The buddha is hiding in the paper bag

Maneesha, every master has shed tears for something very special that used to exist in the ancient times. However, that very special thing is right now here: the presence, the absolute silence; because only in this silence do you go beyond mind and beyond time. You enter into eternity.

This is what man has lost contact with. And to lose contact with eternity is to be like a tree uprooted from the earth. Man is also a tree. He also has roots, although they are invisible.

And the contemporary mind has completely forgotten to water those roots, to keep the plant of consciousness alive, so that roses can blossom in your being.

I hope these anecdotes will take away all the nonsense that modern times have forced upon you and will give you a taste of eternity.

ONE DAY UNGAN WAS ILL AND DOGO ASKED HIM A QUESTION: "WHEN YOU ARE SEPARATED FROM YOUR BAG-OF-BONES, WHERE CAN I MEET YOU AGAIN?"

UNGAN REPLIED, "WHERE THERE IS NO BIRTH, NO DYING."

DOGO SAID, "DON'T SAY THAT!"

Now this is something to be understood. We ordinarily understand two things: the positive and the negative. Mind moves between the positive and the negative, for and against. Mind has no approach, no way to go beyond this polarity, this duality, this dialectic. And the whole experience of the buddhas emphasizes only this one thing, which is beyond duality and dialectics, beyond yes and beyond no. If you understand this transcendental experience, then this statement of Dogo will be immediately understood.

Why did he say, "Don't say that"? Because Ungan has used the negative as an expression for the ultimate. That is not only Ungan's fallacy, it is the fallacy of the whole of humanity. Somebody believes in a positive god, in a positive philosophy; somebody negates the god, the heaven, the creation. But the truth is neither Catholic nor Communist, neither in the yes nor in the no - but beyond both, in the silence.

When Ungan replied, "I am going where there is no birth, no dying," Dogo was absolutely right to be angry with Ungan, when he said, "DON'T SAY THAT. SAY, 'WHERE THERE IS NOT ANY NO-BIRTH AND NO-DYING, AND WE DON'T DESIRE TO MEET EACH OTHER AGAIN.' "

Dogo is very clear but only for those who have some experience of that which you cannot confine into the word 'life' or 'death', which you cannot confine into 'yes' or 'no', theism or atheism, which you simply say - through your silence, not through words. You indicate by your presence but not by language. If you try language, you are going to become entangled in difficulties.

Dogo is trying to say that which cannot be said. 'Where there is not any no-birth' - now it is negation of negation. 'No-birth' is negation, and 'there is not any no-birth' is negation of negation. There have been philosophers whose whole philosophy is based on negating everything, negation included.

Just deny everything and when nothing is left behind, that silence, that space is your authentic being.

And obviously he is right that, "We don't have any desire. So how we can have the desire of meeting each other again? We have met enough. I'm satisfied, you are satisfied, what is the point of meeting again? You are fulfilled, I'm fulfilled. Why bother about, why even enquire where we are going to meet?"

In other words he is saying: The moment you go beyond mind and time, you disperse in the whole.

You don't exist as a separate entity. There is no question of meeting anybody. You have met with the whole in which everybody is included. The smallest pebble on the shore and the biggest star in the sky - both are meeting in that ultimate space. The sinner and the saint, the believer and the disbeliever, man or woman... it does not matter from what form you have come into the eternal.

The moment you leave the form, you disappear into the formless. The question of meeting does not arise.

WHEN HOFUKU WAS ABOUT TO DIE HE SAID TO HIS MONKS, "FOR THE LAST TEN DAYS MY VITALITY HAS DECREASED. IT IS NOTHING; SIMPLY THE TIME HAS COME."

A MONK SAID, "THE TIME HAS COME FOR YOU TO DIE - IS THAT ALL RIGHT? TO CONTINUE LIVING - IS THAT ALL RIGHT?"

HOFUKU ANSWERED, "IT IS THE WAY."

Life comes, death comes; one is in one form, moves into another form and ultimately into the formless ocean of being - this is the way.

THE MONK ASKED, "HOW CAN I STOP BEING FLUSTERED?"

HOFUKU SAID, "IT NEVER RAINS BUT IT POURS." WITH THIS, HE SAT IN THE ZAZEN STYLE AND PASSED AWAY.

He sat silently in the lotus posture like Gautam Buddha, and passed away. Before passing away he said, "IT NEVER RAINS BUT IT POURS." You need not be flustered. You need not be worried. This is the way of things. One is born, one becomes young, one becomes old, one dies. There is nothing to be worried about. Everything in its time and everything is perfect. And when the moment comes, just sit down in silence and move into the formless.

SOZAN ONCE SAID TO SHIE DOJA, "AREN'T YOU 'PAPER CLOTHES THE PILGRIM'?"

He used to use that name 'Paper Clothes Pilgrim'. We are all paper clothes, covering something indefinable, indestructible.

SHIE DOJA ANSWERED, "I AM NOT WORTHY OF BEING SO." "I have not yet discovered the one who is hiding behind the paper clothes; I am not worthy."

SOZAN ASKED, "WHAT IS THE THING BENEATH PAPER CLOTHES?"

