A World Inside You

Taoism is not a religion in the ordinary sense of the term, it is not a so-called religion; it is AUTHENTICALLY religious. But to be authentically religious it has to be basically scientific. Science and religion are separate only as far as their direction is concerned, but not in their approach.

Religion can be scientific without being a science; science can be religious without being a religion.

Tao is scientific without being a science.

Science means trying to know the objective world without any prejudice, without any A PRIORI conclusions. The same is true about the inner world, the subjective world. One should approach it also without any conclusions. A scientist cannot be a Hindu or a Mohammedan or a Christian; if he is then he is not scientific. At least in his scientific endeavor he should put aside all his prejudices.

If Galileo remains a Christian, then he cannot discover the truth that the sun does not move around the earth. If Copernicus remains a Christian even while he is doing his scientific research, then he cannot go beyond the Bible. And the Bible is many thousands of years old; it contains the science of those days. It is very primitive - it is bound to be so.

All religious scriptures contain certain facts which they should not contain. They are not religious facts; they are concerned with the objective world. But in the old days everything was compiled in religious scriptures - they were the only scriptures. Religious scriptures have functioned in the world for thousands of years as encyclopedias: everything that was known, was discovered, was theorized, was collected in them.

The Vedas in India are called SAMHITAS; SAMHITA means a compilation, a collection. Their function was exactly that of the Encyclopedia Britannica. All kinds of things are compiled in them:

the literature of those days, the science of those days, the astronomy of those days, the geography, the history, the art; everything that it was possible to know was compiled. As man has progressed, everything has become more and more specialized.

Science means the search for truth in the objective world; religion means the search for truth in the subjective world. Just as there is a world outside you there is a world inside you, too. And, of course, the inside world is far more significant because it is your inside, it is your very being, it is your subjectivity. But about the inner world we are still very unscientific - we still live through beliefs.

About the outside world we have become a little more mature; we are ready to drop any belief. If a certain fact is discovered which goes against our older theories, we discard the older theories in favor of the new discovery. But the same is not true about the inner; to the inner we have a very deep clinging.

Tao is in that way a scientific approach to the inner - you can call it the science of the subjective, the science of being. This is one of the most significant things to remember while we will be meditating over these sutras of Ko Hsuan.

The second thing to remember is that Tao is the first revelation, realization, of the fact that existence is polar. No other religion has been so clear about this tremendously significant fact. "Existence is polar" means that existence is not logical, it is dialectical; it is not Aristotelian, it is Hegelian.

Logic is simple, logic is linear; dialectics is a little more complex. It is not simple because dialectics is possible only if the opposite is also involved in it; if the opposite is not there, there will be no dialectics. There can be no electricity without the two poles, the positive and the negative. Electricity is not logical, it is utterly illogical - it is dialectical. There can be no humanity without the masculine energy and the feminine energy. Just think of a humanity consisting only of men or women: it will die, it will not be able to live - it will not HAVE any energy to live. Energy is created by the friction with the opposite.

The Hegelian formulation is: thesis needs antithesis. Unless there is a thesis opposed by an antithesis there is no dynamism; life becomes stagnant. Matter is possible only if there is consciousness, and vice versa. The sky and the earth, God and existence, the day and the night, summer and winter, birth and death, these are polarities opposed to each other. But the opposition is only apparent; deep down they are complementaries.

What Hegel discovered just two hundred years ago Taoists had discovered almost five thousand years before. They were the pioneers of dialectics; they were the first dialecticians of the world.

They contributed one of the most important insights to existence: you will find it everywhere.

Life cannot exist even for a single moment without its opposite because it depends on the opposite.

The opposition is only apparent; deep down they are complementaries. They have to be - they depend on each other. Man is not man without a woman, woman is not woman without a man; they depend on each other.

That's why there is something missing in a homosexual or a lesbian relationship - there is no dialectics. The homosexual relationship is far more logical, remember, and because it is logical it is simple; because it is logical there is less complexity about it, less conflict in it. It is not accidental that the homosexuals are called "gay" people - they ARE gay! They are happier than the heterosexual people because there is no conflict. A man can understand another man more easily than he can ever understand a woman. A woman can understand another woman more easily than she will be ever able to understand a man because man is a totally different existence. Their ways differ: they function from different centers. To each other they look absurd.

