ZEN IS NOTHING BUT AN OPENING INTO THE COSMOS. YOU DISAPPEAR, ONLY EXISTENCE REMAINS. THIS IS THE ULTIMATE FREEDOM: FREEDOM FROM ONESELF. THIS FREEDOM BECOMES A GREAT CELEBRATION. YOU DANCE WITH THE STARS, YOU DANCE WITH THE OCEAN, YOU DANCE WITH THE TREES, YOU DANCE UNDER THE SKY, UNDER THE STARS. SUDDENLY THE WHOLE COSMOS HAS BECOME YOUR HOME. YOU ARE NOT A FOREIGNER, YOU ARE NOT A STRANGER, YOU ARE NOT AN OUTSIDER. YOU BELONG TO THIS EXISTENCE. THIS EXISTENCE BELONGS TO YOU. THIS IS THE REVOLUTION THAT ZEN BRINGS TO HUMANITY. THIS IS ZEN’S GREAT CONTRIBUTION TO THE WORLD. MAHAKASHYAPA IS THE FIRST PATRIARCH OF ZEN. SO THE LINEAGE OF ZEN, THE FAMILY OF ZEN, IS A BRANCH, A VERY SILENT BRANCH OF BUDDHISM. THEY LOVE GAUTAM BUDDHA, BECAUSE ZEN REALLY ORIGINATED IN HIS DISAPPEARANCE. HE TRANSFERRED IT TO MAHAKASHYAPA, AND THEN IT WAS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF MAHAKASHYAPA TO GO ON FINDING PEOPLE TO WHOM HE COULD TRANSFER IT. SO SINCE THAT MOMENT, TWENTY-FIVE CENTURIES AGO, IT HAS BEEN TRANSFERRED WITHOUT ANY ARBITRARY MEANS, WITHOUT ANY LANGUAGE, FROM MASTER TO DISCIPLE; FROM ONE WHO HAS COME HOME TO ONE WHO IS JUST WANDERING AROUND BUT CANNOT FIND THE WAY. SLOWLY, SLOWLY IMPROVING THE IMAGE OF GAUTAM THE BUDDHA, EACH MASTER HAS CONTRIBUTED SOMETHING, A NEW DIMENSION TO IT. EVERY ZEN MASTER BEHAVES SPONTANEOUSLY. EVERYBODY WHO IS AWARE FUNCTIONS SPONTANEOUSLY. ZEN IS ABSOLUTELY NATURAL. YOU SHOULD FUNCTION ACCORDING TO YOUR NATURE, AND OUT OF YOUR SPONTANEITY SHOULD COME YOUR RESPONSE. AND ONLY ZEN HAS REFINED, IN THESE TWENTY-FIVE CENTURIES, METHODS, DEVICES TO MAKE YOU AWARE THAT YOU ARE NOT, THAT YOU ARE ONLY ARBITRARY, JUST AN IDEA. YOU HAVE TO FIND WAYS – AND THESE WAYS CAN BE FOUND EASILY ONLY WHEN YOU HAVE SOMEBODY WHO HAS ALREADY TRAVELED THE PATH, WHO KNOWS THAT NOTHINGNESS IS NOT SOMETHING EMPTY. BY DISAPPEARING, YOU ARE NOT REALLY DISAPPEARING, YOU ARE BECOMING THE WHOLE. FROM THIS SIDE, IT LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE DISAPPEARING; FROM THAT SIDE, IT LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE BECOMING THE WHOLE. THE MASTER’S FUNCTION IN ZEN IS TO FORCE NOTHINGNESS INTO YOUR EXPERIENCE, OR IN OTHER WORDS, TO BRING YOU TO YOUR OWN NOTHINGNESS. THE MASTER DEVISES METHODS, AND WHEN THEY BECOME OLD AND ROUTINE HE DROPS THEM, FINDS NEW METHODS, NEW WAYS. THE MASTER FUNCTIONS AS A FRIEND. HE HOLDS YOUR HAND AND TAKES YOU ON THE RIGHT PATH, HELPS YOU TO OPEN YOUR EYES, HELPS YOU TO BE CAPABLE OF TRANSCENDING THE MIND. THAT’S WHEN YOUR THIRD EYE OPENS, WHEN YOU START LOOKING INWARDS. ONCE YOU ARE LOOKING INWARDS, THE MASTER’S WORK IS FINISHED. NOW IT IS UP TO YOU. YOU CAN TRAVEL THAT SMALL GAP BETWEEN YOUR MIND AND NO-MIND IN A SINGLE MOMENT OF TREMENDOUS INTENSITY AND URGENCY. OR YOU CAN TRAVEL SLOWLY, HESITANTLY, STOPPING, BEING AFRAID THAT YOU ARE LOSING GRIP OF YOUR MIND, YOU ARE LOSING GRIP OF YOUR INDIVIDUALITY, THAT ALL BOUNDARIES ARE DISAPPEARING. WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU MAY THINK FOR A MOMENT, ”THIS MAY BRING A BREAKDOWN, YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO COME BACK TO THE MIND AGAIN. AND WHO KNOWS WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN AHEAD? THINGS ARE DISAPPEARING...” IF YOU PAY TOO MUCH ATTENTION TO THE THINGS THAT ARE DISAPPEARING YOU MAY STOP OUT OF FEAR. THE MASTER GOES ON FOCUSING YOUR MIND ON THINGS THAT ARE HAPPENING, NOT ON THINGS THAT ARE DISAPPEARING. HE GOES ON FORCING YOU TO LOOK AT THE BLISSFULNESS, LOOK AT THE SILENCE THAT IS DESCENDING ON YOU. LOOK AT THE PEACE, LOOK AT THE JOY, LOOK AT THE ECSTASY. HE IS CONTINUOUSLY EMPHASIZING THAT WHICH IS HAPPENING, NOT THAT WHICH IS GOING AWAY – THE ANXIETY, THE DESPAIR, THE ANGST, THE ANGUISH, HE IS NOT ALLOWING YOU EVEN TO TAKE NOTE OF THEM. WHAT IS DISAPPEARING IS NOT WORTH KEEPING. JUST GO ON LOOKING AT WHAT IS APPEARING OUT OF NOTHINGNESS. SO YOU GATHER COURAGE, YOU BECOME MORE DARING. YOU KNOW THAT NOTHING IS GOING TO BE WRONG. WITH EVERY SINGLE INCH OF MOVEMENT, SOMETHING GREATER IS HAPPENING. AND FINALLY, AS YOU ENTER THE VERY SOURCE OF YOUR BEING, THE CENTER OF YOUR BEING, THE WHOLE UNIVERSE FALLS UPON YOU, JUST AS KABIR SAID BEFORE HE DIED: ”THE WHOLE OCEAN HAS FALLEN INTO THE DEWDROP.” ONCE YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED THIS BEAUTITUDE, THIS ECSTASY, THIS DIVINE DRUNKENNESS, WHO CARES ABOUT INDIVIDUALITY? WHO CARES ABOUT THE SELF? WHAT HAS THE SELF GIVEN TO YOU EXCEPT ANXIETY, EXCEPT HELL? AND THIS NOTHINGNESS IS SO PURE, WITHOUT BOUNDARIES. FOR THE FIRST TIME YOU FIND THE INFINITY, THE ETERNITY, AND ALL THE MYSTERIES OF