Not to be in the mind is everything

These sutras of Bodhidharma are pure gold except on one point: wherever he mentions the arhatas he suddenly becomes absolutely blind. His conception about the arhatas is the only flaw that he cannot drop. I will remind you whenever he falls below the ultimate wisdom and becomes attached to his opinion. It is extremely surprising that a man of the caliber of Bodhidharma can behave just like any ignorant person in certain situations. But this reminds us of the frailty of human beings and this can be helpful to you not to become too much attached to your opinions, because every opinion is going to make you blind, blind to the opposite opinion.

A man of pure understanding is available to all the contradictions without any choice. He remains choiceless, just silently aware, knowing that they are contradictions but that ultimately they meet somewhere. Life meets death, day meets night, love meets hate, yes meets no. For the man who is beyond all opinions, for him yes is partial just as no is partial. In fact, when they both meet and merge into each other, when yes is no longer yes, and no is no longer no, when it is absolutely indefinable because where yes and no meet, it is going beyond conceivability -- this is the transcendence -- going beyond the mind.

But even people like Bodhidharma have certain blind spots. It is something like the scientists say: at least ten percent of people in the world are color blind although they are not aware of it. It is a big percentage; it means out of ten people, one person is going to be color blind. And by color blind they mean that the person cannot see a certain color at all.

Rarely does one come to discover one's color blindness. It happened in George Bernard Shaw's life. For sixty years he was not aware that he was color blind. On his sixtieth birthday a friend sent a gift of a beautiful suit, but he must have forgotten to send a matching tie with the suit. And Bernard Shaw loved the suit and he told his secretary that they should go immediately to find a matching tie, "Because this evening many friends will be coming to celebrate my birthday and I would like to use this suit for the evening."

They went to the shop where the best quality ties were available and he looked at many ties and finally he chose one. The shopkeeper was shocked, his secretary was shocked; they could not believe what he was doing. It looked very ridiculous; the suit was green and he had chosen a yellow tie. Simultaneously the secretary and the shopkeeper both said to him, "It will look very odd. You have chosen a very strange color. With green, this yellow will not look good."

George Bernard Shaw said, "What do you mean? They are the same color." He had no eye for yellow; yellow looked to him like green. He could not see the yellow at all. But it was just coincidental. Perhaps millions of people live and die without knowing that they are color blind. If this certain circumstance had not happened, George Bernard Shaw would have died -- sixty years he had lived, forty years more he could have lived, he could have made the whole century -- and remained unaware of a certain blind spot in his eyes.

Something similar happens to people. Even though they may be of great awareness, there are points where they are blind, and unless these blind spots disappear, a man's enlightenment cannot be called perfect. It remains imperfect, incomplete. And the surprising thing is, when Bodhidharma talks about great things he is so accurate, so impeccably perfect, but just on a few points he simply forgets everything and falls down into an ordinary state of mind where people become opinionated, prejudiced.

You have to remember him and learn one secret from him, so that this does not happen to you.

The sutra:

USING THE MIND TO LOOK FOR REALITY IS DELUSION.

And all philosophers have been doing that and all theologians have been doing that. The great thinkers are doing nothing but playing games with words.

USING THE MIND TO LOOK FOR REALITY IS DELUSION. Mind cannot know reality. It is something like: if you want to hear music with the eyes, you will not be able to, because eyes are not meant to hear. Or if you want to see the light through the ears you will not be able to, because ears are not meant to see the light. Ears are meant for sound, eyes are meant for light. They each have a certain dimension of functioning.

Mind's functioning is to create thoughts, dreams, imaginations, illusions, hallucinations, mirages of all kinds. Its function is not to find the reality.

NOT USING THE MIND TO LOOK FOR REALITY IS AWARENESS.

Not using the mind is the way to find reality. Becoming utterly silent, without any thought, just a clean slate, a tabula rasa -- in that clarity, in that perceptivity, one comes to know what is real, both within and without, because the reality is one.

It is the mind that divides it into within and without. When the mind is withdrawn, the division is dropped. Then you are the reality; then, even the farthest star is connected with you and even the smallest blade of grass is connected with you. It is all one existence. Suddenly you are no longer separate, you have fallen into the whole. All the walls have disappeared between you and existence.