The man functions through the intellect; the woman functions through intuition. The man goes about everything through reasoning; the woman simply jumps on the conclusion without going through any reasoning. The man is simply amazed! He cannot find any clue. He may have lived with the woman his whole life, still the woman remains a mystery. And the same is true for the woman: the man remains a mystery. He cannot understand simple things which she can see clearly: that smoking can bring cancer. "Why do you go on smoking? Drinking alcohol will kill you sooner. Then why are you poisoning yourself?"

Mulla Nasruddin's wife was telling him... When he was drinking whisky one night, she told him, "I have told you a thousand and one times, stop all this nonsense! This is slow poisoning! This is slow suicide!"

Nasruddin looked at her and said, "Please don't exaggerate! You have not told me one thousand and one times - maybe a few dozen times. Don't exaggerate. Moreover, I am not in any hurry, so let it be slow poisoning! I am not in a hurry to die."

The man and the woman are constantly arguing about each and everything; they never agree about anything. They cannot agree: by their very natures agreement is not possible. There is always tension. Hence gay people are really gay. When you see two homosexuals hand in hand going for a morning walk you can see the joy! You never see that joy between a husband and wife - impossible. The gay relationship is simple; but because it is simple, because there is no tension in it, no conflict in it, there is no growth either. There is no pain in it, hence it is stagnant. There are no more surprises in it.

The woman remains always to be discovered by the man, and vice versa. You cannot exhaust discovering a man or a woman. If you belong to the opposite pole it is an endless discovery; you will never come to a conclusion.

Existence is not logical, and it is good, otherwise there would have been only death and no life. If God were Aristotelian there would have been no life at all. There would have been peace all over - nobody to know it nobody to experience it. It is good that God is Hegelian, that he has created polarities.

Tao talks about YIN and YANG: that is its most fundamental approach to understanding existence.

And you have to go deep into it.

There is a great attraction between man and woman for the simple reason that they are mysterious to each other. The same thing creates conflict and the same thing creates attraction. The farther away they are, the greater the distance between them, the more the attraction between them.

In modern societies, in advanced countries particularly, the attraction is disappearing for the simple reason that men and women are coming so close to each other, they are becoming almost similar.

They dress alike, they both have started smoking, they both drink, they both behave in the same way, they both use the same language. The Liberation Movement has contributed much to this nonsense.

The Women's Liberation Movement is teaching women all over the world to be just like men - strong, rough, aggressive. They can be aggressive and they can be rough, but they will lose something immensely valuable: they will lose their feminineness. And the moment they become just like men they will not be mysteries anymore. This is something new happening in the world; it has never happened before.

The wise sages of the ancient days always made it clear to the old societies: make men and women as distinct as possible. Nature makes them distinct, but culture also should help them to be distinct.

That does not mean that they are not equal; they are equal but they are different, they are unique.

Equality need not mean similarity; equality should not be misunderstood as similarity. Similarity is not equality. And if women start becoming like men they will never be equal to men, remember.

The Women's Liberation Movement is going to do some very deep harm to the women's cause in the world, and this will be the harm: they will become carbon copies of men, they will have a secondary kind of existence. They will not be real men because they cannot be naturally so aggressive. They can pretend, they can cultivate aggression, they can be rough, but that will be just a facade; deep down they will remain soft. And that will create a split in their being, that will create a schizophrenia in their being. They will suffer from a dual personality and they will lose their mysteriousness. They will argue with men with the same logic. But they will be like men and they will become ugly. To be unnatural is to be ugly; to be natural is to he beautiful.

I would like them to be equal to men, but the idea of similarity should be dropped. In fact, they should become as dissimilar as possible; they should keep their uniqueness intact. They should become more and more feminine, then the mystery deepens. And that is the way of existence, the way of Tao.

Only one modern psychologist, Carl Gustav Jung, had some insight about this Taoist approach. He was the only one in the West who had pondered over and studied Taoism deeply; he introduced Taoism in his psychology, and he brought Taoism up to date. If you want to understand Taoism it will be good to understand Carl Gustav Jung and his understanding about Taoism; he was moving along the right lines. But after his death that work stopped. He had taken only a few steps - because Taoism is a vast ocean - he had moved in the right direction, but the work has stopped. It has to be deepened. Many more people have to work to make the insight modern because the language is old and sometimes the old language becomes a barrier.

