The Earth and the Sky are not Seperate

Maneesha, in the long history of Zen there are milestones. Mahakashyapa is the first, but not much is known about him - in Buddhist scriptures he is mentioned only once. Just one mention and yet he is regarded as the greatest disciple of Gautam Buddha.

For twenty years he has not spoken a single word, no question, just sat by the side of Gautam Buddha. Even Gautam Buddha is concerned: "This is a strange fellow - he has not even said hello; there are thousands of monks, they all come with questions, problems, but this man seems to have no questions." But in that utter silence, everything happened.

Mahakashyapa was immensely courageous to be utterly silent for twenty years, not even to ask the master, but just to wait: "Whenever the time is ripe, the master will deliver the truth." And it happened, and it happened in a strange way.

The emperor Prasenjita has come to offer Gautam Buddha some flowers out of season. And at the same time a great philosopher, whom Prasenjita has up to now believed to be his teacher, has come with Prasenjita.

Prasenjita introduced his teacher, Maulingaputta, and said to Gautam Buddha, "I offer my gratitude that you are staying in my kingdom; just let me know if anything is needed by the great assembly of monks. One thing more I ask you: I have brought my teacher, Maulingaputta, and he has come with his five hundred followers. He is a great philosopher, a man of tremendous knowledge, very articulate in discussing things. I pray to you to give him a chance to discuss ultimate problems with you."

Gautam Buddha turned to Maulingaputta and said, "I am ready. But are you ready?"

Maulingaputta could not understand what readiness was needed.

Gautam Buddha said, "Readiness means, are you capable of being silent, utterly silent, not a single thought passing through your mind?"

He said, "Thought is my life, I am a thinker; philosophy is my profession. All that I know about mind is that it is a thinking process. Beyond that I don't know any silence you are talking about."

Then Buddha said, "You are not ready. And it will be a very strange conversation. From the hilltop I will be shouting to you, and from the dark valleys you will be answering me - without understanding me. So first, let us come to a point where our consciousnesses are at the same level."

It was convincing, and even Prasenjita said, "Gautam Buddha is right. But what is to be done?"

Gautam Buddha said, "Nothing has to be done. Just sit silently by my side for two years. Many people will come and go, and ask - you don't bother about anything. Your work is simply to watch and be silent. Not a single word for two years."

At this moment Mahakashyapa, sitting under a tree, started laughing hysterically, could not manage... The whole assembly was shocked - they had never heard him even speak, he did not speak to anybody. You might say something, he would not answer; he would not take note of anybody. People had accepted him as a strange fellow. But what happened? Suddenly, out of nowhere... And he laughed, such beautiful laughter, resounding in that silence of the assembly.

Maulingaputta said, "Why is your disciple laughing?"

Buddha said, "You can ask him yourself."

This is the only mention of Mahakashyapa.

Mahakashyapa said, "I am laughing because this fellow is tricky. He tricked me also, in the same way he is trying it on you. But now he has become old, so he is saying only two years; I had to remain silent for twenty years. If you really want to ask the questions, ask now. After two years it will be too late."

This is the only mention.

And when Prasenjita offered flowers, Buddha called Mahakashyapa and gave those flowers to him.

And he said, "What could be said through words, I have said to everybody. What could not be said through words, but only through silence, I have imparted to Mahakashyapa."

This made him the first Zen master. But besides this, there is no other mention of him. Perhaps silence remained his method. Many must have become enlightened sitting by his side, but nothing was said. He was a silent master. So there is no record left.

Then the second great departure - there have been many others - but the second great departure from the past is Bodhidharma. He was even more strange than Mahakashyapa. He is the sixth in the line of Zen patriarchs.

After Bodhidharma, Nansen is a new point of departure. He opens Zen to a wider variety, he gives Zen more dimensions. It is no more a small stream, but becomes an ocean.

Today we are starting a series on Nansen. A little biographical introduction:

NANSEN, ALSO KNOWN AS NAN-CHUAN, WAS BORN IN NORTH CHINA IN 748.

BEGINNING HIS STUDY OF MEDITATION WHEN A YOUNG BOY, NANSEN BECAME A BUDDHIST PRIEST AT THIRTY AND TRAVELED TO VARIOUS WELL-KNOWN MONASTERIES.

ON ARRIVING AT CHIANG-SI AND MEETING WITH MA TZU, NANSEN IMMEDIATELY BECAME ONE OF MA TZU'S FOREMOST DISCIPLES.