This experience in the UPANISHADS, the seers have declared as AHAM BRAHMASMI -- I am God. It was not out of an ego; it was out of utter humbleness. But what can be done? The moment mind disappears you are one with the whole. It has to be said.

FREEING ONESELF FROM WORDS IS LIBERATION.

In a small statement there are hidden scriptures. He's a simple man; he does not use learned jargon, big words. He simply states in simple and ordinary words the extraordinary truth and the ultimate experience.

FREEING ONESELF FROM WORDS IS LIBERATION ...not freeing yourself from the world, not freeing yourself from your wife or your husband, not freeing yourself from your money or your house but just freeing yourself from words.

And certainly your real world is nothing but words.

What is a wife other than a word? Once she was not your wife; suddenly one day some stupid priest starts chanting mantras that he does not understand -- nor do the people who are being married know what is meant by the whole ritual that is going on.

One sannyasin got married a few days ago and she was telling me that she was surprised by the priest. The ritual was going to be one and a half hours long, but her husband gave five rupees to the priest and told him to be quick. The whole ritual went so fast; the priest started chanting so quickly and ended the whole thing within fifteen minutes. And in those fifteen minutes were included all those moments when the photographer said, "Just a moment!" And the priest would stop for the photograph to be taken and when the photograph was taken, he again started the ritual. What is a wife or what is a husband except a game of words?

You come into the world without any possessions and you go out of the world without any possessions. One day the whole thing becomes just like a dream that you had once seen. At the moment of your death you may remember all those things as if they had been seen in a dream. At the time of happening they were so real, but at the time of death everything will become unreal -- just words in the mind.

The real renunciation is not of the world. It is meaningless to renounce the world and escape to the Himalayas or to the monasteries. The real thing is to drop the words from your mind so you can become a silent observer, a pure witness. And this is what Bodhidharma calls liberation.

REMAINING UNBLEMISHED BY THE DUST OF SENSATIONS IS GUARDING THE DHARMA.

All that is needed of you to be authentically religious, is to be on guard that you are not carried by emotions, sentiments, moods; that you remain above and beyond any strategies of the mind to pull you down. To be aware and alert is all that is needed to be authentically religious.

You don't have to go to any church or to any synagogue or to any temple. You simply have to go within and be alert.

TRANSCENDING LIFE AND DEATH IS LEAVING HOME.

I would like to add two words to this sutra, otherwise this sutra can be misleading. I would like to say: TRANSCENDING LIFE AND DEATH IS LEAVING THIS WORLD, not the home, because your real home is where you are going. This world is not your real home. It is only a so-called home. It is just a consolation to call it home.

I have told you the story of a Sufi mystic. One night in Baghdad, the king heard somebody walking on the roof of his palace. He shouted, "Who is there? And what are you doing there?"

The man was not a thief. Without any fear he said, "Don't shout, that may disturb other people's sleep. It is none of your business. I am looking for my camel. My camel is lost and it is time for you to go to sleep."

The king could not believe what kind of madman could be on the roof of a palace searching for his camel. He called the guards and they searched all over the place but could not find the man. And the next day when he was sitting in his court he heard the same voice again; he recognized it.

The king immediately said, "Bring that man in," because he was arguing with the guard in front of the gate that he wanted to stay in the caravanserai.

And the guard said, "You will be getting into problems unnecessarily. This is the palace of the king; this is not a caravanserai."

The man said, "I know it is a caravanserai and you are just a guard. Don't bother me. Just let me go in. I want to discuss the matter with the king himself. If I can convince him that this is a caravanserai then I will stay. If he can convince me it is not a caravanserai, then of course I will leave. But I won't listen to you; you are just a guard."

And just at that moment the message came from inside, "Don't stop that man. We are in search of him; bring him in."

The Sufi mystic was called in and the king said, "You seem to be a very strange fellow. I recognize your voice. You were the man on the roof searching for your camel and now you are calling my place, my home, a caravanserai."

The man laughed and said, "You seem to be a man of some understanding. It is possible to talk with you. Yes, it was me who was looking for the camel on the roof of the palace. Don't think that I'm insane. If you can look for blissfulness sitting on a golden throne, if you can look for God while continuously conquering and butchering and burning living human beings, what is wrong in searching for a camel on the roof of the palace? You tell me!