For example, reading these sutras many women here will feel a little offended. But Ko Hsuan means no offense; he is simply using an old way. What could he do? That was the way in those days.

There is no evaluation - he is not saying that the masculine is higher and the feminine is lower - that has to be remembered constantly, otherwise you will immediately become closed. Particularly women will become closed to the sutras; they will not be able to understand. And those women who have, unfortunately, been associated with the Women's Liberation Movement, will immediately become closed; they will not be able to understand the beauty of the sutras. So for them particularly I have to remind you that it is not biological masculinity and feminity that is meant, but psychological.

A man is not of necessity masculine, a woman is no of necessity feminine. A woman can be masculine, for example, Joan of Are or, in India, Laxmibhai. These women were warriors, great soldiers; they were not feminine at all. Biologically, of course, they were feminine, their bodies were those of women, but their very souls were those of men. They have to be counted as masculine. And there have been men - poets, dancers, musicians, singers, painters - who were very feminine. So soft, so round was their being that psychologically they were women. They may have been able to reproduce children, they may have been able to become fathers and husbands, but deep down they were not masculine; their psychology can only be called feminine. It happens - in fact, it happens more often than you will ever think.

Secondly, every man and every woman is also the opposite. Every man, to be alive, carries in the unconscious the feminine principle, otherwise there will be no dynamism in his being, there will be no tension, not enough tension to keep him alive. He will simply die; there will be no reason for him to live. A certain tension is needed in his being. If the tension becomes too much he goes mad; if the tension becomes too little he will be dead.

There is a beautiful story in Buddha's life:

A great prince became initiated, became a sannyasin of Buddha. He had lived in great luxury his whole life, he had been a great sitarist, his name was known all over the country as that of a great musician. But he became impressed by Buddha's inner music - maybe his insight into music had helped him to understand Buddha.

When Buddha was visiting his capital he heard him for the first time, fell in love at first sight, renounced his kingdom. Even Buddha wanted him not to do such a great act so impulsively. He told him, "Wait. Think. I will be here for four months" - because during the whole rainy season Buddha never used to move, in the rainy season he would remain in one place. "So I am going to be here; there is no hurry. You think over it. Four months time and then you can take sannyas, you can become an initiate."

But the young man said, "The decision has happened; there is nothing more to think about. It is now or never! And who knows about tomorrow? And you have been always saying, 'Live in the present,' so why are you telling me to wait for four months? I may die, you may die, something may happen.

Who knows about the future? I don't want to wait even a single day!"

His insistence was such that Buddha had to concede; he was initiated. Buddha was a little uncertain about him, whether he would be able to live this life of a beggar. Buddha had known it from his own experience; he himself was a great prince once. He knew what it was to be in luxury, what it was to live in comfort, and what it was to be a beggar on the street. It was a great, arduous phenomenon, but Buddha had taken time. It took him six years to become enlightened, and slowly slowly he had become accustomed to being without shelter, sometimes without food, without friends, enemies all over for no reason at all, because he was not hurting anybody. But people are so stupid, they live in such lies, that whenever they see a man of truth they are wounded of their own accord - they feel hurt, insulted.

Buddha knew the whole thing was going to be too much for this young man. He felt sorry for him, but he initiated him. And he was surprised and all the other sannyasins were surprised, because the man simply moved to the other extreme. All Buddhist monks used to eat only once a day; that new monk, the ex-prince, started eating only once in two days. All Buddhist monks used to sleep under trees; he would sleep under the open sky. The monks used to walk on the roads; he would walk not on the roads but always on the sides where there were thorns, stones. He was a beautiful man; within months his body became black. He was very healthy; he became ill, he became lean and thin. His feet became wounded.

Many sannyasins came to Buddha and said, "Something has to be done. That man has gone to the opposite extreme: he is torturing himself! He has become self-destructive."

Buddha went to him one night and asked him, "Shrona" - Shrona was his name - "can I ask you a question?"

He said, "Of course, my Lord. You can ask any question. I am your disciple. I am here to tell you whatsoever you want to know about me."

Buddha said, "I have heard that when you were a prince you were a great musician, you used to play the sitar."