EXISTENCE ARE SUDDENLY OPENING THEIR DOORS TO YOU. AND THEY GO ON OPENING... DOOR AFTER DOOR.... THERE IS NO END TO THIS JOURNEY, IT IS AN ENDLESS PILGRIMAGE. YOU ARE ALWAYS ARRIVING AND ARRIVING AND ARRIVING, BUT YOU NEVER ARRIVE. BUT EACH MOMENT YOU ARE GOING DEEPER INTO BLISS, DEEPER INTO ECSTASY, DEEPER INTO TRUTH, AND THERE IS NO FULL STOP. WHEN YOU KNOW YOUR NOTHINGNESS, IT RADIATES. EVEN FROM YOUR BONES, YOUR EYES, YOUR SKIN, EVERYTHING TAKES A NEW GRACE, A NEW GRANDEUR, A NEW MAJESTY. YOUR WORDS BECOME GOLDEN, YOUR SILENCE BECOMES SO PRECIOUS – A SONG WITHOUT SOUNDS. EVEN WHEN THE BUDDHA WALKS, HIS BODY IS EXPRESSING HIS BUDDHAHOOD. IF THE BUDDHA LOOKS INTO YOUR EYES, HIS EYES ARE EXPRESSING THE ULTIMATE TRUTH. WHETHER HE SAYS ANYTHING OR NOT, HE IS CONTINUOUSLY DIFFUSING A CERTAIN ENERGY ALL AROUND HIM. HE IS A RADIATOR, A RADIATION OF THE ULTIMATE BLISS. AND MANY DISCIPLES HAVE BECOME ENLIGHTENED IN THE PRESENCE OF ZEN MASTERS. AND EVEN THOUGH THE ENLIGHTENED DISCIPLES HAS NOT SEEN GAUTAMA BUDDHA WITH HIS OWN EYES, YET HE FEELS A CERTAIN GRATITUDE TOWARDS GAUTAM BUDDHA. HIS HEART IS FULL OF THIS REALIZATION : ”GAUTAM BUDDHA STARTED A NEW CHAPTER IN THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF HUMANITY. OBVIOUSLY, I GO TO HIS FEET, AND I GO TO THE TRUTH THAT HE REVEALED, AND I GO TO THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BECAME ENLIGHTENED BECAUSE OF HIS SHARING THE ENLIGHTENMENT. I WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN THE LIGHT THAT I AM RIGHT NOW IF BUDDHA HAD NOT TRANSFERRED TO MAHAKASHYAPA THAT WHICH CANNOT BE SAID IN A LOTUS FLOWER. I AM SHOWING MY GRATITUDE TO THE GREATEST MAN IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND WHO HAS RISEN ABOVE MIND.” THESE ARE THE THREE STEPS OF ENLIGHTENMENT IN ZEN.... THE FIRST, GAUTAM BUDDHA COMES BEHIND YOU JUST AS A SHADOW – BUT THE SHADOW IS NOT DARK, IT IS LUMINOUS. THERE IS NO PERSON IN IT BUT ONLY PRESENCE, A TREMENDOUS PRESENCE. IT IS WARM, YOU FEEL FOR THE FIRST TIME LOVED BY EXISTENCE ITSELF. IT IS CALM AND COOL AT THE SAME TIME. THAT’S THE MIRACLE OF ZEN. ON THE SECOND STEP, YOU BECOME THE SHADOW. YOUR SHADOW IS CERTAINLY DARK; IT IS FALSE, IT HAS BEEN YOUR PRISON. GAUTAM BUDDHA COMES IN FRONT. IT IS A GREAT REVOLUTION, BECAUSE YOUR SHADOW IMMEDIATELY STARTS DISAPPEARING. AND THE THIRD STEP COMES SPONTANEOUSLY IN: FREEDOM FROM ONESELF. YOU ARE NO MORE, ONLY EXISTENCE IS, LIFE IS, AWARENESS IS. ALL THESE ARE REPRESENTED BY THE PRESENCE OF GAUTAM THE BUDDHA. HE WAS THE FIRST MAN IN HISTORY TO BRING THIS BREAKTHROUGH, TO TURN THE HORIZONTAL CONSCIOUSNESS INTO A VERTICAL CONSCIOUSNESS. YOUR ROOTS GO DEEP INTO THE EARTH, AND YOUR BRANCHES AND YOUR FLOWERS BLOSSOM INTO THE SKY. IT IS A REALLY VERY RIDICULOUS AND UNFORTUNATE THAT PRIEST JAYESH AND OTHER THERAPISTS OF MY OWN PUNE COMMUNE ARE MISLEADING THE NEWCOMERS ABOUT MY ZEN MESSAGE. PRIEST JAYESH AND HIS TEAM OF THERAPISTS ARE TELLING NEW COMERS THAT MY ZEN MESSAGE IS NO TO MASTER, NO TO MY PHOTOS, NO TO MY LOVE SONGS, NO TO MY MALAS, NO TO MY SANNYAS, NO TO MY ENLIGHTENED DISCIPLES, NO TO MY SAMADHI, NO TO GAUTAM BUDDHA, YES TO THERAPISTS SUCKING MONEY OUT OF NEW COMERS, YES TO JORBA, YES TO JAYESH, NO TO OSHO, YES TO UNENLIGHTENED JAYESH, NO TO MY ENLIGHTENED DISCIPLES! PROBLEM IS PRIEST JAYESH AND HIS TEAM OF THERAPISTS OF MY PUNE COMMUNE ARE UNENLIGHTENED AND HENCE THEY CAN NOT RECOGNIZE MY ENLIGHTENED DISCIPLES. ONLY THE ENLIGHTENED PERSON CAN RECOGNIZE ANOTHER ENLIGHTENED BEING. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY. THE UNENLIGHTENED CANNOT RECOGNIZE THE ENLIGHTENED. THE ENLIGHTENED CAN RECOGNIZE BOTH THE UNENLIGHTENED AND THE ENLIGHTENED. THE HIGHER CAN RECOGNIZE THE LOWER, BUT THE LOWER CANNOT RECOGNIZE THE HIGHER, BECAUSE THE HIGHER HAS BOTH THE EXPERIENCE OF THE LOWER AND OF THE HIGHER. THE LOWER HAS ONLY THE EXPERIENCE OF THE LOWER; HE DOES NOT KNOW ANYTHING BEYOND IT. BUT THE DIFFICULTY IS THAT THE LOWER, THE MASSES WHO HAVE NEVER KNOWN ANYTHING OF THE HIGHER – THEY DECIDE THINGS. THEY DECIDE WHO IS ENLIGHTENED, WHO IS NOT ENLIGHTENED. IT IS SO HILARIOUS.... AND SO IT IS REALLY HILARIOUS THAT A BUNCH OF UNENLIGHTENED THERAPISTS HEADED BY UNENLIGHTENED JAYESH IS DECIDING ABOUT HOW MY PUNE COMMUNE SHOULD BE RUN, WHO SHOULD BE BANNED, WHO SHOULD BE ALLOWED, WHAT PROCESS SHOULD BE ALLOWED IN MY COMMUNE AND WHAT PROCESSES SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED IN MY PUNE COMMUNE. HIGH PRIESTS OF BUDDHIST TEMPLES HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO THROW OUT ALIVE ENLIGHTENED ZEN MASTERS IN PAST AND TAKE CARE OF STONE STATUES OF GAUTAM