We have discussed Ma Tzu. It is no wonder that a man of the insight of Nansen immediately became... he did not miss a single moment as he arrived at Ma Tzu's monastery, as he saw the master, he immediately touched his feet.

And this respect was not one-sided, this love was not one-sided; Ma Tzu showered great love and respect on Nansen. Both saw into each other, something immediately became connected. Ma Tzu understood the urgency and the intensity of the search of Nansen; and Nansen understood, "Here is the man. If I cannot make it with him, I am not going to make it at all."

This is how disciples and masters meet. It is not a superficial thing; it is something intrinsic, intuitive, and immediate. You have to understand the word 'immediate'. It is not because of something, that Nansen becomes an intimate disciple of Ma Tzu. There is no cause visible. Nothing is mediating him to become the disciple - that is why it is 'immediate'. No cause, no visible reason, nothing to be understood by the mind... but heart to heart something has transpired. They have fallen in deep love, the great love.

HE REALIZED HIS ENLIGHTENMENT AND LATER LEFT MA TZU'S MONASTERY.

That's why I have called this series, THE POINT OF DEPARTURE. Ma Tzu has his own methods; he has brought Bodhidharma's methods to the ultimate peak. Nansen loved Ma Tzu, but was not ready to become his successor. If he had remained, he would have been the successor of Ma Tzu.

Just to avoid the embarrassment - because he would go far beyond in different directions - it was better to leave before the master proposed that, "You are my successor." Then leaving would have been impossible.

He became enlightened... The ordinary course will be that when you become enlightened with a master, where can you go? This love, this shelter, you will not find anywhere. There is no need to go anywhere at all. Now you can understand the great song of the master, and the invisible music.

This is no time to depart.

But the reason for his departure from Ma Tzu's monastery was that if he does not leave now, he will never be able to leave. Once Ma Tzu proposes that, "You become my successor," he cannot say no to his master.

But he wanted to introduce many new things into Zen. Sometimes they may be contradictory to Ma Tzu; sometimes they will be new to Ma Tzu's methods of teaching, and he does not want anybody to say that he is betraying his master. Rather than betraying, he simply left the monastery at the age of fifty.

NANSEN FOUNDED HIS OWN COMMUNITY AND ATTRACTED THOUSANDS OF DISCIPLES.

Maneesha has brought the sutra:

ON A CERTAIN DAY, ALL THE MONKS IN NANSEN'S MONASTERY WERE INVOLVED IN PREPARATIONS FOR THE FOLLOWING DAY - WHICH WAS THE ANNIVERSARY OF MA TZU'S DEATH.

NANSEN SAID TO HIS DISCIPLES, "TOMORROW WE WILL OFFER VEGETARIAN FOOD TO MASTER MA TZU. DO YOU THINK HE WILL COME?"

Before we go on further - this was one thing amongst many - Ma Tzu insisted on vegetarian food. In his monastery non-vegetarian food was absolutely prohibited. It takes me back to Gautam Buddha.

Gautam Buddha was a vegetarian, strictly vegetarian. And all his followers were vegetarians. That was a revolution in a way, because man had lived as a non-vegetarian for millions of years. And according to Buddha, he would remain a barbarian unless he became vegetarian. Killing life is destroying your own possibility of growth. You have to respect life; a reverence for life will help your growth of consciousness. And he was absolutely right.

But a strange incident happened, and this will show you how man's cunning mind takes advantage, even of masters like Gautam Buddha.

He had made it clear to everybody that, "Whatever is given to you in your begging bowls, receive it with gratitude."

And everybody knew that they were vegetarians, so people prepared vegetarian food.

"But don't throw anything that is given to you with love and respect. Eat everything that falls into your begging bowl."

One day a monk came with a very puzzled look. He said, "I am in a strange difficulty. A bird flying dropped a piece of meat into my begging bowl. I was coming back from begging in the city, to settle under some tree" - in the garden where they were staying - "to eat my food. Now the problem is, if I throw out this piece of meat I am going against your teaching that, 'Everything has to be eaten that falls into your begging bowl.' And if I eat it, I am still going against your teaching of, 'Always be vegetarian.' Now what am I supposed to do?"

The whole assembly of monks also were in a strange position: how is Buddha going to solve it?