He said, "Yes, but that is finished. I have completely forgotten about it. But that is true, I used to play the sitar. That was my hobby, my only hobby. I used to practice at least eight hours per day and I had become famous all over the country for that."

Buddha said, "I have to ask one question. If the strings of your sitar are too tight, what will happen?"

He said, "What will happen? It is simple! You cannot play upon it - they will be broken."

Buddha said, "Another question: if they are too loose, what will happen?"

Shrona said, "That too is simple. If they are too loose no music will be produced on them because there will be no tension."

Buddha said, "You are an intelligent person - I need not say anything more to you. Remember, life is also a musical instrument. It needs a certain tension but only a certain tension. Less than that and your life is too loose and there is no music. If the tension is too much you start breaking down, you start going mad. Remember it. First you lived a very loose life and you missed the inner music; now you are living a very tight, uptight life - you are still missing the music. Is there not a way to adjust the strings of the sitar in such a way that they are exactly in the middle, neither loose nor tight, with just the right amount of tension, so that music can arise?"

He said, "Yes, there is a way."

Buddha said, "That is what my teaching is: be exactly in the middle between the two poles. The tension has not to disappear completely, otherwise you will be dead; the tension has not to become too much, otherwise you will go mad."

And that's what has happened in the whole world. The East has become too loose, hence there is death, starvation. And the West has become too tight, hence there is madness, neurosis. The West is breaking down under its weight. The East has become so lazy and lousy out of its looseness.

A certain tension is needed, but there is a state of tension which is also a state of equilibrium. And that is the whole art of Tao. The equilibrating pulse of the mystical life, the secret...

The words in this sutra are not to be understood biologically, physiologically. Each man and each woman also have their opposite within them. If you are a man consciously, then unconsciously there is a woman in you; if you are a woman, then there is a man unconsciously in you. Your conscious and your unconscious are polar opposites and there is a tension between the two. That tension has to become neither too loose nor too tight. This is the whole art of religion, or the whole science of religion.

Tao does not believe in miracles; it believes in scientific methods to transform your life.

Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu and Lieh Tzu were walking together along a forest path one day when they came upon a fast-flowing river which barred their way. Immediately Lieh Tzu sat down on the bank of the river and meditated upon the eternal Tao. Ten minutes later he stood up and proceeded to walk on the water to the other side.

Next, Chuang Tzu sat in the lotus posture for twenty minutes, whereupon he stood up and also walked across the river.

Lao Tzu, watching this in amazement, shrugged his shoulders, sat down on the river bank like the others and meditated for over an hour. Finally, with complete trust in the Tao, he closed his eyes, took one step into the river and fell in.

On the other shore, Chuang Tzu laughed, turned to Lieh Tzu and said, "Should we tell him where the rocks are?"

Tao does not believe in any nonsense. It is very pragmatic, practical, down to earth.

A street vendor was trying to sell his product. All day long he would call out, "Try a bottle of my elixir - long-life lotion!"

There was a boy helping him distribute the bottles and taking the money.

The vendor kept calling out, "Look! Long-life lotion! A wonder, gentlemen! A real miracle! Every morning I drink one bottle, and look at me - don't I look young? I am more than seven hundred years old! "

The people were amazed and sceptical. Finally one of the customers called the boy aside and asked, "Is your boss really over seven hundred years old?"

"I can't guarantee it," answered the boy.

Everyone turned to the boy to hear his answer.

"Why can't you guarantee it?" asked the customer.

"Because I have only worked with him for three hundred years," answered the boy.

All other religions are much more concerned with such stupidities - miracles, wonders. Not Tao. Tao is very straight, hence there is a great future for Tao. When all other religions have gone down the drain, Tao will still be around for the simple reason that it will fit in with the scientific climate that is growing everyday on the earth. It will not only fit in with the scientific climate, it will help and nourish it. It will bring new visions to science because it does not ask you to believe in anything, it simply wants you to understand.

These sutras are not to be believed in. Please try to understand them, and try to understand them by putting aside all your prejudices as men and women.

THE VENERABLE MASTER SAID:

TAO MANIFESTS BOTH AS THE PURE AND THE TURBID, BOTH AS MOVEMENT AND STILLNESS.

Don't be offended by the "turbid"; it simply means muddy, not clear, vague. Both are manifestations of Tao.

TAO MANIFESTS BOTH AS THE PURE...