BUDDHA. PRIEST JAYESH AND HIS THERAPISTS OF MY PUNE COMMUNE HAVE BEEN WORSE THAN EVEN THOSE BUDDHIST PRIESTS OF PAST. PRIEST JAYESH HAS NOT ONLY THROWN OUT MY ALIVE ENLIGHTENED ZEN MASTERS LIKE OTHER BUDDHIST PRIESTS OF PAST; HE HAS GONE ONE STEP AHEAD BY THROWING OUT MY STONE STATUES TOO ALONG WITH MY OWN PHOTOGRAPHS, MY OWN SANNYAS, MY OWN MALA, MY OWN SAMADHI, MY OWN LOVE SONGS, MY FULL LENGTH DISCOURSES, MARBLE OF MY BUDDHA HALL TOO. PRIEST JAYESH AND HIS THERAPISTS HAVE NEVER LISTENED TO ME WHEN I TOLD THEM TO BECOME BUDDHAS. BUT THEY HAVE BEEN QUICK TO CUT MY HEAD OFF THE MOMENT I LEFT MY BODY. PRIEST JAYESH HAS IN FACT THROWN OUT EVERY THING WHICH I LOVED IN MY PUNE COMMUNE EXCEPT FOR THOSE THINGS WHICH IS HELPFUL TO MAKE MONEY….FIVE STAR RESTAURANT…FIVE STAR PYRAMID…SWIMMING POOL… I HAVE BEEN A ZEN MASTER AND AS A ZEN MASTER I USED TO DECIDE THE THINGS IN MY PUNE COMMUNE. I LIVED NATURALLY, I FUNCTIONED ACCORDING TO YOUR NATURE, AND OUT OF MY SPONTANEITY MY RESPONSE USED TO COME. I NEVER FUNCTIONED ACCORDING TO WORDS/GUIDANCE OF PREVIOUS ZEN MASTERS. EVERY ZEN MASTER BEHAVES SPONTANEOUSLY. EVERYBODY WHO IS AWARE FUNCTIONS SPONTANEOUSLY. ZEN IS ABSOLUTELY NATURAL. YOU SHOULD FUNCTION ACCORDING TO YOUR NATURE, AND OUT OF YOUR SPONTANEITY SHOULD COME YOUR RESPONSE. MY ZEN LINEAGE IS GOING TO BE ENRICHED ONLY BY MY ENLIGHTENED DISCIPLES THEY WILL HAVE A NATURAL ZEN GRATITUDE TOWARDS ME EVEN IF THEY COME THOUSANDS OF YEARS AFTER MY DEATH. AND ZEN MASTERS COMING AFTER ME, SHALL NOT FUNCTION BY MY GUIDANCE, MY WORDS. . THEY SHALL LIVE NATURALLY, THEY SHALL FUNCTION ACCORDING TO THEIR NATURE, AND OUT OF THEIR SPONTANEITY THEIR RESPONSE SHALL COME. EVEN WHEN I HAVE LEFT MY BODY, MY PUNE COMMUNE DESERVES NO LESS THAN ALIVE ZEN MASTERS TO DECIDE UPON THE THINGS IN MY PUNE COMMUNE. SO BEWARE WHEN PRIEST JAYESH AND HIS THERAPISTS TELL YOU THAT THEY FUNCTION OUT OF OSHO GUIDANCE. THAT MEANS THEY DO NOT FUNCTION ACCORDING TO THEIR NATURE, THEIR RESPONSE IS NOT SPONTANEOUS, THEY ARE NOT MEN OF ZEN, THEY ARE JUST PRIESTS IN DISGUISE. IT IS ONLY PRIESTS WHO DO NOT FUNCTION ACCORDING TO THEIR NATURE, WHO DO NOT RESPOND OUT OF THEIR SPONTANEITY, WHO FUNCTION ACCORDING TO SOME GUIDANCE IN THE NAME OF A PREVIOUS MASTER. MY ZEN LINEAGE IS NOT GOING TO BE ENRICHED BY SUCH PRIESTS LIKE JAYESH AND HIS TEAM OF THERAPISTS…I HAVE BEEN ALWAYS AGAINST PRIESTS…AND PRIEST JAYESH IS NO DIFFERENT FROM OTHER PRIESTS… SO NEWCOMERS, WHEN YOU CAME TO MY PUNE COMMUNE, WHEN I WAS ALIVE, YOU CAME TO A ZEN MASTER. BUT NOW WHEN YOU COME TO MY PUNE COMMUNE, WHEN PRIEST JAYESH AND HIS TEAM OF THERAPISTS ARE WAITING FOR YOU AT MY PUNE COMMUNE, YOU ARE COMING TO PRIESTS IN THE DISGUISE OF MY THERAPISTS, MY OLD DISCIPLES. SO JUST SOAK IN MY ENERGY WHICH IS STILL THERE IN MY COMMUNE, THE NATURE THERE, THE TREES, THE BUDDHA HALL….JUST SOAK IN THAT ENERGY….THAT IS A GIFT OF LOVE FROM ME FOR YOU…FOR WHO COME TO MY COMMUNE AFTER MY DEATH… BUT BEWARE OF THE PRIESTS JAYESH AND HIS TEAM OF THERAPIST AND HIS TEAM OF MY OLD DISCIPLES….DO NOT LISTEN TO THEIR OSHO GUIDANCE… I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THEIR OSHO GUIDANCE…. THEIR OSHO GUIDANCE IS MADE UP BY QUOTING MY WORDS OUT OF CONTEXT…. I HAD ALWAYS REQUESTED MY DISCIPLES TO NEVER QUOTE ME OUT OF CONTEXT…IT WILL BE HELPFUL IF YOU INSIST TO LISTEN OR TO READ THE COMPLETE DISCOURSE FROM WHICH THEY ARE QUOTING OSHO GUIDANCE….IF YOU DO SO, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO SEE THROUGH THEIR DELIBERATE MISINTERPRETATION TO EXPLOIT NEW COMERS AND TO THROW OUT MY ENLIGHTENED DISCIPLES. I HAVE THOUSANDS OF DISCOURSES IN ENGLISH AND HINDI BOTH IN PRINT AND AUDIO…LISTEN TO THAT…..THAT IS MY AUTHENTIC OSHO GUIDANCE…IF YOU EVER NEED MY GUIDANCE AND YES…MANY OF MY DISCIPLES HAVE BECOME ENLIGHTENED….MANY ARE ZEN MASTERS ALIVE AND KICKING….THEIR PRESENCE CAN FORCE NOTHINGNESS INTO YOU…THAT IS HOW YOU RECONGNIZE THEM….THEY SHALL FUNCTION ACCORDING TO THEIR NATURE..THEIR RESPONSE IS SPONTANEOUS…THAT IS HOW YOU CAN RECOGNIZE THEM…..EVEN THOUGH I AM NOT IN BODY, YET YOU TOO DESERVE NO LESS THAN ALIVE ZEN MASTERS…… GO FIND ALIVE ZEN MASTERS IN THIS BIG WORLD…..YOU SHALL FIND THEM FOR SURE….ALTHOUGH NOT IN MY PUNE COMMUNE…THERE YOU WILL NOT FIND THEM….I AM SORRY FOR THAT….YOU DESERVED ALIVE ZEN MASTERS IN MY PUNE COMMUNE…..BUT PRIEST JAYESH AND HIS GANG OF MY UNENLIGHTENED DISCIPLES WILL NOT ALLOW THAT VISION OF MINE…FOR IT HURTS THEIR PETTY EGO. GO FOR MY ALIVE ENLIGHTENED DISCIPLES, MY ALIVE ZEN MASTERS….THEY ARE RADIATORS…THEY ARE RADIATIORS OF ULTIMATE BLISS….SOAK IN THEM BY ALL MEANS… IT IS REALLY WONDERFUL THAT EVEN TODAY IF A