Zen: The Mystery and The Poetry of the Beyond
Discourses
Table of Contents
Leaving the mind far behind
Leaving the mind far behind. Bansho studied with Shomoku: 'Turn yourself back into mountains, rivers and earth.' Six months, no success—then sudden insight. Psychoanalysis is dead—it was never alive. No one has been cured by psychoanalysis; people terminate when their bank account is finished. Psychoanalysis digs into dreams, which are on the surface. Mind is a computer—you can program, deprogram it, but it's not your being. Unless you reach beyond mind, you're vegetating. Zen leaves the mind far behind.
Spread the message
Spread the message. 'Daitsu sat in zazen for ten kalpas and could not attain buddhahood—why?' 'Because he did not become a buddha.' 'Does the sparrow have Buddha-nature?' 'Yes.' 'Then why does it make droppings on Buddha's head?' 'Does it make droppings on a hawk's head?' Osho is not comparing himself with Buddha—Buddha is life-negative, Osho is life-affirmative. The sparrow's Buddha-nature is natural: it doesn't pretend. Spread the message: enlightenment is not in meditation alone—it's in becoming a buddha.
Our responsibility is tremendous
Our responsibility is tremendous. 'What is the ten-bodied herdsman?' 'Go trample on Vairocana's head!' 'Don't take the self for the pure dharma body.' 'What is the true body?' 'Fetch me the water bottle.' Then: 'Put it back.' 'The old Buddha has long gone!' India's population explosion: 400 million to 900 million in forty-two years. Our responsibility is tremendous: if the world is overpopulated, it's because religion has been against birth control. The dharma body is not separate from the water bottle.
Now it is my turn
Now it is my turn. 'What is your special teaching?' 'In autumn we reap; in winter we store.' 'What is the way?' 'A kite flies across the great sky; nothing remains there.' The monk overturned the Zen seat—driven out. Osho calls all founders of religions self-styled and so-called. Jesus called himself the only begotten son of God—was there a committee? Now it is my turn: the people who called Osho self-styled didn't realize they were provoking him. All religious founders are self-styled—geniuses assert their individuality.
The day has been hilarious
The day has been hilarious. 'Where is the place of religious exercises?' 'Just by walking, they trod on it.' 'And after?' 'Ice melting, tiles breaking up.' 'What is this sword?' 'You can't touch it.' 'How about one who uses it?' 'His bones and body are smashed to smithereens.'—then struck him. Buddhists and Muslims join to threaten the ashram. The day has been hilarious: the masses prove what Osho has been saying—the world is not yet civilized. The sword of Zen cuts through all illusion.