And the word "pure" does not mean anything moral, virtuous, et cetera; it has nothing to do with morality. "Pure" simply means clear, transparent; and "turbid" means muddy, not clear, vague. These are both manifestations of Tao.

The ordinary man is turbid; the Bud&a is pure. The man who is sleepy is muddy, cloudy; he is surrounded by much smoke of his own creation. The man who has awakened out of all dreams and desires has a clarity; he has no smoke around him, no clouds. He is like a sunny day: the sun is there without any clouds.

TAO MANIFESTS BOTH...

And remember, both are Tao. Never forget it. The asleep person is as divine as the awakened one, as godly as the awakened one. There is no intrinsic difference; the difference is only in manifestation.

One is full of dreams, desires, hence one is turbid; and the other is finished with the dreams, has become tired of the dreams, has come to know that they ARE dreams, and in that very knowing those dreams have dropped of their own accord. Now his eyes are clear he can see through and through.

TAO MANIFESTS...

BOTH AS MOVEMENT AND STILLNESS.

So there is no need to insist that you should be still; even in movement you can experience Tao. You can experience Tao in stillness.

There are two possibilities. Buddha sat for years in silence and then he experienced Tao. He calls it NIRVANA; that is his name for Tao. And Jalaluddin Rumi danced for years, and then one day it happened while he was dancing: through dance he attained to Tao. He calls it God; that is his name for Tao. One can approach either through stillness or through movement.

It is because of this fact that in my commune both kinds of meditations are being used. People are dancing, people are singing, and meditating. People are sitting in silence - zazen, vipassana - and meditating. And one can move from one to the other because both are your possibilities: you can find it in dance and you can find it in silence, stillness.

In fact, your experience will be far more rich if you can find it in both ways. If you are capable of finding it in dancing and also capable of finding it while sitting silently doing nothing, your experience will be far more rich than the experience of Gautam the Buddha and Jalaluddin Rumi, both - naturally, because you will enter the temple of God from two opposite extremes, from two different paths. You will be more fluid and you will have known the beauties of both paths - because on one path you may come across a few things and on the other path you may come across a few other things. Both paths are full of different wonders. The dancer will come to know a few things which the person who is sitting silently will never know. He will reach to the ultimate peak, but he will not know a few things that happen on the way of dancing. And the same is true about the dancer: he will not know a few things which happen only on the way of stillness.

My emphasis is this: why miss any enrichment that is possible. Why not be multi dimensional? Why not experience God through as many ways as possible so that you know all the aspects of God?

And in that very knowing you will know that all the religions are unnecessarily arguing against each other. Their arguments are absolutely meaningless - they are talking about the SAME God. But because they have known different aspects they are insisting on their own aspect: that "This is the truth." And the other is saying that just the opposite is the truth.

If you ask a Buddhist, "Can one become enlightened through dancing?" he will immediately say, "No," and his "no" will be categorical. He will say, "It is impossible, because if one can know through dancing, why did Buddha sit for years? Was he a fool? He would have danced!"

If you ask a whirling dervish, a follower of Jalaluddin Rumi, "Can one find God just by sitting silently doing nothing?" he will say, "No: Impossible - absolutely no. Otherwise, why should Jalaluddin have danced? Why should he have worked so hard dancing day in, day out?"

When the ultimate flowering happened he had danced for thirty-six hours continuously. Just as Buddha had sat for seven days continuously not moving, not even moving his eyelids, Jalaluddin had danced, not even waiting for a single moment, not even resting for a single moment - a mad dance for thirty-six hours till he fell down on the ground. But when he opened his eyes, the old man had disappeared, the new man was born. The new man was already there; he was a totally new person.

The Sufi will not agree that just by sitting you can find it.

But I say to you I have found him through both the ways: I have found him through movement and I have found him through stillness. And I perfectly agree with Ko Hsuan that:

TAO MANIFESTS...

BOTH AS MOVEMENT AND STILLNESS.

HEAVEN IS PURE, EARTH IS TURBID.

Obviously. Heaven means absolute clarity. The sky is pure; there is nothing in it. Nothingness is the purest thing. The earth is full of many things, hence it is turbid.

And just the other day I was telling you that you have to be both earthly and unearthly. Because, in fact, you are made of both: something in you is contributed by the earth, by the turbid, and something in you is contributed by the sky, by the pure, by the clear. You are a synthesis of the earth and the sky.