ZEN DISCIPLE BECOMES ENLIGHTENED…HE FEELS GRATEFUL TO GAUTAM BUDDHA WHO DIED TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED YEARS BACK. IT IS EQUALLY HILARIOUS THAT PRIEST JAYESH AND HIS TEAM OF MY UNENLIGHTENED THERAPISTS AND DISCIPLES HAVE LIVED WITH ME IN THIS VERY LIFE FOR YEARS, YET NEITHER DO HAVE ANY GRATEFULNESS TOWARDS ME, NOT ANY LOVE TOWARDS MY ENLIGHTENED DISCIPLES. AND PRIEST JAYESH AND HIS UNENLIGHTENED TEAM OF MY THERAPISTS AND MY OLD DISCIPLES..THEY ARE NOT GOING TO LEAVE MY PUNE COMMUNE SO EASILY…..THEY ARE PARASITES …THEY CAN NOT SURVIVE OUTSIDE MY PUNE COMMUNE…… ALL THEIR SILLY THERAPIES, SILLY GROUPS, SILL OSHO GUIDANCES CAN NOT WORK OUT OF MY PUNE COMMUNE……HERE IN MY PUNE COMMUNE, IT IS MY RADIATIONS CONSERVED BY TREES WHICH WORKS FOR YOU….THEIR SILLY THERAPY AND GROUPS ARE JUST AN OUTER EXECUSE TO KEEP YOU IN MY PUNE COMMUNE AND THAT IS THE CRUCIAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRIEST JAYESH AND MY ALIVE ENLIGHTENED DISCIPLE. YOU TAKE PRIEST JAYESH OUT OF MY PUNE COMMUNE TO SOME OTHER CORNER OF WORLD…AND HE IS USELESS…HE IS NO RADIATOR OF ULTIMATE BLISS….THAT IS WHY HE KEEPS HIDING FROM NEWCOMERS. YOU TAKE MY ALIVE ENLIGHTENED DISCIPLES TO ANY CORNER OF WORLD….AND HE IS HELPFUL FOR YOU JOURNEY OF ZEN…HE IS RADIATOR OF ULTIMATE BLISS! BE A BUDDHA! [PLEASE NOTE, JAYESH IS A CANADIAN DISCIPLE OF OSHO. HIS LEGAL NAME IS MICHAEL O BYRNE. HE WAS IN RESORT BUSINESS BEFORE COMING TO OSHO. SINCE OSHO HAS LEFT HIS BODY, HE HAS TURNED PUNE COMMUNE INTO HIS PRIVATE RESORT BUSINESS. HE HAS BANNED OSHO PHOTOS, OSHO LOVE SONGS, OSHO FULL LENGTH DISCOURSES, OSHO MALA, OSHO SANNYAS, OSHO AWAKENED DISCIPLES. HE KEEPS HARASSING OSHO DISCIPLES SPREADING OSHO WORK. HE HAS BANNED MANY WAYS TO ULTIMATE TRUTH NURTURED BY OSHO. HE HAS MANY POLICE AND COURT CASES PENDING AGAINST HIM IN INDIA FOR FRAUD AND FORGERY] ********************************** OSHO shares his understanding: The Zen Manifesto : Freedom from Oneself Chapter #1 Chapter title: This disappearance is anatta 20 February 1989 am in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium The Zen Manifesto: Freedom From Oneself 20 February 1989 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium BELOVED OSHO, WHEN TENJIKU WAS ASKED ABOUT THE INCIDENT OF TANKA BURNING THE STATUE, HE REPLIED, ”WHEN IT IS COLD WE GATHER AROUND THE HEARTH BY THE FIRE.” ”WAS HE WRONG OR NOT?” PERSISTED THE MONK. ”WHEN IT IS HOT WE SIT IN A BAMBOO FOREST IN THE VALLEY,” SAID TENJIKU. THE DAY AFTER THE BURNING OF THE STATUE, TANKA TENNEN WENT TO SEE NAN-YO, WHO HAD ONCE BEEN A DISCIPLE OF ENO ANDWAS THE EMPEROR’S ZEN MASTER. WHEN TANKA UNROLLED HIS ZAZEN RUG, NAN-YO SAID, ”THERE’S NO NEED.” TANKA TOOK A FEW STEPS BACKWARD. NAN-YO SAID, ”THAT’S RIGHT.” AT THIS, TANKA TOOK A FEW STEPS FORWARD. NAN-YO SAID, ”THAT’S NOT RIGHT.” TANKA WALKED AROUND NAN-YO ONE TIME AND LEFT. NAN-YO COMMENTED, ”THE OLD, GOLDEN DAYS ARE FAR AWAY, AND PEOPLE ARE NOW SO LAZY. THIRTY YEARS FROM NOW, IT WILL BE DIFFICULT TO GET HOLD OF THIS FELLOW.” CHAPTER 1. THIS DISAPPEARANCE IS ANATTA Friends, It is time, ripe time for a Zen manifesto. The Western intelligentsia have become acquainted with Zen, have also fallen in love with Zen, but they are still trying to approach Zen from the mind. They have not yet come to the understanding that Zen has nothing to do with mind. Its tremendous job is to get you out of the prison of mind. It is not an intellectual philosophy; it is not a philosophy at all. Nor is it a religion, because it has no fictions and no lies, no consolations. It is a lion’s roar. And the greatest thing that Zen has brought into the world is freedom from oneself. All the religions have been talking about dropping your ego – but it is a very weird phenomenon: they want you to drop your ego, and the ego is just a shadow of God. God is the ego of the universe, and the ego is your personality. Just as God is the very center of existence according to religions, your ego is the center of your mind, of your personality. They have all been talking about dropping the ego, but it cannot be dropped unless God is dropped. You cannot drop a shadow or a reflection unless the source of its manifestation is destroyed. So religions have been saying continuously, for centuries, that you should get rid of the ego – but for wrong reasons. They have been asking you to drop your ego so you can surrender to God, so you can surrender to the priests, so you can surrender to any kind of nonsense, any kind of theology, superstition, belief system. But you cannot drop the ego if it is a reflection of God. God is a lie, out there in