the Devil and may not offer again, then what will you do?People come to me, they think their search is religious – their search is still mental. They are still moving in the dark valleys of the mind, they are still listening to the mind, they are hoping. They have hoped through money, and they have failed; they have hoped through sex, they have failed. They have hoped in many, many ways, and they have failed. Now they hope through meditation, now they hope through a master, but the hoping is there. And remember well: if you hope through me, you will miss me. I cannot fulfill your hopes.Why not leave hoping? Why do you hope? What is the basis of it? Discontent becomes hope; this is the disguise – because here and now you are so much in discontent, so much in misery, that you need some hope in the future. That hope will help you to move. You can somehow tolerate the present; through hoping, you can tolerate the present; hope is anesthesia. The present is miserable, painful; hope is alcoholic, it is a drug, it makes you unconscious enough so you can tolerate the present.Hope means here and now there is discontent. But have you ever looked at the whole phenomenon? Why are you discontented here and now in the first place? Why? – because you hoped in the past, that’s why here and now you are in discontent. This today was tomorrow yesterday. Yesterday you hoped for today because it was tomorrow then. Now that hope is not fulfilled, so you are in misery, frustrated. And to hide this misery, to somehow pass today, you are again hoping for the tomorrow.You are in a rut, and in such a rut that it will be very difficult to come out of it. Tomorrow the same will happen: you will be frustrated because mind can promise but can never fulfill. Otherwise, there was no need for meditation; then Buddha was a fool meditating.If mind can fulfill, then all meditators are foolish, then all enlightened persons are fools because mind cannot fulfill. When they come to understand the whole mechanism and the whole misery of it… This is the mechanism: yesterday mind promised you that something is going to be delivered to you tomorrow. Now the tomorrow has come, it is today, and the mind has not delivered. You are in misery, your expectations are frustrated. Now the mind says, “Tomorrow I am going to deliver.” The mind again promises. And what type of stupidity is this, that you again listen to the mind? And tomorrow the same mechanism will be repeated – it is a vicious circle.You listen to the mind, you become miserable, otherwise, this today is paradise! And there is no other paradise, this today is nirvana. If you had not listened to the mind… Just don’t listen to the mind, then you are not in misery because misery cannot exist without expectations and without hopes. And when misery exists you need more hopes for it, to hide it, to live somehow. Live hopelessly – then you are a religious man, then you are retired.Beautiful are the words. The master said, “The night is getting old. Why don’t you retire? Have you not had enough of this night? Have you not heard and listened to this mind too much already? Drop out of it. Don’t listen to it any more. Retire!”But Tokusan misunderstood him because a man who is filled with so many questions cannot understand the answer. Out of his compassion Ryutan gave the answer, but the disciple misunderstood – scholars always misunderstand.What did he think? He thought of the night outside – it was not referred to at all. Masters never talk about outside, they always talk about the inside. The master was talking about the dark night inside, and the disciple thought, “Yes, the night is getting old.” He looked outside – he looked at the periphery. The master was talking about the center. The master was using the language of the within, and the disciple understood in the language of the without. And the language of the within cannot be translated into the language of the without. No, there is no way to translate it. Either you understand, or you don’t understand – there is no way to translate it for you.Hindi can be translated into English, English can be translated into Chinese, but religion cannot be translated into any language. The inner cannot be translated into the outer. Why can Chinese be translated into English? Because both are of the without, they both exist on the periphery.“Why don’t you retire?”said the master.So Tokusan bowed, and as he opened the screen to go out, he observed, “It is very dark outside.”He understood; he thought he had understood. He bowed: “Yes, it is too late, and the night is getting darker and darker and too old, and it is time to go to sleep.”What the master was meaning, he was saying, “It is time to awaken.” For the man who knows the inner, “retire” means it is time to come out of your sleep, out of your mind because mind is the sleep.You have heard about the sleeping disease? – mind is that disease, it is deep sleep. Even while you are awake it doesn’t allow you to be awake; you move in a deep hypnosis, it is a somnambulism. You do things just like a mechanical, automatic mechanism. You are like an automaton; you eat, you talk, you do things, you are efficient, but don’t think that you are awakened. You are not awake.You have many types of sleep: sometimes you sleep with closed eyes, sometimes you sleep with open eyes. Sometimes you sleep on the bed, sometimes you sleep in the temple, sometimes on the street. Sometimes you are in the shop sleeping. Sometimes you sleep doing things, sometimes you sleep without doing things. Sometimes you sleep with dreams, sometimes you sleep with thoughts – but you continue your sleep.In the morning you don’t become awake. In the morning a new kind of sleep starts with open eyes – dreams float, and thoughts continue, and you do the ritual. Awakening is not needed for the daily ritual. That’s why nobody likes new things to happen every day because if new things are happening, then you will have to awaken. With old things, with a routine, you can move sleepily, there is no need. In a life of seventy years, if you have even been awake for seven moments, it is too much. That’s why when Gautam Siddhartha awakened, we called him Buddha, the awakened one because it is such a rare phenomenon – to be awake.The master meant, “Retire from the mind, so that you can be awake.” And the disciple understood, “Right,” he said, “it is very dark outside, I must go to sleep now. I must retire.” This is how, whenever the truth is given by a master, it is being distorted in the mind of the disciple.So Tokusan bowed… just to thank the master, that he has correctly observed that too much of the night has already passed…and as he opened the screen to go out, he observed, “It is very dark outside.”Ryutan offered Tokusan a lighted candle…the master offered a lighted candle to the disciple…to find his way, but just as Tokusan received it…and he was on the move to go out…Ryutan blew it out. At that moment the mind of Tokusan was opened.What happened? Ryutan offered Tokusan a lighted candle. He said, “Okay, outside it is very dark, so you take this lighted candle to see the path.”For the outside, candles can be offered, not for the inside because how will you take a candle inside? For the inside, no candle can be offered from without. The master cannot give you the light which will enlighten you inside.In fact, inside the light has always been burning. It is there, but you go on looking outside. Once you look within, the light is there. It has always been there. You have never missed it for a single moment. You cannot miss it. It is your Tao, your nature, your very self – no need to offer any candle for the inside, and no candle can go inside. But for the outside candles can be offered.So remember: all those who offer you something for your path, all those candles can be only for the outside. They may light your path in the world, but never in godliness.Seeing that the disciple had not understood, the master tried again. He created a situation, a very rare situation: he offered Tokusan a lighted candle.Tokusan was asking many questions, and he didn’t offer a single candle for the inside, he didn’t offer a single answer. He simply said, “Retire!” But if darkness is outside, then something can be done, you can be helped. If your body is ill, then you can find a doctor; but if your soul is ill, then no doctor can be of any help – then you have to do something. Then the master can only bring you to this point that you have to do something because inside nobody can penetrate except you. If somebody can penetrate in your inside, it is not inside because in the interiormost temple of your being, how can anybody else enter? There is no space – only you exist there in your total aloneness.That’s why Mahavira has said that even love cannot enter there. You are totally alone. Mahavira has used a word for ultimate liberation, for ultimate salvation; that word is kaivalya. Kaivalya means absolute loneliness. In your innermost being you are totally alone – nobody can enter there. Not even a master can enter there. If somebody can enter there, then it is outside, then it is not the interiormost core. At the center of a circle only one point can be there, not two. If there are two, it is still not the center. Then still a small periphery is around.You are alone in your deepest being. The master can help you to become aware of this fact, and once you know it, all disease inside disappears. Once you accept your total loneliness, you are liberated; then there is no attachment – love can flow. In reality only now love can flow because now love is not a dependence, you are not dependent on the other. If you are dependent on the other, then you will be against also because whosoever makes you dependent is the enemy, cannot be the friend. So lovers continuously fight because the lover is the enemy, the beloved is the enemy. You have become dependent, you cannot live without the other, your freedom is destroyed, and any love that destroys freedom will become hate sooner or later.Only that love which gives you more freedom will never turn into hate, it will be eternal. Only a Jesus, a Buddha, can love eternally. There is no change of climate, the same harmony continues. Why? Because a Buddha or a Jesus has attained his total loneliness and has accepted this fact. And this is so beautiful to be totally alone, like an Everest.At the very peak, you are alone. At the very core, the innermost being, you are alone. When you have accepted it, now love can flow like the Ganges, now there is no trouble, now you can love without any condition. Now you can love without becoming dependent, or without making anybody dependent on you. Now love can be a freedom.A master helps you to be aware of your total, ultimate loneliness. The word loneliness is not good because it carries a sadness about it – because of you, not because of the word. Because of the old associations, you always feel sad when you are lonely.In Japan it happened once…A Zen master was a great gardener, a lover of gardening. Even the king became jealous of his garden, and one day somebody came to the king and said, “Now you must go and see.”Japanese love the morning-glory flower very much, and the man who spoke to the king said, “I have never seen such flowers, millions of them, the whole garden of the Zen master is filled with flowers. And the fragrance – it is so beautiful. Don’t miss it. You should go.”It was too much for the king to go to see this poor man’s garden. He had a big garden – hundreds of acres of greenery, hundreds of gardeners working there – and he had to go and see?But the man reported, and he said, “It may not happen again.”So the king said, “Go and inform him that tomorrow morning I am coming.”The master was informed. The next morning the king came with his court, with his generals, queen, princes. The whole capital was stilled, thousands of people gathered around the monastery. And the king came, he looked around, and he said, “What! I was informed there were millions of flowers, and I see only one morning-glory flower in the garden.”The Zen master said, “Yes, there were millions, but in the night we removed them all because we believe in the one. And this is the most beautiful of them all – in a crowd you would have missed this. So we have removed all; only the best, only the most beautiful has been saved for you.”The king became a little sad. He said, “It looks so lonely.”And the Zen master laughed and said, “It is not lonely. It is alone.”Remember this: when you reach to your innermost center you are not lonely, you are alone. And this aloneness is not an emptiness – it is the fulfillment. This aloneness is not empty, it is overflowing. This aloneness is not a void, it is the all.The master can only make you aware of this fact which is already there. He cannot give you anything new. He only gives you that which you have already, which you are already, which you have already been carrying within you, but never alert to. He only makes you mindful of the fact that is, of your being. He only makes you aware of the truth: the treasure that is hidden there, and you have not looked at it.Your being a god is already the case; the master simply makes you aware of this fact. It is not an achievement.Ryutan offered Tokusan a lighted candle… He said, “Okay. If you cannot look within, and the darkness that you are living in, the darkness of the mind… I talk about the inside, and you look outside. If you are so focused, I will give you a candle.”He gave him …a lighted candle to find his way, but just as Tokusan received it… and he was going to move, step down from the temple of the master …Ryutan blew it out.Suddenly, darkness! With the lighted candle there was light. It was not even given, and it was immediately blown out, suddenly there was darkness.At that moment… What happened? …the mind of Tokusan was opened – he became enlightened.What happened in this moment? Many things happened simultaneously. They happened in a single fragment. No time was lost. Here the candle was blown out; there, immediately, the disciple was enlightened.What happened? One thing: suddenly he became aware that the master was not talking about the dark night outside. That’s why he had blown out the candle to indicate that this candle won’t do. He was talking of the inside, of the dark night within. He was not saying go and retire and fall into sleep. He wanted to make him alert and aware. And when the light suddenly went out, his mind stopped. He couldn’t conceive… It was so unpredictable. The master gave him the candle and then blew it out. It was so absurd! Then why give it?It was so contradictory, for a moment the mind couldn’t think because the mind cannot think when there is a contradiction. Many times I give you the candle and blow it out immediately. I say a sentence and contradict it immediately, just so that your mind cannot think anything about it, cannot work it out. If your mind can work it out, the opportunity is missed. It was so contradictory: the night was dark, and the master offered a candle, and when he was just about to move, he blew it out. What does he mean? So inconsistent!Enlightened persons are always inconsistent. Consistency is always of the mind; you can find a consistent thinker, but you cannot find a consistent buddha. Each moment he behaves in a new way; because he is not behaving out of the past, he responds with the present moment. And it was so accidental that the mind couldn’t work it out, and suddenly there was darkness all over.The disciple understood one thing: that the master was not talking of the outside. He was not talking of the night out there, he was talking of the night here, inside. He offered the candle and then blew it out. He was saying that no help is possible inside. You have to move in your darkness yourself, these candles won’t do. Nobody can be a guide there, only indications…Buddha is reported to have said that buddhas only show the way – you have to walk, they cannot go with you. If they go with you, you will become dependent on them, and they will become your world and they will become your attachment. They cannot go with you. And it is inherently, intrinsically impossible for somebody else to take you to your center. He can indicate the way – buddhas only point the way; you have to move.Suddenly there was darkness – the mind stopped. The mind could not conceive, the mind could not reconcile this inconsistent behavior. There was a gap, a discontinuity in the mind – and that gap becomes meditation. Suddenly his mind opened. When the mind cannot function, when the mind finds something impossible to reconcile, to solve, the mind drops.If the mind can find the logic, then it continues. So a master has to be illogical because of your mind; only then gaps are possible. This moment he behaves in a certain way, and the next moment he contradicts himself. This moment he says something, the next moment he says something quite the opposite. You cannot make a system out of it.That’s why when Buddha died, many systems arose because everybody started to create a system of his own. And he was an inconsistent man, he was not a system-maker, so there were millions of contradictions. So everybody – philosophers – started working, and now Buddhists have many philosophies. In those philosophies contradictions have been left out, and they have made a consistent whole.But when you leave the contradictions out, you have left Buddha himself out because he was in his contradictions. He was in the gaps. He was giving shocks to your mind. This is a shock: Tokusan, at that moment, suddenly became alert. He could not have predicted it. If the mind can predict anything, there is no shock. If I repeat this story with you, if I give you a candle this night, you know the story well, and then I blow it out; nothing will happen because you expect it.So a device cannot be used again; it is impossible to use it again. That’s why new buddhas are always needed because old buddhas… Your mind has absorbed them, it knows very well. So a new buddha may do exactly the opposite. He may give you the candle and will not blow it out, and you will go in the dark night with that candle thinking continuously, “What happened? The story seems incomplete.” A new buddha has to create new devices, new methods, new techniques because your mind is so cunning: once it knows, it makes everything part of it.At that moment the mind of Tokusan was opened. And when the mind is opened you are enlightened. Mind is a closing, mind is a closed door. And being is an open door – that’s the only difference. Mind open, you are a being; mind closed, you are just a past, a memory, not a living, alive force. Mind closed, you can look only outside because how can you look inside? The mind is closed, the door is closed. Mind open, you can look inside.Looking inside, you are totally transformed. Once there is a single glimpse of the inside, you will never be the same again. Then you can move, you can look outside, you can move in the world; you can be a shopkeeper, you can be a clerk, you can be a teacher in a school, you can be a butcher – you can be whatsoever you were before, but the quality has changed.In Zen they say before a man is enlightened, rivers are rivers, mountains are mountains. Then when a man becomes a seeker, rivers are no longer rivers, mountains are no longer mountains; everything is confused, a chaos. And when a man becomes enlightened, rivers are again rivers, mountains are again mountains.Zen people say that a man of enlightenment lives the same way as any ordinary man – no difference on the outside. He eats when he feels hungry, he sleeps when he feels tired – no difference on the outside. Just the nature of being, the quality of the being has changed: now the mind is open. He can look outside, but he remains inside. He can move in the world, but the world never moves in him. He remains in the world, but the world is no longer a part of his being. He can do whatsoever is needed, but he is never attached. Not that he is detached – no, he is neither attached nor detached. The world has become a dream, the world has become a play, a game. It is no longer real, it is no longer substantial. If he happens to be a butcher, he will remain a butcher; he will carry it out to the very end.Zen says that the ordinary mind is the enlightened mind – with only one difference; the mind open, the door open, alert, awake. The sleep has gone. You are no longer in hypnosis, you are no longer in a drugged state. You are alert.If you try too much to change the outside, that shows that you are still attached. If a man tries to be detached, it shows attachment. Why bother about detachment if you are not attached? If a man escapes from women, it shows that sex is still the obsession. Otherwise, why escape from women if you are not obsessed?If a man avoids the market, moves to the Himalayas, he is still somehow in the market, or the market is in him. He is still afraid, and fear always shows that you have not changed. Otherwise, a man of enlightenment will be as ordinary as anybody else. More ordinary than anybody else! Extraordinarily ordinary! Why? – because he is not an exhibitionist. He may just be your next-door neighbor, and you may not know him ever because you are after extraordinary men.If a man stands for years, you will go; many, many miles you will travel. It will become a pilgrimage because you are going to see a man who has been standing for ten years. It may be a feat, but it doesn’t show anything. It again shows just an egoist standpoint, an exhibition. You may go and bow down to a man who has been fasting because you cannot fast. This man has achieved the goal, and you cannot achieve it. You feel inferior before this man. You bow down because deep down you also wanted to be like this: extraordinary. You wanted some powers, miracles, and this man has achieved.A man is a brahmachari, celibate: you feel awe, you feel very much influenced, impressed, because you cannot live without a woman, and this man has. He has achieved the desire that you also have deep down, a desire to live without a woman because the woman is the bondage. You feel she creates a boundary around you, she possesses you. You cannot move beyond that boundary, you are afraid of women.Somebody was asking Mulla Nasruddin, “Why, Nasruddin, are you leaving so early today?” – he was leaving the tavern.He said, “Every day it is a problem. The wife!”So the man said, “Are you afraid of your wife? Are you a man or a mouse?”Nasruddin said, “I am a man.”And the man said, “Then why you are going so early if you are a man? And what certainty have you got that you are a man?”Said Nasruddin, “I am certain, absolutely certain, because my wife is afraid of mice. I am certainly a man. I am afraid of her, and she is afraid of mice. Had I been a mouse…!”The wife, the husband, the family, the work, the responsibility, the world – everything becomes a burden, a boundary around you. You feel encaged, imprisoned. And a man who has left all, standing alone in his majesty, neither burdened by a wife nor children, neither worried, nor afraid – you bow down to him because you feel, “This is the goal. This is what I would also like to achieve.”But this man is just the opposite pole of you. He may have become the mouse, and you may still be the man, the wife may be afraid of him, but nothing has changed. He is just the opposite. He is also hiding the same fears. He is also hiding the same lust, but he has reversed the whole process. He is floating upstream, that’s all; but the stream is the same, the fight continues. He may be a greater fighter than you, or may be a more stupid fighter than you because stupid people are always courageous, and they can float upstream more easily than anybody else. Idiots can do things intelligent men ordinarily cannot do.Fools can enter where even angels are afraid to go. So if you see in your monks in the monasteries, your sannyasins, your so-called sadhus, stupid people, that is natural. Look in their eyes, you will never see the look of intelligence, you will not see the clarity, you will not see the flame. You will see just stupid, idiotic people, dull – dullards! They can do such things more easily. They can stand on their heads, shirshasan, and they can do so for years, but they have not changed, the transformation has not happened.Zen says the ordinary mind is the enlightened mind. You don’t go anywhere; the ordinary world is the paradise. Here and now, everything is there. You need not go anywhere.A man whose mind is open, the wife disappears. Not that he goes, escapes from the wife; simply the wife disappears, and a beautiful being is there. When there is no wife, a beautiful being is there. When you make a being a wife, a husband, ugliness enters. Then there is a friend, a beautiful loving friend – because expectations bring enmity. It is your mind, a closed mind, which creates the problems, not the wife.For the first time you become aware of the beauty of the world; everything is young and fresh and alive, and godliness is here! If you think your godliness is somewhere else, you are still listening to the mind because that is the language of the mind: “Somewhere else, somewhere else. Never here” – and it is always here.Meditation reveals to you the here and now. And then the ordinary mind becomes the most extraordinary, and the ordinary life becomes the supreme, the ultimate. The only difference is of a closed or open mind.When thoughts are there the mind is closed. When thoughts are not there, the clouds are not there, and the mind is open. And when the mind is open the old pail has fallen, the water has flowed out, the reflection disappears – no water, no moon.Enough for today.

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No Water No Moon 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Water No Moon 07 (Read, Listen & Download)