"Why do you say you are not worthy? Just search a little bit behind the paper clothes." That's what we are doing every evening - searching behind the paper clothes, trying to find out what is hidden there.

SOZAN ASKED, "WHAT IS THE THING BENEATH PAPER CLOTHES?"

SHIE DOJA SAID, "WHEN JUST A LEATHER GARMENT IS PUT ON THE BODY, ALL THINGS ARE OF THEIR SUCHNESS."

SOZAN SAID, "WHAT IS THE ACTIVITY BEHIND PAPER CLOTHES?"

He has not understood the answer that Doja has given. The moment you move behind your bodies which are nothing but paper clothes, what you find is pure suchness - tathata, thisness:

a tremendously beautiful space but no entity as an ego, a space without boundaries, full of joy, full of peace, full of benediction.

But it is not a thing, you cannot hold it in your hand. It is not an object, it is your very subjectivity. It is your very innermost consciousness.

SHIE DOJA CAME NEAR HIM, DID AS HE WAS ASKED, - he was asked by Sozan, "WHAT IS THE ACTIVITY BENEATH PAPER CLOTHES?" He stood before Sozan AND DIED STANDING UP, left the body, which remained simply a hollow bamboo without any music.

SOZAN SAID, "YOU HAVE EXPOUNDED THE GOING," - certainly these people were strange people, worthy of the respect and dignity of all the centuries. Doja has died to show that which is hidden inside. He left the body, but Sozan is not a lesser master than Doja.

SOZAN SAID, "YOU HAVE EXPOUNDED..."

Look, a dead body is standing before you and he is asking, "YOU HAVE EXPOUNDED THE GOING, the death, BUT HOW ABOUT THE COMING, the birth?"

Perhaps there has never been such a conversation. A dead man is standing before you and you are asking a question. But this happens every day here when you all go into death... I go on talking to dead people. I say, "Die more deeply," because you only die just a little. You keep very close to the surface, so that if anything goes wrong, you can immediately come out. You just need Rupesh's drum and you are back. Die deeply, so that even if Rupesh drums on your head it will take a little time for you to come back.

SOZAN SAID, "YOU HAVE EXPOUNDED THE GOING, BUT HOW ABOUT THE COMING?"

SHIE DOJA SUDDENLY OPENED HIS EYES AND ASKED, "HOW ABOUT WHEN A SPIRITUAL NATURE DOES NOT BORROW A PLACENTA?"

These people are the very salt of the earth. Doja opened his eyes, came back into the body and said, "HOW ABOUT WHEN A SPIRITUAL NATURE DOES NOT BORROW A PLACENTA?" - when a spiritual being does not enter into another womb to borrow a placenta?

SOZAN SAID, "THIS IS NOT YET WONDERFUL."

SHIE DOJA ASKED, "WHAT IS WONDERFUL THEN?"

SOZAN SAID, "NOT-BORROWING BORROWING."

Negation of negation. One borrows the placenta ... the placenta is the connection between the mother and the child which is cut at the birth of the child. When one does not borrow a placenta...

even the idea of not borrowing a placenta is enough to keep you away from the formless. You have to stop even not borrowing. Borrowing you have stopped, now stop not borrowing. You simply forget all about it, the negative and the positive, both. Don't look back, and disappear into the ocean.

SHIE DOJA THEREUPON SAID, "BE HAPPY, BE WELL!" AND DIED, SITTING.

Death seems to be a game to these people. It is a game: so is life. Don't take anything seriously.

Life or death, both are just games and you are beyond both. You can participate on either side in the football match, but you are beyond the sides. For the moment you can play the game.

SOZAN on the death of Doja, MADE A VERSE. Such beautiful people! Somebody is dying and you make a verse.

THE ENLIGHTENED MIND IS A PERFECT AND FORMLESS BODY.

DO NOT BELIEVE, UNREASONABLY, THAT IT IS FAR OFF OR NEAR!

THOUGHTS OF DIFFERENCE BECLOUD THE ORIGINAL FORM.

A MIND AT VARIANCE WITH ITSELF CANNOT BE IN HARMONY WITH THE WAY.

WHEN EMOTION DISTINGUISHES PHENOMENA, WE FALL INTO MATERIALITY.

WHEN INTELLECT JUDGES THE MANIFOLD, WE LOSE THE REALITY.

IF YOU UNDERSTAND PERFECTLY THE MEANING OF THESE WORDS, YOU ARE WITHOUT DOUBT BEYOND DANGER LIKE THOSE OF ANCIENT TIMES.

This is my whole effort to introduce you to this same experience of the ancient buddhas, because it does not belong to time. It is a question of diving deep into yourself. The buddha is hiding in the paper bag. The paper bag may be of any shape: it may be male, it may be female; it may be young, it may be old; it may be black, it may be white... it does not mean anything to the inner consciousness.

All distinctions are meaningless.