the universe, and ego is a lie within your mind. Your mind is simply reflecting a bigger lie according to its size. Religions put humanity in a great dilemma: they went on praising God, and they went on condemning the ego. So people were in a very split state, in a schizophrenic space. They tried hard to drop the ego, but the harder they tried, the harder it became to drop it – because who was going to drop it? The ego was trying to drop itself. That’s an impossibility. So even in the humblest so-called religious people, the ego becomes very subtle, but it is not dropped. You can see it in the eyes of your saints. One of my sannyasins went to see U.G. Krishnamurti, and because he argued with him, U.G. Krishnamurti immediately became angry. And these people like U.G. Krishnamurti are telling people to drop anger, to drop greed, to drop the ego. But if you provoke them... Their whole religion is just skindeep. Inside is hiding a very pious ego, and when ego becomes pious it becomes poisonous. It is more dangerous because you become absolutely unaware of it, it goes so deep down in the unconscious. U.G. Krishnamurti lived with J. Krishnamurti for twelve years, and he never mentions his name. If somebody brings up J. Krishnamurti’s name, he immediately condemns J. Krishnamurti – and whatever he is saying is just an imitation of J. Krishnamurti, paraphrasing. The reason he cannot accept the fact that he has been with J. Krishnamurti for twelve years is very simple. The moment he accepts it, then you can compare his statements with J. Krishnamurti’s, and you will find they are simply paraphrasing. He is repeating, imitating, he knows nothing. These people have been around in the world all the time. They have tried whatever the religions have been telling them, but their effort cannot remove the shadow. If there is a shadow of the bamboos, you cannot remove the bamboo shadows unless you remove the bamboos. You cannot directly remove the shadows; they are a by-product. If the bamboos remain there, the shadows are going to remain there. They can become very subtle. I have heard a story about a fox coming out of the cave where she used to live.... Early in the morning, as the sun was rising behind her, her shadow was very long. She said, ”My God! I am this big? I will need almost a camel for my breakfast!” And she started searching for a camel for her breakfast. But the fox could not manage to find a camel. It was just the middle of the day and the sun was over the head of the fox. The fox was feeling very hungry. She had another look at the shadow, and the shadow had disappeared. It had not disappeared, it had just gone underneath the fox. As long as the fox was there, the shadow was going to be there – but now it was absolutely invisible to the fox. Everybody else could see it, but the fox could not see it; it had just gone underneath the fox. That’s what happens to so-called religious people. They force their shadows, their egos, their anger, their greed, their ambitions, into the unconscious. But in the unconscious these things are still there, and far more dangerous because you are not aware of them. You think they have disappeared. Before my sannyasin started arguing with U.G. Krishnamurti, he was just a great saint, so silent, so peaceful. As the argument began, he was afraid to be caught, he could not answer the questions, and anger suddenly arose. He may not have been aware of that anger, but my sannyasin helped him! He wanted to get rid of the sannyasin. It is U.G. Krishnamurti who is not an authentic or sincere man – but you can fall into the trap because he is repeating beautiful phrases. His memory is good, and his intellect is good, but this is the shadow. Even the original man, J. Krishnamurti, used to become very angry just seeing my sannyasins. I had told my sannyasins everywhere that wherever J. Krishnamurti speaks, you just sit in the front row. At that time sannyasins were wearing red clothes, they had the mala with my photo in the locket, so they were absolutely recognizable. The moment J. Krishnamurti would see my sannyasins all around, he would forget on what subject he was going to speak. He would start condemning me, and condemning sannyas. This man was talking for his whole life about awareness, and he had forgotten the subject completely. And it was not only once... because my sannyasins were everywhere. Wherever he was going to speak – in London, in San Francisco, in Bombay, in New Delhi, in Madras – wherever he was going to speak, my sannyasins were there just in the front rows. He was so allergic to me that the moment he would see the