Up to now, except Tao, all the religions have chosen. Either they have chosen to be very earthly...

For example, Judaism is very earthly and Jainism is very unearthly. Jainism has chosen the sky component of your being and Judaism has chosen the earthly component of your being, but both are halves. They are not whole; something is missing in both. Tao is whole.

And in my understanding, in my realization, Tao is the only experience which is holy, because it is whole.

HEAVEN IS PURE, EARTH IS TURBID.

That's why I say to you be a Zorba - but not Zorba the Greek because then you are just turbid, just earth, just muddy. I say to you be Zorba the Buddha - not Gautam the Buddha because to be Gautam the Buddha means you are just sky, no earth, absolutely other-worldly, belonging to the farther shore. Why not be both? When it is possible to be both, why miss anything? Why not use all the opportunities to grow and to be?

HEAVEN MOVES, EARTH IS STILL.

These are just metaphors.

THE MASCULINE IS PURE...

"Masculine" means, at the lowest, intellectuality, at the highest, intelligence. It is clear - intellect is clear. Two plus two is four, it is as clear as that. And the highest form is intelligence. BUDDHA means one who has attained to the highest form of intelligence. His words are very clear; his words are not at all in any way muddy. You cannot find more clear statements than Buddha's; his statements are not mystic, not esoteric.

In fact, he used to say to his disciples, "Please don't ask me any metaphysical questions because they are not needed, they are not going to help. Ask authentic, real questions, questions that are your problems in life, so that I can help you to solve them."

He used to tell this story again and again:

Once a man was hit by an arrow... He was a philosopher, a great metaphysician. People rushed to him; they wanted to take out the arrow, but he said, "Wait! First tell me whether the arrow is real or illusory. "

Now, that has been one of the most important metaphysical questions, in India particularly: whether the world is real or illusory, real or maya, whether it exists or it only appears to.

The metaphysician was asking out of his old habit. "If it is unreal, why bother? If it only appears to be there, what is the point of taking it out? It does not exist. It is like a snake which does not exist. It is only a rope really, but in darkness you have misunderstood it as a snake. So there is no need to kill it. How can you kill a snake which does not exist in the first place? "

He puzzled people so much with all his metaphysical reasoning that they were at a loss what to do.

It was difficult to prove...

In fact, it is difficult to prove: nobody has been able to prove conclusively that the world exists; there is no way to prove it. It may be all illusory.

For example, I am talking to you, but how can you prove that you are not dreaming? Many times you dream.

Asang writes to me, "Osho, I am very grateful - you come in my dreams." Now it will be difficult for Asang to decide whether right now it is a dream or I am really here! There is no way to decide.

In western philosophy, the man who represents this philosophy is Berkeley. He says the whole world is your idea, it is just an idea. It is in your mind; it does not exist really. It is just like a dream phenomenon. It is made of the same stuff as dreams are made of.

He was going for a morning walk with his friend, Dr. Johnson. And Dr. Johnson was a very realistic type of person. When Berkeley told him that this whole world is just an idea, it does not really exist, Johnson got so mad - mad because he could not prove otherwise - that he simply took a big rock and threw it on Berkeley's foot. Berkeley shrieked in pain, screamed, blood started oozing out of his foot.

And Johnson said, "Now what do you say?"

And Berkeley laughed and he said, "This is all just an idea! My screaming, your throwing the rock, even YOU, Dr. Johnson, are just my idea. I am YOUR idea, you are MY idea. We are all ideas. Your rock cannot prove that it is real, because sometimes I have screamed in my dream. Sometimes rocks have been thrown at me in my dream, blood has come out in my dreams. So what? What is the difference?"

It is impossible to disprove such a philosophy. Shankara in India represents this kind of philosophy and Berkeley represents it in the West; they both remain as yet unrefuted. Nobody believes in them. I don't think that even they believed in themselves, otherwise they would have stopped eating, making love, sleeping, because if it is all dream stuff why bother? Berkeley continued to make love and produce children. What nonsense! He continued to eat, and when he used to fall ill he would take medicine. Now, killing one idea with another idea! I don't think they ever believed in themselves.