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A nun who was searching for enlightenment made a wooden statue of Buddha and covered it with gold leaf. It was very pretty, and she carried it with her wherever she went.Years passed, and still carrying her Buddha, the nun settled down in a small country temple where there were many statues of Buddha, each having its own shrine.The nun burned incense before her golden Buddha each day, but not liking the idea of her perfume straying to the other statues, she devised a funnel through which the smoke would ascend to her statue only. This blackened the nose of the golden statue and made it especially ugly.One of the greatest problems that is bound to face everybody who is traveling the path is to make a clear-cut distinction between love and attachment. They appear the same – they are not. They look alike – they are not. Rather, on the contrary, even hate is more similar to love than attachment. Attachment is just the contrary; it hides the reality of hatred and gives the appearance of love, it kills love. Nothing else can be so poisonous as attachment, as possessiveness. So try to understand this, then we can enter this beautiful story.It has happened to many, it is happening to you, because mind is so confused between love and attachment. And those who look at things from outside always become victims. Attachment is taken as if it is love, and once you have taken attachment, possessiveness, as love, you will always go on missing the real thing. You have chosen a false coin. Now you will not look for the real coin because you think this is the real. You have been deceived.Possessiveness, attachment, is the false love. Hatred is better because at least it is true, at least it is a fact. And hatred can become love any day, but possessiveness can never become love. You simply have to drop it to grow into love. Why does attachment appear like love? And what’s the difference? The mechanism is subtle.Love means that you are ready to merge yourself into the other. It is a death, the deepest death possible, the deepest abyss possible in which you can fall, and go on falling and falling. And there is no end to it, there is no bottom to it, it is an eternal falling into the other. It never ends. To love means the other has become so significant that you can lose yourself. Love is surrender – unconditional – because if there is even a single condition, then you are important, not the other; then you are the center, not the other. And if you are the center, the other is just a means. You are using the other, exploiting the other, finding satisfaction, gratification through the other – but you are the goal. And love says, “Make the other the end and dissolve and merge.” It is a dying phenomenon, a death-process. That’s why people are afraid of love. You may talk about it, you may sing about it, but deep down you are afraid of love. You never enter into it.All your poetries, all your songs about love are just substitutes so that you can sing without entering into it, so that you can feel that you are loving without loving. And love is such a deep need that you cannot live without it; either the real or some substitute is needed. The substitute may be false, but at least for a time, for the time being, it gives you the feeling that you are in love. And even the false is enjoyed. Sooner or later you will realize that it is false, then you are not going to change the false love into real love – then you will change the lover or the beloved.These are the two possibilities: when you come to know that this love is false you can change, you can drop this false love and become a real lover. The other possibility is change the partner. And this is how your mind functions: whenever you feel, “This love has not given me the bliss it promised, rather on the contrary, I have become more miserable” You think the other is deceiving, not that you are deceiving.Nobody can deceive you except yourself, so you feel the other is deceiving, the other is responsible. Change the wife, change the husband, change the master, change the god, move from Buddha’s temple to Mahavira’s temple, change your religion, change your prayer, don’t go to the mosque, go to the church: change the other. So for a while again you can have the feeling that you are in love, in prayerfulness. But sooner or later again the false will be known because it cannot satisfy. You can befool yourself, but how long can one befool oneself? Then again you have to change the other.If you come to realize the other is not the problem, that your love is false… You have been talking about it, you have not been doing anything to enter into it – you are afraid and scared. Love is death-like, and if you are afraid of death, you will be afraid of love also. In death only your body dies. The essential, the ego that looks essential to you, remains safe. The mind, that appears significant to you, is carried on further into another life. Your inner identity remains the same; only the outer garb, the clothes, change in death.So death is never very deep, it is just superficial. And if you are afraid of death, how can you be ready to enter into love? Because in love not only the garb, not only the house, but you die: the mind, the ego dies. This fear of death becomes the fear of love, and the fear of love becomes the fear of prayerfulness, meditation. These three things are similar: death, love, meditation. And the route is the same; you have to pass on it. And if you have never loved, you cannot pray, you cannot do meditation. And if you have never loved and meditated, you will miss the beautiful experience of death completely.If you have loved, then death is such a beautiful, intense experience that you cannot compare it with anything in life. Life can never be so deep as death because life is spread out over seventy, eighty years. Death is in a single moment – so intense; life can never be so intense. And death is the culmination, it is not the end. It is the culmination, the very peak; your whole life you have been making effort to reach it. And what stupidity – when you reach to the peak you are so afraid, you feel so dizzy, you close your eyes, you become so scared that you become unconscious. People die, they die in an unconscious state. They miss the experience.So love can be helpful because love will prepare you for death, and love will prepare you for meditation also. In meditation you have to lose – the other is not there – you simply lose yourself. Love is deeper than death; meditation is even deeper than love because at least the other is there in love – you have something to cling to. And when you can cling, something of you survives.But in meditation there is no other. That is why Buddha, Mahavira and Lao Tzu, deny the existence of God. Why? They very well know God is, but they deny the existence so that you have no support left for meditation. If the other is there, your meditation can become at the most love, devotion, but the total death is still not being experienced. Total death is possible only when there is no other, and you simply dissolve, you simply evaporate; there is nobody to cling to: then the greatest ecstasy happens.The word ecstasy is very meaningful. This English word ecstasy is so beautiful and so significant; no other language has such a word. Ecstasy means to stand outside. Ecstasy means you are dead completely, and you are standing outside yourself and looking at this death as if your whole existence has become a corpse. You are out of it and looking at your own death; then the supreme bliss happens. If I say it to you, you will be scared. If I say to you that you are in search of the supreme death, you will be scared, but you are in search of it. The whole of religion is the art of learning how to die.Love means death, but attachment is not death. Love means the other has become so significant that you can dissolve yourself; you trust the other so much that you need not have your own mind – you can put it aside.That’s why people say love is mad, and people say love is blind; it is. Not that your eyes go blind, but when you put your ego aside, your mind aside, to everybody else you will look blind and mad. This is the state of madness. You are not thinking on your own. You trust the other so much that now there is no need to think because thinking is needed if there is doubt. Doubt creates thinking, doubt is the base of thinking. If you cannot doubt, thinking stops. If you cannot think, where is the ego? How can the ego stand? That’s why ego always doubts things, never trusts.If you trust, no ego appears – the ego is gone. Hence the insistence of all religions that only through faith and trust and love will you enter the temple of the divine: there is no other door to it. Through doubt you cannot enter because through doubt you remain. In trust you are lost.Love is a trust, a dissolving of the ego. The center moves to the other. The other becomes so significant – your very life, your very being. Not even a flicker of doubt comes to you. It is so peaceful, so beautiful, that not a flicker of doubt comes to you, not a ripple in the mind. Trust is complete, perfect. In that perfect trust there is beatitude, a blessing. Even if you think about it, you will have a small glimpse of it, what it can be. But if you feel it, it is tremendous, there is nothing like it.But the ego creates a false trick. Instead of love it gives you attachment, possessiveness. Love says, “Be possessed by the other.” Ego says, “Possess the other.” Love says, “Dissolve into the other.” Ego says, “Let the other yield to you, force the other to be yours, don’t allow the other to move in freedom. Cut the other’s freedom; let him become your periphery, your shadow.”Love gives life to the other; possessiveness, attachment, kills the other, takes the life of the other. That is why lovers, so-called lovers, always kill each other: they are poisonous. Look at a husband and a wife: once they were lovers – they thought they were lovers, and then they started killing each other. Now they are two dead persons, they have become an imprisonment for each other. They are simply afraid and bored, scared of the other.Once it happened…In a circus there was a woman lion-tamer. And the fiercest lions were in her perfect control; she would order them, and they would obey. And the greatest thing, when everybody’s breathing would stop, was when the fiercest lion would be ordered to come near, and he would come, and the lion-tamer, the woman, would have a piece of sugar on her tongue, and the lion would come and take the sugar from her mouth. Everybody would go mad – so much excitement, everybody would clap and show their appreciation.One day Mulla Nasruddin was there. Everybody clapped, but he was not moved at all. He said, “Nothing, anybody can do that.”The woman, the lion-tamer, looked scornfully and said, “Can you do it?”He said, “Yes, anybody can do it – as the lion can do it.”Man is so afraid of woman – and this is through the experience of love. Love, the so-called love, kills each other. Otherwise, why is this world so ugly? So many lovers, everybody is a lover; the husband loving the wife, the wife loving the husband, the parents loving the children, the children loving the parents, and friends, and everybody, relatives, the whole world is in love. So much love, and so much ugliness, and so much misery?Somewhere, something seems to have gone deeply wrong – in the very roots. This is not love; otherwise, fear disappears – the more you love, the less you fear. When love really comes to its totality, there is no fear. But in possessiveness, fear goes on growing more and more because when you possess a person, you are always afraid he may leave you, he may go away, and the doubt is always there. The husband is always doubting that the wife may love somebody else. They become spies on each other, and they cut off each other’s freedom so there is no possibility.But when you cut off freedom, when you cut the possibility of the unknown, life becomes dead, stale. Everything becomes flat, meaningless, a boredom, a monotone. And the more it happens, the more you become possessive. Because when life is ebbing, when the love is going, when something is going out of your hands, you become more possessive, more clinging; you become more protective, you create more walls and more prisons. This is the vicious circle.The more prisons, the less life there will be. You will be more afraid that something is happening – and love is disappearing so create a bigger prison. Then love will disappear more, then a still bigger prison will be needed. And there are many subtle methods how to do it: jealousy, continuous jealousy, and possessiveness, to such an extent that the other remains no longer a person. The other becomes just a thing, a commodity because a thing can be possessed more easily than a person, because a thing cannot rebel, cannot disobey, cannot go away without your permission, cannot fall in love with somebody else.When love becomes a frustration – and it will become a frustration, because it is not love – then you by and by start loving things. Look at people when they polish their cars, the way they look at their car – enchanted! Look at the romantic light that comes to their face when they look at their car; they are in love with their car.In the West particularly, where love has been killed completely, people are in love with things or animals: dogs, cats, cars, houses. It is easier to love a thing or an animal; a dog is more faithful than a wife ever can be. You cannot find a more faithful animal than a dog – he remains faithful, there is no danger. A wife is dangerous. A husband is dangerous; any moment he can move away, and you cannot do anything. And when he moves, your whole ego is shattered, you feel hurt. To protect from that hurt ever happening you start killing the husband or the wife, so they become just like cars and houses – dead things.This is the misery though: that whenever you possess a person, he becomes a thing – but you wanted to love a person, not a thing because a thing can be possessed, but a thing cannot be responsive. You may love a thing, but the thing cannot answer your love. You may hug your car, but the car cannot hug you. You may kiss your car, but the kiss cannot be returned.I have heard about Picasso:A woman, a woman appreciator, a fan of Picasso’s, once came to him and said, “I saw your self-portrait in an art gallery. It is so beautiful, and I became so possessed by it, that I forgot completely and kissed the portrait.”Picasso looked at the woman and said, “Did the portrait return the kiss?”The woman said, “What are you asking? How can a portrait return the kiss?”And Picasso said, “Then that is not my portrait!” How can a dead wife return the kiss? How can a dead husband return the kiss?This is the misery: if you want to possess, you kill. And the moment you have succeeded the whole glory is lost because now the other cannot respond. The other can respond only in freedom, but you cannot allow freedom because you are not in love. Love is never possessive. It cannot be, by its very nature.And not only loving a man or a woman: if you start loving a Buddha, you will repeat this whole thing. You will do the same, you will be possessive there also. That is why so many temples have been created: possessiveness. Christians think Christ belongs to them. Christ cannot belong to anybody, but Christians think he belongs to them; they are the possessors. Mohammedans think Mohammed belongs to them. You cannot draw a picture of Mohammed – you will be dragged to the court. You cannot make a statue of Mohammed because Mohammedans won’t allow it. But who are these Mohammedans? How did they become the possessors? They have turned Mohammed into a dead thing.Nobody can possess Mohammed, nobody can possess Christ – they are so big and your hands are so small. They cannot be possessed. Love can never be possessed; it is such a vital force, and such an infinite force, and you are so tiny and so small, you cannot possess it. But Christians have their Christ, Mohammedans have their Mohammed, Hindus their Krishna, Buddhists their Buddha.Among Jainas there are two communities – they have divided their Mahavira. There are a few temples in India which belong to both communities, so there is always fight and always cases in the courts because a time division is there: in the morning the swetambers will worship; in the evening the digambers, the other community, will worship. And they change because swetambers put false, open eyes on the Mahavira’s statue, and digambers worship Mahavira with closed eyes, so they cannot worship the same statue. First they have to close the eyes, or remove the false eyes, only then are they at ease; then it is their Mahavira. But how can it be yours or mine? Is Mahavira a thing, a house, a shop, a commodity? But lovers are false lovers – they are really possessors, not lovers.This has happened in religions so deeply, that religion, rather than becoming a blessing to the world, has proved dangerous. Through this possessiveness religion becomes the sect; then you go on worshipping this dead thing, and then nothing happens in your life, and then you think something is wrong with religion. Nothing is wrong with religion. Mahavira could have transformed you. Krishna could have given you the light that he had, but you didn’t allow him. Christ certainly could have become the salvation, but you didn’t allow. Jews crucified him, and you – you have mummified him in the churches. Now he is a dead thing – good to worship, good to possess, but how can a dead Christ transform you?And the priest knows it very well. That is why I have never come across a priest who is a believer. Priests are deep down always nonbelievers because they know the whole business, and they know this Christ is dead. When they worship, it is just a gesture, for show.It happened once, it is an historic fact, that in the year 999, on December 31st, there was a rumor all over the world, particularly in Christian communities, that the last day is coming on January 1st; in the year 1000, on January 1st, the last day of judgment is coming, and the world is going to be dissolved, and everybody is going to face the divine.So, on December 31st, 999, all the Christians all over the world closed their shops, closed their offices; people even distributed their things because on the morning of January 1st, there was going to be no world. People kissed and hugged each other, even went to their enemies to be forgiven, and there was a totally different world that evening. Everything closed because tomorrow there is going to be no future. So why be an enemy? And why not love? Why not enjoy? People were celebrating – the last day is coming.All over the world, Christians closed everything. Only the offices of the Vatican in Rome were open because the pope knows well, the priests know well, that this is not going to happen, this is just a superstition. And they created the whole thing! But not a single thing was distributed from the pope.Priests are in the know. They know that Christ is dead – and you are a fool, you are praying to a dead thing. But they cannot say that to you because that is a trade secret, and only through it is exploitation possible. And it is in their favor because if Christ is alive, they cannot become the agents in between. An alive Christ will come directly to you; he will not allow a mediator, a broker. He will not allow it. Christ will not allow a priest to come and stand in between the lovers and himself – he will face them, he will come to you directly. So for priests a live Christ is dangerous, only a dead Christ is good.Priests never like a Mahavira when he is alive, they never like a Buddha when he is alive – they are always against when he is alive. When he is dead, they immediately come and organize around him, make a temple and start exploiting you. Priests are against a Mahavira, a Buddha, a Krishna, but they know that when they are dead their names can be exploited.But you have to remember well that with your love, your prayerfulness, your worship – if it becomes possessive – you are killing. And if you kill Krishna, how can he transform you? How can he bring you to Krishna consciousness? Impossible!Now we should enter this story. It is beautiful.A nun who was searching for enlightenment made a wooden statue of Buddha and covered it with gold leaf. It was very pretty, and she carried it with her wherever she went.Many things have to be understood – even word by word. A nun… because this is the heart of the woman – to possess. That’s why not a monk, but a nun. And don’t think that only women possess; men also possess, but then they have the heart of the woman, not of the man. Why is woman more possessive than man? – because possession is out of fear. Man is less afraid than woman, that’s why – man is less afraid than woman. Because he is less afraid, he is less possessive. The feminine mind is more afraid, fear is natural to it; there is always a trembling. Because of that fear woman is more possessive. Unless she is completely satisfied that she possesses, she is not happy. And when she possesses completely, she cannot be happy because the man is dead. Only in freedom does life exist.Hence, in the story, a nun has been chosen. But remember well, it doesn’t make any difference; if you are a man, your mind can still be feminine. There are rarely men… You may be a woman and still have a man’s fearless mind. So the distinction is not through sex, it is through attitudes. A man can be a woman, a woman can be a man – the symbol is just to show the attitude. What attitude?If you are a man and still possessive, you have a feminine mind. If you are a woman and not possessive, you have a male mind. It is said that Mahavira insisted that no woman can enter into enlightenment unless she becomes a man. People took it literally, and they missed the point. They thought that no woman can enter into enlightenment, so every woman who is striving will have to be born in the next life as a man, and then only can she enter. This is foolishness – but no feminine mind can enter into enlightenment, that is true, because the feminine mind means fear and possessiveness. And with fear and possessiveness, no love, no meditation is possible.One woman became enlightened. Jainas – the followers of Mahavira and followers of the tirthankaras – were much disturbed. What to do? So they changed the name of the woman into the name of a man, and they simply forgot the whole thing. A woman named Mallibai became enlightened – so what to do about the theory now? So they changed the name, they call Mallibai, Mallinath. They changed the statue, you will never find a woman’s statue. And this Mallibai – or Mallinath – she was such a rare being that they had to concede tirthankarhood to her. So in twenty-four tirthankaras one is a woman, but you will never find her because the name given is Mallinath.So one feels no woman has attained enlightenment. But it is true in a different, deeper sense; no feminine mind can enter – because fear cannot enter it, possessiveness cannot enter.A nun who was searching for enlightenment made a wooden statue of Buddha… And it is very difficult for a mind which is feminine – man or woman. But the mind, if it is feminine, will create a statue; you will create the other. You cannot be alone.A statue means the other has been created. There is no one, but you cannot be satisfied with nothingness; something has to be there to cling to. Hence so many temples and so many statues – they are created out of the feminine mind. That’s why you will not find many men in the temples whenever you go, but many women will be there. And if some men have come, those are the henpecked husbands. They have come with their wives, they have not come directly; they had to come just because of the wife.When Mahavira preached, forty thousand people took sannyas from him – thirty thousand were women, only ten thousand men. What was the matter? And this is the ratio – this is the ratio with me also. If four persons come – three women, one man. And the man comes with difficulty and goes very easily, and the woman comes very easily and it is very difficult for her to go. She clings; it is very difficult for her to go.But a feminine mind can create difficulties, barriers. If you start becoming possessive, then you miss. You have to remember: the fear has to be left – only then love arises. The fear has to be dropped because the fear is of the ego. And if fear exists, the ego will persist; then you can create a statue and cling to the statue. This statue is not going to lead you to the ultimate because this is your creation. You may cover it with gold leaf, it may look pretty, but it is a dead thing. You may make a golden statue, but it is not going to help – it is a dead thing.It was very pretty, and she carried it with her wherever she went. It became a burden, it had to be carried, protected. She couldn’t sleep well because somebody may steal it. She couldn’t go without it because somebody else may want to possess it, it may have been taken from her. Her whole mind became possessive around it. The statue became the center, the center of her possessiveness, fear, worship. But this is not love.Years passed, and still carrying her Buddha, the nun settled down in a small country temple where there were many statues of Buddha, each having its own shrine.Years passed, nothing happened. Carrying a Buddha nothing can happen because how can you carry a Buddha? You can only carry a statue. Buddha has to be lived, not carried. Buddha has to be loved, not possessed. You have to dissolve yourself in the Buddha, not to carry him as your possession.Buddha is alive if you dissolve into him. But then Buddha is dangerous because you will never come back. It is a point from where no one can come back. Once you have fallen, you have fallen into it; there is no returning. There is fear and trembling, you are afraid you may be lost. And your fear is true – you are going to be lost.But with a statue there is no fear, you can carry it. The statue can be lost some day, but you will not be lost. You can create another, even a prettier one, there is no difficulty – it is your creation. Go to the temples: what has man done? – created statues, his own creations. Now he is bowing down before them, weeping and crying, and the whole thing is false because the base is false. Your tears, your prayer – to whom are you addressing them? Before whom are you weeping and crying? – your own creations, your own toys. Howsoever beautiful and costly, it makes no difference. But you are the creator of your gods, and before them you cry and weep, and you think something is going to happen. You are simply acting stupidly. Temples are filled with stupid people. They are not aware of what they are doing, bowing down before their own creations. Now, how can this help you?She carried…many years passed, many lives may have passed – and still carrying her Buddha, she was nowhere. Just wandering from one place to another, from one life to another, from one mood to another, from one mind to another – but just wandering, reaching nowhere! Then she got fed up with the journey; the goal seemed nowhere to be achieved, the goal seemed nowhere to be coming closer.So she …settled down in a small country temple where there were many statues of Buddha, each having its own shrine.But there were many statues of the Buddha. In China, in Japan, they have created very big temples for Buddha. In China there is one temple with ten thousand Buddhas, ten thousand shrines in one temple! Ten thousand statues! But even ten thousand statues are of no help. One Buddha is enough, ten thousand statues are not enough.Why does the mind go on, working nonsense? – one statue is not doing it, so create two. This is the arithmetic; two are not doing it, so create three – ten thousand statues! One man wandering among ten thousand statues and nothing is happening. Nothing is going to happen because life never arises out of a dead thing; a man is never transformed out of a dead statue.Seek a living buddha. And if you cannot find a living buddha, close your eyes and seek there. If you cannot find him without, you will find him within because buddhas are never dead. They are there, just to be sought – and they are always there. They may be just by the corner of your house, but you have never looked. Or you are so acquainted with the neighbor, with the corner, that you feel you know. Nobody knows – you may meet the buddha in a beggar.Just remain with open eyes. If you are carrying a statue, your eyes are closed. This woman may have missed many buddhas because of this statue – because she thinks she already possesses. She already has the Buddha, so what need is there to look elsewhere? Then she settled in a temple – people who live with statues always will settle in a temple. People who live with statues cannot reach to the ultimate goal; they have to settle somewhere on the way, by the side of the way – a shrine, a temple.Many people have settled in temples. They wandered, and they searched, and then they found that nothing can be found; it is impossible. Not because the goal is very far away – the goal is very near, nearer than you can conceive – but because they are carrying statues. Those statues have become their blindness; their eyes are closed with their statues, their hearts are burdened with their statues, words, scriptures – dead things.I have heard…Once it happened in ancient days, a king, a very scholarly man, wanted to marry a girl, but no ordinary girl would do. He wanted a perfect woman, astrologically perfect. So he consulted many astrologers. It was very difficult – many years passed, his youth was almost gone. He was no longer young – because these astrologers are difficult people, and mathematics takes time. And then a woman would be found, and one attribute would still be lacking – not exactly perfect.Really, you cannot find anyone perfect. It is impossible because perfection always means death. If someone is alive, it means imperfect – that’s why we say that whenever one is perfect, he is born no more. Because how can you be born if you are perfect? Then you have passed through this world, you have gained, grown, you cannot be allowed back.Then the king said to his advisers, “It is enough; if not perfect, then approximately perfect will do. But my youth is passing, I am almost thirty-eight. Now find a woman!”So a woman was found – not exactly one hundred percent, but ninety-nine percent. Then the search started for the right time when this king should make love to this woman because he wanted a rare, extraordinary child. It was very, very difficult, many scriptures were consulted, the I Ching and others; many wise men were called from faraway countries, and they consulted, and they discussed – and the king was almost forty-four.Then one day he got fed up, and he turned them out. He burned all the scriptures and told to his wife, “Enough is enough! Now we must make love” – they had not made love up to now. But the woman was old, he was also old, and with love there is a problem. If you start making love early, you can go on making love to the very end of your life. If you don’t start early, you cannot make love later on because lovemaking is a mechanical thing. The mechanism needs efficiency.So if a man starts making love when he is fourteen, he may go on making love up to eighty. And don’t think that if you make love too much in your young age, then in your old age you will not be able. You are absolutely wrong. If you make love too much, only then you will be able to later on. And you cannot make love too much, remember that, because the body won’t allow. Too much is impossible; there is a thermostat in the body – too much is not possible. Whatsoever you do, it is always within the limit. But by this time the king had become impotent – he couldn’t make love, the wife was frigid. They had missed the right moment. The child was never born to them, then they had to adopt a child.This is what is happening: you have to adopt a buddha, you have to adopt a god. It is not born to you – and godliness must be born to you, otherwise it is false. But you have been missing because you are so occupied with scriptures, wise men, astrology, and all sorts of nonsense. You are so obsessed with words, statues, temples, rituals, formalities, that by the time formalities are fulfilled life has gone. By the time you conclude logically, life is no longer there to do it.This woman finally settled in a temple, and I tell you: never settle in a temple because a temple can only be a night’s shelter, it cannot be a permanent settlement. Never settle in a temple, never settle in a sect, never settle with the Vatican or Puri Shankaracharya, never settle with a sectarian mind.You can have a rest, that’s okay. Stay there for a night, and by the morning, before they catch hold of you, move! Go on moving – unless you reach the ultimate; only that is the temple. But there you will not find any statues. There you will find the real – not the statue, not the portrait, but the real. Don’t settle with a portrait, don’t settle with the false, don’t settle with the carbon copy. Search for the original, the very source.The woman settled; she had to settle. When you carry a wooden Buddha, how can you reach enlightenment? If wooden Buddhas can give you enlightenment, then there will be no problem. A wooden Buddha is a wooden Buddha. You can carry it, you can play with it.The nun burned incense before her golden Buddha each day…The Buddha was wooden, just covered with gold, but she used to call her Buddha, “Golden Buddha.” The gold was just skin-deep; deep down there was just a wooden Buddha, nothing else. But you can hide things, and through gold you can hide anything. When there is not love, then there is much gold around the wife. A wooden Buddha under the gold leaf – and you think everything is okay. And the wife also thinks everything is okay because the husband every time comes and brings more and more ornaments. When love is dead, ornaments become very much alive. When there is love, there is no need for ornaments.You never cover a real Buddha with gold, do you? The Buddha won’t allow you, he will simply escape. He will say, “Wait! What are you doing? You will kill me.” Gold kills. Life can never be covered with gold – only death. Only death will allow you to do something. Life won’t allow you such nonsense. But she called her wooden Buddha, “Golden Buddha.”The nun burned incense before her golden Buddha each day, but not liking the idea of her perfume straying to the other statues, she devised a funnel through which the smoke would ascend to her statue only.This is the mind of a possessive person: not even the perfume, the incense, the smoke, is allowed to reach to other Buddhas – and others are also Buddhas. “But my Buddha is something else. Your Buddha is nothing.” In the temple all the other statues were Buddhas. It was not that somebody was a Krishna, or somebody was a Rama – then the difference would have been too much. She would not have stayed in that temple. But it was a Buddhist temple, so she could stay. But this was her statue, and those were not hers.When there is really love, it doesn’t bother to whom it reaches. When there is love, you love your beloved person, but you cannot devise a funnel, so that your love reaches only to your beloved. Love is such a phenomenon that when it happens, it goes on beyond your beloved, always goes on and on and on. It spreads to everyone. It is just like a ripple on the lake.If you throw a stone in the lake, a ripple arises, and then it goes on spreading and spreading to the very end. If you love a person, it is not linear, it is circular, a wave is created. When you love a person, you are throwing a stone in the lake of love. Now everybody will be benefited, not only the person you love. If you try to benefit only the person you love, you will simply do the thing this nun did. It is not possible. When there is someone who loves, his love goes on falling all around. You cannot channelize it, it is not such a thing – rivers can be channelized – it is oceanic, it cannot be channelized. Attachment can be channelized, not love.When you throw a stone in the lake, it falls at a particular spot, that’s okay, but then the love goes on spreading. When you fall in love, you fall at a particular spot, with a particular person; but that is only the beginning, not the end. Then love goes on spreading, then the whole world is benefited. Whenever there is a single person of love, the whole world is benefited. There will be a center where the stone fell, from where the waves will arise and go on to the very end. There will be a center – the beloved, the lover; but the love cannot be contained there. It is a growing thing, nobody can contain it. So the lover becomes just the door, just the opening, and then the whole universe is benefited by it.But this poor nun was just like you. Just a human mind, working through human stupidities. She did not like the idea of her perfume straying to the other statues – and the other statues are also of Buddha.When I love a person, I find the divine there. Love reveals the divine in a person. Once it is revealed, all the statues of the Buddhas… Then everybody is divine; the tree is divine, the cloud is divine, the beggar on the street is divine, then everybody is divine. If love has happened and you have looked into the original face of a person – which is revealed only in love – then Buddhas are everywhere, all the statues are Buddhas; then the whole world has become a temple.But then you are not worried. Then you are not worried that your perfume is reaching somebody. You are not worried that your lover’s perfume is reaching to somebody else. You will be happy that through you the whole world is being benefited, through you the whole world is receiving the blessing. If you are afraid and you try to contain it, then it is possessiveness, and it will kill. Don’t try to contain it, don’t try to possess it. Allow it to grow, help it to grow, help it to reach to everyone. Only then you will receive it because you can receive only when the whole world receives it.But this is the problem: whenever you love a person, you want him to be contained, confined. It is as if you are confining a tree in a pot; not only the roots but the whole tree – then you will kill it. The tree has to move into the sky, it has to spread into the sky. Its flowers will give perfume to many, its branches will give shadow to many; many will be benefited by its fruits. Of course the roots are contained in you, but the tree goes on growing. And love is the greatest tree possible; it can spread into the whole sky, it cannot be confined, cannot be contained. You cannot make it finite – the very nature of love is infinite.…but not liking the idea of her perfume straying to the other statues, she devised a funnel through which the smoke would ascend to her statue only. Then what happened? It was bound to happen:This blackened the nose of the golden Buddha and made it especially ugly.This is happening to every lover and beloved because then the perfume is not perfume, it becomes just smoke; perfume needs to spread. Then the nose is blackened, and all the Buddhas now have black noses.Look at your Krishna, look at your Buddha, your Mahavira; all their noses are blackened – because of you, your possessiveness. Your prayer is possessiveness, it is not real. Jainas won’t allow anybody to enter their temples if they are not a Jaina. Hindus won’t allow the untouchables because they are not a higher caste. All the temples are blackened because they are possessed: “My temple.” The moment I assert “my,” it is no longer a temple because how can a temple be mine or yours? A temple is simply a temple!I was once dragged into court because I inaugurated a church. The church had been closed for at least twenty years. The worshippers of the church had moved, they were not in India – it was the possession of some English Christian sect – and there was nobody in the town, nobody even to take care of it. It was a beautiful church but completely dilapidated. Then a few Christians came to me, and they said, “We don’t belong to that sect, but we don’t have a church. So can you help us? Will you inaugurate this church, and we will start worshipping?”I said, “Okay.” So they broke the lock, they cleaned the church – they cleaned the blackened nose of Christ. And I opened it for all. So I said, “It is not a question of to whom a church belongs. Those who worship, theirs is the church.”But within two or three months the news reached to the owners. They appointed a lawyer; he dragged me to the court because, “Why did you open this church?”The magistrate asked me, “Why did you open this church? It doesn’t belong to these people. It is not their property.”I told him, “A church cannot be anybody’s property. Those who worship – it is theirs. A church is not a property, it is not a legal question at all.”The magistrate said, “Don’t lead us astray. We cannot go into philosophy. It is a legal question.”A church is a legal question? Yes, it has become a legal question. A temple is a legal question? If a temple is a legal question, then it belongs to this world, not to that. So I said, “Okay, you can close it if it is a legal question. You can close it, but remember well: this is how religion is killed, murdered. It is not a property at all.”But all the churches, all the temples have become properties. They are mine or thine – then Buddha’s nose is blackened, and it …made it especially ugly.All the temples, all the churches, have become ugly. They have to be really destroyed, cleaned, so the earth is clean. And the real temple can exist only then – when these temples disappear. They have become part of your market, of your legal system. They are now no longer symbols of the beyond.Mind is such a thing; it turns everything into a possession because the ego can exist only if it possesses. And ego is the barrier. Ego is the water in which only reflections can be caught, the real can never be known. Now drop this pail! Why wait for an accident? Drop this old pail and let the water flow – no water, no moon.Enough for today.

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No Water No Moon 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Water No Moon 08 (Read, Listen & Download)