Buddha thought, "If I say 'throw it', that will become a universal thing. People will start choosing:

whatever is good, delicious they will eat and the remaining they will throw out. The country supports the monks. This will be against the people who are supporting you. With great hardship they earn, and you throw away their food. So I cannot say to throw it out.

"And as far as birds are concerned, it is very unlikely that again, in the centuries following, any bird will repeat this. So there is no danger, if only one person eats on one day a small piece of meat."

He said, "Eat everything that has fallen into your begging bowl."

And this became for the cunning mind of man a loophole, that, "Buddha is not against meat; just you have not to kill, he is against killing. If meat is given to you, offered to you, you have to respectfully receive it."

So now in China and Japan, all the Buddhists are non-vegetarian. Not a single Buddhist is vegetarian. And in every food shop, restaurant they make it clear that here non-vegetarian food is available which has not been especially killed - it is from animals dying on their own.

Now, so many animals don't die on their own. And in fact, few animals do; you will never find how they die. Have you seen a cow or a crow dying, dead? Once in a while perhaps because of electric wires... otherwise before dying, somehow they disappear. They disappear deep in forests, they disappear into mountains, to find a peaceful grave.

Just nearby, there is one of the national deer parks with thousands of deer. I used to go there often.

It is deep in the forest, just one small resthouse and a big lake, and in the night thousands of deer will come to drink water. And in the night their eyes shine like stars. You see lines of stars moving around the lake, reflected in the lake. It is one of the most beautiful scenes that I have ever seen.

I have watched those deer. I enquired of the resthouse peon who took care of the resthouse, "Have you seen any deer dead?"

He said, "Millions of people must have come to see this park; nobody has asked such a question.

No, I have never seen a single deer dead."

And I asked him, "Don't you ever wonder where they disappear?"

He said, "The very question has never arisen in me."

From where in China, in Korea, in Taiwan, in Burma, in Japan - in all Buddhist countries... It seems the animals have a special joy: they come into the restaurants and die on their own - spontaneously.

And not a single Buddhist monk ever raises the question that, "This is absolutely absurd, this is not possible. Animals have to be hunted and killed, only then can you get non-vegetarian food."

But Ma Tzu was absolutely in tune with Gautam Buddha.

So when Nansen was arranging in his monastery a ceremony on the anniversary of Ma Tzu's death, he said to his disciples - it is so touching - "TOMORROW WE WILL OFFER VEGETARIAN FOOD TO MASTER MA TZU. DO YOU THINK HE WILL COME?"

NO ONE ANSWERED. BUT AMONG THE GROUP WAS A YOUNG MAN, A TRAVELING MONK CALLED TOZAN. HE STEPPED FORWARD AND SAID, "HE WILL WAIT FOR A COMPANION TO COME."

NANSEN COMMENTED, "ALTHOUGH THIS MAN IS YOUNG, HE IS QUALIFIED FOR THE TRAINING."

TOZAN RESPONDED, "THE VENERABLE SIR SHOULD NOT OPPRESS A GOOD MAN BY REGARDING HIM AS A WORTHLESS FELLOW."

Tozan finally became himself a great master. He is saying that he will come - Ma Tzu will come - and he will not come alone.

It was the habit of Ma Tzu that he is referring to. He always traveled with an enlightened disciple with him, because his teaching method was so strange and many freaked out.

So first he would send those to the companion enlightened man, who could discuss, who could make them aware of all the possibilities, and who could also make them aware that, "If you want to have any communication with Ma Tzu, you have to be ready for these things - anything is possible.

He may beat you, he may jump upon you, he may sit on your chest and ask, 'Do you get it?'"

He had his own ways, and we cannot say that he was wrong in his ways because hundreds of disciples became enlightened through him. So what means he applied does not matter, the end was so great.

If you analyze the matter, you will understand there is a great psychological insight. A stranger comes - not even in his dreams has he thought that a master would jump on him. He has come to ask, "What is the truth?" Now this question does not deserve in any way that the master should jump immediately on him, and sit on his chest with his staff in his hand. Obviously, at this moment, all the thinking of that stranger will stop. What can you think in such a situation? For a moment the whole mind comes to a complete, screeching stop.

Ma Tzu was immensely compassionate. This stopping of the mind takes years - he managed it in a single minute. But his method makes him a very weird fellow. And the person who had suddenly become aware of a state of silence was able to see it. Many became enlightened.

