Maneesha, perhaps Zen is the only path that has led thousands of people to the ultimate reality.
And in a way, it is so simple. There have been arduous ways, there have been self-torturing systems of belief. There are religions which are nothing but moralities, which are very temporary, having no relationship to the ultimate values of existence.
Zen is not a morality. It never talks about right and wrong. It never talks about the saint and the sinner. It is so respectful of reality that nothing in the whole of history can be compared with this respectfulness. It is not only respectful to human beings, but to this cricket, to these cuckoos, to these crows. Wherever life is, the Zen experience is that it is the same life. There is no categorization; nobody is lower or higher, but just different forms of the abundance of existence.
It blossoms in many forms, in many colors; it dances in many ways and in many forms, but hidden within it is the same eternal principle.
Zen does not belong to the ordinary category of religions either, because it has no theology, no God, none of the nonsense questions which have troubled people for centuries. It has reduced the whole of religiousness to a single point within you. These anecdotes again and again reinforce the same point. Remember, the ultimate is within you but it is not within your mind. It is beyond the mind but within you.
Mind is a small corner in you, a small mechanism. It is useful, if you understand its ways of working; but it is otherwise dangerous, because it tends to take possession of you, to become the master, and to lead you into the ways of power, money and prestige. You are lost in a jungle of desires, longings; you live thirsty and you die thirsty, while the source of all fulfillment is within you.
Zen cuts all nonsense out. It is twenty-four-carat gold, no mixture. That makes it very simple and also very difficult. It is difficult, because the simple is the most difficult thing in the world to understand. It is simple because it does not require you to do anything at all. Just sit silently, settle within yourself, and you have arrived at the place which is your home and has been always your home. It is your very being.
Remember, whatever the anecdote, the basic principle is always the same.
TOZAN ASKED A MONK, "WHAT IS THE MOST MISERABLE CONDITION IN THE WORLD?"
Of course, the monk could not understand the question.
He said, "HELL IS THE MOST MISERABLE." That is a theological answer. But Zen is not a theology, there is no concern about hell or heaven. What master Tozan is asking is something else. "WHAT IS THE MOST MISERABLE CONDITION IN THE WORLD?" - to be confined, to be enclosed, to be imprisoned, to be fettered; to lose your freedom, your joy, your blissfulness; to lose yourself in the mundane and forget the sacred.
"NO," SAID TOZAN. Hell is out of the question. "WHAT IS THE MOST MISERABLE IS TO WEAR THIS ROBE" - the robe of a seeker, of a sannyasin - "WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THE GREAT MATTER." It is very easy to change clothes, but the question is about transforming your consciousness and it is called in Zen 'the great matter'.
Changing clothes is very ordinary, anybody can do it. But transforming your consciousness, throwing out all darkness from your inner world and making it radiate with the ultimate, with the absolute ....
Time stops, mind becomes just a shadow; you are no more you, you have become the universe.
Unless this happens, you are in misery.
THEN ADDRESSING ALL THE ASSEMBLED MONKS, TOZAN SAID: "THE LATE MASTER, WU TZU, ONE DAY TOOK A BATH, BURNED INCENSE, SAT UPRIGHT AND SAID TO HIS DISCIPLES: 'THE BODY OF REALITY IS PERFECTLY QUIESCENT, WHILE GIVING THE APPEARANCE OF GOING AND COMING. THE THOUSAND SAGES ARE FROM THE SAME SOURCE; MYRIAD AWARENESSES ARE ULTIMATELY ONE. I AM NOW A BUBBLE BURSTING - WHAT IS THE USE OF SADNESS?'"
He was going to die, he was going to leave the body that he had used up to then. This was his last message to his disciples, "Don't become sad when I am no more, there is no use in being sad. DON'T TROUBLE YOUR MINDS; JUST MAINTAIN COMPLETE AWARENESS. IF YOU FOLLOW THIS ORDER, YOU ARE REALLY REQUITING MY KINDNESS. IF YOU STUBBORNLY GO AGAINST WHAT I SAY, YOU ARE NOT MY DISCIPLES."