sannyasins he would lose all control. At some times he even started beating his head saying, ”Why do you come here? I am against sannyas.” And I had told my people, ”Laugh joyously! Make him as angry as possible! That will bring out the original man which is hiding behind.” He could not even understand why this was happening everywhere, that he was being distracted. He would start condemning me, condemning sannyas, and become almost neurotic. Seeing my sannyasins laughing was almost like putting more fuel on the fire, and he would become more and more angry. He could not understand why these people didn’t feel offended, but on the contrary, they were laughing. His whole time would be taken up by the sannyasins. It is very easy to talk about beautiful things, to have an intellectual grasp. Krishnamurti had been forced by the theologians of a particular brand, the Theosophical Society. It was a worldwide organization in the beginning of this century, and it was preparing J. Krishnamurti to be a world teacher. Nobody can prepare anybody to be a world teacher; anything that has been prepared is going to be false. They almost tortured him in the name of discipline. They got hold of him at the age of nine, and from that moment he was not allowed to move in the world, he was not allowed to go into society. He was continuously hammered with scriptures. Early in the morning at three o’clock, he had to get up, take a cold bath, and be ready for the theosophists, the leaders of the movement, who would recite Sanskrit scriptures, Tibetan scriptures, Zen scriptures. And he was almost asleep – a nine-year-old child... And this went on up to his twenty-fifth year. They managed to create a certain personality – you can only create a personality – and they had the hope that they had succeeded in creating a world teacher. Now he was writing beautiful poems, beautiful articles which were published by a section of the Theosophical Society which had been created especially for J. Krishnamurti. The organization was called the Star of the East, and they used to publish magazines, periodicals, literature, all about Krishnamurti, creating the atmosphere around the world to receive him as a world teacher. But it was all forced from the outside. J. Krishnamurti had no realization, but he was intelligent enough to grasp slowly all the scriptures. He was honest also; U.G. Krishnamurti is not even honest. Finally, when they thought that he was ready, they called a world conference in Holland – which used to be their great world center. Six thousand leaders of the theosophical movement from all the countries gathered to receive J. Krishnamurti and declare that he was the world teacher. He came onto the stage.... And it was in a very historical moment of honesty that he said, ”I am not a world teacher.” It was a shock to the whole theosophical movement. It shattered the whole movement. But he had become completely familiar with all the great literature of mysticism. He dissolved the organization, the Star of the East, which had been specially created for him, and he left the Theosophical Society, and lived his whole life in reaction. He was a giant in intelligence. The reaction was against all those people who had forced him to do things which were not coming naturally to him. He was not allowed to be natural at all. He was not allowed to meet any girls, he was not allowed to mix with ordinary people. He was not allowed to enter into any ordinary school or college, but had only private tutors, so that he could be proved to the world a superior being, as if he were coming directly as a messiah from God. And obviously, if he had been dishonest, he could have told the world, ”I am a world teacher.” He was ready for it; intellectually his memory was completely programmed. But because everything was imposed, it also created deep down in him a rebellion. He knew nothing of what he was talking about, of what he was writing. He knew nothing. One of his best books is AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER. That was published when he was just thirteen or fourteen years old, just to prove that even at the age of fourteen he could produce such a great book. It was not written by him; it was written by a man called Leadbeater. Leadbeater was one of his tutors, and a very profound scholar of Eastern religions. I have looked into all the Theosophical Society’s literature of that time to find out the style, to whose style that book fits. Leadbeater had already written many books, showing great intelligence and scholarship. The book that was published in J. Krishnamurti’s name was written by