Shankara says that the world is illusory and yet he says: Renounce it. If it is illusory, why renounce it? What can you renounce? If it is not there in the first place, how can you renounce it? Something that is not c nberenounced?Andiftheworldisnot, iftheseenisnot, thenwhereistheseer?

a They don't believe in their own philosophies but still they cannot be refuted; there is no way to refute them. Thousands of ways have been tried, but nothing can refute them. For example, Berkeley used to say when you go out of the room, your furniture in the room, your books in the room all disappear because there is nobody to project the idea. Obviously, if you take the projector out the film will disappear from the will; there will be no pictures on the wall. Now how can you prove it? You can say, "I can look through the keyhole." He will say, "So you have come back through the keyhole.

Again they will appear because the idea is projected through the keyhole."

One man worked for years to find out some way and he went on coming to Berkeley again and again. One day he went with the idea that "Now I don't think you can deny this. When you are sitting in a carriage you don't see the wheels of the carriage, but the carriage is moving - the wheels are there. You are not projecting them because you are not seeing them, but the carriage is moving.

The movement of the carriage proves that the wheels are there."

Berkeley said, "You DON'T know. That will be God's idea. The world is not only MY idea; ultimately it is God's idea, it is God's dream. In fact, he is dreaming us too - the driver and the passenger and the carriage and the wheels."

It is impossible to deny such philosophies. They are absurd, but they cannot be refuted.

Buddha used to say...

People, poor people, villagers gathered and they looked at each other. "What to do with this man?"

Buddha was passing by; he heard the whole story. He went to the philosopher and he said, "These questions can be answered later on, we can discuss them later on at our ease. First let us pull out the arrow because this arrow can kill you, and if you are alive we can discuss it later on. And whatsoever you decide later on, that the arrow is real or unreal, will be up to you. But right now you don't need philosophical discussion, you need a physician who can pull the arrow, who can take out the poison, who can give you some medicine as a protection. Right now no metaphysics is going to help you. Okay, if it is unreal, let it be unreal! But later on we can discuss it."

Buddha used to say that the same is the situation of man, every man. You are suffering, so the whole thing is how to pull out the arrow that is creating your suffering. It is not a metaphysical question. His words are very clear, rational, intelligent, comprehensible by the mind. He says only things which can be comprehended by any intelligent person. That's why Buddha has become very important today - because his approach seems to be so intellectual.

THE MASCULINE IS PURE...

That means the lowest form is intellect, intellectuality, and the highest form is intelligence.

... THE FEMININE IS TURBID "Turbid" here will mean, at the lowest, instinct and, at the highest, intuition. Now the mystics, the Sufis talk in a totally different way. Their words are not so clear, their words are vague. Their words are not easily comprehensible; you have to figure out what their exact meaning is. And that is the state of the feminine mind. But remember, I don't mean it biologically. Of course, biologically also the woman functions more through instinct than through intellect...

Many people ask me, "Why have all the Buddhas you talk about been men? Why not women?" For the simple reason that the approach of the feminine mind will be totally different. They cannot be Buddhas. They can be Meeras, Magdalenes, Lallas, Rabias, but they cannot be Buddhas. Their approach is bound to be different. Meera will not talk in an intellectual way; she will sing. Her singing, her dancing has a totally different flavor. She will not argue - argument is not the way of the feminine mind; her argument will be her dance, her ecstatic dance. If you can see her dance, if you can FEEL her dance... I will not say if you can understand her dance because dancers cannot be understood, they can only be felt, they can only be experienced. Her words will be very instinctive.

For example, Freud has condemned very much all the women mystics he knew about. He never knew about Meera, otherwise he would have condemned her the most. He knew about St. Theresa; he has condemned her because she talks about being married to Christ. Now that is enough for Freud to bring his whole sexual theory in. That's enough - nothing more is needed. Married?

That means this woman is suffering from some sexual perversion. She must have repressed her sexuality; and because she cannot have a sexual relationship with a real man, now she is contemplating an unreal man in the sky - somebody called Christ, the son of God. Now she is trying to create a love affair with Christ.

It is really a misfortune that Freud never knew about Meera. Had he known he himself would have danced out of joy! Because Meera uses such allegories: "My Lord, my beloved, when will you be coming? I have prepared the bed! I have prepared the bed with roses and I am waiting! And the night is passing and you have not come yet. And I am crying and weeping for you! When will you come and make love to me?"