"AT THAT TIME," TOZAN CONTINUED, "A MONK ASKED WU TZU, 'WHERE ARE YOU GOING?'
AND WU TZU SAID, 'NOWHERE.'"
The moment you leave the body, there are two possibilities: either your consciousness enters into another womb and again becomes imprisoned, or if you are fully aware, you don't enter in another womb, you simply enter into the universal vastness. You become one with the ocean of reality. That's why Wu Tzu said, "Nowhere. I will not be going anywhere. I will simply disappear, as a dewdrop disappears into the ocean in the morning sun." It leaves no address, it leaves no footprints. It just slips silently into the ocean, without making any fuss, and then the whole ocean is the same.
Millions of buddhas have disappeared in the same ocean, but as far as going is concerned, you are not going anywhere. You are going to be here, without a body, in absolute freedom - no confinement, no limits, the whole sky is yours.
THE MONK SAID, "WHY DON'T I SEE?"
WU TZU REPLIED, "IT IS NOT VISIBLE TO THE EYE."
The moment consciousness leaves the body, you cannot see it, it is not visible to the eye. But if you are an authentic disciple - if your heart is not closed but completely open - you will feel a tremendous energy exploding into the universe.
To be close to a master when he is dying is a great experience, because you know that in his death, you have touched the eternal. You know that nobody dies, that death has never happened and will never happen. Death is an ignorant standpoint. Awareness spreads all over existence.
THE MONK SAID, "WHY DON'T I SEE?"
WU TZU REPLIED, "IT IS NOT VISIBLE TO THE EYE."
You never ask, "Why can't I see from my nose?" The nose has a particular limitation, that it can only smell. Eyes cannot smell; they have their limitation, that they can only see. Eyes cannot hear; the most beautiful music is useless unless you have ears to hear.
All your senses are finite, limited, and you don't have any sense which can experience consciousness, unless you are also conscious enough. Then certainly, you will see the explosion, the light, the tremendous beauty of an invisible lotus opening its flowers. But for that your ordinary senses will not help. Only awareness will do, which is not your eyes, which is not your ears, but a totally different dimension - being aware, inside. That awareness certainly realizes what is happening if somebody is dying.
Nobody is dying. The energy called 'soul' may enter another body - and it enters into another body if its desires have remained unfulfilled, if it needs another life to attain maturity. If there is greed, lust, anger - anything that demands a body for its expression - it will enter into some womb.
But if all is fulfilled, if your contentment is absolute, there is no question of entering into another womb. You simply enter the universe itself.
RELATING THIS INCIDENT TO HIS MONKS, TOZAN COMMENTED, "WU TZU WAS AN ADEPT."
'Adept' means a siddha, one who has arrived. Now, there is nowhere to go; you have found it, for which others are searching. The word 'adept' is not a good translation. In English, there is no word for 'siddha' just as there is no word for 'buddha'. Both are ways of saying the same thing.
'Buddha' means becoming absolutely aware, and 'siddha' means becoming absolutely contented.
They happen simultaneously. The word 'adept' is very ordinary, it does not carry the heights and depths of the word 'siddha'.
But it is difficult to translate from one language to another language, and particularly with experiences which are not easy to put into words. Now, nobody in the West has ever used the phrase 'The Awakened One'; not for Pythagoras, nor for Anagoras, nor for Socrates, nor for Aristotle.
That dimension is simply not opened up.
Aristotle is a great rational intellectual, and Socrates has the sharpest logic one can conceive, but as far as awareness is concerned, they are as far away as anybody else. They are not buddhas, and they are not siddhas. They are neither absolutely content, nor absolutely awake. They are still functioning in the mind.
The West has never gone beyond the mind. It has remained inside the mind and the mechanism of mind. It has never gathered courage to take a step into the unknown. This is the basic difference between the Western and the Eastern approach. The West is continuously trying to improve the mind, refining, sharpening, educating it. And the East is doing just the opposite - dropping the mind, finding every possible way to drop it so that the beyond can open, so that you can open your wings.
Tozan's saying that Wu Tzu was an adept means that he has come to be and he has come to know that he is. Now, the body is needed no more.