"If I am inconsistent you are also not consistent. And what right have you got to call this place your home, because I have been here before and on the same golden throne I have seen another man sitting. He looked just like you -- a little older."

The king said, "He was my father. Now he's dead." And the mystic said, "I was here even before that and I found another man. He also looked a little bit like you but very old." The king said, "You are right, he was my grandfather." And the mystic said, "What happened to him?" The king said, "He is dead."

And the mystic said, "When are you going to die? They also believed that this is their home. I have argued with your grandfather. Now the poor fellow is in the grave. I have argued with your father; that poor fellow is also in the grave. Now I am arguing with you and someday I will come back again and I will be arguing with your son and you will be in a grave. So what kind of home is this where people go on changing? It is a caravanserai. It is just an overnight stay, and then one has to go."

The king was shocked but was silent. The whole court was silent. The man was right. And the mystic finally said, "If you really want to know where your home is, go to the graveyard where finally you will have to settle, where your grandfather is, where your father is. That is the real place that you can call your home, but not this palace. Here I am going to stay as if it is a caravanserai."

The king was certainly not an ordinary man. He stood up and told the mystic, "Forgive me, I was wrong. You are right. You can stay as long as you want. I am going in search of my real home. This is not my real home."

This world is only a caravanserai.

In the sutra it says: TRANSCENDING LIFE AND DEATH IS LEAVING HOME. I would like: TRANSCENDING LIFE AND DEATH IS LEAVING for HOME -- leaving the world, leaving for the home, for the real home from where you will not have to go anywhere else again -- which will be your eternal, ultimate and absolute refuge.

NOT SUFFERING ANOTHER EXISTENCE IS REACHING THE WAY. NOT CREATING DELUSIONS IS ENLIGHTENMENT.

Reduced to a single statement: Not to be in the mind is everything -- liberation, finding the real home, enlightenment, finding the way.

NOT ENGAGING IN IGNORANCE IS WISDOM.

This statement is a little strange because people don't engage in ignorance.

Nobody wants to be ignorant; why should they engage in ignorance? Hence I would like to change it, although the meaning will remain the same. The word will not be ignorance, the word will be: NOT ENGAGING IN knowledge IS WISDOM.

Engaging in knowledge is really hiding your ignorance. That is really engaging, indulging in ignorance. But on the surface you are engaged in being more knowledgeable, more erudite, more learned -- a scholar, a pundit. And to be so much involved in knowledge is a barrier to wisdom. Wisdom comes to those who are innocent of all knowledge.

The moment you drop all knowledge you have also dropped all ignorance. They exist together as two sides of a coin. And then what remains is pure innocence.

NO AFFLICTION IS NIRVANA ...not to be afflicted -- by any suffering, by any anguish, by any anger, by any greed -- not to be afflicted is nirvana. You have arrived home. The name of the home is nirvana. ...AND NO APPEARANCE OF THE MIND IS THE OTHER SHORE.

When the mind disappears, with the mind this whole world disappears. With the mind, disappears this whole ignorance, this whole knowledgeability, all these nightmares of life. Mind is the creator of this whole drama that you go on seeing.

Once mind disappears the other shore appears immediately -- coming closer and closer.

The other shore is your real home.

The other shore is your immortality, your eternity.

This shore consists of death, disease, old age and all kinds of miseries. The other shore is the hope, the hope of being liberated, the hope of being saved, the hope of being redeemed from the nightmare in which we are all living. And the secret is simple: not to be a mind, but just to be a pure consciousness, a consciousness without thoughts, a sky without clouds.

IN THE LIGHT OF THE IMPARTIAL DHARMA MORTALS LOOK NO DIFFERENT FROM SAGES. THE SUTRAS SAY THAT THE IMPARTIAL DHARMA IS SOMETHING THAT MORTALS CAN'T PENETRATE AND SAGES CAN'T PRACTICE. THE IMPARTIAL DHARMA IS ONLY PRACTICED BY GREAT BODHISATTVAS AND BUDDHAS.

But he's not including the arhatas. That's his blind spot. Although Bodhidharma has very big eyes, he cannot see one simple thing: the great arhatas belong to the same category as the great bodhisattvas and the buddhas.