him, and perhaps polished by others. J. Krishnamurti did not even remember when he had written that book. When he left the theosophical movement, he was asked, ”What about the book, AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER, which has become a worldwide bestseller?” It is a beautiful book. But he said, ”I don’t know. I don’t remember having written it.” He was honest, but because all these things were imposed on him, there was a constant reaction, rebellion, and he lived in that reaction his whole life. The theosophical movement destroyed the man. He might have become a Gautam Buddha – he had every possibility – but because of this reaction, he fought those dead tutors, those dead Theosophical Society leaders, Annie Besant, Leadbeater, and others, his whole life. He was fighting with those shadows his whole life – against masters, against mystics, against scriptures – but it was not coming as a revelation, it was coming as a reaction. His whole life was wasted by the theosophical movement. If they had allowed him to grow naturally, there would have been a possibility; the man had the potential of being a Gautam Buddha. But they destroyed him, and he could not get rid of them. Those shadows he lived with in his early childhood became so ingrained that he was fighting against them. He lived in a negativity, and one cannot live in a negativity and be nourished and blossom into a lotus flower. So even J. Krishnamurti was not enlightened, and U.G. Krishnamurti is a shadow of an unenlightened intellectual giant. U.G. Krishnamurti is not even an intellectual giant, but he goes on preaching the same words, the same language, and tries to hide the fact. Just the other day I saw an article about him in a newspaper. He was asked by the interviewer, ”When and where did you become enlightened?” And his answer was, ”I don’t know when and where.” Enlightenment does not happen in time or in space. ”When” and ”where” are time and space. It happens when you are nowhere, no one. It happens when there is eternity, no time. But his answer may impress many people – people are very gullible. I am taking his case for a particular reason – because the whole of the Western intelligentsia has become immensely interested in Zen, but their interest remains intellectual. They have written great books, and we will be discussing in this manifesto almost everyone who has written books on Zen. My effort is to make you really clear that all these intellectuals may have written very beautiful books... I appreciate their scholarship, I appreciate their articulateness of expression, but they are not men of Zen, to say nothing of masters of Zen. Hence this manifesto is absolutely needed to make the whole world clear that Zen is not a mind affair. It is a no-mind space. I told you that all the religions are saying, ”Drop the ego.” Zen goes beyond the ego and beyond the self. Except Zen, no religion has come to the point of going beyond the self, beyond the atman, beyond your spirit, beyond your individuality. It is absolutely a single man’s contribution to human consciousness – Gautam the Buddha’s. Zen is the ultimate flowering. Slowly, slowly improving the image of Gautam the Buddha, each master has contributed something, a new dimension to it. Gautam Buddha is the only person in the whole history of mankind who said, ”Just dropping the ego will not help. It can be easily dropped if you drop God.” He dropped God, the ego disappeared. The moon disappeared. The reflection disappeared. He went away from the mirror, the mirror was empty. His reflection in the mirror disappeared. He had been fighting with the reflection. I have heard about an ugly woman.... She was so neurotic about mirrors – because only mirrors made her aware that she was ugly. Otherwise, without mirrors, as far as she was concerned, she was beautiful. Wherever she would see a mirror – even in somebody else’s house – she would immediately break it. The reason was that mirrors made her look ugly. Those poor mirrors had nothing to do with her ugliness. She was ugly, but she was forcing the responsibility on the mirrors, fighting with the mirrors. That is the essence of all your religions: fighting with the mirrors, with the shadows, trying to drop the ego without dropping God. The ego is just a reflection of a lie in the small pond of your mind. Gautam Buddha dropped the idea of God, and was amazed that as God disappeared, the ego disappeared. It was just a reflection of God. Hence my effort to remove God. Without removing God you cannot remove the ego. It is the shadow, in the small pond of your mind, of the ultimate