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The Master Seistsu required larger premises as the building he was teaching in was very overcrowded. Umezu, a merchant, decided to donate five hundred pieces of gold for the construction of a new building. Umezu took the money to the teacher, and Seistsu said, “All right, I will take it.”Umezu gave the sack of gold to Seistsu, but he was very dissatisfied with the attitude of the teacher as the amount he had given was very great. One could live for a whole year on three pieces of gold, and the teacher had not even thanked him.“In that sack there are five hundred pieces of gold,” hinted Umezu.“You told me that before,” said Seistsu.“Even if I am a wealthy merchant, five hundred pieces of gold is a lot of money,” said Umezu.“Do you want me to thank you for it?” said Seistsu.“You ought to,” said Umezu.“Why should I?” said Seistsu. “The giver should be thankful.”There are only two ways to live your life, only two ways to be: one is the right way, the other is the wrong way. The right is to give, to share, to love. The wrong is to snatch, to exploit, to accumulate. Love and money are the symbols of these two ways. Love is the right way, and money is the wrong way. Everybody is living the wrong way.Why does it happen? What are the dynamics of it? Why does everybody go wrong? Where are the roots? So we will have to penetrate deeply, only then will you be able to understand this beautiful story. And if you cannot understand this story, you cannot understand Buddha, Jesus, Mahavira. No, it is impossible because they moved on the path of love, you move on the path of money, and these two ways never meet. They cannot meet.Sometimes, even if you try to understand Mahavira, Buddha, Jesus, you try to understand them in terms of money. Jainas go on relating how much Mahavira renounced – “how much” is the point. If Mahavira had been a son of a beggar, no Jaina would worship him. He was the son of a great king. He had a big kingdom, much money, gold, diamonds – and he renounced them. Suddenly he becomes important to you. The importance is in the money that he renounced, not in him.Even if you approach Mahavira, you approach him through money. What absurdity. And then Jainas go on emphasizing the fact, exaggerating it, because really the kingdom was not so great. It was a small principality – because at that time in India there were two thousand kingdoms – it was just like a small district. And Mahavira’s father was also not very rich, but rich, of course. When they first looked at Mahavira, because he had renounced the money, he became very important. Then they started to exaggerate the amount of money that he had renounced. Now they have gone to fantastic, absurd lengths; whatsoever they say is simply wrong. And then Mahavira becomes important through the money he renounces. What is really important in your eyes?Why does it happen that not a single tirthankara of the Jainas came from an ordinary family? – all the twenty-four are sons of kings. Why did it happen that not a single poor man could become a Hindu avatar? Why only Rama, Krishna – the kings? Why did it happen that not a single poor man could become a buddha – only Gautam Siddhartha, the prince? How did it happen?All three religions were born in India, and they are the greatest! Not that a tirthankara is not born in a poor family, but you will not recognize him. Not that a buddha is not born in a beggar’s house, but if he is, you will not recognize him. Your recognition can only be through the money he renounces. Buddha is worthless – the money he renounces is the real thing. That attracts you, that hypnotizes you.A man on the path of money cannot understand the man on the path of love – it is impossible, they never meet. You can worship, but you will worship for the wrong reasons because you cannot understand. Your worship is going to be based on something wrong. What is the mechanism?First try to understand why love becomes so impossible, because that is the root – why you cannot love. If you can love, then money will never be the attachment, never can be. Why can’t you love? From the very beginning something goes wrong in the mind of a child, so he can’t love. One thing: love is a spontaneous phenomenon, you cannot manipulate it. If you start manipulating it, you will miss it. This is the trouble with spontaneous things. Spontaneous things are beautiful, the most beautiful, but you cannot manipulate them. If you manipulate, they become artificial, something goes wrong.When a child is born, you start manipulating his love, you say, “I am your father, love me,” as if love is a logical syllogism. “I am your father, therefore love me.” “I am your mother, therefore love me.” “He is your brother, therefore love him.” And love knows no “therefore,” it is not a syllogism. We never wait for the child, so that love happens to him or her. We start manipulating, controlling, as if we are afraid that if he is left to his own spontaneity, he may not love his mother – there is no necessity; he may not love his father – there is no inevitability. You cannot depend on it. He may, he may not.So before the spontaneous happens, we start forcing the child. And the child has to yield because he is helpless. He starts selling his love. Politics is born, he becomes a politician. He smiles, and deep down he is angry; he shows his love, and deep down there is no love – he hates the father. Every son hates, that’s why every society starts forcing the child to respect the father, to love the father. Because every culture is aware that the son will hate the father. So “Create the opposite before the hatred explodes.” Every daughter, every girl hates her mother, so “Love the mother, she is your mother. Respect her.” We are so afraid that we create the opposite just as a protection.Why does a son hate his father? Not because he is bound to hate – there is a vicious circle. First, conflict is necessary, it is a natural part of growth. A child has to fight with his parents, otherwise he will never grow. And the fight starts the very first moment a child is born, the fight starts with birth. The child wants to be born, and the mother wants to hold, that’s why there is so much pain.Now physiologists say that the pain exists because of the conflict. The child wants to come out, and the mother wants to hold him in – this is the conflict. That’s why there is so much pain in birth. Otherwise, in animals there is not much pain; in primitive societies there is no pain. Why the more civilized a woman is, the more painful the birth becomes? – because the more you are civilized, the more ego is there; a stronger ego is there.The mother wants to hold the child in; an unconscious fear that the child is leaving her. And this will possess the whole life: that the child is leaving her. And the child has to leave, otherwise he will be dead in the womb. He has to kick the womb behind, go away from the womb – that is natural. And once a mother understands it, there is no pain in birth; then she helps the child to move away.And if you help the child to move away, he will never hate you. This is the problem: if you don’t allow the child to move away, if you create barriers, because of those barriers he will hate you. And you are afraid of the hate, so you create the opposite. You force the child to love you, and he is helpless, so he has to yield in his helplessness; not willingly – unwillingly. He has to yield. Hate remains deep down, and love becomes just a mask, a façade. The child is born, and then every day he will move away from the mother. He has to, otherwise he will never be independent, he will never be his own self. He has to move, every day in every way, and the mother will not allow it: “Don’t go beyond this boundary. Don’t go outside the house. Don’t go on the street. Don’t play with that boy. Don’t move.”The mother will create more and more boundaries. And the more boundaries that are created, the more the freedom is killed; the child suffers – hatred is born. Now what to do with this hatred? – the mother creates the opposite. But whenever you create the opposite, you have moved in the wrong direction.This hatred has to be understood, accepted; not that the opposite has to be created. And you have to know that this is part of growth. The child has to move away, and you have to allow it, more and more freedom. Of course you have to be very alert because the child can harm himself.So freedom should not become a chaos, and that is very delicate. But if you cut his whole freedom because the child may harm himself, then you are creating a hateful mind. And if a child starts hating his mother, he will not be able to love any woman ever because the first woman has become associated with hatred. That’s why you hate your wife – because in the beginning you hated your mother, and you will never be at ease with a woman. A woman will always create an unease; she will attract you, and she will repel you also. She will become the focus of your love, but the love will be superficial because if you couldn’t love your mother deeply, how can you love any other woman? Impossible!And behind every love, there will be a running current of hatred. Love becomes divided, the opposite is hidden there – then everything becomes poisonous. The child will move more and more, and one day he will fall in love with another woman. That is the last break. On that day, really, the child is born. The “birthbreak” finished that day. It continues twenty years, twenty-five years; every day there is pain and conflict. Then the child as the final step falls in love with another woman – that is the breaking point. Now he has left the mother completely. Now another woman has entered. That’s why mothers can never be at ease with daughters-in-law – impossible! That’s why so many stories go around and around against the mother-in-law: they cannot be at ease. Impossible, because this is the enemy; this woman is the enemy, this man is the enemy, who has taken their child away completely.There is a saying of Jesus – one of the most mysterious, impossible to reconcile it with Jesus’ mind, and very dangerous, and the wording is also dangerous. Jesus says to his disciples, “Unless you hate your father and mother, you cannot come to me.” A man like Jesus, who says love is the path, who says God is love, who raises love to the highest possible peak and makes it equivalent to meditation, says, “Unless you hate your father and mother, you cannot come to me.” He is right because unless Jesus becomes your father and mother… You cannot come to a master unless you leave your father and mother completely – that is your complete past, past associations, past relationships – completely, totally. How can you come to a Jesus, how can you come to a master?If you are still committed to the past, your present is burdened, your future is dark. You have to be uncommitted to the past, completely broken with the past, discontinued. Only then your present is light, and your future is not a mechanical progression of the past.Jesus is right: unless you hate your father and mother, you cannot come to a master. That is why whenever you go to a master, your father and mother are very disturbed – it has to be so. They are never so disturbed. You can go to a prostitute – they will not be so disturbed; you can become an alcoholic – they will not be so disturbed.But going to a Buddha or a Jesus to a master, they are absolutely disturbed. Something in the unconscious says, “Now this is the last break. Now, if this boy or this girl goes to a master, then ‘father’ and ‘mother’ are completely closed” – the fear! Even if a son moves with a woman, the mother can have some relationship, some sort of relationship. But if the son moves with a Jesus, then all relationship is broken; then there is no possibility because Jesus demands total surrender. No woman can demand it, no husband can demand it; only a master can demand total surrender, no holding back.The child has to move, and when a child becomes enlightened, then he is completely broken, completely, absolutely broken with all the past, with the mother, the father – everything.There is another saying which is also very mysterious, looks very hard on the part of Jesus. He was talking to a crowd, and then somebody said, “Jesus, your mother is waiting outside, and the crowd is so large she cannot come in, and she wants to see you.”Jesus said, “No one is my mother. Tell that woman, no one is my mother” – looks very hard, rude. But Jesus cannot be rude and cannot be hard. But sometimes truth is rude, truth is hard. And Jesus cannot lie, he is right: “No one is my mother.”Once it happened…Jesus was a small child, and the father and mother had come to the great temple of the Jews for the annual festival. Jesus was lost somewhere in the crowd, so they tried and tried, and only by the evening – when they were very much disturbed, worried – only by the evening could they find him. He was sitting with some scholars, and he was just a child, and he was discussing with them things about the unknown. So his father said, “Jesus, what are you doing here? We have been worried about you the whole day.”Jesus said, “Don’t be worried about me. I was looking after my father’s business.”The father said, “I am your father – and what type of business are you looking after here? I am a carpenter.”And Jesus said, “My father is there, up in heaven. You are not my father.”Just as a child has to leave the body of the mother, otherwise he will be dead in the womb – he has to come out of the womb – the same happens mentally also. One day he has to come out of the father and mother’s womb. Not only physically – mentally; not only mentally – spiritually. And when the child is born spiritually, is completely out of the past, has broken with it completely – only then for the first time does he become a self, an independent reality, standing on his own feet. He is! Before this he was just a part of the mother, or the father, or the family – but he was never himself.From the very beginning the mother and father are trying not to give freedom to the child. And love is born only in freedom because it is a spontaneous phenomenon, you cannot do anything about it. If you do, you will destroy the whole possibility. They try: “Love us” – and the child has to yield, he is helpless. Just to exist he has to bargain. This is a bargain when a child says, “Yes, I love you mother,” and when he says, “I love no one else like you.” When a child says, “I love you, father, and there is nobody else like you. You are unique, the best, the greatest father that ever was,” he is just making a bargain, he is just playing politics, he has become part of a deceiving game.But the sources are poisoned then, and from the very beginning he is not aware that love is a spontaneous phenomenon. You have to be free, waiting, prayerful, for it to come. You cannot do anything about it, it is a happening. Now this happening will not happen his whole life. He will always manipulate, he will always try to control it, he will always be artificial.Have you ever observed? – whenever you are in love, you become two, one part manipulating. And deep down you always know you are manipulating; the man is trying to exploit the woman, the woman is trying to exploit the man. And once they are married – that is, once their love becomes a bond – the whole falsity by and by disappears. Then the authentic, the real person comes into being, and then there is a clash. Then the whole love disappears because that love was never there in the first place. Otherwise, how can love disappear?Love is the most eternal thing in the world. The earth can disappear, the stars can disappear, the whole world can disappear – not love. Love is the eternal phenomenon, the most divine. How can it disappear so soon? The honeymoon is not even over, and the love has disappeared; it was never there in the first place. You were just trying to fool the other and yourself also. How long can you fool yourself? And if you go on fooling yourself too long, it becomes such a burden, it becomes so heavy, that it becomes impossible to live. You cannot be an actor twenty-four hours a day. For a few minutes it is okay – on the beach, in the hills, it is very good; you can be romantic artificially.For a few minutes it is okay. It is good, it is a game – but for twenty-four hours? If you have to be artificial for twenty-four hours, it will become such a tense state of mind, it will create so much anxiety because you will feel confined, imprisoned. And when you feel that you are confined, in prison, you feel the other person is responsible. Then you take revenge, you react; then whatsoever your wife says you are angry, whatsoever the husband says the wife is angry. Then silence becomes golden. The more you can keep quiet, the better. But it happens because from the very beginning the real thing is not there.Mulla Nasruddin was in love with a woman. The woman was very tall, and the woman lived far away, almost one mile, from the trolley terminus. So Nasruddin used to walk her to her home every evening.One day after just a few minutes’ walk, Nasruddin said, “Give me a kiss.” But she was so tall that Nasruddin needed a stool or something. So they looked around and saw a blacksmith’s shop, abandoned. They found an anvil there, so he stood on the anvil, kissed the woman, and they started again toward home. After half a mile, Nasruddin said, “One more, darling.”The woman said, “No! I have given you one kiss, and it is enough for tonight.”So Nasruddin said, “Then what is the use of carrying this damned anvil!” – he was carrying that anvil.If you carry a burden, sooner or later…what is the use? If your love is just a means to something else and not the end, then it can be a game, but it cannot become a really meaningful existence. Then you play.Nasruddin presented a wedding ring to this woman, a diamond ring. She looked at it and said, “Beautiful, but there is a flaw in the diamond.”Nasruddin said, “Honey, have you not heard that love is blind?”The woman said, “Yes, I have heard, and I know love is blind, but not stone-blind.”The cunningness! The manipulating mind! You can even play that you are blind, but how can you be blind really? You can play, but play cannot become life. And deep down you are not related to it, and then you start hating.Love can only be spontaneous. There is no other way to it. Whatsoever Dale Carnegie says, there is no other way to it. Love can only be spontaneous, you cannot be trained for it. Trained, you will miss forever. One has just to wait, wait prayerfully. The child should be allowed freedom, so that some day love arises. But a very daring mother and a very daring father are needed.This is why I always say that to be a mother is one of the most difficult things in the world. Anybody can give birth to a child, but to be a mother or to be a father, very few are qualified, rarely, because to be a mother means to give the child so much freedom, with much love, that the spontaneous love in the child arises.The child must fall in love with the mother, he should not be forced. It may happen, it may not happen. That is why it is a very courageous act; it may not happen. Nobody knows. Nobody can predict it, it is not mechanical. If it happens, it will be beautiful with the mother; otherwise, the mother can go on praying that this will happen with some other woman – but don’t force it. If you force it, the child has learned a trick, he has learned a gimmick. Now he will go on playing the gimmick again and again – with this woman and that, with this man and that, and the whole life will become a gimmickry; it will not be real, it will become artificial.When love becomes artificial, money becomes important. This is to be understood. Why does money become important when love is artificial? – because love gives you an inner security. When you are in love, you are safe – no other safety is needed. When you are in love, you are absolutely secure – no other security is needed. Love is enough, nothing else is needed. You can be a beggar on the street, but if you are in love, no emperor can compete with you in your security; even Solomon is a poor man before you.If you are in love, you are the richest. Nothing is in any way comparable to the riches of love. You may not have anything, but you have all. A single moment of love and the whole life is fulfilled. When you are in love, you are never afraid of death because you have known a death – the death of love. And it was so beautiful, it was so melodious, it was such a benediction, that now you can accept even the real death, the death of the body. You can accept it. Now there is no fear because you have known that merging into one woman or one man was so beautiful – how much more beautiful will it not be when you merge with the whole of existence?Death is a merger. If you know love, there is no fear in death. If you don’t know love, then fear becomes the center of your life. How to protect yourself? So you make cash, then you make bank balances; these are just protections against death. And when you are afraid of death, you are afraid to live because to live is always dangerous. To live you have to move on unknown paths. And there is danger; on every corner death may be waiting.A man who is afraid of death by and by shrinks and becomes afraid of life also. He cannot fly in an airplane, he cannot go in a train because there are accidents. He cannot make a stranger a friend because who knows…? He cannot fall in love with a woman because who knows whether she is going to deceive or not? He cannot believe. If love has not happened, you can never be trusting. You are always doubtful, skeptical. And how can a relationship grow when you are in doubt?If love has not happened, you can never reach a master. Even if a buddha comes to your town, you will miss him. You will not go there because these people are dangerous. They can hypnotize you, and they may lead you astray. They may disturb your routine world where you are earning, accumulating, and where you are getting more successful every day: the factory is growing bigger and bigger, and the bank balance is accumulating, and everything is going so good. Why become disturbed by a new, foreign element? So don’t allow in any element from the outside. Live in your prison, sheltered, secure.If you know love, you are not afraid of death. And when you are not afraid of death, only then do you become capable of living – because if a man is afraid of death, how can he live? He is even afraid of taking a breath because germs are there.I know one poet. He is a great poet, but I have always been wondering how he can be a great poet – he cannot even be a man. He must know the tricks of language, he must be a grammarian. He must be playing tricks with words, but cannot be a great poet because great poetry comes out of life – and he is so afraid. Once he traveled with me. His wife had told me, “Don’t take him with you because he will create trouble” – and trouble started because he would not take the tea at the hotel.He said, “Who knows? Somebody may have poisoned it.”So I said, “Who is against a poet? Who is going to poison you? Nobody bothers about you.” But he would not take it.He said, “I will bring a stove and prepare tea.” He would not take the food in the hotel because who knows…? He was so afraid of everything. How can this man live? As if the only point is, not to die.But life brings death, death is the culmination. If you don’t want to die, don’t live – that is the only way. There is no other way because if you live, you are moving toward death. Life brings death. So the logical way is not to live. The less you live, the less the possibility of death. If you don’t live completely, if you commit suicide, you will never be dead again, you have finished. There is no life, now you cannot die. So such a man becomes already a dead man. You will find these corpses moving in the markets, universities, working, doing things – but they are corpses.Life needs expansion. Fear cannot allow you, then security becomes the whole thing – how to be secure. How not to die becomes the whole art of life. And I tell you, the whole art of life is how to die joyfully, how to die blissfully, how to allow death – because if you are ready to die, you are ready to live. If you are ready to die, you are ready to love. If you are ready to die, you are ready to meet the divine. There is no other way, death is the door.What do I mean when I say death is the door? You have to not be there, you have to dissolve, you have to lose yourself. What does security mean? Whatsoever happens, you have to be, you have to persist in your ego. That’s why money is so meaningful because money helps you not to live. A poor man has to live, a rich man need not.I have heard about one very rich man: he would travel in his car…even from the porch to the room he would be carried on a stretcher. He had come to a new town, to a new hotel where he had never been, and when he was being carried in on the stretcher, the manager thought that he was paralyzed or something. So he asked his wife, “What is the matter?” – he felt very sorry – “Your husband looked quite okay. Is he paralyzed, or is something wrong with his legs?”The wife said, “No. His legs are absolutely okay. But he need not walk – he is a rich man.”A rich man need not live, he can afford it! A poor man has to live. A poor man has to go on the street, move in danger, in crowds. A poor man cannot afford not to live. That is why a rich man, by and by, becomes encaged in his richness, isolated. Then he lives alone, then he cannot even allow his wife in the room. He may find an explanation: “We are not poor, so why should my wife and I live in one room? We are rich. We can afford two separate rooms” – but the real thing is something else.Hitler never allowed anybody to live in his room because he was afraid. Who knows? – the wife may be a spy. He never got married. He got married only just before he committed suicide – three hours before, because then there was no fear. When death was certain he got married, never before – because a wife is a dangerous thing. Who knows? – she may be in association with some foreign power, or she may be a Communist; in the night she may kill him.He loved many women, but never allowed any woman to live with him, never allowed any woman to be in his room in the night. Just three hours before, when he had decided that now there was no way to escape – death is certain, the enemy is bombing Berlin – he called in a priest in the night. The priest was awakened from his sleep; immediately he was brought to the underground cell where Hitler was, and Hitler told him, “Now perform the marriage ceremony.” And when the ceremony was finished, they went into the room, and both took poison and were dead.What manner of man is this? But this manner of man you will find everywhere. When there is fear, nobody can be a friend. Then everybody is the enemy, and you have to protect yourself. A rich man can protect himself more; that’s why there is so much emphasis on money, so much madness! You cannot even understand what is happening. Why this neurosis about money?Mulla Nasruddin was dying. He opened his eyes, he looked at his wife. His wife said, “We are here, Mulla. You go to the divine silently, in peace and prayerfulness. We are all here.”Mulla Nasruddin looked at the faces – his eyes were dim, he was almost gone, it was difficult to see.He asked, “Where is Rehman?” – his eldest son.His wife said, “He is standing by your right side.”Then he asked, “Where is Rahim?” – another son.And his wife said, “He is there, standing by your feet.”“And where is Abdul, and where is Farid?” he asked.All were there, so his wife said, “You rest, we are all here.”Nasruddin immediately became worried and said, “Then who is minding the store? If everybody is here, then who is minding the store?” And he was on his deathbed; just a moment later he died. No, neither life is meaningful nor death…the store, “Who is minding the store?” Even at the last moment, no temple is there in the mind – just the store, the market, the money.Why is money so important? It is your protection against love, against life, against death, against godliness. Hence, Mahavira and Buddha renounced it. The renouncement is simply coming to understand that this whole arrangement is against life, against love, against godliness. They simply renounce! It is not because of money that they are renouncing it, but just because they have come to understand that through this protection they have been killing themselves, this was poison. So they simply escaped from the palaces.Then a new life starts when you understand that money is neurosis. Security, the hankering after security and safety, shows that you are already dead, that life has left you. Continuous effort to be secure means you have not yet been able to love; otherwise, love is enough security, no other security is needed. One moment of love is eternity – no fear of death, a lover can die easily, lovingly. He has known life, he is thankful. Even for a single moment love happened… He has known the glory of it, the benediction, all blessings have been on him. He can thank existence for this single moment that has been given to him – and he was not worthy.Who is worthy? Nobody is worthy. Have you ever thought about it – that you are alive? Are you worthy to be alive? How have you earned it? You have known the flowers and the trees and the birds on the wing and the sun rising, so many mornings, so many evenings, and the stars. How have you earned to be alive? It is simple grace. You are not worthy, you have not earned it in any way. It is simply the grace of existence that you are.But when somebody comes to know a single moment of love, this whole life becomes nothing. Then all the birds that you have seen, and all the songs that you have heard, and all the musicians of the world – nothing! Then all this greenery of the trees is nothing. Then there is no radiance in the sun, and there is no music in the stars. If you have known a single moment of love, then this whole world is just dim and a shadow; it is just a reflection, not the real.If you have known a single moment of love, for eternity and eternity you will be thankful and singing songs of gratitude to the divine. Then there is no death – love knows no death, love knows only life. You know only death. Love… You have bypassed it, somehow you have not been through it; you have bypassed it, and now money has become significant. Money is symbolic of a dead man, money is the love of a dead man.So look at a miser. It is not simply money when he takes notes in his hands. I have seen one miser – so much romance in his eyes when he would look at the notes; never so lovingly has a lover looked all over the beloved. He would feel and touch, and look at his eyes! The radiance that came to his eyes, the poetry that took over his being. He became a completely transformed man. No, Majnu was not so happy when he looked at Laila. No, Shiri was not so happy when she looked at Farhad.This man was a relative, so I had many chances to see him and understand him. He was the perfect man of money, a buddha on that path. He never got married; he would always say, “It is so expensive, and I cannot afford it. Some day I will get married.” He is now dead. He never got married – he remained a bachelor. But he would rationalize it; he would say, “This is brahmacharya”; he would say, “This is celibacy. In the scriptures, in the Vedas, the life of a celibate is the highest life.” But he was simply a miser, even a miser about semen. That was his celibacy – he was not a brahmachari.So when you find celibates, ninety-nine out of a hundred will just be misers about semen. They are afraid to let go: if the semen goes out of their body, their bank balances…. Their brahmacharya is a sort of constipation. They stink! You can never have any fragrance coming out of them. They are misers, but they rationalize. And they always live through reason, never through the heart – because the heart is a dangerous thing.Reason always grabs things, and the heart always wants to give. The heart is the giver, and the heart is never a miser, so a miser can never believe the heart. By and by he will kill the heart, he becomes just the head. There is no feeling in him – feeling is dangerous. He doesn’t feel, he becomes insensitive. He doesn’t allow any sensitivity in his being because a beggar comes, and he asks…. If you have feeling, it will be difficult to say no. But if you have only the head, you will rationalize, and you will say, “I don’t believe in beggary; this is bad for the economy, this is not good for the culture, and you look perfectly healthy, so go and work.” You will rationalize, and these reasons you also know are just superficial; deep down you don’t want to give – that is the basis. But you cannot accept the fact that you are not a giver.You live in words, reasons, rationalizations, and go on hiding the basic fact that you are killing your feeling. If you are on the path of money – and almost everybody is, more or less – then see the whole phenomenon of what is happening within you; you are killing yourself. And life cannot be prevented from moving, life will reach up to death. You cannot withhold it, it is not in your control. It has to go – as it has come, it has to go. Before it leaves you, you can only create anxiety; that is all.If you accept the ebb and flow of life, the birth and death of life; if you accept, you need not create any anxiety. You can love. While dying is there, love. And allow love to happen. Don’t try for security, and don’t be afraid of death. Death will come. Give a chance to life to flower. If life really flowers, death will be the culmination, not the end. It will be the climax, the crescendo. It will be the highest peak, the Everest, not the end.And at the moment of death, a man who has lived rightly, through love – and that is the only right way to live – for him death comes as the most beautiful ecstasy. He dies with a song in the heart. He dies with ecstasy all over the body, throbbing. He is going to meet the divine beloved. He has learned how to love and how to give. So in the moment of death also he can give. He gives his whole being back to nature; the body, the air goes to the air, the fire goes to the fire, the earth goes to the earth, and the sky goes to the sky. He gives, he is a giver, and the being goes to the source, to the Brahma; he does not cling.But you cannot do it if you have been a clinger your whole life. At the moment of death, if you cling everything becomes ugly. If you have been clinging and clinging and clinging, and always afraid and in fear and have never allowed love, then at the moment of death you will miss the highest peak that is possible, that was possible. These are the two paths; one is right, the other is wrong.Now we will try to go into this story. You will be able to understand – but understand through the heart:The Master Seistsu required larger premises as the building he was teaching in was very overcrowded.He must have been in the same situation as I am.Umezu, a merchant…he has not yet come to me…Umezu, a merchant, decided to donate five hundred pieces of gold for the construction of a new building.Five hundred pieces of gold is real money.Umezu took the money to the teacher and Seistsu said, “All right, I will take it.”…but this is no way, from a miser. The man must have been a miser, otherwise how can you accumulate five hundred pieces of gold? And this was not all; this must have been just a small part, a hundredth part of his accumulations. But why, if he is a miser, has he come to give to this master? Looks contradictory: if he is a miser and a man of money, he should not go. But I know the reason – that too is part of fear, that too is making security in the other world.He must have been nearing death, he must have become an old man. And people of money are always old, they are never young – because death is always near, and they are trembling. He must have been feeling any day death can come; so he has to make arrangements for the other world also. He must have had millions of gold pieces. Just five hundred pieces… This is just to be safe: “Give it to this master; people say he is enlightened. Give these five hundred pieces to this man, he will take care of the other world, he may give a certificate. People say that he is on good terms with the gods, his name is in the good books; he will be helpful somehow.”It is groping in the dark. A man who has missed life is thinking of some other life. Remember, only people who have missed this life think of that. And if you can miss this, you will miss that also because you will remain the same. Even if you are forced to enter into heaven, you will make a hell out of it because you will take your habits, your mechanism of the mind, your working – your whole past you will take with you. You will make a hell out of it.Can you be in heaven? I don’t see any way; you cannot be. Wherever you go you will carry your hell with you. It is part of you. So those who know this say that hell and heaven are not without – they are within you, they are qualities of your being. On this earth people have lived in heaven; on this earth you are in hell. Remember well, wherever you go you will provide your own hell there. Immediately you will reach there, and you will create your hell all around. You cannot do anything new. The mind is old, it goes on in a pattern moving in a circle.This Umezu must have been a miser. But now death is coming near, and he must think of the other world also. This world he has lost, now the other cannot be lost. Something has to be done, but that too has to be done through money. See the mind: he thought that through money life can be purchased, now he thinks through money God can be purchased. He thought through money love can be purchased. Now he thinks that through money heaven can be purchased. But his mind remains focused in the neurosis of money. He is still mad, money still remains the means. Anything that he is going to do is to be done through money.That’s why the master behaved in such a way. He said, “All right, I will take it,” as if it was nothing. That is the meaning of it; as if it was nothing, five hundred pieces of gold – just dirt.The master said, “All right, I will take it,” as if it was a burden, and he was obliging this Umezu. Always remember that if you go to a master with money, this is going to be the treatment. It is very easy to understand in the story. It is very difficult when the treatment is given to you.Just a few days ago somebody phoned; he used to give some money for the ashram. Then he said, “Now I will stop because there seems to be no gratefulness about it. I am not even allowed a special interview with Osho, so I am not going to give it.” He is here, he should try to understand this story well because it is easier to understand a story when you are not part of it. It is very easy. But when you are part of it, then it becomes very difficult. Five hundred pieces of gold that man should bring to me, right? And then I will tell him, “All right, I will take it!”Umezu gave the sack of gold to Seistsu, but he was very dissatisfied with the attitude of the teacher as the amount he had given was very great. One could live for a whole year on three pieces of gold, and the teacher had not even thanked him.Look at the mind, the mind which is neurotic about money. What is he saying? He is saying, “This sack of gold I have given – a man can live on three pieces of gold for one year.” He thinks life is through money. Money may be needed, but nobody can live through money. Money may be necessary; it is not enough. And if there is only money and nothing else, it is better you die, the sooner the better because you are living unnecessarily. You are just passing the days – it is not life.Jesus is reported to have said: “Man cannot live by bread alone.” He also knows that bread is needed – nobody can live without bread, that’s right. But there is a higher dimension of life where nobody can live by bread alone. If there is only bread, commit suicide! – because eating the same bread again and again is useless.But the man who lives through money thinks that a man can live for a whole year on three pieces of gold, and these are five hundred pieces – a man can live forever and forever! Eternal life is possible through five hundred pieces of gold. And what type of man is this? – he has not even thanked me. He was very dissatisfied.Whenever you give with a condition, you will always be dissatisfied because the condition cannot be fulfilled. Whenever you give without a condition, you will feel deep contentment because there is no reason to be dissatisfied. Whenever you give and enjoy it, whenever giving is an end unto itself… This man would have been dancing because the master had accepted – enough! He should have thanked the master that, “I was worried whether you are going to accept it or not. Because I know you well: this is just dirt for you, and you have accepted. You are so kind, your compassion is so deep.” He would have danced and thanked him. He would have gone deeply happy and blissful. But no, it was not possible because it was not the end, it was a means. He wanted the master to be obliged to him.If this man reaches to God, he will give him a sack of gold and wait for the thank you. What can you give to God who has given all to you? And a master is nothing but a representative of the divine, of the same quality. That is why we call Mahavira, “Bhagwan,” why we call Buddha, “Bhagwan” – because of that same quality. What can you give to him? All comes to you through him. At the most you are giving back – at the most. You should be thankful that you have been accepted.But a money-mad man cannot understand this. He wanted the master to be obliged because he had done this, and this is so much. For him it was so much. As far as his attitude was concerned, it was such a great amount – five hundred pieces of gold; one man can live for one year on three pieces – because mind thinks in relativity. It does not know anything of the absolute. It knows only of relativity. It is his mind!I have heard…Mulla Nasruddin died and went immediately, or was sent immediately, to hell. There he reached Satan who had been waiting for him for a long time – he was a man long awaited there. Satan received him, welcomed him, and Mulla Nasruddin said to the Devil, “Boy, am I happy being here in heaven.”The Devil said, “Nasruddin, you are mistaken. This is no heaven.”Nasruddin said, “That may be your attitude. I am coming from India – to me it looks like heaven.”Mind is relative. Five hundred pieces of gold! He was giving his very life; his very heart was there in that sack of gold. Those five hundred pieces were not of gold, they were of his heart. He has sold his life and bargained for this gold. He had died for this sack of gold – and not even a thank you. It was too much. The master is not behaving rightly; he was dissatisfied.If you think about any master, you will always come to the conclusion that he is not behaving rightly. Remember this: if you think – I repeat – then you will always come to the conclusion that he is not behaving rightly. If you look, not think, then you will know that he is always behaving rightly.He thought, calculated. It was so plain to him; five hundred pieces of gold – his whole life in that sack. And this man simply says, “All right, I will take it.”“In that sack there are five hundred pieces of gold,” hinted Umezu.He thought, “Maybe he has missed. Maybe he is in meditation or somewhere else because how can it happen that five hundred pieces of gold, and all he says is, ‘All right, I will take it’? He is not in his senses.” So he hinted.“In that sack there are five hundred pieces of gold,” hinted Umezu.“You told me that before,” said the master.He said, “It is unnecessary, why repeat it? I have heard it.”This was even worse, no thank you coming from the man. Rather, he would not even take the hint, and he felt a little angry it seems because he said, “You have told me that before. No need…”“Even if I am a wealthy merchant, five hundred pieces of gold is a lot of money,” said Umezu.This is the problem of the mind. He says, “Even if I am a wealthy merchant – I have enough money with me, but even then – five hundred pieces of gold is a lot of money. So to you, just a beggar, it is the whole world. To me it is a lot of money, and you are treating it as if it is nothing. You are insulting me.”A man who is focused on money cannot understand a man of love. The man of love will always appear like a beggar, a madman, not of this world – he doesn’t understand. He is behaving in a crazy way. Howsoever you may worship Buddha and Mahavira, if you meet them somehow, somewhere, you will think they are mad. Even if you don’t say it because it will be so impolite, but you understand well that this man has wasted his life sitting under a tree. He could have earned a lot of money – this was said to Buddha many times.When Buddha left his home and went to another kingdom, just to get rid of the relatives and the family because they would bother him there, and they would go on coming, trying to persuade him to come back. So he left the kingdom and went to another kingdom, then he became aware that those people are everywhere – you cannot escape.There was a rumor that a prince had left a neighboring kingdom and had come there. So even the king of the neighboring kingdom came, and he said, “My son, you are young, and you don’t know the ways of the world. You are immature, I am experienced. I say to you through my experience, go back to your home. This is foolish. At this age such foolish ideas catch hold of the mind. One has to resist. At this age, when one is young, one is prone to, tends to be idealistic. But later on experience proves it is wrong. Don’t be a hippy, go back!”Buddha listened, and he said, “You may be right as far as your own experience is concerned, but I have lived in that world for many lives, and nothing, nothing was ever attained. Now it is enough. It is through experience that I have left, not through some romantic idealism of a young man.”The old man would not listen. He said, “If you don’t want to go back, I understand – there may be some trouble. You may not be feeling good with your father, or with your family, or something has gone wrong. Then don’t go back, come to me. I have got a beautiful daughter; get married to her, and this kingdom is yours.”Buddha said, “I am married, and I have left a very beautiful woman. It is impossible to find another like her. But even that beautiful woman will not give me the ultimate, and I am in search of the ultimate.”The old king left, he said, “You are mad, incurably mad.”This happened wherever Buddha would go. And he was so young and so beautiful. He had never walked on the streets. Wherever he would go, anybody would know that he was a prince, he was not a beggar, and then everybody would give him advice to go back.Mind lives through its own ideas, thinks through its own ideas. You cannot put the mind aside and then look. This old man who came to Buddha missed an opportunity. It may not happen again for millions of lives. But he was teaching the greatest teacher, he was trying to teach him something; he wanted that Buddha should learn something from him. And he has not gained anything himself, he has not reached anywhere.This man says, “In that sack there are five hundred pieces of gold. Even if I am a wealthy merchant, five hundred pieces of gold is a lot of money” – and you are just a beggar; it is not said, it is implied. “You should know the meaning of it, what I am doing. Such a great donation and you simply say, ‘Okay, I will take it.’”“Do you want me to thank you for it?”– said the master because masters never answer what you ask. They answer what you mean to ask. They never answer your question because that is irrelevant. They always answer what is hidden behind the question – why you are hinting at these things.You are not interested in proving that gold is significant, you are not interested in proving that five hundred pieces of gold is a large sum – those are just rationalizations. You are hinting at something else. The master caught him immediately, and said “Do you want me to thank you for it?” – he hit the nail, he hit right at the heart.“You ought to,” said Umezu.Not that, “I expect and want,” but “You ought to.”This man is not a giver, he has never been a giver. Even when he is giving, he is not giving. Even when he is donating, it is a bargain. He says, “You ought to.” I have done such a great thing, now this is your duty, not my desire or my request.”“Why should I?” said Seistsu. “The giver should be thankful.”This is impossible to understand for the mind, for the money-oriented mind; the giver should be the thankful one. But this is the peak on the path of love.Those who love, they come to know that the giving is so beautiful and so blissful; they come to know that the more you give, the more you have of it – the more love you give, the more love you have there inside; the more you go on throwing, sharing, the more it bubbles up – it is an eternal spring. And once you come to know that the more you give, the more you have, you have learned the basic arithmetic of spirituality. Then you never hold back, then you are always in search of someone who can take it. Then you are always in search of someone who can share it because he will make you fresh. The old is gone, the new arises; it is always coming there.You are like a well which has gone rotten because you have not given anybody anything. You have never shared your water; the water has become rotten. Give it! Let people come, and let them drink out of you, and then fresh sources are always available. The moment the old water is removed, fresh is coming in. Your well is joined to the infinite ocean deep down. Your well is just a door to the ocean. The giver comes to know, the sharer comes to know, then he feels thankful. Whenever somebody takes something from you, something new has come into being in you. Your being is renewed through it. You are being made young again and again, the more you give. The giver remains always young. The non-giver is always old, dead, rotten.The master says, “The giver should be thankful. You should be thankful to me that I accept, and that I accept a thing like money. You should be thankful because money means nothing to me.” It may be necessary in the world because a master has also to live in the world; it may be the means of exchange in this mad world because a master has to live in this mad world, but it is nothing. It is just an invented means, agreed upon by all, so that we can exchange things.The society can live without money; for thousands of years society lived without money. And sooner or later a day will come when society again will live without money because living through money is so burdensome and so useless and so unnecessary. But because the world was poor up to now, that’s why money has had to be used; but as more affluence grows…America will be the first to drop money. When there is enough money, there is no need to carry it – why carry it? Then it is foolish, then it is burdensome. Soon the earth will not need money. But masters have always known it, always, that this is just a market device; but a master has to live with you.If you go to a madhouse, it is better to pretend that you are also mad, otherwise you will be in difficulty. If you try to prove that you are a sane man, the madmen will kill you. They did this with Jesus, they did this with Socrates, they did this with Mansoor. These were very innocent people. They tried to live in a madhouse as they were – not mad. They were innocent, but they did not know that the rule of the madhouse is: even if you are not mad, pretend that you are mad because madness is the coin prevalent there, it is the currency there. Don’t be an outsider in a madhouse, otherwise madmen will collect together and kill you. If you say that you are not mad, that means you are trying to say to them that, “You are mad!” – that cannot be tolerated.An enlightened person also has to live in this world with you. He has to use your techniques, your tricks.It happened once…It was found in Japan that one enlightened man was always caught – sometimes stealing, sometimes something else, a criminal act, small things. He would steal just a small amount of money, and then he was to be sent to the jail – and he was an enlightened man! Twenty-six times in his whole life he was jailed, but those who were his disciples, they knew him. The last time he came out of jail he was seventy-eight, and the disciples said, “Now don’t do such a thing, and why do you go on doing such things?”He said, “Then who will go inside the jail and try to make those jailors meditative, those jailbirds? Who will go there? I have to steal, that is the only way to reach those people. And it is nothing to me. I have been helping, and there is real disease. I am needed there. But that is the only way I can get in, otherwise they won’t allow me. That is the only currency that is required.” An enlightened man has to live with you jailbirds!But if you are ready to understand the neurosis of money and the ecstasy of love, then you will be able to understand this: the giver should be thankful. Give and be thankful because the other could have refused. That possibility does not exist for this miser. He cannot conceive of anybody refusing five hundred pieces of gold. He does not know he could have been refused. The master may have thrown the sack out of the temple and said, “Don’t bring this rubbish here.”It happened…One man came – he also came with five hundred pieces of gold. These misers also have their mathematics; five hundred seems to be the highest, the limit; they cannot go beyond it. He came to Ramakrishna. Ramakrishna was even more dangerous. He not only said, “All right, I will take it,” he behaved even more rudely. He said, “So okay, go to the Ganges and throw it all in.”The man could not do anything because Ramakrishna has said so. He became afraid. It was impossible for him to go to the Ganges and throw in five hundred pieces of gold. But when Ramakrishna says… Still he hesitated. Ramakrishna said, “Why are you hesitating? Haven’t you given the money to me? Then it is my money. Just go and throw it into the Ganges because right now I don’t need it, and the Ganges needs it.”So the man went, very slowly of course, and he did not come back. One hour passed, two hours passed, and Ramakrishna sent some disciples to see what had happened to that man. Had he drowned himself and saved the money? Misers are doing that. So the disciples went to see what he was doing. There was a big crowd, he had made it into a great show. He would bring one gold coin, throw it on a stone – khannnng! The sound! And many people were there. Then he would count: “One hundred and one, one hundred and two, one hundred and three…” and then throw it into the Ganges.So the disciples reported: “That man is a perfect exhibitionist. He has gathered a big crowd, and he is throwing each single coin, counting, and doing the whole thing very slowly.”So Ramakrishna went, slapped that man and told him, “When one accumulates, counting is needed, but when one renounces… What are you doing? When one has to throw the coins, one can throw the whole bag!”But people renounce and still count. They have not renounced.Givers should be thankful; give and be thankful. If you can follow this rule, the old pail will fall down, the water will flow out. The whole maya, illusion, disappears. No water, no moon. Then you can look at the sky, at the real moon. It is always there, but you are caught in the reflection.Love is the real moon; money is the reflection.Enough for today.