TO LOOK ON LIFE AS DIFFERENT FROM DEATH OR ON MOTION AS DIFFERENT FROM STILLNESS IS TO BE PARTIAL. TO BE IMPARTIAL MEANS TO LOOK ON SUFFERING AS NO DIFFERENT FROM NIRVANA BECAUSE THE NATURE OF BOTH IS EMPTINESS. BY IMAGINING THEY ARE PUTTING AN END TO SUFFERING AND ENTERING NIRVANA, ARHATAS END UP TRAPPED BY NIRVANA.

That is absolutely wrong. The arhatas attain to the same height as the bodhisattvas. Their paths are different, but one can reach to the peak of the mountain from different paths. He could have said that the so-called sages and saints end up trapped by nirvana -- but not arhatas. Arhatas are buddhas as authentically as bodhisattvas. Their only difference is that arhatas don't care about anybody else -- that they have to be helped, that they have to be supported for their enlightenment. Arhatas are simply concerned with their own enlightenment. Bodhisattvas are concerned with others' enlightenment too. That is the only difference. Otherwise their experience is the same, their height is the same, their position has the same ultimateness.

But there are many so-called sages and saints who are neither arhatas or bodhisattvas, who have practiced ascetic disciplines, who have tortured themselves, who have done everything that is within the capacity of man to do, but it is all being done by their mind. That makes all the difference. It has not been a spontaneous and natural growth; they have forced it. They have managed, disciplined, practiced. They always do the right thing, but their right doing is not spontaneous. It is deliberately thought-out. They are continuously weighing pros and cons -- what is right and what is wrong. They are always consulting the scriptures -- what is right, what is wrong. They don't have their own insight.

I call them so-called saints and sages. They look almost like buddhas, but deep inside there is great darkness. Their own self-nature is not yet realized. They have not attained SAMADHI. They are still wandering in the puzzling mind and its millions of ways. Their great practices, their asceticism, their disciplines, are nothing but their mind projection.

So it can be said that the so-called saints and sages end up trapped by nirvana.

Their whole desire is to become enlightened. But that is the problem: you cannot desire to be enlightened. Desire is the barrier. You can become enlightened, but you cannot desire to become enlightened. The moment you desire you are trapped. You are trapped by your own desire.

You cannot make enlightenment an object of your greed.

You cannot make it an object of your ambition.

And that is where the so-called sages and saints come in. They have made enlightenment, liberation, moksha, nirvana, a goal -- an achievement. Then it becomes an ego trip. They are trapped, badly trapped.

Nirvana has to flower within you. When you have dropped the mind with all its desire, with all its ambitions, with all its program for achievements, when you have dropped your whole mind full of greed .... Whether the greed concerns money, or the greed concerns enlightenment, it does not make any difference.

Mind can go on changing from object to object. But it remains the same mind full of greed. The moment mind is completely dropped, you suddenly find enlightenment is not a goal. It is your self-nature. Suddenly the lotus blossoms open their petals and you are full of fragrance. And this fragrance is not different in the arhatas or in the bodhisattvas. They both are buddhas; they both are enlightened people.

Because I don't belong to any religion, I don't belong to any particular sect -- I simply don't belong to anybody, I just belong to myself -- I can see clearly where people get trapped in their own ideologies. Even a man like Bodhidharma cannot tolerate the idea that arhatas are the same as bodhisattvas. He belongs to the category of bodhisattvas.

And it is not the case only with him. There have been arhatas who condemn bodhisattvas in the same way. But to me it does not matter whether somebody is of one category or of another category. I can be absolutely impartial. And my being impartial has been my problem because I say things without bothering about who is going to be pleased by my statements, who is going to be displeased by my statements.

It is a very strange world. If I say something that pleases you, you will forget all about it. But if I say something that displeases you, you are not going to forget it, and you are not going to forgive me.

I have said things about Jesus that no Christian has ever said. I have appreciated the man more than any Christian in two thousand years. But when I criticized a few things about Jesus, immediately the whole Christian world turned against me. They were silent when I was saying and appreciating great statements of Jesus. They were happy, but nobody even said a single word. But when I criticized a few things, the whole Christian world, which means almost half the world, immediately turned to destroying my movement.