Now, she is not even speaking in an indirect way, she is talking directly. Freud would have taken the whole thing literally; that is his technique. He can prove that all these mystics are perverts. In fact, he himself is a pervert because he cannot understand the feminine mind at all.

That is one of the reasons why Jung had to desert him, for the simple reason that his whole understanding was simply intellectual; there was nothing intuitive in it. And Jung had a more feminine mind, a deeper capacity to feel.

All men who have come in contact with women know it, that they function in a very different way. You cannot talk with a woman logically; it is impossible - it is as if she belongs to some other world, to some other planet. And the same must be the experience of women. They can't understand men - continuously in their heads, in their intellects, never understanding anything of the heart. Man tries to argue, tries to convince the woman logically, but she cannot be convinced. That is not her way; logic has no appeal for her.

Slowly slowly the husband learns that a rose flower is far more important than logic. If you bring a rose flower to your wife she will understand it more than all your arguments. You can argue for months, "I love you," and that won't convince her. Just bring a rose flower and that will be enough. Her approach is instinctive. Man cannot understand her because whatsoever she says seems illogical and absurd.

Slowly slowly husbands start remaining silent, they become deaf. They allow the woman to talk:

"Whatsoever nonsense she wants to talk let her talk. Who listens?"

Do you know why God created first the man and then the woman?

To allow the poor guy to say at least two words!

Overheard at Vrindavan... One sannyasin was saying to another sannyasin, "It took a lot of will power, but I finally gave up trying to diet."

A lot of will power...

"Rob told me I was the eighth wonder of the world!" said Shirl.

"What did you say?" asked Pearl.

"Not to let me catch him with any of the other seven!"

"Can you operate a typewriter?" the boss asks the secretary.

"Yes, sir. I use the biblical system."

"I never heard of it."

"Seek and ye shall find," replies the secretary.

Why do husbands become henpecked? All husbands become henpecked. In fact, to be a husband means to be a henpecked husband; there are no other kinds for the simple reason that how long can one argue? And it makes no sense. You look foolish to yourself - you are talking to the walls!

You argue and the woman cries! You tell her,"Cool down, and let us sit down and talk it over at the table," and she starts throwing things! She slams the door, she breaks cups and saucers. Now what is the point? You cannot argue. There is no possible way to connect, to relate with a woman coolly.

That is not possible; it is always hot. Either you follow her or she will create trouble. And from her side all your arguments are just nonsense!

Then there was the guy so henpecked by his wife that when they were in the nudist colony she told him what not to wear.

The man says to the lawyer, "I'm going to ask for a divorce. "

"Why?" asks the lawyer.

"Because my wife is always knitting!"

"But, for God's sake, that is no reason to ask for a divorce! Lots of women knit."

"While they are making love?"

The husband frequently traveled in his work. One day he returned home unexpectedly and found his wife in bed with another man. Enraged, he grabbed a gun and pointed it at the man.

The wife screamed, "Don't shoot! Are you going to kill the father of your sons?"

The young lady walks into a drugstore and asks, "Do you have intimate deodorants?"

"Yes, we do," answers the druggist. "What kind would you like?"

"Chlorophyll "

"No, sorry, we will receive it tomorrow."

"Tomorrow I cannot come. Could you give it to my husband?"

"How am I going to know who your husband is?" enquires the druggist.

"Oh, it is very simple. He is a tall, dark-haired guy with a green moustache."

THE MASCULINE IS ACTIVE, THE FEMININE IS PASSIVE.

MANIFESTING, FROM ITS RADICAL ESSENCE, TAO FLOWS FORTH EVEN TO THE LAST OF THINGS, BRINGING FORTH HEAVEN AND EARTH AND ALL THAT IS IN BETWEEN.

THE PURE IS THE CAUSE OF THE TURBID AND MOVEMENT OF STILLNESS.

But don't forget because of these anecdotes that Ko Hsuan does not mean that the biological masculine and feminine are EXACTLY synonymous with the ultimate masculine and feminine. In a certain way yes, they are related, but not totally synonymous.

[A T THIS POINT A CUCKOO BEGAN TO CALL, LOUDLY AND INSISTENTLY... ] This is feminine! Now she is saying, "All this Tao is nonsense!" This is just a protest!