The First Principle

Catching the First Principle

Catching the First Principle. 'Master, what is the first principle?' 'If I were to tell you, it would become the second principle.' The first principle cannot be said—truth uttered becomes a lie. Vedas, Bible, Koran contain the second principle. Truth can only be experienced, lived. Catching the first principle: it's not in words but in silence, not in knowledge but in being.

Greed behind greed behind greed

Greed behind greed behind greed. 'Is God really dead?' If not dead, seriously ill. Greed behind greed behind greed: every desire hides another desire. You desire money for power, power for recognition, recognition for love, love for God. The chain is endless. The first principle: drop all greed and see what remains.

The four pupils who promised silence. The first couldn't help saying 'Fix those lamps.' The second: 'We're not supposed to say a word!' The third: 'You two are stupid!' The fourth: 'I am the only one who has not talked—thank God!' Silence is the door to the first principle. Thinking is secondary—existence precedes thinking. The four pupils: even silence becomes ego.

I don't understand anything. 'That's far out, Vidya.' Ignorance is an opening—knowledge creates noise. To be consciously ignorant is to be in satori. The child is ignorant but not conscious; the saint is ignorant and conscious. The first principle: know that you know not. Consciously ignorant—this is the highest state.

The distinguished lecturer fell asleep. Hakuju saw students dozing, said 'Mind if I join you?' and fell asleep. His snores woke everyone. The first principle: samsara is nirvana, ordinary is extraordinary, profane is sacred. The indivisible is the first principle. The lecturer who slept: naturalness IS the teaching. Don't try to stay awake—sleep when sleepy.

Dr. Kovoor attacks Osho. Osho enjoys it: 'He says I'm crazy. True—there's no way to God unless you're utterly crazy.' Only those who go beyond sanity attain. The first principle: sanity is the barrier. Crazy like Buddha, crazy like Jesus. The rationalist's attack becomes a compliment.

Truth without speaking, without silence. Fuketsu: 'In southern China, in the spring, when I was only a lad, ah! How the birds sang among the blossoms.' God is, truth is, love is—no way to say it, no way to hide it. The mystic's dilemma: must say it, cannot say it. The first principle is a singing isness—not dead silence but overflowing joy.

Profound and trivial. 'My experience of me is both profound and trivial.' No contradiction—trivial IS profound, ordinary IS extraordinary. You've been taught a distinction between sacred and profane. There is none. The first principle: the temporal is the eternal. The most profound is the most ordinary.

The goose is out. Nansen clapped and shouted 'Riko!' 'Yes, master!' 'See, the goose is out!' You need not seek—the goose was never in the bottle. Picasso: 'I do not seek, I find.' The first principle: stop seeking and you find. The goose is out because it was never in.

Is my longing just greed? 'Yes, Gunakar—it's a way to hide greed.' The desire for enlightenment is also greed. All desire is escape from the real. That which is—you need not desire. The first principle: drop all longing, including longing for the first principle. What remains is the real.