My books have been banned by the pope. A few Christian associations have published my books on Jesus, but when I criticized Jesus they even burnt my books in which I have praised Jesus.

People are very touchy. If you appreciate something they will not say anything.

They will simply enjoy the fact that their mind is being appreciated. It is not a question of Jesus; it is a question of a Christian mind. But when I say something that I see clearly is wrong in Jesus, then it hurts the Christian mind.

For example, I am saying a few things against Bodhidharma, but I am saying many more things in his favor -- they will be forgotten. But what I am saying against him ...the countries which belong to Mahayana Buddhism will immediately get upset.

My whole life, my whole life's work has been how to influence people and create enemies.

Again: BUT BODHISATTVAS KNOW THAT SUFFERING IS ESSENTIALLY EMPTY. AND BY REMAINING IN EMPTINESS THEY REMAIN IN NIRVANA.

NIRVANA MEANS NO BIRTH AND NO DEATH. IT IS BEYOND BIRTH AND DEATH AND BEYOND NIRVANA.

But this is said only about bodhisattvas, not about arhatas. I would like to make it clear that it refers as much to arhatas as to bodhisattvas.

WHEN THE MIND STOPS MOVING IT ENTERS NIRVANA. NIRVANA IS AN EMPTY MIND.

Empty mind can be misinterpreted. I would suggest it is better to call it "no- mind", because mind is never empty. The moment mind is empty, it is no longer there. Empty mind is a contradictory use of words -- a contradiction in terms.

There is nothing like an empty mind; mind is always thought processes. It is always a traffic of thoughts, emotions, dreams, imaginations.

When the mind is empty, there is no mind. It is better to use the word "no-mind" than to use the word "empty" mind. Empty mind can be misleading. People can start thinking that all that they have to do is to empty the mind.

And you cannot empty the mind even if you go on working for eternity. You have to drop it -- wholesale. You cannot go emptying it in installments, because here you will be emptying it, and from all directions, things will go on coming into it.

You cannot empty the mind.

Either you cling to it or you simply drop it.

There is no middle way.

AN UNINHABITED PLACE IS ONE WITHOUT GREED, ANGER OR DELUSION.

WHOEVER KNOWS THAT THE MIND IS A FICTION AND DEVOID OF ANYTHING REAL KNOWS THAT HIS OWN MIND NEITHER EXISTS NOR DOES NOT EXIST. MORTALS KEEP CREATING THE MIND, CLAIMING IT EXISTS. AND ARHATAS KEEP NEGATING THE MIND, CLAIMING IT DOES NOT EXIST. BUT BODHISATTVAS AND BUDDHAS NEITHER CREATE NOR NEGATE THE MIND. THIS IS WHAT IS MEANT BY THE MIND THAT NEITHER EXISTS NOR DOES NOT EXIST. THE MIND THAT NEITHER EXISTS NOR DOES NOT EXIST IS CALLED THE MIDDLE WAY.

He can never forget to condemn the arhatas. It seems to be as if something is constantly hurting him. The situation is again the same: instead of arhatas, he should have said the so-called sages and saints keep negating the mind. But bodhisattvas, arhatas and the buddhas neither create nor negate the mind. They simply go beyond it; they don't fight with it, because to fight with the mind is to give it reality, to recognize its power. There is no need to fight. One has just to be a witness.

Without any fight, just being a witness, mind disappears.

Before the fire of witnessing, there is no possibility of mind remaining within you even for a single second. Create the fire of witnessing, create the flame of awareness. This is done by the arhatas, bodhisattvas and the buddhas without any distinction.

WHEN YOUR MIND DOES NOT STIR INSIDE, THE WORLD DOES NOT ARISE OUTSIDE.

This is a beautiful statement, immensely pregnant. It is saying the world outside is nothing but your projection. When your mind stirs inside, the world is created outside.

Once it happened that a German poet, Heinrich Heine, got lost in the forest. He had gone hunting, but lost his way and lost his companion. And for three days he did not come across any human being. He was utterly tired, hungry and continuously worried about the wild animals.

In the night he used to climb a tree to somehow protect himself from the wild animals. The third night was a full-moon night and he was sitting up in a tree.