Ikkyu has written:
OUR MIND - WITHOUT END, WITHOUT BEGINNING, THOUGH IT IS BORN, THOUGH IT DIES - THE ESSENCE OF EMPTINESS!
Remember, the word 'mind' is not the right translation. It should be 'consciousness'.
OUR CONSCIOUSNESS - WITHOUT END, WITHOUT BEGINNING, THOUGH IT IS BORN, THOUGH IT DIES - THE ESSENCE OF EMPTINESS!
It remains; it comes and goes, but it never gathers any junk. It remains utterly empty and pure and innocent. The English translators of these poems have invented a way which is not appropriate.
For our ordinary mind, they use mind with a small 'm'. Mind with a capital 'm', they use for consciousness, awareness, enlightenment. But it is very dangerous because people who are accustomed to reading the word 'mind' will not even bother to look why one 'm' is written in capitals and the other 'm' is written in small letters. To them, mind is mind.
I would not support this kind of translation.
OUR CONSCIOUSNESS - WITHOUT END and WITHOUT BEGINNING ... and remember, it is our consciousness, not mine, not yours. We are one, somewhere deep down, and to find that unity is the greatest rejoicing. There is nothing more ecstatic than to find the point where everything in existence has its roots, the very source.
Maneesha has asked:
Maneesha, you cannot love enlightenment, you cannot hate enlightenment. These are not possible ways of approaching enlightenment. You can be enlightened or not, there is no question of loving enlightenment or not loving enlightenment. And it is not enough to love the master because that may become a consolation: that you are with the master, you love the master, what else is needed?
Loving the master has only one meaning - that you open up to such a point that the master can hit, and cut like a sword all the barriers to your enlightenment.
You will not allow anybody to come too close without trust. To be with a master simply means to be defenseless; if he cuts off your head, you will still be graceful. And he has to cut off much more than your head. He has to cut all your mind activities, he has to cut all your heart feelings. Unless thoughts and feelings disappear, you cannot be absolutely silent.
If you love the master, this is not the end; it is just the beginning of a process. The master himself is a device. On your own, it will be very difficult. But if you trust someone - and you can feel that he has arrived - you can open your heart, there is no fear.
The master is pure love, not addressed to anybody in particular. You can open to the master, exposing yourself, not hiding behind thoughts, theories, philosophies or religions. Just open and expose yourself with all your wounds, with all your darkness, with all your misery, with all your anger and jealousy. You can open yourself without any fear, because a master never judges. A master has no judgment, he simply loves. And out of his love, he cuts all the barriers and leaves you alone like a flame. There is nothing that you have to do - just your dancing flame is enough gratitude.
In your enlightenment, the master has again become enlightened. As each disciple becomes enlightened, the master becomes again and again enlightened; and with the sheer joy of a gardener when each of his plants start blossoming. Just watch his eyes - all those colors, all those flowers dancing in the wind, in the rain, in the sun - and how long he has been waiting! You are my garden. I will wait until you gather courage, and this courage means disappearing into the soil, losing yourself in complete let-go.
Enlightenment is not somewhere else. It is hiding behind your seed, inside you. You just have to trust. If you trust in yourself, the master is not needed. But because the society has created you in such a way that you cannot trust yourself, you are always divided - to do it or not to do it, to be or not to be - your mind is continuously wavering. You need someone unwavering. It is almost like surgery; you cannot do surgery on yourself, it will be very difficult, almost impossible.
You will need someone else and you will have to trust because he is opening your heart or opening your brain and who knows what kind of man he is. But ordinarily you do trust a surgeon even though you do not know him. The function of the master is far more deep. It needs a very conscious love and trust on the disciple's side because the master is going to tear down all your personality and shatter all your mind habits to bring out the hidden flame with all its splendor. You don't have to love it. You will rejoice, you will dance, you will sing, you will share, you will now love all that surrounds you.
Maneesha, even gratitude is not needed; it comes on its own. With your enlightenment your gratitude comes on its own accord. The West is absolutely unaware of why in the East disciples touch the feet of the master.
One day a man came and wanted to touch Gautam Buddha's feet and he said, "Wait. It is not yet time."