Once a monk was entering in the door - he was half inside the door and half outside - and Ma Tzu closed the door, so he was fixed in between, screaming, with Ma Tzu asking, "Do you get it?" He has not even asked any question, he has not even entered fully into the temple.

And it looks strange that these people got it - they never asked again.

Once he threw a man out of the window, and then jumped on him from the window, and asked him...

He is suffering fractures but Ma Tzu is not concerned with the fractures; he says, "Forget about fractures! First tell me, do you get it?"

And it is said that the man gasped, "Yes, I get it."

So the young man is referring to Ma Tzu's habit of always having a companion who will explain him to any stranger, a verbal communication, and will also explain that, "If you want Ma Tzu to work upon you, then you have to be ready for all these things - anything can happen. He is an unpredictable master."

The young fellow, Tozan, who was not a disciple of Nansen, he was just traveling... That too has to be understood: in China and in Japan and other Buddhist countries the monks go on traveling from one monastery to another monastery, until they find the heart with whom their heart beats in a dance. They are received in every monastery with respect. They stay for a few days and if nothing happens there, they move on with gratitude that, "You allowed us to stay here for four days."

This young man, Tozan, was not a resident monk in the monastery of Nansen.

HE STEPPED FORWARD AND SAID, "HE WILL WAIT FOR A COMPANION TO COME." But he will come; that is the implication: he will come. When so many of you are celebrating the anniversary of his death, how can he resist to come? The only problem is, if he cannot get a companion, then it will be very difficult for him to come. But he will get the companion - there are so many enlightened people dead. And with a man like Ma Tzu, when he says to someone, "Come follow me," he has to.

But Nansen's own disciples remained without any answer; they missed the point.

And Nansen has shown such a beauty of his heart; although he was not the successor of Ma Tzu, he had become enlightened under him.

TOMORROW WE WILL OFFER VEGETARIAN FOOD TO MASTER MA TZU. DO YOU THINK HE WILL COME?

An enlightened being can visit. There are hundreds of cases when enlightened people have visited.

The only condition to be fulfilled is your loving invitation.

And that's what Nansen is saying, "We are sending the loving invitation to Ma Tzu, and we promise him..." because Nansen has deviated from vegetarianism, he has allowed non-vegetarians into the monastery. His attitude was that if the whole of humanity - and the argument is worth consideration - if the whole of humanity becomes vegetarian, it will be impossible to supply food to everybody.

Almost ninety-nine percent of humanity is non-vegetarian. From where can you get so much vegetarian food?

So his consideration was very practical and pragmatic. He said, "Just because of the food, don't prevent their spiritual growth. Yes, it is true that with vegetarian food they can enter into meditative states more easily, but that is their problem. With non-vegetarian food their entry into higher consciousnesses is more difficult, but it is not impossible."

Non-vegetarian masters have simply followed a harder path, but the situation of the world is that we cannot supply everybody with vegetarian food.

That's why he says that, "We are sending the invitation to Ma Tzu's enlightened soul, freed from the body. We will offer vegetarian food - we promise. DO YOU THINK HE WILL COME? I think he will come; he has to come."

An enlightened man is simply living in total freedom out of the body, floating like a white cloud, without any roots in the earth, and without any destination. Just out of freedom - to the north, to the west, to the east - wherever spontaneously a movement occurs, he moves. If with love, with prayer, with deep meditation he is invited, perhaps you will not see him, but you will feel his presence - particularly those who have known his presence.

Nansen will feel him if he comes. He knows his fragrance, he knows his touch, he knows the atmosphere that comes with him.

He had asked a very beautiful question, but not a single disciple was yet able to understand a mysterious phenomenon.

And Tozan, who was destined to become an enlightened master himself, certainly showed deeper understanding. He said, "HE WILL WAIT FOR A COMPANION TO COME. I know him, he will not come alone - that was not his habit. If he comes, he will come with another enlightened person also."

Seeing this man's understanding, NANSEN COMMENTED, "ALTHOUGH THIS MAN IS YOUNG, HE IS QUALIFIED FOR THE TRAINING."

He did not much appreciate Tozan's answer, because it is conditional. And as for Ma Tzu's coming to the ceremony, he will not follow the old habit of being followed by a companion.

He is not coming here to teach anybody, why should he wait for any companion? The companion was taken just to avoid any misunderstanding with the people. Here he will be a guest; there is no need for him to wait for a companion.

That's why Nansen has not given him much credit, although Tozan has shown a little understanding.