Three days of hunger and tiredness ...he had not slept. And he saw the beautiful moon. He had written so many beautiful poems about the moon, but this day was different because his mind was in a different situation.

Instead of seeing the moon, he saw a loaf of bread moving in the sky. In his diary he wrote, "I could not believe my eyes. I have always seen my beloved's face in the moon. I have never even thought that a loaf of bread ...!"

But a man who has been hungry for three days ...his mind is projecting one thing, and that is food. The moon disappeared and a loaf of bread was floating in the sky.

What you see is not what is there.

What you see is what your mind projects.

I have told you a story about Mulla Nasruddin. He had a beautiful house in the mountains and he hired one of the ugliest women possible to take care of the house. All his friends asked, "Mulla, there must be some reason -- why have you chosen the ugliest woman?" Mulla said, "There is a reason. And when the time comes, I will tell you."

And this created even more temptation to know. And again and again they were asking. It became a continuous temptation for them to enquire about the ugly woman. Mulla used to go to the mountain once in a while to rest, and he would say to his friends, "I am going for three weeks," and he would be back in one week.

And they would ask, "You went for three weeks ...?" He said, "Yes, I went for three weeks, but something happened and I had to come back."

And this happened again and again. He would go for six weeks and within two weeks he was back. Finally they said, "You are creating a mystery. You are keeping that ugly woman there, you go there for three weeks, you come back in one week. You never keep your word."

Mulla said, "It is better now that I tell you the truth. The truth is, I have kept that ugly woman for a particular reason. And the reason is that when I go to the mountain house, the woman looks ugly. She is so repulsive, not just ugly. But without another woman, after seven or eight days, she does not look so repulsive. After two weeks, she does not even look ugly. After four weeks, she starts looking even beautiful. That is the time when I leave -- now the danger is near. Whenever that woman starts looking beautiful, that is the point to immediately leave the mountains because now there is danger."

Mind has started creating its own reality. Now it does not care at all what is actually fact; now it is creating its own fiction. Because it has not been with a woman for four weeks, there is a certain hunger, biological hunger, and that hunger is creating a loaf of bread.

It is not coincidental that people call beautiful woman "dishes," "delicious dishes." Why is a woman, a beautiful woman, in almost all languages, called a "beautiful dish"?

Perhaps because, just as food is a hunger and biological, so is sex a hunger and biological. Both are different hungers, but both are hungers. The world that you see all around you is mostly a projection of your mind. When the mind disappears completely, you will see a totally different world. With all projections gone, then only the real -- the objectively real -- remains.

And with the objectively real, there is no attachment. The attachment arises only with your projecting mind.

WHEN YOUR MIND DOES NOT STIR INSIDE, THE WORLD DOES NOT ARISE OUTSIDE. WHEN THE WORLD AND THE MIND ARE BOTH TRANSPARENT, THIS IS TRUE VISION. AND SUCH UNDERSTANDING IS TRUE UNDERSTANDING.

Bodhidharma is right on all basic points, and should be understood as deeply as possible, because he can help you tremendously on the way -- but remember his blind spots.

Avoid those blind spots, because those blind spots make his grandeur a little less than it would have been without them. It makes his wisdom a little tainted, a little damaged. It is no longer impeccable; it is no longer absolute and perfect.

Something is missing; he is prejudiced. He has joined a party.

A man of true understanding remains alone; he does not join any party, any organization, any church, any religion. He is available to every form of understanding, but he remains impartial. To me this impartiality is one of the fundamentals of religion.

A Christian is not religious just because he is a Christian. A Hindu is not religious just because he has become part of an organized doctrine. A Jaina is not religious because he has chosen a certain party line.

An authentically religious man is individual.

He is alone, and in his aloneness there is great beauty, great splendor.

I teach you that aloneness. I teach you the beauty, and the grandeur, and the fragrance of aloneness.

In your aloneness you will reach to the heights of Everest. In your aloneness you will be able to touch the farthest star. In your aloneness you will blossom to your total potential.

Never become a believer, never become a follower, never become a part of any organization. Remain authentically true to yourself. Don't betray yourself.

Okay, Maneesha?

Yes, Osho.