Your innermost being has always been perfect; it is just that you have completely forgotten to go into yourself. You go on and on, round and round the whole world, not knowing what you are searching for. Somebody is searching for power without knowing that power never satisfies anyone. Somebody is running after money, knowing perfectly well that there have been millions of people who have had an immense amount of money, and it does not help understanding. These are all unconscious ways of searching for something that you have already got within you. But the tendency of the mind is to look away, never to look to the obvious.

Meditation is to enter into the obvious. It is not even near, it is you. That's why Sozan says, "It is neither far nor near." How can you be far or near? You are just here and you have been here always.

Worlds have moved but you have gone nowhere, you cannot; wherever you go, you are there.

Meditation is simply a way to find the timeless, the eternal, your ultimate being. Without it, misery is your fate; without it, suffering is your lot; without it, you may have all the wealth of the world or all the power that any position can give you, but you will remain poor. There is only one thing that can make you an emperor and that is your own being. Just find it - it is hiding behind a paper bag.

It is not a great work: it is very simple. Just a little courage, a little risk of losing the paper bag. At the most, what can happen? When Rupesh gives the drumbeat to come back again, at the most you may not come. I don't think that is much trouble. We will still celebrate. So go deeply without any fear.

Before that, so you can die happily, a few laughs, because, one never knows, you may come back, you may not. Just for the journey, go laughing and dancing, if you are really going.

Young Dr. Dagburt goes out with Dr. Bones, a general practitioner, to observe him on home visits.

"I will conduct the first two," says Bones. "Watch closely, then you give it a try."

At the first house, they are met by a distressed man. "My wife is having terrible stomach cramps,"

he says.

Dr. Bones does a brief examination, then gets on his hands and knees and looks under the bed.

"Madam," says Bones, "you must cut out your ridiculous intake of sweets and chocolate, and you will be well in a day." Dagburt peeks under the bed and sees candy wrappers littering the floor.

On the next call they are met by a distraught Becky Goldberg. "It is Hymie, doctor!" she cries. "He was very forgetful all day yesterday, and today he has been falling over a lot. When I put him to bed, he passed out."

Examining Hymie, Bones gets down on the floor and looks under the bed. "It is a very simple problem," Bones says to Hymie. "You are drinking too much!" Young Dr. Dagburt sneaks a look under the bed and sees seven empty gin bottles.

At the third house, it is Dagburt's turn. He rings the doorbell and there is a long delay before a flushed young woman answers.

"Your husband asked us to call," says Dagburt. "He said you were not yourself this morning, and asked us to give you an examination."

So they go upstairs, and the woman lies down. Dagburt examines her and then he looks under the bed. "Okay," he concludes, "I prescribe you a dairy-free diet and you will be fine."

As they are leaving, Bones is puzzled and asks, "How did you reach that conclusion about the dairy-free diet?"

"Well," says Dagburt, "I followed your example and looked under the bed - where I found a milkman!"

Slobovia meets Kowalski at the "Pope and Hooker" pub for a few midnight beers.

"How is your wife's cooking?" asks Kowalski.

"I came home tonight," says Slobovia, "and my wife was crying and weeping because the dog had eaten a pie she made for me. 'Don't cry,' I told her, 'I will buy you another dog.'"

"Mr. Klopman," says Doctor Bones, "even though you are a very sick man, I think I will be able to pull you through."

"Doctor," cries Klopman, "if you do that, when I get well, I will donate five thousand dollars for your new hospital."

Months later, Bones meets Klopman in the street. "How do you feel?" he asks.

"Wonderful, doctor, just fine!" says Klopman. "Never felt better!"

"I have been meaning to speak to you," says Bones. "What about the money for the new hospital?"

"What are you talking about?" says Klopman.

"You said," replies Bones, "that if you got well, you would donate five thousand dollars for the new hospital."

"I said that?" asks Klopman. "That just shows how sick I was!"

Rupesh, give the first drum and everybody goes crazy.

(Drumbeat)

(Gibberish)

Rupesh...

(Drumbeat)

Everybody goes into deep silence.

No movement.

Become frozen just like stone statues.

Close your eyes; enter in.

Search behind the paper bags.

Deeper, deeper, deeper - without fear.

This is your own territory;

it belongs to no one except you.

In fact this is the only space

that belongs to you.

It is your eternity.

To take you deeper, Rupesh, give a beat and everybody dies.

(Drumbeat)

Die completely.

Don't be bothered about the paper bag.

This is the most beautiful graveyard.

So many consciousnesses reaching home,

touching their own depths.

This is what I have called

the quantum leap, from mind to no-mind.

Rejoice in this silence,

let it penetrate to the very center of your being.

This is the greatest wonder in the world,

the most mysterious phenomenon.

Rupesh, bring the dead back to life.

(Drumbeat)

This is resurrection.

Come back with a new insight and a new clarity,

a new silence and a new song,

a new dance in your being,

a new fresh breeze.

If this can become

your every moment experience,

underlying your whole life activity,

you have become a buddha.

To be a buddha is not a goal,

to be a buddha is the art of being alert,

aware, peaceful, loving.

Don't miss this moment

because nobody knows about the next.

Okay, Maneesha?

Yes, Osho.

Can we celebrate because so many people are resurrected?

YES!