The man said, "What do you mean, not yet time?"
Buddha said, "Your hands are empty. Just wait a little until I can see that your hands are full of gratitude. But nothing has happened yet in you which will bring gratitude of its own accord. When it does - without any effort - your head will want to touch the feet of your master." The master has been working without any reward. You cannot pay him, you cannot do anything in response to all that has happened to you through him. Gratitude is a very helpless awareness: "At the most, I can touch your feet."
When Sariputta became enlightened, one of the great disciples of Gautam Buddha, he did not even touch his feet. He simply touched the dust near his feet.
Buddha said, "What are you doing?"
He said, "To touch your feet seems to be too much. It is enough to touch the dust under your feet."
Sariputta says this even though he is enlightened, but he also understands that nothing can be done in return. There is no way to repay it. All that we can do is show our gratitude.
Maneesha has asked another question:
Maneesha, it is unfortunate that for centuries all the religions have thought in terms of sacrificing; killing men, woman, animals, hoping that in this way the god will be satisfied. It is such a stupid attitude. Is the god a cannibal that he will be happy when you sacrifice? And everything has been sacrificed; even the Hindus, who have been fighting continuously that the government should stop cow slaughter, have been sacrificing cows for centuries before their gods and goddesses.
Those gods and goddesses don't eat the meat. Once sacrificed that meat becomes sacred, and then the Brahmins who are sacrificing it eat it. Nothing to say about cows, the Hindu VEDAS mention naramedh yagnas in which men were sacrificed - young, beautiful men - and then eaten.
This is such a primitive idea, that God will be happy with you sacrificing life - life which is God itself. You are destroying life for some fictitious gods who will themselves be sacrificed. Rather than sacrificing these poor people .... There is no reason at all why clouds should come, but the Hindu primitiveness says in the scriptures that the god of the clouds is Indra and he loves sacrifices. So when you sacrifice, Indra sends clouds with rain.
It is unfortunate that even in this century this old stupid idea still continues. And it has not worked even once. Nobody bothers that there are proofs that gods don't bother about your sacrifices, they don't bother about your prayers. In fact, they don't bother because they are not. There is no one in the sky to answer your prayers, your sacrifices.
The one who is truly divine is within you, and unless you find it there, you will not find it in anything else. I can see the clouds as divine, I can see the roses as divine - the universal brotherhood of divine beings. I can see you as buddhas, but you may not accept, you may say: "No, not now, I have to go home. Please wait, my daughter is getting ready to be married. My son is graduating and is going to open a shop. Just a few days more, let me remain ignorant. I will become a buddha when all other concerns are finished."
But those concerns are never finished. Do you conceive of a time when you will not have any concerns? When death comes, do you say to death, "Wait, I have to at least close my shop," or "Wait, I have invited a guest." Death comes without any concern about your involvements, and life goes on, undisturbed. A little stir, a little dust and the great wheel of life's chariot goes moving on. If you can be willing to die when death comes, I am bringing buddhahood to you.
There is no problem. You can be a buddha and still go back home. The idea has been propounded for centuries that if you become a buddha, then what will happen to your wife and children? Nothing will happen to anybody, anything. You will just be more loving, more compassionate. Now you will help your children to grow in a new way, without conditioning them. You will help them to remain free, so that they can also find the same buddhahood.
The woman you have loved ... buddhahood does not mean that you have to drop loving her. In fact, you have never loved before. It was just so-so, lukewarm. After buddhahood, your love will be really overwhelming, and not only to your wife; anyone who comes close to you will feel suddenly showered with love. Old primitive conditionings are preventing you. Otherwise, there is no need to wait even for a single moment.
Anyway, before you become the buddha ... because after that you may not laugh. Buddhas are not supposed to laugh. They simply sit in the lotus posture with closed eyes, no smile; even laughter is too much. So before you become the buddha, a few laughs.
Sardar Gurudayal Singh, laugh before the joke. Where you are hiding?
One tranquil afternoon in the deep forest, Doobeedoo, the very handsome frog, is preparing to go for a little hop around the pond. He is feeling pretty good about things today, and a little 'out there,' so he puts on his flashy new white Yves Saint-Laurent swimsuit.