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No Water No Moon 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Water No Moon 09 (Read, Listen & Download)

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A philosopher came to Buddha one day and asked, “Without words, without the wordless, will you tell me the truth?”The Buddha kept silence.The philosopher bowed and thanked Buddha, saying, “With your loving kindness I have cleared away my delusions and entered the true path.”After the philosopher had gone, Ananda asked Buddha what the philosopher had attained.The Buddha replied, “A good horse runs even at the shadow of the whip.”A philosopher came to Buddha one day and asked, “Without words, without the wordless, will you tell me the truth?”It is very rare that a philosopher comes to a buddha. It is almost impossible. But whenever it happens, it can become a revolution, it can become a transformation in the philosopher. Why is it so impossible that a philosopher can come to a buddha? Because philosophy and religion are very antagonistic; their approach is totally opposite, diametrically opposite.Philosophy believes in thinking, and religion believes in trust. A thinker doubts easily but cannot trust so easily. A doubting mind is needed to be a philosopher, a very skeptical mind. To be religious deep trust is needed – not at all skeptical, not doubting at all. The philosopher lives through logic; the religious man lives through love, and there is no way to help love and logic meet. There is no way; they never meet, their paths never cross each other. They may run parallel – just like the railway tracks – but they never meet. They may be very close, but they always run parallel. Even if you think they meet somewhere, it is an illusion.Just stand at a railway track and see the rails running parallel: on the faraway distant horizon you will think they are meeting. They are not meeting, that is an illusion. Go to that point, and you will find they are still parallel. Two parallel lines can never meet. Heart and head are parallel lines, they never meet. You can take a jump, from one line you can go to the other – that’s possible. You can take a jump from the head to the heart, but there is no continuity; it is a jump.If you believe in the head too much – that means believing in doubting – this jump becomes impossible. There have been great philosophers; they thought and thought, and they pondered and contemplated, and they have created big systems, miracles of words, but they are not nearer to the truth than any ignorant man. Rather, on the contrary, the ignorant man may be nearer because at least he is humble in his ignorance, at least he is not egoist, at least he can listen to the other. At least if a buddha comes to the town the ignorant man can go to him because he knows he does not know – that much humility is there. A philosopher cannot go because he already knows. That is the problem: without knowing anything, he thinks he knows.This is happening every day with me. If a philosopher comes, a psychiatrist comes – a man who has studied psychology, philosophy and religion in some university – it is difficult, almost impossible to have any communion with him. You can discuss, but you cannot meet – you will move parallel. You may appear close because you use the same words, but that is just appearance.Why is it so difficult for logic to love? – because love needs a very courageous act, and that courageous act is to move into the unknown. Logic is always a coward, it never moves into the unknown. Logic says, “First I must know. When the territory is well known, then I will move.”Logic has no adventure in it. Love is absolutely adventurous; sometimes it even looks foolish. To the logical mind it always looks foolish: “What are you doing, moving into the unknown without knowing where you are going? What you are doing? And leaving the territory that was known, secure, safe, becoming unnecessarily homeless. Don’t lose that which you have got, first be sure of that which you are going to gain.” This is the problem. Logic says, “First know the further step well; only then leave the step you are standing on.” Then you can never leave this step because there is no way of knowing the further step unless you reach to it.I have heard…Once it happened, Mulla Nasruddin wanted to learn swimming. He went to a teacher. The teacher said, “Come along with me, I am going to the river. It is not difficult, you will learn. It is simple, even children can learn.”But accidentally, when Nasruddin came near the bank, he slipped. It was muddy, and he fell down, and he became very afraid. He ran to the farthest point of the bank, under a tree. The teacher followed. He said, “Why are you escaping? Where are you going?”Nasruddin said, “Listen: first teach me swimming, only then will I come closer. This is dangerous! If something goes wrong, who will be responsible? So I will come near the river only when I have learned swimming.”But is there any way to learn swimming without going to the river? So Mulla Nasruddin remained without ever learning to swim.It is too dangerous, the step is too foolish. A man, a learned man, a man of logic, cannot take that step. Logic becomes a grave. You become more and more confined because life is danger. There is no way to avoid it, it is always moving into the unknown. The river is always going toward the sea. This is how life progresses: it always leaves the known, moves into the unknown. That’s the way life is. Nothing can be done about it. If you try to do something, then the Ganges should be flowing toward the source, the Gangotri, because that is the known thing; not toward Gangasagar, not toward the ocean.In African mythology there is a bird: the name is woofle-woofle – African. The bird is one of the most mythical of all the mythologies of the world. That bird has only one peculiarity: it is not interested in where it is going, it is only interested in where it is coming from, so it goes backward. It never reaches anywhere because it is always interested in where it is coming from. It is interested in the past. That is as if you are old and going toward the womb. This is impossible, but this is how human mind functions.With logic you move toward the source; with love you move toward the ultimate flowering. The dimensions are different. Logic asks, “Who created the world?” It is interested in the creator, in the past, the original source – the Gangotri, from where the Ganges flows. Love never asks who created the world. It is already there, so why bother? Whosoever created ABC makes no difference. How is it going to affect you, who created the world? Whether it was a Hindu god, a Brahma, or a Christian trinity, what difference does it make?Love is interested in what is going to be the ultimate flowering. Love is interested in buddhahood. Love is interested in what is going to happen to me, to my seed, how it will flower. Note the difference: logic is always interested in the known, in the past, the path that you have already traveled; love is always interested in the unknown, in the ultimate flowering, the path that you have not traveled – not only not traveled, the path that you have not even imagined, not even dreamed of.That’s why a philosopher rarely comes to a buddha. They are moving in diametrically opposite directions; a philosopher going to the past, a buddha moving to the future. Their departing point may be the same, but there is no meeting point. But when a philosopher comes to a buddha, rarely it happens, but whenever it happens, there is immediate transformation.Why? – because if a philosopher comes to a buddha, it means deep down he has understood the failure of philosophy. Otherwise why would he have come? Deep down he has felt the failure of logic. He has made every effort to know truth through it: arguing about and about, for, in favor, against. He has been arguing and arguing and has now come to the point where he knows the whole thing is futile; nothing can be known through it. This failure gives him the deepest humility possible in the world. Even an ignorant man is not so humble because he is not such a deep failure. He has not come to know the suffering of failure. He has not been thrown from the peak to the valley.This philosopher was thinking that he was at the peak. Suddenly he became aware that he had been standing in the valley and dreaming about the peak. There had never been a peak: he had not moved a single inch. The truth had remained as unknown as ever. His whole life had been a waste. When somebody comes to feel this, suddenly the ego disappears, one becomes humble. And unless you are humble, you cannot come to a buddha. Only humbleness, deep humility, can bring you to a buddha – now you are ready to learn because you don’t know anything.So there are two types of ignorance: ordinary ignorance is when a man is ignorant but is not aware that he is ignorant. When a philosopher becomes aware that he is ignorant, this is the second type of ignorance, very deep: he has come to realize that he is ignorant, he is fully aware that he is ignorant. When ignorance is aware of itself, that becomes the first step of wisdom.So the first thing to understand: A philosopher came to Buddha one day and asked… There were many philosophers in Buddha’s time. Really there has never been such a flowering of intellect as happened at that time; not only in India, all over the world. Buddha was there; Mahavira was there; Prabuddha Katyayan, a great logician; Ajit Keshakambal, a great philosopher; Makkhali Goshal, a rare intellect; Sanjay Vilethiputta and many others were there in Bihar. Now their names are not well known because they never created any following. Exactly at the same time in Greece there was Socrates, Plato, Aristotle – the three who created the whole Western mind. Exactly at the same time in China there was Confucius, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Mencius. It seems at that peak, all over the world, mind was at its Everest.There are only three cultures: one is Chinese, another is Indian, and the other is Greek. Only three cultures exist, all the others are just byproducts. The whole West originated with the Greek mind in Athens. The whole Chinese civilization, a totally different type of civilization, arose out of Confucius’ and Lao Tzu’s confrontation, and all that is beautiful in India came out of Buddha, Mahavira. And all these people existed at a single moment of history.Historians say that history moves like a wheel: there are moments when intelligence is at its peak, there are moments when intelligence goes down. These were the times when intelligence was at its peak. Many were the philosophers, particularly in India; the whole country was philosophic. People moved from this corner to that corner seeking for truth – millions of seekers!Only when there are millions of seekers, can a few become enlightened because it is a pyramid-like thing. A pyramid is very broad at the base, and then, by and by, comes the peak. A Buddha exists only when at the broad base millions of people are seeking truth; otherwise he cannot exist. There is no possibility, he cannot stand. Where will he stand? He needs millions, millions of seekers; they become the base.And in those days when systems were being created everywhere, and such complicated, complex systems that there has never been any comparison to them… Historians of philosophy and religion say that at that time India knew all that has been known in philosophy – every shade and nuance of thought, every approach. India has looked at all the paths and possibilities, and every possibility has been finished. Now, since that time, there has been nothing new in philosophy; and if you think there is something new, it only means that you are not well acquainted with India. There has been nothing new since Buddha because at that time everything was searched, almost every possibility finished.And if you think… In the West many people come to realize something and think that they are giving something new. It looks new because they are unacquainted with it, they don’t know it. And now the whole of this treasure is hidden in Pali, in Prakrit and in Sanskrit, languages not spoken, not used. But every nuance of thought…For example, when Sigmund Freud said for the first time that, “I suspect that the conscious mind is not the whole mind. Deep down below the conscious there is a subconscious layer. And even beyond that, I suspect an unconscious layer,” it was thought that it was a very revolutionary discovery. But in Buddha’s time this was known; not only this – Buddha talks about still further layers. He talks about seven layers of the mind. These three are there, as Freud says, but four more; and if he is right up to the third, there is every possibility he will be right beyond them because he is on the right track.Then Jung suggested that beyond the unconscious there seems to be a collective unconscious – that is the fourth layer of Buddha. Now the whole of psychology has come to this fourth layer. All four are suggested by Buddha, but three more are there; sooner or later we will discover them.Since then there has never been such appreciation for thinking, logic. And the hair-splitting went to its very extreme. Buddha talks about seven layers of mind, and Prabuddha Katyayan talks about seven hundred layers of mind. Incomprehensible, but very logical, and there is the possibility that the mind can be divided into seven hundred layers. Nothing is impossible.At that time a philosopher came to Buddha. First try to understand the situation of Buddha; Buddha’s situation is as antimetaphysical as possible, he is not a philosopher. Really, you cannot find a man who is more anti-philosophical than Buddha because he says all philosophical questions are nonsense. This is the standpoint now in the West – Bertrand Russell, Wittgenstein. The latest discovery in the West is Wittgenstein, and this is the standpoint of Wittgenstein: that all philosophical questions, answers, are nonsense. Still, if you ask a question, a philosophical question, Bertrand Russell answers it yes or no. Buddha never answered because if it is nonsense, why answer? Buddha would keep silent.So it was the routine whenever Buddha would come to any town that Buddha’s bhikkus would go into the town and inform people: “Please don’t ask these eleven questions.” They had a list of eleven questions; in those eleven questions all metaphysics was finished, you cannot ask anything beyond those eleven. They are the whole expanse of all philosophical inquiry.So beforehand, before Buddha would reach a town, the bhikkus would go and spread the news: “Please don’t ask about these eleven questions because he is not going to answer. If you have something beyond these eleven, you can come, you are invited.” But there is nothing beyond those eleven, so what to do?This man was not a philosopher, he was not skeptical, he didn’t believe in doubt. And he disbelieved in doubt so much that he never talked about trust. This has to be understood because trust is needed only if you are in doubt. If you are not in doubt, why talk about trust? All talk about faith means doubt has entered. He never said, “Believe!” because he said there is no question of believing or not believing; one has to be. It is not an intellectual question because faith and doubt both remain intellectual. From where do you doubt? From the mind. From where will you believe? From the mind.So your belief will also be from the same root. It will already be poisoned. Who will believe? And who will doubt? You will remain the same, and you are the problem. So Buddha hits at the root; he says, “No need to trust, no need to doubt. Simply come to me and be. Don’t move to this extreme, don’t move to the other. Don’t take any standpoint, simply be in the middle.” That’s why his path is known as the middle path – majjhim nikaya: never move to the extreme. This is one of the most original discoveries about human mind and its functioning because the mind always likes to move to the opposite.You love a person. Through love you magnify the person, he becomes a god. Then love disappears; immediately you start hating. You then do exactly the opposite; nobody stops in the middle. Then the person shrinks under your hate, becomes a devil. Is there any way to stand between God and the Devil and not move to the opposite? Mind feels very easy moving from one thing to the contrary. There is no problem, you have been doing that: you doubt a person, then you can believe; you believe a person, then you can doubt.Buddha says to stop in the middle because in the middle there is no mind; mind exists only on the extremes. Love? Mind is there. Hate? Mind is there. For? Mind is there. Against? Mind is there. In the middle, mind cannot exist. In the middle there is no possibility of any thought because either the thought will be of doubt or of trust, of love or hate, enmity or friendship. And you know well that in every friend the enemy is hidden, in every enemy the friend is possible.One of the most cunning minds of the world, Machiavelli, has written in his book The Prince, “Don’t say anything, even to a friend, which you would not like to say to an enemy because a friend is a potential enemy any day. And don’t say anything against an enemy which you would not like to say against a friend because then you will be in trouble any day. If the enemy becomes the friend, then you will be embarrassed.”And this is a suggestion from one politician to princes, to other politicians. So politicians remain alert; the more they become seasoned, the less you can find in their words, statements, who they are talking against, who they are talking for. Their words become more and more elusive, so it is possible that if the friend turns into an enemy, they will not be in trouble. If an enemy turns into a friend… And politics changes every day; it is just like the weather, and you never know…I have heard…Two politicians were talking about a third fellow traveler. One said, “This man is so dishonest, so cunning, so crude that I have never known anybody like that. This is the most dishonest man here.” And he said, “And I feel that you don’t know him as well as I know him.”The other man said, “No, you are wrong. I also know him very well.”The first said, “How can you know him very well? I am his best friend!”Only friends know each other very well. And he is saying that he is the most dishonest, the greatest rascal around. And he says, “How can you know him very well? I am his best friend.”Friendship and enmity are the two faces of one mind. Stop in the middle! And Buddha stopped in the middle, and he helped many people to stop in the middle. It is just like walking on a tightrope. Have you observed a tightrope walker, what he is doing? One of the deepest truths of life is revealed there. Whenever he feels that he will fall to the left, he immediately moves to the right. It may not be so visible to you because you think he is moving to the right, leaning to the right. But whenever he leans to the right, he knows that he was going to fall toward the left. Just to balance, when he feels he is going to fall to the right, he immediately leans toward the left; the opposite has to be chosen to get balance.When you love a person too much in the morning, in the evening you have to hate him, otherwise you will fall down from the rope – it is tightrope walking. If you love a person too much, you have leaned too much to the left; now you will fall. To gain balance you have to lean to the right. Lovers are always fighting; that is just a sort of balance, nothing else, nothing serious. It is natural – unless you get down off the rope, that’s another thing.That’s what Buddha says: he says, “Don’t lean to the right, don’t lean to the left.” Then what will happen? You will fall down from the rope. And that rope is the mind, that rope is the ego; you have to balance it, continuously balance it. So it looks so paradoxical.Whenever you hate your beloved, your wife, your friend, really you are trying to get balance so that you can love again. Otherwise you will fall down from the mind. And without mind there is no love, no hate – at least, the hate that you know, the love that you know; they are not there. A different kind of compassion arises which is beyond the duality, but that arises only when you have lost the rope, lost the effort to balance on the rope. When you are lost, your ego is lost – ego is a subtle balance.A philosopher came to Buddha one day and asked, “Without words, without the wordless, will you tell me the truth?” He is asking something impossible, but near a buddha the impossible becomes possible, and only near a buddha the impossible becomes possible. There all laws, all ordinary laws, are broken.What is he asking? He is asking: “Without words, and without the wordless, will you tell me the truth?” This has happened many times. It also happened once before with Buddha: another man came, but the man must have been totally different qualitatively because Buddha behaved differently.A buddha has no fixed answers. He has no obsession because he has no-mind. Whenever a person comes before him, he is just like a mirror; he reflects the person. Another man asks the same question; the man came and asked, “Sir, can you tell me something about the truth without using words?”Buddha said, “Then you will have to ask without using words. You ask, and I will tell. If you can’t ask without using words, how do you expect…? So go, train yourself! Be ready to ask it without using words, then come.”But to this philosopher, Buddha didn’t reply in that way. And this man was really asking a different question because this man was different. The question carries the meaning of the person. The question has no meaning in the words. It carries you, your quality. You can ask the same question, but it cannot mean the same. If you are different, the question will be different. A word carries meaning from the person. A word in itself is meaningless. You may consult dictionaries, and you may come to know the meaning of the words, but that is not a real, live meaning, it is dead. When a person uses a word, he gives it a live meaning, a real meaning. The significance comes from the person.This man asked… What had he asked? A very subtle question. He said, “Without words, and without the wordless, will you tell me the truth?”Without words, it is easy – you can remain silent. But without the wordless it becomes impossible because if you remain silent, you are using the wordless. And the man has asked, “Don’t use words, don’t use no-words, and tell me the truth.” Silence won’t help, words won’t help. Language will not be of much use, and silence also is not of much use. Then what is Buddha going to do?The Buddha kept silence – but this silence is different.There are two types of silence. When you keep silence, it is a forced stillness. Words are there within you, noise is there; silence is just on the surface. You look silent; you are not silent. This is one type of silence that you know. There is another type of silence: that on the surface you are silent, and you can be forced inside also to be silent. If you are in danger, somebody threatens you that he is going to kill you, then you will become silent inside also, but this silence will be wordless. The first silence – when on the surface you were silent, inside there were words and chattering – was silence with word. This second silence will be wordless silence, there will be no noise within because in a dangerous situation, in a shock, the noise has stopped.But still it is not a buddha’s silence. A buddha’s silence is a third type of silence which you have not known. It is neither with noise nor with no-noise. Buddha is silent; not that he has forced his words to be silent. It is not a stillness with effort; he is simply silent because there is nothing else to do. This silence is positive, not the opposite of words. This silence is in the middle, not on the other extreme. One extreme is words, the other extreme is wordlessness. This silence is just in the middle: there is no word, there is no wordlessness. He is simply silent – not against noise.If you are against noise, then your silence can be disturbed very easily. You know many people who are praying or meditating, and a child starts laughing and giggling, and they are disturbed. There is some noise on the street, traffic noise; there is somebody honking the horn, and they are disturbed. A silence that is forced can be disturbed very easily. Only a silence that is forced can be disturbed. But if you are really silent in the sense of a Buddha, a child starts giggling, a bird starts singing, somebody honks the horn – the noise will be there, but you are not disturbed. The noise will come and pass just as in an empty room: the noise comes from this door and goes from that door. There is nobody inside who can be disturbed.But if you have a forced silence, then you are there, the ego is there just riding on the mind, just forcing the mind, just making every effort to be silent. This is a constrained, strained silence. It can be disturbed very easily, even a child can disturb it. Then what type of buddhahood is this? This is no buddhahood, this is just a false coin.Remember, while meditating this will be your deepest problem. Ordinarily you are chattering. You can move to the opposite end easily; you can force the chattering not to be there. It is just like a child playing, running around, doing many things uselessly, and you threaten him that he will be punished: “Sit in that corner!” And you are strong, and the child is helpless, so he sits in the corner, looks very buddhalike – but bubbling, exploding within, just getting ready to get any chance when he can start running again.Look at a child when you have forced him to be silent, that will be the second type of silence. He is not moving; if you force him too much, he will not even move the body, he will close his eyes; but what is he doing? Forcing himself, fighting with himself; constant effort. He is pushing himself down, sitting on his own chest. He will not be able to breathe because he is afraid – because if you breathe, then movement starts.That’s why nobody breathes, really. You have lost the dimension of breathing from your childhood when you were forced. Everybody breathes just from the upper lungs. The breath cannot go deep because you are afraid. From your very childhood, you have been forced.Look at a child sleeping. See what is happening: his chest remains unmoving, his belly moves. His breath goes to the deepest, to the very bottom. His belly moves, his chest is unmoving. This child is still not part of society, he is not a citizen, he is still wild. You will have to train him, then you will have to use force.And whenever you say to a child, “Don’t do this!” how can he manipulate himself? The first thing is not to breathe. Whenever you suppress something, you start shallow breathing. Suppression and shallow breathing are synonymous. Whenever you throw off your suppression, you express; breathing goes deep. Only while you are fast asleep, the breathing goes deep because in sleep you cannot suppress, the ego has fallen unconscious. So in sleep you breathe from the belly; that is the right sort of breathing. Or while making love your breathing goes deep; it has to go because all suppressions are around sex, and if you are making love, if you allow sex, then all suppressions are thrown away. Then the breath goes deep, it goes to the belly; you again breathe like a child, you again become wild, you again become natural, you again become spontaneous.Look at a child when you have threatened him, and look at your monks in the monasteries. You have threatened them also. Afraid of hell, in greed for heaven, they are sitting there, suppressed. Their silence is of the other pole, the other extreme; they are wordless, they have forced the word to disappear, but they are not beyond the two.Buddha remained silent. Buddha is of the third dimension. He would not say anything; words are not allowed. He would not suppress the word because the wordlessness was not allowed. He simply remained there, not thinking, not meditating, simply there like a tree.For five hundred years after Buddha, his statue was not made. For five hundred years there was no picture of Buddha; and whenever Buddha was to be represented, people just drew the bodhi tree. That was beautiful because he was just like a tree. Can you say this tree is silent? You cannot say that because this tree is never noisy so how can it be silent? Can you say this tree is meditating? How can it meditate? It has never thought, there has been no thinking, so how can it meditate? Then where is this tree? This tree is in the third dimension where no chattering exists and no non-chattering exists. This tree is in the middle, exactly in the middle.You may not be a buddha, but this tree is a bodhi tree. And if you can sit under a tree, just like the tree, you will become a buddha. And any tree could become a bodhi tree, all trees are; just buddhas are needed to discover which tree is a bodhi tree. Sit under any tree, and if you are in the middle, the tree becomes the bodhi tree. All trees are, only somebody is needed to reveal the fact because trees don’t believe in advertisement; otherwise they will reveal.The Buddha kept silence.The philosopher bowed and thanked Buddha, saying, “With your loving kindness, I have cleared away my delusions and entered the true path.”Seems to be miraculous, or absurd because Buddha has not said anything, and he has understood; and I have been saying things, and you have not understood. There were many with Buddha also with whom he was talking and talking, and they did not understand, and this man understood without words, without wordlessness. What happened? What type of communication happened in that moment when Buddha kept silent?No knowledge was transferred, obviously, because you cannot transfer knowledge without words, you cannot transfer knowledge without wordlessness. There are two types of knowledge: one, ordinary knowledge which can be transferred through words. There is another kind of knowledge, occult, which can be transferred through wordlessness – occult, telepathic. You need not say it, but it can be transferred. Both were not allowed.That philosopher said, “Don’t use words, and don’t use no-words. I am fed up with both. I am fed up with all extreme polarities. I have moved into logic too much – from this to that. I have lived all the possibilities of logic…and enough! Simply give me the truth without word and without wordlessness.”And what happened, what type of transfer? What communion happened in this moment? In a single moment it happened. And the philosopher bowed and thanked Buddha and said, “With your loving kindness, I have cleared away my delusions and entered the true path.”When a Buddha is silent, and if you also can be silent, then being is transferred, not knowledge; not what Buddha knows, but what Buddha is. Being is transferred. Suddenly he enters you if you are silent. And this man who was genuinely asking about the true path, and who was asking not to use words and not to use wordlessness, who was denying all duality, was ready. Buddha kept silent. The philosopher looked at Buddha – the look was there. He was attentive, he gave his total attention. What was happening?He was not thinking; he had finished that, he had thought enough. That is why I say that whenever a philosopher comes, it is a transformation. He was fed up with it. You are still not fed up with it. You still cling to it because you have not thought to the very end. You still hope that some day, through thinking, you may come to a conclusion because you have not gone to the very end. If you go to the very end, you will know that thinking never gives any conclusions, it is never conclusive. It only gives you the feeling that soon the door is to open. The door opens, of course, but only opens into another room.Then there is another door. It also opens, but into another room. You are never out of it; the house seems to be infinite, millions of rooms. From one room you enter another, from another you enter another, and you go on moving and always hoping, “This door will lead me out.” It leads only again into a room.If you have gone to the very end, as this man had gone, then you can listen in silence. He was not waiting for any answer because he knows answers cannot be given without words, answers cannot be given without wordlessness; all answers will be either this or that.Buddha kept silent. That man looked at Buddha. In that look the two personalities dissolved. They were not two – in that moment there was one; two bodies, two hearts throbbing, but one being, all the boundaries transcended. Buddha trespassed him, he entered. It is a transfer of being. The man tasted what Buddha is, not what he knows. He does not know much; you can defeat Buddha very easily. You can easily know more, now more knowledge is available; that’s not the question. But Buddha has more being.Gurdjieff used to ask every seeker, whosoever would come to him… The first question Gurdjieff used to ask was whether you are in search of knowledge or of being. “You want to know more, or do you want to be more?” These are basically different dimensions. And if somebody would say, “I want to know more,” Gurdjieff would say, “This door is closed. I am not here to impart knowledge to you. You go. There are many departments, universities, colleges; they are imparting knowledge; you go there. When you are fed up with knowledge, then come and knock. If I am alive, this door is open, but this door is open only for those who are in search of being.”What are you going…? Even if you come to know, how is it going to help? A man can know everything about water, but how is it going to satisfy the thirst? It is so patently foolish! You may know that H2O is the basis of all water, and a man is dying of thirst in a desert, and you write the formula on paper that this is the secret of water. He will say, “Okay, this is the secret, but what about my thirst?”A man is dying without love, and you go on feeding him knowledge about love. How is it going to help? There are millions of books about love, but not even a single lover can be satisfied by them. How is it going to help? A man is dying; he is dying and you talk about immortality. This is not going to feed him. This is not going to create immortality for him.Being is needed; somebody to impart being, not knowledge. Knowledge is about and about; being is at the center, knowledge is at the periphery. You have come to me. Have you come to gather more knowledge? Then you have come to a wrong person; then you are wasting your time. But if you are in search of being, then something is possible.At that moment this miracle happened, the mystery of Buddha opened. It always opens in silence, just like a flower opens at midnight. Nobody knows: it opens in silence. If somebody is there who can wait patiently, then the flower can impart, share his being. Buddha entered in that moment.Ananda, who was Buddha’s chief disciple, couldn’t understand what was happening because he was after knowledge. He was needed in a way, but he was not the right seeker, and it is because of Ananda that we know all that Buddha said. He collected; he was the tape recorder. But now tape recorders are available, so I don’t need any Ananda. And that was not good; a thing that can be done by a mechanical device should not be done by a man because doing it he becomes mechanical.Ananda could repeat every single word Buddha used in forty years. His was one of these rare memories. When Buddha died, he repeated the whole forty years, thousands of pages, and he recorded them. He was needed, but he was not the real seeker; a recorder, and a good recorder, but for himself he was missing something.If you are recording what I am saying, you are missing something. Don’t be a memory before me, don’t record – understand! Because when you are in the effort to record, you miss the understanding. And there are many people who think, “First record it, then we will try and understand it.”I have seen many people who take notes. Here I am talking, and they are taking notes. Here they are missing me, and at home they will look at their notes and then try to understand them. There are people who will go to the Himalayas, and then what they will do there? They will just hunt for good scenery and pictures and take photographs. There the Himalayas don’t exist, only the camera. Then back home they will look at the album and enjoy them. You could have bought pictures, there was no need to go to the Himalayas. Professional photographers are doing that. There is no need for you to go, and you cannot do better than the professionals, your photographs will be amateurish. But then, sitting at home, you will enjoy them. You missed the Himalayas, and you have brought only secondhand photographs.Try to understand what I am saying. Try to be! Don’t record it, there is no need. Just forget what I said. If you have really understood, it will follow you like a fragrance. No need to carry it in the memory, it will be part of your being.In that moment the philosopher understood. He bowed down in deep gratitude. And what did he say? The words are very significant. He said: “With your loving kindness…” Not, “With your great wisdom…” No! Not, “You know so much, you are all-knowing. Your wisdom, your knowledge…” No, that was not the point – “With your loving kindness…”Buddha says that when one becomes enlightened, he has two things in him; they flower simultaneously. One is karuna – kindness, loving kindness – the other is wisdom, prajna: these two things flower in him. So if you are a seeker after knowledge, he will talk to you through his wisdom, but that is secondary. But if you are a seeker of being, he will talk to you through his loving kindness, through his karuna. Wisdom can miss the target, but karuna never misses, loving kindness never misses.When this man said, “Without words and without no-words, will you tell me the truth?” he was saying, “I am not here to know more. I have done that already too much; I have gathered much knowledge, but it never gives you freedom. Rather, on the contrary, it becomes an imprisonment. Now I am here to know something about being, to be myself. I want the taste not the words. I want to enter.”Buddha remained silent, looked from his whole being at the man with a deep-flowing love and kindness. Whenever you look toward somebody with deep love, something flows from you to the other person, just like a river flows to the ocean. But the other person needs to be just like a valley, only then it can flow; otherwise it cannot flow.Just the other day somebody asked me, “I have come to see you; you are sitting on the chair and I am sitting down. Why? Why not another chair for me?”I said, “It is possible, but I am not losing anything in it. You can have an even taller chair than me, or you can just go on the roof and sit there; but I am not losing anything. You will lose much because it is simply symbolic.”You have to be a valley, only then the river can flow, just like the water flows toward the valley. You have to be a valley – a deep humbleness, a receptivity, a womb – so that you can receive.This man remained silent before Buddha – humble, ready to receive. And Buddha looked at him with a deep love, infinite love, he flowed into him…he got the taste. He lived Buddha for a moment. He had the glimpse, as if for a single moment the darkness disappeared, and there was lightning. For a single moment, when Buddha’s being touched this man, there was lightning; everything changed.He bowed down in deep gratitude and said, “With your loving kindness, I have cleared away my delusions…” Delusions cannot be cleared away through theories. No philosophy can help. Delusions are very real; they need something more real than they are, only then can they be dispelled.If you are in the delusion of sex, no theories will be of any help. Only a love flowing toward you will dispel them because love is a higher reality than sex. If you are in delusions about the world, only a buddha can dispel them. If he flows in you, for that moment there is no world.For that moment only Buddha existed, there was no world. For that moment, even the seeker was not there. He said:“…I have cleared away my delusions and entered the true path.”After the philosopher had gone, Ananda asked Buddha…He must have been puzzled, “What is happening?” Buddha has not said anything. If he had, Ananda would have recorded it. If I keep silence, this tape recorder will miss. The tape recorder, if it can ask, will ask, “What happened?” – because the tape recorder can only record the visible, the sound, the physical. The spiritual is completely beyond it.Ananda was deeply puzzled: “What is happening?” He must have been ready: “This man has raised a great question. Now what is Buddha going to say?” And then Buddha said nothing. Not only that – it happened many times that Buddha would not say anything, that was not new – but this man bowed down as if he had received something. And he said, “I have entered the true path.” And he said, “Through your loving kindness all my delusions are cleared away.”Ananda was present, and he missed. How will you be able to understand what happened? Why had Ananda missed? He was not humble; that remained the whole problem for him. He was a cousin-brother of Buddha, an elder cousin-brother; that created the whole trouble. He always deep down believed that he was older than Buddha, and he knows this man from his very childhood: “He may have become wise in some ways, he may be a little further ahead than me, but I am his elder brother.” That continued in his unconscious, created the barrier.It is very difficult… If a Jesus is born to your family, it is very difficult for the mother, for the father, for the brothers, sisters, for the family, for the town, to recognize him. Impossible! – because how can you believe that a miracle can happen in your family? How can you believe that a miracle has happened to this person and has not happened to you? No, it is impossible. You know yourself well, you know others also. Then either this man is deceiving, or something of minor importance has happened which can happen to you also. A little effort is needed, no other problem is there.This remained the barrier, and Ananda remained blind. He asked, after the philosopher had gone, what the philosopher had attained, “Because I don’t see anything being communicated. I don’t see anything happening, and this man says he has attained the path, he has entered. What has happened?”The Buddha replied…and the reply is beautiful. He said,“A good horse runs even at the shadow of the whip.”There are three types of horses – all three types are here! First type: unless you beat him, he will not budge. You beat him, and he will somehow carry the burden a little. You stop beating, and he stops. You have to be constantly on him, beating, whipping. Only then a little progress is made.Then there is another type of horse: so much beating is not needed. Just once you threaten him, or you are going to beat him, and he will move.And then there is a third type of horse, the best. Just the shadow of the whip, not even the whip, just the shadow of the whip. You need not even raise the whip, just the possibility, and he will run. This third type of horse attains enlightenment in a single moment.Buddha did nothing. He neither whipped this man, nor threatened him with hell and heaven. He didn’t even say anything, he remained silent. And in this silence the shadow was seen. It was enough.It happened once…Three ministers of Akbar, the great Moghul, did something wrong. It was a crime, so he asked one, “What should I do? What punishment?”The man said, “It is enough that you asked.” He went home and committed suicide. The second man was sent to the jail for two years, and the third man was sent to the gallows.Other ministers became very puzzled because the crime was the same; they were all partners in one crime, and all three had confessed. So they asked, “What type of justice is this, that one man is not even told anything, he is left to go home? Another has been sentenced for two years, and the third to the gallows?”Akbar said, “They are three different types of horses. For the first, just the shadow of the whip was enough. I asked him what type of punishment he would like, and he said this is enough. He went home, committed suicide. This was too much! Enough punishment had been given.“The second man has been sent to jail for two years because less than that won’t do. Now he is continuously thinking: “It was bad that I did it, and as soon as I am out of the jail, I will do some good deeds so the balance is regained.” He is not feeling any guilt, just missed, and he will regain. He is thinking and planning how to come out and how…“The third man – even life imprisonment would not be enough because he doesn’t feel at all that any crime has been done. Rather, on the contrary, he thinks it was because he was not clever enough, that’s why he has been caught. Next time he will be more clever, he will learn the secrets, he will learn the tricks – more and better – that’s all. He feels no guilt. No punishment can help this man, this man has to be removed from society. And the first man has removed himself because this was too much.”Said Buddha: “A good horse runs even at the shadow of the whip.” If you are understanding, the shadow is enough; no hell is needed for you. Heaven and hell are created for the first type of horse, those who will not listen. No heaven is needed for you, for your greed and gratification; life is enough if you understand.And if you feel, you will start changing through your feeling. A mutation happens if you become more and more sensitive toward life. The very sensitivity gives you awareness, alertness. Otherwise even a Buddha cannot help.I have heard…Mulla Nasruddin fingered a banker who was coming out of his office and said, “What about two annas for a cup of coffee?”The Mulla was looking so distraught, so sad, that the man felt for him, and he said, “Here is one rupee. Take it and have eight cups of coffee.” So Mulla went.Next day he was again there on the steps of the office, and as the banker came out, he punched his face, on the nose.The man said, “Hey! what are you doing? And this is after I gave you one rupee just yesterday? What type of thankfulness is this?”Mulla said, “You and your lousy eight cups of coffee.” And he punched him again on his nose and said, “They kept me awake the whole night!”Nobody has said to him, “Go and take eight cups of coffee right now!” Don’t take even a buddha in too much of a dose, it will keep you awake the whole night, and you may like to punch my nose! Be understanding, sensitive. Move according to your understanding, your possibility, your capacity. Look always at the shadow of the whip, and move according to the shadow. Be more alert, more and more alert, otherwise even religion can be poison; otherwise you can fall into hell because of a buddha.Buddha is not the certainty, he is not the guarantee. Finally your own awareness… If you are aware, by and by, you will see that less and less thoughts come to the mind. The old pail breaks. The water flows out. It makes no reflection of the moon, and only when the reflection is gone can you look at the sky, at the real moon. No water, no moon.Enough for today.