So he says, "ALTHOUGH THIS MAN IS YOUNG, HE IS QUALIFIED FOR THE TRAINING."

TOZAN RESPONDED, "THE VENERABLE SIR SHOULD NOT OPPRESS A GOOD MAN BY REGARDING HIM AS A WORTHLESS FELLOW."

He felt offended. He must have been thinking that he would be appreciated.

But I agree with Nansen... there was a little truth in his understanding that 'he will come, but he will wait for a companion'. But that 'waiting for a companion', destroyed his whole understanding. That's why Nansen says, "HE IS QUALIFIED FOR THE TRAINING."

But Tozan felt insulted deep down. He was thinking he would be appreciated, that while no other disciple had responded, he, a traveling monk, has said that he will come. He has shown his deep understanding, but Nansen is not appreciating his understanding; he is at the most saying that he is qualified for the training.

TOZAN RESPONDED, "THE VENERABLE SIR, SHOULD NOT OPPRESS A GOOD MAN BY REGARDING HIM AS A WORTHLESS FELLOW."

This destroyed the small truth that he has shown in saying, 'he will come, but he will wait for a companion.' You are not supposed to be offended by a master, for the simple reason that perhaps you deserved what you got. And the master is not in any way interested in insulting anyone. What is he going to gain by insulting? But he cannot appreciate beyond the limit, because that will give you unnecessarily an ego. And in that way he will become a hindrance in your progress.

Tozan could not understand that at that point.

These small anecdotes are immensely helpful, if you understand that we are not studying them for study's sake. We are the people of the path, we are moving in the same directions. So we should take note of every phenomenon that can happen on the path: the mistakes, going astray for small trivia, becoming angry at the master; and the master was slapping you only out of compassion and love, slapping does not give him any joy.

All these anecdotes, understood rightly, will help you for your own evolution, for your own centering.

A poem by Sekiso:

SACRED AND SECULAR ORIGINALLY LIVE IN THE SAME HOUSE.

WITH COMPASSIONATE HANDS THE GREAT MASTER HAS OPENED THE GATE FOR THE FIRST TIME.

DON'T ASK WHO OR HOW MANY ARE IN THE HALL.

THESE TILES AND RAFTERS CONTAIN ALL OF HEAVEN AND EARTH.

A great insight by Sekiso.

He is saying, the SACRED AND THE SECULAR - the material and the spiritual - ORIGINALLY LIVE IN THE SAME HOUSE. WITH COMPASSIONATE HANDS THE GREAT MASTER HAS OPENED THE GATE FOR THE FIRST TIME.

This statement, that the secular and the sacred live in the same house, is an opening, a new opening of the gate because all the masters have always condemned the material, the secular, and praised the sacred, the spiritual. They have always divided the Zorba and the buddha. In their understanding, Zorba has to be killed - only then can the buddha come into existence. That is the history of all the religions.

Nansen has opened a new door by saying that, SACRED AND SECULAR ORIGINALLY LIVE IN THE SAME HOUSE.

Sekiso is a disciple of Nansen.

WITH COMPASSIONATE HANDS THE GREAT MASTER HAS OPENED THE GATE FOR THE FIRST TIME. DON'T ASK WHO OR HOW MANY ARE IN THE HALL.

Numbers don't matter; don't ask how many have entered the gate. The significant point is that Nansen has opened the gate, that the secular and sacred can be together. There is no need for them to be separated.

It was an immensely radical departure from the past.

DON'T ASK WHO OR HOW MANY ARE IN THE HALL. THESE TILES AND RAFTERS CONTAIN ALL OF HEAVEN AND EARTH.

When a man like Nansen lives in a temple, then the rafters and the tiles also become something divine, something sacred, but not sacred against the secular. Nansen has joined the earth with the sky.

My love for Nansen is immense because of this understanding that the earth and the sky are not separate - are not separateable. And both should be enjoyed.

Question 1:

Maneesha has asked:

Because he opened the gate for the first time, making it clear that the sacred and the secular are one, just different ways of seeing. There is no need to torture the body to purify the soul. They both can dance together as sacred a dance as possible. And unless a spirituality transforms even your body, it is not much of a spirituality.

Zorba has not to be killed, Zorba has to be transformed. Zorba is the buddha, just in the seed form.

You don't have to destroy the seeds, you have to find a right soil, a right climate for the seeds, and wait for the season when the clouds bring the first rains, and your seeds will start sprouting. The seeds and the flowers are not separate - the seed is the flower hidden, the flower is the seed come out in the open.