He goes out and takes in the beautiful morning. The sun is streaming softly through the tall pine trees. Doobeedoo takes a big breath of fresh air and smiles. Then full of life, he says to a passing deer, "I am God!"
He hops on for a while, and when he comes across a family of dragonflies, he puffs out his chest and says, "I am God!"
A little further on, he comes to Doreen the duck. He makes big eyes at her and in a spiritual tone says, "I am God!"
Doreen looks at the frog and says, "What?"
Doobee says again, "I am God!"
"I have been watching you," says Doreen, "and you have been telling that to everyone around the pond. Are you serious, or is it just that flashy white Yves Saint-Laurent swimsuit?"
"I am God!" says Doobee again.
"Enough of your silliness," says the duck. "Away with you, you smart-faced jerk!"
At this, Doobee pulls down his white swimsuit and exposes his machinery.
Doreen looks in amazement and says slowly, "Oh my God!"
A group of male and female astronauts land on Mars and meet a friendly group of Martians. They chat for a while, and soon the topic of conversation turns to reproduction. One of the Martian couples agrees to demonstrate how it is done on Mars, and the astronauts look on with interest.
The Martians touch tentacles for a moment, and almost immediately a hump grows on the female's front. It grows for a minute and then opens like a flower, and a baby Martian jumps out.
Then the Martians want to be shown how it is done on earth. So two of the astronauts volunteer, lie down on the floor and make love. When the humans have finished, the Martian chief says, "Very unusual, and I must say, very interesting. But where is the baby? Or was the demonstration a failure?"
"We don't know yet," replies the astronaut. "If it was successful, then the baby will arrive in nine months."
"Nine months?" cries the Martian. "Amazing! But if the child won't be born for nine months, why were you in such a hurry there at the end?"
Solomon Einstein owns a nail-manufacturing company called "Einstein's Nails." Business is very good so he decides to take a winter vacation in Miami. He leaves his son, Matzo, to run the business while he is away.
One sunny morning, Solly is reading the Miami Tribune at breakfast when he comes across a full- page color advertisement with a picture of Jesus nailed to the cross. Under it is written, "They Used Einstein's Nails!"
Solly jumps on the telephone immediately and calls Matzo.
"You idiot!" screams Solomon. "Don't ever say such a thing again!"
Matzo assures Solly that he understands and not to worry, he will do better the next time.
Two days later, Solly is lounging on the balcony of his deluxe hotel room, reading the newspaper.
He turns the page, screams and swallows his cigar. There in full color, Jesus is lying in a crumpled heap below the cross, and underneath is written, "They Should Have Used Einstein's Nails!"
Now, Nivedano, give your beats.
(Drumbeat) (Gibberish) Nivedano ...
(Drumbeat) Be silent, close your eyes.
Feel absolutely frozen, no movement.
Gather yourself inward.
Deeper and deeper, and home starts coming closer.
This silence is so blessed.
In this silence, you are all buddhas.
It is another matter if you forget it again.
Remember it, remember it.
This has nothing to do with what your life work is; it is an inner light which can remain continuously through the twenty-four hours, like an underground current.
It will change your whole life, its style, its pattern, its approach.
Except this, there is no way to a metamorphosis.
Except this, there is no way to eternity.
In this moment, you are beyond life and beyond death.
To make it deeper, Nivedano ...
(Drumbeat) Relax, let go. Be almost dead.
This will help you to go even more deeply into yourself.
It is an eternal pilgrimage.
This silence, this tremendously beautiful moment, has stopped happening in the world because people have forgotten how to go inwards.
They can reach the moon, but they cannot reach to themselves.
Rejoice that you are the fortunate ones who are moving deeper and deeper.
This serenity, this blissfulness is your very nature.
This is what makes one a buddha.
Nivedano ...
(Drumbeat) Call all the buddhas back.
Sit down for a few seconds in deep gratitude to this great existence.
Okay, Maneesha?
Yes, Osho.
Can we celebrate all the buddhas?
Yes Osho.