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No Water No Moon 01-10Category: ZEN AND ZEN MASTERS

No Water No Moon 10 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Just before Ninakawa passed away, the Zen Master Ikkyu visited him. “Shall I lead you on?” Ikkyu asked.Ninakawa replied, “I came here alone, and I go alone. What help could you be to me?”Ikkyu answered, “If you think you really come and go, that is your delusion. Let me show you the path in which there is no coming and going.”With his words Ikkyu had revealed the path so clearly that Ninakawa smiled and passed away.Death is the crescendo, the highest peak that life can attain. In the moment of death much is possible. If you have been preparing and preparing, meditating and waiting, then at the moment of death enlightenment is very easily possible because death and enlightenment are similar. A master, one who is enlightened, can easily make you enlightened at the moment of death. Even before, whenever it happens, you have to be ready to die.What happens in death? Suddenly you are losing your body, suddenly you are losing your mind. Suddenly you feel you are going away from yourself, all that you believe to be yourself. It is painful because you feel you are going to be drowned into emptiness. You will be nowhere now because you were always identified with the body and the mind, and you never knew the beyond; you never knew yourself beyond the body and the mind. You got so fixed and obsessed with the periphery that the center was completely forgotten.In death you have to encounter this fact: that the body is going, now it cannot be retained any longer. The mind is leaving you; now you are no longer in control of the mind. The ego is dissolving; you cannot even say “I.” You tremble with fear on the verge of nothingness. You will be no longer.But if you have been preparing, if you have been meditating – and preparation means if you have been making all efforts to use death, to use this abyss of nothingness – rather than being pulled into it, you have been getting ready to jump into it, it makes a lot of difference. If you are being pulled into it, grudgingly – you don’t want to go into it, and you have been snatched – then it is painful. Much anguish! And the anguish is so intense that you will become unconscious in the moment of death. Then you miss.But if you are ready to jump, there is no anguish. If you accept and welcome it, there is no complaint. Rather, you are happy and celebrating that the moment has come: “Now I can jump out of this body which is a limitation, can jump out of this body which is a confinement, can jump out of this ego which has always been a suffering.” If you can welcome, then there is no need to become unconscious. If you can become accepting, welcoming – what Buddhists call tathata, to accept it, and not only to accept because the word accept is not very good, deep down some non-acceptance is hidden in it – no, if you welcome, if it is such a celebration, an ecstasy, if it is a benediction, then you need not become unconscious.If it is a benediction, you will become perfectly conscious in that moment. Remember these two things: if you reject, if you say no, you will become totally unconscious; if you accept, welcome, and say yes with your full heart, you will become perfectly conscious. Yes to death makes you perfectly conscious; no to death makes you perfectly unconscious, and these are the two ways of dying.A buddha dies totally accepting. There is no resistance, no fight between him and death. Death is divine; you die fighting.If a man has been preparing, getting ready, then at the moment of death the master can be miraculously helpful. Just a word at the right moment, and the flame inside suddenly explodes, you become enlightened because the moment is such, so intense, you are so concentrated at one point.This is happening in this story. Ikkyu is one of the greatest masters, a very rare, revolutionary, nonconformist. Once he stayed in a temple:The night was very cold, and there were three wooden Buddhas in the temple, so he burned one Buddha to warm himself. The priest became aware – he was fast asleep, it was in the middle of the night, and the night was very cold – he became aware that something was going on, so he looked.Buddha was burning! – and this man Ikkyu was sitting, happy, warming his hands. The priest became mad; he said, “What are you doing? Are you a madman? – and I thought you to be a Buddhist monk. That’s why I allowed you to stay in the temple, and you have done the most sacrilegious act.”Ikkyu looked at the priest and said, “But the buddha within me was feeling very cold. So it was a question whether to sacrifice the living Buddha to the wooden one, or to sacrifice the wooden one to the living one. And I decided for life.”But the priest was so mad with anger, he couldn’t listen to what Ikkyu was saying. He said, “You are a madman. You simply get out of here! You have burned Buddha.”So Ikkyu started to poke the burned Buddha – ashes were there, the statue was almost completely finished. He started to poke with a stick. The priest asked, “What are you doing?”He said, “I am trying to find the bones of Buddha.”So the priest laughed, he said, “You are either a fool or a madman. And you are absolutely mad! You cannot find bones there because it is just a wooden Buddha.”Ikkyu laughed, he said, “Then bring the other two. The night is still very cold, and the morning is still far away.”This Ikkyu was a very rare man. He was turned out immediately, out of the temple. In the morning he was sitting just by the side of the street outside the temple worshipping a milestone, putting flowers, doing his prayers. So the priest said, “You fool! In the night you misbehaved with Buddha. What have you done? You have committed a sin, and now what are you doing with this milestone? This is not a statue.”Ikkyu said, “When you want to pray, everything is a statue. At that time the buddha within was feeling very cold. At this time the buddha within is feeling very prayerful.”This man Ikkyu had thousands of disciples all over the country, and he used to wander from one place to another to help disciples. This story is about one of his disciples, Ninakawa. He was just on the verge, almost enlightened. But “almost enlightened” means nothing; you can move back, from the last point also you can fall. Unless it has happened, it has not happened. From the very last moment when only one step remains and you will become an enlightened one, you can come back. This Ninakawa was almost enlightened but still in the grip of the scriptures because unless you reach to the truth, it is very difficult to get out of the grip of the scriptures.It is very difficult to get out of the prison of words. It happens only when you are really enlightened. Then you can see that words are just words: nothing is there, they are not substantial, they are made of the stuff dreams are made of. They are just ripples in the mind, nothing else; sounds in the mind. And the meaning? Meaning is given by us; it is not there, no word is meaningful. And any word can become meaningful by common agreement.So it is just a social phenomenon, not concerned with truth at all. But people live by words: if someone says something against Jesus and you are a Christian, you will be ready to kill him, or be ready to be killed; it is a question of life and death. Someone says something against Mohammed, a Mohammedan gets mad. Just a word – Mohammed is just a word, Jesus is just a word – but people live by words.I have heard…Once Mulla Nasruddin caught hold of a man on the street and said, “I am in a very difficult situation: my wife is hungry, my children are ill. Will you help me a little?”The man looked at Nasruddin; he was really in a sad plight. He asked, “Why should I help you? But one thing I would like to ask: what brought you to this sad plight? How did you become so miserable? What has happened to you?”Nasruddin said, “It is a long story. But to say it in short: just a few years ago I was also a businessman like you, and beggars used to catch hold of me on the street. Everything was going wonderfully. Then a catastrophe…”The man became interested. He said, “Then what happened?”Mulla Nasruddin said, “My business was very good, money was pouring in continuously. I was a very industrious worker, totally absorbed in my business. And I had a motto on my table: ‘Think constructively! Act decisively!’ and money continued pouring in. And then…” Mulla Nasruddin’s frame started convulsing, and he said, “then my wife burned the motto. That motto, ‘Think constructively! Act decisively!’ The whole thing depended on that motto, and my wife burned it! That was the greatest catastrophe, and that has led me to this sad plight.”Have you ever thought: if your scriptures are burned, what will happen to you? If your mottos are burned, what will happen to you? If your words are burned, what will happen to you? You will be in a very sad plight. That’s why, if someone says anything against the Bible, you become mad. It is not because he is saying something against the Bible. He is burning your motto. You depend on the word. and you depend on the word because you don’t know what truth is. If you come to know what truth is, you will throw all the words, you will burn all the mottos.Mulla Nasruddin seems to be foolish – he is not. He is just a representative human being, the most representative, the normal. He is you, in all your absurdities – but magnified, of course.This Ninakawa was struggling his whole life, meditating, sitting, using many techniques, trying in every way to become calm and quiet and still; but he was still in the grip of scripture. The day he was dying Ikkyu visited him. That was the moment now to push this man into the infinite abyss. He may miss, because if scriptures are there at the time of death, you will miss.You need to be totally vacant, you need to be totally empty; only then can you meet death because death is emptiness. And only the alike can know the alike, the same can understand the same. If you are filled, even with a single word, you will miss because then the mind is there, and death has no mind, death has no thought; death is simply falling into emptiness.So Ikkyu came to push this disciple at the last moment. He had been missing his whole life; he should not miss this last moment. And I also tell you: if you miss your whole life, then there is only one possibility and only one hope – at the moment of death. But no need to wait for it, it can happen right now. If it is not happening right now, then go on trying. But get ready for death. If you are ready, I will be there to push you. If you are ready, then it is very easy: just a little jerk, and the mind blows.Just before Ninakawa passed away, the Zen Master Ikkyu visited him.Masters have been visiting always. It may not have actually happened, remember that; it may not have actually happened. It may be, it is possible, that nobody else than Ninakawa saw the master visiting him. It may have actually happened, but that is irrelevant. One thing is certain: that while Ninakawa was dying, just at the last moment, the master was there. This dialogue happened with Ninakawa and Ikkyu. There may have been many others there, they may not have heard it at all; they may not have seen Ikkyu coming at all. It was or it was not a physical visit. But it happened, and whatsoever was needed was done.“Shall I lead you on?” Ikkyu asked.Ninakawa replied…A man of scripture, particularly Buddhist, because in Buddhism the guru is not accepted. Buddha is the greatest guru, but in Buddhism the guru is not accepted. They have a reason for it. Because the human mind is so complex, it creates trouble everywhere: the guru is to liberate you, but you can make a bondage out of him. Hindus have been teaching that without the guru, without the master, there is no liberation. And this is true, absolutely true, but by the time of Buddha it became a bondage.Without the guru, without the master, there is no liberation. So people started becoming slaves of masters because without them there is no liberation. Look at the human mind and the stupidity: a master is to liberate, but you can become a slave to the master because only he can liberate; then you can become just docile. Much slavery was created; nobody else on this earth has created such a deep slavery as Hindus. You cannot come across a single revolution in the whole history of Hinduism against the priest. No – the whole thing was so settled and so fixed and systematized, and everybody was aware that if you rebel against the priest, there is no liberation. He is the guru, he is the master.The untouchables, the sudras, have existed in the most miserable condition. They are the greatest of slaves, and they have the longest history of slavery, but never have they revolted against it because it was not possible. The guru, the master, the brahmin – he is the door to the divine. You have missed this life, and if you rebel, you miss the other also, so remain a slave.Then came Buddha, and he said, “No need for the guru,” not because there is no need for the guru. He said, “No need for the guru,” and he meant no need to become a slave, but that was the only way to say it. So Buddha says, “Be a light unto yourself. Nobody is needed to lead you. Nobody is needed to guide you. You are enough unto yourself.”This is the greatest possibility of being free, of freedom. But you can misuse this also, this is the problem. Then you think that if there is no need for a master, then why listen to the Buddha? If there is no need for the master, then why go to the Buddha? If I am totally independent, then I am Buddha myself. That happened through Buddhism: slavery didn’t happen, but deep egoism happened. But both are the two extremes: either you become an egoist – because no guru, no master, nobody to follow – or you become a slave because without the guru there is no liberation.Can’t you be in the middle? Can’t you just stand in the middle without moving to the extreme? If you can be in the middle, the mind disappears.Ikkyu came, and he said, “Shall I lead you?”Ikkyu asked the basic Buddhist question, and Ikkyu knows that if he is still burdened with the scripture, he will say, “No, who can lead anybody? Nobody is a guru. Every soul is absolutely independent. I am a light unto myself.” If he is burdened with the scripture, this will be the response. If he is not burdened with the scripture, then the response can be any – infinite possibilities open.Ninakawa replied, “I came here alone…”This is what Buddha says:“…I go alone. What help could you be to me?”Everybody is born alone, goes alone; and in the middle of these two, coming and going, you may delude yourself that you are with somebody, but you still remain alone. Because if you are in the beginning alone and in the end alone, how in the middle can you be with somebody? The wife, the husband, the friend, the society, are all illusions. You remain alone, aloneness is your nature. You can be deluded, that’s all. You can have dreams, that’s all, but the other remains always the other, and there is no meeting point. This is the basic Buddhist teaching to make man free.That’s why Buddha even denied God because if there is God, how can you be alone? He is always there. Even when you are in your bathroom, he is there because he is omnipotent, omnipresent. You cannot escape him; wherever you go, he will be there. He is the cosmic eye, the cosmic spy, following you. Whatsoever you do, he will be looking! It is very difficult to escape God; if he is, then he is everywhere. You cannot hide – this is beautiful if you can understand, and religious people used it to help.Hindus, Mohammedans, Christians have all used the omnipresence of God. It is a great help because if you can really feel God following you like a shadow everywhere, you will become very, very much alert and aware – because he is there. You are not alone, you cannot relax into sin, you cannot relax into ignorance, sleepiness – he is there. The presence will make you alert.This is the right use. But otherwise the presence can become a bondage, a heavy burden, anxiety.I have heard about a Christian nun who would not even take her bath in the nude. No, she would continue to have her clothes on even under the shower, so somebody asked, “What are you doing?”She said, “How I can be naked? – because God is everywhere.” But if God is everywhere – in the bathroom – he is inside the clothes also, you cannot escape him. He is inside you. He is everywhere.This can become a deep anxiety, just like when you are taking your bath, and you become aware that somebody is peeping through the keyhole – you become anxious. And God is the cosmic Peeping Tom; he is sitting at every keyhole; you cannot do anything without his knowing it; you make love, and he is there. Whatsoever you do he knows, and everything is recorded.This can become a deep anxiety, a neurosis; this can create guilt, and then you have missed. And remember: every key that can open a door can destroy the lock also if you use it wrongly. There is a way, a right way to use a key; only then does it open the lock. If you use it wrongly, the lock may be destroyed. And as the mind is, it always uses keys in a wrong way. Then somebody is needed who must say to you, “Throw away this key because this key is now useless. This is only destroying the lock, not helping you in any way.”Buddha said no guru is needed because in his time the guru meant the brahmin. Krishnamurti is saying the same thing: no guru is needed. But there is another possibility – it may give you freedom. If it gives you freedom, it is perfectly okay. But it may give you egoism, and that’s the problem, there is the rub. If it gives you egoism, you may not become a slave to somebody else, but you have become a slave to your own ego. And remember, nobody can be such a dangerous master as your ego can be. Nobody can make you as blind as your ego can make you. Nobody can lead you to such hells as your ego can lead you.Ikkyu just wanted to know whether this man is still clinging to the scriptures, or he has come to understand Buddha. Understanding is different, clinging is different. Clinging is to the dead letter. If he has understood, then Buddha is the greatest master. If he has not understood, then he will not allow; even at the point of death, he will cling to the scriptures.Ikkyu was standing there, and was asking, “Can I lead you? Shall I lead you on? – because the path is unknown. You have never been through it, I have been along it. I know how to die, I know how to celebrate death. I know how to lose yourself into death, and then you never lose; then the real self is born for the first time. I know the secret of dying and rebirth. Can I lead you on?”Ninakawa replied… he refused – he said: “I came here alone, and I go alone. What help could you be to me?” And he was in need of help. If he was not in need of help, he would have simply laughed, smiled; he would have said, “Thank you.” There was no need to use these words from the scriptures. Why do you use scriptures? They are rationalizations. Whenever you are uncertain, you use the scripture because the scripture is very certain. Whenever you are in doubt, you use Buddha, Krishna, Christ because they can hide your hesitation, they can hide your reality, they can give you a false confidence.Whenever you are using others’ words, you are hiding your ignorance. This man was not saying, “I came here alone…” – this was not his experience. He was not saying “…and I go alone.” He was repeating words, and you cannot deceive a master with words.Ikkyu answered, “If you think you really come and go…”These are the most beautiful words ever uttered – the essence of all the Upanishads, the essence of all Buddhas and Mahaviras, just in one sentence.“If you think you really come and go, that is your delusion. Let me show you the path on which there is no coming and no going.”This is really very difficult and subtle.Says Ikkyu, “If you think you really come and go, then the ego is there. Who comes? Who goes? If you think you come and go, you don’t know; then you are simply repeating Buddha’s words” – there is the catch.If you have come to know that, “I come alone, and I go alone,” then there is no coming and no going because the soul is never born, never dies. Life is an eternal continuum. It continues. It never comes, never goes. This body may have been born, this body may die – but that life, the energy, the self, the soul, or whatsoever you call the consciousness that exists in this body, has never been born and will not die. That consciousness is continuous. There has never been any break in it.If you really know, then you know that there is no coming, no going. Who comes? Who goes? If you don’t understand, if you have not realized this, then you will say, “I come alone.” But then this I is the ego; then this I is not the self. When you say, “I go alone,” the emphasis is on I – and the I is the bondage. If there is no I, suddenly you will see that you have never been born, and are never going to die; then there is no beginning and no end.Says Jesus… Somebody asked Jesus, “Are you the messiah we have been waiting for? Who are you? Tell us about you.”Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am.”Abraham must have been thousands of years before, and Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I am.” The sentence is really very absurd, logically absurd, grammatically wrong: “Before Abraham was, I am.” Abraham is in the past; Jesus says, “Before he was…” and Abraham is the first prophet. There is every possibility that Abraham is just a changed name of Ram because in old Hebrew it is not Abraham, it is Abram. And Ab simply means respect, just like Shree Ram; it is just to pay respect. There is every possibility that Abraham is no one else than Ram.Says Jesus, “Before Abraham was, I am.” For Abraham he uses the past tense: he has been, and is no more; the manifestation was there and now is no more. But “I am,” because “I am always: I was, I am here, I will be.”The innermost consciousness knows no birth, no death; knows no past, no present, no future; knows no time. It is eternal, and eternity is not part of time.Said Ikkyu: “If you think you really come and go…” If you think that there is a coming and going, you are in delusion. “…let me show you the path on which there is no coming and going.”What have buddhas been doing? They have been simply showing you that you are perfect – as you are. No change is needed. You have not to go anywhere, you have not to move a single inch. As you are, you are in your perfect glory, here and now. There is no coming and no going. Just become aware of the phenomenon that you are. Just become aware who you are! Just be alert! And then nothing is to be achieved, no effort is to be made because from the very beginning, before Abraham was, you are. You have seen the creation of the world, you will see the end of the world, but there is no beginning to you and no end to you.You are the witness, and the witness cannot have any beginning and cannot have any end. If you had been alert, you would have seen your own birth. If you can die consciously, you will see that death is happening in the body, and you are just an onlooker. So the body dies, and you are just the witness. And if you can be a witness in the death, then in the next life, in the birth, you will be a witness. You will see that the mind is choosing a womb: hovering all around the earth, finding a woman, a couple, making love – you will see it.Just as if you are hungry: you go to the market, and you can be a witness that your eyes, your mind is looking at the hotels, restaurants, to find the right place where you can have your food. You are hungry, but if you get too much identified with the hunger, then you cannot be a witness. Otherwise, hunger is there, but you are not the hunger. How can you be the hunger? Otherwise, who will know that you are hungry?Hunger, to be known, needs someone else beyond the hunger who can look and see, who can become alert. If you can become alert in hunger, then you can see how your mind is searching for a right place to have your food. The same happens after death: your mind is in search of a right womb. You choose, you see what is happening.If you are in search of a particular womb, if you are a very good soul or a very bad soul, then you may take many years to find a right womb – very difficult. If you are just an ordinary person, just normal, nothing special good or bad, neither a Hitler nor a Gandhi, then you can be born immediately; there is no need because everywhere ordinary, normal, standard wombs are available. Then, this moment you die, and the next moment you are born. Not even a single moment is lost.But for a Hitler it may take many, many years – and it is good, we are fortunate because he is a very perverted soul, very perverted. You cannot imagine his perversion, he perverted everything. And whenever a man becomes perverted, the first thing to be perverted is his love because sex remains the root of your being. The first thing to be perverted is sex. When sex goes wrong, everything goes wrong; when sex is natural, everything remains natural.Study Hitler’s sexual life, and you will be simply amazed; you cannot believe what he was doing. He would find beautiful women, but would never make love to them. What would he do? You cannot imagine! He would force those beautiful women… He would sit down, and he would force them to urinate on his head. What type of man…? What is he doing? And he enjoyed it very much: not only urination, they should also defecate on him. And the women felt very guilty – what is he doing? – but he was such a powerful man: if you don’t follow him…he killed many. All his beloveds were either killed by him, or they committed suicide because this is such a perversion! But he felt very good. What was the matter?He was so guilty he wanted to punish himself; even through love he was punishing. He was so guilty, and the guilt was so strong. If you are so guilty, you cannot love because love can only come from the heart of one who is not guilty, who doesn’t feel any guilt, who is just a child, innocent. Then love flows, then it becomes a celebration. But if you are guilty, then through love you start punishing yourself, or you start punishing the other. You cannot enjoy love because you feel you are so guilty, so bad. How you can enjoy love? You create a hell out of love. This seems impossible because outside his room Hitler is almost a god, people worship him. And inside his room he feels himself so inferior, guilty, condemned, that he wants to punish himself, even through love.This type of man will not find a womb easily – almost impossible. For centuries he will have to wait, only then he can find such a womb, such a man and such a woman making love, who are so guilt-ridden, so condemned in themselves, only then can he choose the womb. But this happens unconsciously, so you need not worry much about it. You die unconsciously, unconsciously you are born – it happens automatically. The mind moves, just gropes in the dark and enters a womb. But if you die consciously, then the next birth is going to be conscious.If you die consciously and are born consciously, you will know that there is no birth and no death, only a body has been chosen. If you move to a new house, do you say that this is a new birth? You remain the same, only the house changes. If you change your old clothes, do you say this is a new birth, I am born? No, because you have only changed the clothes; you remain the same.This is how one who becomes alert, comes to know that all changes are just changes of dresses and houses and places, situations, circumstances, but you remain the same; the center never changes, it is eternal.Says Ikkyu: “If you think you really come and go, that is your delusion. Let me show you the path on which there is no coming and going.”What is that path? Really is there a path? Because we have to use language, that’s why he says “path.” Otherwise there is no path because a path always leads somewhere. No path can lead to you because you are already there. If you want to come to me, there is a path, has to be. If you come to somebody, you have to follow a path, go through a passage, a bridge, something or other because you are moving outward. But if you want to go inward, there is no path. You are already there. A sudden jerk is needed, and you simply feel that you are there.It is just like when you dream in the night: you fall into sleep in Pune, and in the dream you are back at your London home, or in New York, or in Kolkata, or in Tokyo, and in the dream you completely forget that you are in Pune. Then what is needed? Just a jerk. Somebody comes and wakes you up. Will you wake up in London, Tokyo, New York, or in Pune? It would have been very difficult, it will create a very absurd world, if you are dreaming of New York and suddenly somebody wakes you, and you wake up in New York! Then this world would have been a nightmare. But you wake up in Pune; the dream disappears.Buddhas have been teaching this: that there is no need to go anywhere because you are already there where you want to go; but you are in a dream – in a dream only have you moved from the center. You cannot move from there. You are there. For millions of lives you may have been dreaming, but you have not moved from the center where you are. Nobody can move. Just a jerk, just somebody to shock you… You become alert, and suddenly the dream disappears. The dreamland and New York and London, they disappear, and you are here and now.This jerk, this shock can be given very easily at the moment of death because the whole body-mind is going through a great change. Everything is in chaos. In chaos you can be made alert more easily because everything is uncomfortable. When everything is comfortable, it is difficult to bring a man out of the dream. Nobody really wants to come out of a comfortable dream. Only when the dream becomes a nightmare, then you scream.I have heard…One night Mulla Nasruddin screamed so loudly that even the neighbors came to ask what has happened. Mulla Nasruddin was sitting on his bed weeping, tears flowing down, and his wife was consoling him, and saying, “It was just a dream Nasruddin. Why are you creating so much nuisance? The neighbors have come, there is a crowd.”Nasruddin said, “But the dream was such… Let me first tell you the dream. In the dream I went to a wife auction – such beautiful women. One woman fetched ten thousand rupees, another five thousand, and many for thousands.“I had no money. I tried and tried, but there was no money. I looked in all my pockets” – and he had one pocket, he would never look in it – he said, “I even looked in that pocket.”There was a special pocket he would never look in. And if something was lost, people would ask, “Have you looked in all the pockets? Why not in this one?”He would say, “Because that still gives me hope. If I look in that pocket also, hope is gone because I think maybe still there is a possibility, but I never look in it because I know well it is not there.”He said, “I looked even in that special pocket – and no money. I was weeping and crying.”But his wife was not interested in this. She asked, “Nasruddin, and were there wives there like me also?” She asked foolishly, as any woman will ask because no woman is interested in other beautiful women; rather, she felt jealous. She asked, “What about wives like me? How much were they fetching?”Nasruddin said, “That’s why I screamed. Wives like you those people had put in bundles. One dozen, two dozen – for one rupee a bunch they were selling wives like you. That’s why I screamed: no money to purchase, and that was what was happening to my wife!”But he was crying and weeping even out of the dream.Dreams are effective, they go deep because in an unconscious mind the distinction is really very vague; what is dream, and what is real is very vague. They are mixed, the boundaries are not so clear-cut, the boundaries are blurred.Have you seen a child waking, and weeping because he has lost a toy he saw in the dream? – or looking around for the toy, wondering where has the toy disappeared to?But this child never dies in you. It dies only when you make much effort to become alert; only then do the dream and the reality become clear-cut distinctions. And once the vagueness is lost, once the boundaries are not blurred, once you become aware what is dream, and what is reality, the dream stops because then the dream cannot continue. If you have become aware the dream cannot continue, even in a dream, if you become aware that this is a dream, the dream will stop immediately.So you never become aware in a dream, “This is a dream,” you always feel, “This is real.” For anything to continue, your feeling is needed that this is real. You give reality through the feeling. If you withdraw the feeling, the dream disappears, and only the reality remains.It is a dream that you are in this world, and it is the reality that you exist in the divine. It is a dream that you are in the market; it is the reality that you have never moved from the very center of existence, from godliness. It is a dream you have moved in the market, and a dream can continue, there is no time limit. If you think you are the body, this is a dream. You have never been a body. If you think you are born and you die, this is a dream. You have never been born, and you can never die; that is impossible.Said Ikkyu, “This is your delusion if you say, ‘I come, and I go.’ There is no one to come and no one to go. And there is no place to come to and no place to go to. Let me show you the pathless path. Because then there can be no path – because if there is no one to come and no one to go, no place to come to and no place to go to, then how can the path exist? So let me show you the pathless path on which there is no coming and no going.”With his words Ikkyu had revealed the path so clearly that Ninakawa smiled and passed away.It happened! You have heard the words, but you are not Ninakawa, you are not that ready, you are not on your deathbed – that’s the problem. You are still hoping for something in life, your dream still has much meaning for you, you have investments in your dream. You may have a desire to come out of the dream, but this desire is only half-hearted. The other part goes on saying, “Dream it a little more, it is so beautiful.”One night Mulla Nasruddin called his wife and said, “Bring my specs because I have been seeing a beautiful dream, and much more is promised to me. Bring my specs because the place is not so well lighted, and I cannot see clearly.”You may be having nightmares; in those moments you feel, “How to drop out of the dream?” – but you have beautiful dreams also; not only hellish dreams, you have heavenly dreams. And that’s the problem: unless you become aware that even a heavenly dream is a dream and useless, you are not on the deathbed. Your desire continues, you go on watering the world of dreams, feeding it, helping it to grow.Ninakawa was on his deathbed, he was dying, there was no future left. He was in a chaos. The whole system, the whole adjustment of body, mind and soul was getting looser and looser. Things were falling apart, he was not together. The nightmare was intense because it is most intense in death. He was simply miserable in that moment: death and no future.If there is no future, you cannot dream because dreams need space, time to move. That’s why death looks so dangerous because it allows no time to think. You cannot hope because there is no tomorrow. Death does not kill you, it simply kills the tomorrow, and tomorrow has been your very existence. You have never lived today, you have been always postponing for tomorrow. And death kills the tomorrow, it simply burns your calendar; suddenly the clock stops, time doesn’t move.Without time what can you do? How can the mind think, desire, dream? Death closes the door – that is the fear.Why does death make you so afraid and trembling and scared? Because there seems to be no beyond, no possibility to escape from it. You cannot do anything because you cannot think, and you know only one thing: thinking, nothing else. Your whole life has been a thinking. Now death allows no thinking. Only a man who has been meditating and has realized no-thinking before death will not be afraid because he knows that thinking is not life.And he knows a different plenum of existence. He knows the depth, not the length of existence. He is not moving from this moment to that, he is not moving from today to tomorrow. He is moving in this moment, deeper and deeper and deeper; in today, deeper and deeper and deeper. He is moving here and now, in the depth.You touch this moment, and you move to another moment; you have a horizontal movement: from A to B, from B to C, from C to D. And a man who meditates goes on moving from A1 to A2 to A3 – in the depth – not to B. He has no tomorrow. This here and now is the only existence, then how can there be death for him? This moment you are alive; only in the next moment can you die. This moment no one has ever died. This moment you are alive, and this man who meditates moves into this moment – how can he die?Death will happen on the periphery; he will come to know about it. It will be just as you come to know about a neighbor who is dead: he will come to know about it, that the body is dead – this will be news. He may even feel sorry for the body, but he is not dying.Ninakawa was a meditator just on the verge of enlightenment, still clinging. You can take a jump into the abyss, but still you can cling to a creeper – and you can go on clinging, afraid. You are almost in the abyss, sooner or later you will fall, but still for a moment more the mind says, “Cling!” He was clinging to the scriptures, to the buddhas, to the words, the doctrines. He was still repeating knowledge. Just a creeper – sooner or later he will have to leave this because when life leaves you, how can words be retained? They will leave you.With this, Ikkyu’s revelation, he understood, he left the clinging. He smiled and passed away.You never smile. Either you weep, or you laugh, but you never smile. A smile is just in the middle, it is difficult for you. Either you weep, or you laugh; they are the possibilities, the two extremes. Try to find out what this phenomenon of a smile is.Only a buddha smiles because it is just in the middle. A smile has both a sadness in it, the sadness of the tears, and the happiness of laughter. A smile has both. A smile is never simple laughter: it has the expansion of laughter and the depth of sadness – it is both. Look at Buddha, meditate on him, and you will see in his face both a sadness and a happiness; a blissful flowing of his being and still a deep sadness.With these two chemicals, so to say, a smile is created. When you feel sad for everybody and for the whole existence, you feel sad because they are unnecessarily suffering. You cannot imagine the sadness of a buddha, it is difficult for you. You only think that a buddha is happy. He is happy as far as he himself is concerned, but for you? You cannot conceive his difficulty because he sees you, and you are unnecessarily suffering, and nothing can be done, you cannot be helped. A disease that is not there – and incurable! And he knows that just by the corner, just a turn of your being, and everything will be solved. But you will not take that turn. You will jump, and you will do many things, but you will always miss that turn. You will grope in the dark, but somehow, miraculously, you always miss the door. You know how to miss the door, you are perfect in that: how to miss the door and always go on groping.A buddha is in difficulty because he has realized something which is there with you already. The same blissful existence, the same beauty, the same ecstasy that he has, you have. And you go on crying, and you go on beating your chest, and you are in such a suffering, and nothing can be done. A sadness…It is said about Buddha that when he reached the door – the final door beyond which there is no door, and you cannot come back; that is the ultimate – when he reached the door of nirvana, the door was opened for him, and there was welcome. Because once in millions of years somebody reaches to the ultimate. But he turned his back toward the door and looked at the world, and they say he is still standing there, he has not entered the door.The doorkeeper asked, “What are you doing? You have been endeavoring for this for many, many lives. Now the door is open, come in.”And Buddha said, “Unless everybody who is suffering out there enters, I cannot enter. I will be the last to enter.” This is the sadness.The story is really beautiful. Nobody can stand at that ultimate door, that’s true; there is no door like that and no doorkeeper. You fall, and there is no way to stop yourself. The story is beautiful; that shows in a symbolic way the consciousness of a buddha – the trouble, his anguish, his suffering. It is not his suffering now, it is the suffering of others that makes him sad.It is as if you have awakened, but everybody else is fast asleep, and they are dreaming and dreaming nightmares – screaming, jumping, crying, weeping, and you know that these are just nightmares, but these people are so drunk and so fast asleep, you cannot help. If you try to wake them up, they become angry. They say, “Why are you disturbing our sleep? Who are you?” You cannot wake them, and you have to see their suffering, and suffer it.Buddha is sad – for you. Buddha laughs deeply, his whole being is filled with laughter – just like a tree has come to flower, everything has become a dance. And these both meet in him: the laughter that bubbles and goes on coming out, and still he cannot laugh because of you and the sadness that you create. They both meet and the meeting creates a smile. A smile is both laughter and tears.You cannot smile – you can laugh, you can weep. When you weep, how can you laugh? Because in weeping it is always for yourself; it is a single element. When you laugh, you laugh; how can you weep? – because laughing is for yourself. In Buddha, the ego has disappeared, now he is no more, the meeting has happened with the all. Two elements meet: his consciousness which has become perfect, and all around millions of consciousnesses which are perfect, suffering – unnecessarily suffering, suffering without any cause – these two meet, and a sad and yet happy smile comes to his face.He cannot weep because what you are doing is so foolish. He cannot laugh because that will be too hard on you. At the most he can smile. This happened, so a smile has become a symbol of one who has become enlightened.With his words, Ikkyu had revealed the path so clearly that Ninakawa smiled and passed away. Then it was not a death but just a passing – passing to another world, a passing to another birth; then nobody was dying. And if you can die with a smile, you know the art of dying, and the whole of religion consists in the art of dying, nothing else than that.Now I will repeat the first story we started, so that you don’t forget it: it is so easy to forget, and you would like to forget it; forgetfulness is a trick.These ten days we have been talking about “No Water, No Moon.” It will remain just a talk – words and words and words – if you are not ready to die. Be on your deathbed! Be a Ninakawa! Then these words are so clear, as Ikkyu’s never were. I tell you: these words are as clear as Ikkyu’s never were. You can also smile and pass away – remember:The nun Chiyono studied for many years, but she was unable to find enlightenment. One night she was carrying an old pail filled with water. As she was walking along, she was watching the full moon reflected in the pail of water.Suddenly the stems holding the bamboo pail together broke, and…the water rushed out; the moon’s reflection disappeared, and Chiyono became enlightened.Afterward she wrote this poem:This way and that wayI tried to keep the old pail togetherHoping the weak bambooWould never break.Suddenly the bottom fell out;No more water,No more reflection of the full moon in the water,Emptiness in my hand!Go with emptiness in your hand because that’s all… That’s all I can offer to you, and nothing is greater than that. This is my gift: go with emptiness in your hand. If you can carry emptiness in your hand, then everything becomes possible. Don’t carry possessions, don’t carry knowledge, don’t carry anything that fills the pot and becomes the water because then you will be seeing only the reflection. In wealth, in possessions, in houses, in cars, in prestige, you will see only the reflection of the full moon. And the full moon is there waiting for you.Let the bottom drop! Don’t try this way and that way to protect the old pail. It is not worth it. Don’t protect yourself, it is not worth it. Let the pail break down, let the water flow, let the moon in the water disappear because only then will you be able to raise your eyes toward the real moon. It is always there in the sky, but emptiness in the hand is needed. Remain more and more empty, think yourself more and more empty, behave more and more as if you are empty. By and by, by and by, you will have the taste of it. And once the taste comes, it is so beautiful.Once you know the taste of emptiness, you have known the very meaning of life. Carry emptiness, drop the pail of water which is your ego, and your mind and your thoughts, and remember: no water, no moon – emptiness in the hand.Enough for today.