lie. Then, as the ego disappeared with God, Buddha came to understand that even self has to disappear. There are religions who have God, ego, and the self: Judaism, Christianity, Mohammedanism, Hinduism. And there are religions which don’t have God – Taoism, Buddhism, Jainism – but they have the self. Because they don’t have God, the ego disappears on its own. Now their whole effort is how to make their self pure, pious. Now a different kind of effort starts. Buddha is the only man who said, ”If there is no God and there is no ego, the self is also arbitrary, artificial. As you go deeper in your interiority, you suddenly find yourself disappearing into the oceanic consciousness. There is no self as such. You are no more, only existence is. Hence, I call Zen essentially freedom from oneself. You have heard about other freedoms, but freedom from oneself is the ultimate freedom – not to be, and allow the existence to express itself in all its spontaneity and grandeur. But it is existence, not you, not me. It is life itself dancing, not you, not me. That is the Zen Manifesto: freedom from oneself. And only Zen has refined, in these twenty-five centuries, methods, devices to make you aware that you are not, that you are only arbitrary, just an idea. As you go beyond the mind, even the idea of ”I am” disappears. When the ”I” also disappears and you start feeling a deep involvement in existence, with no boundaries, then only has Zen blossomed in you. In fact, that is the state, the space of the awakened consciousness. But it has no ”I” at the center, no atman, no self. To make it clear to you... Socrates says, ”Know thyself.” Gautam Buddha says, ”Know – just know, and you will not find thyself.” Enter deeper into your awareness, and the deeper you go, your self starts melting. Perhaps that is the reason why none of the religions except Zen have tried meditation – because meditation will destroy God, will destroy the ego, will destroy the self. It will leave you in absolute nothingness. It is just the mind which makes you afraid about nothingness. I receive questions almost every day, ”Why are we afraid of nothingness?” You are afraid because you don’t know nothingness. And you are afraid only because you figure out intellectually, ”What is the point? If in meditation you have to disappear, then it is better to remain in the mind.” At least you are – maybe illusory, maybe just an idea, but at least you are. What is the point of making all this effortless effort just to disappear into nothingness? The mind simply makes you beware of going beyond the boundaries of the mind, because beyond the boundaries of the mind you will be no more. That will be the ultimate death. A Gautam Buddha dies ultimately, you die only temporarily. Just maybe a few minutes, a few seconds, and you enter into another womb. Some idiots are always making love around the world, twenty-four hours, and you don’t have to travel far away, just in the neighborhood. Around the clock millions of couples are making love, so whichever is the closest couple, here you die and there you are born. The gap is very small. But an enlightened man, a man who has come to know his nothingness, his no-selfness, his anatta, simply disappears into the cosmos. Mind is afraid, and it seems logical, obvious: What is the point? Why should one do such a thing in which he disappears? Gautam Buddha was asked again and again, ”You are a strange fellow. We came here to realize our self, and your meditation is to UNrealize our self.” Socrates was just a great genius, but confined to the mind: ”Know thyself.” There is no self to be known. That is the Zen Manifesto to the world. There is nothing to know. You have just to be one with the whole. And there is no need to be afraid.... Just think for a moment: When you were not born, was there any anxiety, any worry, any angst? You were not there, there was no problem. You are the problem, the beginning of the problem, and then as you grow, more and more problems.... But before your birth, was there any problem? Zen masters continuously ask the newcomers, ”Where have you been before your father was born?” An absurd question, but of immense significance. They are asking you, ”If you were not, there was no problem. So what is the worry?” If your death becomes the ultimate death and all boundaries disappear, you will not be there, but the existence will be there. The dance will be there, the dancer will not be there. The song will be there, but the singer will not be there.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 12:48:03 +0000
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