That's why, Maneesha, I have called this series NANSEN: THE POINT OF DEPARTURE. From the past spirituality Nansen is a tremendous departure, accepting secular and sacred as together, one - two aspects of one reality.

You can understand my love for Nansen, because Nansen has been forgotten, even by his own successors. Again the same division came into their teachings: "This is material, this is trivial, this is not spiritual." What Nansen has done, even his successors have undone again. And nobody has taken note of the great departure.

I have to take note of the great departure, because my own understanding is the same. I want the earth and the sky to be together. Only in their togetherness is the wholeness; only in their togetherness is a joy, is a fulfillment. Buddha alone is half, Zorba alone is half, and unless they are together they can never be whole.

I want my people to be whole persons, not denying anything but transforming everything, including everything in their spiritual growth.

Now something serious...

It is a beautiful summer Saturday, so Zabriski decides to sunbathe in the nude for the first time in his life. He is on the roof of his apartment building, and he forgets about the time. Five hours later, he finds himself practically burnt to a crisp - especially his prick.

Later that night, Zabriski is in bed with his new Polack girlfriend, Carmen Klopski, and he is in agony.

So he gets up, tiptoes to the kitchen, pours a tall glass of ice-cold milk, and submerges his lobster- red machinery into it. Zabriski sighs from the cool relief, when suddenly Carmen appears in the doorway.

"Oh, my God!" she gasps. "So that is how you guys load that thing!"

Lucifer, the devil, is quietly toasting some bread for his afternoon tea over the eternal fires of hell.

Suddenly, there is a loud crash at the gate.

The devil looks around in alarm and sees a long, silver Rolls Royce driving in through the roaring flames. The Rolls Royce has a young girl screaming with delight on the front of the car, and a large man, wearing a turban, standing on the back bumper - laughing as hard as he can.

Holding on to the man at the back of the car is a long line of people, singing and celebrating.

The new arrivals soon make themselves at home, and the devil finds that hell is no longer like it used to be.

So Lucifer phones God to come and help straighten things out. When God arrives, he is amazed by what he sees.

"What has happened to all the eternal fires and damnation?" asks God. "This place is nothing like the way we advertise it on earth!"

"I know, it is terrible!" sniffs the devil. "Ever since Osho drove in here with his sannyasins, the whole place has had to be air-conditioned!"

King Carlos of Spain, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands and Prince Philip of England are sitting together having a few drinks in the pub. They get a little drunk and start bragging about whose prick is the longest.

A crowd gathers as King Carlos whips out his machinery and lays it on the table. Six inches!

Everyone applauds and sings the Spanish national anthem.

Then Prince Bernhard puts his dong on the table. Eight inches! Everyone screams and shouts, and then sings the Dutch national anthem.

Finally, Prince Philip drops his pants and puts his prick on the table. Twelve inches!

The crowd gasps, and everyone starts singing "God Save the Queen"

Nivedano...

(Drumbeat) (Gibberish) Nivedano...

(Drumbeat) Be silent. Close your eyes; feel your body to be completely frozen.

Now look inwards. Collect all your consciousness and move straight forward towards the center of your being. This center is the door to eternity; this center is going beyond death.

Get deeper into it. This is your buddha. You have to live it out in your daily life.

I don't like monks. I want buddhas in every place, in every activity.

I want the whole world full of buddhas. That is the only way we can transform the world into a paradise.

To make it more clear, Nivedano...

(Drumbeat) Relax and just be a witness of your body, of your mind, and the great silence that prevails over...

At this moment, who cares about the numbers? At this moment, everything becomes sacred; everything becomes an eternal treasure: truth, good, beauty.

Get a tight hold of buddha; you have to bring him back. And you have to live him in your life, moment to moment.

The evening was beautiful on its own, but you have made it a splendor, a majestic experience, a mystery, a moment of magic. Bring this magic with you.

Nivedano...

(Drumbeat) Come back, but come back as buddhas, silently, gracefully. Sit down and remember for a few minutes the place you have been in, the temple you have visited, and the path to the temple.

The path on which you have gone in, is the same path you have come out. Slowly slowly the path will become absolutely clear.

And buddhahood will not be a question, it will be your experience.

Okay, Maneesha?

Yes, Osho.

Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas?

Yes, Osho!