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The New Dawn 01-33Category: OSHO’S VISION FOR THE WORLD

The New Dawn 01 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,I have tried, and cannot find the words that adequately convey the beauty of those moments when you enter the auditorium. I see the heads of my beloved friends bend down: their love and reverence for you is so poignant, and touches me so deeply. And when your eyes fall on mine, I feel as if I am drinking from a chalice full of golden light. This connection between you and us, your devotees, this is the real “holy communion,” isn't it?Maneesha, the space, the connection, the merging and the melting that can be called communion, is one of the great secrets of religious life. We have to understand another word before we can comprehend the meaning and the fragrance of the word communion, and that word is communication. We all know what it means. When two persons are meeting without meeting, without any merging, without any melting – both are keeping a safe distance from each other – it is called communication.They may be talking, but nobody is hearing. They are talking almost as if in sleep. Their talk may be apparently relevant, rational, but deep down, it is something totally different. When one is speaking, the other is pretending to listen, but he is really preparing what he is going to say after the other stops. He is not silent, he is not absorbing, he is not allowing the other to approach his heart.In fact, when two persons are meeting, there are four persons, not two. Two are the real persons which are hidden behind two false personalities; both are pretending to be what they are not. Both are trying to show their best, both are on exhibition, both are showmen. The real persons are hidden behind; they are unapproachable. You can at the most have contact with the mask, with the personality.And because the personality is false, all its promises are false, all its commitments are false – it says something, it does just the opposite. It says something, it means something else. To watch two persons, just as an observer, you will be surprised: nobody is hearing anybody, and yet both are pretending that they are not only hearing, they are understanding, they are responding. And what is their response? They just catch a word, and they jump in and start talking. It seems to be related, because they have caught a word from your talk. But they are not responding to you; they have been preparing what they are saying without hearing you.I have heard…An old man is sitting in a railway compartment and a young man in front of him asks, “Can I know the time?” The old man has a watch, but the old man thinks for a while. The young man thinks, “It is strange, I have just asked about the time – what is he thinking? Perhaps he is deaf, he is old.” So he shouts loudly, “I want to know, what is the time?”The old man said, “Listen, young man, I am not deaf. I have heard that you want to know what the time is, but I was thinking whether to tell you the time or not, because life is such a puzzling affair, and I am so experienced.”The young man said, “This is such a simple question. You have a watch, you can just tell me the time; there is no problem, no puzzle, nothing.”He said, “You don’t understand. Once I tell you the time, one thing leads to another. I will ask you, ‘Where are you going?’ And you will say, ‘The next station,’ and I will say, ‘That’s strange, I am also going there. In fact I live there, so why don’t you come and have a cup of coffee with us?’ But I have a young girl, very beautiful, and it is absolutely certain that you will fall in love with each other. And I don’t want my daughter to be married to a man who does not have even a wristwatch. So I was thinking, ‘Now this young man is trying to create a trouble for me.’”Life is certainly puzzling.And these people are conversing with each other!Two professors were in the same madhouse, and the superintendent wanted to know what would happen if they were both put in the same cell. Both were great intellectuals, well-known writers.So he puts them both in one cell, and he has a small window from where he can watch but they cannot see him. And they immediately get into a very involved conversation. He is puzzled because one is talking about the earth and the other is talking about the sky, and the conversation is going perfectly well; there is no connection at all. It is impossible to find at what point they connect. They are like parallel lines which never meet, but go on running side by side.Finally he opens the door. He cannot resist the temptation, and he tells them, “I cannot understand. You are both talking, and talking beautifully, but you are not relating with each other.” And they both say, “You need not be worried, we know the art of conversation: I wait while he talks; when he stops, I talk. He waits, he is a very polite fellow. When I stop, he starts – this is the art of conversation.”But the superintendent said, “But you don’t connect with each other.” And both laughed; they said, “Who does connect with each other?”In the whole world people are only pretending to connect; otherwise everybody is waiting for the other to stop, so he can start. He says what he wants to say; it has nothing to do with the other person and what he has said. You just watch yourself talking to people, and you will be surprised: those two mad professors were not wrong about everybody.Paddy and Mick met in the street. “Have you seen Mulligan lately?” asked Paddy.“Well,” answered Mick, “I have, and I haven’t.”“And what do you mean by that?” asked Paddy.“Well,” said Mick, “it’s like this: I saw a chap that he thought was me, and when we got up to one another, it was neither of us.”It looks insane, but whenever you are meeting with people, neither you are you, nor the other person is himself. Both are wearing a facade, a mask. Both are hiding behind it; the realities don’t come in contact, only the hypocrisies communicate. And communication is the only thing we ordinarily know. Communion is possible when the personalities are dropped and instead of four there are only two – the real and authentic beings.Communion is a silent meeting.Just as a river disappears into the ocean, two beings disappear into each other, without holding anything back. Two flames come close to each other and suddenly become one flame. Neither loses anything, and both gain all the treasures of the other.Maneesha, you are saying, “I have tried and cannot find the words that adequately convey the beauty of those moments when you enter the auditorium.” Words will always fail whenever something really beautiful, something existential, something of the beyond, something sacred is happening. Words simply fall short.Always remember, when words fall short, it is a very blissful moment; when you cannot express it, then it has some significance. If you can express it, if it is possible to put it into words and language, then it is just something below mind.Everything below mind is mundane.Everything beyond mind is sacred.But that which is beyond mind cannot be put into language, into words. So whenever you see a moment arising in you that is so big that no word can contain it, you are blessed; you are showered by flowers from the beyond.You are saying, “I see the heads of my beloved friends bend down: their love and reverence for you is so poignant, and touches me so deeply. And when your eyes fall on mine, I feel as if I am drinking from a chalice full of golden light. This connection between you and us, your devotees, this is the real ‘holy communion,’ isn’t it?”Yes, this is the holy communion, where the egos disappear in a great flood of love, where small minds are left far behind, and you are flying like eagles across the sun, in the infinity of the sky – where you are not bound by your bodies, by your minds; where suddenly, you have become a freedom, a spirit. And if there are many people together in the same space it certainly deepens the mystery, the glory, the magnificence, the divineness of the moment. Yes, Maneesha, this is what I call “holy communion.”I am not.I have not been there for a long time.In certain moments you join me, and you are also no more. In this silence, in this nothingness, where neither I am nor you are, but only a silence prevails – this is the “holy communion.” This is the greatest beautitude, the highest benediction.This is the door to the divine. This is the door invisible to the eyes, but perfectly visible to the inner being.Those who enter this door are no more Hindus, no more Christians, no more Buddhists. They are simply pure spirits, just innocent beings – with a fragrance they have never known, which surrounds them with a light that dispels all darkness…with a music which is without any sound, and a feeling of dance, although there is not any movement.This is the great secret of being religious.Osho,Many Germans think Martin Luther to be a great rebel. He toppled the absolute power of the pope, made the Latin Bible available to all by translating it, and married a nun. Yet he immediately joined other vested interests. And the whole event is called “The Reformation.” Can you please speak on the difference between rebellion and reformation, and whether real rebellion can turn into reformation.I have never spoken on Martin Luther for a particular reason. He was neither rebellious, nor religious; he was a pure politician. He toppled the power of the pope, not because he was against power – he wanted to have it himself, he was jealous of it. Because he could not get it, he created a split in Christianity between those who followed the pope and those who followed him.His desire for power was so great that as soon as he had created the split in Christianity, he immediately joined hands with the vested interests. This is not possible for a rebel.A rebel is always a rebel. It does not matter who has the power, he is always against people having power; his whole philosophy is decentralization of power. Power should not be centralized in a few hands, either political or economic or religious. It should be decentralized. It should be given to everybody – to every individual, his own power. Nobody should be in possession of somebody else’s power.Martin Luther was a cunning politician. It was because of his cunningness and political acumen that he managed to create a rift in Christianity, pretending to be a great rebel. Jealousy finds a thousand and one ways to hide its face.His whole mind was bent upon becoming the pope, but if it was not possible, then he would not allow anybody else to remain in absolute power. The people who followed him are not accidentally called Protestants. Basically, he was protesting against the power of the pope, not so that the power should be distributed, but so that he should be given the power. And just to show that he does not care about the pope, he married a nun and he translated the Bible into the living languages.The pope was against both: a monk should be a celibate, and the pope was not willing to have the Bible translated into the ordinary languages which people use. The reasons are clear – it is not only the pope, all the religions in the world have resisted having their holy scriptures translated into the living languages which people speak. The fear is that if they can understand what is written in the holy scripture, they will pass through a great shock – because there is nothing much holy in it.And there is so much unholy in it…These so-called holy scriptures cannot even be considered great literature. Their standard is so mundane, so mediocre that all the religions of the world have thought it is better that they should remain in languages which nobody understands anymore.When you hear somebody chanting sutras in Sanskrit, it seems they must have meaning of tremendous significance – particularly all old languages are very musical. They had to be, because writing came into existence very late, and people had to remember. And it is easier to remember poetry than to remember prose. So all holy scriptures are poetic, and all old languages – Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Chinese – are all very musical. If you don’t understand them, they sound great. It feels like there must be a secret hidden meaning in these musical, beautiful words.Translated, they fall flat on the ground; there is nothing much in them. They are so ordinary that sometimes one feels ashamed – this is my holy scripture? Many of the holy scriptures are full of obscenity, full of pornography. The Holy Bible has five hundred pages of sheer pornography. The pope was afraid because to bring the Bible into ordinary living languages, which people know and use, was dangerous. And celibacy was the fundamental attitude of all religions, not only of Christianity.Martin Luther was so angry because he could not become the pope – and it was not in his hands to become the pope; a pope is elected by the cardinals.They have a special way of electing a pope: there are perhaps two hundred topmost cardinals who gather in the Vatican whenever a pope dies. There is a special place in the Vatican where there are two hundred small cells. Those cardinals move into those cells for twenty-four hours, fasting, praying, finding the message of God within their hearts: who should be the pope? After twenty-four hours, they write the name of one of the cardinals from among those two hundred cardinals, and then all those pieces of paper are collected. Whoever gets more votes, whoever gets his name written by more cardinals than anybody else, is chosen as the pope.It is a very strange election: you cannot campaign, you cannot ask somebody, “Please give your vote to me” – it is prohibited. And you cannot meet anybody else while you are deciding; you are closed in your small cell. It is hoped that, fasting and praying, you will do something which will be right, which will not come out of political considerations but which will come out of deeper feelings: who is really capable of being the head of the whole religion? – because he is going to be the representative of Jesus Christ.Martin Luther had no hope…but he could create a protest, and he chose two particular points on which people would support him – this is simple politics – because many priests, bishops, and cardinals wanted to get married, but had not the courage to fight against the tradition. When Martin Luther married a nun, immediately so many other priests and bishops followed – not that they were convinced that Martin Luther’s ideology was right, but because he was giving them an opportunity to get married and yet remain a Christian. They were tired of suppressing.And the masses supported him because he was bringing the Bible into the language of the people. People wanted to know what was in the Bible; it was a mystery to them.Martin Luther could not become the pope of the whole of Christianity, but he became the head of the Protestant Church. He became a second pope of a sect which had broken away from the mainstream. I have never spoken on him consideredly, because I don’t count him, in any way, among the religious people – he was not rebellious at all. He was simply jealous, and that is the reason why, as he separated from the church and created a new sect, he immediately joined hands with the establishments of other vested interests. He needed power, he needed money, he needed new churches; he needed everything to create a whole religion – and he created it.It is called in the books of history, Nirvano, The Reformation. In a very ordinary way, it can be called a reformation – nothing much to brag about. What is great in marrying a nun? Is there some great revolution happening? Millions of people are married. What is great in translating the Bible from Latin? It was translated from Hebrew into Greek, from Greek into Latin, so what was the problem? It had already been translated into different languages; now it could be translated into English, into German. Yes, there was some kind of reformation, but I don’t give any value to it.One man came to me a few years ago with a letter of introduction from one of my old professors: “This man is very revolutionary, you will like him. I am sending him to you, he always wanted to meet you.”I asked the man, “What kind of revolution have you made? Or what kind of revolutionary thoughts do you have?” He said, “I have married a widow.”I said, “What revolution is this? Every widow should be allowed to be married. What? Is this all the revolution that you have done, or is there any other revolution?”He said, “Up to now I have done only this revolution.”I said, “This is not much of a revolution.”In another place I met a man who was known in that area as very revolutionary – and what was he doing? He was doing collective marriages. Ordinarily, one man goes to marry a woman, but he would collect a dozen women and a dozen men to cut expenses – just one priest can do the whole process for one dozen couples, there is no need to do it one dozen times. And he was thought to be a great social revolutionary.I said, “What kind of revolution are you doing?”But these are the things that are thought to be revolutionary. What Martin Luther has done is just ordinary; it does not make any change in human consciousness. It has not raised the Protestant Christians, in any way, higher in consciousness than the Catholics. It does not in any way contribute to the betterment of humanity. It has just fulfilled the egoistic desire of Martin Luther to be a pope himself, the head of the Protestant religion; he claimed to be the real successor of Jesus Christ. I am not interested at all in these kinds of reformations; basically, they are stupid.Just a few days ago, one of my sannyasins, whose husband had divorced her, was going to get married. She brought me the form for applying to the registry office to get married, and there was a section: “Are you married or not?” Her advocate had suggested, “You have to write that you are divorced.”I said, “Don’t write that because the moment you write that you are divorced, it means a lot of paperwork: you have to prove it, find testimonials, certificates, divorce certificates from the magistrate. Just write ‘Unmarried,’ because the form is simply asking, ‘Married or unmarried?’ It is not asking, ‘Divorced or not?’ And once you are divorced you are simply unmarried; you are again ready for marriage. What does ‘divorced’ mean? – simply that you are no longer married; you are again a Miss.”She said, “But my advocate says that…”I said, “Forget all about that advocate. Simply write your name with a Miss, unmarried. You can get married as many times as you want, and you can get unmarried as many times as you want – but each time you get unmarried you are again a Miss.”But people will start proclaiming such things to be revolution, social reformation. Revolution is a big word. It should change some foundations of life. Reformation is not that big, but still it should formulate better life systems.What has Martin Luther done? He translated the Bible into German, and became himself a head and proclaimed, “I am the real representative of Jesus Christ” – because he did not have any hope or any possibility to be chosen as pope. He was so stubborn and so egoistic that nobody wanted him. He was not even a cardinal – the question of being chosen as pope does not arise.So it was just ambition, and to fulfill his ambition he had to persuade the public mind that he was doing something good for their welfare. Of course nuns liked it, because many nuns were dying to get married; many monks liked it – they were dying to get married and they could not tell anyone. The people who followed him were the people who were cowards and could not take a stand on their own.And the masses loved the idea that the Bible should be available in their own language, but it changes nothing. Instead of one pope, now there are two popes. Instead of one Christianity, now there are two Christianities. And what is the difference between them? – just these are the differences, not even worth calling differences.Paddy was dawdling on the way to work, looking half asleep. Mick caught up with him. “What is wrong with you this fine morning?” asked Mick. “You look half asleep.”“I am half asleep,” said Paddy. “I was up half the night.”“What was the trouble?” pursued Mick.“It was the cat,” replied Paddy. “I had to sit up till midnight waiting for her to come in so I could put her out for the night.”Reformation, revolution, rebellion – we have to take these words out of the hands of those people who have destroyed their beauty and their meaning.Osho,Growth is my passion, transformation my first love. Because I hold the belief that growth comes through hard work, struggle, and agony, I am happiest when I am in pain, which I interpret as being useful for my growth. I keep this belief, because my experience is that many times after deep suffering, a breakthrough happens for me. Would you please explain the suffering I feel as a seeker and how it differs from my old neurotic misery?Avirbhava, I think you have a certain point of significance: misery can certainly be different from suffering – it may not be, but there is a possibility of its being different. Misery is a state of mind when the night is dark and you don’t have even a hope of any dawn. When all hopes die, you shrink within yourself.You want to die, but you cannot die either. You cannot live, you cannot die; you are crushed between the two. This kind of misery does not help growth; on the contrary, it destroys all the possibilities of growth. The night becomes longer and longer, and the dawn goes on receding farther and farther. Instead of having a breakthrough, you can only have a breakdown.But there are states of mind when you are in suffering; misery is absolutely negative, suffering has a positive side to it. Suffering means you have a longing, a hope, and you are not finding a way. You are searching, but you are failing again and again. You are trying your best to come out of it – you are struggling with your suffering, you have not accepted it as your fate. Then there is a possibility that the night will end – a new dawn, a new beginning, a new consciousness.The difference is in whether you have accepted your suffering as your fate – “this is all life is” – then it is misery. If you have not accepted it as your life, but only as birth pangs – that when you are being born you have to pass through a certain pain, but there is a future beyond pain, and the pain is going to help you to reach that state beyond it – then suffering has a possibility of breakthrough.And Avirbhava, as I know you…I have been watching you. It is something special – you may start crying, in a moment, tears, big tears, real big tears. And then suddenly all the clouds have moved and Avirbhava starts smiling a beautiful smile. The tears have disappeared. And within a second again – as many seconds as it takes for me to come from the room to my chair, or to go from my chair back to the room – in this small time span, Avirbhava can go into many breakthroughs.Just go on watching her: she goes on changing, any moment, absolutely unpredictable. So many seasons come and go, and between all these tears and laughter she looks absolutely innocent, like a child, utterly pure. Her tears don’t look like tears of misery. And her observation seems to be perfectly right. Perhaps what brings tears to her eyes helps her to move toward laughter. And so easy and quick is the change. Everybody once in a while feels such things, but you have old type gears, you have to change by hand. She has automatic gears – just for no reason at all, one moment…Just one joke for her:Hymie Goldberg was stopped on the highway for speeding. The traffic officer was about to book him when he saw there were fifteen penguins sitting in the back seat of Hymie’s car.“What are those penguins doing there?” asked the traffic officer.“They were hitching a ride,” said Hymie, “so I picked them up. I am taking them to the zoo.”“Okay,” said the traffic officer, “I will let you off this time.”The following week Hymie was stopped for speeding on the highway again by the same traffic officer, who recognized the same fifteen penguins in the back of the car. This time all the penguins were wearing sunglasses.“I thought you said you were taking those penguins to the zoo?” said the traffic officer.“Yes, officer,” said Hymie, “that was last week. Today we are going to the beach.”

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The New Dawn 01-33Category: OSHO’S VISION FOR THE WORLD

The New Dawn 02 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,For the past three months, I have been working physically quite hard in the garden. I loved the work very much, and I felt deeply connected to you. It was as if your creativity and grace were blissfully flowing through me. But somehow in the last few weeks, I have fallen out of this beautiful space and I have seen a lot of old ghosts turning up again: impatience, competitiveness, perfectionism, lots of anger and seriousness. Simultaneously, I very painfully experienced my being less connected with you, to whom I have felt so close and who allowed me to be so close.While writing this I cannot contain my tears. What went wrong? Soon I have to leave but I don't want to leave with this burden. Please, beloved, help me, and show me where I missed, so that I can leave in joy and peace and carry you with me in my heart.Premda, the evolution of consciousness goes through many ups and downs. It is a hilly track. Nothing has gone wrong with you – it is just that you are not acquainted with how the path moves. Many times it goes down just to go higher than before. It passes through valleys to reach to the peaks, and each peak is just a beginning of a new pilgrimage because a higher peak is ahead of you. But to reach to the higher peak, you will have to go down again. Once you have understood that it is natural, all your misery, all your clouds will simply disperse.You have been doing perfectly well. So the first thing to be remembered is, never be worried when days of down-going come; keep your eyes always on the faraway stars. Those valleys are parts of the mountains. You cannot take the valleys away and leave the mountains alone. Once this sinks deep into you, you will pass through the valleys dancing and singing, knowing perfectly well that a higher peak is waiting for you. And there is no end to this pilgrimage. Just as every day is followed by night, every height is followed by a down-going.One has to learn not only to rejoice in the day but to rejoice in the night too – it has its own beauty. The peaks have their glory, the valleys have their richness. But if you become addicted to the peaks only, you have started choosing, and any consciousness that starts choosing gets into trouble. Remain choiceless, and whatever comes, enjoy it as a part of natural growth.The night may become even darker, but the darker the night becomes, the closer is the dawn. So rejoice in the darkening night, and learn to see the beauty of darkness, of the stars, because in the day you will not find those stars. And never compare what has been, and what should be, and what is.What is has to be rejoiced.Now you are going away from me – this will give you a new experience, because you may be going away from me but I am not going away from you. You will find me in your joyful moments and you will find me in your sad moments. A life which knows no sadness, no tears, remains poor. Life has to know all the varieties of experiences to be rich. The more you know different aspects of existence, and still keep yourself together and centered, the more your life will find itself becoming richer and richer every moment, every day.Going away is just a means of coming back again. How can you come back if you don’t go away? Always look at life as a dialectical process.Here, night brings the day.Here, death brings a new life.Here, sadness brings a new rejoicing.Here, emptiness brings a new fulfillment.Everything is connected together…it is part of one organic whole. We create problems by dividing things. Learn the art – not to divide, but simply to remain alert, watchful, enjoying whatsoever life provides.You are here with me; you will be in Germany with me because my being with you is not a physical affair. It is a love affair which knows no distances of time, no distances of space. Wherever you are, you will find me. In whatever situation you are, you will find me. Just remember one thing: accept everything that life gives to you. If it gives you darkness, enjoy it – dance under the stars in the dark night, remembering that every night is nothing but a womb for a new dawn, and every day is going to rest again in the darkness of the night.When it is fall and the trees become naked, and all the foliage falls down, just watch the old leaves flying in the wind in the forest, almost dancing. And the naked trees have a beauty of their own against the sky, but they are not going to remain naked forever. The old leaves have fallen just to give place for new leaves, new flowers.Existence goes on renewing itself every moment. You should keep in tune with existence, never ask otherwise. That is the root cause of misery: when it is night, you cry for the day; when it is day, you cry for the rest of the night. Then life becomes a misery, a hell. You can make it a paradise by just accepting whatever is given to you with a grateful heart. Don’t judge whether it is good or bad. Your gratefulness will transform everything into a beautiful experience, and will deepen your awareness, will heighten your love, will make you a beautiful flower with great fragrance.Just learn the art of total acceptance.Gautam Buddha calls this the philosophy of thusness: whatever is, accept it as the nature of reality. Don’t even imagine to go against it. Never go against the current; just follow the river wherever it leads.Two tramps sat with their backs against a tree. “You know, Jim,” the first tramp mused, “this business of tramping your way through life is not what it is cracked up to be – wandering, unwanted everywhere, sneered at by your fellow man.”“Well,” observed the second tramp, “if that’s the way you feel about it, why don’t you go and find yourself a job?”“What?” exclaimed his friend, “and admit that I’m a failure?”Never admit that you are a failure. The secret of thusness, the secret of total acceptance, is the secret of absolute success; you cannot fail. There is no power anywhere that can make you a failure, because even in failure you will be dancing and rejoicing. Transform every opportunity into something creative and beautiful.I don’t want you to get the illusory idea of remaining permanently in the same state of mind; that is possible only if you are dead. If you are alive, climates will change, seasons will change; and you have to learn through winters, through summers, through rains. You have to pass through all these seasons with a dance in your heart, knowing perfectly well that existence is never against you. So whatever it gives, it may be bitter, but it is a medicine. It may not taste sweet to you in the beginning, but finally you will find it has given you something which just one state of mind could not have given.So whatever is happening is good…take it easy. This will not stay, this will also change; but don’t make any effort to change it. Leave it up to existence. This is what I call trust. Existence is wiser than you and will provide you with all the opportunities needed for your growth.Osho,The white cloud is now an experience. The whole world changed the moment I let go. Existence takes care, and life is an adventure. So this way of life – no nationality, no house, no society – is tremendously rich and beautiful inside. The outer world seems sometimes like a bad dream. Everywhere I go I am a problem for people, and everywhere there are houses in which there is somebody who says, “This is my house.” Many are afraid of dropping their masks, but happiness is my blessing. Thank you, Osho, for creating me. As your lover now, in this reality, my character has become like yours. Wherever I go, it feels you go there – or Shiva, or Krishna. This is my real family. Is everything okay with me, Osho?Everything is absolutely okay with you. That’s what I was telling Premda. He is feeling something has gone wrong. The only thing is that somewhere in the corner of your mind there is still a question mark; otherwise the question would not have arisen. Everything is perfectly good except the last sentence when you ask, “Is everything okay with me, Osho?” That sentence is not right; otherwise, everything is perfectly okay.But I can understand when it happens for the first time…it is so vast, so enormous, so inconceivable to you that you cannot believe it is happening to you. And when you look at others…and just because of old habit, you compare; then the question arises – it is not happening to everybody, it is happening only to me. Am I right or have I gone crazy? In fact, you have gone crazy – that’s why you are right.I teach nothing but craziness.This whole existence is crazy. Here, sanity is sickness. Here, wildness…a beautiful madness, a state beyond mind is the way to know the greatest blessings and the purest joy, the secret-most truth.Look at all the trees, the birds, the stars, the ocean, the mountains – do you think all these people are sane? If they were sane, they would have been praying in churches, reading the Holy Bible or Shrimad Bhagavadgita or the Holy Koran, praying in some synagogue, listening to some stupid rabbi. But these crazy people all over the vast universe don’t care a bit about any religion, about any philosophy; they simply go on singing their song, dancing their dance.Do you think these birds who go on chitchatting ever bother whether they are right or wrong? Spring comes and trees are burdened with flowers and fruits. Do they brag? Their acceptance is so total that in their acceptance and totality, no question arises at all. This is their beautiful craziness.Craziness has something tremendously interesting.Sanity is just boring. If by some misfortune you happen to be with some sane person for a few hours, he will start driving you insane.I have heard a story: When India and Pakistan were divided, there was a big madhouse just on the border. Nobody was interested in the madhouse, whether it goes to Pakistan or to India, but it had to go somewhere. And because no politicians were interested, finally the superintendent gathered all the mad inmates and asked them, “Do you want to go to India or to Pakistan?” They said, “We are perfectly happy here. We don’t want to go anywhere.”The superintendent tried hard to explain to them that, “You will not have to go anywhere. You will remain here, but just tell me where you want to go – to India, or to Pakistan?” Those crazy people said, “Have you gone crazy? You are saying, ‘You will remain here.’ And still you are asking, ‘Where are you going – to India or to Pakistan?’ We don’t want to go anywhere. We are perfectly happy here.”The superintendent tried in every way, but he himself started feeling a little dizzy because what they were saying seemed to be absolutely right: if they don’t have to go anywhere, then what is the problem? They are perfectly happy.Finally it was decided…because they could not be convinced, they could not even be explained to; they were all laughing and enjoying the whole thing – what kind of stupidity is this? So finally the superintendent decided to divide the madhouse into two parts.A big wall was raised in the middle; those who were living on the other side became citizens of Pakistan and those who were living on this side became citizens of India. And I have heard that still those madmen climb up the wall and talk to each other, and they say, “This is strange. We are where we used to be always, and now you have gone to Pakistan and we have gone to India. It seems the whole world has gone insane. By great fortune, it is good that we are inside and not outside; outside it seems everything has gone insane.”They are still meeting on the wall, laughing and enjoying, that this is a wonderful experience. Everything is as it used to be, everybody is in his own room – just a wall has been added in the middle. Those mad people seem to be certainly more sane than the people outside in the world. We go on drawing lines dividing countries, making new countries, fighting for new countries – and we are where we are.You are perfectly right. Just don’t listen to the insane people of the world, and don’t compare; otherwise, this question will become a persistent visitor to you. Except the last line, your whole question is a beautiful statement of how a sannyasin should be. Just drop the last line; I don’t think it will be very difficult to drop.Two Irishmen are driving to a pub with a bomb in the back of their car and evil plans in their minds. One turns to the other and says, “What if the bomb goes off before we get there?”“Don’t worry,” the other replies, “I have got a spare in the boot.”Just enjoy the insanity all around.Of course they will call you crazy; there is no need to argue. There is nothing wrong in being crazy. They have always called the people who were different from them crazy. They have called Socrates a madman, they have called Jesus a madman, they have called Mansoor a madman, they have called Sarmad a madman. And this is their strategy: first, they call these people mad; then they have found a right excuse to kill them. But they don’t know they are killing their highest peaks of consciousness, their greatest sons. They are destroying their own glory.Socrates is reported to have said to the chief judge who ordered his death sentence by poison, “Remember one thing: your names will be remembered only because of me; otherwise you would have been forgotten. You will remain obliged forever to the man you are sending to death because I am going to become an immortal, and your names will be remembered only because you did this stupid thing.” And certainly, it is true; who would have remembered those judges? But because of Socrates, those names are remembered.Who would have remembered Pontius Pilate? It is because Jesus was ordered to be crucified by him; otherwise Judea was such a small country of no significance, and there have been many governor generals before Pontius Pilate and after him…Nobody remembers their names. There is nothing in Pontius Pilate for which he should be remembered. He is remembered only because he killed a man who was unique and different from the masses.I have heard…In a small school the teacher was telling the students, small boys and girls, about the trinity of Christian theology: God, the son Jesus Christ, and the holy ghost. These three are equivalent to the Hindu trimurti, the three faces of God – Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh.After explaining everything about the concept of the trinity, she asked the students, “Can you draw a picture of all three according to your own idea?”They all tried, but she was struck by a small little boy because he had made an airplane with four windows. And from each window, one face was looking out. The teacher said, “I have been telling you for one hour continuously that God consists of the trinity.”The boy said, “That’s what I have made: this is God in the first window, in the second window is his son, Jesus Christ, and in the third window is the holy ghost.”And the teacher said, “Why is this fourth window there? Who is this fellow?”He said, “In an airplane, without Pontius the pilot who will fly the airplane?”A pilot is absolutely needed. Even small children remember according to their own idea. Pontius Pilate becomes Pontius the pilot.Don’t be worried what people say about you. Remember only one thing:If you are feeling blissful, you are right.To me, that is the criterion of being right. If you are feeling ecstatic, you have super-sanity, because that is the only criterion of an authentic intelligence and a sane person.Always look within yourself, not outside at what people are saying. They will call you all kinds of names; they will try to prove that you are mad, you are insane. It does not matter what they say. It is their problem if they think that you are insane; it is not your problem. You should look within yourself. If there is light, beauty, peace, silence, and if flowers are blossoming in your consciousness, then you can stand against the whole world without ever doubting, because the inner experience has an intrinsic certainty, absolute and categorical.Osho,When I look inside myself, I catch a glimpse of what seems like centuries of conditioning. I feel that I certainly will not become enlightened, although others might. Is this attitude a natural mistrust? Is this attitude a habit I have to break? Will this attitude prevent me from becoming enlightened? Please, shower some light on me.Your question needs great consideration for the simple reason that it is going to arise for many sannyasins at different stages, but it has to be divided so that you can understand clearly what is happening.First you say, “When I look inside myself, I catch a glimpse of what seems like centuries of conditioning.” This will happen to everybody because everybody has been conditioned for centuries. You are forgetting just one thing – which is often forgotten by seekers of their inner world, and this is most important to remember, not to forget.You are saying, “When I look inside, I catch a glimpse of what seems like centuries of conditioning.” One thing is certain: that you are not part of the conditioning, you are the watcher. When you go in, you see centuries of conditioning around your consciousness. But you are not part of the conditioning, and that is the only ray of hope.Conditionings may be of centuries, it does not matter. The moment you disidentify yourself with them, they lose all power. You become immediately free. Who is seeing the centuries of conditioning? Certainly the seer, the observer is separate from that which he is seeing. You go into the garden and you see all these trees, but you don’t feel identified with those trees; you go inside and you find centuries of conditioning, but you are not the conditioning. Realizing this is the beginning of a revolution in your very idea about yourself.You are consciousness.Conditionings are just like dust which has gathered on the mirror; it can be washed away, and the mirror will come to its purity immediately. No dust can destroy the mirror, it can only hide it. Conditionings can hide you, but they cannot destroy you. Just as dust can be removed from the mirror, conditionings can be removed as easily.Secondly you say, “I feel that I certainly will not become enlightened, although others might.” This certainty that you will not become enlightened is arising because of your misunderstanding about conditionings. Seeing so many conditionings, you have lost hope. You think you will never become enlightened – you are certain – “although others might.” Do you think others are new people in the world? They are as old as you are. They have passed through all that you have passed through. They have gathered as much dust as you have gathered. But your misunderstanding is giving you a certainty. Once your misunderstanding is dropped, you are enlightened in that very moment.Only one thing is certain:Nobody can prevent anybody from becoming enlightened.There is no power in the world which can prevent anybody from becoming enlightened because enlightenment is your very nature. You are already enlightened – you just don’t know it. You have forgotten it – it is a forgotten language. It has only to be remembered, and the way to remember is to disidentify with all the conditionings; they may be there, let them be there. Remember: “I am not one of them. I am the knower, I am the seer, I am the observer, I am the awareness.” And the awareness cannot be touched by any conditioning.The third thing: “Is this attitude a natural mistrust? Is this attitude a habit I have to break?”Yes, it is a natural phenomenon. Everybody gets mixed up with their conditionings, and it is only a habit and nothing else. You can drop it without any effort, just by becoming aware of what I am saying to you.And lastly, you are asking, “Will this attitude prevent me from becoming enlightened?” Certainly, if this attitude prevails…it will not prevent, but it will go on postponing; it can go on postponing for centuries, which is almost like preventing. But if you drop this attitude, this very moment you are free. This very moment you can open your wings and fly into the sky.And the last thing: your whole question is intellectual. You have not been meditating. You have been just thinking about things; hence, the question. If you had been meditating, then what I have said to you, you would have found yourself.Mrs. Goldstein’s frustrated next door neighbor is trying to squeeze some affection out of little Hymie.“Do you love me, darling?” the neighbor asked Hymie. Little Hymie nodded.“Then put your arms around me, honey, and give me a great big kiss,” she said. Hymie went on kicking his football.“How much do you love me, precious?” the neighbor kept on. “Show me how you would cry if I died,” she urged.“Die first!” said Hymie running off.Do something. Don’t go on intellectualizing. Children are very clear about their perceptions. What is the point of thinking intellectually that “If I die, would you cry?” Hymie is absolutely right – “Die first! And then we will see.”You have to stop thinking about these things. Thinking is not going to lead anywhere. Start meditating, becoming more aware, alert – and then you don’t need my answer. The answer is within you. I am simply saying that which you will find arising within yourself.Osho,Life is so exciting when I am open to each moment and not asking where it is going to take me next. The problems disappear and nothing can harm me. The moment my mind comes in saying, “Watch out!” the fear arises and life looks dangerous, and I take only calculated steps. How can I remain with the relaxed, joyful, and trusting experience?Mind is a coward. Those who listen to it become utterly cowardly. Mind is not an adventurer, it is very cautious. It takes every step with long thinking and calculation until it is certain that there is no risk, till it has seen others taking the step and there has been no danger; hence, listening to the mind is the most disturbing phenomenon in your growth.Everything is going good with you, but immediately the mind comes in and says, “Watch out!” Once and for all say to the mind, “Shut up! I am watching in; why should I watch out?”Because you listen to it, “…fear arises and life looks dangerous, and I take only calculated steps.” You stop living. Mind is a mechanism, dead. Do you know that the mind can be taken out of your skull and kept separately? Only oxygen and necessary nourishment has to be provided to it, and it will go on living. It does not need you. There are many minds under observation in scientific labs. They are functioning perfectly well; they don’t need you. And perhaps in most of your life, you don’t need them either.I have heard about a politician who was having a brain operation. His mind had collected so much junk inside that the doctors thought that it would be easier, far easier to clean it if they took it out completely; otherwise, it would take many hours. So they left the politician in the operating theater and took his mind to the next room to clean it. And naturally a politician’s mind needs great cleaning…almost dry cleaning.While they were cleaning his mind, a man came running. Knowing nothing about what was happening, he shook the politician, who opened his eyes. And the man said, “What are you doing here? You have been chosen to be the president of the country.”So the politician got up, and as he was leaving the hospital, the doctors saw him. They said, “My God! His brain is still in the lab.” They rushed out and told him, “Wait! Your brain is still being cleaned.”He said, “Now I don’t need it; I have become the president. You keep it – after five years if I’m not chosen again, perhaps I may need it; you can preserve it. What do I need a brain for now that I’m the president?”In a strange way, the meditator also does not need the mind – but in a very different context. A meditator goes beyond the mind. The mind becomes slowly, slowly silent, calm and quiet. And more efficient, of course – whenever the meditator wants to use it, he can use it better than anybody else. Whenever he does not need to use it, he is enjoying his inner spaces, ecstasies, blessings. The mind remains silent, it does not disturb.That’s the whole art of meditation: to keep the mind completely quiet, and make it understand that it is not supposed to comment on any experience that is beyond it.Meditation is beyond the mind.You say, “Life is so exciting when I am open to each moment, and not asking where it is going to take me next.” That’s what I call being in a let-go, being relaxed with existence.“The problems disappear and nothing can harm me. The moment my mind comes in saying, ‘Watch out!’ the fear arises, and life looks dangerous, and I take only calculated steps. How can I remain with the relaxed, joyful, and trusting experience?” You will just have to teach the mind: “It is not your territory; you are not supposed to interfere or say anything.”It is just an old habit that the mind goes on making commentary on whatever is happening, goes on giving its opinion and advice, whether asked for or not. It is simply a habit, a habit of thousands of lives. So it takes a little time and a little patience, but you are going perfectly well. Just whenever the mind says, “Watch out!” tell him, “I am watching in, you watch out. I’m not watching television.”Don’t take the mind in any way seriously about your interior experiences, about your trust with existence, about your love with each moment.Little Hymie arrived home from school with two black eyes.“Fighting again,” said his mother. “Haven’t I told you when you are angry to count to a hundred before you do anything?”“Yes, I know,” replied Hymie, “but the other boy’s mother told him only to count to fifty.”Calculated steps won’t work.Life is not a calculation.Mathematics is only a purely fictitious science, totally created by man’s mind. It has nothing in the objective world. That’s why it is perfect; only a fiction can be perfect.Reality is always imperfect because reality is always growing, changing. Reality is always moving toward perfection but never becomes perfect, because to be perfect means nothing but ultimate death.Just drop the habit. The mind will try in every way to keep its old control. But you are the real master, and however much the mind tries to control, it cannot succeed if you are determined to put it into its place as a servant. Your consciousness, you, are the master.It is a struggle only in the beginning. Once the mind understands that you have started reclaiming your mastery, he becomes just like a dog wagging his tail, ready to follow your orders and never interfere in your work – particularly in the work which is not his territory at all.Mind cannot understand ecstasy, cannot understand trust, cannot understand moment-to-moment living, cannot understand the blissfulness that arises out of this living.So it will be sheer stupidity to listen to the mind – who is absolutely inadequate, incompetent as far as the inner world, your interiority, your subjectivity, is concerned. Your ecstasy is far beyond the reach of the mind. So teach the mind, train the mind not to interfere – and don’t listen. It may go on just out of old habit saying, “Watch out! Take calculated steps!” Just ignore it.That word ignore reminds me of Gautam Buddha. His suggestion to his disciples was, “As far as meditation is concerned, ignore the mind.” His word for ignoring is upeksha, which is a very beautiful word. “Just bypass it; let it go on saying whatever it wants; don’t pay any attention to it.” Soon the mind understands where he can be listened to and where he is absolutely unwelcome.The day the mind understands where it is unwelcome, it stops saying anything about that. And it has to be stopped from interfering in your inner growth.

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The New Dawn 01-33Category: OSHO’S VISION FOR THE WORLD

The New Dawn 03 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,An earthquake is happening: my ancient crust is cracking and marvelous squirts of bliss are pouring out. More and more, your words are incredibly accurate descriptions of my inner world, not just beautiful images of somewhere else. Your finger used to point to the moon, but now I have seen my own moon; your finger is pointing to my very center. I am shy to write this. I needed courage to uncover my anguish; strangely, acknowledging my joy needs even more.Devageet, it is one of the most fundamental experiences that you have pointed out in your question. It certainly needs more courage to expose your joy, your blissfulness than it needs to describe your anxiety, your anguish. The difficulty is, of course, different in each case.To expose one’s anguish, anxiety, misery, suffering, courage is needed because it is exposing yourself in your utter nudity: your wounds, your ugliness, your insanity – things which everybody wants to hide from the world. It goes against your ego, against your personality.But to express your joy needs more courage for another reason. There are two reasons: one, it is difficult to find words – almost impossible – to describe your blissfulness, your silence, your serenity, because the experience of all these things is beyond the scope of the mind; hence it is naturally beyond language, beyond words, beyond explanations. Secondly, to say “I am joyful,” to say “I am blissful,” to say “I am discovering my own center,” is dangerous because it creates envy and jealousy all around.Everybody will believe your misery; nobody will believe your joy. Everybody will believe – even if you are lying – your anxiety, your suffering, because everybody knows what suffering is, what misery is; it is everybody’s experience. Nobody is going to believe your joy – it goes against their egos to accept that you are reaching closer to your discovery, closer to your center. It goes against their very ego that they are still far away from the goal and you have reached so close. It cannot be believed – you must be lying, you must be deceived.If you go on insisting that you have achieved and if your life starts showing evidence of it, they will create all kinds of explanations to demolish your evidence. They may say you are a hypocrite, you are a pretender, that there is no joy in you – you are simply smiling to befool people. If you are still adamant, and you go on dancing and singing on your way without bothering what they are saying, their second step will be to say that you are mad.To accept that somebody is coming closer to home is so difficult; it hurts so deeply and so many people, that they are always in the majority and you are alone. It is easier for them to declare you mad, because the only way to save their skin will be for them to be as joyous as you are, which is not a simple matter – they will have to go for a long pilgrimage. But it is easy to condemn you, to find reasons…and if everything fails, you are insane – that is their last resort.But even calling you insane will not satisfy them, because deep down they feel the jealousy, the envy; they would like to declare themselves also closer to the center, closer to the truth, closer to blissfulness. But they are in darkness, in utter misery, in anguish. They don’t see any end to their night, and you are talking about a beautiful dawn…that you have seen the first ray, the sun is rising, that you have heard the birds singing, that you have experienced the fragrance of the flowers that open in the early morning to welcome the sun, to begin the day.If you don’t listen and don’t accept that you are mad…The masses have crucified people like these: Al-Hillaj Mansoor, or Jesus, or Socrates, or Sarmad. The masses have become bloodthirsty, and these people were absolutely harmless; they have not done anything, any harm to anybody. In fact they were the greatest blessings to humanity: they were pointing to your potential, your possibility, your future; they were pointing at your dawn – the night is not going to be forever. They were your very hope to get out of the darkness and the deathly life, where you have not found anything except misery.But instead you demolished them, you destroyed them rather than rejoicing with them. Rejoicing with them needs tremendous intelligence, but to crucify them, any stupid, retarded majority of the masses is perfectly capable. That’s why I say you have made a very important observation: that it is more difficult to expose yourself and to declare to the world that you are feeling blissful, you are joyous.But in this place, there is no need to be afraid. In this place the exposure of your anxiety will be accepted, the exposure of your blissfulness will be rejoiced – that’s the whole meaning of a religious communion – you will be encouraged. People will see their own future in your eyes, they will see their own crippledness gone in your dances. They will see that if you can reach, Devageet, then we are also not far away; perhaps we are not looking in the right direction, perhaps we are not moving in the right direction….I have heard about a man who was asking, on a crossroad outside New Delhi, “How far is New Delhi?” And the old man who was sitting under a tree said to the man, “Before I can answer, I would like you to move in the direction you are going. Unless I know in which direction you are moving, how can I say how far New Delhi is?”The man thought, “This is a strange old man” – he had asked many people, many times, and everybody had simply answered. He said, “First, I would like to see.”So the man moved a few feet, and then he asked, “Now?”The old man said, “Now Delhi is very far away, because you are going exactly in the opposite direction. You will have to go around the whole earth, then you will come back to Delhi; otherwise, you have left Delhi eight miles behind.”When you see somebody blossoming, it is a sign that the spring has come. All the flowers don’t blossom together; first one flower opens its petals, then a few more, then many more, then millions. Spring comes step by step, slowly. When you see one flower blossoming it is an indication that your time is also close by.In this communion there is no problem; you can expose yourself whatever your situation is. All these people are fellow travelers; they will try to help you come out of your darkness. They will help you if you have reached to the light in your celebration; they will help you in every possible way, in every possible situation.The inmates of a mental institution were listening to modern jazz records. Finally one patient could contain himself no longer; he jumped up and started banging his head against the wall in time to the music.The other inmates applauded and shouted, “Sane, man – sane!”This place belongs to the people who are drunk with the divine, mad after the search for godliness. They will enjoy your realizations: your realization is their realization too. It is a brotherhood – there is a deep connection – it is not an organization. It is a love that is overflowing from each heart, joining it with others.Here, nobody is a stranger; here, everybody knows you. He may not know your name, he may not know your country, he may not know your religion, he may not know your race. He need not know any of these things but still he knows you, he knows that you are on the same path, in the same search. You are arrowed toward the same star; you are part of one journey, one pilgrimage. If even one of you reaches, that will be a confirmation that you have also reached; maybe a little time more, and the spring will come close to you.So, never be worried and never be concerned – nobody is going to deny your experiences here. Everybody is going to rejoice, celebrate, feel proud of you.This is how it should be in the whole of humanity, but unfortunately…what can be done? People should have rejoiced in the presence of Socrates, they should have loved the presence of Jesus, they should have joined their voices when Al-Hillaj Mansoor was shouting, “Ana’l haq!” – I am God. He was speaking for you too; for everybody, past, present or future. He was not speaking only for himself.People have not been sane enough to understand the madness of those who are seekers after truth, after bliss, after godliness, after the ultimate meaning of life. But here, my people are all mad enough to celebrate with you; your blossoming is their blossoming.Hence, Devageet, not only for you, but for all I am saying this: always expose yourself. If you don’t expose yourself when you are in misery, it is okay, because everybody knows you are in misery; that is not a revelation. Whether you say it or not, it is taken for granted – where else can you be? But when it comes to the point of joy and bliss and benediction, you should not remain silent, because then you become evidence that all these people are not unnecessarily wandering in a desert. If your thirst is quenched, their thirst will also be quenched. If you have arrived home, they can also arrive.So you can hide your anguish, your misery, your suffering – there is no problem about it. Anyway somebody else will be asking about those problems. But when it comes to your blissfulness, which is very rare, it is unforgivable to keep it a secret because it is going to become a proof for everybody of the goal they are searching.Osho,What is the criterion of the truth?Truth is not an experience of the mind; hence no logic can prove it or disprove it. No argument can convince you about it or unconvince you about it. Truth is an experience beyond mind, so there is no objective criterion possible. That’s why science never talks about it, because science can only talk about things which can be objectively proved.Truth is a subjective experience, just like love. What is the criterion of love? Can you prove when you fall in love? Can you prove that really you have fallen in love? Is there a way to prove it? Is there any argument, any logic that will support you – any eyewitnesses? All that you can say is, “I know for certain that my heart is beating differently” – but that is something inner to you. You can say, “I am feeling so blissful,” but that is something subjective. You cannot bring some part of your blissfulness and show it to people as a criterion.Love, or truth, or bliss, or God – they don’t have any criterion; they are experiences of the inner. Criteria are always of the outer. Don’t impose outer criteria for the inner – that is the fallacy of the atheist.Why does the atheist deny the existence of God, the existence of soul, the existence of truth, the existence of a life beyond life? For the simple reason that there is no criterion, and no proof, and no evidence. No atheist has ever been defeated by any theist in argumentation – still the atheist is wrong. He is wrong because he is asking for an objective criterion for a subjective experience.It is just like somebody asks you – you have been listening to classical music, and somebody asks – “What was the taste of it?” or “What was the color of it?” or “How did it feel when you touched it?”You will say, “Are you mad?” Music is not an experience of the eyes, it is not an experience of the nose; music has no smell. It is not an experience of the tongue; it has no taste. It is not something tangible that you can touch. It is an experience of the ears – and for an experience of the ears, eyes cannot give any proof.Neither is the opposite possible. For an experience of the eyes – for example, light or colors – ears cannot give any proof. And if you want proofs that are understandable by the ears, then there is no light; you have to deny it. Then there are no colors, no rainbows. You have to deny everything that belongs to the world of eyes, and almost eighty percent of your experience belongs to the eyes. Eighty percent of your life will have to be denied if you insist for some criterion that belongs, not to the eyes, but to the ears, nose, mouth, hands….The same is the situation about truth. Truth is the space within you when there is no thought, no feeling, no emotion – when there is utter silence and a light which is eternal, which has no fuel…because all fuels are bound to be exhausted sooner or later.At the innermost core of your being there is a light which is inexhaustible, which has always been there and will always be there, which is beyond time and beyond space…a deep silence. Not the silence of the graveyard – not a negative silence, not a silence which means absence of noise – but a silence which means a positive, affirmative presence of peace, of coolness, of a soundless music…a light that is eternal and a life that is eternal.When you find these things in the innermost center of your being…the whole experience of bliss, joy, the feeling of coming home, of finding yourself at last – all this is contained in the simple word truth. You can experience it, but you cannot find any explanation for it. You can find a way to it, you can find a method to reach it, but nobody can tell you beforehand what it is.Gautam Buddha used to say, “Buddhas only show the way; nobody can walk the way for you. You will have to walk and you will have to find…and those who have found it have all become dumb.” It is almost like giving a dumb man delicious sweets…. It is not that he does not know the taste; he knows. He rejoices, but if you want to ask how it tastes, of course he cannot say anything; he is dumb.All those who have known truth become dumb about truth. They can tell you how to reach it; they can show you the way. They can take you to the window, to the door, but you have to find it within yourself, following the path alone…the ultimate experience.Only one thing can be said from the outside:The man of truth has no fear of death.The man of truth is never miserable.The man of truth is never a coward.The man of truth is constantly in a state of celebration; the man of truth is an eternal dance.These are the things which can be seen from the outside, but these are just faraway echoes; these are not the truth. These are the faraway echoes in the individuality of the person who has found the truth. These are the reflections – reflections of the stars in the lake. But don’t jump into the lake to find the stars! You will not find anything there. Stars are far away; these are only reflections.In the personality, in the presence, in the gestures, in the eyes of the man of truth you will find something, if you are not completely closed, completely prejudiced, if you have not already decided for or against.If you are open and vulnerable you will recognize that there is something charismatic, something magnetic, something that invites you to come in…something that invites you to be closer, something that creates suddenly a new dimension of search for you; something that starts silent bells suddenly ringing in your heart of which you have never been aware.He has touched your heart. His very presence is creative, his very presence is converting, his very presence is the only criterion – but it is not logic, it is a love affair.Remember: I repeat again, truth is not a question of logic, it is a search of a loving heart.Osho,What is the difference between self-respect and pride?There is no difference between self-respect and pride. There is a difference between the ego and self-respect or pride. Self-respect and pride are simply natural to your individuality. They are your dignity. They are your acceptance of yourself.The ego is a comparison.Self-respect and pride are noncomparative; that’s the basic difference.In ego you are always comparing: I am superior to others, I am better than you, I am higher than you, I am holier than you – I am a saint and you are a sinner. Whatever the reason, you are comparing yourself as being superior and reducing the other to being inferior. This is the formation of the ego.But pride is noncomparative. It does not say anything about anybody else. It simply says: I am respectful of myself, I love myself, I am proud just to be – just to be here in this beautiful existence. It does not say anything about anybody else. The moment you go into comparison, you start an ugly game.My respect toward myself is not a hindrance for you to be respectful toward yourself. In fact I would love you to be respectful toward yourself because if you are not respectful toward yourself, who is going to be respectful toward you? If you are not proud of being a human being, the most evolved consciousness in existence, then who is going to be proud of you?And your being proud is really nothing but a gratefulness for all that existence has given to you – it is tremendous. We are not worthy of it; we don’t deserve it. We have not earned it, we can’t claim it. It is just out of the abundance of existence that it has given to us everything. We don’t value what we have because we take it for granted.I am reminded of a Sufi story….A man was going to commit suicide because he was poor, uneducated, unemployed, and he hated to beg. Rather than begging, he thought it is better to commit suicide. He was going toward the river to jump from a high point and get drowned, but by coincidence, at the highest point from where he was thinking to jump, he found a Sufi mystic.And the Sufi mystic said, “So you have come? Here people come only to commit suicide. I have chosen this place to meditate because very rarely do people come to commit suicide, so this is a very silent place.”The man said, “It is strange that I have not uttered a single word and you have said the right thing – I have come to commit suicide.”The Sufi said, “You can commit suicide. But I have one offer: how much would you like to have for both your eyes? The king needs two beautiful eyes and you have beautiful eyes. And the king knows that I always sit at Suicide Point” – that’s what the place was called. “People come here when they are going to commit suicide…. What are they going to do with those two eyes? They can give them to the king. So whatever you want for your eyes, you just say it; your offer will be accepted.”The man thought for a moment – how much should he ask? He could not think. Whatever he thought…five hundred thousand rupees? He thought, “Five lakh rupees for both my eyes? – ten lakh? twenty lakh?….” But nothing seemed to be the right price. Finally he said, “Ten million rupees.”The mystic said, “That is accepted. You come with me. First we will take your eyes…and I will bring you back here; then you jump and commit suicide.”On the way the Sufi said, “But I have a few other customers too. How much would you like to take for your head, without eyes?”He said, “You are a strange person. Who would like to have my head without eyes?”The Sufi said, “I have a customer. He’s a magician and he needs a skull very desperately and he is not interested in eyes. Anyway he is going to take away all the skin, everything, and clean your skull completely.”The man said, “My God! Then how am I going to come back and…?”The Sufi said, “That I will manage.”The man said, “I have never thought about it. How much will be appropriate? What do you think?”He said, “Any offer…it will be accepted.” So the man sold his skull for another ten million.On the way the Sufi asked, “Would you like to sell the remaining body too? – because what is the point: you are already dead; your eyes are gone, your head is gone – what is left? There is no point in keeping the body…and I have a customer. He is a scientist and he dissects bodies; he is always in need of bodies, fresh bodies. And he will be absolutely happy because he cannot get such a fresh body, that has only just died. The eyes have been taken, the head has been cut, but the body will still be warm – it is just like a flower torn from the tree while it is still alive; it will take two or three days to fade away.”The man said, “But…suicide is finished!”The mystic said, “There is no need of any suicide; everything is sold!”The man asked, “But who will get all that money?”The mystic said, “Of course, I will get it, because you will be gone. Who else can get it? You can think of it as my commission. If you want to take it with you, you can take it, but you will be gone, you won’t need it.”As they reached the palace he started thinking again: what is he going to do? He had never thought that his eyes have such value, that his skull has value, that his whole body has value…that this man is going to earn thirty million rupees.He said, “I don’t want to do this business.”The Sufi said, “What about suicide?”The man said, “I don’t want to commit suicide either! For the first time I have realized that I am a rich man. Up to now I have always thought that I am a beggar. I was going to commit suicide because I was thinking I have nothing; now I realize how much I have got.”The mystic said, “It is up to you – I will have to go back and wait for somebody else – but think again; you won’t get such customers.”The man said, “Just leave me alone! You are a dangerous fellow. I used to think that you are a religious saint, always meditating on that hillock. You seem to be the most dangerous man – you were selling me piece by piece, and finally all the money would come to you! I don’t know how many people you have sold, but I can understand why you go on sitting there; that is where your business comes. I will make the whole city aware: Don’t go to that point, and beware of that man – he is dangerous, very dangerous.”The mystic said, “I was just trying to help you. You were going to destroy such precious things by drowning in the river. I have been trying to wake you up. Existence has given you such precious things and rather than being grateful, you are behaving in such an ugly way.“There is no customer; it was all fiction. What will the king do with your eyes, dead eyes? And the magician can get as many skulls as he needs from the graveyard. And every day people die in the hospital and fresh bodies are available to the scientist. So there is no customer at all. It was just to make you aware that you have so many precious things given to you by nature and you are not feeling grateful, you are not feeling prayerful. Don’t you have any gratitude, any thankfulness? Is suicide your thankfulness?”Self-respect is respect without comparison. Pride is dignity, a feeling of dignity that existence wants you, that existence has created you, that existence needs you. You are welcome in existence, you are not an unwanted child, an orphan. Moment to moment, existence is giving you nourishment, life, light, everything that you need.Pride is not equivalent to ego; neither is self-respect equivalent to ego. Ego is comparative, and because it is comparative it is ugly, it is sick. The very idea that “I am superior to you” – for any reason – is inhuman.But being proud of oneself does not make anybody inferior. In fact it shows the other also the way to be proud of himself, to be respectful of himself.I am against the ego, but not against pride, not against self-respect. Those are the most important human qualities.Osho,Could you please tell me what I have that makes me worthy of such compassion from you, from Latifa, from existence and from all my friends and fellow travelers? And please, don't forget to hit me when you see something like a coconut standing on my head.Dhyan Om, as far as I am concerned, I cannot be other than compassionate; I am just helpless. It has nothing to do with you, it is just the only possibility for me.The day I came to know myself, I lost many things and I gained a few things. Of the things that I have gained, the most important of them is compassion. So it is irrespective of who is the receiver: a coconut tree or Dhyan Om, it does not matter. I can only look with compassion. My eyes don’t have anything else and my heart doesn’t have anything else.As far as existence is concerned…you are part of existence, you are an extension of existence. Existence also doesn’t make any discrimination between a coconut tree and Dhyan Om. It gives to the coconut tree what it needs; it gives to Dhyan Om what he needs. Existence is compassionate to everything, because everything belongs to it. Existence is flowing in everything without any discrimination.The only problem is Latifa. That surprises me too, why she is compassionate to you. A few jokes perhaps may help you to understand the compassion of Latifa.In Ireland an old woman went to mass on Sunday, as usual. A new young priest was preaching about marriage. After mass the old woman remarked to her friend, “I wish to God I knew as little about it as he does.”Do you get it? – No!Mrs. Cohen was at the movies watching “Superman.” Suddenly, a man approached her and asked, “Pardon me madam, but do you mind if I occupy that empty seat next to you?”“Not at all,” replied Mrs. Cohen. “I expected it to be taken when I bought the tickets, but all my friends are at my husband’s funeral.”“I don’t know why you married me!” cried Mrs. Cohen.“Because,” Mr. Cohen said, “you defied the law of gravity.”“What are you talking about?” said his wife.“Well,” said Cohen, “you were easier to pick up than to drop!”It is a mystery why Latifa has picked you up. Only her compassion has to be considered as a mystery. She knows perfectly well that you are a nut. You think you are a coconut, but she knows – and everybody else knows – you are only a nut! You are unnecessarily making a fuss about being a coconut – just decorating yourself, making a big name. A simple nut does not appeal…a coconut, a coconut from Goa, a Goa-returned coconut. Latifa is certainly compassionate!As far as I am concerned and existence is concerned, we are helpless. Be grateful to Latifa; she goes through hell, but still she goes on being compassionate. She suffers badly. Whenever I look at her, I immediately know whether the coconut is here or somewhere else.For five weeks she was just a beauty to look at, always smiling and happy and surrounded by an aura. And the moment she received your message that you are coming back…just the message was enough. You took seven days to come, but those seven days…whenever I looked at her I thought, “This is strange: Om is coming from Goa and this Latifa seems to be coming from hell itself!”Since then, because I have talked about it, whenever I look at her she tries to smile. But a smile which is made by effort is one thing, and a smile that comes on its own is a totally different phenomenon.Dhyan Om, you continue to be what you are. This is at least going to help Latifa to become enlightened. This is her austerity, her discipline, her sacrifice, and the whole credit goes to you. When she becomes enlightened you will be praised, because it has rarely happened this way. Women have made men enlightened – that is an old story. Men have never made a single woman enlightened. You are doing such a pioneer work. Your name will resound in the corridors of history!

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The New Dawn 01-33Category: OSHO’S VISION FOR THE WORLD

The New Dawn 04 (Read, Listen & Download)

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Osho,On one hand the world is preparing for a global suicide; it looks like there is not much time left for our growth. On the other hand, what I heard from you is that growth is only possible when we relax, sit silently, and wait. This is a paradox. Beloved Osho, please can you speak about how to come out of situations where one part of me is restless and wants to do something? – yet deep down I feel that this leads me nowhere.Puja Kavina, it is not a paradox, it only appears so. The world is certainly preparing for a global suicide; about that there are not two opinions – it is becoming every day more and more certain. Naturally you think you have to do something to prevent it. It is beyond your doing; whatever you do will bring it closer.What can you do? The power is not in your hands; the power is in hands which are absolutely stubborn, and they don’t care a bit what happens to humanity. Their ego is their supreme value, the only value. Even though it means their own destruction, they will take the risk; they will destroy whoever they think is their enemy.In the beginning, when this kind of war material was in the hands of two countries, the Soviet Union and America, there was some possibility that they may come to some negotiation. Now with the power of nuclear weapons in five countries, the possibility of negotiation has become more difficult, more complicated. And by the end of this century, the power will be in twenty-five countries’ hands. Then the question of negotiation does not arise.My suggestion is: time is certainly very short, but it is enough to become enlightened, and it is enough to spread an enlightened atmosphere around the world. That is the only possibility.If we can make the people of the world…not the politicians, leave them aside; they have the power but without the consent of the people of the world, their power is not of much use. If armies simply say, “No, we are not going to use nuclear weapons,” if the scientists simply say, “No, we are not going to produce any more nuclear weapons,” if the whole intelligentsia of the world unanimously creates a great uproar: “It is not a question of war; wars we have seen in thousands – they have been destructive, but they have not destroyed all life. This is not war, this is simple suicide!”But these people: the scientists, the armies, the intelligentsia, the poets, the musicians, the mystics, the painters, the actors – the people who have a certain impact on the masses, although they don’t have any power except their individuality and their creativity – if they join hands together, this global suicide can be avoided. Not only suicide can be avoided, but with the same energy that was going to destroy all life, the planet can be turned into a paradise.Energy is neutral – it can destroy, it can create. Nobody has thought: What can be the creative use of atomic energy? What can be the creative use of nuclear weapons? If the destructive power is so great, the power for creation will be equally great. Hence, I say not only can global suicide be avoided, but we can bring into existence a new dawn, a new man, a new humanity.Perhaps for the first time there can be an authentic civilization which loves peace, which is compassionate, which is creative, which drops all discriminations of nations, religions, races, and makes this whole globe one family.Once there are no discriminations of religions, races, nations, war becomes impossible.We have to avoid the suicide that is oncoming and we have to change the whole structure of the world so that war itself becomes impossible. All our efforts, all our energies…seventy-five percent of human energy is pouring into creating war material. We are living only on twenty-five percent of our energy. If that seventy-five percent is also released for living, there will be no poverty, there will be no sickness. Life can be prolonged. People can live young until their last breath; they need not become old.All this is possible, and for this, there is enough time. But you have to understand perfectly well: anything on your part as a protest is not going to help. You will be simply crushed, ignored…. Pacifists have existed for centuries; they have not been able to avoid any war.In fact I have seen so many processions of protest and I have always wondered…the people who were protesting were all violent: their slogans were violent, their gestures were violent. If they had power in their hands, they would start killing those people whom they think are warmongers. They are doing the same thing, they are not peaceful people; they may be pacifist in ideology, but they don’t know what peace is.I want my people to know the peace, to know the silence, to know the beauty of their inner being, the blissfulness and love and light, and spread it. And spreading it is not going to be a missionary thing – you are not to convert anybody. Just your very presence, just your loving eyes, your peaceful existence – the charisma that arises with enlightenment, a certain different wavelength that the enlightened man starts radiating around him, changes people’s hearts without their knowing.It is not a question of convincing them intellectually; for that, time is certainly very short. We have not been convinced for centuries, intellectually, although great efforts have been made that there should be no war, there should be no government, there should be no nations. Great intellectuals have been trying – like Bakunin, Bokharin, Leo Tolstoy, Bertrand Russell – but it has not created any visible effect anywhere.My understanding is that these people themselves were not peaceful people. They have not known anything of the eternal joy of their own interiority, the dance of their own being. They have not tasted from the springs of nectar that are at their very center. Once you have tasted your own immortality, you start spreading an invisible fire…no intellectual argument, but people will be immensely touched by your very presence, by your aroma, by your fragrance, by your love.We need in the world more love to balance war.We need in the world more creativity to balance the destructive forces. We need in the world more enlightened people to balance the blind politicians. For this there is still time enough, because enlightenment can happen within a second. It does not need time; it needs only a total longing for it, a longing as if your life is at risk.I can understand why you are feeling a paradox. You would like to do something, but things have gone beyond your doing. What can you do to prevent the Soviet Union or to prevent Ronald Reagan? And soon nuclear weapons will be in twenty-five countries, with pygmy politicians. What can you do?The only thing possible is: forget doing.Think of being.You can be more joyful, you can be more loving – that is within your capacity. No Ronald Reagan can prevent you. No nuclear weapons can prevent you. People have never thought this way. They have always tried to protest against wars – nobody has listened to them.I am suggesting a totally new solution. And in the circumstances, that is the only alternative possible: forget doing, grow into your being. And the growth of your being is contagious; it will help many people to light their unlit torches from your life fire.If we have people around the world who know the beauty of life, of creativity, of poetry, of music, of painting, of dancing, of love, then nobody – no politician – will have the guts to force humanity into a war. So rather than going against war, you create the balancing force – which is in your hands. If the warmongers have nuclear weapons, then you have to create something equivalent, or more powerful – and enlightenment is certainly more powerful than any nuclear weapon.In the Old Testament, there is a beautiful story of two cities, Sodom and Gomorrah. God became very angry with these two cities, because in both people were practicing perverted sex. In Sodom people were making love to animals; hence sodomy has become the word for making love with animals. In Gomorrah people had become homosexuals, and all kinds of perversions…God finally decided to destroy both those cities completely, and in the Old Testament he did destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.It does not look right of God, but the Jewish God is an angry God. That is our projection: it is not a question of whether God is angry or not. God is a hypothesis – you can make anything out of it, whatever you want. God declares in the Jewish scriptures, “I am a very angry God, very jealous. I will never forgive you if you go against me; I am not your uncle, I am not a nice man.”But in Judaism there is a rebellious stream, a very small minority stream of Hassidic mystics. The orthodox Jews don’t accept them as religious at all, but as I understand it, they are the only religious people in the whole Judaic tradition. They are people who dance, sing, love, play music. They are very joyous people and they have interpreted Judaism according to their own joy and blissfulness.They cannot tolerate such a thing, that God destroyed…and a God who is omnipotent, all powerful, he could have changed them – if he can create the whole world, can’t he change two cities and their sexual perversions? Has he to resort to destruction and death? He is the father of those two cities also, and when he has all the powers…this whole universe was created by him and he could not manage to change those two cities?Hasids have changed that story and I love it, although that change is not in the Jewish scriptures. Jews will never accept that change, but I, for one, accept it. It makes a tremendous impact on anyone who can understand.The Jewish story is:When God decided to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, a Hassidic mystic went to him and asked, “Have you decided?” God said, “I am absolutely certain; I am going to destroy these people completely.”The Hassidic mystic said, “But I have a question to ask: If there are two hundred people, one hundred in each city, who are good people, who are authentically religious, who are awakened, will you still destroy those two cities? Those two hundred people will be destroyed with them. It seems you are taking too much care about the perverted and you are not taking any interest in the awakened.”God had to think it over; the argument was significant. How can he destroy the awakened people, the spiritual people, the good people? He said, “If you can prove that there are two hundred people in those cities who are awakened, enlightened, then I will not destroy them. How can I destroy them?”The Hassid – they are very beautiful people with a great sense of humor – the Hassid mystic said, “If I cannot prove two hundred but only twenty, are you going to destroy the twenty enlightened people in those two cities? Do numbers matter so much? Are you thinking of quality or of quantity?”God was at a loss to argue with this man. He said, “Okay, you prove twenty.”The Hassid said, “And if I can prove only two?”Now God was perfectly aware that the question of quality and quantity…it does not matter whether there are two enlightened people or two hundred enlightened people, they cannot be destroyed. To destroy them is to destroy the whole base, the whole foundation of religion. God said, “Okay, okay, you prove two persons!”The Hassid said, “In fact there is only one – but he lives six months in one city and six months in the other city. What do you think about it?” From two hundred he has come down to one.God said, “I have understood your logic. You bring that man before me.”He said, “I am that man. Can’t you see me? Can’t you look inside me? Are you going to destroy me? – because I live six months in Sodom and six months in Gomorrah.” And God had to concede: “In that case I will not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.”Jews will not be ready to accept it, because it is not in their scriptures, but it is in the Hassidic teachings. I have loved the story, because the Hassidic mystic has proved far more intelligent than the so-called God, far more loving and compassionate than the so-called God.Even God cannot save the world from the hands of politicians. Now you will need mystics; only mystics can create the atmosphere around the world of love and peace, of silence and joy, of song and dance; they will make life so rich that it becomes impossible for people even to think of war.Politicians will be left alone without any support from their armies, from their scientists, from their intelligentsia, from mystics, from poets. And against all this intelligence, all their nuclear weapons will become impotent. They can create war only if unconsciously we are ready to commit suicide, if in some way we are supportive to them. It is our support that has given them power. If we withdraw our support, their power disappears. They don’t have any power of their own.What power does Richard Nixon have now? Once he is no longer the president, nobody even bothers whether he is alive or dead, what he is doing; otherwise if he had just a little cold it was headline news. Now if he wants his name to be in the newspapers again, the only way is to commit suicide. But he will not be able to see it; others will read it – and that too in a small corner on the third page of the papers. Who cares about people who are no longer presidents, no longer prime ministers? It is our support that gives them power.There is time enough to withdraw our support; there is time enough to create a non-political humanity. And the times are such that it is possible. In ordinary times you cannot convince people to withdraw their cooperation from the politicians, but the times are abnormal and every day the war keeps coming closer. In this moment, people can choose very easily not to cooperate, because cooperation simply means committing suicide.So one thing: make people’s lives more joyous so that even the unconscious desire for suicide disappears from their being. And second, make them aware the power is in your hands, and if the war happens and life disappears from the earth, you will be responsible, not the politicians. They are simply puppets. We give them power and then the puppets start behaving like masters. Withdraw the power and you will see that their size goes on becoming smaller and smaller and smaller, and they will disappear. They don’t have any power of their own; it is your power given to them.For that there is enough time. And it is a great challenge, a very adventurous time. When the world is facing suicide, the possibility is that the world can be convinced – not intellectually but through your growing hearts, your love – to let the old world die and a new world with new values be born.You won’t have such an opportunity again. In the past there was never such an opportunity. It is not to be missed.It is so simple a matter, but you have to begin with yourself. It is not that you have to do something. I am saying you have to be something: a force, a charisma, a magnet, which can pull people’s hearts toward you; a poetry, a song, such that people unknowingly start being influenced by it; a dance, so that people who had forgotten how to dance suddenly feel energy arising in their feet. They would like to join you in the dance.So we are not to be against the politicians or against their nuclear weapons; we have to create a balancing force – more powerful. And once people have tasted life, which they have forgotten completely, they will automatically withdraw their support. It has already started happening.In the Vietnam war thirty percent of the soldiers did not use their weapons. The American government was at a loss about what to do. The generals could not figure it out because such a thing had never happened – a soldier goes to war to kill. But in Vietnam it was so clear: America is doing something simply absurd – destroying poor people who have not done anything against America. And because it was the younger generation who had gone as soldiers, they could see the futility of it. Why should they be killed? Poor people working in their fields or in their orchards, small children, women – why should they be killed? They are not fighting; they are not a danger to America.Thirty percent of the soldiers would go to the war front every day with their guns loaded and would come back in the evening without having used their guns at all. These thirty percent have shown the way. If it can happen to thirty percent, why can’t it happen to a hundred percent? – and the Vietnam war was not going to destroy all life.Soldiers should be made aware…in fact the whole atmosphere around the world will become a warning for everybody that politicians have gone mad and now they don’t need anybody’s support. Just think of it: if armies simply march and meet the enemy armies and have a beautiful dance together, come home happily – and they go home happily – what can the politicians do? They could have court-martialed one soldier, but they cannot court-martial all the soldiers. And who is going to court-martial them? – because the generals will be part of the dance.A great adventurous moment is coming close to us; there is nothing to be feared. You cannot do anything to prevent it, but you can be in such a way that your very being becomes a prevention.Osho,I've often experienced a strange space while sitting in front of you, and these days it is happening more and more. It is like being sucked into a space where I tend to pass out, almost faint. A jerk – my eyes open, but only for a short time; then it happens again. I've tried to move into it with watchfulness, but it doesn't seem to work much.It seems like a precious experience, but somehow I feel I am missing something by not being awake enough. Any suggestions, Beloved Master?Chidananda, what is happening to you is absolutely right. There is no need to create a problem out of it; you are not missing anything. In fact you fall into such harmony, in such deep communion, that it appears as if you have fallen asleep.Whatever I am saying you may not be able to repeat in words, but it will be resounding in your heart, in your being, and it will do its work. It will change you. You will see the change in your actions, in your behavior, the way you respond in situations. That will be the proof – not that you remember what I have said.And don’t force yourself to remain awake, because that means you are creating a disturbance in the harmony. Allow yourself to be overwhelmed completely and lost into it. It is not falling asleep, it is falling into samadhi.Samadhi and sleep are very close; they appear almost the same. Because we are accustomed to and we know sleep, when for the first time samadhi starts happening we think it is sleep. Sleep is known, samadhi is unknown. The only difference is in sleep you have dreams; in samadhi you don’t have any dreams but just a silence, utter silence – a deep stillness as if you are no more.In church, the priest did not allow anybody to leave in the middle of his sermon. His reason was that it wakes up people who are taking a beautiful morning nap.I also prevent people from leaving in the middle, although for a different reason. There are a few people who are moving toward samadhi and if you simply leave, it creates a disturbance. You may disturb their state, their harmony; they may lose the track.Whatever is happening, Chidananda, is perfectly beautiful; just accept it with great gratitude. This is what I want to happen to everybody.That will be one of the happiest days for me; when everybody here is absent, is in a state of nothingness – in a sense present, perhaps for the first time in his life; present as a silence, and for the first time absent as a separate entity; when everybody becomes one with the whole and slowly, slowly melts. The place is no longer so many people here, but just a lake of consciousness without any ripples.Just to check whether you are in that state or not, my strategy is to use a joke; that gives you a jerk. If I see that it is giving you a jerk, that means you were in the right space. And after the joke…you have laughed and you go back again.Chidananda, you don’t need anything but a joke.A zebra managed to get loose from a zoo and wandered into the countryside. He came to a farm, where the first thing he saw was a sheep. “What do you do?” asked the zebra. “I grow wool,” said the sheep.Then he saw a cow. “What do you do?” asked the zebra. “I give milk,” said the cow.Next he saw a hen. “What do you do?” asked the zebra. “I lay eggs,” said the hen.Then he saw a bull. “What do you do?” asked the zebra.“First take off those fancy pajamas and I will show you!”So just a joke once in a while…you wake up, you have a jerk and then again the silence.You have heard Basho’s famous haiku:An ancient pond,A frog jumps in,The sound and the silence again.And the second silence is deeper than the first silence. The frog has disturbed it for a moment, but again the silence comes back and it is deeper than the first.It is just like you are walking on a street in the night. It is dark. A car comes by and you see the light. It passes by you and for a moment there is light, strong light, and then again there is darkness. You will be surprised: now the darkness is deeper than it was before. The experience of light has thrown you deeper into darkness.Many times, not knowing how life grows, we start creating problems. Now, Chidananda is going perfectly well…even that becomes a problem. One starts thinking something must be wrong: nobody else is going perfectly well, and I am going perfectly well…I am not normal. Everybody is fully awake, listening, and I am disappearing into a deep silence – and certainly you will not be able to recall what I have been saying.But that is not needed, this is not a university where you have to be examined for your memory. This is a mystery school where your test is your actions, your responses. Whether you have heard me or not will depend…if it changes your behavior pattern then you have heard me. Whether you remember my words or not, that is irrelevant.Osho,What is the difference between human nature, instinct, and habit? Are there any means by which they can change or not?Habit is not nature, it is nurture. You learn it by imitation. By seeing people doing things, you start doing them. By seeing what makes people successful, you follow them. It does not come out of your nature, it comes out of your surroundings. Yes, it can become so deep-rooted that in every language there is an expression: habit is second nature. It becomes so deep-rooted that you cannot even make the distinction whether it is habit or nature.But habit is never nature. You did not bring it with you, and any day you want to drop it, you can drop it. Any day you want to change it you can change it.Nature cannot be changed.And instinct is part of nature. In you, nature is expressed in four layers. Instinct is the lowest. Then there is intellect, which is higher than instinct. Most people never know anything more than these two, and these two are always fighting for supremacy. All the religions have remained with intellect; that’s why they are against instinct.Only a few great thinkers like Acharya Brihaspati in India and Epicurus in Greece have been in favor of instinct against intellect. These are very rare people; otherwise everybody has been in favor of intellect, because intellect has a higher position. It brings more respectability to you, more honor. Instinct is almost like the animals. Intellect makes you superior to the animals – but instinct is juicy, intellect is dry. Hence the people who live with instinct are joyous, happy, loving, and the people who live with intellect are dry, quarreling.In fact there is an old story that dogs must have been great intellectuals in their previous lives; that’s why they are continuously barking at each other. You cannot stop dogs from barking at each other, and you cannot stop intellectuals from barking at each other; there is a similarity. It can be either that dogs are born as intellectuals, or intellectuals are born as dogs – or perhaps there are both types.Beyond your intellect is your feeling. Another name for your feeling is intuition, a more scientific name. But very few people reach to intuition, because to reach to intuition, you have to go beyond intellect, and meditation is the only way. But unfortunately meditation is not part of our education. Education stops at intellect, creating a quarrel between your instinct and intellect, creating a split, a schizophrenia that you will suffer from your whole life.If you meditate, something beyond intellect starts functioning. You can call it the heart, you can call it intuition. It has no arguments, but it has tremendous experiences. But it is not the end of your whole nature. There is, beyond this third, the fourth, which has not been named. In the East, it has simply been called turiya, and turiya means “the fourth.” It has not been named because any name falls short of it. It is your ultimate nature, your very essential nature. It is where you meet with the universal nature, just like a dewdrop disappearing into the ocean.Nature is a vast world – it begins with instinct and ends with the fourth, the turiya.Habit is a nurture; you learn it from others.For example, when I was a student and I wanted a scholarship for my post-graduate studies, my professor was absolutely confident: I had all the qualifications. There was just one great disqualification – that I might get into an argument with the vice-chancellor about something. So my professor, the head of the department of philosophy, went with me just to prevent me from quarreling. He went on telling me on the way, “Listen, everything depends on him. It is a special scholarship; it comes from the vice-chancellor’s special fund. Other scholarships are very small; this is the biggest scholarship, and you need it.”He knew that with whatever money I was getting from my home I was purchasing books. Even if I had to go hungry it was okay, but I could not resist…if I saw in the university bookstall a new book, I had to purchase it. The head of my department supported me as much as he could. Knowing me – that I could go hungry, but I would purchase the book – he had arranged with the mess manager: “I will pay his bills for food and everything that he needs, so don’t ask him.” He wanted me to get the biggest scholarship, so I could purchase as many books as I wanted.He was persuading me all the way while going toward the vice-chancellor’s office: “Just remember one thing, you have one disqualification. Don’t get into an argument with that old man; otherwise all your qualifications won’t do. It is simply in his hands.” I remained silent, non-committal, and he said to me, “Why are you silent? – because I am afraid…”I said, “I cannot commit myself and I cannot promise. If he provokes me, then I don’t care about the scholarship. I will not miss the opportunity to have a good encounter.”He said, “You are mad, but I will be sitting by your side, and if you start some argument, I will start pulling your shirt. That is to remind you that you are forgetting.”I said, “You can do anything you want, but I am not promising anything to you.”He said, “You are stubborn.”I said, “I am not stubborn; if he does not provoke me, there is no question.”But as I entered the office, he provoked me immediately. He said to me, “Why are you growing your beard?”The head of my department looked at me and thought, “Finished! That scholarship is gone!” because I said to the vice-chancellor, “You are asking an absurd question. The beard is growing by itself. I’m not growing it, I’m not pulling out these hairs.”He said, “That’s right; but you can shave.”I said, “That brings up the question: I can ask you why you have been shaving your beard which nature has given you. You cannot ask the same question to me because I am not growing it, just as I am not growing my nose. And what can I say if somebody asks me, ‘Why don’t you cut off your nose?’ Why are you shaving twice a day?”He was an old professor of history from Oxford…he was a professor in Oxford, and when he retired from there he was appointed here as vice-chancellor.I said, “You have to give me an answer.”He said, “You are asking a question I have never thought about. And you seem to be right…why did I start shaving my beard? The only thing I can think of is that because everybody else was shaving, I started shaving.”I said, “It is only a habit. And you are living in a habit blindly – not even alert about why you are shaving your own beard twice a day, wasting time. And the imitation of others does not show much intelligence; you should have asked why they are shaving. And you would have found that their answer is the same: they are imitating others.”I told him, “You just think of one possibility: if women start growing beards…which is possible. Just by giving a woman certain injections, hormones which man has and the woman does not have, she will start growing a beard and a mustache. Do you think she will look beautiful?”He said, “My God! She cannot, she will look awful.”I said, “The same is the situation with you. You look awful without a beard, which is a natural phenomenon.”When I said, “You look awful,” my professor started hectically pulling my shirt, hitting my leg with his. I said to him, “Professor S.S. Roy, you have not come with me to pull my shirt, or to hit my leg with your leg.”I told the vice-chancellor, “You have to interfere. He is disturbing our conversation.”Even today, I can remember Professor S. S. Roy’s face! He could not believe that I would do that to him.The vice-chancellor said, “Professor S. S. Roy, that’s not right.”I said, “I have been telling him all the way, but he is greedy about me getting the scholarship, so he wants me not to argue with you. But I don’t care about the scholarship; I care about whatever is the truth, scholarship or no scholarship.”The vice-chancellor looked at me and he said, “Don’t be worried about your scholarship.” He did not ask anything about my qualifications…whether I qualify for the scholarship or not. He simply signed. He said, “I loved you. No student has ever dared to say in front of me, ‘You look awful.’ And I cannot answer it! Perhaps you are right, because it is unnatural what I am doing, and what you are doing is natural. And I would love once in a while, passing by the office…you are always welcome, you can come just for a chitchat. I enjoyed just this small talk with you.”My professor was amazed. Coming back, he was absolutely silent. I said, “What is the matter? You are very silent.”He said, “I am wondering what kind of man you are. You managed so quickly, and you said to him, to his face, ‘You look awful.’ And we know that he is a very angry man and very revengeful. And he has invited you: ‘Whenever you want…there is no need for any appointment. You can come directly in.’ What did you do? It was almost like magic – within a minute. And you made me into such a fool. I could not even raise my eyes. I was looking down…What to say? I have done those things; I cannot deny it.”People don’t think what they are doing: what kind of dress they are using, whether it is comfortable or not; what kind of houses they are living in, whether they are aesthetic or not. They are simply imitating others.A life of imitation is not a true life. It is not sincere. One should live naturally on all the four steps:Instinct is of the body.Intellect is of the mind.Intuition is of the heart.And the fourth, turiya, is of the being.If you can live all these four in harmony, you are the perfect man. Nothing should be denied in favor of anything else. All four have to be together in a harmony. And if you can avoid habits, if you can allow your nature to be your whole life, no space for habits at all…. All habits take you away from your nature; all habits prove you to be mediocre.Live naturally and you are as natural as a roseflower; live through habits and you are made of something plastic, dead, meaningless. Then you feel miserable, and nobody else is responsible for it. You allowed imitation to enter in your authenticity and it has poisoned everything. Just follow your inner voice.Your body has its own wisdom – use it.Your mind can grow into a great giant as far as intelligence is concerned; use it, but don’t be used by it.Your heart has so much love, so much beauty; it can fill the whole universe, it is oceanic. Allow it to spread and expand, and share it with people.And the fourth is the ultimate. That is your eternal life with all conceivable blissfulness, ecstasy, joy, fearlessness, deathlessness.If one lives simply according to his nature on each of these four rungs, he is a true man; he does not have any habit. Habits destroy your truth and impose things on you which were never intended by nature to be your destiny.An American, an Englishman and an Irishman were all facing a firing squad. “Listen,” said the American to the other two, “one at a time we will think of a means to distract the fire; then when the firing squad turn their backs, the one who creates the distraction runs over the hill. I will go first and show you.”The squad lined up and took aim. Quickly the American shouted, “Tornado!” The squad turned round to look and the American ran over the hill.The squad started to line up again and the Englishman yelled, “Flash flood!” Again the squad turned, expecting to see a tidal wave of water.For the third time the squad lined up to take aim. The Irishman, thinking quickly, yelled out, “Fire!”